The Gospel of St. John
GA 94
19 February 1906, Berlin
Lecture I
Today and next time I am going to speak about the Gospel of St. John. I would mention that what I have to say will only really be comprehensible to those who are already somewhat familiar with spiritual science. It would, however, take us too far out of our way if we went into everything unfamiliar to non-theosophists. You are probably aware that latterly New Testament textual criticism has discredited the John Gospel as an historical source. It is said in theological circles—at least in advanced circles—that the first three gospels, the synoptic gospels, are the only documents relevant to the life of the founder of Christianity. They are called synoptic because they can be taken together to form a general picture of the life of Christ Jesus. On the other hand modern theologians try to interpret the John Gospel as a sort of poetic work, a confession of faith, the writings of a person portraying his feelings, his intimate religious life as it was born in him through the impact of Christianity. Thus the John Gospel could be considered as a devotional work, a deeply felt confession of faith, not as anything that could be taken as Christian historical facts.
But for everyone who immerses himself in the writings of the New Testament, one fact is indisputable: an immediate life flows from the John Gospel, and there is a conviction, a source of truth of a different nature to that proceeding from other religious writings. There is a certainty, which needs no outer confirmation. There is a feeling that comes over one when one meets the John Gospel if one is sensitive to inner soul life and spiritual devotion. Only with the help of spiritual science can one understand why this is so. Many a time have I told you how spiritual science helps towards a more intimate connection with religious documents.
You all know that when one first meets the scriptures one adopts the attitude of a simple person and takes the facts as they are described, without criticism; one takes the bread of religious life from these sources and is satisfied with it.
Many people of our day who had this naive outlook and then became “clever”, became “enlightened”, noticed the contradictions in the gospels. Then they rejected the gospels and lost faith. They said: We cannot reconcile remaining faithful to these writings and seeking wisdom in them with our conscience and our sense of truth. This is the stage of the “clever” ones, the second stage.
Then there is the third way that people approach religious documents. They begin to explain them symbolically. They begin to see symbols and allegories in them. This is the way of free-thinkers, especially in recent times.
Bruno Wille, the editor of the paper “Der Freidenker” (The Free Thinker), has now chosen this way. He has taken to explaining symbolically the Christ myth and the Bible in general. The really necessary way of development that man needs, an inner turning point, cannot follow from this. Those who are less ingenious will explain the scriptures less ingeniously. Others who are more ingenious will be better. Much will be read into it that springs from human ingenuity. The third way is thus a half believing, but arbitrary, attitude.
Then there is quite a different standpoint. One learns that there are realities pertaining to higher worlds, that besides our world of the senses, there are soul-spiritual things, and that religious revelations are not concerned with the sense world but present facts of a higher world. Those who have gotten to know the realities of the astral world which lies behind our sense world, and of the devachanic (or mental world) which lies even deeper, will come to a new and higher understanding of religious sources. It is impossible to understand the John Gospel without rising to such higher worlds. The John Gospel is not a poetic work, nor a writing arising from mere religious fervour, but sets forth revelations from higher worlds that the writer of the gospel has received. It is something like this—I will briefly describe it. The supporting evidence I will not deal with today; perhaps I can go into it next time. The writer of the John Gospel learned, through experience in higher worlds, what took place at “the beginning of our era“ that related to the life of the founder of Christianity, and his acts.
Let me give you an example of the difference between just knowing, and truly comprehending. We have recently mentioned here that someone can be next to us, we can see what he looks like, but we need not necessarily really know him for what he is. I have told the story of the singer who, at an evening party sat between Mendelsohn and someone else she did not know. She got on very well with Mendelsohn, but towards the other guest, though he was very courteous, she felt an aversion. Afterwards she asked, “Who was that bore on my left?” The answer was, “It was the famous philosopher Hegel”. If the lady had been told previously that the great philosopher Hegel would be present at a party, that alone would probably have been enough for her to have accepted the invitation. But because he sat beside her unknown, he was a bore. This is the difference between seeing and understanding, between just knowing and comprehending.
He who was the founder of Christianity could not readily be recognised if one only possessed the ordinary intellect employed in the sense world. It needed that which the Christian mystics so often expressed in profound and beautiful language. This was what Angelus Silesius meant when he said:
If Christ were born in Bethlehem a thousand times
And not in thee thyself; then art thou lost eternally.
There is an inner experience of Christ—there is the possibility to realize inwardly what took place outwardly as events in Palestine between the years 1 and 33 A.D. He who came into this world from higher worlds must be understood from a higher world. And he who portrayed Him most deeply had to raise himself to the two higher worlds we have mentioned, the astral and the devachanic, or mental worlds. This elevation of John, if we so name him, was the elevation into these two higher worlds. His Gospel reveals this to us.
The first twelve chapters contain John's experiences in the astral world. From chapter thirteen onwards it is his experiences in the devachanic, or mental world. He who wrote it down says of Christ (the words are not to be taken literally): Here on this earth He lived, here has He worked with divine powers, with occult powers. He has healed the sick, he has gone through everything from death to resurrection. It is impossible to understand these things with the ordinary intellect. Here on earth there is no science or learning by which one could really understand what occurred. But there is the possibility of rising to the higher worlds. There one can find the wisdom to understand Him who walked here on earth among us. Thus did the writer of the John Gospel rise to the two higher worlds and become initiated. It was an initiation, and the writer describes his initiation into the astral world and the devachanic, or mental world.
In olden times, in regions where man's body was still suited to these things, such an initiation took place as follows. The person had to go through a sort of sleep-state. What now takes several years in a modern European initiation—because the modern European can no longer go through the process I will describe—what today is achieved through long exercises of meditation and concentration, was achieved in a short time by some individuals, after the appropriate exercises of meditation and concentration. I particularly emphasise that anyone who really wishes to receive initiation must, in some form or other, face the two important experiences about to be described—though in a somewhat different way. He must go through a sort of sleep condition. To understand the nature of sleep, let us remind ourselves what takes place when one sleeps. One's higher bodies are then separated from one's lower bodies. Man consists of a physical body, which one can see with one's eyes. The second member is the etheric body which surrounds the physical body and which is much finer than the physical body. Currents and organs of wonderful variety and splendour are active in it. The etheric body contains the same organs as the physical body. It has a brain, heart, eyes etc. They represent the forces which formed the corresponding organs. It is as if one cooled water in a vessel until it becomes ice. In this way you should picture the arising of the physical organs through the densifying of the etheric organs. The etheric body extends only a little beyond the physical body.
The third member is the astral body. It is the bearer of desires, wishes, passions, etc. It permeates the physical body in the form of a cloud. There are colours—violent passions appear as lightning flashes. The peculiarities of temperament glide through the body in glowing points of varying intensity.
The whole inner man is expressed in a luminous form. This is the real ego of man, the bearer of the higher centre of his being. In normal sleep the physical and etheric bodies are lying in bed. They are closely united. The astral body and all the rest is separated. As long as one does not do anything particular one is unconscious when the astral body is outside the physical body. One is as unconscious as one would be in the physical world without eyes or ears. One could live as long as one liked in the physical world; if one had no eyes there would be no colours, if one had no ears there would be no sound. So it is when the astral body is outside the physical body. It is spread out in the soul world, but one does not see this world or become aware of it because one has no astral sense organs. They must gradually be formed. If a person does not practice exercises he remains unconscious in higher worlds. But if he does practice then he can attain consciousness in these higher worlds. When his astral body acquires organs he begins to see the astral world around him. Those of you who have often attended these lectures will know that there are seven such organs. They are called wheels, chakrams or lotus flowers. The two-petalled lotus flower lies between the eyes—between the eye-brows, the sixteen-petalled lies in the region of the larynx, the twelve-petalled lies in the heart region. If these organs are gradually developed one becomes clairvoyant in the astral world.
This astral vision is something quite different from physical sight. You can get some idea of astral vision if you think of the flow of dream life. In dreams we have symbolic pictures—true symbols. One sees symbols. One loses consciousness of what takes place here in the physical world, but one can experience in symbolic pictures such events as the life of Christ Jesus as John describes it from his own experience in the astral world. Descriptions of this nature form the content of the first twelve chapters of the John Gospel. Don't misunderstand me. I know many will say: If all this is astral experience, then it is nothing real and what is told us of the founder of Christianity is not authentic. But this is not the case. It would be as if one denied that a man of flesh and blood could be a genius, because one cannot see genius. Although one learns the truth of Christ Jesus only on the astral plane, it is still a fact that he lived his life on the physical plane. We are dealing with symbols on the astral plane and outer reality on the physical plane. Nothing is taken away from the facts when we understand them more deeply in the sense of the John Gospel.
Initiation in the astral world is preceded by, and depends on what is called meditation. This means that the soul sinks into itself—I have often described it here. To reach a meditative experience one must make oneself blind and deaf to all sense impressions. Nothing must be able to disturb one. Cannons can go off without one being aware of it in one's inner life. One does not achieve this at once, but through constant practice one can attain this capacity. One must empty oneself also of all past experiences. Memory must be wiped out. The soul must be concerned only with itself and then out of its inner being there arise the eternal truths which are able—not only to awaken our understanding—but to release capacities which lie slumbering under a spell in our souls. These great eternal verities will rise up in man according to the maturity he has attained through his karma—the one, as Subba Row says, in seven incarnations, another in seventy years, another in seven years, others in seven months, seven days or seven hours.
John sets forth the means whereby his soul was led to perception on the astral plane. The formula he used for meditation stands at the beginning of his gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was a God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without this Word was not anything made that was made. In it was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.”
In these five sentences lie the eternal verities which loosed the spell in John's soul and brought forth the great visions. This is the form of the meditation. Those for whom the John Gospel is written should not read it like any other book. The first five sentences must be taken as a formula of meditation. Then one follows John on his way, and attempts to experience oneself what he experienced. This is the way to do it; so it is meant.
John says: Do what I have done. Let the great formula, “In the beginning was the Word” work in your souls and you will verify what is said in my first twelve chapters.
This alone can really help towards understanding the John Gospel. Thus is it intended and thus should it be used. I have often spoken of what the “Word” signifies. “In the beginning” is not a good translation. It should really read: Out of the primal forces emerged the Word. That is what it means: The Word came forth, came forth out of the primal forces. Thus “in the beginning” means: coming forth out of the primal forces.
When man is in this sleep condition he is no longer in the sense world. He moves into a soul world and in this soul world experiences what the sense world really is. The truth of the sense world is revealed. He starts out from these words derived from the sense world leading back to the primal forces, and rises up to the words of truth. Every truth has seven meanings. For the mystic, immersed in contemplation it has however this meaning: The knowledge, the Word which emerges, is not something that merely applies to yesterday and today, but this Word is eternal. This Word leads to God because it was ever with God, because it is the very essence that God has planted into all things.
There is however, still another way of understanding this, and one acquires it if one returns day after day to the momentous words: “In the beginning was the Word”. When one begins to understand, not with the intellect, but with the heart, so that the heart becomes one with these words, then the power begins to work, and there begins the state of mind of which John speaks. He says it with great clarity: “All things were made by Him and without the Word was not anything made that was made”.
What do we find in this Word? We find life. What do we perceive through this life—through this light? We must take these religious texts quite literally if we want to attain higher knowledge. Where does this light shine? In the darkness of night. It comes to those who sleep. It comes to everyone who sleeps. But the darkness comprehended it not—until the ability develops to perceive it on the astral plane. Thus is the fifth verse to be understood literally. The astral light shines into the darkness of night but man does not normally see it, he must first learn to see.
As all this became reality for the writer of the John Gospel, the light dawned and he saw who He was, He whose disciple and apostle he was. Here on earth he had seen Him. Now he had found Him again on the astral plane, and he knew that He who had walked the earth in the flesh only differed in one respect from what lived in his own deepest inner self. In every single man there lives a divine man. In the distant future this divine man will arise resurrected in every man. As man stands before us today he is, in his outward appearance, to a greater or lesser extent, an expression of the inner divine man, and this inner divine man works constantly on the outer man.
Last Thursday [Public Lecture, Berlin, 15 Feb, 1906. “Reincarnation and Karma”] I already pointed out how one can illustrate this by a simple comparison. Look at a child. One could be tempted to say that these innocent features came from the father or mother, an uncle or an ancestor. However, everything within the child expresses itself in the features, in the gestures of the hands and in all its movements. What slumbers in the child strives to come to expression. Finally the individual emerges and the physiognomy becomes an expression of the individual soul, while previously it showed more of a family type. In primitive man the individual soul is usually still slumbering and has but a meagre existence. In the course of many incarnations and efforts the individual emerges, the soul aquires more power over the physical body, and the physiognomy takes on the imprint, or the expression of the inner man. An immature person expresses little of the power of the soul. Gradually man matures, and full maturity is reached when the inner word has become flesh completely—when the outer has become an exact imprint of the inner, so that the spirit shines through the flesh. This however, John only understood once his higher self had appeared clearly before his astral eyes. It stood in front of his astral eyes and he knew: This is I. Today have I experienced it on the astral plane. However it will gradually descend as it did in Him, who I followed. This is the deep relationship between Christ Jesus and the divine man that exists in every man. This is the deep inner experience of John.
The inner soul lives unconscious in man and he only becomes aware of it through the processes we have described.
What does it mean to say: something becomes conscious. Can we become conscious of something which lives within us? As long as it only lives within us we are not aware of it. Man is not aware of what he carries within him, what is subjective. I will use a crude comparison to make clear what I mean. You all have a physical brain but you cannot see it. It would have to be taken out, and then you could see it. For the same reason, though there is a certain difference, you cannot see your higher self. It is the “I” within you. But it must come out if you are to see it, and this can only happen on the astral plane. When it is outside and confronts you, then spiritually, it is as if you had a physical brain on a platter and made it the object of your sense perception.
The writer of the John Gospel describes this process. His own higher ego appears before Him—his own higher ego, which in its fullness represents the Christ. When you know this you will be able to understand certain hints and truths in the John Gospel. You will be able to understand certain things quite well with the help of what I said up to now. In occult language one describes what this ego inhabits—the physical body, which it has built for itself to dwell in—as the temple. Thus one says: The soul dwells in the temple.
It is not altogether a painless procedure when for the first time the soul must leave the temple of the body so that it becomes visible outside of it. This leaving of the body is not without pain. All that forms this higher connection with the physical body are bands that are not so easy to loosen. Imagine that you are bound with fetters and you break loose. You would experience pain through this tearing apart. It is like a process of tearing apart when the astral body leaves the physical body when it leaves it, perceptibly. Leaving the body in sleep is different, one is not aware of it. If one leaves it consciously then one experiences pain.
When man begins to develop astral consciousness, things on the astral plane appear to him as in a mirror. The number 165 should not be read as 165 but as 561—as reflected writing. Everything appears reversed on the astral plane. Even time is reversed. When you follow someone on the astral plane you start, to begin with, from where he is. Then you go back to his birth. You can follow him on the physical plane forwards; on the astral plane backwards. Leaving the physical body is like this: It is as though we were leaving the temple of the physical body and were laid hold of from all sides. This is the occurrence which John wants to describe. He left his body in order to experience the Christ, his own higher divine self, confronting him. People around him have their astral bodies bound strongly to their physical bodies as if with fetters. Had John remained like them he would have continued to be fettered to his physical body. Now let us read how this occurrence is described pictorially and symbolically in the John Gospel, chapter 8, verses 58 and 59: “Jesus said unto them, verily, verily I say unto you: Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them”, through the hindrances. With this ends the eighth chapter. This is the passing out of the astral body from the physical body. The final act, leading to the leaving of the physical body and to higher vision, usually lasts three days. When these three days are up, one attains a consciousness on the astral plane comparable to that previously experienced on the physical plane. Then one is united with the higher world.
In occult language this union with the higher world is called the marriage of the soul with the powers of the higher world. When one has left the physical body, this appears to one as a mother would appear to a new-born child, were the child able to be conscious at birth. Thus the physical body confronts one, and the astral body can very well say to the physical body: This is my mother. When one has celebrated this marriage one can say this. One can look back on the former union. This can happen after three days. This is the occult procedure on the astral plane. In chapter 2, verse 1, it is stated: “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there”. This is the pictorial expression for what I have just said. It happened on the third day.
When a person enters the astral world, he finds himself in a region from which he can rise a step further into a still higher world—the mental, or devachanic world. This entry into the devachanic world can only be gained at the expense of the complete extinction, the death of the lower nature. He must go through the three days of death and then be awakened. Once he has attained vision of the astral plane and the pictures of the astral plane have confronted him, he is mature and ready to receive knowledge on the mental or devachanic plane. It is possible then to describe the awakening on the devachanic plane. To find oneself on the higher plane with conscious clarity of thought, this is the awakening of Lazarus.
John describes the awakening of Lazarus. Previously he has shown that through this chain of events one can enter the higher worlds. In chapter 10, verse 9, it is said: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture”. This is the awakening of what was wrapped in sleep and is now awakened on the devachanic plane. John goes through it. John is Lazarus, and John means nothing more nor less than what is described in his first twelve chapters. He describes as an astral experience that he was awakened on the astral plane. Then followed the initiation for the devachanic plane. Three days he lay in the grave, and then he received the awakening. The raising of Lazarus is the awakening of John who wrote the gospel.
Read everything up to the chapter on the raising of Lazarus and you will find no mention of John anywhere. Consider Lazarus and John. It is said of John (John, ch. 13, v. 23): “Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.” Regarding Lazarus, you find the same words—that He loved him. It is the same person. He is not mentioned previous to the awakening. He appears for the first time after he is “raised from the dead”. These are the enigmas hidden in the John Gospel. The disciple whom the Lord loved is he whom the Lord himself has initiated. The writer of the John Gospel was he whom the Lord loved. How was he able to say this? Because he had been initiated, first on the astral plane and then on the devachanic plane. If one is able in this way to find the deeper meaning of the John Gospel, then will one be able to understand it in its true profundity, and then it becomes one of the greatest texts ever written. It is the description of the initiation into the depths of the inner life of the soul. It has been written so that everyone who reads it can follow the same path. And this one can do. Sentence for sentence, word for word, one can find within oneself, by rising to the higher plane, what is described in the John Gospel. It is not a biography of Christ Jesus but a biography of the developing human soul. And what is described is eternal and can take place in the heart of every human being. This text is an example and a model. Hence it has this living and awakening power which not only makes people into Christians but enables them to awaken to a higher reality. The John Gospel is not a profession of faith, but a text which really gives strength, and a self-supporting, independent higher life. This springs forth from the John Gospel, and he who does not merely want to understand it, but to live it, has truly comprehended it.
With these few words I could only touch on the contents. Next time we will go into certain details. Then you will see how every single sentence confirms what we have said today in general terms. Step by step you will then see that the John Gospel is not addressed merely to the human intellect, but to man's entire soul forces, and that real soul experience springs from it.
Erster Vortrag
Heute und das nächste Mal will ich über das Johannes-Evangelium sprechen. Ich möchte dabei bemerken, daß die Auseinandersetzungen, die wir über das Johannes-Evangelium hören wollen, allerdings mehr oder weniger nur für solche Teilnehmer ganz verständlich sein werden, die sich mit der Geisteswissenschaft schon etwas beschäftigt haben. Es würde aber die Sache natürlich zu sehr ins Weite führen, wenn wir hier auch alle anderen Dinge besprechen wollten, die etwa für Nichttheosophen in Betracht kommen könnten.
Sie wissen vielleicht, daß in der letzten Zeit in bezug auf die Auffassung der neutestamentlichen Schriften, der Evangelien, eine gewisse Auffassung sich herausgebildet hat, die das Johannes-Evangelium eigentlich als historische, geschichtliche Urkunde entwertet hat. Man sagt in theologischen Kreisen, wenigstens in Kreisen der «Fortschrittlichen», daß als Urkunde über das Leben des Stifters des Christentums nur die drei ersten Evangelien, die synoptischen Evangelien, in Betracht kommen können. Synoptisch werden sie genannt, weil man den Inhalt zusammenfaßt und sich auf theologische Weise ein Gesamtbild über das Leben des Christus Jesus bilden will. Dagegen versuchen moderne Theologen, das Johannes-Evangelium als eine Art von Dichtung aufzufassen, als eine Bekenntnisschrift, als die Schrift eines Menschen, der seine Gemütseindrücke, sein inneres religiöses Leben schildert, wie er es empfangen hat durch den Einfluß des Christentums. So daß wir eine Andachtsschrift, ein inbrünstiges Bekenntnis in dem Johannes-Evangelium zu sehen hätten, aber nichts, was irgendwie in Betracht kommen könne für die wirklichen christlichen Tatsachen.
Nun wird aber für jeden, der sich in die neutestamentlichen Schriften vertieft, eine innere Tatsache unbedingt feststehen. Das ist diese, daß aus dem Johannes-Evangelium unmittelbar Leben fließt, eine Überzeugung und ein Wahrheitsquell von etwas anderer Art als aus anderen Religionsschriften. Eine Gewißheit fließt aus ihm, zu der man eigentlich keine äußeren Tatsachen braucht. Das ist so ein Gefühl, das die Menschen überkommt, wenn sie an das JohannesEvangelium herantreten und dabei ein Empfinden für inneres seelisches Leben, für geistige Vertiefung haben. Man kann nicht recht durch etwas anderes als durch geisteswissenschaftliche Vertiefung ins klare kommen über dasjenige, was hier eigentlich vorliegt. Oft und oft habe ich zu Ihnen darüber gesprochen, wie man zu den Religionsurkunden ein Verhältnis bekommt durch die Geisteswissenschaft, durch spirituelle Vertiefung.
Jeder von Ihnen weiß, daß das erste Verhältnis, das man zu religiösen Schriften hat, das des naiven Menschen ist, der die Tatsachen so, wie sie geschildert werden, hinnimmt, der sie nicht weiter kritisiert, der das Brot des religiösen Lebens aus diesen Urkunden empfängt und damit befriedigt ist.
Zahlreichen neuzeitlichen Menschen, die diesen naiven Standpunkt eingenommen hatten und dann «gescheit» geworden sind, die aufgeklärt worden sind, fielen die Widersprüche in den Evangelien auf. Dann sagten sie sich von den Evangelien und vom Glauben los. Sie erklärten: Wir können es nicht mit unserem Gewissen, mit unserem Wahrheitsgefühl vereinigen, in diesen Schriften Erkenntnisse zu finden und bei dem Glauben an diese Schriften zu bleiben. — Das ist die Stufe der «Gescheiten», die zweite Stufe.
Dann kommt die dritte Art, wie sich Menschen zu den religiösen Schriften verhalten. Sie beginnen, die Religionsschriften sinnbildlich auszulegen. Sie fangen an, Symbole, Allegorien darin zu sehen. Diesen Weg haben gerade in letzter Zeit Freidenker gewählt. Bruno Wille, der Herausgeber des Blattes «Der Freidenker», hat neuerdings diesen Weg eingeschlagen. Er ist dazu übergegangen, die Christus-Mythe wie die Bibel überhaupt einer sinnbildlichen Auslegung zu unterziehen. Ein notwendiger Entwickelungsweg, den der Mensch durchmachen muß, ein innerer Wendepunkt, kann dabei nicht herauskommen. Wer weniger geistreich ist, wird diese Schriften auch weniger geistreich ausdeuten. Andere, die geistreicher sind, werden auch mehr Geistreiches herausziehen. Dabei wird vieles hineingelegt, was ganz der menschlichen Geistreichigkeit entspricht und ihr entspringt. Das dritte ist also ein halb gläubiger, aber willkürlicher Standpunkt.
Dann kommt ein ganz anderer Standpunkt, und das ist der, wo man erkennen lernt, daß es Tatsachen der höheren Welt gibt, daß es außer unserer sinnlichen Welt noch andere, nämlich geistig-seelische Dinge gibt, und daß die religiösen Mitteilungen eben gar nicht Mitteilungen aus der sinnlichen Welt sind, sondern Darstellungen von Tatsachen einer höheren Welt. Wer dann diese Tatsachen der unmittelbar hinter unserer Welt liegenden astralen und der noch tiefer liegenden devachanischen oder mentalen Welt kennenlernt, der kommt dann wieder zu einem neuen, höheren Verständnis der religiösen Urkunden. Und es ist unmöglich, das Johannes-Evangelium ohne eine solche Erhebung zu einer höheren Welt zu verstehen. Nicht eine Dichtung, nicht eine aus bloß religiöser Inbrunst hervorgegangene Schrift ist das Johannes-Evangelium, sondern es stellt dar Mitteilungen aus höheren Welten, die der Schreiber dieses Evangeliums empfangen hat. Die Sache liegt ungefähr so - ich will Ihnen den Tatbestand kurz schildern. Was dafür als Beweis vorzubringen ist, will ich heute nicht heranziehen. Vielleicht werde ich mich das nächste Mal darauf einlassen. Derjenige, welcher das JohannesEvangelium geschrieben hat, lernte die Tatsachen, die sich zu Beginn unserer Zeitrechnung um den Stifter des Christentums abspielten, und dessen Wirken durch sein Erleben in höheren Welten kennen.
Nun ein Beispiel zu dem Unterschied zwischen bloßem Kennen und dem Erkennen. Wir haben neulich einmal hier angeführt, daß ein Mensch neben uns sein kann, daß wir ihn sehen können, wie er ist, aber daß wir ihn deshalb noch nicht zu erkennen brauchen. Ich habe in diesem Zusammenhang die Anekdote von jener Sängerin erwähnt, die auf einer Abendunterhaltung zwischen Mendelssohn und einem ihr Unbekannten saß. Sie unterhielt sich sehr gut mit Mendelssohn, aber der andere, der sehr artig war, der war ihr zuwider. Sie fragte daher hinterher: Wer war denn der dumme Kerl zu meiner Linken? - Das war doch der berühmte Philosoph Hegel! war die Antwort. Wenn der Dame vorher gesagt worden wäre, bei einer Abendunterhaltung werde der große Philosoph Hegel zu sehen sein, würde sie vermutlich allein aus diesem Grunde der Einladung gefolgt sein. Da er aber jetzt unbekannt neben ihr saß, war er der dumme Kerl. Das ist der Unterschied zwischen Sehen und Verstehen, zwischen Kennen und Erkennen.
Denjenigen, der das Christentum gestiftet hat, konnte man nicht ohne weiteres erkennen, wenn man nur den gewöhnlichen, auf das Sinnliche gerichteten Verstand hatte. Dazu gehörte das, was die christlichen Mystiker vielfach in so großen und schönen Worten zum Ausdruck gebracht haben. Das meinte auch Angelus Silesius, wenn er sagt:
Wird Christus tausendmal in Bethlehem geboren
Und nicht in dir: du bleibst noch ewiglich verloren.
Es gibt ein inneres Christus-Erlebnis, es gibt eine Möglichkeit, dasjenige zu erkennen, was uns äußerlich entgegentritt in den Ereignissen, die sich zwischen den Jahren 1 und 33 in Palästina abgespielt haben. Derjenige, der aus höheren Welten hereingekommen ist in diese Welt, muß wiederum aus einer höheren Welt verstanden werden. Und der ihn am tiefsten schildert, mußte sich erheben zu den beiden höheren Welten, die hier in Betracht kommen, zu der astralen und zu der devachanischen oder mentalen Welt. Diese Erhebung des Johannes, wenn wir sie so nennen dürfen, war die Erhebung in die zwei höheren Welten. Diese stellt uns das Johannes-Evangelium in seinen Mitteilungen dar.
Die ersten zwölf Kapitel des Johannes-Evangeliums enthalten die Erlebnisse des Johannes in der astralen Welt. Vom dreizehnten Kapitel ab sind es die Erlebnisse des Johannes in der devachanischen oder mentalen Welt, so daß sich derjenige, der das niedergeschrieben hat, von Christus sagt - die Worte sind ganz vergleichsweise zu nehmen —: Hier auf dieser Erde hat Er gelebt, hier hat Er aus Kräften heraus gewirkt, die göttlich sind, aus okkulten Kräften heraus. Er hat Kranke geheilt, Er hat alles, vom Sterben bis zum Auferstehen, durchgemacht. Diese Dinge mit dem bloßen Verstande zu begreifen, ist unmöglich. Hier auf der Erde gibt es keine Wissenschaft, keine Weisheit, durch die man verstehen kann, was da geschehen ist. Aber es gibt eine Möglichkeit, hinaufzusteigen in die höheren Welten. Da wird man die Weisheit finden, durch die man den, der hier auf der Erde gewandelt hat, verstehen kann. So erhob sich der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums hinauf in die beiden höheren Welten und ließ sich einweihen. Es war eine Einweihung, und seine Einweihung schildert der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums, die Einweihung in die astralische Welt und die Einweihung in die devachanische oder Mentalwelt.
In alten Zeiten, in denjenigen Gebieten, in denen der menschliche Körper noch dazu geeignet war, wurde eine solche Einweihung in der folgenden Weise bewerkstelligt. Der betreffende Mensch mußte eine Artvon Schlafzustand durchmachen. Alles, was sonst bei einer heutigen europäischen Einweihung, die jahrelang dauert, weil das alles nicht durchgemacht werden kann von einem Europäer, was jetzt erzählt wird, alles das, was bei einer europäischen Einweihung durch lange Meditations- und Konzentrationsübungen erreicht wird, das wurde früher, ebenfalls nach bestimmten vorhergehenden Meditations- und Konzentrationsübungen, aber in kurzer Zeit, von einigen erreicht. Ich bemerke ausdrücklich, daß für denjenigen, der wirklich die Einweihung empfangen will, doch einmal diese zwei wichtigen Erlebnisse in irgendeiner Form kommen müssen, wo er durchmacht das, was jetzt zu beschreiben ist, wenn auch auf etwas andere Weise. Durch eine Art von Schlafzustand muß der Mensch durchgehen. Um zu wissen, was eigentlich Schlaf seinem Wesen nach ist, halten wir uns nochmals vor die Seele, was vorgeht, wenn der Mensch schläft. Es sind dann seine höheren Leiber von den niederen Leibern abgetrennt. Der Mensch besteht ja zunächst aus dem physischen Leib, den Sie mit Augen sehen können. Das zweite Glied ist der sogenannte Ätherleib. Das ist dasjenige Wesensglied, das den physischen Körper umschließt, das viel feiner ist als der physische Leib, und in dem Strömungen und Organe von wunderbarer Mannigfaltigkeit und Prächtigkeit tätig sind. Im Ätherleib sind auch die gleichen Organe vorhanden wie im physischen Körper. Auch der Ätherleib hat Gehirn, Herz, Augen und so weiter. Sie stellen diejenigen Kräfte dar, welche die entsprechenden physischen Organe erst geschaffen haben. Das ist ungefähr so, wie wenn Wasser in einem Gefäß abgekühlt wird, so daß es zu Eis wird. So müssen Sie sich die Entstehung des physischen Organs durch die Verdichtung des Ätherischen vorstellen. Der Ätherleib ragt nur wenig über den physischen Leib hinaus.
Der dritte Leib ist der Astralkörper. Er ist der Träger von Begierden, Wünschen, Leidenschaften und so weiter. Er durchdringt den physischen Körper in Gestalt einer Wolke. Farben sind da, heftige Leidenschaften in Form von zuckenden Blitzen. Die Eigenschaften des Temperamentes durchgleiten den Körper in Lichtpunkten mehr oder weniger hell. Der ganze innere Mensch prägt sich nach außen in einer Lichtform aus. Das ist das eigentliche Ich des Menschen, der Iräger des höheren, des eigentlichen Wesenskernes. Wenn der Mensch des Nachts schläft, also beim gewöhnlichen Schlaf, liegen im Bett der physische Körper und der Ätherleib. Diese sind fest miteinander verbunden. Getrennt von ihnen ist der Astralleib mit allem anderen, was noch zum Menschen gehört. Solange der Mensch nicht etwas Besonderes unternimmt, bleibt er unbewußt, wenn sein Astralleib aus dem physischen Leib heraus ist. Er bleibt unbewußt, wie der Mensch in der sinnlichen Welt unbewußt bleibt ohne Augen und Ohren. Sie könnten noch so lange leben in der physischen Welt — wenn Sie nicht Augen hätten, würde es keine Farben, wenn Sie keine Ohren hätten, keine tönende Welt geben. So ist es, wenn der Astralleib außer dem Körper ist. Er ist dann ausgedehnt in der seelischen Welt, aber er sieht sie nicht, er nimmt sie nicht wahr, weil er noch keine astralen Sinne hat. Diese müssen erst nach und nach ausgebildet werden. Solange der Mensch nicht Übungen macht, so lange bleibt er in der höheren Welt bewußtlos. Macht er sie aber, dann kann er in dieser höheren Welt Bewußtsein erlangen. Wenn sein Astralleib Organe bekommt, fängt er an, die astralische Welt ringsherum zu sehen. Diejenigen, die öfter diese Vorträge gehört haben, wissen, daß es sieben solche astralen Sinne gibt. Man nennt sie die heiligen Räder, Chakrams oder Lotusblumen. Zwischen den beiden Augen, zwischen den Augenbrauen befindet sich die zweiblättrige Lotusblume. In der Nähe des Kehlkopfes ist die sechzehnblättrige Lotusblume veranlagt, in der Nähe des Herzens die zwölfblättrige. Bilden sich diese Organe nach und nach aus, so wird der Mensch sehend in der astralischen Welt.
Dieses astralische Schauen ist etwas ganz anderes als das physische Sehen. Sie können sich eine Vorstellung davon machen, wie das astralische Schauen ist, wenn Sie sich erinnern, wie das Traumleben verläuft. Sinnbilder sind es, die wir im Traume erleben. So sind auch die astralen Wahrnehmungen Sinnbilder, richtige Symbole. Da wird der Mensch ein Symbol-Sehender. Für das, was in der physischen Welt unmittelbar vorgeht, verliert er in der astralischen Welt das Bewußtsein, aber in Sinnbildern kann. er solche Tatsachen des Christus JesusLebens erfahren, wie sie Johannes aus seinem Erleben in der Astralwelt heraus schildert. Darstellungen dieser Art bilden den Inhalt der ersten zwölf Kapitel des Johannes-Evangeliums. Mißverstehen Sie mich nicht! Ich weiß, viele werden sagen: Wenn das astrale Erlebnisse sind, dann ist das doch nichts Wirkliches, und was uns von dem Stifter des Christentums gesagt wird, hat dann doch keine Gültigkeit. - Das ist nicht richtig. Es wäre das gleiche, wie wenn man leugnen wollte, daß ein Mensch aus Fleisch und Blut ein Genie ist, weil man das Genie nicht sehen kann. Wenn man auch die Wahrheit über den Christus Jesus erst auf dem Astralplan erkennen lernt, so hat sich sein Leben doch auf dem physischen Plan tatsächlich abgespielt. Wir haben es mit dem Symbol auf dem astralischen Plan und mit der äußeren Wirklichkeit auf dem physischen Plan zu tun. Nichts wird von der Tatsächlichkeit weggenommen, wenn wir sie im tieferen Sinne verstehen, im Sinne des Johannes-Evangeliums.
Der Einweihung in den astralen Plan muß das vorangehen, was man Meditation nennt. Das ist die Versenkung der Seele in sich selbst, ich habe es hier öfter geschildert. Um zu einem meditativen Erleben zu kommen, muß sich der Mensch zunächst blind und taub machen gegenüber allen sinnlichen Eindrücken. Nichts darf ihn stören, Kanonen muß man losschießen können, ohne daß er in seinem inneren Erleben etwas davon vernimmt. Das gelingt einem nicht so ohne weiteres, aber durch ständiges Üben kann man die entsprechende Fähigkeit erwerben. Der Mensch hat sich auch für das, was er schon erlebt hat, unempfänglich zu machen, das Gedächtnis muß ausgelöscht werden. Rein mit sich selbst beschäftigt muß die Seele werden, dann können aus ihrem Inneren die ewigen Wahrheiten aufsteigen, ewige Wahrheiten, die geeignet sind, nicht bloß unser Verstehen zu wecken, sondern die in unserer Seele wie verzaubert schlummernden Fähigkeiten zu entbinden. Diese großen, ewigen Wahrheiten werden dem Menschen je nach der Reife aufgehen, die er durch sein Karma erlangt hat: dem einen, wie Subba Row sagt, in sieben Inkarnationen, dem anderen in siebzig Jahren, einem anderen in sieben Jahren, anderen in sieben Monaten, sieben Tagen oder in sieben Stunden.
Johannes gibt nun auch dasjenige an, was ihn in einen solchen seelischen Zustand versetzt hat, was ihn hineingeführt hat in das Wahrnehmen auf dem astralischen Plan. Die Formel, die er als Meditationsformel gebraucht hat, steht am Anfang seines Evangeliums: «Im Urbeginne war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und ein Gott war das Wort. Dieses war im Urbeginne bei Gott. Alles ist durch dasselbe geworden, und außer durch dieses Wort ist nichts von dem Entstandenen geworden. In ihm war das Leben, und das Leben war das Licht der Menschen. Und das Licht schien in die Finsternis, aber die Finsternis hat es nicht begriffen.»
In diesen fünf Sätzen liegen die ewigen Wahrheiten, die in der Seele des Johannes die großen Gesichte herauszaubern. Das ist die Meditationsformel. Derjenige, für den das Johannes-Evangelium geschrieben ist, darf es nicht nur lesen wie irgendein anderes Buch. Er muß die ersten fünf Sätze als Meditationsformel betrachten, dann lebt er Johannes nach, dann sucht er. dasselbe zu erleben, was Johannes erlebt hat. Das ist der Weg, ihm nachzuleben, so ist es gemeint. Johannes sagt: Tut, was ich getan habe, lasset in euren Seelen die großen Sätze «Im Anfang war das Wort» und so weiter wirken, und ihr werdet bewahrheitet finden, was in meinen zwölf ersten Kapiteln gesagt ist.
Das ist etwas, was einzig und allein zum Verständnis des Johannes-Evangeliums beitragen kann. So ist es gemeint, und so soll es benutzt werden. Was nun das «Wort» bedeutet, das habe ich auch schon öfter erwähnt. Im Anfang - fassen wir das richtig, was das heißt. «Im Anfang» ist keine gute deutsche Übersetzung. Die Übersetzung müßte eigentlich lauten: Aus den Urkräften sproßte das Wort heraus. Das heißt es: da kam das Wort heraus, aus den Urkräften heraus. Im Anfang heißt also: aus den Urkräften heraus.
Wenn der Mensch in diesen Schlafzustand kommt, dann ist er nicht mehr in der sinnlichen Welt. Er geht in eine seelische Welt hinein, und in dieser seelischen Welt erlebt er die Wahrheit über die sinnliche Welt. Da geht ihm die Wahrheit der sinnlichen Welt auf. Er geht aus den abgeleiteten Worten der sinnlichen Welt zu den Urkräften zurück und steigt zu den Worten der Wahrheit auf. Jede Wahrheit hat sieben Bedeutungen. Für den sich versenkenden Mystiker hat sie hier aber diese Bedeutung: Die Erkenntnis, das Wort, das da aufgeht, ist nicht etwas, was gestern und heute gilt, sondern dieses Wort ist ewig. Dieses Wort führt zu Gott, weil es bei Gott selbst immer war, weil es das Wesen selbst ist, das Gott in die Dinge hineingelegt hat.
Es gibt aber noch ein anderes Verständnis, und das erwirbt man sich, wenn man jeden Tag immer wieder zurückkehrt zu dem bedeutsamen Wort: «Im Urbeginne war das Wort.» Wenn man anfängt, es nicht nur mit dem Verstande, sondern mit dem Herzen zu verstehen, so daß das Herz ganz eins wird mit diesem Wort, dann geht die Kraft auf, dann beginnt schon der Zustand, von dem Johannes spricht. Er schildert das mit großer Anschaulichkeit: «Alles ist durch dasselbe geworden, und außer durch dieses Wort ist nichts von dem Entstandenen geworden.»
Was finden wir in diesem Wort? Wir finden das Leben. Was erkennen wir durch das Leben? Durch das Licht? Ganz wörtlich müssen wir die religiösen Urkunden auffassen, wenn wir zu einer höheren Erkenntnis aufsteigen wollen. Wohin scheint das Licht, wenn der Mensch dazu kommt? In die Finsternis der Nacht. In diejenigen kommt es hinein, die schlafen. Es kommt in jeden hinein, der schläft. Aber die Finsternis hat es nicht begriffen - bis die Fähigkeit entstand, es auf dem astralen Plan wahrzunehmen. So ist auch der fünfte Satz wörtlich zu verstehen. Das astralische Licht scheint hinein in die Finsternis der Nacht, aber die Menschen sehen gewöhnlich nicht das Licht, sie müssen erst sehen lernen.
Da für den Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums dies alles Wirklichkeit wurde, ging ihm auch das Licht auf, wer der war, dessen Schüler und dessen Apostel er war. Hier auf Erden hat er ihn gesehen. Nun hat er ihn auf dem astralen Plane wieder entdeckt, und er hat erkannt, daß der, welcher auf Erden im Fleisch gewandelt ist, von dem, was in seinem eigenen tiefsten Inneren lebt, nur durch ein Etwas unterschieden war. In jedem einzelnen Menschen lebt ein Gottmensch. In ferner Zukunft wird dieser Gottmensch aus jedem einzelnen auferstehen. So wie der Mensch heute vor uns steht, ist er in seinem äußeren Ausdruck mehr oder weniger ein Abdruck des inneren göttlichen Menschen, und dieser innere göttliche Mensch arbeitet fortwährend an dem äußeren Menschen.
Ich habe bereits am letzten Donnerstag darauf aufmerksam gemacht, wie man sich das schon an der Oberfläche klarmachen kann. Sehen Sie sich ein Kind an. Sie mögen vielleicht sagen, in diesen naiven Zügen liege der Vater, die Mutter, ein Oheim oder ein Ahne. Aber alles, was innen ist, drückt sich in den Gesichtszügen aus, drückt sich in den Gesten der Hand, in den ganzen Bewegungen des Kindes aus. Es arbeitet sich heraus das, was in dem Kinde schlummert. Dann kommt endlich das Eigene heraus, die Physiognomie wird ein Abdruck der eigenen Seele, während vorher mehr der Gattungstypus zum Ausdruck kam. Im Wilden schlummert die eigene Seele gewöhnlich noch und hat nur ein spärliches Dasein. In vielen Inkarnationen arbeitet sich aber das Individuelle heraus, die Seele bekommt mehr Macht über den physischen Körper, die Physiognomie bekommt den Abdruck oder den Ausdruck des Inneren. Im Unreifen drückt sich wenig von der Gewalt der Seele aus. Reifer wird der Mensch, und reif ist er, wenn das innere Wort ganz Fleisch geworden ist, wenn das Äußere ein genauer Abdruck des Inneren geworden ist, so daß das Fleisch ganz durchgeistigt ist. Das hat er aber erst jetzt verstanden, nachdem ihm klar vor das astrale Auge getreten ist das höhere Selbst. Das stand auf dem astralen Plane vor dem Seelenauge des Johannes, und er erkannte: Das bin ich. Ich habe es heute nur auf dem astralen Plane erlebt, es wird aber allmählich herunterrücken, wie es bei dem geschehen ist, dem ich gefolgt bin. - Es ist die tiefe Verwandtschaft des Christus Jesus mit dem Gottmenschen, der in jedem Menschen veranlagt ist. Das ist das tiefe innere Erlebnis des Johannes. Das innere Selbst lebt im Menschen unbewußt, und es wird der Seele erst durch die geschilderten Vorgänge bewußt.
Was heißt das: Etwas wird uns bewußt? Kann etwas in uns bewußt werden, das bloß in unserem Inneren lebt? Solange es bloß in unserem Inneren lebt, ist es uns nicht bewußt. Was subjektiv ist, was der Mensch in sich trägt, dessen ist er sich nicht bewußt. Ich möchte einen groben Vergleich gebrauchen, um das zu verdeutlichen. Sie alle haben ein physisches Gehirn, aber Sie sehen es nicht. Man müßte es herausschneiden, dann könnten Sie es sehen. Derselbe Grund, nur in einer etwas anderen Weise, liegt vor dafür, daß Sie Ihr höheres Ich nicht sehen. Es ist das Ich in Ihnen drinnen. Es muß aber heraus, wenn Sie es wahrnehmen sollen, und das kann nur auf dem astralischen Plan geschehen. Wenn es herausgeht und vor Ihnen ist, dann ist in geistiger Beziehung dasselbe geschehen, wie wenn Sie auf einen Teller ein physisches Gehirn legen und es zum Objekte Ihrer sinnlichen Anschauung machen würden.
Diesen Vorgang schildert der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums: Das eigene höhere Ich tritt vor ihn, das eigene höhere Ich, das in seiner Vollendung den Christus darstellt. Wenn Sie das wissen, dann erst werden Sie gewisse Andeutungen, gewisse Wahrheiten der ersten Kapitel des Johannes-Evangeliums verstehen können. Einzelnes werden Sie sehr gut verstehen, wenn Sie nur das nehmen, was ich bis jetzt schon gesagt habe. Man bezeichnet in der okkulten Sprache dasjenige, worin zunächst dieses Ich wohnt, den physischen Körper, den es sich aufgebaut hat, um darin zu wohnen, als den Tempel. So daß man sagt: Die Seele wohnt in dem Tempel.
Es ist nun keine ganz schmerzlose Prozedur, wenn die Seele zum ersten Male aus dem Tempel des Leibes herausgehen soll, so daß sie draußen sichtbar ist. Dieses Verlassen des Leibes ist nicht schmerzlos. Alles, was diesen höheren Zusammenhang mit dem physischen Leibe bildet, das sind nicht so leicht zu lösende Fesseln, was Sie sich ungefähr so vorstellen können: Nehmen Sie an, Sie sind mit einem Gegenstande durch Fesseln verbunden und reißen ihn los - Sie werden schmerzliche Eindrücke durch dieses Zerreißen haben. Das ist durchaus ein Vorgang wie ein Zerreißen, wenn der Astralleib herausgeht aus dem physischen Leib, wenn er wahrnehmbar herausgeht. Das Heraustreten beim Schlaf ist etwas anderes, da nimmt der Mensch überhaupt nichts wahr. Tritt er aber bewußt heraus, dann werden die Schmerzen wahrnehmbar.
Wenn der Mensch nun anfängt, astral bewußt zu werden, dann treten ihm die Dinge auf dem Astralplan im Spiegelbild entgegen. 165 dürfen Sie nicht 165 lesen, sondern 561, also wie im Spiegelbild geschrieben. Alles erscheint im Astralplan umgekehrt. Sogar die Zeit ist umgekehrt. Wenn Sie einen Menschen auf dem Astralplan verfolgen, so gehen Sie zunächst aus von dem Orte, wo er ist. Dann können Sie zurückgehen bis zu seiner Geburt. Rückwärts können Sie ihn verfolgen; auf dem physischen Plane — vorwärts, auf dem astralen Plane - zurück. So erscheint uns das Heraustreten aus der physischen Körperlichkeit. Es ist, wie wenn wir den Tempel des Leibes verlassen würden und gepackt würden von allen Seiten. Das ist der ° Vorgang, den Johannes schildern will, der darin besteht, daß er aus sich herausgetreten ist, um den Christus, sein eigenes höheres göttliches Selbst, vor sich zu erleben. Die Menschen, die um ihn herum sind, sind so, daß sie streng, wie mit Fesseln, ihren Astralleib an ihren physischen Leib gefesselt haben. Wäre Johannes so geblieben wie sie, dann wäre er weiterhin an den physischen Leib gefesselt.
Nun lesen Sie, wie dieser Vorgang bildlich, symbolisch im Johannes-Evangelium Kapitel 8, Verse 58 und 59, geschildert ist: «Jesus sprach zu ihnen: Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch: ehe denn Abraham ward, bin ich. - Da hoben sie Steine auf, daß sie auf ihn würfen. Aber Jesus verbarg sich und ging zum Tempel hinaus, mitten durch sie hindurchstreichend», durch die Hindernisse. Damit endet das achte Kapitel. Das ist der Vorgang des Heraustretens des Astralleibes aus dem physischen Leibe. Gewöhnlich dauert solch ein Vorgang, ein letzter Akt, der zu diesem Heraustreten führt, um den Menschen völlig sehend zu machen, drei Tage. Wenn diese drei Tage um sind, dann erlangt der Mensch ein ebensolches Bewußtsein auf dem astralen Plan wie früher auf dem physischen Plan. Dann vereinigt er sich mit der höheren Welt.
Man nennt in der okkulten Sprache diese Vereinigung mit der höheren Welt die Hochzeit der Seele, die mit den Mächten der höheren Welt geschlossen ist. Wenn man herausgetreten ist aus dem physischen Leib, dann steht der physische Leib einem gegenüber wie dem Kinde, wenn es Bewußtsein haben könnte, bei der Geburt gegenüberstehen würde die Mutter, aus der es herausgeboren ist. So steht der physische Leib einem gegenüber, und es kann ganz gut der astralische Leib zum physischen Leibe sagen: Dies ist meine Mutter. Wenn er seine Hochzeit gefeiert hat, dann kann er das sagen, dann blickt er zurück auf die früher vorhanden gewesene Vereinigung. Nach drei Tagen kann das geschehen. So ist der okkulte Vorgang für den Astralplan. Kapitel 2, Vers 1, heißt es: «Und am dritten Tage ward eine Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa; und die Mutter Jesu war da.» Das ist der bildliche Ausdruck für das, was ich eben gesagt habe. Am dritten Tage geschah das.
Wenn der Mensch aus dieser Welt in die astrale Welt eingetreten ist, befindet er sich in einem Gebiete, aus dem ihn ein weiterer Aufstieg in eine noch höhere Welt, in die mentale oder devachanische Welt führt. Dieser Eintritt in die mentale oder devachanische Welt muß mit einem völligen Entwerden, einer Tötung der niederen Natur erkauft werden. Der Mensch muß durchgehen durch den dreitägigen Tod und dann auferweckt werden. Ist er auf dem Astralplan sehend geworden, sind ihm die Bilder auf dem Astralplan entgegengetreten, dann ist er auch reif geworden, wissend zu werden auf dem mentalen oder devachanischen Plan. Das ist so, daß man dann schildern kann seine Auferweckung auf dem devachanischen Plan. Das bewußte, gedankliche Sich-Finden auf dem höheren Plan für sein eigenes Selbst — das ist die Auferweckung des Lazarus.
Auch diese Auferweckung des Lazarus schildert Johannes. Zuvor hat er gezeigt, daß man durch diesen ganzen Vorgang in die höhere Welt eintreten kann, daß dies die Tür ist zu den höheren Welten. In Kapitel 10, Vers 9, heißt es: «Ich bin die Tür; so jemand durch mich eingeht, der wird selig werden und wird ein- und ausgehen und Weide finden.» Das ist die Auferweckung dessen, was in Schlaf gehüllt war und nun auferweckt wird auf dem Devachanplan. Johannes macht sie durch. Johannes ist Lazarus, und Johannes will nichts anderes sagen als das, was in seinen ersten zwölf Kapiteln beschrieben ist: Als astrales Erlebnis hat er geschildert, daß er auferweckt war auf dem astralen Plan. Dann geschah die Einweihung für den devachanischen Plan. Drei Tage hat er im Grabe gelegen, und dann hateer die Auferweckung empfangen. Die Auferweckung des Lazarus ist die eigene Auferwekkung des Johannes, der das Evangelium geschrieben hat.
Lesen Sie alles nach bis zu dem Kapitel über die Auferweckung des Lazarus, ob Johannes schon irgendwo vorkommt, ob irgendwo eine Andeutung von ihm zu finden ist. Sehen Sie Lazarus und Johannes an. Von Johannes heißt es: «Es war aber einer unter seinen Jüngern, der zu Tische saß an der Brust Jesu, welchen Jesus lieb hatte.» Und gerade bei Lazarus finden Sie auch das Wort, daß der Herr ihn lieb hatte. Es ist dieselbe Individualität. Sie wird nicht erwähnt vor der Erweckung. Erst nachher tritt sie auf, nachdem sie «vom Tode auferweckt» worden ist.
Das sind die Geheimnisse, die im Johannes-Evangelium schlummern. Der Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte - das ist derjenige, den er selbst eingeweiht hat. Der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums war derjenige, den der Herr lieb hat. Und wodurch war er imstande, das zu schreiben? Er war dadurch dazu imstande, daß er zuerst auf dem astralen Plan und dann auf dem Devachanplan eingeweiht worden ist. Wenn Sie so die Auffassung des Johannes-Evangeliums vertiefen, dann wird erst das Johannes-Evangelium in seiner wahren Tiefe verstanden werden, dann wird es zu einer der größten Urkunden, die jemals geschrieben worden sind. Es ist die Schilderung der Einweihung in die Tiefen des Seelenlebens. Geschrieben ist es darum, damit jeder das, was darin steht, nachleben kann. Und das kann man. Satz für Satz, Wort für Wort kann der Mensch in sich selbst bei seiner Erhebung auf den höheren Plan das finden, was im Johannes-Evangelium geschildert ist. Nicht eine Biographie des Christus Jesus ist es, sondern eine Biographie der sich entwickelnden Menschenseele. Und was geschildert ist, das ist ewig, und immer kann es sich in der Brust eines jeden Menschen ereignen. Ein Muster und Vorbild ist diese Schrift. Deshalb hat sie auch jene lebendige und erweckende Kraft, die den Menschen nicht nur zum Christen macht, sondern ihn die Auferweckung zu einer höheren Wirklichkeit nachvollziehen läßt. Nicht eine Bekenntnisschrift ist das Johannes-Evangelium, sondern eine Schrift, welche Kraft und selbständiges höheres Leben wirklich gibt. Das sprießt aus diesem Johannes-Evangelium, und wer es so aufnimmt, daß er es nicht bloß verstehen will, sondern es leben will, der hat dieses Johannes-Evangelium in der richtigen Weise verstanden.
Nur mit wenigen Worten konnte ich auf das hindeuten, was darin enthalten ist. Das nächste Mal wollen wir auf Einzelheiten eingehen. Sie werden dann sehen, wie jeder einzelne Satz Ihnen eine Bestäti“gung sein kann für das, was wir heute in allgemeinen Umrissen über das Johannes-Evangelium gesagt haben. Sie werden dann nach und nach sehen, inwiefern sich dieses Johannes-Evangelium nicht bloß an den Intellekt des Menschen richtet, sondern an seine sämtlichen Seelenkräfte, und wie aus dem Johannes-Evangelium tatsächlich Seeleninhalte hervorsprießen.
First Lecture
Today and next time, I want to talk about the Gospel of John. I would like to note that the discussions we will hear about the Gospel of John will, however, only be more or less comprehensible to those participants who have already studied spiritual science to some extent. But it would, of course, take us too far afield if we were to discuss here all the other things that might be of interest to non-theosophists.
You may be aware that a certain view has recently emerged regarding the New Testament writings, the Gospels, which has essentially devalued the Gospel of John as a historical document. In theological circles, at least in “progressive” circles, it is said that only the first three Gospels, the synoptic Gospels, can be considered documents about the life of the founder of Christianity. They are called synoptic because their content is summarized and a theological overview of the life of Christ Jesus is presented. In contrast, modern theologians try to interpret the Gospel of John as a kind of poetry, as a confessional writing, as the writing of a person who describes his emotional impressions, his inner religious life, as he received it through the influence of Christianity. So that we would have to see the Gospel of John as a devotional text, a fervent confession, but nothing that could in any way be considered real Christian facts.
However, for anyone who delves deeply into the New Testament writings, one inner fact will be absolutely certain. That is that life flows directly from the Gospel of John, a conviction and a source of truth of a different kind than from other religious writings. A certainty flows from it that does not actually require any external facts. It is a feeling that comes over people when they approach the Gospel of John and have a sense of inner spiritual life, of spiritual deepening. One cannot really understand what is actually present here through anything other than spiritual scientific deepening. I have often spoken to you about how to relate to religious documents through spiritual science, through spiritual deepening.
Each of you knows that the first relationship one has to religious writings is that of the naive person who accepts the facts as they are described, who does not criticize them further, who receives the bread of religious life from these documents and is satisfied with that.
Many modern people who had taken this naive standpoint and then became “intelligent,” who had been enlightened, noticed the contradictions in the Gospels. Then they renounced the Gospels and their faith. They declared: We cannot reconcile it with our conscience, with our sense of truth, to find knowledge in these writings and to remain faithful to them. — This is the stage of the “intelligent,” the second stage.
Then comes the third way in which people relate to religious writings. They begin to interpret religious writings symbolically. They begin to see symbols and allegories in them. Freethinkers have recently chosen this path. Bruno Wille, the editor of the magazine “Der Freidenker” (The Freethinker), has recently taken this path. He has begun to subject the Christ myth, like the Bible in general, to a symbolic interpretation. This cannot result in a necessary path of development that man must go through, an inner turning point. Those who are less spiritual will interpret these writings less spiritually. Others who are more spiritual will draw more spiritual meaning from them. In doing so, they will read into them much that corresponds entirely to human spirituality and springs from it. The third is therefore a half-believing but arbitrary point of view.
Then comes a completely different point of view, and that is where one learns to recognize that there are facts of the higher world, that there are other things besides our sensory world, namely spiritual and soul things, and that religious communications are not communications from the sensory world at all, but representations of facts of a higher world. Those who then become acquainted with these facts of the astral world lying immediately behind our world and the even deeper devachanic or mental world, then come to a new, higher understanding of the religious documents. And it is impossible to understand the Gospel of John without such an elevation to a higher world. The Gospel of John is not a work of fiction, nor is it a text that arose from mere religious fervor, but rather it presents messages from higher worlds that the writer of this Gospel received. The situation is roughly as follows—I will briefly describe the facts to you. I do not wish to present the evidence for this today. Perhaps I will do so next time. The person who wrote the Gospel of John learned about the events surrounding the founder of Christianity at the beginning of our era and his work through his experiences in higher worlds.
Now, an example of the difference between mere knowledge and recognition. We recently mentioned here that a person can be next to us, that we can see them as they are, but that we do not necessarily recognize them. In this context, I mentioned the anecdote about the singer who sat between Mendelssohn and a stranger at an evening party. She enjoyed talking to Mendelssohn, but found the other man, who was very polite, repulsive. Afterwards, she asked: Who was that stupid fellow on my left? “That was the famous philosopher Hegel!” was the reply. If the lady had been told beforehand that the great philosopher Hegel would be present at the evening entertainment, she would probably have accepted the invitation for that reason alone. But since he was now sitting next to her as a stranger, he was the stupid fellow. That is the difference between seeing and understanding, between knowing and recognizing.
The founder of Christianity could not be easily recognized by those who had only the ordinary, sensual mind. This included what Christian mystics have often expressed in such grand and beautiful words. Angelus Silesius also meant this when he said:
If Christ is born a thousand times in Bethlehem
And not in you, you will remain lost forever.
There is an inner Christ experience, there is a possibility of recognizing what we encounter externally in the events that took place in Palestine between the years 1 and 33. The one who came into this world from higher worlds must in turn be understood from a higher world. And the one who describes him most profoundly had to rise to the two higher worlds that are relevant here, the astral and the devachanic or mental world. This elevation of John, if we may call it that, was the elevation into the two higher worlds. This is what the Gospel of John presents to us in its messages.
The first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John contain John's experiences in the astral world. From the thirteenth chapter onwards, they are John's experiences in the devachanic or mental world, so that the person who wrote this down says of Christ — the words are to be taken quite comparatively —: Here on this earth He lived, here He worked out of powers that are divine, out of occult powers. He healed the sick, He went through everything, from death to resurrection. It is impossible to comprehend these things with the mere intellect. Here on earth there is no science, no wisdom through which one can understand what happened there. But there is a possibility of ascending into the higher worlds. There one will find the wisdom through which one can understand the one who walked here on earth. Thus the writer of the Gospel of John ascended into the two higher worlds and allowed himself to be initiated. It was an initiation, and the writer of the Gospel of John describes his initiation, the initiation into the astral world and the initiation into the devachanic or mental world.
In ancient times, in those areas where the human body was still capable of it, such an initiation was accomplished in the following manner. The person concerned had to go through a kind of sleep state. Everything that is otherwise part of a modern European initiation, which lasts for years because a European cannot go through everything that is described here, everything that is achieved in a European initiation through long meditation and concentration exercises, was achieved in the past by some people, also after certain preceding meditation and concentration exercises, but in a short time. I expressly note that for those who truly wish to receive initiation, these two important experiences must come in some form, where they go through what is now to be described, albeit in a slightly different way. The person must go through a kind of sleep state. In order to know what sleep actually is in its essence, let us once again consider what happens when a person sleeps. Their higher bodies are then separated from their lower bodies. Human beings consist first of all of the physical body, which you can see with your eyes. The second member is the so-called etheric body. This is the member of the being that surrounds the physical body, which is much finer than the physical body, and in which currents and organs of wonderful diversity and splendor are active. The etheric body also contains the same organs as the physical body. The etheric body also has a brain, heart, eyes, and so on. They represent the forces that first created the corresponding physical organs. It is similar to when water in a vessel is cooled so that it turns into ice. This is how you should imagine the formation of the physical organ through the condensation of the etheric. The etheric body protrudes only slightly beyond the physical body.
The third body is the astral body. It is the bearer of desires, wishes, passions, and so on. It permeates the physical body in the form of a cloud. Colors are present, violent passions in the form of flashing lightning bolts. The characteristics of the temperament flow through the body in points of light of varying brightness. The whole inner human being is expressed outwardly in a form of light. This is the true self of the human being, the bearer of the higher, the true core of the being. When a person sleeps at night, that is, during normal sleep, the physical body and the etheric body lie in bed. These are firmly connected to each other. Separated from them is the astral body with everything else that still belongs to the human being. As long as a person does not do anything special, they remain unconscious when their astral body is outside their physical body. They remain unconscious, just as a person remains unconscious in the sensory world without eyes and ears. You could live in the physical world for as long as you like — if you had no eyes, there would be no colors; if you had no ears, there would be no world of sound. This is how it is when the astral body is outside the physical body. It is then expanded into the soul world, but it does not see it, it does not perceive it, because it does not yet have astral senses. These must first be developed gradually. As long as a person does not do exercises, they remain unconscious in the higher world. But if they do them, they can attain consciousness in this higher world. When their astral body acquires organs, they begin to see the astral world around them. Those who have heard these lectures more often know that there are seven such astral senses. They are called the sacred wheels, chakrams, or lotus flowers. Between the two eyes, between the eyebrows, is the two-petaled lotus flower. The sixteen-petaled lotus flower is located near the larynx, and the twelve-petaled lotus flower is located near the heart. As these organs gradually develop, the human being becomes able to see in the astral world.
This astral vision is something completely different from physical vision. You can get an idea of what astral vision is like by remembering how dream life unfolds. We experience symbols in our dreams. Astral perceptions are also symbols, true symbols. The human being becomes a symbol-seer. In the astral world, they lose consciousness of what is happening in the physical world, but in symbols they can experience such facts of the life of Christ Jesus as John describes from his experience in the astral world. Representations of this kind form the content of the first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John. Please do not misunderstand me! I know that many will say: if these are astral experiences, then they are not real, and what we are told about the founder of Christianity is not valid. That is not correct. It would be the same as denying that a human being of flesh and blood is a genius because one cannot see the genius. Even if one only learns to recognize the truth about Christ Jesus on the astral plane, his life did indeed take place on the physical plane. We are dealing with the symbol on the astral plane and with external reality on the physical plane. Nothing is taken away from reality when we understand it in a deeper sense, in the sense of the Gospel of John.
Initiation into the astral plane must be preceded by what is called meditation. This is the immersion of the soul in itself, as I have often described here. In order to attain a meditative experience, the human being must first make himself blind and deaf to all sensory impressions. Nothing must disturb them; cannons must be able to fire without them noticing anything in their inner experience. This is not easy to achieve, but through constant practice, the necessary ability can be acquired. One must also make oneself impervious to what one has already experienced; one's memory must be erased. The soul must become purely preoccupied with itself, then eternal truths can rise from within, eternal truths that are capable not only of awakening our understanding, but also of releasing the abilities that lie dormant in our soul as if enchanted. These great, eternal truths will dawn on people according to the maturity they have attained through their karma: for some, as Subba Row says, in seven incarnations, for others in seventy years, for others in seven years, for others in seven months, seven days, or seven hours.
John now also reveals what put him in such a state of mind, what led him into perception on the astral plane. The formula he used as a meditation formula is found at the beginning of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through it, and without it nothing was made that has been made. In it was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shone in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it."
These five sentences contain the eternal truths that conjure up the great visions in the soul of John. This is the formula for meditation. Those for whom the Gospel of John was written should not read it like any other book. They must regard the first five sentences as a formula for meditation, then they will live according to John, then they will seek to experience the same thing that John experienced. That is the way to live according to him, that is what is meant. John says: Do what I have done, let the great sentences “In the beginning was the Word” and so on work in your souls, and you will find true what is said in my first twelve chapters.
This is something that can contribute solely to the understanding of the Gospel of John. That is how it is meant, and that is how it should be used. I have already mentioned several times what the “Word” means. In the beginning – let us understand correctly what that means. “In the beginning” is not a good English translation. The translation should actually be: The Word sprouted from the primal forces. That is what it means: the Word came forth from the primal forces. In the beginning therefore means: from the primal forces.
When a person enters this state of sleep, they are no longer in the sensory world. They enter a spiritual world, and in this spiritual world they experience the truth about the sensory world. There, the truth of the sensory world dawns on them. They return from the derived words of the sensory world to the primal forces and ascend to the words of truth. Every truth has seven meanings. For the contemplative mystic, however, it has this meaning here: the insight, the word that dawns, is not something that applies yesterday and today, but this word is eternal. This word leads to God because it has always been with God himself, because it is the essence itself that God has placed in things.
But there is another understanding, and this is acquired by returning again and again every day to the meaningful word: “In the beginning was the Word.” When one begins to understand it not only with the mind but with the heart, so that the heart becomes completely one with this word, then the power arises, then the state of which John speaks already begins. He describes this with great clarity: “All things were made through it, and without it nothing was made that has been made.”
What do we find in this word? We find life. What do we recognize through life? Through light? We must take religious documents quite literally if we want to ascend to a higher level of knowledge. Where does the light shine when man comes to it? Into the darkness of the night. It enters those who are asleep. It enters everyone who is asleep. But darkness did not comprehend it—until the ability arose to perceive it on the astral plane. The fifth sentence is also to be understood literally. The astral light shines into the darkness of the night, but people do not usually see the light; they must first learn to see.
Since all this became reality for the writer of the Gospel of John, it also dawned on him who was the one whose disciple and apostle he was. Here on earth he saw him. Now he has rediscovered him on the astral plane, and he has recognized that the one who walked on earth in the flesh was only distinguished from what lives in his own deepest inner being by one thing. A god-man lives in every single human being. In the distant future, this god-man will rise from each individual. As human beings stand before us today, their outer expression is more or less an imprint of the inner divine human being, and this inner divine human being is constantly working on the outer human being.
Last Thursday, I already pointed out how this can be clearly seen on the surface. Look at a child. You may say that these naive features resemble the father, the mother, an uncle, or an ancestor. But everything that is inside is expressed in the facial features, in the gestures of the hands, in all the movements of the child. What lies dormant in the child works its way out. Then finally the individual emerges, the physiognomy becomes an imprint of the individual's soul, whereas before it was more the generic type that was expressed. In the savage, the individual soul usually still slumbers and has only a sparse existence. But in many incarnations, the individual emerges, the soul gains more power over the physical body, and the physiognomy takes on the imprint or expression of the inner self. In the immature, little of the power of the soul is expressed. Man becomes more mature, and he is mature when the inner word has become completely flesh, when the outer has become an exact imprint of the inner, so that the flesh is completely spiritualized. But he has only now understood this, after the higher self has clearly appeared before his astral eye. This stood before John's soul's eye on the astral plane, and he recognized: This is me. Today I have only experienced it on the astral plane, but it will gradually descend, as it did with the one I followed. It is the deep kinship of Christ Jesus with the God-man who is inherent in every human being. This is John's profound inner experience. The inner self lives unconsciously in human beings, and it only becomes conscious to the soul through the processes described.
What does it mean to become conscious of something? Can something that lives only within us become conscious to us? As long as it lives only within us, we are not conscious of it. What is subjective, what a person carries within themselves, they are not aware of. I would like to use a rough comparison to illustrate this. You all have a physical brain, but you cannot see it. It would have to be cut out for you to see it. The same reason, only in a slightly different way, applies to the fact that you cannot see your higher self. It is the self within you. But it must come out if you are to perceive it, and that can only happen on the astral plane. When it comes out and is before you, then the same thing has happened in a spiritual sense as if you were to place a physical brain on a plate and make it the object of your sensory perception.
The writer of the Gospel of John describes this process: one's own higher self appears before him, one's own higher self, which in its perfection represents Christ. Only when you know this will you be able to understand certain hints, certain truths in the first chapters of the Gospel of John. You will understand individual points very well if you just take what I have said so far. In occult language, what this self initially dwells in, the physical body it has built for itself to dwell in, is called the temple. So we say: the soul dwells in the temple.
It is not an entirely painless procedure when the soul has to leave the temple of the body for the first time, so that it is visible outside. Leaving the body is not painless. Everything that forms this higher connection with the physical body are bonds that are not so easy to break. You can imagine it something like this: suppose you are connected to an object by bonds and you tear it away – you will have painful impressions from this tearing. It is quite a process like tearing when the astral body leaves the physical body, when it leaves perceptibly. Leaving during sleep is something else, because then the person does not perceive anything at all. But if they leave consciously, then the pain becomes perceptible.
When a person begins to become astral conscious, the things on the astral plane appear to them as mirror images. You must not read 165, but 561, as written in the mirror image. Everything appears reversed on the astral plane. Even time is reversed. If you follow a person on the astral plane, you start from the place where they are. Then you can go back to their birth. You can follow them backwards; on the physical plane — forwards, on the astral plane — backwards. This is how stepping out of physical corporeality appears to us. It is as if we were leaving the temple of the body and were seized from all sides. This is the process that John wants to describe, which consists in his stepping out of himself in order to experience Christ, his own higher divine self, before him. The people around him are such that they have bound their astral bodies to their physical bodies as if with chains. If John had remained like them, he would have remained bound to the physical body.
Now read how this process is described figuratively and symbolically in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verses 58 and 59: "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Then they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, passing through them," through the obstacles. This is how the eighth chapter ends. This is the process of the astral body emerging from the physical body. Usually, such a process, a final act that leads to this emergence, takes three days to make the person fully sighted. When these three days are over, the person attains the same consciousness on the astral plane as they previously had on the physical plane. Then they unite with the higher world.
In occult language, this union with the higher world is called the marriage of the soul, which is concluded with the powers of the higher world. When one has left the physical body, the physical body stands before one like a child, if it could have consciousness, would stand before the mother from whom it was born at birth. So the physical body stands before you, and the astral body can quite well say to the physical body: This is my mother. Once it has celebrated its wedding, it can say this, looking back on the union that existed before. This can happen after three days. Such is the occult process for the astral plane. Chapter 2, verse 1, says: “And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there.” This is the figurative expression of what I have just said. It happened on the third day.
When a person has entered the astral world from this world, they find themselves in a realm from which a further ascent leads them to an even higher world, the mental or devachanic world. This entry into the mental or devachanic world must be purchased with a complete becoming-nothing, a killing of the lower nature. The human being must pass through the three-day death and then be resurrected. Once he has become seeing on the astral plane, once the images on the astral plane have come to meet him, then he has also become ripe to become knowing on the mental or devachanic plane. It is so that one can then describe his resurrection on the devachanic plane. The conscious, mental finding of oneself on the higher plane for one's own self — that is the raising of Lazarus.
John also describes this raising of Lazarus. He has previously shown that through this whole process one can enter the higher world, that this is the door to the higher worlds. In chapter 10, verse 9, it says: “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” This is the raising of that which was shrouded in sleep and is now raised on the devachanic plane. John goes through it. John is Lazarus, and John wants to say nothing other than what is described in his first twelve chapters: as an astral experience, he described that he was awakened on the astral plane. Then the initiation for the devachanic plane took place. He lay in the tomb for three days, and then he received the awakening. The raising of Lazarus is the raising of John himself, who wrote the Gospel.
Read everything up to the chapter about the raising of Lazarus to see if John appears anywhere, if there is any hint of him anywhere. Look at Lazarus and John. Of John it is said: “But there was one of his disciples, who sat at Jesus' breast, whom Jesus loved.” And precisely in the case of Lazarus you also find the words that the Lord loved him. It is the same individuality. It is not mentioned before the resurrection. It only appears afterwards, after he has been “raised from the dead.”
These are the secrets that lie dormant in the Gospel of John. The disciple whom the Lord loved is the one whom he himself initiated. The writer of the Gospel of John was the one whom the Lord loved. And how was he able to write this? He was able to do so because he was first initiated on the astral plane and then on the devachanic plane. If you deepen your understanding of the Gospel of John in this way, then the Gospel of John will be understood in its true depth, and it will become one of the greatest documents ever written. It is a description of initiation into the depths of the soul life. It was written so that everyone can experience what is written in it. And that is possible. Sentence by sentence, word by word, human beings can find within themselves, as they ascend to the higher plane, what is described in the Gospel of John. It is not a biography of Christ Jesus, but a biography of the developing human soul. And what is described is eternal, and can always take place in the heart of every human being. This scripture is a model and example. That is why it has the living and awakening power that not only makes people Christians, but also allows them to comprehend the resurrection to a higher reality. The Gospel of John is not a confession of faith, but a text that truly gives power and an independent, higher life. This springs from the Gospel of John, and whoever takes it in such a way that they not only want to understand it, but also want to live it, has understood the Gospel of John in the right way.
I have been able to indicate what is contained in it with only a few words. Next time we will go into details. You will then see how each individual sentence can be a confirmation for you of what we have said today in general terms about the Gospel of John. You will then gradually see how this Gospel of John addresses not only the intellect of the human being, but all the powers of the soul, and how the contents of the soul actually spring forth from the Gospel of John.