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The Christian Mystery
GA 97

3 February 1907, Heidelberg

V. The Gospel of John

Christian theologians are calling the gospel of John into question today.53E.g. Strauss, David Friedrich (1808–74), German theologian, Leben Jesu (life of Jesus) 1835, translated into English by George Eliot in 1846; Renan, Ernest (1823–92), French philologist and historian, Vie de Jésus (life of Jesus) 1863; Hamack, Adolf von(1851–1930), Das Wesen des Christentums (the nature of Christianity) Leipzig 1901. They say the first three gospels, the synoptic gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, are consistent in the way they speak of Jesus. Any variations between them are considered unimportant. It is said that on the basis of the synoptic gospels one can have a consistent idea of Jesus. The gospel of John differs greatly from them, speaking of the founder of Christianity in a very different tone and apparently a very different way. It is therefore considered less credible. The synoptics, people say, were intended to tell the life of Christ, whilst the writer of John's gospel lived at a later period and wrote a kind of hymn to express how he felt. Theologians see John's gospel as the fictional work of a believer. The times have gone when a theologian like Bunsen54Bunsen, Christian KarlJosias, Baron (1791–1860), Prussian diplomat, theologian and scholar, author of works on history and theology. might write: ‘If the gospel of John does not tell the historical truth, Christianity simply will not be tenable.’ It is the task of spiritual science to show the significance of John's gospel again to the people of today.

There is another reason why present-day theologians give preference to the synoptics over John's gospel. If one takes the content of these three gospels, having thrown out the miracles, one has the image of an exalted human being, but someone who is no more than an exalted human being. According to the gospel of John, however, Jesus was more than just a highly developed human being. He was a universal spirit incarnated in an earthly body. The synoptics speak of Jesus of Nazareth, the gospel of John is about the Christ.

The introduction to John's gospel refers to an all-encompassing cosmic principle, the logos, which incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth: ‘In the beginning was the logos.’ People do not want to know about a sublime spirit descending. They only believe in highly developed human beings and not that a god ever lived on earth. It is because of this that people have gradually lost their relationship to the gospel of John over the last centuries. This lecture will be about the way people relate to the gospel of John.

If you read John's gospel the way you read any other book, to find out what it says, you are reading it very much the wrong way. John's gospel is not a book in the sense one generally takes a book to be. It is a book of life.

Let me say first of all that in all deeply religious documents every word has been put there with profound intention. This may be illustrated by considering the question: ‘What is the name of Jesus' mother according to John's gospel?’ Everyone will say: ‘Mary’. But this cannot be shown from John's gospel. Jesus' mother is first mentioned in the story of the wedding at Cana, but she is not named: ‘On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there.’55John 2: 3-5. She is mentioned again and not named as one of the three women who stood by the cross: ‘But beside Jesus' mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.’56John 19: 25. Here it is not his mother but her sister who is called ‘Mary’. It is unlikely that both sisters would be called Mary, and we therefore have to assume that Jesus' mother had a different name.

Another example is this. The writer of John's gospel or the individual who is otherwise always called John, is always only referred to as ‘the disciple whom the Lord loved’. ‘When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother: Here is your son.’57John 19: 26 This is deeply important if we are to understand the questions we meet when we take the gospel of John in a spiritual sense.

Until a few centuries ago, the gospel of John was considered to be a book of meditation. It had to become inward experience if one wanted to have inner understanding of Jesus. It was for priests who wished to behold the secrets of Christianity. Hundreds of people have truly done this, and hundreds of them have gained the fruit of it. To penetrate to the Christian mysteries one had to let one's soul mature solely with the aid of John's gospel. People had to know, however, that the first lines had magic powers. The pupil had to let them come alive in his soul for a quarter to half an hour every morning, never speculating on them but purely to absorb their power. This was meditation. Someone who lived with the first lines of John's gospel in this way for months, for years, would realize their special power, for the eyes of the spirit would open for him. Those lines are live powers capable of waking dormant faculties. The pupils would then have living astral visions of the images given in the gospel. The first words of it served to give people this experience. Their power was greater in the past than it is today. People have changed more than one tends to think.

People did not read in the 13th century, when printing had not yet been developed. Reading has changed humanity a great deal. Even the most devout individual today has no idea of the riches of feeling people then had. Today we must give different meditations to people who want to progress.

It would also be necessary to translate John's gospel properly,58Rudolf Steiner had translated John 1:1 -14 for a lecture he gave in Munich on 27 Oct. 1906 (in German in GA 94). See also lecture of 2 Dec. 1906 in this volume. so that it may once again be what it used to be for people.

In the origin was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was a god.

This was with God in the origin.

All that exists has come into being through it, and nothing that has come into existence has done so except through it. In it was life, and life was the light of mankind. And the light shone into the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it.

There came to be a man, sent by God, and his name was John. He came to witness, that he bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but a witness of the light.

For the true light, that illumines all men, was to come into the world. It was in the world, and the world came into being through it, but the world did not know it.

It came into individual human beings (it came to the I-people); but the individual human beings (the I-people) did not receive it.59The manuscript of Rudolf Steiner's translation into German is in the Archives in Domach (No. NZ 3477). The words in parentheses were added by him at a later stage.

At the time of the Lemurian race, the human soul entered into its first human incarnation. Before then it rested in God; human beings were not yet I-endowed.

This inner vision—what happens when someone gains insight into the world of the spirit? Everyday people live between waking and sleep, the latter at most broken up by dreams. Human beings consist of physical body, ether or life body, astral body and I. These four members are together when people are awake. The physical body is a sum of physical apparatuses, the eye a camera obscura, the ear a stringed instrument. The ether body enters into these, vitalizing them and conveying the sensations to the astral body—the bearer of pleasure and pain, drives, desires and passions—and then also to the I. In sleep, the physical and ether bodies lie in the bed, the astral body with the I is lifted out. The ether body stays with the physical body and vitalizes it; vital functions continue without interruption in sleep. Colours, sounds, pleasure and pain are in deep darkness, as it were, with the individual not aware of them.

There are as many worlds as the human being has sense organs to perceive. Without eyes no light. If man had an organ for electricity he would perceive it just as he now perceives light, for instance.

In sleep, a human being lives in the astral or also in the devachanic world, but is not sentient of it. A change will only come if he works consistently to develop higher organs. Light then begins to dawn around him. In sleep, he is sentient of a space around him that is filled with objects. Something happens to him the way it does to someone born blind who has an operation. Astral and spiritual sense organs develop, he sees the world of the spirit, and sleep no longer makes him unconscious. Later the world of the spirit around him begins to sound. He hears the Pythagoreans' music of the spheres, something people nowadays think is a metaphor. Goethe knew exactly what it was. In his prologue to Faust he said:

The sun proclaims its old devotion
In rival song with brother spheres,
And still completes in thunderous motion
The circuits of its destined years.60Karl Julius Schröer wrote in his Faust commentary: ‘The ancient Germans believed that a sound could be heard as the sun rose (Tacitus, Germania 45). In one of the Songs of Ossian translated by Goethe it says: “Where the sun sings as he rises.” The Pythagoreans held the view that the law of physics according to which heavenly bodies move and are held, is expressed in sounds that are the harmony of the spheres.’

This cannot be taken to be mere words but must be taken literally. One hears the sun sound forth when one hears the music of the spirit. In part 2 of Faust, Goethe wrote:

Resounding now for ears of spirit
The new day is already being born.61Here Karl Julius Schröer again referred to the ancient Germans and to Ossian, continuing: ‘Goethe probably had the passages 5, 749 and 8, 393 in the Iliad in mind. The Horae, guardians of Olympus, guard, open and close the gate of heaven. Those passages do, however, say: Heaven's gate crashed open of its own accord which the Horae were guarding.’

The world of the spirit thus first comes during sleep for human beings, but they must also be able to take the experiences they have had in their sleep into the everyday world. They must find the things they first discover in sleep among the physical objects they know when awake. This comes with further training.

When the first lines of John's gospel had had their effect, and the gospel's images arose before the mind's eye, the pupil would be assisted in developing certain feelings. After some further exercises the teacher would ask him to develop the following feeling, doing this for a long time: ‘If the plant that grows in the soil were to consider the rock on which it is growing it would have to say to it: "You, stone, belong to a lower realm than I do, but I could not exist without you." It would have to bend down to it and thank it in all humility for making life possible for it. In the same way every higher class of human beings must bend down to the lower class and thank it. Every individual who is at a higher level owes his existence to the one who is lower than he is. This is a feeling you must firmly establish in your soul, for hours every day, for weeks and for months.’

If the pupil did this, a spiritual image would finally appear before his eyes that would be the same for everyone. He would see twelve people of a lower order sitting around him and he would wash their feet. The teacher would then say: ‘Now you have inner understanding of the 13th chapter of John's gospel, the washing of the feet.’ Apart from this image seen in the spirit there would also be physical symptoms which again were the same for almost all of them. The pupil would feel as if there was water washing around his feet.

He then had to develop a second feeling, again for weeks and months. When all the pain and hardships of life beset me, I want to develop the strength to withstand them. When he had developed this inner feeling a new vision would arise. He would see himself being scourged. This vision again would be the same for everyone. The outer symptom would be a stinging and itching sensation over the whole body that continued for a long time. He would then have to develop a third feeling. It is not enough to bear the hardships of life: ‘The best you have in you may have scorn and derision poured on it. Remain upright in spite of this.’ When the pupil had developed this feeling a third vision would appear: He would see himself wearing the crown of thorns. The external symptom would be a severe headache.

He then had to develop another feeling. ‘All people say “I” to the body they bear. Your body must be no more important to you than any other object. You must feel your body to be something alien to you.’ When the pupil had gone through this, the vision of the crucifixion would come, and externally the stigmata of the Christ on hands and feet and on the right side of the chest—not the left, as is usually said. These symptoms would come again on many occasions at times of meditation.

The teacher would then say to the pupil: ‘You will now experience the mystic death.’ This can only be described in approximate words. The pupil's experience would be that the whole of existence was extinguished for a moment; all objects had gone, were hidden behind a veil. The veil would then rip apart from top to bottom and the pupil would look into the world of the spirit. Before this there was something else. Before he knew mystic death, the pupil would have visions of all the evil that may exist in the world; he had to descend to hell before he experienced the mystic death.

In the sixth stage the pupil would begin to feel that his body no longer was something that belonged to him. His conscious awareness expanded to embrace the whole earth. When this had been developed it would be called the entombment. The seventh stage can no longer be described in earthly terms. It was resurrection and ascension to heaven. This state is beyond anything a human being can think of.

The gospel of John describes these seven stages. Someone who had gone through them all would recognize Jesus as he had lived on earth. The gospel of John is the way of coming to know Christ Jesus. It was therefore given to those who wanted to grow wise as a book to help their development, not as a book of devotions. Every part of it can become living experience.

Details: The revelation of this truth is a stage in human evolution that cannot be compared with any other. The following came into the world with Jesus: Man already had four members when he first incarnated, but he developed further. Let us consider an undeveloped human being. His astral body would still be the way it was when he received it. Let us compare it with the astral body of an average European or that of an idealist such as Schiller62Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von (1759–1805), German writer, poet and playwright. or a highly developed individual such as Francis of Assisi.63St Francis of Assisi (1182–1226), Pater Seraphicus, see R. Steiner's lectures given in Berlin on 15 Feb. 1909 (in The Principle of Spiritual Economy, GA 109) and 22 March 1909 (in The Deed of Christ and the Opposing Spiritual Powers, GA 107). The average European no longer obeys every drive. He will reject some, and also put other feelings in their place—moral laws. The I has been working on the astral body. His astral body consists of two parts—the unpurified part, which is still the way it was when he received it, and the purified part. In Schiller, the purified part was already large, compared to the unpurified. And the astral body of a Francis of Assisi consists of the purified part only. This purified part of the astral body is called the spirit self or manas, and the human being then has five principles to his essential nature.

Human beings can work on their ether bodies in the same way. Religious and artistic feelings work on the ether body and create the life spirit, buddhi, out of it. If someone is able to gain control of the physical body, the part of it which he has made spiritual is the atman. The process is exceedingly slow in external evolution. In Greece the buddhi was called Chrestos, and most people today have only the first beginnings of this. The greatest power given to our age to develop the buddhi came with the Christ. He made it possible to develop the sixth principle, the buddhi, in the whole of humanity. He made humanity spiritual.

The seventh principle is that of the father. The holy spirit develops manas, the Christ the sixth principle, and when this has been extensively developed for a whole race, the power that has lain hidden in it emerges, and that is the sixth principle. All human beings who are part of that race will then have reached the sixth stage of initiation, which is the entombment.

A cheerfull or a sad face tells us that the soul is cheerful or is sad; the outer reveals the inner, everything brings the soul to revelation. If you think of the earth as the body of an ensouled being, then the souls of human beings have merged with the soul of the earth when their bodies have merged physically with the earth. The soul in the earth could be just as the human soul is in the human body. Man takes his food from the body of the earth and tramples it underfoot. Jesus said: ‘He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’

Older writings often have keywords, specific terms for particular things. Thus a master going to the inner sanctuary with his pupils is ‘going up the mountain’. The sermon on the mount was for the pupils only: ‘And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain ... his disciples came to him.’64John 13:18. Sermon on the mount—see also the lecture given in Stuttgart on 19 Jan. 1907, in this volume.

In the same way ‘temple’ refers to the physical body. It is usually referred to as our lower nature. Is it truly low in relation to the astral body? The fact is that the physical body is much more highly developed than the astral body today. Later on, of course, the astral body will be much more highly developed than the physical body. Consider the thigh bone, where maximum strength is given using the minimum of material. Or consider the heart, which is so wisely organized that it resists continuous attacks from the astral body for decades.

It was said that when an initiate's astral body loosened and came to conscious awareness: ‘He has gone out of the temple.’ The Christ speaks of the temple in the gospel of John: ‘Then they took up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.’65John 8: 59. He also spoke in this sense of cleansing the temple and destroying it and rebuilding it in three days.

How the Christ came into the world may be seen as follows. The sixth principle, the buddhi, is born of the fifth when this has reached its highest point, of the spirit self or manas or, to use the name the Greeks had for the fifth principle, Sophia. All gnostics who accepted the meaning of the gospel of John called the mother of Jesus ‘Sophia’.

With the appearance of Jesus the earth received the sixth principle. The life spirit united with humanity. For this to be accomplished, the Sophia had to be fully mature first. When the life spirit unites with humanity, humanity is the Sophia. This is given as a parable in the story of the wedding at Cana.

The Lord let the gospel of John be revealed by the disciple whom he loved. That is always the name given to the first and favourite pupil of a master. In the gospel of John, reference to the disciple whom the Lord loved is first made in chapter 11, where he speaks of the raising of Lazarus. In those days, a pupil would spend three days in the temple to be initiated. Not only his astral body but his ether body, too, would be loosened. He therefore died, as it were, and was raised again at the end of the three-day period. The Lord initiated the disciple whom he loved, and the raising of Lazarus signifies this.

The disciple who stood by the cross was therefore again Lazarus, and the same initiate also wrote the gospel of John. To make it all harmonize, the disciple whom the Lord loved is not mentioned before the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11. This was the view held in all gnostic and Rosicrucian schools. It is a view that will be held again.

The gospel of John is a book full of secrets, full of powers offered to humanity.

Questions and Answers

What is the ‘causal body?’

When people die today, the ether body separates from the physical body together with the astral body and the I. The ether body still stays with the higher members for a time, and during this first period after leaving the physical body a person's whole last life lies spread before him like a vast tableau. This is because the ether body supports not only the vital functions but also memory. In life it was limited by the physical brain and unable to function fully. As soon as the physical barriers have gone, the complete memory spreads before the human soul. This continues until the ether body separates from the astral body and I after a few days. It is only the ether substance which separates, however. The memory picture is taken along. The individual keeps this essence of the ether body, and the sum of such essences from all lives on earth is the causal body.

How should we regard the celebration of the last supper in the gospel of John, and especially bread being given to Judas, the betrayer?

A specific part of the old form of initiation consisted in the pupil being taken to the temple, and in a ‘three-day death’, which meant that the ether body was also loosened and taken through astral and devachanic experiences. One of these was that every part of the body became a human figure. There were twelve parts, and the pupil would see twelve figures, with himself the thirteenth, the soul of the twelve.

Sensuality has brought egotism and this must be overcome. This was an important part of the teaching for medieval initiands. At that time, a teacher might have said something like the following to a pupil. ‘Look at the plant, it chastely holds the fruiting organs up to the sun. A fruit can only develop if the flower is kissed by the sun. Man is an upside-down plant. The animal is between the two. The cosmic soul goes through plant, animal and man. The cosmic soul is crucified on the cross which is the earth. Man's substance is interwoven with desires. His flesh is lower than the flesh of a plant. Later, man will be without desire again and chastely offer himself to the rays of the spiritual sun.’ The principle known as the holy grail arises, which is a bringing forth in the spirit.

At the last supper in the gospel of John, lower self-seeking is represented by Judas, the betrayer. The disciple whom the Lord loved was leaning on his breast. The purified energy goes up to the heart which will be the organ for bringing things forth in the spirit in future. This can already be seen in the anatomy of the heart. The heart is an involuntary muscle and therefore should have smooth fibres. But it does not; it is striated the way voluntary muscles are. It is thus already pointing to a time when it will be a voluntary muscle.

When pupils woke from their initiation, the words ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!’66Matthew 27: 46; Mark 15: 34.; ‘sabachthan’, is usually translated as ‘forsaken’. A similar-sounding word ‘shevachthani’ means ‘elevated’ or ‘glorified’. See lecture given in Basel on 12 Sept. 1910 (in The Gospel of St Matthew, GA 123). would be wrested from their lips, they mean ‘My God, my God, how you have transfigured me!’ These words given in the original text are easily changed to the other version, which is: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

The house where the last supper was taken was one of the initiation houses.

What did the transformation of water into wine at Cana mean?

The way modern theologians explain it, it is the transformation of the old testament into the new, which is to be the bubbling wine. Here in the north, Siegfried was the pre-Christian initiate who did not go beyond pre-Christian initiation. This is indicated by his vulnerable spot. Siegfried, invulnerable, was vulnerable at the point where the Christ bore the cross.

One individual will come who signifies the meaning of the earth. Water is the blood of this spirit. Water was known as ‘the blood of Christ’ in all the mysteries.

In the 8th century before Christ, the rites of Dionysus developed and with them also excessive drinking of wine. Wine was not known in Atlantean times. Today it has fulfilled its function. The appearance of the vine louse is a sign that wine has had its day. When it did not yet exist, all human beings had an awareness of the eternal core that goes from life to life. Belief in reincarnation was a consolation for an Egyptian worker who had to labour so hard that we cannot imagine it today. Those people did not drink wine. Drinking wine cuts human beings off from insight into the higher aspects. This had to happen at one time. If humanity had never had wine, they would have grown weary of the earth and that could not be allowed to happen. To develop civilization, human beings had to come to love the earth; they had to be cut off from their earlier incarnations and love only the one in which they were at the time. The whole of humanity once had to go through a period when they knew nothing of their higher principles and of earlier incarnations. Christianity did not teach reincarnation in public for two millennia; it was only taught to initiates, which is also what the Christ did when he asked them to tell no one about the things they had seen till he had come again,67Mark 9: 9. that is, until the sixth principle had slowly evolved. That time has now come. The whole of humanity has now gone through one incarnation where they were cut off from the higher world.

In earlier times marriage was among blood relations. A consequence of the change to marrying out of one's tribe was that clairvoyance was lost. Today marriage between blood relations would cause degeneration. In those early days, people not only remembered things from their own but also from their parents' lives. This inherited memory bore a name: Adam, Seth, Enoch. Apart from memories, good and evil things were also inherited—original sin.

To change this, general love of humanity had to replace the blood bonds. ‘He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.’68Luke 14: 26; Matthew 10: 37; Mark 10: 29.

Jesus also went to people not of his tribe, to the Samaritan woman. ‘Jews had nothing in common with Samaritans.’69John 4: 9. Christ Jesus came from Galilee, a country of the most mixed blood possible.

A spirit on a distant star looking at the earth would see the physical earth penetrated and surrounded by an ether and an astral body. If this spirit had observed earth evolution from Abraham to the present day it would have seen its colours change at the moment when the blood flowed from Christ's wounds. An initiation like that of Paul the apostle70John 4: 9. could not have happened before the coming of the Christ. This external initiation had become possible when the earth's whole astral body changed.

Question concerning the future of Christianity

Christianity has such infinite depths that it is quite impossible to see how it will develop. As a religion it is the last. It has all the potential for development. Theosophy merely serves Christianity.

The difference between the Christ and the other founders of great religions is that in the other religions people believe in what the founders taught, in Christianity people believe in what the Christ himself represents.

Healing influence of the ether body on the physical body

Mental diseases are partly due to the fact that the ether body does not have the power to influence certain parts of the physical body. If the ether body is too weak to control part of the body, this part will get sick. If you strengthen the ether body you have helped.

Das Johannes-Evangelium

Von der heutigen christlichen Theologie wird das Johannes-Evangelium angefochten. Man sagt: Die Synoptiker, die drei ersten Evangelien nach Matthäus, Markus und Lukas, gäben ein einheitliches Bild von Jesus. Die Abweichungen hält man für unbedeutend. Man sagt, nach den Synoptikern könne man sich ein einheitliches Bild von Jesus machen. Das Johannes-Evangelium dagegen weicht davon stark ab, indem es in ganz anderem Ton und scheinbar in ganz anderer Weise über den Stifter des Christentums spricht. Man hält es deshalb für weniger glaubwürdig. Die Synoptiker, sagt man, wollten das Leben Christi erzählen, der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums aber habe später gelebt und in einer Art von Hymnus ausgedrückt, was er fühlte. Die Theologie sieht im Johannes-Evangelium eine glaubige Dichtung. Die Zeiten sind vorüber, wo der Theologe Bunsen sagte: Wenn das Johannes-Evangelium nicht historische Wahrheit enthält, dann ist das Christentum überhaupt nicht zu halten. — Die Geisteswissenschaft hat die Aufgabe, die Bedeutung des Johannes-Evangeliums den heutigen Menschen wieder zu eröffnen.

Es gibt noch etwas anderes, weshalb die heutigen Theologen den Synoptikern den Vorzug vor dem Johannes-Evangelium geben. Wenn man den Inhalt dieser drei Evangelien zusammenfaßt, nachdem man die Wunder hinausgeworfen hat, so geben sie das Bild eines erhabenen Menschen, der aber eben nur ein hochentwickelter Mensch ist. Nach dem Johannes-Evangelium aber war Jesus etwas anderes als nur ein hochentwickelter Mensch: Er war eine universelle Wesenheit, die in dem irdischen Leibe verkörpert war. Die Synoptiker erzählen von Jesus von Nazareth, das Johannes-Evangelium handelt von dem Christus.

Die Einleitung des Johannes-Evangeliums redet von einem umfassenden Weltprinzip, dem Logos, das sich in Jesus von Nazareth verkörperte: «Im Urbeginne war der Logos.» Der heutige Mensch will nichts wissen von einem hochgeistigen Wesen, das heruntersteigt. Er glaubt nur an hochentwickelte Menschen, er glaubt nicht, daß je ein Gott auf Erden gelebt hat. Davon rührt es her, daß man in den letzten Jahrhunderten das Verhältnis zum Johannes-Evangelium verloren hat. Über dieses Verhältnis des Menschen zum JohannesEvangelium soll der Vortrag handeln.

Wenn man das Johannes-Evangelium liest, wie man ein anderes Buch liest, um sich zu unterrichten von dem, was darin steht, so liest man es ganz falsch. Das Johannes-Evangelium ist kein Buch wie das, was man heute unter einem Buch versteht. Es ist ein Lebensbuch.

Es sei vorausgeschickt, daß in allen tiefreligiösen Urkunden jedes Wort mit tiefer Absicht gesetzt ist. Ein Beispiel sei erläutert anhand der Frage: Wie heißt nach dem Johannes-Evangelium die Mutter Jesu? - Jeder wird antworten: Maria. -— Aber aus dem JohannesEvangelium läßt sich das nicht nachweisen. Die Mutter Jesu wird im Johannes-Evangelium zuerst bei der Erzählung der Hochzeit zu Kana erwähnt, aber ohne Namen: «Und am dritten Tage war eine Hochzeit zu Kana, und die Mutter Jesu war da.» Später wird sie noch einmal erwähnt unter den drei Frauen am Kreuze: «Es stand aber bei dem Kreuze Jesu seine Mutter und seiner Mutter Schwester, Maria, des Kleophas Weib, und Maria Magdalena.» Hier wird also nicht die Mutter Jesu, sondern ihre Schwester «Maria» genannt. Da es nicht wahrscheinlich ist, daß die Schwestern beide Maria hießen, so muß man annehmen, daß die Mutter Jesu einen andern Namen trug.

Ein anderes Beispiel: Der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums oder derjenige, der sonst immer als Johannes bezeichnet wird, heißt hier immer nur «der Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte»: «Da nun Jesus seine Mutter sah und den Jünger dabei stehen, den er lieb hatte, spricht er zu seiner Mutter: Weib, siehe, das ist dein Sohn.» Dies ist von tiefer Bedeutung für das Verständnis der Fragen, die uns im Johannes-Evangelium entgegentreten, wenn wir es in geistigem Sinne auffassen.

Bis vor wenigen Jahrhunderten wurde das Johannes-Evangelium als Meditationsbuch angesehen, das derjenige, der eine innere Anschauung von Jesus haben wollte, innerlich erleben mußte. Es war für den Priester, der die Geheimnisse des Christentums schauen wollte. Das haben Hunderte und Hunderte wirklich ausgeführt, und Hunderte und Hunderte haben die Früchte davon gehabt. Wer zu den christlichen Mysterien vordringen wollte, sollte seine Seele allein durch das Johannes-Evangelium reif machen. Aber er mußte wissen, daß die ersten Sätze Zauberkraft haben. Der Schüler mußte sie jeden Morgen eine Viertel- oder halbe Stunde in seiner Seele leben lassen, aber ohne darüber zu spekulieren, sondern um rein die Kraft daraus zu saugen. Das war Meditation. Dem, der so monatelang, jahrelang mit den ersten Sätzen des Johannes-Evangeliums lebte, zeigten diese Sätze eine besondere Kraft: Die geistigen Augen gingen ihm auf. Diese Sätze sind lebendige Kräfte, die fähig sind, schlummernde Fähigkeiten zu wecken. So erlebte der Schüler alle Bilder des Johannes-Evangeliums in astralen Visionen. Die ersten Worte können dieses Erleben hervorbringen. Diese Kraft war früher größer als heute. Die Menschen haben sich mehr verändert, als man gewöhnlich glaubt.

In der Zeit des 13. Jahrhunderts, als es noch keine Buchdruckerkunst gab, lasen die Menschen nicht. Das Lesen hat die Menschen sehr verändert. Von dem Reichtum der Gefühle der damaligen Menschen macht sich heute auch der Allerfrömmste keinen Begriff. Heute müssen wir denen, die vorwärtskommen wollen, andere Meditationen geben.

Man müßte auch das Johannes-Evangelium richtig übersetzen, damit es den heutigen Menschen wieder das sein könnte, was es den früheren war:

«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 ist nichts von dem Entstandenen geworden. In diesem 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. Es ward ein Mensch, gesandt von Gott, mit seinem Namen Johannes.

Dieser kam zum Zeugnis, auf daß er das Zeugnis ablege von dem Licht, auf daß durch ihn alle glauben sollten.

Er war nicht das Licht, sondern ein Zeuge des Lichtes.

Denn das wahre Licht, das alle Menschen erleuchtet, sollte in die Welt kommen.

Es war in der Welt, und die Welt ist durch es geworden, aber die Welt hat es nicht erkannt.

In die einzelnen Menschen kam es (bis zu den Ich-Menschen kam es); aber die einzelnen Menschen (die Ich-Menschen) nahmen es nicht auf.»

Zur Zeit der lemurischen Rasse stieg die menschliche Seele in ihre erste menschliche Verkörperung. Vorher ruhte sie im Schoße Gottes; die Menschen waren noch keine Ich-Menschen.

Das innere Schauen. — Was geht nun vor, wenn der Mensch sich einen Einblick in die geistige Welt verschafft? Der Alltagsmensch lebt zwischen Wachen und Schlaf, der höchstens durch den Traum unterbrochen wird. Der Mensch besteht aus physischem Leib, dem Ätherleib oder Lebensleib, dem astralischen Leib und dem Ich. Diese vier Glieder sind im Wachen beieinander. Der physische Leib ist eine Summe von physikalischen Apparaten, das Auge eine Camera obscura, das Ohr ein Saiteninstrument. Diese Apparate werden durchsetzt von dem Ätherleib, der sie belebt und der die Empfindungen dem Astralleib, dem Träger von Lust und Leid, von Trieb, Begierde und Leidenschaft, und weiter auch dem Ich überträgt. Im Schlafe liegen der physische und der Ätherleib im Bette, der astralische Leib mit dem Ich ist herausgehoben. Der Ätherleib bleibt beim physischen Leib und belebt ihn; die Lebensfunktionen sind nicht unterbrochen während des Schlafes. Farben, Töne, Lust und Leid aber sind wie in ein tiefes Dunkel getaucht, der Mensch ist sich ihrer nicht bewußt.

So viele Welten gibt es, als der Mensch Organe hat, sie wahrzunehmen. Ohne Augen kein Licht. Hätte der Mensch ein Organ für die Elektrizität, so würde er diese ebenso wahrnehmen, wie er jetzt etwa das Licht wahrnimmt.

Im Schlafe lebt nun der Mensch in der astralen oder auch in der devachanischen Welt, aber er empfindet dort nichts. Erst wenn er durch ausdauernde Arbeit höhere Organe herausbildet, tritt eine Veränderung mit dem Menschen ein: Es beginnt um ihn her hell zu werden. Im Schlafe empfindet er einen Raum um sich her, erfüllt von Gegenständen. Es geschieht ihm, wie dem Blindgeborenen, der operiert wird, astrale und geistige Sinnesorgane entstehen, er sieht die geistige Welt, der Schlaf macht ihn nicht mehr unbewußt. Später beginnt die geistige Welt um ihn her zu tönen. Er hört die Sphärenmusik der Pythagoreer, die der heutige Mensch für einen bildlichen Ausdruck hält. Goethe verstand es richtig. Im Prolog des «Faust» sagt er:

Die Sonne tönt nach alter Weise
In Brudersphären Wettgesang,
Und ihre vorgeschriebne Reise
Vollendet sie mit Donnergang.

Das kann man nicht für eine Phrase halten, sondern man muß es wörtlich nehmen: Man hört die Sonne tönen, wenn man die geistige Musik hört. Im zweiten Teil des «Faust» sagt Goethe im gleichen Sinne:

Tönend wird für Geistesohren
Schon der neue Tag geboren.

Die geistige Welt tritt also für den Menschen zuerst im Schlafe auf, aber was er im Schlafe erlebt, muß er auch ins Alltagsleben herübernehmen können. Das, was er zuerst im Schlafe entdeckt, muß er auch im Wachen zwischen den physischen Gegenständen wiederfinden. Das erfolgt in der weiteren Schulung des Schülers.

Nachdem die Wirkung der ersten Sätze des Johannes-Evangeliums eingetreten war, indem die Bilder desselben vor seine Seele traten, unterstützte man ihn in der Ausbildung gewisser Gefühle. Nach einigen anderen Übungen forderte der Lehrer den Schüler auf, lange Zeit hindurch folgendes Gefühl auszubilden: Würde die Pflanze, die aus dem Boden wächst, den Stein betrachten, aus dem sie wächst, so müßte sie zu ihm sagen: Du Stein gehörst zwar einem niedereren Reiche an als ich, aber ohne dich könnte ich nicht sein. — Sie müßte sich demütig zu ihm herunterneigen und ihm danken, daß er ihr das Leben ermöglicht. Ebenso müßte das Tier demütig sich vor der Pflanze neigen und ihr danken, daß sie ihm die Atmungsluft gibt, die es verbraucht. Ebenso muß jede höhere Klasse von Menschen sich herabneigen zu der niederen Klasse und ihr danken. Jeder höherstehende Mensch verdankt dem niederen sein Dasein. Dieses Gefühl mußt du ganz in deiner Seele festsetzen, stundenlang, jeden Tag, in Wochen oder Monaten.

Führte der Schüler das aus, so kam schließlich ein geistiges Bild vor seine Augen, das bei jedem in gleicher Weise auftrat: Er sah um sich herum zwölf niedere Menschen sitzen, denen er die Füße wusch. Dann sagte ihm der Lehrer: Jetzt verstehst du innerlich das dreizehnte Kapitel des Johannes-Evangeliums, die Fußwaschung. Neben diesem geistigen Bild trat auch ein äußeres Symptom auf, und zwar wieder bei allen das gleiche. Der Schüler fühlte, wie wenn Wasser um seine Füße spülte.

Darauf hatte er ein zweites Gefühl durch Wochen und Monate zu entwickeln: Wenn alle möglichen Schmerzen und alle Härten des Daseins auf mich eindringen, ich will die Kraft entwickeln, mich immer dagegenzustellen. — Hatte er dieses Gefühl in sich entwickelt, so trat wieder eine Vision auf: Er sah sich gegeißelt. Auch diese Vision trat bei allen in gleicher Weise ein. Das äußere Symptom war ein Stechen und Jucken am ganzen Körper während langer Zeit.

Darauf hatte er ein drittes Gefühl auszubilden: Die Härten des Daseins zu ertragen, ist noch nicht genug. Es kann das Beste, das du hast, dir mit Spott und Hohn übergossen werden. Bleibe dennoch aufrecht stehen. — Hatte der Schüler dieses Gefühl ausgebildet, so trat eine dritte Vision ein: Er sah sich mit der Dornenkrone. Als äußeres Symptom fühlte er heftige Kopfschmerzen.

Darauf hatte er wieder ein anderes Gefühl auszubilden: Alle Menschen sagen zu dem Leibe, den sie tragen: Ich. Dein Leib muß dir nicht wichtiger sein als irgendein anderer Gegenstand. Du mußt deinen Leib als etwas Fremdes empfinden. — Hatte der Schüler das durchgemacht, so trat die Vision der Kreuzigung ein, äußerlich begleitet von dem Auftreten der Blutmale Christi an den Händen und Füßen und an der rechten Brust — nicht an der linken Brust, wie gewöhnlich gesagt wird. In den Zeiten der Meditation kamen diese Symptome öfter wieder.

Darauf sagte der Lehrer zum Schüler: Nun kannst du den mystischen Tod erleben. Dieses kann nur ungefähr geschildert werden. Der Schüler erlebt, wie wenn das ganze Dasein für einen Moment ausgelöscht würde, alle Dinge sind nicht mehr da, sind hinter einem Schleier verborgen. Dann reißt der Schleier von oben bis unten auseinander, und der Schüler sieht in die geistige Welt. Davor kommt noch ein anderes Moment. Vor dem mystischen Tode hat der Schüler Visionen von allem Schlechten, was es in der Welt geben kann; er muß in die Hölle hinabsteigen, ehe er den mystischen Tod erlebt.

Darauf folgt die sechste Station, wo der Schüler anfängt, seinen Leib überhaupt nicht mehr als etwas ihm Eigenes zu empfinden. Er erweitert sein Bewußtsein auf die ganze Erde. Hat er das ausgebildet, so nennt man das die Grablegung. — Die siebente Station kann man nicht mehr mit irdischen Worten schildern. Es ist die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt; dieser Zustand ist höher, als sich ein Mensch ausdenken kann.

Diese sieben Stufen schildert das Johannes-Evangelium. Wer sie alle durchmachte, der erkannte Jesus, wie er auf Erden gelebt hat. Das Johannes-Evangelium ist der Weg, den Christus Jesus zu erkennen. Deshalb wurde es denen, die weise werden wollten, als Entwikkelungsbuch, nicht nur als Erbauungsbuch gegeben. Man kann jeden Teil daraus erleben.

Einzelheiten: Daß diese Wahrheit der Menschheit enthüllt wurde, bildet einen Abschnitt in der Menschenentwickelung, der sich mit keinem andern Abschnitt vergleichen läßt. Durch Jesus wurde in die Welt folgendes hineingebracht: Viergliedrig war der Mensch schon bei seiner ersten Verkörperung, aber er entwickelte sich weiter. Betrachten wir einen unentwickelten Menschen: sein astralischer Leib ist so geblieben, wie er ihn erhalten hat. Vergleichen wir ihn mit dem astralischen Leib eines europäischen Durchschnittsmenschen oder dem eines Idealisten wie Schiller oder einem hochentwickelten Menschen wie Franz von Assist. Der europäische Durchschnittsmensch folgt nicht mehr allen seinen Trieben. Die einen verwirft er, er setzt auch andere Gefühle an ihre Stelle, die moralischen Gebote. Das Ich hat an dem astralischen Leib gearbeitet. Sein astralischer Leib besteht aus zwei Teilen: dem ungeläuterten, der noch so ist, wie er ihn empfing, und dem geläuterten Teil. Bei Schiller ist der geläuterte Teil schon sehr groß gegenüber dem ungeläuterten. Und der Astralleib eines Franz von Assisi besteht nur noch aus dem geläuterten Teil. Diesen geläuterten Teil des astralischen Leibes nennt man das Geistselbst oder Manas. Der Mensch hat dann fünf Wesensglieder.

Ebenso kann der Mensch in den Ätherleib hineinarbeiten. Religiöse und künstlerische Gefühle arbeiten am Ätherleib und schaffen daraus den Lebensgeist, Buddhi. Kann der Mensch seinen physischen Leib in seine Gewalt bekommen, so ist das, was er davon vergeistigt hat, das Atma. In der äußeren Entwickelung geht dieser Prozeßß sehr langsam vor sich. In Griechenland nannte man die Buddhi «Chrestos», und dies ist heute bei den meisten Menschen nur in den ersten Anfängen da.

Die größte Kraft, die unsere Zeit bekam, um die Buddhi zu entwickeln, ist durch Christus gekommen. Er ermöglichte die Ausbildung des sechsten Prinzips, der Buddhi, in der ganzen Menschheit. Er vergeistigte die Menschheit. Das siebente Prinzip ist das des Vaters. Durch den Heiligen Geist wird Manas ausgebildet, durch Christus wird das sechste Prinzip ausgebildet, und wenn das in großem Umfang bei einer ganzen Rasse entwickelt ist, so ist das herausgekommen, was als Kraft in ihr verborgen lag, nämlich das sechste Prinzip. Dann werden alle Menschen, die zu dieser Rasse gehören, die sechste Stufe der Einweihung erreicht haben: die Grablegung.

Ein heiteres oder ein trauriges Gesicht läßt auf eine heitere oder trauernde Seele schließen, im Äußeren sieht man das Innere, alles ist eine Äußerung der Seele. Denkt man sich die Erde als Leib einer seelischen Wesenheit, so sind, wenn die Menschen leiblich in der Erde aufgegangen sind, die Seelen der Menschen aufgegangen in der Seele der Erde. Diese könnte so in der Erde sein, wie die menschliche Seele im menschlichen Leib.

Der Mensch entnimmt dem Leibe der Erde seine Nahrung und er tritt sie mit Füßen. «Wer mein Brot isset, der tritt mich mit Füßen», sagt Jesus. In älteren Schriften kommen oft sogenannte Schlüsselworte vor, ganz bestimmte Bezeichnungen für bestimmte Dinge. Wenn zum Beispiel ein Meister mit seinen Schülern in das innerste Heiligtum geht, so «geht er auf den Berg». Die Bergpredigt ist eine Predigt vor den Schülern allein: «Als Jesus aber das Volk sah, da ging er mit seinen Jüngern auf den Berg.»

Ebenso ist «Tempel» der Ausdruck für den physischen Leib. Die niedere Natur wird er gewöhnlich genannt. Ist er wirklich niedrig im Verhältnis zum astralischen Leib? Tatsächlich ist heute der physische Leib viel höher entwickelt als der Astralleib. Später wird ja allerdings der astralische Leib höher entwickelt sein als der physische Leib. Man betrachte den Oberschenkelknochen, wo mit dem geringsten Aufwand von Stoff die größtmögliche Kraft geleistet wird. Oder man betrachte das Herz, das so weise eingerichtet ist, daß es durch Jahrzehnte den fortwährenden Attacken des Astralleibes standhält.

Von Eingeweihten sagte man, wenn der astrale Leib sich lockert und bewußt wird‘ er ist ausgetreten aus dem Tempel. Im JohannesEvangelium spricht Christus vom Tempel: «Da huben sie Steine auf, daß sie auf ihn würfen. Aber Jesus verbarg sich und ging zum Tempel hinaus.» In diesem Sinne spricht er ferner von der Reinigung des Tempels und dem Abbrechen des Tempels und Wiederaufbauen in drei Tagen.

Wie Christus in die Welt trat, läßt sich folgendermaßen erkennen. Das sechste Prinzip, die Buddhi, ist geboren aus dem fünften, wenn dieses zur vollen Höhe gelangt ist, aus dem Geistselbst oder Manas, oder wie die Griechen damals das fünfte Prinzip nannten, aus der Sophia. Alle Gnostiker, die sich zum Sinne des JohannesEvangeliums bekannten, nannten die Mutter Jesu «Sophia».

Durch das Erscheinen Jesu wird der Erde das sechste Prinzip gebracht. Die Vereinigung des Lebensgeistes mit der Menschheit vollzieht sich. Dazu mußte die Sophia erst ganz reif werden. Wenn der Lebensgeist sich mit der Menschheit vereinigt, so ist die Menschheit die Sophia. In der Hochzeit zu Kana wird uns das im Gleichnis erzählt.

Das Johannes-Evangelium hat der Herr offenbaren lassen durch den Jünger, den er lieb hatte. Diesen Namen trägt immer der erste und Lieblingsschüler eines Meisters. Im Johannes-Evangelium tritt zum ersten Mal der Ausdruck von dem Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte, im elften Kapitel bei der Auferweckung des Lazarus auf. In damaliger Zeit geschah die Einweihung so, daß der Schüler drei Tage im Tempel zubrachte. Hier wurde nicht nur sein Astralleib, sondern auch sein Ätherleib gelockert. Er starb also gewissermaßen und wurde am Ende der drei Tage wieder auferweckt. Diesen Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte, weihte er ein, und die Auferweckung des Lazarus bedeutet diese Einweihung.

Der Jünger, der am Kreuze stand, war also auch Lazarus, und derselbe Eingeweihte ist der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums. Um alles zusammenstimmen zu lassen, ist der Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte, auch nicht früher erwähnt, als bei der Auferweckung des Lazarus im elften Kapitel. Diese Auffassung hatte man in allen gnostischen und Rosenkreuzerschulen und diese Auffassung wird auch wiederkommen.

Das Johannes-Evangelium ist ein Buch voll von Geheimnissen, voll von Kräften für die Menschheit.

Fragenbeantwortung

Was ist der Kausalkörper?

Beim Tode des Menschen von heute trennen sich der Ätherleib mit dem Astralleib und dem Ich von dem physischen Leib. Eine Zeitlang bleibt der Ätherleib noch bei den höheren Prinzipien, und während dieser ersten Zeit nach dem Verlassen des physischen Leibes tritt vor die Seele des Menschen sein ganzes letztes Leben wie in einem großen Tableau. Das rührt davon her, daß der Ätherleib nicht nur der Träger der Lebensfunktionen ist, sondern auch der Träger des Gedächtnisses. Während des Lebens ist er aber durch das physische Gehirn eingeengt, er kann seine Funktion nicht entfalten. Sobald aber die physischen Schranken fallen, so liegt das ganze Gedächtnis wie ausgebreitet vor der Seele des Menschen. Dies dauert so lange, bis der Ätherleib sich nach einigen Tagen auch von dem Astralleib und dem Ich loslöst. Es löst sich aber nur das ÄtherischMaterielle, während dieses Erinnerungsbild von dem Menschen mitgenommen wird. Diese Essenz des Ätherleibes behält der Mensch, und die Summe dieser Essenzen aus allen Erdenleben ist der Kausalkörper.

Wie ist die Feier des Abendmahls im Johannes-Evangelium zu verstehen, besonders die Reichung des Brotes an Judas, den Verräter?

Ein ganz bestimmter Vorgang bei der alten Einweihung besteht darin, daß der Schüler in den Tempel gebracht wird und in einem «dreitägigen Tode», wobei also auch sein Ätherleib gelockert wird, durch astrale und devachanische Erlebnisse hindurchgeführt wird. Eines dieser Erlebnisse war, daß jeder Teil des Körpers in eine menschliche Gestalt verwandelt wurde. Zwölf Glieder zählte man, und zwölf Gestalten sah der Schüler, und sich als den Dreizehnten, die Seele der Zwölf.

Die Sinnlichkeit hat den Egoismus gebracht, der überwunden werden muß. Das wurde besonders dem mittelalterlichen Schüler gelehrt. Das Folgende hätte etwa ein Lehrer damals zu seinen Schülern sprechen können: Sieh dir die Pflanze an, sie hält die Fruchtorgane keusch nach oben der Sonne entgegen. Eine Frucht kann nur entstehen, wenn die Blüte von der Sonne geküßt wird. Der Mensch ist eine umgekehrte Pflanze. Das Tier steht mitten zwischen beiden. Die Weltenseele geht durch die Pflanze, das Tier, den Menschen. Die Weltenseele ist gekreuzigt am Kreuze der Erde. Der Mensch hat seine Substanz durchwirkt von Begierden. Sein Fleisch steht tiefer als das Fleisch der Pflanze. Später wird der Mensch wieder begierdelos werden und sich keusch den geistigen Sonnenstrahlen entgegenbringen. Es entsteht das, was man den Heiligen Gral nennt, das geistige Hervorbringen.

Beim Abendmahl im Johannes-Evangelium erscheint die niedere Selbstsucht als Judas, der Verräter. Der Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte, liegt an seiner Brust. Die geläuterte Kraft dringt herauf zum Herzen, das in der Zukunft geistiges Hervorbringungsorgan werden wird. Das zeigt sich schon heute im anatomischen Bau des Herzens. Das Herz gehört zu den unwillkürlichen Muskeln und sollte als solcher glatte Fasern zeigen. Aber das tut es nicht, sondern ist quergestreift wie die willkürlichen Muskeln. Dadurch weist es schon jetzt auf die Zeit hin, wo es ein willkürlicher Muskel werden wird.

Beim Erwachen nach der Einweihung entrangen sich dem Schüler die Worte: «Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!», das heißt: «Mein Gott, mein Gott, wie hast du mich verklärt!» Dieser Wortlaut läßt sich im Urtext leicht in die andere Version umstellen, die bedeutet: «Mein Gott, mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen.»

Das Haus, wo das Abendmahl stattfand, war eines der Einweihungshäuser.

Was bedeutet die Verwandlung von Wasser in Wein bei der Hochzeit zu Kana?

Nach der Erklärung der heutigen Theologen bedeutet es die Umwandlung des Alten Testamentes in das Neue, das den sprudelnden Wein bedeuten soll.

Hier im Norden war Siegfried der vorchristliche Eingeweihte, der vor der christlichen Einweihung stehenblieb. Das ist angedeutet durch die verwundbare Stelle Siegfrieds. Siegfried, der Unverwundbare, war an der Stelle verwundbar, wo Christus das Kreuz trug.

Einer wird kommen, der den Sinn der Erde bedeutet. Das Blut dieses Wesens ist das Wasser. In allen Mysterien wurde das Wasser das Blut Christi genannt.

Im 8. Jahrhundert vor Christi Geburt entwickelt sich der Dionysos-Dienst; mit ihm das Überhandnehmen des Weingenusses. In der atlantischen Zeit kannte man keinen Wein. Heute hat der Wein seine Funktion erfüllt. Ein Zeichen für das Schwinden des Weines ist das Auftreten der Reblaus. Als es noch keinen Wein gab, hatten alle Menschen ein Bewußtsein von dem ewigen Kern, der von Leben zu Leben geht. In dem Glauben an die Reinkarnation hatte der ägyptische Arbeiter, von dessen Mühen bei dem Bau der Pyramiden wir uns heute keinen Begriff machen, seinen Trost. Das waren Menschen, die keinen Wein tranken. Durch den Genuß des Weines wird der Mensch abgeschnitten von der Erkenntnis der höheren Prinzipien. Dieser Zustand mußte einmal eintreten. Wäre der Mensch ohne Wein geblieben, so wäre er der Erde überdrüssig geworden, aber das durfte nicht geschehen. Um die Kultur hervorzubringen, mußte der Mensch die Erde lieb gewinnen, er mußte von seinen früheren Verkörperungen abgeschnitten werden, um nur die eine, in der er gerade lebte, zu lieben. Die ganze Menschheit mußte einmal durch eine Periode hindurchgehen, in der sie von ihren höheren Prinzipien und von den früheren Verkörperungen nichts wußte. Das Christentum lehrte in den ersten zwei Jahrtausenden öffentlich keine Reinkarnation, sondern nur den Eingeweihten, wie auch Christus das tat: «Saget es niemand, bis ich wiederkomme», das heißt, bis sich langsam die Entwickelung des sechsten Prinzips vollzogen hat. Nun ist die Zeit da. Die ganze Menschheit ist einmal durch eine Inkarnation hindurchgegangen, wo sie von oben abgeschnitten war.

In alten Zeiten bestand die Nahehe, die Ehe unter Blutsverwandten. Eine Folge des Übergangs zur Fernehe war das Erlöschen des Hellsehens. Heute würde die Nahehe die Degeneration hervorbringen. Zur Zeit der Nahehe hatten die Menschen nicht nur ein Gedächtnis von dem, was sie selbst erlebten, sondern auch von dem Leben ihrer Eltern. Dieses vererbte Gedächtnis trug einen Namen: Adam, Seth, Enoch. Außer dem Gedächtnis erbte sich Gutes und auch Böses durch die Geburt hindurch, die Erbsünde.

Sollte das geändert werden, so mußte für die Blutsliebe die allgemeine Menschenliebe treten: «Wer nicht verlässet Vater, Mutter, Weib, Kinder, der kann nicht mein Jünger werden.» Jesus geht auch zu den Fremden, zu dem samaritischen Weib. «Die Juden hatten keine Gemeinschaft mit den Samaritern.» Christus Jesus stammt aus Galiläa, dem Lande, wo die größtmögliche Blutsmischung bestand.

Wenn von einem entfernten Stern ein Wesen die Erde beobachten könnte, so würde es die physische Erde von einem Äther- und Astralleib durchdrungen und umgeben sehen. Würde dieses Wesen etwa die Entwickelung der Erde von Abraham bis heute beobachten, so würde es eine Änderung der Farben sehen in dem Augenblick, als das Blut aus Christi Wunden fließt. - Eine Einweihung wie die des Apostels Paulus hätte vor dem Erscheinen Christi nicht stattfinden können. Es war das eine äußere Einweihung, die dadurch ermöglicht wurde, daß der ganze Astralleib der Erde verändert wurde.

Frage nach der Zukunft des Christentums

Das Christentum hat so unendliche Tiefen, daß seine Entwickelung ganz unabsehbar ist. Das Christentum ist als Religion die letzte. Es trägt alle Möglichkeiten der Entwickelung in sich. Die Theosophie ist nur ein Diener des Christentums.

Der Unterschied zwischen Christus und den andern großen Religionsstiftern liegt darin, daß in den andern Religionen an das geglaubt wird, was ihre Stifter lehrten, im Christentum aber glaubt man an das, was Christus ist.

Einfluß des Ätherleibes auf die Heilung des physischen Leibes

Geisteskrankheiten beruhen zum Teil darauf, daß der Ätherleib nicht die Macht hat, auf gewisse Teile des physischen Körpers zu wirken. Ist der Ätherleib zu schwach, einen Teil des Körpers zu beherrschen, so wird dieser Teil krank. Macht man den Ätherleib stark, so hat man geholfen.

The Gospel of John

The Gospel of John is contested by contemporary Christian theology. It is said that the Synoptic Gospels, the first three Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, give a consistent picture of Jesus. The differences are considered insignificant. It is said that the Synoptic Gospels provide a consistent picture of Jesus. The Gospel of John, on the other hand, deviates greatly from this, speaking about the founder of Christianity in a completely different tone and seemingly in a completely different way. It is therefore considered less credible. It is said that the synoptic gospels wanted to recount the life of Christ, but that the writer of the Gospel of John lived later and expressed what he felt in a kind of hymn. Theology sees the Gospel of John as a work of devotional poetry. The days are gone when the theologian Bunsen said: If the Gospel of John does not contain historical truth, then Christianity cannot be upheld at all. — Spiritual science has the task of reopening the meaning of the Gospel of John to people today.

There is another reason why today's theologians prefer the Synoptic Gospels to the Gospel of John. If one summarizes the content of these three Gospels after removing the miracles, they present the image of a sublime human being, but one who is merely a highly developed human being. According to the Gospel of John, however, Jesus was something more than just a highly developed human being: he was a universal being incarnated in an earthly body. The Synoptic Gospels tell of Jesus of Nazareth, while the Gospel of John deals with the Christ.

The introduction to the Gospel of John speaks of a comprehensive world principle, the Logos, which was embodied in Jesus of Nazareth: “In the beginning was the Logos.” People today do not want to know anything about a highly spiritual being who descends to earth. They only believe in highly developed human beings; they do not believe that a god ever lived on earth. This is why, in recent centuries, people have lost their connection to the Gospel of John. This lecture will deal with this relationship between people and the Gospel of John.

If you read the Gospel of John as you would read any other book, in order to learn from what it contains, you are reading it completely wrong. The Gospel of John is not a book as we understand a book today. It is a book of life.

It should be noted in advance that in all deeply religious documents, every word is chosen with deep intention. An example can be explained by the question: According to the Gospel of John, what is the name of Jesus' mother? Everyone will answer: Mary. — But this cannot be proven from the Gospel of John. The mother of Jesus is first mentioned in the Gospel of John in the story of the wedding at Cana, but without a name: “And on the third day there was a wedding at Cana, and the mother of Jesus was there.” Later, she is mentioned again among the three women at the cross: “But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” So here it is not the mother of Jesus who is named, but her sister “Mary.” Since it is unlikely that both sisters were named Mary, we must assume that the mother of Jesus had a different name.

Another example: The writer of the Gospel of John, or the one who is otherwise always referred to as John, is here always called only “the disciple whom the Lord loved”: “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’” This is of profound significance for understanding the questions that confront us in the Gospel of John when we interpret it in a spiritual sense.

Until a few centuries ago, the Gospel of John was regarded as a book of meditation that had to be experienced inwardly by those who wanted to have an inner vision of Jesus. It was for the priest who wanted to see the mysteries of Christianity. Hundreds and hundreds have actually done this, and hundreds and hundreds have reaped the fruits of it. Anyone who wanted to penetrate the Christian mysteries had to mature their soul solely through the Gospel of John. But they had to know that the first sentences had magical power. The student had to let them live in their soul for a quarter of an hour or half an hour every morning, but without speculating about them, simply to absorb their power. That was meditation. To those who lived with the first sentences of the Gospel of John for months or years, these sentences revealed a special power: their spiritual eyes were opened. These sentences are living forces capable of awakening dormant abilities. In this way, the student experienced all the images of the Gospel of John in astral visions. The first words can bring about this experience. This power was greater in the past than it is today. People have changed more than is commonly believed.

In the 13th century, when there was no printing press, people did not read. Reading has changed people greatly. Even the most pious people today cannot comprehend the richness of the feelings of the people of that time. Today we must give different meditations to those who want to progress.

The Gospel of John would also have to be translated correctly so that it could be to people today what it was to people in the past:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This was in the beginning with God.

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. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but a witness to the light.

For the true light, which enlightens all men, was coming into the world.

It was in the world, and the world came into being through it, but the world did not recognize it.

It came into individual human beings (it came into the I-human beings); but the individual human beings (the I-human beings) did not accept it.

At the time of the Lemurian race, the human soul entered its first human embodiment. Before that, it rested in the bosom of God; human beings were not yet ego beings.

Inner vision. — What happens when a person gains insight into the spiritual world? Everyday people live between waking and sleeping, interrupted at most by dreams. Human beings consist of a physical body, an etheric body or life body, an astral body, and the ego. These four members are together when we are awake. The physical body is a sum of physical apparatus, the eye a camera obscura, the ear a stringed instrument. These apparatus are permeated by the etheric body, which animates them and transmits sensations to the astral body, the bearer of pleasure and pain, of instinct, desire, and passion, and also to the ego. During sleep, the physical and etheric bodies lie in bed, while the astral body with the ego is lifted out. The etheric body remains with the physical body and animates it; the life functions are not interrupted during sleep. Colors, sounds, pleasure, and pain, however, are plunged into deep darkness; the human being is not aware of them.

There are as many worlds as the human being has organs to perceive them. Without eyes, there is no light. If the human being had an organ for electricity, he would perceive it just as he now perceives light.

During sleep, humans live in the astral or devachanic world, but they do not perceive anything there. Only when they develop higher organs through persistent work does a change occur in humans: it begins to become light around them. During sleep, they perceive a space around them filled with objects. Like a person born blind who undergoes surgery, astral and spiritual sensory organs develop, and they see the spiritual world; sleep no longer renders them unconscious. Later, the spiritual world around them begins to resound. They hear the music of the spheres described by Pythagoras, which people today consider to be a figurative expression. Goethe understood this correctly. In the prologue to “Faust” he says:

The sun sounds in the old way
In brotherly spheres, singing in competition,
And it completes its prescribed journey
With a thunderous roar.

This cannot be considered a mere phrase, but must be taken literally: one hears the sun resound when one hears spiritual music. In the second part of Faust, Goethe says in the same vein:

Resounding to spiritual ears
The new day is already born.

The spiritual world thus first appears to humans in sleep, but what they experience in sleep must also be carried over into everyday life. What they first discover in sleep must also be found again in waking life among physical objects. This takes place in the further training of the student.

After the effect of the first sentences of the Gospel of John had taken hold, with its images appearing before his soul, he was supported in the development of certain feelings. After a few other exercises, the teacher asked the student to develop the following feeling over a long period of time: If the plant growing out of the ground were to look at the stone from which it grows, it would have to say to it: You stone belong to a lower realm than I, but without you I could not exist. — It would have to bow down humbly to it and thank it for making its life possible. Likewise, the animal would have to bow down humbly before the plant and thank it for giving it the air it breathes. Likewise, every higher class of human beings must bow down to the lower class and thank it. Every higher human being owes its existence to the lower. You must fix this feeling firmly in your soul, for hours, every day, for weeks or months.

When the student did this, a mental image finally appeared before his eyes, which appeared in the same way for everyone: He saw twelve lower people sitting around him, whose feet he washed. Then the teacher said to him: Now you understand inwardly the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, the washing of the feet. Alongside this mental image, an external symptom also appeared, again the same for everyone. The student felt as if water were washing around his feet.

He then had to develop a second feeling over weeks and months: When all kinds of pain and all the hardships of existence penetrate me, I want to develop the strength to always resist them. Once he had developed this feeling within himself, another vision appeared: he saw himself being scourged. This vision also occurred in the same way for everyone. The external symptom was a stinging and itching sensation all over the body for a long time.

He then had to develop a third feeling: Enduring the hardships of existence is not enough. The best you have can be showered with ridicule and scorn. Nevertheless, remain upright. — Once the disciple had developed this feeling, a third vision occurred: he saw himself with the crown of thorns. As an external symptom, he felt severe headaches.

Then he had to develop yet another feeling: all people say to the body they carry: I. Your body must not be more important to you than any other object. You must perceive your body as something foreign. — Once the student had gone through this, the vision of the crucifixion occurred, accompanied externally by the appearance of the bloodstains of Christ on his hands and feet and on his right breast — not on his left breast, as is usually said. During periods of meditation, these symptoms recurred more frequently.

Then the teacher said to the student: Now you can experience mystical death. This can only be described in approximate terms. The student experiences what it is like when all existence is wiped out for a moment, all things are no longer there, are hidden behind a veil. Then the veil tears apart from top to bottom, and the student sees into the spiritual world. Before that, there is another moment. Before mystical death, the student has visions of all the evil that can exist in the world; he must descend into hell before he experiences mystical death.

This is followed by the sixth stage, where the student begins to no longer perceive his body as something belonging to him. He expands his consciousness to encompass the whole earth. Once he has developed this, it is called the burial. — The seventh stage can no longer be described in earthly words. It is the resurrection and ascension; this state is higher than any human being can imagine.

These seven stages are described in the Gospel of John. Those who went through them all recognized Jesus as he lived on earth. The Gospel of John is the way to recognize Christ Jesus. That is why it was given to those who wanted to become wise as a book of development, not just as a book of edification. Every part of it can be experienced.

Details: The fact that this truth was revealed to humanity marks a stage in human development that cannot be compared to any other stage. Through Jesus, the following was brought into the world: Man was already fourfold in his first incarnation, but he continued to develop. Let us consider an undeveloped human being: his astral body has remained as he received it. Let us compare it with the astral body of an average European human being, or that of an idealist such as Schiller, or a highly developed human being such as Francis of Assisi. The average European human being no longer follows all his instincts. He rejects some of them and replaces them with other feelings, moral imperatives. The ego has worked on the astral body. His astral body consists of two parts: the unpurified part, which is still as he received it, and the purified part. In Schiller, the purified part is already very large compared to the unpurified part. And the astral body of Francis of Assisi consists only of the purified part. This purified part of the astral body is called the spirit self or manas. The human being then has five elements of being.

In the same way, the human being can work into the etheric body. Religious and artistic feelings work on the etheric body and create the life spirit, Buddhi, from it. If human beings can gain control of their physical body, what they have spiritualized from it is the Atma. In external development, this process proceeds very slowly. In Greece, Buddhi was called “Chrestos,” and today this is only in its infancy in most people.

The greatest power our time has received for developing Buddhi has come through Christ. He made it possible for the sixth principle, Buddhi, to be developed in all of humanity. He spiritualized humanity. The seventh principle is that of the Father. Manas is developed through the Holy Spirit, the sixth principle is developed through Christ, and when this is developed on a large scale in an entire race, what was hidden within it as a power emerges, namely the sixth principle. Then all people belonging to this race will have reached the sixth stage of initiation: the burial.

A cheerful or sad face suggests a cheerful or mournful soul; the exterior reveals the interior; everything is an expression of the soul. If one thinks of the earth as the body of a spiritual being, then when human beings have physically ascended into the earth, the souls of human beings have ascended into the soul of the earth. These could be in the earth as the human soul is in the human body.

Man takes his nourishment from the body of the earth and tramples it underfoot. “He who eats my bread tramples me underfoot,” says Jesus. In older writings, so-called key words often appear, very specific terms for specific things. For example, when a master goes with his disciples into the innermost sanctuary, he “goes up the mountain.” The Sermon on the Mount is a sermon given to the disciples alone: “But when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain with his disciples.”

Similarly, “temple” is the expression for the physical body. It is usually called the lower nature. Is it really lower in relation to the astral body? In fact, today the physical body is much more highly developed than the astral body. Later, however, the astral body will be more highly developed than the physical body. Consider the thigh bone, where the greatest possible force is exerted with the least amount of material. Or consider the heart, which is so wisely designed that it can withstand decades of constant attacks from the astral body.

It was said of initiates that when the astral body loosens and becomes conscious, it has left the temple. In the Gospel of John, Christ speaks of the temple: “Then they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” In this sense, he further speaks of the cleansing of the temple and the breaking down of the temple and rebuilding it in three days.

How Christ entered the world can be understood as follows. The sixth principle, Buddhi, is born of the fifth when it has reached its full height, from the spirit self or Manas, or as the Greeks of that time called the fifth principle, from Sophia. All Gnostics who professed the meaning of the Gospel of John called the mother of Jesus “Sophia.”

Through the appearance of Jesus, the sixth principle is brought to earth. The union of the spirit of life with humanity is accomplished. For this to happen, Sophia first had to become fully mature. When the spirit of life unites with humanity, humanity is Sophia. This is told to us in the parable of the wedding at Cana.

The Lord revealed the Gospel of John through the disciple whom he loved. This name is always given to a master's first and favorite disciple. In the Gospel of John, the expression “the disciple whom the Lord loved” appears for the first time in the eleventh chapter at the raising of Lazarus. At that time, initiation took place in such a way that the disciple spent three days in the temple. Here, not only his astral body but also his etheric body was loosened. So he died, in a sense, and was raised again at the end of the three days. The Lord initiated this disciple whom he loved, and the raising of Lazarus signifies this initiation.

The disciple who stood at the cross was therefore also Lazarus, and the same initiate is the writer of the Gospel of John. To make everything fit together, the disciple whom the Lord loved is not mentioned until the raising of Lazarus in the eleventh chapter. This view was held in all Gnostic and Rosicrucian schools, and this view will return.

The Gospel of John is a book full of mysteries, full of powers for humanity.

Questions and Answers

What is the causal body?

When a person dies today, the etheric body, together with the astral body and the ego, separates from the physical body. For a time, the etheric body remains with the higher principles, and during this initial period after leaving the physical body, the whole of the person's last life appears before their soul as if in a large tableau. This is because the etheric body is not only the bearer of life functions, but also the bearer of memory. During life, however, it is restricted by the physical brain and cannot unfold its function. But as soon as the physical barriers fall away, the entire memory lies spread out before the soul of the human being. This lasts until, after a few days, the etheric body also detaches itself from the astral body and the ego. However, only the etheric-material detaches itself, while this memory image is taken along by the human being. The human being retains this essence of the etheric body, and the sum of these essences from all earthly lives is the causal body.

How is the celebration of the Last Supper in the Gospel of John to be understood, especially the handing of the bread to Judas, the betrayer?

A very specific process in the ancient initiation consists of the disciple being brought into the temple and, in a “three-day death,” during which his etheric body is also loosened, being led through astral and devachanic experiences. One of these experiences was that every part of the body was transformed into a human form. Twelve limbs were counted, and the student saw twelve forms, and himself as the thirteenth, the soul of the twelve.

Sensuality has brought about selfishness, which must be overcome. This was taught especially to medieval students. A teacher at that time might have said something like the following to his students: Look at the plant, it holds its fruit organs chastely upward toward the sun. A fruit can only come into being when the flower is kissed by the sun. Man is a reversed plant. The animal stands in the middle between the two. The world soul passes through the plant, the animal, and man. The world soul is crucified on the cross of the earth. Human beings have their substance interwoven with desires. Their flesh is deeper than the flesh of the plant. Later, human beings will become desireless again and present themselves chastely to the spiritual rays of the sun. What is called the Holy Grail, spiritual creation, will come into being.

At the Last Supper in the Gospel of John, base selfishness appears as Judas, the traitor. The disciple whom the Lord loved lies at his breast. The purified power rises to the heart, which in the future will become the spiritual organ of creation. This is already evident today in the anatomical structure of the heart. The heart belongs to the involuntary muscles and, as such, should have smooth fibers. But it does not; instead, it is striated like the voluntary muscles. In this way, it already points to the time when it will become a voluntary muscle.

Upon awakening after the initiation, the words “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!” escaped the disciple's lips, meaning “My God, my God, how have you transfigured me!” This wording can easily be changed in the original text to the other version, which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

The house where the Last Supper took place was one of the houses of initiation.

What does the transformation of water into wine at the wedding in Cana mean?

According to the explanation of today's theologians, it means the transformation of the Old Testament into the New Testament, which is symbolized by the sparkling wine.

Here in the north, Siegfried was the pre-Christian initiate who stopped short of Christian initiation. This is indicated by Siegfried's vulnerable spot. Siegfried, the invulnerable, was vulnerable in the place where Christ carried the cross.

One will come who signifies the meaning of the earth. The blood of this being is water. In all mysteries, water was called the blood of Christ.

In the 8th century BC, the Dionysus cult developed, and with it the prevalence of wine consumption. In Atlantean times, wine was unknown. Today, wine has fulfilled its function. A sign of the decline of wine is the appearance of phylloxera. When there was no wine, all people were aware of the eternal core that passes from life to life. Belief in reincarnation gave comfort to the Egyptian workers, whose efforts in building the pyramids we cannot even imagine today. These were people who did not drink wine. Through the enjoyment of wine, man is cut off from the knowledge of higher principles. This state of affairs had to come about at some point. If man had remained without wine, he would have grown weary of the earth, but that was not to be allowed to happen. In order to bring forth culture, man had to grow fond of the earth, they had to be cut off from their previous incarnations in order to love only the one in which they were currently living. All of humanity had to go through a period in which they knew nothing of their higher principles and previous incarnations. During the first two millennia, Christianity did not publicly teach reincarnation, but only to the initiated, as Christ himself did: “Tell no one until I return,” that is, until the development of the sixth principle has slowly been accomplished. Now the time has come. All of humanity once went through an incarnation in which it was cut off from above.

In ancient times, there was close marriage, marriage between blood relatives. One consequence of the transition to distant marriage was the extinction of clairvoyance. Today, close marriage would lead to degeneration. At the time of close marriage, people had memories not only of what they themselves had experienced, but also of the lives of their parents. This inherited memory had a name: Adam, Seth, Enoch. In addition to memory, good and evil were also inherited through birth, the original sin.

If this were to be changed, blood love would have to be replaced by universal love: “Whoever does not forsake father, mother, wife, and children cannot be my disciple.” Jesus also goes to strangers, to the Samaritan woman. “The Jews had no fellowship with the Samaritans.” Christ Jesus came from Galilee, the land where the greatest possible mixing of blood existed.

If a being from a distant star could observe the Earth, it would see the physical Earth permeated and surrounded by an etheric and astral body. If this being were to observe the development of the earth from Abraham to the present day, it would see a change in colors at the moment when the blood flows from Christ's wounds. An initiation such as that of the Apostle Paul could not have taken place before the appearance of Christ. It was an external initiation made possible by the transformation of the entire astral body of the earth.

Question about the future of Christianity

Christianity has such infinite depths that its development is completely unpredictable. Christianity is the last religion. It carries within itself all possibilities of development. Theosophy is only a servant of Christianity.

The difference between Christ and the other great founders of religions lies in the fact that in the other religions people believe in what their founders taught, but in Christianity people believe in what Christ is.

Influence of the etheric body on the healing of the physical body

Mental illnesses are partly based on the fact that the etheric body does not have the power to act on certain parts of the physical body. If the etheric body is too weak to control a part of the body, that part becomes ill. If the etheric body is strengthened, this helps.