The Rudolf Steiner Archive

20. How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds in the Rosicrucian sense?

[ 1 ] Less well known than Goethe's other poems is his poem “Die Geheimnisse” (The Secrets). This poem remained a fragment. Goethe tells us of a pilgrim, Brother Markus, whose wanderings remind us of the fate of Parzival. After a long journey, he arrives at a lonely house, a monastery-like building. Inside, he finds a covenant, a gathering of twelve personalities. He finally gets to know the nature and character of the twelve and the thirteenth, who is their leader. Each of the twelve has something extremely important to do and to give a kind of biography of the thirteenth. This thirteenth has worked his way through all kinds of turmoil and inhibitions. It is said of him:

From the power that binds all beings,
The human being frees himself who overcomes himself —

[ 2 ] that is, who develops the higher human being within himself.

[ 3 ] This thirteenth, called Humanus, has surpassed himself. The greatness and influence of this sage, which we feel and sense, is further enhanced by the fact that, as we are about to hear, he is dying, that he has the last, the most beautiful and the greatest thing to give to the twelve before they enter the higher spiritual worlds. And now the “pure fool” is to penetrate this. He is to replace the thirteenth. Something like Good Friday magic hovers over this fragment. In fact, the whole thing should have been set in the milieu of Good Friday. Goethe himself explains his poem in this way, saying: There are many creeds in the world, but in all of them we see the same core of truth. Goethe suggests this by wanting to present one of the twelve world religions that represents the common core of truth of the twelve. And the thirteenth is the representative of this primordial truth itself. The poem actually describes the theosophical worldview. Goethe wants to express in a poetic image how a synthesis of all religions can lead to peace. When Brother Markus steps up to the gate of the monastery, a cross entwined with roses shines towards him. Goethe knew the deep meaning of this symbol, which is also hinted at in his verses:

But he is filled with a whole new meaning,
As the image presents itself to him here:
There stands the cross, densely entwined with roses.

Who has placed roses on the cross?

[ 4 ] These are words of true esoteric meaning.

[ 5 ] Today we will address the question: How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds in the sense of the Rosicrucians? Let us discuss some aspects of the Rosicrucian method. It is one of the paths of knowledge that lead into supersensible worlds. The word Rosicrucian may sound unfamiliar and strange to some. We have heard of the Rosicrucians as a secret brotherhood that appeared under this name in the 14th century. What can be found about the Rosicrucians in encyclopedias and other popular literature is irrelevant. The Rosicrucians represented a very specific school of thought through a number of highly influential personalities. Many publications about the Rosicrucians prove how easy it is to fall prey to the gravest errors when one believes one has found the highest truths. The Rosicrucians were one of the most intimate secret brotherhoods and had to pass strict tests and difficult trials. Those who wanted to be accepted into the Rosicrucian Order had to go through many trials. The candidate had to undergo a very specific occult training in order to be led to self-contemplation. But ignorance can lead one to see a caricature in the most sublime. Thus, Rosicrucianism was also completely misunderstood and distorted into a caricature. What has been written about the Rosicrucians is pure charlatanism. Those who can judge Rosicrucianism correctly see its true essence. But you can see how difficult it has always been to learn about Rosicrucianism from the fact that Helmont, Leibniz, and others were unable to find out anything about the Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucian initiation is historically traced back to a book from the early 17th century, which states, among other things, that the Rosicrucians were involved in alchemical matters, as well as other things, such as higher education and so on. This can be read in the “Fama Fraternitatis.”

[ 6 ] There is nothing in it about what Rosicrucianism really is, because the secrets of the Rosicrucians have only been handed down through oral tradition. What has been given the name Rosicrucianism is not very suitable for fathoming the essence of the Rosicrucians. Today we want to deal with the methods of the true Rosicrucians, as far as this is possible in public. The theosophical movement initially started from the Oriental path. The truth is, if one knows how to seek it and is ready for it, it can be found everywhere. A different way of thinking, a different way of feeling and willing, a different way of seeing and perceiving once existed in humanity when the ancient Indians received the teachings of the holy Rishis. What was done then can no longer be done today. The methods that were possible in the past are no longer viable today. There is nothing absolute in the world; humanity is in a state of constant development. People today have a completely different, more refined brain structure, even a completely different blood composition than people back then. That is why all truth must be transformed today and the methods of initiation must be arranged in such a way that they are suitable for today's Europeans. These are the reasons why Rosicrucianism had to exist, why a different form of initiation was needed. The Rosicrucian movement is supported by the great teachers who have always remained in the background.

[ 7 ] Rosicrucianism comprises seven stages of initiation. These seven stages form a unified method through which Europeans are able to pass all the tests they must undergo. These stages are not necessarily completed one after the other, but the teacher selects what is most suitable for the individual student, depending on their individuality.

[ 8 ] The seven stages are study, imagination, inspired knowledge or reading occult writings, preparing the philosopher's stone, the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm, living in the macrocosm, and, as the seventh and highest stage, godliness.

[ 9 ] Study is understood to mean the acquisition of concepts and ideas that enable people to make a sound, comprehensive judgment about essential connections. For the Rosicrucians, study included everything that we have today in theosophy, after removing the Oriental trappings. What theosophy brings today is Rosicrucian wisdom. I have also spoken about the elementary teachings of the Rosicrucians in public lectures. The essence of this is to acquire a set of concepts about the world that is self-contained and represents a strictly established structure of thought. A system of thought is established here that is reasonable. A thinking, sober person must be a Rosicrucian. These teachings are truths that are understandable to the simplest hearts as well as to the most intellectual minds. What is the purpose of study? It leads to insight into the supersensible worlds, into the astral world, then into the spiritual or devachanic world, into those worlds that invisibly surround us all.

[ 10 ] There are as many worlds around human beings as there are abilities to perceive them. Of course, these abilities are initially undeveloped. For someone born blind, rebirth means gaining sight. In the same way, the emergence of each new world is a rebirth for human beings. The astral world, which we call it for certain reasons, is around us, as is the spiritual or devachanic world. It is presumptuous for someone who knows nothing about the higher worlds to claim that they do not exist. The astral world and the devachanic world are both vastly different from what is visible around us in the physical world. We experience completely new impressions in the astral and devachanic worlds. Even though perceptions in these worlds are completely different from those in the physical world, the logic remains the same. Thinking is the same in all three worlds; only in even higher worlds does this also change. Once you have learned to think in one of these three worlds, the laws for doing so are the same in the higher worlds. However, in the physical world, humans correct their mistakes through experience. In those other worlds, this convenient correction does not exist, so one must have a firm standard of objectivity there. Without this objectivity, you are unsupported there! In the old initiation, therefore, the guru was necessary. The guru had to enter, as it were, as the highest authority into the soul of the one who was initiated into Indian yoga wisdom. In Rosicrucian training, this relationship between guru and disciple is replaced by the support of trained thinking. The disciple himself must be the guide. That is why study is such an important part of the training. Fundamental truths of theosophy are laid down for the simplest hearts as well as for the more highly aspiring people in the writings “Truth and Science” and “Philosophy of Freedom.” When reading these books, one must cooperate inwardly, working out one thought from another.

[ 11 ] The second stage of the Rosicrucian path is imagination. Through a comprehensive method, it leads the first step into the higher worlds. The experience of imagination reveals the deeper meaning of Goethe's words: “Everything transitory is only a parable.”

[ 12 ] When we look at a plant, we can experience in its form and essence how true it is that the spirit of the earth reveals itself through it in its sorrow and in its joy. It is a great truth that human beings belong to the earth in the same way that a finger belongs to the human body. Human beings are only a part of the whole, but they succumb to the illusion of living independently. The finger is protected from this illusion because it cannot walk around on the human body. If one feels oneself to be a limb of the earth, then one senses not only the poetry but also the truth of Goethe's words about the spirit of the earth. If man turns to what the spirit of the earth produces on its surface, then some plants will become tears for him, and some will become the smile of the spirit of the earth.

[ 13 ] One more thing was brought to the student's consciousness by all means of training. He was told: Look at the plant calyx with its fertilizing organs, which it chastely turns toward the sun. The sunbeam kisses the inside of the plant calyx. The plant innocently stretches its fertilizing organs out into space. Imagine this in its transformation to a higher level. First, consider the animal and the human being and see how the human being conceals what the plant holds out to the sun. And then say to yourself: The human being will one day reach a future level at which all that is base will have disappeared from his organs. At this higher level, he will offer the sun what is today the calyx of the plant. Then all instinctual drives will have been purified, and human individuality will have overcome its desire-driven nature. In the wisdom of the Rosicrucians, this transformation was called the Grail, the holy chalice.

[ 14 ] Once you have lived with such ideas for a while, you are ready to ascend to even higher experiences. The physical eye sees only the seed in the plant. Through preparation, the soul is ready to penetrate the image that presents itself in the seed and in which the plant's growth is represented. The image of a flame rising from the seed appears before the soul. In this way, one learns to see the spiritual behind things; one learns to recognize how everything physical is born out of a world of the spiritual.

[ 15 ] The third stage in Rosicrucian training is called reading occult writing. The cosmic forces at work in the world reveal themselves through certain currents and combinations of colors and sounds. This occult script is written into the world in its structure. An example of this is the spiral that we see in the outer cosmos in the form of two intertwined whirlpools in the Orion Nebula. Microcosmically, the first integration of the human germ takes place in a corresponding form. The image of two intertwined whirlpools is the zodiac sign of Cancer. In occult writing, it indicates the transition from one stage of development to the next. In fact, the vernal equinox of the sun was in the sign of Cancer when a new epoch of humanity began in ancient India after the demise of Atlantis.

[ 16 ] Another sign in occult writing is the triangle, which is also drawn in the macrocosm. In the microcosm, the figure of the equilateral triangle with the center point drawn in is the symbol for the balance achieved between the three soul forces. The higher power of love arises from the harmonization of thinking, feeling, and willing.

[ 17 ] This third stage, in which the consciousness of inspiration is attained, is followed by the rhythmicization of life and breathing. In the language of the Rosicrucians, this is also referred to as the preparation of the philosopher's stone. This in turn anticipates a later general stage of human development. Today, humans need oxygen when they breathe in. They exhale carbon dioxide as a toxic substance. The opposite is true for plants, which inhale carbon dioxide and release oxygen. In the distant future, humans will consciously use the carbon they consume today in their food to build their physical bodies and will no longer exhale it. Then the human body will consist of a completely different substance than is the case today. This will be a transparent, soft carbon. The human body itself will then be the philosopher's stone. The symbol for this is the crystal-clear diamond, which consists of carbon.

[ 18 ] This whole process is prepared by a rhythmization of breathing, as indeed of all life processes. In plants and animals, these are regulated from outside. In today's human beings, this no longer happens, but they must create for themselves the rhythm that prevails in nature without the intervention of the beings living in it. Strict adherence to such a rhythm is an important part of Rosicrucian training.

[ 19 ] The fifth stage of Rosicrucian training is where the correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm is experienced. Paracelsus says: Everything that surrounds us in space is related to us. - In the world, there are individual letters, and man is the word. At this stage, it is possible to settle into one's inner self. Man has everything that is outside in the world within himself, in essence, in miniature. Recognizing oneself in order to recognize the world is the task set at this stage.

[ 20 ] Living out into the macrocosm is required at the following, sixth stage. Here, human beings must renounce themselves and leave everything that is their own behind. They now learn to truly recognize the macrocosm.

[ 21 ] The highest stage that Rosicrucians can reach is godliness. Here, the initiate grows together with the entire universe, experiencing the pinnacle of human evolution as it is destined for humanity in the distant future. Rosicrucian students direct all their efforts toward preparing for this evolution.

[ 22 ] A lower, passive nature and an active element live within human beings. If they develop in the manner described, they overcome their lower nature and are reborn through the spirit. This meaning of human evolution is summed up in Goethe's words:

And as long as you do not have this,
This: Die and become!
You are only a dull guest
On the dark earth.

[ 23 ] The symbol for “die” is the cross, the symbol for “become” is the rose. The physical body of man represents the cross. Everything connected with the forces of growth forms the passive element in man. This includes milk in particular. In the blood, on the other hand, the upward-striving human being develops an active element. This is the secret of the white and red roses. It is the higher human nature that seeks the balance between the white and red roses. In Goethe's poem “The Secrets,” the Thirteenth gives us a picture of the human being who has reached this high level. We can therefore take the words spoken by this Thirteenth as the motto for all Rosicrucian endeavors:

For all power pushes forward into the vastness,
To live and work here and there;
On the other hand, the stream of the world constricts and inhibits us from all sides,
The stream of the world and carries us away,
In this inner storm and outer strife
The spirit hears a word that is difficult to understand:
From the power that binds all beings,
The person who overcomes himself is freed.