The Rudolf Steiner Archive

10. The Lord's Prayer

[ 1 ] In all the prayer-like formulas and other words of wisdom and the like that have been handed down to us from the great religions, there is much of the deep mystery of existence. We must only be clear that all the different religions had prayer, although they differed in a certain way, in that some had prayer more in the form of so-called meditation, while Christianity and some other religions had actual, real prayer, as it is known by that name today. Meditation is found primarily in the Eastern religions. Meditation is an immersion in spiritual content, in such a way that the person concerned finds a union with the spiritual-divine source of the world in this spiritual content into which they immerse themselves. So understand this correctly: there are religions that give their members meditation formulas, for example, certain prayer-like formulas into which one immerses oneself and in whose immersion one feels how the stream of divine spiritual life flows through the soul, and in these moments the human being is absorbed into the divine source of the spiritual. However, these formulas are more like thoughts. Basically, Christian prayer is no different, except that its content is more sensory and emotional. Christians immerse themselves more in the divine essence that flows through the world by way of sensation and feeling.

[ 2 ] However, one must not believe that Christian prayer has always been understood in this sense, or that it can even be understood in this way, as is often the case today. There is a primal Christian prayer in which Christ Jesus himself pointed out as clearly as possible what mood is necessary for Christians in prayer. And this original prayer is simply this: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done.” Let us consider these last words. We are dealing first of all with a real request: that the cup may pass, but at the same time with a complete surrender to the will of the divine spirit: “Not my will, but yours be done.” This mood, in which one allows the will of the divine spirit to work through oneself during prayer, is expressed in wanting nothing for oneself, but allowing the divinity to want within oneself. This mood must permeate prayer as an undercurrent, a fundamental tone, if it is to be Christian.

[ 3 ] It is clear how impossible it is to have a selfish prayer in this way. It is also impossible for other reasons to send a selfish prayer to God, because one person would ask for rain, the neighbor for sunshine, both would ask out of their own selfishness, not to mention the case where two armies stand ready for battle opposite each other, and each asks that victory be granted to them, which is of course completely out of the question. But if one has the underlying tone, the basic tone, “not my will, but yours be done,” then one can ask for anything, then one merges with the divine-spiritual will. I would like to ask for this, but I leave it up to the divine-spiritual being to decide whether it should be granted to me or not.

[ 4 ] This is the basic mood of Christian prayer, and from this point of view came the most comprehensive, most universal prayer in Christian tradition: the Lord's Prayer, which according to Christian tradition was taught by Christ Jesus himself. This is indeed one of the most profound prayers in the world. Today, we can no longer appreciate the full depth of the Lord's Prayer as it was in the original language in which it was taught. But the content of its message is so powerful that it cannot be diminished in any way by any language.

[ 5 ] If you look at the prayers of other peoples, you will find that wherever religions are in their prime, have reached their peak, there are prayers in the sense that has been described to you. However, when the various religions declined, such prayers took on a less correct character: they became magic formulas, means of idolatry, and at the time when Christ Jesus taught his followers to pray, many, many such magic formulas—all of which had a profound meaning where they originated—were in use. Such magic formulas always referred to what one desired externally, that is, to selfish requests filled with personal desires. Christians should not pray in this way, the Lord taught. This is a prayer that refers to external things. Christians should pray in the quiet of their own room, which is the innermost part of the human soul, the part where human beings can connect with the divine spiritual essence. We must be clear that there is something living in every human being that we can describe as a drop from the sea of the divine, that there is something in every human being that is equal to God. But it would be quite wrong to think that this means that human beings themselves are equal to God. When we say that there is something in human beings that is equal to God, this does not mean that human beings themselves are equal to God, for a drop from the sea is equal to the sea in terms of its substance, but the drop is not the sea. In the same way, the human soul is a drop from the sea of divinity, but it is not God, and just as the drop can unite with its own substance when you pour it into the sea, so the soul, as a drop of the Godhead, unites spiritually with its God in prayer or meditation. This union of the soul with its God is called Christ Jesus, praying in the quiet chamber.

[ 6 ] Now that we have characterized the spirit of Christian prayer and the demands of this prayer in relation to the Christian, human spirit, we can now turn our attention to the content of the Lord's Prayer itself. You have been told that the Lord's Prayer is the most comprehensive prayer. Therefore, you will agree with me that in order to understand the Lord's Prayer, we must first take a very comprehensive view of the world. A long detour will be necessary to comprehend the Lord's Prayer. We must consider the nature of human beings from a certain point of view. You know that we do this in the same way that spiritual research has always considered it for thousands of years. Let us quickly remind ourselves of this once again.

[ 7 ] When a human being stands before us, we first see the physical body, which in its substance and forces is common to all minerals and seemingly lifeless natural products. However, this physical body of the human being is not, as the materialistic mind might think, the only thing in the space before us; rather, it is only the lowest of the members of the human being. The next member we distinguish is the etheric body or life body of the human being, which he shares with plants and animals, for every plant, every animal, and every human being must call upon chemical and physical substances to come to life; they cannot give themselves life by themselves. The third member is the astral body, the bearer of pleasure and pain, drives, desires, and passions, and the ordinary ideas of daily life. Human beings could not have any of this if they did not have this astral body. They share this only with animals. Animals also have pleasure and pain, drives, desires, and passions, and therefore also have this body. Humans therefore share the physical body with seemingly lifeless minerals, the etheric or life body with everything that grows and reproduces, with the entire plant kingdom; they share the astral body with animal nature. In addition, they have something that takes them beyond these three natural kingdoms of the earth, making them the crown of earthly creation. This is the fourth member of their being.

[ 8 ] We come to this conclusion when we give it a little thought. There is one name that differs from all the others: you cannot say “I” to anyone else. For everyone else, I am a “you,” and everyone else is a “you” to me. “I” can only resound as a name for what it means within the soul itself; it can never come to you from outside when it means you yourself. The deeper religions have always felt this at all times, and therefore they said: When the soul begins to give itself this self-designation within, then the God in man begins to speak, the God who speaks through the soul. The name “I” cannot sound from outside, it must sound within the soul itself. This is the fourth member of the human being.

[ 9 ] Hebrew esoteric science has called this I the unpronounceable name of God. ‘Yahweh’ means nothing other than “I am.” Whatever interpretations external science may give, in truth it means “I am” — the fourth member of the human being. These are the four members of which the human being is initially composed. We also call them the four members of the so-called lower nature of the human being.

[ 10 ] Now, in order to understand the whole being of the human being, you must go back a little further in human development. This brings us back to the many peoples who preceded us: the ancient Germanic and Central European development, the Greek-Latin and Chaldean peoples, the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Hebrews, the Persian peoples, down to the people from whom our present culture originated: the Indian people. This people, in turn, also had ancestors who lived elsewhere, namely on that part of the earth that is now the seabed between Europe and America, in Atlantis. This was washed away by powerful floods, and the land sank as a result of a violent natural event that has been preserved in the myths and legends of all peoples as the Flood.

[ 11 ] But even this is not the oldest cultivated land on earth. Long ago, we return to the area where humans in their present form originated, a land that lay approximately between present-day Hinterindien, Australia, and Africa: ancient Lemuria, an ancient land where conditions were very different from those on earth today. Usually, we imagine far too little how great and comprehensive the changes on Earth were in the course of human development itself. Now we come to a point in time when the lower nature of man already existed. At that time, beings consisting of these four members walked on this Earth: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the ego nature. These beings were more highly organized than the highest animals of today, but they were not yet human beings: they were animal-humans, but not like the animals of today. The latter are degenerate descendants who developed from these animal-humans through backwardness and degeneration. Something very special happened to these beings who lived at that time.

[ 12 ] At that time, they were ready to take on a certain power within themselves, a power that is our higher soul power. If we want to put it that way, the union of lower human nature with the human soul took place at that time. Until then, this human soul rested in the bosom of the Godhead, was a member within the Godhead itself. Above, in the realm of the spiritual, we have the divine-spiritual being; below, the four-part human shells that had matured to this point and were capable of absorbing drops of this divinity. We can now imagine what happened at that time. Imagine a glass of water. You take a hundred small sponges and try to gradually soak up each of these sponges with a drop of this water. Then you have a hundred drops, which were previously completely connected with the water, distributed among a hundred sponges. In this way, you can easily imagine how the process of ensoulment took place at that time. Until then, the soul rested in the great universal divine being like the drop in the glass of water. Just as these little sponges worked, so did these physical human shells. These spiritual drops separated themselves from the common divine substance, they became individualized, they were as souls drops in the shells within them and began at that time to actually form the human being as he is now, as a spiritual-physical being. At that time, these souls incarnated for the first time, then went through many, many incarnations and formed their human body into its present form. But what happened at that time was the union of parts of the Godhead with the lower members of human nature. With each incarnation they progressed, with each incarnation they became more perfect, in order to reach a certain climax in the future.

[ 13 ] We call this part of the higher nature, which united at that time as a force that transformed the lower nature and elevated itself in this transformation, the higher essence of the human being: spirit self, life spirit, and spirit man, or manas, buddhi, and atma. These are the parts of the divine essence through which human beings gradually transform the lower nature into the higher. Through the power of Manas, they transform the astral body; through Buddhi, the etheric body; and through the power of Atma, the physical body. They must transform all of these in order to attain the goal of their development. So we once had the four members: physical body, etheric body, astral body, and I, and at that time we received the seed for higher development, which is actually an outflow of the highest spiritual being: the threefold, higher being of the human being, the divine core of the human being, the divine disposition of the human being. We can now consider this higher part of human nature from two points of view. One is that we say: this is the higher human nature to which human beings unfold in the course of their development. Or we can consider it as a part of the divine being from which it has flowed forth, the divine part in human beings. Christians initially view it in the latter sense, and we will now do the same and study the nature of these higher forces of human nature. We will start with the highest member, with what is called the power of the Atma in human beings.

[ 14 ] What I am now describing to you is not some external definition, but rather I would like to characterize for you the real nature and essence of this higher part of human nature. That which becomes the power of the Atma is, insofar as it is a power that flows from the Godhead, of a volitional nature. If you reflect on your own willpower, on what you are capable of wanting within yourself, then you have a shadowy replica, a shadowy reflection of what flows from the power of the Atma, from the Godhead. The will of man today is the power that is least developed. But the will can continue to develop further and further until a time comes when it reaches its peak, when this will is capable of accomplishing what is called “the great sacrifice” in religions.

[ 15 ] Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror and looking into it. Your image resembles you completely in every part of your physiognomy, your gestures, in everything it is the same as you, but it is your dead image. You stand in front of it as a living being and are dealing with your dead image, which is the same as you in everything except for the living being, except for the substantial content. Imagine that your will had grown to such an extent that it was capable of making the decision to give up your own existence, your own being, and to hand it over to your mirror image; you would be capable of sacrificing yourself completely in order to give your mirror image your life. Such a will is said to emanate, to radiate its own essence. This is the highest development of the will, what Christianity calls the “divine Father's will.”

[ 16 ] The human will is therefore today the least developed member of all the soul forces. But it is on the way to developing such power that it is capable of performing “the great sacrifice.” This is the real nature of what can develop as the power of the Atma: a will-like nature, insofar as it is an effusion of divine essence.

[ 17 ] Now let us consider the second member of higher human nature, the Buddhi or life spirit, from the point of view of an emanation from the deity, as it has been regarded in Christianity. You will most easily grasp this concept if you focus not on the power that emanates from itself to enliven the reflection, but on the reflection itself. In the mirror image, a complete repetition of the original essence arises; it is the same — and yet not the same — when you apply this to the world, to the entire universe: how the divine will of the world is reflected in all directions from a single point.

[ 18 ] Imagine, as it were, a hollow sphere that reflects inward. The one point inside is reflected inwardly an infinite number of times. Everywhere, in infinite multiplicity, is the divine will of the world, everywhere mirror images, details of the divine.

[ 19 ] Consider the cosmos, the universe, as a reflection of the infinite will of the world. The divine world will is not in any single being, but everywhere the world will is reflected in the most manifold ways. The reflection of the deity — whereby the deity remains in the point where it is, and yet enlivens every point in which it is reflected through “the great sacrifice” — this is called the “kingdom” in the Christian sense. And this expression, the kingdom, denotes the same thing that is the Buddhi in man. If you consider the universe in relation to the creative, productive principle that flows out of the original, divine, then what first connects to the Atma is its divine spark of life, the Buddhi. As a “kingdom,” it is universal-cosmic.

[ 20 ] And now let us turn our gaze from there down to the details of the kingdom. We have first considered it as a whole. Now we go down to the individual. How does one distinguish one from the other? By what is called the “name” in the Christian sense. Each is named, and by this means the manifold, individual elements of the kingdom are distinguished from one another. Christians understand the name to be what is often called the concept, that which is peculiar to a thing. Just as individual human beings are distinguished from one another by their names, so the name is perceived as containing within it a part of the divine essence reflected in it. Christians behave correctly toward this name when they are clear that every member of the kingdom is an emanation of the divine, that with every bite of bread, they are an emanation, a mirror, and a part of the deity. Christians should be clear about this even in relation to the smallest things. In human nature, it is the individual spirit self that makes one person distinct from another. What the name is in the kingdom, man has in the individual spirit self or manas, in that he forms a special part of the divinity and has a special name for himself, the name that runs through all incarnations of the individual human being.

[ 21 ] So we now see this threefold nature before us as an outflow of the divine-spiritual being, and in this sense Atma is the will of the Godhead, Buddhi or the life spirit is the realm, and Manas or the spirit self is the name.

[ 22 ] Now let us consider the four lower parts of human nature, starting from the bottom, first the physical body. This is that which has the same substances and forces as external physical nature, but also continuously transforms these same substances and forces. These flow in and out of the human physical body, and it is only through the continuous flow of these substances and forces that it exists. It can only exist by constantly renewing and transforming itself through external physical substances. It is one with the rest of physical nature. Just as you cannot cut off this finger and expect it to remain what it is — it withers as soon as you separate it from the rest of the body — it is what it is only because it is part of the whole organism — just as you cannot separate the physical human body from the earth in such a way that it remains what it is. Thus, the human being is only what he is in connection with the elements of the earth. Physical substances and forces flow in and out of him, and through this he is that which alone can sustain his being. This characterizes the physical body.

[ 23 ] The second member is the etheric or life body. We must be clear that this is what brings the purely physical substances and forces to life. It is the bearer of growth and reproduction, of life phenomena in general, but also of something else entirely: of all those qualities of human beings that are of a more lasting nature than the transient drives, desires, and passions. How does it differ from these? If you want to grasp this difference, think back to when you were eight years old. Think of all you have learned since then, how many concepts and ideas, experiences and lessons you have enriched your soul with — it is an enormous amount. But now think about something else: how slowly, at a snail's pace, something else progresses. Think about how you were a quick-tempered child, and tell me whether this anger still sometimes comes through, how your inclinations or your temperament have remained largely the same. All this has not changed as much as your experiences. What one learns, experiences, and discovers can be compared to the minute hand of a clock, and the changes in character, temperament, and habits to the hour hand of a clock. This difference exists because the former is carried by the astral body, while the latter, which moves so slowly, is carried by the etheric body. When your habits change, it is a change in your etheric body. If you have only learned this or that, it means a change in the astral body.

[ 24 ] For those who become students of true occultism in the higher sense, this training is not based on external learning, but all esoteric training takes place in the etheric body. Therefore, you have done more for your actual occult training if you have succeeded in transforming even one deeply rooted character trait than if you have acquired a great deal of external knowledge. Accordingly, a distinction is made between the exoteric, which the etheric body carries, and the esoteric, which the etheric body needs. The etheric body is also the carrier of memory as a quality, not of recollection. If, for example, the memory is to become sharper, this is linked to a change in the etheric body, or if it fades, this is a change in the etheric body, a change in the power of memory. Another thing that is infinitely important to us: human beings live, as they are now, in two directions. Everyone belongs to a family, a tribe, a people, and so on, and there are also certain characteristics that they share with others and that connect them to that community. The French have different characteristics than the Germans, who in turn have different characteristics than the English, and so on. They all have certain tribal characteristics in common. But in addition, each person has their own individual characteristics, which make them stand out from their people and make them a special person. People belong to a community because of certain characteristics of the etheric body. The etheric body has the characteristics that make people belong to a people, a race, or indeed the human community. But if you want to understand what makes you stand out from this community, you have to look to the astral body. This determines what is individual in human beings.

[ 25 ] Therefore, a person's entire life in the community depends on their etheric body finding the right balance with the etheric bodies of those with whom they have to live. If they do not find this balance, they cannot live together with them, things go wrong, and they fall out. So the etheric body of the human being has the task of adapting to the other etheric bodies. The astral body determines the individual; above all, it must live in such a way that the human being does not commit personal sins. What causes the astral body to stray here or there are personal sins, transgressions of the astral body. Disharmony with the community are transgressions of the etheric body. Christian esotericism, when speaking precisely, called the transgressions of the etheric body “guilt,” that which disturbs the balance with others. A transgression of the astral body caused by individuality was called “succumbing to temptation” in Christian esotericism. The astral body succumbs to temptation in relation to its instincts, passions, and desires. It strays by succumbing to temptation within itself. Thus, in Christian esotericism, a distinction was made between “guilt” and “succumbing to temptation.”

[ 26 ] Now for the fourth member of the human being: the I. We had the physical body, which consists of metabolism, the etheric body, which can be afflicted with guilt, and the astral body, which can succumb to temptation. Now the I. It is the source of selfishness, of egoism. The I is that which has caused what was one in the great divine-spiritual being to move into the many. The fall from the unity of the divine into the individual is caused by the ego. That is why Christian knowledge saw the ego as the actual origin of egoism and selfishness. As long as the individual beings were united in the Godhead, they could not strive against each other. They could only do this in separation as egos. Before that, they could only want what the Godhead wanted. Christianity calls this development against one another, which corresponds to egoism, the transgression of the ego, and Christian tradition describes very precisely the moment when this soul descends into the body through the Fall, through the bite of the apple. The actual transgression of the ego is referred to as “evil.” The transgression of the fourth member is therefore evil. Only the ego can fall prey to evil, and this arose through what is referred to as the bite of the apple. Malum is the same word in Latin for apple and evil.

[ 27 ] The physical body is identical with the physical elements around it and maintains itself through the constant exchange of substances and forces, metabolism. The etheric body is what maintains balance with the other members of the community and can fall prey to guilt. The astral body, which should not succumb to temptation, and the ego, which must not fall victim to egoism, to evil.

[ 28 ] This fourfold being joins together with the threefold higher, divine core of being:

Will	Realm	Name
Atma	Buddhi	Manas

[ 29 ] Now consider prayer as a connection between the human being in the quiet chamber and the deity itself. In the original sense of Christianity, the soul is represented as divine, as a drop from the sea of the deity. And this soul must implore that this separated drop return to its origin. This origin of the divine essence of man is referred to by the name of the Father. And what the soul strives for, where it will be reunited with what is designated by the Father's name, is Devachan or heaven.

[ 30 ] And now let us imagine the original prayer: an invocation of the individual human being's passing away to what is the divine Father nature.

[ 31 ] This prayer had to implore that the three higher members of human nature might develop, ask that the “will,” which is the highest outflow of the divine, might be realized in human beings; that the second member of the divine essence, the “kingdom,” might take root in human beings; that the third member, the “Name,” should be felt as holy. This would therefore refer to the three higher members of the divine essence in man. And for the four lower members of human nature, one would ask: May my physical body receive the substances it needs for its sustenance. May the etheric body find a balance between its guilt and the guilt of others; may it live in harmony with others. The prayer should implore that no temptation drag down the astral body, and that the ego not fall prey to evil, the actual outflow of what is called selfishness.

[ 32 ] You should implore your union with the Father in a primal prayer. You should do this in the sense that the individual members of your sevenfold being stand before your soul in your prayer:

[ 33 ] “Our Father in heaven. First invoke the Father, then bring forth the petitions that relate to the three higher members:

[ 34 ] ”Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.“

[ 35 ] ”Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

[ 36 ] Then the four petitions relating to the four remaining members of human nature:

[ 37 ] “Give us this day our daily bread.”

[ 38 ] “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

[ 39 ] This is the balance with those among whom we live.

[ 40 ] “Lead us not into temptation”: our astral body.

[ 41 ] “But deliver us from evil”: that is, from every outflow of egoism.

[ 42 ] Thus, in the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer, you have given the meaning of the development of the sevenfold human nature. From the depths of wisdom about human beings, the Lord's Prayer has been given to Christians as a Christian prayer, and all theosophical wisdom about human beings lies in the Lord's Prayer. One need only understand it, and one has all theosophical wisdom as it relates to man.

[ 43 ] Those prayers that not only have a short-term effect, but which have touched souls and lifted hearts for thousands of years, are all drawn from the deepest wisdom. Such prayers have never been composed by randomly putting together beautiful or sublime words, but have been drawn from the deepest wisdom, because only then do they have the power to affect the souls of human beings over the millennia.

[ 44 ] The objection that the naive soul knows nothing of this wisdom does not apply. It needs to know nothing, because the power of the Lord's Prayer comes from this wisdom, and it works even if one knows nothing about it.

[ 45 ] One must only understand it in the right way: a person goes up to a plant and is enchanted by it. Even the most naive mind will be delighted, yet perhaps know nothing of the divine wisdom that is in the plant. It is the same with the great prayers. One does not need to know the wisdom, and yet such a prayer has the power, the wisdom, the elevation, the holiness of prayer. Even if it is born of the highest wisdom, it is not important to know this wisdom, but to experience the power of wisdom.

[ 46 ] Only in our time is it possible to bring out again what Christ Jesus put into prayer, and to know again what he put into it as power, especially in the Lord's Prayer. Because it is drawn from the greatest depths of wisdom about human beings themselves, about their sevenfold nature, it is great and powerful even for the most naive mind, and all the more uplifting for those who can also draw out the wisdom that is within it. And it loses none of the power it has always exerted, shaking and uplifting, like the whole of theosophy, divine wisdom, which rests in the Lord's Prayer.

[ 47 ] The Lord told the crowd many things in parables. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained them to them, for they were to draw from the wise explanation of the parables the power that would enable them to become his messengers, through which they could know how he himself had attained that magical power, through which his work was called upon to have an effect over the millennia.

[ 48 ] This is what should be understood in the meaning of the Lord's Prayer.