Nature and Spirit Beings
Their Effects in Our Visible World
GA 98
5 November 1907, Vienna
I. The So-called Dangers of Occult Development
Speaking about occultism and the occult development of the human being, one must first and foremost clarify how the cultivation of occult development relates to actual theosophical work in the world. The latter has, since its inception, performed its task precisely by making a certain number of occult truths accessible to mankind. These truths about the super-sensible worlds, which can be learned from the theosophical literature and lectures, are essentially ancient. However, until the last third of the 19th century, it was neither usual nor necessary to share these truths publicly with the world in the form in which they exist today as theosophical truths. The cultivation of these truths was a matter of the so-called secret schools and secret societies.
One who wanted to learn some of the ancient truths about the inner world, had to be, so to speak, an accepted student, a student of the great teachers of mankind. That someone would have travelled around, as we do nowadays, to share certain elemental truths with the world, wasn't done back then. One who was admitted had to provide certain proofs of his character, his intellectual and other abilities, and within the school, there was a very strict division by degree. It was impossible, for example, to reveal to someone who had just been accepted, secrets of higher degrees. In short, everything was strictly ordered, and the world outside did not know anything about the existence of such a secret science, although this is the only true occultism.
Who were those who found their calling there? Usually, they were not known. One was a smith, one a shoemaker, a privy councillor, a carpenter. What was known was only what he represented in the world. One did not know that these people were wise ones, able to deeply look into the spiritual and super-sensible world. This changed in the last third of the 19th century. Today it is necessary that at least the elementary parts of the secret sciences reflected in theosophical texts, lectures and other writings, be made public. That this is possible and why this is so, we will see right away.
First, we must take a look at this past age, which really basically lasted into the 14th century, and also partly into the last third of the 19th century. What is happening now, the publication of certain elemental teachings of occultism had been prepared by the occult movement. This movement was founded in the 14th and 15th centuries by a high-ranking individual who became known to the world under the name of Christian Rosenkreutz.1Christian Rosenkreutz: Not recognised by public history as a real historic figure of the 14th/15th century, Christian Rosenkreutz became legendarily known from two anonymous Rosicrucian texts Fama Fraternitatis, ot the Discovery of the Brotherhood of the Highly Laudable Order of R.C., Kassel 1614, and Confessio Fraternitatis or Confession of the laudable Brotherhood of the highly honourable Rose Cross, Kassel 1615. According to this, he was a German of noble birth who lived from 1378 to 1484. The name appears for the first time in a text handwritten and as such distributed in 1604, and in 1616 anonymously published in the text The Chymical Wedding of Christiani Rosencreutz, Anno 1459. Rudolf Steiner presented the author of this text, Johann Valentin Andreae, as the carrier of inspiration of Christian Rosenkreutz. Refer to Rudolf Steiner, The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz in Philosophy and Anthroposophy. Collected Essays 1904-1923, GA 35. The essay is also contained in the translation of The Chymical Weddinginto New High German by Walter Weber, Basel 1978., According to Rudolf Steiner, Christian Rosenkreutz was a real historical personality. Compare also, The Esoteric Christendom and the Spiritual Leadership of Humanity, GA 130. What ‘Christian Rosenkreutz’ is, or who hides behind it, only the initiates know. One thing only is certain, he belongs to the most developed individuals of the modern era, who had to shape the occult knowledge of the Middle Ages in such a way, that it would fit into modern life.
In the last third of the 19th century, some were meant to go out to announce to humanity, what it needs to know today. Theosophy is nothing else but the elementary doctrine of occultism.
If we now look back at those distant times when occultism was practised in secret, there were three avenues by which a human being could come into contact with the super-sensible worlds: First as an initiate, second as a clairvoyant, third as an adept. In the old days, these three methods were kept strictly apart, and if we really want to understand what the occult development of man is all about, then we must clearly understand these three terms.
It is actually known what is meant by a clairvoyant. I specifically note that the more important one is the clairvoyant because he, after all, possesses higher senses. It is very easy to explain what a clairvoyant is. In every human soul, hidden abilities lie dormant. These can be developed, enabling the human being to look into the world hidden from the ordinary senses. There are such secret scientific methods. If a human being practises these himself, then he will no longer be as unconscious during sleep as an ordinary human being. Practising these methods make it possible that his astral body, when it pushes itself out with the Ego, perceives the spiritual world in his surroundings. Initially perceived like flooding light, like light- and colour-phenomena, he then begins to hear during the night.
This is a real experience the human being has of himself: that he, for the time being in a transitional state, is surrounded by a spiritual world as well as by a physical one. This is the beginning of actual clairvoyance.
One who really wants to achieve the state of clairvoyance, must be able to carry across into his day-consciousness what he now sees at night, because it would only be a half-measure if one could only look at night into the astral world. Once he is able to really tune in, so that he sees not only what exists for the physical senses in humans, animals and so on, but also perceives as shining aura that which the human being and the animal feels and experiences, then the state of modern clairvoyance is reached. Therefore, a clairvoyant is someone who can really see into the spiritual world and speak about it.
Let’s assume, there was an area where people have never seen a railroad and someone from there moves to an area where there were railroads. Then he would learn about it through his own experience. He would be able to talk about it at home based on his own experience, just as the clairvoyant can testify about the spiritual world.
But someone who is such a clairvoyant, is not yet what could be called an adept, nor could he be called an initiate. If a man who, according to the example above, has become familiar with a railway by personal experience, now returns home, he would not be entrusted with the task of building a railway. The same applies to the clairvoyant. He is not able to do what someone else can do who has gained practical and scientific knowledge in the super-sensible world. This is how the clairvoyant, who has only seen what exists in the higher worlds, is in comparison to the adept.
Still different is the Initiate. Here is another comparison: Imagine a human being who can see all colours and lights, and another one who is quite short-sighted. The first one doesn’t know anything about the laws of the world of light, the other one, who can’t see far, but as a trained physicist and scientist knows all the laws well. There are people, who are initiated to a high degree, despite them not being clairvoyant; at least this is applicable to all the old schools, but not to the same degree nowadays. In the old days it was possible to work like this, because don’t forget that to teach clairvoyance or train initiates is a lengthy process. Some require many incarnations to achieve this.
Such cooperation of clairvoyants and initiates is now no longer entirely possible; for this reason the Rosicrucian School no longer keeps these things strictly separate. The selflessness, that used to operate in the secret schools, can hardly be comprehended by people today. Especially, in the Egyptian secret schools individuals worked together in this way. Today, the requisite trust no longer exists, and modern man cannot imagine this anymore. This is why initiates and clairvoyants in the Rosicrucian schools were only developed to a certain degree. In contrast, one has to deal very carefully with adeptship as one could only harm the world. Because people are very disinclined to believe that spiritual powers influence everything. A storm would be unleashed and the consequence of this would be that the preparatory understanding would be jeopardised. First, it is necessary for clairvoyants and initiates to teach the occult knowledge, and only then adepts will gradually appear.
What is an adept? They exist in all areas. Observe man himself. Man consists by his nature of a physical, an etheric, and an astral body and an ego. The various limbs of human nature develop quite differently at certain ages. This is a very important consideration. Because, for the occultist a human being is born repeatedly, first physically out of the physical mother. There the physical body is enclosed by the mother’s physical body; different blood circles and juices are moving from mother to child. Once it is physically born, the mother’s physical body is detached from the child completely. This is the first birth. At this point in time the etheric body has not been born. The second birth only happens after the second dentition begins in the seventh year of life. Until then the etheric body is enclosed by the etheric shell, which does not really belong to the specific etheric body of the child. Only in the seventh year of life will the etheric body really be born. The shell will be pushed back, and the outer expression of this process is the appearance of the adult teeth, which the human being will keep. The clairvoyant sees, how, to the extent in which the teeth appear, the etheric body is being born out of his mother’s shell. Until sexual maturity, the human being is still enclosed by its astral mother, who is there from the beginning and will remain also after the seventh year of life. Then the astral mother will be pushed aside, and only now the astral body will be born, like earlier the physical and the etheric body were born. The reaching of sexual maturity means for man, the birth of the astral body. From age twenty-one to twenty-eight only, the ego will be fully born.
Once people realise how this development proceeds, it will become clear what kind of impact this will have on education. I have given a description of this in my paper The education of the child from the perspective of the science of the spirit.2The Education of the Child from the perspective of Spiritual Science, first published in 1907. This brochure contains all the rules that need to be taken into consideration in this context. Now, you see, a teacher, who has mastered this system, would be an adept in the area of education.
This practical work appearing from the spiritual worlds is adeptship. Until age seven a kind of hardening (solidification) of forms is happening inside the human being. All forms of the brain, and the bone structures (skeleton) will be created by the seventh year of life. They will continue to grow, but what doesn’t develop by age seven is irretrievable. So something irretrievable can be neglected by education. From then onwards the etheric body becomes free. Now it becomes obvious how the teeth that a human being gets are an expression of proper solidification and formation processes of the etheric body, which is just being born, and show whether they are in correct proportion to each other. These two things are related, the emergence of the teeth and the emergence of the etheric body. Everything that is concerned with growth and reproduction is connected with it. If one of these is not correct, then the other one will not be correct either. This illustrates how the science of the spirit explains how the teeth and the etheric body are connected. For example, women who have bad teeth, are more likely to have been affected by childbed fever.
Something of the principle of solidification and something of the principle of softening must exist—these hardening and softening principles need to exist in balance. Rickits, for example, occurs when the softening principle is stronger. Let us assume that the hardening principle is predominant, then the germs are laid for tuberculosis, for arteriosclerosis.
The moment in which the human being, by applying super-sensible principles, is able to guide the development of the etheric and physical body, he will be an adept in the area of child education, just like Paracelsus,3Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus, 1493-1541, doctor and philosopher. who is no longer understood, was an adept, as he could perceive in any moment the invisible principles. Now you can imagine the kind of storm that would break out if you would approach a university with such teachings. Humankind must be prepared step by step, and then it will come to a point where it will demand that spiritual leaders back up their teachings with works from the spiritual world. The reason for the existence of initiates is, that the spiritual world can be researched and found according to its prevailing laws by means of clairvoyance. However, when one has found it and talks about it, then all things that a clairvoyant says can be understood by common sense, and if someone maintains that he cannot understand these, then the reason is not that he isn’t clairvoyant, but that he does not want to use his common sense enough.
Thus, one can be an initiate, without being clairvoyant, but then one has to rely on the clairvoyant. In a certain respect, the theosophical movement aims to help by requiring that all their public teachings are based on clairvoyants’ experience. What do you then want an audience for? In a way, one wants to turn them into Initiates, who comprehend without being clairvoyant themselves.
This is the mission of the theosophical movement. It is also the correct relationship between the teachings that are being given and the way these are made available to the wider audience. Now, this in-depth penetration of the super-sensible world is based on very particular methods. Here, I have already once mentioned specifically the Rosicrucian method,4Refer to note 1(Chapter 1) above. Obviously, the deliberations of Rudolf Steiner at this point have been only fragmentarily captured by the note taker. For better comprehension it is referred to the presentation in the lecture dated 15 September 1909; Lecture 1 in The Luke Gospel cycle, GA 114. therefore I will only add a bit.
To raise a human being up into the higher worlds, to turn him into a clairvoyant, requires him to first develop strengths which are already in him: thinking, feeling and willpower. This already includes a lot of the difficulties experienced in the first elementary grades, which are talked about if one intends to alert of dangers. Clairvoyance is for certain people a far too beautiful thing, and those who hear something about Theosophy are keen to achieve clairvoyance. They are not very thrilled when they are told it is necessary to learn something before one gets results.
The first thing one must do is to develop one’s thinking, thoroughly develop it, and certainly prior to becoming a clairvoyant. It is extraordinarily difficult nowadays, to explain what is meant by ‘develop the thinking”. If you can see into the higher world through the opening of the higher senses, you will see that these worlds look very, very different from what you have imagined here. Normally, someone who cannot yet look into them can hardly imagine what one can experience, what kind of impressions there are, and even less so in relation to the world of clairaudience, the harmony of the spheres. One thing, however, remains constant through all worlds: logical thinking. If you have learnt this here, then it is a safe guide in the astral and spiritual worlds. The impressions are totally different, but logic remains the same. This only begins to change in the highest worlds.
What is offered in the theosophical works and books is sensory-free thinking. If one doesn’t learn to do that, then one exposes oneself to a certain danger. One can enable someone else to look into the astral world, but it should not be forgotten, that, if one is not completely standing on the solid ground of healthy thinking, it is extraordinarily difficult there to tell truth from illusion. One who can’t differentiate is simply deranged, he is not spiritually or mentally healthy and thus exposes himself to the danger of losing his balance when the astral world overwhelms him.
One learns to grasp the astral world gradually, by working on one’s feelings, and this happens through imagination. I will show you how this approaches the human being, teaches him, and introduces him to the astral world. This is facilitated by way of converting all ideas a human has, which are normally expressed as dogmas and abstract concepts, into pictures which appear visually. What we are thinking and talking and learning are abstract concepts, thus initially there is speculation. This will lead no one into the higher worlds. Only when the concepts are transformed into pictures does the human being gradually gain access to the higher worlds.
How is this transformation of thoughts into pictures achieved? In the Rosicrucian school, a teacher would say to the student: Look at this plant. With its roots it strives into the ground, its stem rises up straight, on the top is the bloom and the fruit. And now compare the plant with the human being. Superficially thinking one could be tempted to compare the bloom with the human head, and what is down below in the plant with the feet of the human being. In reality, the head of the plant is the root, and what the plant holds chastely up towards the light are its fertility organs. This is exactly the opposite of what is the case with humans.
The bloom has turned these organs towards the light. Imagine this whole thing exactly—if you wouldn’t turn the plant’s fertility organs up towards the light, but down towards the centre of the earth, then they would be penetrated by desire and passion. Thus, we find in a human being a reversed plant, at once pervaded by desires and passions. Thus, the human body is flesh whilst the plant body, the chaste one, is a body that has not yet developed into flesh.
And now look at an animal: It stands between plant and human. Plant, animal and the human being upwards form the cross that extends throughout the whole of nature. Now the student is told: Look at the plant, how it turns its calyx upwards, is kissed by the sun, by the beam of light called the holy lance of love. The human being had to exchange the plant body with the one of flesh pervaded by desire, but he has a high ideal in front of his eyes.
Here we must observe the human heart and the larynx. There are two types of organs in a human body, those, which are on the path to imperfection, and which will incrementally fall away, and others that are only in the stage of formation. All the lower organs, the sexual organs will fall away. Heart and larynx, on the other hand, are organs which will only be perfected in the future, and will only then be developed.
I am speaking to you. My thoughts are within me. I put these into words that originate from my larynx, and create sound vibrations, and in this way, my thoughts communicate with your soul. The voice box is the apparatus to produce airwaves and bring out that which is in the soul. If someone would invent a device through which these waves could be solidified, then you would be able to pick up my thoughts, and my words. In the future, the larynx will not only produce words, but one day it will become the creative, reproductive organ, and will create future beings similar to humans.
During certain times the plant-like nature of the human was not yet penetrated by the lusting passionate nature of the flesh. Those specific organs, which were the latest to develop out of the animal nature, will first disappear again. These are the reproductive organs. These remained for a long time as plant organs after the human being had already appeared in flesh. For this reason, there exist pictorial collections where pictures of hermaphrodites5Beings who have male and female gender characteristics. with plant organs are on display. When the Bible tells about Eve’s fig leaf, in reality, this is a symbol of the fact that these organs were the last to develop in the flesh. In this way, the religious texts must be interpreted. The sexual organs are declining organs, whilst the larynx is in a process of complete transformation, and once the human being has become chaste again, the larynx will turn itself again towards the spiritual sun. The calyx of the plant developed into the form of the flesh filled with passionate desires, and then the larynx will once again become a chaste, pure calyx, fertilised by Spirit, which will be raised up towards the holy lance of love. This is also the symbol of the Holy Grail, its high ideal.
Compare this, try to feel and re-experience all the shivers those images aroused; then you will have only one of those images which are given to a Rosicrucian student. And while you are wandering through these, then you will realise bit by bit that your feelings become facts for you. You will perceive that these feelings radiate light. It always radiates, but the lower human being doesn’t see it. One who experiences this mystical part of imagination learns to see his feelings. This is the beginning.
Not magic, but an intimate process of imagination happens at the beginning of the rise to clairvoyance. But here one thing needs to become clear because from that moment onwards you will see everything emanating from yourself. When one actually starts to transform the inner life into light, one has to be able to bear what is then seen. This requires a strength of character which hardly anyone can imagine. For example, if you, not being clairvoyant, tell a lie this is bad enough. But if you are clairvoyant and tell a lie, and you then see how the lie becomes visible and what it means on the astral plane, then you will understand why it is said that there a lie is murder. And this is so. Just assume you have seen an event happening, and have formed an idea about it, and then tell something that is incorrect, i.e., something that is a lie. Then from the object emanates the correct and from you the false stream and these two will collide and cause a terrible explosion; and each time you do this, you attach a hideous creature to your karma that you can't get rid of until you have made good what you have lied about.
Everyone who wants to become clairvoyant needs to develop three virtues, which are crucial for him. First, self-confidence is needed to be sure of oneself. Second, self-awareness is needed so one is never allowed to shy away from recognising one’s mistakes. And third, presence of mind is needed since one will encounter many things on the astral plane that, while present around us all the time, are something else to see. For this reason these characteristics must be developed first and foremost, and it is really nonsense that some sort of schools or societies train people to become clairvoyants without guiding them in this way.
If now in a different way, a student will be taught namely through occult texts, he will be guided upwards into the spiritual Devachan world to hearing. There one must immerse oneself into those pictures which exist for the development of the human being. I will place one such picture as an example in front of your soul.
Think of the ancient times, when the human being had just come into existence in his current form. In those days Earth was a warm, glowing fireball, and all metals and minerals were melted in the glowing Earth. The physicist would say human beings could not exist there. In those days the human being climbed down from the Godhead and formed himself in the glowing matter. This transformation was a lengthy process. If you were able to see what the clairvoyant can perceive, you would see that he had wrapped himself into a body of fire.
Where has the fire that was burning on the Earth now gone? Where is it? It is in your blood. All the warmth that has been inside the human beings and the animals was and is the fire glow of the Earth. And once you will be able to transform your blood again, so that it shines—and this will be the case when the human larynx will be transformed into the Holy Grail—then the human beings will once again send out an abundance of light. If someone now immerses himself into a picture like this one, then he can achieve clairvoyance, clairaudience. I wish to point to the introduction to the Apocalypse of John which states: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.” These are pictures that have been used for development in Rosicrucian schools. The clairvoyant must learn to decipher such pictures. The development of the Earth will be the Word, and the Word will be with man, and man will create human beings through the Word.
Über die Sogenannten Gefahren der Okkulten Entwickelung
[ 1 ] Wenn man von Okkultismus oder auch von der okkulten Entwikkelung des Menschen spricht, dann muß man sich vor allen Dingen einmal darüber verständigen, wie sich die Pflege einer solchen verhält zur eigentlichen theosophischen Arbeit in der Welt. Letztere hat, seit sie begonnen, ihre Aufgabe gerade dadurch geleistet, daß sie eine gewisse Summe okkulter Wahrheiten der Menschheit zugänglich gemacht hat. Diese Wahrheiten über die übersinnlichen Welten, die aus der theosophischen Literatur und aus den Vorträgen kennengelernt werden können, sind im wesentlichen uralt. Aber bis zum letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts war es nicht üblich und auch nicht notwendig, diese Wahrheiten in der Form, in der sie heute als theosophische existieren, öffentlich der Welt mitzuteilen. Die Pflege dieser Wahrheiten war eine Angelegenheit der sogenannten geheimen Schulen und geheimen Gesellschaften.
[ 2 ] Derjenige, der von den alten Wahrheiten über die innerliche Welt etwas wissen wollte, der mußte, wie man sagt, ein angenommener Schüler sein, ein Schüler der großen Lehrer der Menschheit; und daß jemand hinausgegangen wäre, wie wir es heute tun müssen, um gewisse elementare Wahrheiten der Welt mitzuteilen, das gab es nicht. Wer zugelassen wurde, mußte gewisse Proben seines Charakters, seiner intellektuellen und sonstigen Fähigkeiten ablegen, und innerhalb der Schule war eine sehr strenge Gradeinteilung. Es war unmöglich, daß zum Beispiel jemandem, der eben angenommen worden war, Geheimnisse höherer Grade mitgeteilt worden wären, kurz, es war alles streng geregelt, und die Welt draußen wußte nichts vom Bestande einer solchen Geheimwissenschaft, die doch der einzige wahre Okkultismus ist.
[ 3 ] Wer waren die, die dort ihre Ausbildung gefunden haben? Man kennt sie in der Regel gar nicht, einer war Schmied, einer Schuster, Hofrat, Zimmermann. Man wußte nur das, was er in der Welt vorstellte, man wußte nicht, daß diese Leute Weise waren, die tief hineinschauen konnten in die geistige und übersinnliche Welt. Das ist im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts anders geworden; es ist heute notwendig, daß wenigstens der elementare Teil der Geheimwissenschaften in theosophischen Schriften und Vorträgen und auch sonst der Öffentlichkeit mitgeteilt werde. Daß das möglich ist und warum das so ist, werden wir gleich sehen.
[ 4 ] Nun wollen wir zuerst einen Blick werfen in jene alte Zeit, die eigentlich im Grunde genommen gedauert hat bis ins 14. Jahrhundert und noch zum Teil bis in das letzte Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts. Vorbereitet ist das, was jetzt geschieht - die Veröffentlichung gewisser elementarer Lehren des Okkultismus -, von derjenigen okkultistischen Strömung, die im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert gegründet worden ist durch eine hochgestellte Individualität, die der Welt bekannt geworden ist unter dem Namen Christian Rosenkreutz. Was dieser Christian Rosenkreutz ist oder wer sich dahinter verbirgt, das wissen nur die Eingeweihten. Das eine nur ist sicher, er gehört zu den fortgeschrittensten Individualitäten der Neuzeit, der das okkulte Wissen des Mittelalters in einer Weise zu gestalten hatte, daß es in das moderne Leben hineinpaßt.
[ 5 ] Im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts sollten einige hinausgehen, um der Menschheit zu verkünden, was sie heute wissen muß. Nichts anderes ist die Theosophie als die elementare Lehre des Okkultismus.
[ 6 ] Wenn wir nun zurückblicken in jene fernen Zeiten, wo der Okkultismus geheim betrieben worden war, so gab es dreierlei Arten, durch die der Mensch in Beziehung kommen konnte zu den übersinnlichen Welten: Erstens als Eingeweihter, zweitens als Hellseher, drittens als Adept. Das waren in den alten Zeiten drei streng voneinander geschiedene Arten, und wenn wir überhaupt verstehen wollen, um was es sich bei der okkulten Entwickelung des Menschen handelt, müssen wir uns diese drei Begriffe klar vor Augen führen.
[ 7 ] Was man unter einem Hellseher zu verstehen hat, ist eigentlich bekannt. Ich bemerke ausdrücklich, daß der Wichtigere der Hellseher ist, weil er überhaupt höhere Sinne hat. Es ist sehr einfach darzutun, was ein Hellseher ist. In jeder Menschenseele schlummern verborgene Fähigkeiten. Diese können entwickelt werden, dann kann der Mensch hineinsehen in die Welt, die den gewöhnlichen Sinnen verborgen ist. Es gibt solche geheimwissenschaftliche Methoden. Wenn der Mensch sie auf sich anwendet, dann ist er nicht im selben Sinne im Schlafe bewußtlos wie der gewöhnliche Mensch. Sie machen es ihm möglich, daß der astralische Leib, wenn er sich mit dem Ich hinausdrängt, die geistige Welt in seiner Umgebung wahrnimmt. Zuerst wie flutendes Licht, wie Licht- und Farbenerscheinungen, dann fängt er an zu hören in der Nacht.
[ 8 ] Das ist eine wirkliche Erfahrung, die der Mensch macht an sich selbst: daß er zunächst in diesem Übergangsstadium ebenso eine geistige Welt um sich hat wie auch die physische. Das ist der Anfang des eigentlichen Hellsehens.
[ 9 ] Derjenige, der wirklich die Stufe des Hellsehens erreichen will, der muß fähig werden, das, was er zunächst in der Nacht sieht, mit herüberzunehmen in sein Tagesbewußtsein, denn es wäre nur eine Halbheit, wenn er nur in der Nacht in die astralische Welt hineinsehen könnte. Wenn er sich wirklich darauf einstellen kann, daß er im Menschen und Tier und so weiter nicht nur das sieht, was da für physische Sinne vorhanden ist, sondern als strahlende Aura das wahrnehmen kann, was der Mensch und das Tier fühlen und empfinden, dann ist die Stufe des modernen Hellsehens erreicht. So ist also der Hellseher derjenige, der wirklich hineinsieht in die geistige Welt und der davon erzählen kann. Man nehme an, es gäbe eine Gegend, wo man noch keine Eisenbahn gesehen hat und es würde ein Mensch von dort verpflanzt werden dorthin, wo es Eisenbahnen gibt, dann kennt.er sie aus eigener Erfahrung. Er kann dann zu Hause erzählen davon aus eigener Erfahrung - so auch kann der Hellseher Zeugnis ablegen von der geistigen Welt.
[ 10 ] Aber derjenige, der so ein Hellseher ist, ist noch nicht das, was man einen Adepten nennen könnte, auch nicht das, was man einen Eingeweihten nennt. Wenn ein solcher Mensch, der nach obigen Beispielen eine Eisenbahn durch eigene Wahrnehmung kennengelernt hat, nun nach Hause zurückkehrt, so wird man ihm nicht den Bau einer Lokomotive anvertrauen. Ebenso ist es beim Hellseher. Er kann noch nicht das ausführen, was derjenige kann, der Übung und Wissenschaft in der übersinnlichen Welt hat. So verhält sich der Hellseher, der bloß gesehen hat, was in den höheren Welten ist, zu dem Adepten.
[ 11 ] Und wieder ein anderer ist der Eingeweihte. Wieder ein Vergleich: Denken Sie sich einen Menschen, der alle Farben und Lichter sieht, und wieder einen anderen, der ganz kurzsichtig ist. Der erste, der weiß gar nichts von den Gesetzen der Lichtwelt, der andere, der nicht weit sieht, der kennt als ein fertiger Physiker, als ein Wissenschafter sehr gut alle Gesetze. Es gibt Leute, die in hohem Grade eingeweiht sind, obwohl sie nicht hellsehend sind; wenigstens gilt das für alle alten Schulen, heute nicht mehr in demselben Grade. Früher konnte man so arbeiten, denn Sie dürfen nicht vergessen, daß es ein langer Prozeß ist, das Hellsehertum oder den Eingeweihten auszubilden. Viele Inkarnationen sind dazu bei manchen nötig.
[ 12 ] Nun ist ein solches Zusammenwirken von Hellsehern und Eingeweihten heute nicht mehr recht möglich; deshalb hat die Rosenkreuzerschule diese Dinge nicht mehr streng getrennt. Denn von jener Selbstlosigkeit, die sich früher in den Geheimschulen betätigt hat, hat die heutige Menschheit keinen Begriff mehr. Insbesondere in den ägyptischen Geheimschulen arbeitete man so zusammen. Aber, dieses volle Vertrauen ist heute gar nicht mehr vorhanden, davon kann sich die heutige Menschheit gar keine Vorstellung machen. Deshalb hat man in den Rosenkreuzerschulen nur Eingeweihte und Hellseher bis zu einem gewissen Grade entwickelt. Dagegen muß man mit dem Adeptentum sehr vorsichtig sein; man würde der Welt nur schaden. Denn die Menschen sind sehr abgeneigt, zu glauben, daß geistige Kräfte in alles hineinwirken. Es würde sich ein Sturm entfesseln, und die Folge davon wäre, daß man das vorbereitende Verständnis sehr gefährdet. Zuerst müssen Hellseher und Eingeweihte das okkulte Wissen verkünden, und dann werden erst nach und nach die Adepten kommen.
[ 13 ] Was ist ein Adept? Solche gibt es auf allen Gebieten. Betrachten Sie den Menschen selbst. Der Mensch besteht seinem Wesen nach aus dem physischen, ätherischen, astralischen Leib und dem Ich. Die verschiedenen Wesensglieder der menschlichen Natur entwickeln sich ganz verschieden mit den einzelnen Lebensaltern. Das ist ein sehr wichtiges Kapitel. Denn für den Okkultisten wird der Mensch wiederholt geboren, zuerst physisch aus der physischen Mutter heraus. Da ist der physische Leib eingeschlossen vom physischen Mutterleib; die verschiedenen Blutläufe und Säfte gehen von der Mutter zum Kinde. Wenn dieses physisch geboren wird, wird gleichsam dieser physische Mutterleib vom Kinde ringsum losgelöst. Das ist die erste Geburt. In diesem Zeitpunkt ist der Ätherleib noch nicht geboren. Diese zweite Geburt findet erst statt mit dem Zahnwechsel im siebenten Lebensjahre. Bis dahin ist der Ätherleib umgeben von der ätherischen Hülle, die nicht eigentlich zum speziellen Ätherleib des Kindes gehört. Im siebenten Lebensjahre wird tatsächlich erst der Ätherleib geboren. Die Hülle wird zurückgestoßen, und der äußere Ausdruck dieses Geschehens ist das Erscheinen der Zähne, die der Mensch behält. In dem Maße, wie die Zähne herauskommen, sieht der Hellseher, wie der Ätherleib aus seiner Mutterhülle geboren wird. Dann ist bis zur Geschlechtsreife der Mensch noch immer eingehüllt von seiner astralischen Mutter, die von Anfang an da ist und bleibt, auch nach dem siebenten Lebensjahre. Dann wird diese astralische Mutter weggestoßen, und jetzt erst wird der astralische Leib geboren, wie früher der physische und der Ätherleib. Das Erheben des Menschen zur Geschlechtsreife bedeutet die Geburt des astralischen Leibes. Vom einundzwanzigsten bis zum achtundzwanzigsten Jahre wird erst völlig das Ich geboren.
[ 14 ] Wenn einmal die Menschen wissen werden, wie eine solche Entwickelung vor sich geht, dann wird sich zeigen, was das für einen Einfluß haben wird auf die Erziehung. Ich habe eine Schilderung davon gegeben in meiner Schrift «Die Erziehung des Kindes vom Gesichtspunkte der Geisteswissenschaft». In dieser Broschüre haben Sie alle Regeln, die diesfalls zu berücksichtigen sind. Nun, sehen Sie, ein Lehrer, der dieses System beherrschen würde, ein solcher wäre auf dem Gebiete der Erziehung ein Adept. Dieses praktische Wirken aus den geistigen Welten herein, das ist Adeptschaft. Bis zum siebenten Jahre findet im Menschen eine Art Verfestigung der Formen statt. Alle Formen des Gehirns, des Knochengebäudes werden bis zum siebenten Jahre geschaffen. Sie wachsen dann weiter, aber was bis zum siebenten Jahre nicht da ist, ist unwiederbringlich. So kann Unwiederbringliches in der Erziehung vernachlässigt werden. Von da ab wird der Ätherleib frei. Jetzt sehen Sie also, wie die Zähne, die der Mensch bekommt, ein Ausdruck dafür sind, ob in der richtigen Weise diese Verfestigung und die Ausbildung des Ätherleibes, der da gerade geboren wird, im richtigen Maße zueinander stehen. Die beiden Dinge stehen miteinander in Verbindung, die Herausbildung der Zähne und die Herausbildung des Ätherleibes. An diesem hängt alles, was Wachstum und Fortpflanzung ist. Ist das eine nicht in Ordnung, wird es auch das andere nicht sein. Da können wir sehen, wie aus der geistigen Wissenschaft sich die Verbindung der Zähne und des Ätherleibes erklärt. Es werden zum Beispiel eher solche Frauen vom Kindbettfieber befallen, welche schlechte Zähne haben.
[ 15 ] Es muß etwas vom Verfestigungsprinzip und etwas vom Verweichungsprinzip da sein; es muß Übereinstimmung herrschen zwischen Verfestigungs- und Verweichungsprinzip. Rachitis entsteht zum Beispiel, wenn das Verweichungsprinzip stärker ist. Nehmen Sie nun an, das Verfestigungsprinzip herrsche vor, so sind die Keime gelegt zur Tuberkulose, zur Arterienverkalkung. In dem Augenblick, wo der Mensch aus übersinnlichen Ursachen den Ätherleib und den physischen Leib zu beherrschen imstande ist, ist er auf dem Gebiete der Kindererziehung ein Adept, so wie Paracelsus, der heute nicht verstanden wird, ein Adept war, weil er in jedem Augenblicke die unsichtbaren Prinzipien sehen konnte. Nun können Sie sich vorstellen, welcher Sturm losgehen würde, käme man mit solchen Lehren an die Universität. Vorbereitet muß die Menschheit erst werden nach und nach, dann wird sie auch dazu kommen, von den geistigen Leitern zu fordern, daß sie aus der geistigen Welt heraus ihre Lehren mit Werken bekräftigen. Daß es Eingeweihte gibt, hängt damit zusammen, daß die geistige Welt erforscht und gefunden werden kann nach ihren waltenden Gesetzen durch das Hellsehen. Wenn man sie aber gefunden hat und von ihr erzählt, dann sind für den gewöhnlichen Menschenverstand alle Dinge, die der Hellseher erzählt, begreiflich, und wer da behauptet, daß er sie nicht begreifen könne, bei dem ist nicht der Grund der, daß er kein Hellseher ist, sondern daß er den gewöhnlichen Menschenverstand nicht genügend anwenden will.
[ 16 ] Man kann also ein Eingeweihter sein, ohne Hellseher zu sein, aber man muß sich dann auf den Hellseher verlassen. Und in einer gewissen Beziehung will die theosophische Bewegung so helfen, daß alles, was verkündet werden soll, durch Hellseher gewonnen werden muß. Was will man denn mit dem Publikum? Man will es in einer gewissen Beziehung zu Eingeweihten machen, die begreifen, ohne selbst hellzusehen.
[ 17 ] Das ist die Aufgabe der theosophischen Bewegung, das ist auch das richtige Verhältnis zwischen den Lehren, die verkündet werden, und wie sie dem großen Publikum übermittelt werden. Nun beruht dieses wirkliche Hineindringen in die übersinnlichen Welten auf ganz bestimmten Methoden. Es wurde schon einmal von mir hier im Speziellen über die rosenkreuzerische Methode gesprochen, daher bringe ich nur einiges.
[ 18 ] Wenn man einen Menschen hinaufführen will in die höheren Welten, wenn man ihn zum Hellseher machen will, ist notwendig, daß die Kräfte, die in ihm schon da sind: Denken, Fühlen und Wollen, zuerst entwickelt werden. Darin liegt schon vieles von dem eingeschlossen, was die ersten elementaren Stufen an Schwierigkeiten bringen, über die man spricht, wenn man auf die Gefahren aufmerksam machen will. Hellsehen ist heute für gewisse Leute eine zu schöne Sache, und die etwas von Theosophie hören, sind darauf erpicht, es zum Hellsehertum zu bringen. Sie sind recht wenig erbaut, wenn man sagt, es sei notwendig, bevor man dazu kommt, etwas zu lernen.
[ 19 ] Das erste, was der Mensch zu berücksichtigen hat, ist, daß er sein Denken ausbildet, gründlich ausbildet, und zwar noch hier, bevor er Hellseher wird. Es ist außerordentlich schwierig, heute klarzumachen, was man meint mit dem Ausbilden des Denkens. Wenn Sie nämlich durch Eröffnung der höheren Sinne hineinschauen können in die höheren Welten, werden Sie sehen, daß diese Welten ganz, ganz anders aussehen, als Sie sich hier eine Vorstellung machen. In der Regel wird derjenige, der noch nicht hineinschauen kann, schwerlich eine Vorstellung davon haben, was man erleben kann, wie die Eindrücke da sind, noch weniger in bezug auf die Welt des Hellhörens, der Sphärenharmonie. Eines aber bleibt gleich durch alle Welten: das logische Denken. Haben Sie dieses hier gelernt, so ist das ein sicherer Führer in der astralischen und geistigen Welt. Die Eindrücke sind ganz verschieden, die Logik ist gleich; sie fängt erst an anders zu werden in den höchsten Welten.
[ 20 ] Das, was in den theosophischen Werken und Büchern geboten wird, ist sinnlichkeitsfreies Denken. Wenn man dieses nicht aufnimmt, dann setzt man sich einer gewissen Gefahr aus. Man kann bei jemandem bewirken, daß er in die astralische Welt hineinsieht, aber es darf nicht vergessen werden, daß, wenn man nicht ganz fest steht auf dem Boden des gesunden Denkens, es ganz außerordentlich schwer ist, dort Wahrheit von Täuschung zu unterscheiden. Und wer nicht unterscheiden kann, ist eben verrückt, der ist eben nicht geistig gesund und setzt sich also der Gefahr aus, daß er sein Gleichgewicht verliert, wenn die astralische Welt auf ihn einstürzt.
[ 21 ] Die astralische Welt lernt man allmählich erfassen, wenn das Gefühl bearbeitet wird, und dieses geschieht durch die Imagination. Ich will Ihnen zeigen, wie dies an den Menschen herantritt, ihn schult, und ihn hineinführt in die astralische Welt. Das geschieht dadurch, daß für den Menschen alle Vorstellungen, die sonst in Dogmen und abstrakten Begriffen gegeben werden, in Bilder verwandelt werden, daß sie bildlich auftreten. Was wir denken und reden und lernen, das sind abstrakte Begriffe, das ist zunächst Spekulation. Die führt niemanden hinein in die höheren Welten. Erst wenn die Begriffe in Bilder umgewandelt werden, dann erlangt der Mensch allmählich den Zugang zu den höheren Welten.
[ 22 ] Wie geschieht die Umwandlung der Gedanken in Bilder? In der Rosenkreuzerschule sagt der Lehrer dem Schüler: Sieh dir die Pflanze an. Mit der Wurzel strebt sie in den Boden, der Stengel steigt gerade auf, oben ist die Blüte und die Frucht. Und nun vergleiche die Pflanze mit dem Menschen. Bei oberflächlichem Denken könnte man versucht sein, die Blüte mit dem Kopfe des Menschen, und was an der Pflanze unten ist, mit den Füßen des Menschen zu vergleichen. In Wahrheit ist der Kopf der Pflanze die Wurzel, und was die Pflanze keusch nach oben dem Lichte zuhält, die Befruchtungsorgane, das ist beim Menschen gerade umgekehrt. Die Blüte hat diese Organe zum Lichte gewendet. Stelle dir das Ganze genau vor; würdest du die Befruchtungsorgane der Pflanze nicht nach oben halten, sondern zum Mittelpunkt der Erde hin, würden sie durchdrungen werden von Begierde und Leidenschaft. So haben wir im Menschen die umgekehrte Pflanze, die aber zugleich durchzogen ist mit Begierden und Leidenschaften. Dadurch ist der Menschenleib Fleisch und der Pflanzenleib, der keusche, ein noch nicht zum Fleische entwickelter Leib.
[ 23 ] Und nun sieh dir das Tier an: Es steht zwischen Pflanze und Mensch. Pflanze, Tier, nach oben der Mensch, bilden das Kreuz, das durch die ganze Natur geht. Nun sagt man dem Schüler: Sieh dir an die Pflanze, wie sie den Kelch nach oben kehrt, von der Sonne geküßt wird, vom Strahl des Lichtes, genannt die heilige Liebeslanze. Der Mensch hat den Pflanzenleib mit dem von Begierde durchdrungenen Fleisch vertauschen müssen, aber es steht ihm ein hohes Ideal vor Augen.
[ 24 ] Hier müssen wir das menschliche Herz und den Kehlkopf betrachten. Es gibt im Menschen zweierlei Organe, solche, welche auf dem Wege sind, unvollkommen zu werden, und nach und nach abfallen werden, und solche, die erst in der Ausbildung begriffen sind. Alle niederen Organe, die sexuellen Organe, werden abfallen. Herz und Kehlkopf dagegen sind Organe, die erst in der Zukunft ihre Vollendung haben werden, erst in der Zukunft ihre Entwickelung finden werden.
[ 25 ] Ich spreche zu Ihnen. Meine Gedanken sind in mir. Ich kleide sie in Worte. Diese kommen aus dem Kehlkopf heraus, bringen Tonschwingungen hervor, und dadurch teilen sich meine Gedanken Ihrer Seele mit. Der Kehlkopf ist der Apparat, die Luftwellen zu machen, und das, was in der Seele ist, da hinauszubringen. Wenn jemand einen Apparat erfinden könnte, durch den die Wellen verfestigt werden könnten, dann könnten Sie meine Gedanken, meine Worte aufklauben. In der Zukunft wird der Kehlkopf nicht nur die Worte hervorbringen, sondern er wird einstmals das schöpferische, das Zeugungsorgan sein, das dem Menschen ähnliche Wesen hervorbringen wird.
[ 26 ] In gewissen Zeiten, da war noch nicht die pflanzliche Natur des Menschen durchdrungen von der begierdevollen Fleischesqualität. Gerade diejenigen Organe, die sich am spätesten aus der tierischen Natur entwickelt haben, gehen zuerst wieder weg; das sind die Fortpflanzungsorgane. Diese waren lange da als Pflanzenorgane, als der Mensch schon im Fleisch da war. Deshalb sind in Sammlungen Bilder von Hermaphroditen mit Pflanzenorganen zu sehen. Wenn in der Bibel erzählt wird vom Feigenblatt der Eva, so ist in Wahrheit unter diesem Symbole zu verstehen, daß diese Organe die letzten waren, welche sich im Fleische entwickelt haben. So muß in die religiösen Urkunden eingedrungen werden. Die Sexualorgane sind untergehende Organe, dagegen ist der Kehlkopf in voller Umbildung begriffen, und wenn der Mensch wieder keusch geworden sein wird, wird sich der Kehlkopf der geistigen Sonne wieder zuwenden. Der Kelch der Pflanze entwickelte sich zu der leidenschafterfüllten Fleischesform, und wieder wird der Kehlkopf zum keuschen, reinen Kelche, der vom Geiste befruchtet wird, der der heiligen Liebeslanze entgegengehalten wird. Das ist auch das Symbol des Heiligen Gral, sein hohes Ideal.
[ 27 ] Vergleichen Sie das, versuchen Sie alle Schauer dieser Bilder nachzuempfinden; da haben Sie erst eines dieser Bilder, welche dem Schüler der Rosenkreuzer gegeben werden. Und wenn Sie sie so durchwandern, dann merken Sie nach und nach, daß Ihre Gefühle für Sie Tatsache werden. Sie nehmen wahr, daß diese Gefühle Licht ausstrahlen. Es strömt ja immer aus, aber der niedere Mensch sieht es nicht. Der Mensch, der dieses Geheimnisvolle der Imagination erlebt, der lernt seine Gefühle sehen. Das ist der Beginn.
[ 28 ] Nichts von Zauberei, sondern ein intimer Vorgang durch die Imagination ist zunächst der Aufstieg zum Hellsehen. Aber hier muß schon eines klarwerden - denn von dem Momente an sehen Sie alles von sich ausströmen, wo Sie überhaupt anfangen, Ihr inneres Leben in Licht umzusetzen -: Der Mensch muß auch ertragen können, was er da sieht, und dazu gehört eine Charakterstärke, von der sich die wenigsten einen Begriff machen. So zum Beispiel, wenn Sie, ohne Hellseher zu sein, lügen, ist es schon schlimm, wenn Sie aber als Hellseher lügen, und Sie sehen, wie die Lüge sichtbar wird und was sie bedeutet auf dem astralen Plan, dann verstehen Sie, warum es heißt, die Lüge sei dort ein Mord. Und es ist so. Nehmen Sie an, Sie haben ein Ereignis gesehen, haben sich davon eine Vorstellung gebildet, und erzählen etwas, was nicht stimmt, das heißt, etwas Erlogenes. Da geht vom Gegenstande die richtige und von Ihnen die falsche Ausströmung aus und dieser Zusammenstoß ist eine furchtbare Explosion; und jedesmal, wenn Sie dies tun, heften Sie sich ein grauenhaftes Wesen an Ihr Karma, das Sie nicht wieder loskriegen, bis Sie gutgemacht haben, was Sie gelogen haben.
[ 29 ] Jeder, der sehend werden will, muß drei Tugenden ausbilden, die er notwendig braucht. Erstens: Selbstvertrauen, er muß seiner selbst sicher sein. Zweitens: Selbsterkenntnis, er darf niemals davor zurückschrecken, seine Fehler zu sehen, und drittens: Geistesgegenwart. Denn es trifft ihn manches auf dem astralen Plane, was zwar immer um uns ist, aber es ist etwas anderes, dies auch zu sehen. Deshalb müssen vor allen Dingen diese Eigenschaften ausgebildet werden, und es ist eigentlich ein Unfug, wenn durch irgendwelche Schulen oder Gesellschaften Menschen, ohne in dieser Weise geführt zu werden, zu Hellsehern gemacht werden.
[ 30 ] Wenn nun in einer anderen Weise auf den Schüler eingewirkt wird, und zwar durch das, was man okkulte Schrift nennt, wird er in die geistige devachanische Welt hinaufgeführt, in das Hören. Da muß man sich vertiefen in jene Bilder, die man für den Entwickelungsgang der Menschen hat. Ich will als Beispiel ein solches Bild vor Ihre Seele hinstellen.
[ 31 ] Denken Sie an die uralten Zeiten, wo der Mensch in seiner jetzigen Form erst geworden ist. Dazumal war die Erde ein warmer, glühender Feuerball, und alle Metalle und Minerale waren geschmolzen in der glühenden Erde. Der Physiker wird sagen: da konnte es keinen Menschen geben. — Der Mensch stieg damals aus der Gottheit herab und formte sich in den glühenden Massen. Die Umbildung ist ein langer Prozeß. Wenn Sie das sehen könnten, was der Seher wahrnehmen kann, würden Sie sehen, daß er sich umhüllte mit dem Feuerkörper.
[ 32 ] Wo ist nun das Feuer hingekommen, das auf der Erde geglüht hat? Wo ist es? — In Ihrem Blute. Alle Wärme, welche seit jeher in den Menschen und Tieren war und ist, das ist die Feuerglut der Erde. Und wenn Sie imstande sein werden, Ihr Blut wieder umzugestalten, daß es leuchtet — das wird dann der Fall sein, wenn des Menschen Kehlkopf umgestaltet ist zum Heiligen Gral -, dann wird der Mensch wieder leuchtende Massen hinaussenden. Wenn der Mensch nun sich vertieft in ein solches Bild, wie dieses Bild ist, dann kann er zum Sehen gelangen, zum Hören. Ich will aufmerksam machen auf die Einleitung zur Apokalypse des Johannes, die lautet: «Die Offenbarung Jesu Christi, die Gott ihm dargeboten hat, seinen Dienern zu eröffnen, wie sie sich in Kürze abspielt.» Das sind Bilder, die zur Entwickelung in den Rosenkreuzerschulen verwendet worden sind. Der Hellseher muß lernen, solche Bilder zu entziffern. Die Erdentwickelung wird sein das Wort, und das Wort wird sein beim Menschen, und der Mensch wird schaffen den Menschen durch das Wort.
On the So-Called Dangers of Occult Development
[ 1 ] When speaking of occultism or the occult development of human beings, it is necessary first of all to agree on how the cultivation of such a thing relates to the actual theosophical work in the world. Since its inception, the latter has fulfilled its task precisely by making a certain amount of occult truths accessible to humanity. These truths about the supersensible worlds, which can be learned from theosophical literature and lectures, are essentially ancient. But until the last third of the 19th century, it was neither customary nor necessary to communicate these truths to the world in the form in which they exist today as theosophical truths. The cultivation of these truths was a matter for the so-called secret schools and secret societies.
[ 2 ] Anyone who wanted to know something about the ancient truths concerning the inner world had to be, as they say, an accepted disciple, a disciple of the great teachers of humanity; and it was unheard of for anyone to go out, as we must do today, to communicate certain elementary truths to the world. Those who were admitted had to pass certain tests of their character, their intellectual and other abilities, and there was a very strict grading system within the school. It was impossible, for example, for someone who had just been accepted to be told the secrets of higher grades. In short, everything was strictly regulated, and the outside world knew nothing of the existence of such a secret science, which is, after all, the only true occultism.
[ 3 ] Who were those who found their education there? As a rule, they are not known at all; one was a blacksmith, one a cobbler, a court counselor, a carpenter. One knew only what he represented in the world; one did not know that these people were wise men who could look deeply into the spiritual and supersensible world. This changed in the last third of the 19th century; today it is necessary that at least the elementary part of the secret sciences be communicated to the public in theosophical writings and lectures and elsewhere. We will see in a moment that this is possible and why this is so.
[ 4 ] Let us first take a look at that ancient time, which actually lasted until the 14th century and partly into the last third of the 19th century. What is happening now—the publication of certain elementary teachings of occultism—has been prepared by the occult movement founded in the 14th and 15th centuries by a highly esteemed individual who became known to the world under the name Christian Rosenkreutz. Only the initiated know who this Christian Rosenkreutz is or who is behind him. One thing is certain: he belongs to the most advanced individuals of modern times, who had to shape the occult knowledge of the Middle Ages in such a way that it fits into modern life.
[ 5 ] In the last third of the 19th century, some were to go forth to proclaim to humanity what it needs to know today. Theosophy is nothing other than the elementary teaching of occultism.
[ 6 ] If we now look back to those distant times when occultism was practiced in secret, there were three ways in which human beings could come into contact with the supersensible worlds: first, as initiates; second, as clairvoyants; and third, as adepts. In ancient times, these were three strictly separate types, and if we want to understand what the occult development of human beings is all about, we must keep these three concepts clearly in mind.
[ 7 ] What is meant by a clairvoyant is actually well known. I would like to emphasize that the clairvoyant is the more important of the two, because he has higher senses. It is very easy to explain what a clairvoyant is. Hidden abilities lie dormant in every human soul. These can be developed, enabling the human being to see into the world that is hidden from the ordinary senses. There are secret scientific methods for doing this. When a person applies them to themselves, they are not unconscious in the same sense as ordinary people when they are asleep. These methods enable the astral body, when it pushes itself out with the ego, to perceive the spiritual world around it. At first, this appears as a flood of light, as light and color phenomena, then the person begins to hear in the night.
[ 8 ] This is a real experience that people have for themselves: that in this transitional stage they initially have a spiritual world around them just as they have a physical one. This is the beginning of true clairvoyance.
[ 9 ] Those who truly want to reach the stage of clairvoyance must become able to carry over into their daytime consciousness what they initially see at night, for it would only be half a achievement if they could only see into the astral world at night. If they can truly attune themselves to seeing not only what is physically present in humans and animals, etc., but also perceive as a radiant aura what humans and animals feel and sense, then they have reached the stage of modern clairvoyance. Thus, the clairvoyant is someone who truly sees into the spiritual world and can tell about it. Suppose there is a region where no one has ever seen a railroad, and a person from there is transplanted to a place where there are railroads. That person will know about railroads from personal experience. He can then tell about it at home from his own experience—in the same way, the clairvoyant can bear witness to the spiritual world.
[ 10 ] But someone who is a clairvoyant is not yet what one would call an adept, nor is he what one would call an initiate. If such a person, who has learned about a railroad through his own perception according to the above examples, now returns home, he will not be entrusted with building a locomotive. The same is true of the clairvoyant. He cannot yet do what someone who has practice and knowledge in the supernatural world can do. This is how the clairvoyant who has merely seen what is in the higher worlds behaves toward the adept.
[ 11 ] And yet another is the initiate. Again, a comparison: Imagine a person who sees all colors and lights, and another who is completely nearsighted. The first knows nothing about the laws of the world of light, while the other, who cannot see far, knows all the laws very well as a trained physicist and scientist. There are people who are highly initiated, even though they are not clairvoyant; at least this is true of all the old schools, though not to the same degree today. In the past, it was possible to work in this way, because you must not forget that it is a long process to train clairvoyants or initiates. Many incarnations are necessary for some.
[ 12 ] Nowadays, such cooperation between clairvoyants and initiates is no longer really possible; that is why the Rosicrucian school no longer strictly separates these things. For modern humanity no longer has any concept of the selflessness that used to prevail in the secret schools. Such cooperation was particularly common in the Egyptian secret schools. But this complete trust no longer exists today; modern humanity cannot even imagine it. For this reason, the Rosicrucian schools have only developed initiates and clairvoyants to a certain degree. On the other hand, one must be very careful with adeptship; it would only harm the world. For people are very averse to believing that spiritual forces are at work in everything. A storm would be unleashed, and the result would be that the preparatory understanding would be greatly endangered. First, clairvoyants and initiates must proclaim the occult knowledge, and only then will the adepts gradually appear.
[ 13 ] What is an adept? There are adepts in all fields. Consider the human being himself. The human being consists essentially of the physical, etheric, astral bodies and the ego. The various elements of human nature develop very differently with each stage of life. This is a very important chapter. For the occultist, the human being is born repeatedly, first physically from the physical mother. There the physical body is enclosed by the physical womb; the various blood streams and juices pass from the mother to the child. When the child is physically born, this physical womb is, as it were, detached from the child all around. This is the first birth. At this point, the etheric body is not yet born. This second birth only takes place with the change of teeth in the seventh year of life. Until then, the etheric body is surrounded by the etheric sheath, which does not actually belong to the child's specific etheric body. In the seventh year of life, the etheric body is actually born. The sheath is pushed back, and the outer expression of this event is the appearance of the teeth, which the human being retains. As the teeth emerge, the clairvoyant sees how the etheric body is born from its mother's shell. Until sexual maturity, the human being is still enveloped by its astral mother, who is there from the beginning and remains there even after the seventh year of life. Then this astral mother is pushed away, and only now is the astral body born, as the physical and etheric bodies were born earlier. The rise of the human being to sexual maturity signifies the birth of the astral body. It is only between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-eight that the I is fully born.
[ 14 ] Once people know how such a development takes place, it will become clear what influence this will have on education. I have described this in my book “The Education of the Child from the Perspective of Spiritual Science.” In this booklet you will find all the rules that need to be taken into account in this case. Now, you see, a teacher who would master this system would be an adept in the field of education. This practical work from the spiritual worlds is what adeptship is. Up to the age of seven, a kind of solidification of forms takes place in the human being. All the forms of the brain and the bone structure are created by the age of seven. They continue to grow, but what is not there by the age of seven is irretrievable. Thus, what is irretrievable can be neglected in education. From then on, the etheric body becomes free. Now you can see how the teeth that humans get are an expression of whether this consolidation and the formation of the etheric body that is just being born are in the right proportion to each other. The two things are connected: the formation of the teeth and the formation of the etheric body. Everything that is growth and reproduction depends on this. If one is not in order, the other will not be either. Here we can see how spiritual science explains the connection between the teeth and the etheric body. For example, women with bad teeth are more likely to suffer from childbed fever.
[ 15 ] There must be something of the principle of solidification and something of the principle of softening; there must be harmony between the principles of solidification and softening. Rickets, for example, develops when the principle of softening is stronger. Now suppose that the principle of solidification prevails, then the seeds are sown for tuberculosis and arteriosclerosis. The moment a person is able to control the etheric body and the physical body through supernatural causes, they become an adept in the field of child rearing, just as Paracelsus, who is not understood today, was an adept because he could see the invisible principles at every moment. Now you can imagine what a storm would break out if such teachings were introduced at the university. Humanity must first be prepared gradually, then it will also come to demand of its spiritual leaders that they confirm their teachings with works from the spiritual world. The fact that there are initiates is connected with the fact that the spiritual world can be explored and found according to its governing laws through clairvoyance. But once it has been found and spoken of, then everything the clairvoyant says is comprehensible to the ordinary human mind, and anyone who claims that they cannot understand it does so not because they are not clairvoyant, but because they are unwilling to use their ordinary human mind sufficiently.
[ 16 ] One can therefore be an initiate without being clairvoyant, but one must then rely on the clairvoyant. And in a certain sense, the theosophical movement wants to help in such a way that everything that is to be proclaimed must be obtained through clairvoyants. What do we want from the public? We want to put them in a certain relationship with initiates who understand without being clairvoyant themselves.
[ 17 ] That is the task of the theosophical movement; that is also the correct relationship between the teachings that are proclaimed and how they are conveyed to the general public. Now, this real penetration into the supersensible worlds is based on very specific methods. I have already spoken here in detail about the Rosicrucian method, so I will only mention a few points.
[ 18 ] If one wants to lead a person up into the higher worlds, if one wants to make him clairvoyant, it is necessary that the forces already present in him—thinking, feeling, and willing—be developed first. This already includes much of what constitutes the first elementary stages of difficulty that are mentioned when one wants to draw attention to the dangers. Clairvoyance is too beautiful a thing for certain people today, and those who hear something about theosophy are eager to become clairvoyants. They are not very impressed when one tells them that it is necessary to learn something before they can achieve this.
[ 19 ] The first thing a person must consider is that they must train their thinking, train it thoroughly, and do so here, before they become clairvoyant. It is extremely difficult today to explain what is meant by training the mind. For when you are able to look into the higher worlds through the opening of the higher senses, you will see that these worlds look completely different from what you imagine here. As a rule, those who cannot yet see into these worlds will find it difficult to imagine what can be experienced there, what the impressions are like, and even less so in relation to the world of clairaudience and the harmony of the spheres. But one thing remains the same throughout all worlds: logical thinking. If you have learned this here, it will be a sure guide in the astral and spiritual worlds. The impressions are very different, but the logic is the same; it only begins to change in the highest worlds.
[ 20 ] What is offered in theosophical works and books is thinking free of sensuality. If you do not accept this, you expose yourself to a certain danger. You can cause someone to see into the astral world, but it must not be forgotten that if you are not firmly grounded in healthy thinking, it is extremely difficult to distinguish truth from deception there. And those who cannot distinguish are simply insane, they are not mentally healthy and therefore expose themselves to the danger of losing their balance when the astral world collapses upon them.
[ 21 ] One gradually learns to grasp the astral world by working on one's feelings, and this is done through the imagination. I want to show you how this approaches people, trains them, and leads them into the astral world. This happens because all the ideas that are otherwise given to people in dogmas and abstract concepts are transformed into images, so that they appear pictorially. What we think, speak, and learn are abstract concepts, which are initially speculation. This does not lead anyone into the higher worlds. Only when concepts are transformed into images does the human being gradually gain access to the higher worlds.
[ 22 ] How does the transformation of thoughts into images take place? In the Rosicrucian school, the teacher says to the student: Look at the plant. With its roots, it strives into the ground, the stem rises straight up, and at the top are the flower and the fruit. Now compare the plant with the human being. With superficial thinking, one might be tempted to compare the flower with the head of the human being, and what is at the bottom of the plant with the feet of the human being. In truth, the head of the plant is the root, and what the plant chastely holds up toward the light, the organs of fertilization, is exactly the opposite in the human being. The flower has turned these organs toward the light. Imagine this clearly: if you were to hold the plant's reproductive organs not upward but toward the center of the earth, they would be permeated with desire and passion. Thus, in humans we have the inverted plant, which is at the same time permeated with desires and passions. Thus, the human body is flesh, and the plant body, which is chaste, is a body that has not yet developed into flesh.
[ 23 ] And now look at the animal: it stands between the plant and the human being. The plant, the animal, and the human being above form the cross that runs through all of nature. Now one says to the student: Look at the plant, how it turns its chalice upward, kissed by the sun, by the ray of light called the holy lance of love. Man has had to exchange the plant body for flesh permeated with desire, but he has a high ideal before him.
[ 24 ] Here we must consider the human heart and larynx. There are two kinds of organs in the human being: those that are on the way to becoming imperfect and will gradually fall away, and those that are only in the process of development. All the lower organs, the sexual organs, will fall away. The heart and larynx, on the other hand, are organs that will only reach perfection in the future, that will only find their development in the future.
[ 25 ] I speak to you. My thoughts are within me. I clothe them in words. These come out of the larynx, produce sound vibrations, and thereby communicate my thoughts to your soul. The larynx is the apparatus for producing air waves and bringing out what is in the soul. If someone could invent a device that could solidify these waves, then you could pick up my thoughts, my words. In the future, the larynx will not only produce words, but will one day be the creative, generative organ that will produce beings similar to humans.
[ 26 ] At certain times, the plant nature of human beings had not yet been permeated by the lustful qualities of the flesh. The organs that developed last from animal nature are the first to disappear; these are the reproductive organs. These existed as plant organs long before human beings existed in flesh. This is why pictures of hermaphrodites with plant organs can be seen in collections. When the Bible tells of Eve's fig leaf, this symbol should in truth be understood to mean that these organs were the last to develop in the flesh. This is how we must understand the religious documents. The sexual organs are organs in decline, whereas the larynx is undergoing complete transformation, and when humans become chaste again, the larynx will turn back to the spiritual sun. The chalice of the plant developed into the passionate form of flesh, and again the larynx will become the chaste, pure chalice, fertilized by the spirit, held up to the holy spear of love. This is also the symbol of the Holy Grail, its high ideal.
[ 27 ] Compare this, try to feel all the shivers of these images; there you have just one of the images given to the Rosicrucian student. And as you wander through them, you will gradually notice that your feelings become reality for you. You perceive that these feelings radiate light. It is always streaming forth, but the lower human being does not see it. The person who experiences this mystery of the imagination learns to see his feelings. That is the beginning.
[ 28 ] But one thing must be clear here—from the moment you begin to transform your inner life into light, you will see everything emanating from yourself—you must also be able to bear what you see, and this requires a strength of character that very few people have. For example, if you lie without being clairvoyant, it is bad enough, but if you lie as a clairvoyant and you see how the lie becomes visible and what it means on the astral plane, then you understand why it is said that lying is murder there. And it is so. Suppose you have seen an event, formed an idea about it, and tell something that is not true, that is, something you have made up. The correct vibration emanates from the object and the false vibration emanates from you, and this collision is a terrible explosion; and every time you do this, you attach a horrible being to your karma that you cannot get rid of until you have made amends for what you have lied about.
[ 29 ] Everyone who wants to become clairvoyant must develop three virtues that are necessary. First: self-confidence; they must be sure of themselves. Second: self-knowledge; they must never shy away from seeing their mistakes, and third: presence of mind. For many things affect him on the astral plane, things that are always around us, but it is something else to see them. Therefore, these qualities must be developed above all else, and it is actually nonsense when schools or societies try to make people clairvoyant without guiding them in this way.
[ 30 ] If the student is influenced in a different way, namely through what is called occult writing, he is led up into the spiritual devachanic world, into hearing. There one must immerse oneself in the images one has of the course of human development. Let me give you an example of such an image.
[ 31 ] The physicist will say: there could be no human beings then. — Human beings descended from the deity at that time and formed themselves in the glowing masses. The transformation is a long process. If you could see what the seer perceives, you would see that he enveloped himself in a body of fire.
[ 32 ] Where has the fire that glowed on the earth gone? Where is it? — In your blood. All the warmth that has always been and is in humans and animals is the fiery glow of the earth. And when you are able to transform your blood so that it glows — this will be the case when the human larynx is transformed into the Holy Grail — then humans will once again send out glowing masses. When human beings immerse themselves in an image such as this, they can attain the ability to see and hear. I would like to draw your attention to the introduction to the Apocalypse of John, which reads: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants, as it must soon take place.” These are images that have been used for development in the Rosicrucian schools. The clairvoyant must learn to decipher such images. The development of the earth will be the Word, and the Word will be with man, and man will create man through the Word.