The Apocalypse of St. John
GA 104
25 June 1908, Nuremberg
Lecture VIII
We have said repeatedly that our epoch will end, when the seventh age has passed away, by the War of All against All, but this war must really be pictured quite differently from the way we have been accustomed to think of war. We must bear in mind the foundation, the real cause of this war. This foundation or cause is the increase of egoism, of self-seeking and selfishness on the part of man. And we have now progressed so far in our considerations that we have seen what a sharp two-edged sword this “I” of man is. He who does not fully realize that this “I” is a two-edged sword will scarcely be able to grasp the entire meaning of the evolution of humanity and the world. On the one hand this “I” is the cause that man hardens within himself, and that he desires to draw into the service of his “I” his inner capacities and all the other objects at his disposal. This “I” is the cause of man's directing all his wishes to the satisfaction of this “I” as such. Its striving to draw to itself as its own possession a part of the earth which belongs to all, to drive away all the other Egos from its realm, to fight them, to be at war with them, is one side of the “I.” But on the other hand the must not forget that the “I” is at the same time that which gives man his independence and his inner freedom, which in the truest sense of the word elevates him. His dignity is founded in this “I,” it is the basis of the Divine in man.
This conception of the “I” offers difficulty to many people. It has become clear to us that this “I” of man has developed from a group-soul nature, from a kind of all-inclusive universal “I” out of which it has been differentiated. It would be wrong if man were to crave to go down again with his “I” into some sort of universal consciousness, into some sort of common consciousness. Everything which causes a man to strive to lose his “I” and dissolve it into a universal consciousness, is the result of weakness. He alone understands the “I” who knows that after he has gained it in the course of cosmic evolution it cannot be lost; and above all man must strive for the strength (if he understands the mission of the world) to make this “I” more and more inward, more and more divine. True Anthroposophists possess nothing of the empty talk which continually emphasizes the dissolution of the “I” in a universal self, the melting into some sort of primeval sea. True Anthroposophy can only put forward as the final goal, the community of free and independent Egos, of Egos which have become individualized. It is just this that is the mission of the earth, which is expressed in love, that the Egos learn to confront one another freely. Love is not perfect if it proceeds from coercion, from people being chained together, but only when each “I” is so free and independent that it need not love, is its love an entirely free gift. It is the divine plan to make this “I” so independent that as an individual being in all freedom it can offer love even to God. It would amount to man being led by strings of dependence if he could in any way be forced to love, even if only in the slightest degree.
Thus the “I” will be the pledge for the highest goal of man. But at the same time, if it does not discover love, if it hardens within itself, it is the tempter that plunges him into the abyss. For it is that which separates men from one another which brings them to the great War of All against All, not only to the war of nation against nation (for the conception of a nation will then no longer have the significance it possesses to-day) but to the war of each single person against every other person in every branch of life; to the war of class against class, of caste against caste and sex against sex. Thus in every field of life the “I” will become the apple of discord; and hence we may say that it can lead on the one hand to the highest and on the other hand to the lowest. For this reason it is a sharp two-edged sword. And he who brought the full Ego-consciousness to man, Christ Jesus, is, as we have seen, symbolically and correctly represented in the Apocalypse as one who has the sharp two-edged sword in his mouth.
We have represented it as a high achievement of man that just through Christianity he has been able to ascend to this concept of the free “I.” Christ Jesus brought the “I” in all its fullness. Hence this “I” must be expressed by the sharp two-edged sword which you already know from one of our seals. And the fact that this sharp two-edged sword proceeds from the mouth of the Son of Man is also comprehensible, for when man has learnt to utter the “I” with full consciousness it is in his power to rise to the highest or sink to the lowest. The sharp two-edged sword is one of the most important symbols met with in the Apocalypse.
Now if we understand what was said at the close of our last lecture, that after our present civilization will follow that which is characterized in our last lecture through the community of Philadelphia, we must particularly notice that from the sixth age will be taken those human souls who have to pass over into the following epoch. For, after the War of All against All—as we have already said—there will be expressed in the features all that is in our age being prepared in men's souls. The so-called seventh age will be of very little importance. We are now living in the fifth age of civilization; then follows the sixth, from which will proceed a number of people full of understanding for the spiritual world, filled with the spirit of brotherly love, which results from spiritual knowledge. The ripest fruit of our present civilization will appear in the sixth age. And that which follows it will be what is lukewarm, neither warm nor cold; the seventh age is something like an overripe fruit, which outlasts the War of All against All, but contains no principle of progress.
This was the case also when our culture originated. Let as think of the time before the Atlantean flood. We have said that it was in the last third of the Atlantean epoch—which men experienced on the land now covered by the Atlantic Ocean—when a small group was formed in the neighbourhood of the present Ireland, which had reached the highest stage of Atlantean civilization, and this group then migrated to the East, whence all later civilizations have proceeded. Let us keep this clearly in mind, let us think of this portion of the earth which now forms the ocean west of Ireland, let us think of a migration of people starting from there and going towards the East and from it a number of tribes proceeding, which then populate Europe. All that is contained in the population of Europe originated in this way. The most gifted portion of the Atlanteans wandered towards central Asia; from there proceeded the various civilizations up to our own, as we have described. So we see that our present civilization originated in a small group of Atlanteans.
Atlantis, however, had seven consecutive stages just as our own civilization has seven stages which we know as the ancient Indian, ancient Persian, Assyrian-Babylonian-Chaldean-Egyptian-Jewish, the Graeco-Latin, our own and two further ones. It was in the fifth stage when this emigration began; so that the specially chosen population of Atlantis which lies at the foundation of our culture is taken from the fifth Atlantean race, for in Atlantis we may speak of races. A sixth and a seventh followed. These were, so to speak the lukewarm races. They also survived the great flood but there was no living sprouting force in them. They were related to the fifth Atlanteans civilization somewhat as the bark which is lignified and hardened is related to the sappy stem. These two races which followed the actual root-race were incapable of developing, they were overripe, so to speak. You may still see stragglers of these old overripe races to-day, especially among the Chinese. This Chinese people is characterized by the fact that it has not identified itself with what was manifested in the fifth race, the root-race. It was when the etheric body entered into the physical body that man received the first germs which enabled him to say “I.” They had passed over that period; they had, however, thereby developed the high civilization which is known to-day but which was not capable of development. The fifth Atlantean race sent its people every-where, and they founded new civilizations, civilizations capable of growing and becoming more perfect. Indeed, this all developed from the ancient Indian civilization to our own. The sixth and seventh races of Atlantis allowed themselves to become hardened and therefore became stationary. As we have said, the Chinese civilization is a remainder of that ancient civilization. The old Chinese possessed a wonderful Atlantean heritage but they could not progress any further. Nothing remains uninfluenced from outside. You may examine ancient Chinese literature; it has been influenced from every direction, but its fundamental tendency bears the Atlantean character. This self-completeness, this capacity of making discoveries and going no further, could never bring the Chinese beyond a certain stage—all this proceeds from the character of Atlantis.
Just as it happened at that time with the fifth race, that it provided men who were capable of development and with the sixth and seventh, that they experienced a descent, so will it also be in our epoch. We are now looking with great longing towards the sixth civilization, to that which must be described as developing out of the spiritual marriage between West and East. The sixth stage will be the foundation for the new civilizations which will arise after the great War of All against All; just as our civilization arose after the Atlantean epoch. On the other hand, the seventh race of culture will be characterized by the lukewarm. This seventh age will continue into the new epoch, just as the sixth and seventh races of the Atlantean epoch continued into our epoch as races hardened and stiffening. After the War of All against All, there will be two streams in humanity: on the one hand the stream of Philadelphia will survive with the principle of progress, of inner freedom, of brotherly love, a small group drawn from every tribe and nation; and on the other hand the great mass of all those who are lukewarm, the remains of those who are now becoming lukewarm (Laodicea).
After the great War of All against All, gradually the evil stream will be led over to good by the good race, by the good stream. This will be one of the principal tasks after the great War of All against All; to rescue what can be rescued from those who after the great war will only have the impulse to fight one another and to allow the “I” to express itself in the most external egoism. Such things are always provided for in advance in the spiritual guidance of humanity.
Do not consider it a hard thing in the plan of creation, as something which should be altered, that humanity will be divided into those who will stand on the right and those who will stand on the left; consider it rather as something that is wise in the highest degree in the plan of creation. Consider that through the evil separating from the good, the good will receive its greatest strengthening. For after the great War of All against All, the good will have to make every possible effort to rescue the evil during the period in which this will still be possible. This will not merely be a work of education such as exists to-day, but occult forces will co-operate. For in this next great epoch men will understand how to set occult forces in motion. The good will have the task of working upon their brothers of the evil movement. Everything is prepared beforehand in the hidden occult movements, but the deepest of all occult cosmic currents is the least understood. The movement which is preparing for this, says the following to its pupils: “Men speak of good and evil, but they do not know that it is necessary in the great plan that evil, too, should come to its peals, in order that those who have to overcome it should, in the very overcoming of evil, so use their force that a still greater good results from it.” The most capable must be chosen and prepared to live beyond the period of the great War of All against All when men will confront those who bear in their countenances the sign of evil; they must be so prepared that as much good force as possible will flow into humanity. It will still be possible for those bodies, which are to a certain extent soft, to be transformed after the War of All against All by the converted souls, by the souls who will still be led to the good in this last epoch. In this way much will be accomplished. The good would not be so great a good if it were not to grow through the conquest of evil. Love would not be so intense if it had not to become love so great as to be able even to overcome the wickedness in the countenances of evil men. This is already being prepared for and the pupils are told, “You must not think that evil has no part in the plan of creation. It is there in order that through it may come the greater good.” Those who are being prepared in their souls by such teachings, so that in the future they will, be able to accomplish this great task of education, are the pupils of the Manichaean School. The Manichaean teaching is generally misunderstood. When you hear anything or read something about it, you find merely phrases. You may read that the Manichees believed that from the very beginning of the world there have been two principles: good and evil. This is not so, the teaching of the Manichees is what we have just explained. By the name “Manichaeism” should be understood the above teaching and its development in the future, and the pupils who are so led that they can accomplish such a task in future incarnations. Manes is that exalted individuality, who is repeatedly incarnated on the earth, who is the guiding spirit of those whose task it is to transform evil. When we speak of the great leaders of mankind we must also think of this individuality who has set himself this task. Although at the present day this principle of Manes has had to step very much into the background because there is little understanding for spiritual work, this wonderful and lofty Manichaean principle will win more and more pupils the nearer we approach the understanding of spiritual life.
Thus you see how the present-day humanity will pass into the new epoch beyond the War of All against All, just as that root-race of the Atlanteans lived over into our epoch and founded our civilizations. After the great War of All against All humanity will develop in seven consecutive stages. We have already seen how that which is said concerning the opening of the seven seals in the Apocalypse of John gives us the character of the seven consecutive civilizations after the great war. Then when this civilization—which can only be seen by the initiates in the astral world and in its symbolism—has run its course, a new epoch will begin for our earth development in which again new forms will appear. And this new epoch, which will follow the one just described, is symbolized in the Apocalypse of John by the sounding of the seven trumpets. Just as the epoch after the great War of All against All is characterized by the seven seals, because the seer can only see it to-day from the astral world, so by the sounding of the trumpets is characterized the stage of civilization which follows, because man can only perceive it from the true spiritual world where the tones of the spheres sound forth. In the astral world man perceives the world in pictures, in symbols, in Devachan he perceives it in inspiring music; and in this Devachan is contained the climax, as it were, of what is revealed concerning what follows the great War of All against All.

Thus if we represent it in a diagram, we have our seven ages of civilization in the space between the letters a–b, so that we have the ancient Indian civilization as the first, the ancient Persian as the second, the Assyrian-Babylonian-Chaldean-Egyptian-Jewish, the Graeco-Latin,and our own as the fifth stage of the post-Atlantean epoch. The figure IV would be the Atlantean epoch, (a) the great flood by which this comes to an end, and (b) the great War of All against All. Then follows an epoch of seven stages (VI) which is represented by the seven seals, then follows another (VII) also containing seven stages, represented by the seven trumpets. Here again lies the boundary of our physical earth development.
Now the Atlantean civilization (IV), which preceded our own, was also preceded by other stages of civilization; for that of our own (V), which follows the Atlantean, is the fifth -Stage on our earth. Four stages of civilization preceded it. But we can scarcely call the first stage a civilization culture. Everything was still etheric and spiritual, all in such a condition that if it had developed further in this way it would not have become visible at all to sense organs such as ours. The first stage developed when the sun was still bound up with our earth. There were then quite different conditions, one could not speak of anything which looked like the objects now surrounding us. Then followed a stage characterized by the sun separating. Then one characterized by the moon leaving the earth; this was the third stage, which we call the ancient Lemurian. At this point the present man appeared on our earth in his very first form, concerning which I have pointed out that they were such grotesque bodily forms that it would shock you if you were to hear them described. After the Lemurian followed the Atlantean, and finally our own.
So you see that we have on our earth seven epochs of development. The first two were absolutely unlike our epoch.; the third partly ran its course in a region lying between the present Africa, Asia and Australia, in ancient Lemuria. In the very last Lemurian race there was again a small group of the most advanced. These were able to emigrate, and from them developed the seven races of the Atlanteans. The last Lemurian race founded the Atlantean races. The fifth of the Atlantean races founded our civilizations, of which the sixth will found the future civilization after the great War of All against All. And the very last of those civilizations will have to found that which is indicated by the seven trumpets. After that, what will happen? Our earth will then have reached the goal of its physical evolution. All the objects and all the beings upon it will then have been transformed. For if we have had to say that already in the sixth epoch men will show good and evil un their faces, we shall have to say all the more of the seventh that the form of man and the forms of all the other beings will be an expression of good and evil to a much higher degree than in the sixth epoch. All matter will bear the stamp of the spirit. There will be absolutely nothing in this seventh epoch that can be hidden in any way. Even those belonging to the sixth epoch will be unable to hide anything from him who has the necessary vision. An evil man will express his evil, a good man will express the good that is within him; but in the seventh epoch it will be quite impossible by speech to hide what is in the soul. Thought will no longer remain dumb so that it can be hidden, for when the soul thinks, its thought will ring forth outwardly. It will then be just as thought is already to the Initiates to-day. To them thought now rings out in Devachan. But this Devachan will have descended into the physical world, just as the astral world will have descended into the physical world in the sixth epoch. Even now the sixth epoch can be found in the astral world and the seventh in the heavenly world. The sixth epoch is the descended astral world, that is to say the images, the expressions, the manifestations of it. The seventh epoch will be the descended heavenly world, the expression of it. And then the earth will have reached the goal of its physical evolution. The earth, together with all its beings, will then change into an astral heavenly body. Physical substance as such will disappear. The part which until then had been able to spiritualize itself, will pass over into the spirit, into astral sub-stance. Imagine all the beings of the earth who up to that time have been able to express what is good, noble, intellectual and beautiful in their external material form; who will bear an expression of Christ Jesus in their countenances, whose words will manifest Christ Jesus, for they will ring out as resounding thoughts—all these will have the power to dissolve what they have within them as physical matter, as warm water dissolves salt. Everything physical will pass over into an astral globe. But those who up to that time have not progressed so far as to be a material and corporeal expression of what is noble, beautiful, intellectual and good, will not have the power to dissolve matter; for them matter will remain. They will become hardened in matter; they will retain material form. At this point in the earth's evolution there will be an ascent into the spirit of forms which will live in the astral and which will separate from them-selves another material globe, a globe which will contain beings unfit for the ascent because they are unable to dissolve the material part. In this way our earth will advance towards its future. Through the souls gradually refining matter from within, the substance of the earth will become more and more refined until it receives the power to dissolve. Then will come the time when the insoluble part will be ejected as a special planet. In the course of seven ages that which has hardened itself in matter will be driven out, and the power which drives it out will be the opposite force to that which will have forced the good beings upward.
What, then, will they have used to dissolve matter? The power of love gained through the Christ-principle. Beings become capable of dissolving matter through taking love into their souls. The more the soul is warmed by love the more power-fully will it be able to work on matter; it will spiritualize the whole earth and transform it into an astral globe. But just as love dissolves matter, as warm water dissolves salt, so will the opposite of love press down—again throughout seven stages everything which has not become capable of fulfilling the earth mission. The contrary of divine love is called divine wrath, that is the technical expression for it. Just as in the course of the fourth stage of civilization this love was imprinted in humanity, just as it will become warmer and warmer through the last stages in our epoch, the sixth and seventh, so on the other hand there is growing that which hardens matter around itself the divine wrath. This effect of the divine wrath, this expulsion of matter is indicated in the Apocalypse of John by the outpouring of the seven vials of divine wrath. Imagine what the whole condition will be; the substance of the earth will become finer and finer, the substantial part of man will also become more and more spiritual, and the coarsest parts will only be visible in the finer part like the skins or shells sloughed off, for example, by reptiles or snails. These harder parts will thus become more and more incorporated in the substance which is growing finer. In the last epoch, the epoch of the sounding of the trumpets, you would with spiritual vision see how men consist of delicate, spiritualized bodies; and how those who have hardened the material principle in themselves have preserved in themselves what to-day are the most important constituents of matter; and how this will fall as husks into the material globe which will be left after the epoch indicated by the sounding of the trumpets.
This is prophetically described in the Apocalypse of John, and it is important to develop a feeling in our souls about this knowledge of what is coming, so that it may fire our will. For what will man have made of himself when the sixth and seventh epochs are over? What will he have made of his body? If we now observe the human body we find that it is not yet the expression of the soul within; but it will gradually become an expression of what the soul experiences within. Man's outer body will thus become an expression of the good by his receiving the highest message, the highest teaching there is on this earth; and this highest teaching is the message of Christ Jesus on the earth; the highest that can be given to us is the message of Christ Jesus. We must take it up thoroughly, not merely with the understanding; we must take it into our innermost being, just as one takes nourishment into the physical body. And as humanity develops further it will take up the joyful message into its inner being more and more. It is just this reception of the message of love which it will have to regard as the result of the earth's mission. The power of love is contained in the Gospels, the whole power of love, and the seer can say nothing else than: “In the spirit I see a time before me when that which is in the Gospel will no longer be outside in a book but when it will be devoured by man himself.”
Our earth evolution depends upon two things. Our earth was preceded by what we call the Cosmos of Wisdom, and that was preceded by what we call the Cosmos of Strength, of Power (certainly the word does not convey much, but we must use it because it has become customary). Wisdom and strength have been received as a heritage from previous stages of evolution, from the ancient Moon and the ancient Sun. We shall see that during our earth evolution this is also expressed by our naming the first half after the representative of the Sun forces, Mars, for we only need note at this point that within our earth evolution we have in Mars that which implanted iron in the earth; in Mars we see the bringer of strength. And in that which rules the second half of the earth evolution we have the representative of the ancient Moon evolution, Mercury, which embodies in the earth the heritage received from the Moon, wisdom. Thus the earth evolution consists of two parts, Mars and Mercury. It has received as a heritage two mighty forces. That which it has inherited from the cosmos of strength is expressed in Mars, and that which it has inherited from the cosmos of wisdom is expressed in Mercury. The mission of the earth itself is to bring love. Love is to be gloriously manifested as the result of the earth evolution. This is a very profound thought expressed by the writer of the Apocalypse. It is the profound thought underlying the whole of the earth evolution.
Let us once more go back to the first portion of the Atlantean epoch, to the time of which we said that the air was still saturated with water. Man was still organized for a water existence. Only in the middle of Atlantis had he progressed so far that he forsook the water and trod upon solid ground. Up to the middle of the earth's evolution we must regard water as the vehicle of human evolution, just as afterwards solid earth. It was only comparatively late that the solid earth became the field of human evolution. It is only half the truth if we speak of the whole of Atlantis as consisting of dry land. In many respects it was not covered, let us say, by the ocean, but by something between air and water, air-saturated with water. And this water-air was the element in which man lived. Only later did he become capable of living in clear air and standing on solid ground. That was, comparatively speaking, not long ago; so that if we survey the earth's evolution, we may say, expressing it symbolically: On the one hand we have earth and on the other hand water—that is the earlier period. From the water emanates one of the forces, and from the earth emanates the other force, up to the first half of evolution. In the middle of the fourth period we speak of the Mars forces, of the forces given by water, so to speak, and we speak of the Mercury forces in the later time when the solid earth gives the supporting forces. This fits quite accurately into the conception that man is supported in his entire earth mission by two pillars. They represent two parts of the earth's mission, the two heritages man has received from earlier periods. And above them is symbolized what is to be attained through the earth itself, namely love, which is there gloriously revealing itself, which is supported by these heritages. Thus the writer of the Apocalypse really describes it just as it presents itself to those who ascend. Therefore, when we observe what lies beyond the earth and what confronts us when earthly substance dissolves into the spiritual, this is symbolically indicated by what we see in the fourth seal. See Dr. Steiner's Occult Seals and Symbols. Of course it has to appear reversed, because it represents what belongs to the future. We see the two forces which the earth has received as heritage from the cosmos of wisdom and the cosmos of strength, and we see all that appears as the fulfilment of the earth's mission, as the force of love which man develops. The whole appears to its as the personification of the man of the future. The man of the future here confronts us symbolically, supported by these forces, permeated by this power. The message of love, the book before him, is a book which influences him not only from without but he has to devour it. Here we behold before us the mighty picture which appears at this stage. “And I saw another mighty angel” (that is, a being which is presented thus, because he is already above the present man), “descend from the spiritual spheres” (that is how it is seen by the Seer) “clothed with a cloud, and his countenance was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire”—these are the two forces of which we have spoken, which the earth has received as a heritage. “And he had in his hand a little book opened; and his right foot was set upon the sea and his left upon the earth. ... And I said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall pain thee in thy belly, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And I took the little book from the hand of the angel and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey.” Here we have the feeling arising in the seer when he directs his gaze to the point when the earth passes from the physically material into the astrally spiritual, when the earth mission is attained. And when the seer sees this he learns what is really connected with this message of love, which entered in as an impulse in the fourth age, he learns even in the present life, as the Apocalyptist learnt, what bliss is and the bliss that may lie before humanity. But he learns it in his present body; for if a being wished to live with man, however high he might be, he would be obliged to incarnate in the flesh. And in many respects the present body, just because it offers the spirit the possibility of rising high, also gives the possibility of suffering. While, there-fore, the soul is able to ascend—the soul of the seer—as the Apocalyptist has described, into spiritual regions, in order to receive the Gospel of Love, and in spirit is able to feel the bliss sweet as honey, yet the seer lives in a present-day body, and in accordance with this he must say that the ascent produces in the present body the antithesis of that bliss in many respects. He expresses this by saying that although the little book is at first sweet as honey when he eats it, it gives him severe pains in the belly. But this is only a small reflection of the “being crucified in the body.” The higher the spirit rises, the more difficult it is for it to dwell in the body, and this is the symbolical expression for these pains: “being crucified in the body.”
Thus we have briefly sketched what will happen in our earth evolution, what lies in front of man in his earthly evolution. We have arrived at the point when man is changed into an astral being; when the best parts of the earth disappear as physical earth and pass over into the spiritual; when only something like a separated portion will through the divine wrath fall into the abyss. And we shall see that even there the last stage at which salvation would not be possible has not yet been reached, although that which is in the abyss is pictured by the most frightful symbols, by the seven-headed and ten-horned beast and by the two-horned beast.
Achter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wenn jetzt schon wiederholt davon gesprochen worden ist, daß unsere sieben Kulturstufen ihr Ende finden werden durch den Krieg aller gegen alle, so müssen wir uns einen solchen Krieg aller gegen alle eigentlich ganz anders vorstellen, als man bis jetzt gewohnt ist, sich Kriege vorzustellen. Wir müssen nur einmal ins Auge fassen, was die Grundlage, die eigentliche Ursache dieses Krieges ist. Diese Grundlage oder Ursache ist das Überhandnehmen des Egoismus, der Ichsucht, der Selbstheit der Menschen. Und wir sind ja nunmehr in unseren Betrachtungen so weit fortgeschritten, daß wir gesehen haben, welch zweischneidiges, scharfes Schwert dieses Ich des Menschen ist. Wer nicht begreift, daß dieses Ich ein zweischneidiges Schwert ist, der wird kaum den ganzen Sinn der Menschheits- und Weltenentwickelung verstehen. Auf der einen Seite ist dieses Ich die Ursache dessen, daß die Menschen in sich selbst sich verhärten, daß sie alles, was ihnen zur Verfügung stehen kann an äußeren Dingen und inneren Gütern, in den Dienst dieses ihres Ichs einbeziehen wollen. Es ist dieses Ich die Ursache, daß sich alle Wünsche des Menschen darauf richten, dieses Ich als solches zu befriedigen. Wie dieses Ich danach strebt, einen Teil des gemeinsamen Erdenbesitzes an sich heranzubringen als sein Eigentum, wie dieses Ich danach strebt, aus seinem Gebiete alle anderen Iche hinwegzutreiben, sie zu bekriegen, zu bekämpfen: das ist die eine Seite des Ichs. Aber auf der anderen Seite dürfen wir nicht vergessen, daß dieses Ich zugleich dasjenige ist, was dem Menschen seine Selbständigkeit, seine innere Freiheit gibt, was den Menschen im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes erhöht. In diesem Ich ist seine Würde begründet. Es ist die Anlage zum Göttlichen im Menschen.
[ 2 ] Dieser Ich-Begriff macht vielen Menschen Schwierigkeit. Es ist uns ja klar geworden, daß sich das Ich des Menschen herausentwickelt hat aus einer Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit, aus einer Art umfassenden All-Ichs, aus dem es sich herausdifferenziert hat. Unrichtig wäre es, wenn der Mensch wieder das Verlangen haben würde, mit seinem Ich unterzugehen in irgendein Allbewußtsein, in irgendein Gesamtbewußtsein. Alles, was den Menschen streben läßt, sein Ich zu verlieren, mit ihm aufzugehen in ein Allbewußtsein, ist ein Erzeugnis der Schwäche. Nur der allein versteht das Ich, der da weiß, daß, nachdem er sich dieses Ich errungen hat im Laufe der kosmischen Entwickelung, es nunmehr unverlierbar ist, und der Mensch muß vor allen Dingen nach der starken Kraft streben, wenn er die Weltenmission versteht, dieses Ich immer innerlicher, immer göttlicher zu machen. Die wahren Anthroposophen haben nichts von jener Phrase in sich, die da immer wieder betont das Aufgehen des Ichs in einem All-Ich, das Zusammenschmelzen in irgendeinen Urbrei. Die wahre anthroposophische Weltanschauung kann nur als Endziel die Gemeinschaft der selbständig und frei gewordenen Iche, der individuell gewordenen Iche hinstellen. Das ist ja gerade die Erdenmission, die sich durch die Liebe ausdrückt, daß das Ich dem Ich frei gegenüberstehen lernt. Keine Liebe ist vollkommen, die hervorgeht aus Zwang, aus dem Zusammengekettetsein. Einzig und allein dann, wenn jedes Ich so frei und selbständig ist, daß es auch nicht lieben kann, ist seine Liebe eine völlig freie Gabe. Das ist sozusagen der göttliche Weltenplan, dieses Ich so selbständig zu machen, daß es aus Freiheit selbst dem Gott die Liebe als ein individuelles Wesen entgegenbringen kann. Es würde heißen, die Menschen an Fäden der Abhängigkeit führen, wenn sie irgendwie zur Liebe, wenn auch nur im entferntesten, gezwungen werden könnten.
[ 3 ] So wird das Ich das Unterpfand sein des höchsten Zieles des Menschen. So ist es aber zu gleicher Zeit, wenn es nicht die Liebe findet, wenn es sich in sich verhärtet, der Verführer, der ihn in den Abgrund stürzt. Dann ist es dasjenige, was die Menschen voneinander trennt, was sie aufruft zum großen Krieg aller gegen alle, nicht nur zum Krieg der Völker gegen die Völker — denn der Volksbegriff wird dann gar nicht mehr die Bedeutung haben, die er heute hat —, sondern zum Kriege des einzelnen gegen den einzelnen auf den mannigfaltigsten Gebieten des Lebens, zum Kriege der Stände gegen die Stände, der Kasten gegen die Kasten, der Geschlechter gegen die Geschlechter. Auf allen Gebieten des Lebens wird also das Ich zum Zankapfel werden, und daher dürfen wir sagen, daß das Ich auf der einen Seite zum Höchsten und auf der anderen zum Tiefsten führen kann. Deshalb ist es ein scharfes, zweischneidiges Schwert. Und derjenige, der da den Menschen gebracht hat das volle Ich-Bewußtsein, der Christus Jesus, er wird, wie wir gesehen haben, symbolisch in unserer Apokalypse mit Recht dargestellt als derjenige, der das scharfe, zweischneidige Schwert im Munde hat.
[ 4 ] Wir haben es ja als hohe Errungenschaft des Menschen hingestellt, daß er zu diesem freien Ich-Begriff gerade durch das Christentum hat aufsteigen können. Der Christus Jesus hat dieses Ich in vollem Umfange gebracht. Daher muß dieses Ich gerade durch das scharfe, zweischneidige Schwert ausgedrückt werden, das Sie aus dem einen unserer Siegel kennen. Und daß dieses scharfe, zweischneidige Schwert aus dem Munde des Menschensohnes geht, das ist wieder begreiflich, denn als der Mensch mit vollem Bewußtsein aussprechen gelernt hat das Ich, da war es ihm gegeben, auf das Höchste hinaufzusteigen, in das Tiefste hinunterzusinken. Das scharfe, zweischneidige Schwert ist eines der wichtigsten Symbole, die uns in der Apokalypse entgegentreten. (Erstes Siegel.)
[ 5 ] Wenn wir nun uns klar sind über das, was am Schlusse der letzten Betrachtung an uns herangetreten ist, daß auf unsere jetzige Kultur diejenige folgen wird, die in den Sendschreiben charakterisiert ist durch die Stadt Philadelphia, so müssen wir uns vor allen Dingen merken, daß aus dieser sechsten Kulturstufe diejenigen Menschenseelen genommen werden, die hinüberzuleben haben in das folgende Zeitalter. Da, nach dem Kriege aller gegen alle — wie wir oft schon betont haben —, wird sich ja ausleben in den Gesichtern, was sich in der Seele der Menschen in unserer Zeit vorbereitet. Von ganz geringer Wichtigkeit wird die sogenannte siebente Kulturstufe sein. Wir leben also in der fünften Kulturstufe, dann folgt die sechste, aus der herausgehen wird eine Anzahl von Menschen voll Verständnis für die spirituelle Welt, durchdrungen von jener Gesinnung der Bruderliebe, die gerade aus der spirituellen Erkenntnis folgt. Die reifste Frucht unserer gegenwärtigen Kultur wird in dieser sechsten Epoche erscheinen. Und was darauf folgt, wird sein, was lau ist, was nicht warm und nicht kalt ist. Was als siebente Stufe folgt, ist sozusagen in der gesamten Kultur etwas wie eine überreife Frucht, wie etwas, was hinüberlebt über den großen Krieg aller gegen alle, aber kein Prinzip des Fortschrittes in sich enthält.
[ 6 ] So war es auch, als unsere Kultur entstanden ist. Denken wir zurück an die Zeit vor der atlantischen Flut. Wir haben gesagt: Es war im letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit, die die Menschen ja auf dem Boden durchlebten, der heute vom Atlantischen Ozean bedeckt ist, als sich ein kleines Häuflein in der Nähe des heutigen Irland bildete, das zur höchsten Kulturstufe der Atlantis gekommen war und das dann auszog nach dem Osten, von wo aus alle späteren Kulturen ausgegangen sind. Fassen wir das so recht ins Auge, denken wir uns diesen Fleck Erde, der heute jenes Meer bildet im Westen von Irland, denken wir uns von da ausgehend einen Volksstrom, der nach Osten wandert und von dem aus eine Menge Volksstämme ziehen, die dann Europa bevölkern. Alles, was an europäischer Bevölkerung da ist, das ist von daher gekommen. Der begabteste Teil der Atlantier zog nach Zentralasien; von da gingen die verschiedenen Kulturen aus, die wir beschrieben haben, bis zu uns herein. So also sehen Sie, daß von einem kleinen Häuflein atlantischer Leute unsere gegenwärtige Kultur ihren Ursprung genommen hat.
[ 7 ] Aber auch diese atlantische Kultur hatte sieben aufeinanderfolgende Stufen, geradeso wie unsere Kultur sieben Stufen hat, die wirt kennen als die altindische, altpersische, assyrisch-babylonisch-chaldäisch-ägyptisch-jüdische, die griechisch-lateinische, die unsrige und zwei weitere. Und es war in der fünften atlantischen Kulturstufe, als diese Wanderung begann, so daß die auserlesenste Bevölkerung der alten Atlantis, die unserer Kultur zugrunde liegt, aus der fünften atlantischen Rasse — in der Atlantis dürfen wir von Rassen sprechen — genommen ist. Es folgte noch eine sechste und eine siebente Rasse. Das waren sozusagen die lauen Rassen. Auch sie überdauerten die große Flut, aber in ihnen war nicht lebendig sprießende Kraft. Sie verhielten sich etwa so zu der fünften Kultur, wie sich die Rinde, die verholzt, verhärtet ist, zum saftigen Stengel verhält. So waren die zwei Rassen, die auf die eigentliche Stammrasse folgten, nicht entwickelungsfähig; überreif sozusagen waren sie.
[ 8 ] Sie sehen heute noch Nachzügler dieser alten überreifen Rassen, namentlich im chinesischen Volk. Das chinesische Volk ist dadurch charakterisiert, daß es sich nicht angeschlossen hat dem, was in der fünften Rasse, der Stammrasse, geoffenbart worden war. Damals, als der Ätherleib hineinging in den physischen Leib, war es, wo der Mensch die erste Anlage zum Ich-sagen empfing. Sie hatten diesen Zeitraum verpaßt. Sie hatten allerdings dadurch jene hohe Kultur entwickelt, die bekannt ist, die aber nicht bildungsfähig war. Die fünfte atlantische Rasse schickte überallhin ihre Kulturträger, die neue, immer mehr sich vervollkommnende, wachsende Volkskulturen schufen. Ja, das wächst alles, von der altindischen Kultur bis zur unsrigen. Die sechste und siebente Rasse der Atlantis hatten sich in die Verhärtung begeben und waren daher in einen stationären Zustand gekommen. Wie gesagt, die chinesische Kultur ist ein Überbleibsel davon. Sie kann nicht aus sich herauskommen. Sie hatte in der alten chinesischen Kultur eine wunderbare altatlantische Erbschaft angetreten, aber sie konnte über ihren Höhepunkt nicht hinaus. Nichts bleibt unbeeinflußt vom andern. Sie dürfen die altchinesische Literatur ansehen: von überallher ist sie beeinflußt worden, aber ihre Grundfarbe zeigt durchaus den atlantischen Charakter. Dieses Insichgeschlossensein, dieses Erfindungenmachen und Dabeibleiben, niemals sie über einen gewissen Grad hinausbringen können, das rührt alles noch von dem Charakter der Atlantis her.
[ 9 ] Wie es dazumal mit der fünften Rasse gegangen ist, daß sie die Bildungsfähigen geliefert hat, und mit der sechsten und siebenten, daß sie in den Niedergang kamen, so wird es auch in unserer Zeit sein. Jetzt leben wir noch mit aller Sehnsucht hin zur sechsten Kultur, zu dem, was so geschildert werden muß, daß es aus der spirituellen Ehe zwischen dem Westen und dem Osten sich bildet. Da wird die sechste Kulturstufe die Grundlage sein für das, was nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle als neue Kulturen aufgehen wird, ebenso wie nach der atlantischen Zeit unsere Kulturen aufgegangen sind. Dagegen wird die siebente Kulturstufe durch die Lauen repräsentiert werden. Diese siebente wird so hinüberleben in die neue Zeit, wie die sechste und siebente Rasse der atlantischen Zeit als verhärtete und sich versteifende Rassen in unsere Epoche herübergelebt haben. Nach dem Kriege aller gegen alle wird es zwei Strömungen unter den Menschen geben: auf der einen Seite die von Philadelphia mit dem Prinzip des Fortschrittes, der inneren Freiheit, der Bruderliebe, ein kleines Häuflein, aus allen Stämmen und Nationen sich zusammensetzend, und auf der anderen Seite die große Masse derer, die da lau sein werden, die Überbleibsel derer, die jetzt lau sein werden, die Strömung von Laodizea. Und es wird sich nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle darum handeln, daß nach und nach durch die gute Rasse, durch die gute Strömung die böse Strömung hinübergeführt wird zum Guten. Das wird eine der Hauptaufgaben sein nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle: zu retten, was zu retten ist aus denjenigen, die nach dem großen Kriege nur das Bestreben haben werden, einander zu bekämpfen, das Ich ausleben zu lassen im äußersten Egoismus. Innerhalb der Sphäre des Okkultismus wird für alle solche Dinge immer vorgesorgt in der Welt.
[ 10 ] Betrachten Sie es nicht als eine Härte des Schöpfungsplanes, nicht als etwas, weswegen man rechten könne mit dem Schöpfungsplan, daß also die Menschheit gespalten wird in solche, die zur Rechten und die zur Linken stehen werden, betrachten Sie es vielmehr als etwas, was im höchsten Grade weise im Schöpfungsplane ist. Denn bedenken Sie einmal, daß gerade dadurch, daß so das Böse sich von dem Guten trennt, das Gute seine Hauptstärke im Guten erhalten wird, denn es wird das Gute sich nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle jede nur mögliche Anstrengung geben müssen, um die Bösen in dem Zeitraum, in dem es noch möglich sein wird, wieder herüberzuziehen. Das wird nicht eine Erziehungsaufgabe sein, wie heute die Erziehungsaufgaben sind, sondern da werden okkulte Kräfte mitwirken, denn die Menschen werden in diesem nächsten großen Zeitraum okkulte Kräfte in Bewegung zu setzen verstehen. Die Guten werden die Aufgabe haben, auf ihre Mitbrüder der bösen Strömung zu wirken. Und in den okkulten Weltenströmungen wird dieses alles vorbereitet. Nur versteht man die tiefste aller okkulten Weltenströmungen am allerwenigsten. Die Weltenströmung, die das vorbereitet, sagt folgendes zu ihren Schülern: Da reden die Menschen von Gut und Böse, und sie wissen nicht, daß es im Weltenplan notwendig ist, daß das Böse auch zu seiner Spitze kommt, damit diejenigen, die dieses Böse überwinden müssen, gerade in der Überwindung des Bösen die Kraft so nützen, daß ein um so größeres Gutes herauskommt. — Aber es müssen die auserlesensten Menschen darauf vorbereitet werden, daß sie hinüberleben über das Zeitalter des großen Krieges aller gegen alle, wo Menschen ihnen entgegenstehen werden, die in ihrem Antlitz haben werden die Zeichen des Bösen, sie müssen vorbereitet werden darauf, daß soviel als möglich gute Kraft einfließen muß in die Menschheit. Es wird noch möglich sein, daß die bis zu einem gewissen Grade weichen Leiber nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle umgeformt werden durch die bekehrten Seelen, durch die Seelen, die noch in diesem letzten Zeitraum zu dem Guten hinübergeführt werden. Damit wird viel erreicht werden. Das Gute würde nicht ein so großes Gutes sein, wenn es nicht also wachsen würde durch die Überwindung des Bösen. Die Liebe würde keine so intensive sein, wenn sie nicht eine so große Liebe werden müßte, um selbst das Häßliche im Antlitze der bösen Menschen zu überwinden. Das wird schon vorher vorbereitet, und den Schülern wird gesagt: Also dürft ihr nicht glauben, daß das Böse nicht im Schöpferplan begründet sei. Es ist darinnen, daß durch es einmal das große Gute sei.
[ 11 ] Diejenigen, die vorbereitet werden in ihren Seelen durch solche Lehren, damit sie einstmals diese große Erziehungsaufgabe lösen können, das sind die Schüler jener Geistesrichtung, die man nennt das Manichäertum. Die Manichäerrichtung wird gewöhnlich falsch verstanden. Wo Sie irgend etwas hören oder lesen darüber, da vernehmen Sie eine phrasenhafte Rede. Da heißt es, die Manichäer glaubten, es gebe von Anfang der Welt an zwei Prinzipien, das Gute und das Böse. So ist es nicht, sondern es ist die Lehre, die Ihnen eben auseinandergesetzt worden ist. Solche Lehre und ihre Umsetzung für die Zukunft und die Schüler, die angeleitet werden so, daß sie in künftigen Verkörperungen solch eine Aufgabe leisten können, das ist es, was man unter dem Namen Manichäertum versteht. Manes ist jene hohe Individualität, die immer und immer wieder auf der Erde verkörpert ist, die der leitende Geist ist derer, die zur Bekehrung des Bösen da sind. Wenn wir von den großen Führern der Menschen sprechen, so müssen wir auch dieser Individualität gedenken, welche sich diese Aufgabe gesetzt hat. Es wird, wenn auch in der Gegenwart dieses Prinzip des Manes sehr in den Hintergrund hat treten müssen, weil wenig Verständnis für den Spiritualismus da ist, es wird dieses wunderbar herrliche ManichäerPrinzip mehr und mehr Schüler gewinnen, je mehr wir dem Verständnis des spirituellen Lebens entgegengehen.
[ 12 ] So sehen Sie, wie hinüberlebt die gegenwärtige Menschheit in die neue, spätere Zeit über den Krieg aller gegen alle hinaus, ebenso wie jene Stammrasse der Atlantier herübergelebt hat in unsere Zeit und unsere Kultur begründet hat. In sieben aufeinanderfolgenden Stufen wird sich nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle die Menschheit entfalten. Und wir haben schon gesehen, wie dasjenige, was über die Entsiegelung der sieben Siegel gesagt wird in der Apokalypse des Johannes, uns den Charakter angibt der aufeinanderfolgenden sieben Stammkulturen, der sieben Kulturstufen nach dem großen Kriege. Dann, wenn diese Kultur, die der heutige Mensch nur als Eingeweihter in der astralischen Welt und in der Symbolik derselben zu schauen vermag, abgelaufen sein wird, dann wird eine neue Periode für unsere Erdenentwickelung beginnen, in der wiederum neue Formen auftreten werden. Und diese neue Periode, die dann folgt auf die eben beschriebene, die wird uns symbolisiert in der Apokalypse des Johannes durch die sieben Posaunenklänge. Ebenso wie die Kultur nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle durch die sieben Siegel charakterisiert wird, weil sie der Seher heute nur von der astralischen Welt aus sehen kann, so wird durch die Posaunenklänge die Kulturstufe, die auf jene folgt, aus dem Grunde so charakterisiert, weil der Mensch sie nur wahrnehmen kann von der eigentlich geistigen Welt aus, wo die Sphärenklänge ertönen. Wie der Mensch in Bildern, in Symbolen die Welt wahrnimmt auf dem astralischen Plan, so nimmt er in der inspirierenden Sphärenmusik die Welt im Devachan wahr, und in diesem Devachan liegt auch sozusagen der Gipfel von dem, was sich auf den großen Krieg aller gegen alle folgend enthüllen wird.
[ 13 ] So haben wir, wenn wir es noch einmal darstellen, in dem nebenstehenden Schema unsere sieben Kulturstufen in der Linie a-b, und zwar so, daß wir die alte indische Kultur als erste haben, die alte persische als die zweite, die assyrisch-babylonisch-chaldäisch-ägyptisch-jüdische als dritte, die griechisch-lateinische als vierte und die unsrige als fünfte Kulturstufe der nachatlantischen Zeit. Die Linie IV wäre die atlantische Zeit, a die große Flut, durch die diese ihr Ende findet, und b der große Krieg aller gegen alle. Dann folgt eine Kultur von sieben Stufen (VI), die repräsentiert wird durch die sieben Siegel, und dann folgt eine Kultur von sieben Stufen, die repräsentiert wird durch die sieben Posaunen. Hier liegt dann überhaupt die Grenze unserer physischen Erdenentwickelung.

[ 14 ] Nun gingen der atlantischen Kultur, derjenigen Kultur, die der unsrigen voranging, auch wiederum Kulturstufen voran. Denn die unsrige, die auf die atlantische folgt, ist auf unserer Erde bereits die fünfte Kulturstufe. Es gehen ihr vier Kulturstufen voran. Die erste können wir aber kaum eine Kulturstufe nennen. Da ist alles noch fein ätherisch-geistig, alles noch so, daß, wenn es sich so weiter fortentwickelt hätte, es überhaupt nicht für Sinnesorgane unserer Art sichtbar geworden wäre. Die erste Kulturstufe entwickelte sich, als noch nicht einmal die Sonne sich von der Erde entfernt hatte. Da gab es ganz andere Verhältnisse, da kann man nicht sprechen von etwas, was unseren Dingen ähnlich sah. Dann folgt eine Zeit, die dadurch charakterisiert wird, daß die Sonne sich wegbewegt, dann eine, die dadurch charakterisiert wird, daß der Mond aus der Erde herausgeht. Das ist die dritte Stufe, was wir die alte lemurische Zeit nennen. Da tritt der jetzige Mensch in seinen allerersten Anfängen auf unserer Erde auf, von denen ich Ihnen angedeutet habe, daß es solch groteske Körperformen waren, daß es Sie schockieren würde, wenn Sie sie geschildert erhielten. Auf diese, die lemurische Zeit, folgte dann die atlantische und endlich die unsrige.
[ 15 ] So sehen Sie, daß wir sieben Kulturstufen haben auf unserer Erde, sieben Entwickelungsperioden der Erde. Auf zwei sehen wir zurück als ganz und gar unähnlich unserer Zeit, auf eine dritte so, daß sie sich zum Teil abgespielt hat auf einem Platz zwischen dem heutigen Afrika und dem heutigen Asien und Australien, auf dem alten Lemurien. Da gab es wiederum unter den damaligen Menschen eine kleine Gruppe, welche die Vorgerücktesten in sich faßte. Diese Gruppe war die allerletzte der Rassen. Also, die allerletzte der lemurischen Rassen hatte ein kleines Häuflein, das auswandern konnte und das nachher die sieben Rassen der Atlantier begründete. Die letzte der lemurischen Rassen begründete die atlantischen Rassen. Die fünfte der atlantischen Rassen begründete unsere Kultur. Die sechste der unstigen Kulturen begründet die zukünftige Kultur nach dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle, und die allerletzte dieser Kulturen wird diejenige zu begründen haben, die durch die sieben Posaunen angedeutet wird.
[ 16 ] Und nach dieser Kultur, was wird dann geschehen? Da ist unsere Erde zunächst am Ziel ihrer physischen Entwickelung angelangt. Da werden sich alle Dinge und Wesenheiten auf unserer Erde umgeändert haben. Denn wenn wir schon sagen müssen, daß in dem sechsten Zeitraum die Menschen auf ihrem Antlitze ihr Gutes und ihr Böses tragen werden, dann werden wir um so mehr von jenem siebenten sagen müssen, daß der Mensch in seiner Gestalt und alle Wesen in ihrer Gestalt ein Ausdruck sein werden des Guten und des Bösen in viel höherem Maße noch als in dem sechsten Zeitraum. Alles, was Materie ist, wird den Stempel des Geistes tragen. Nichts, nichts wird in diesem siebenten Zeitraum so sein, daß es irgendwie verhüllt werden könnte. Es ist schon für die Bewohner des sechsten Zeitraumes nicht möglich, daß sie demjenigen, der den Blick dafür hat, etwas verhüllen. Der Böse wird ausdrücken das Böse, der Gute das Gute. Aber in dem siebenten Zeitraum wird es nicht einmal möglich sein, durch die Sprache zu verhüllen, was in der Seele ist. Der Gedanke wird nicht mehr ein stummer Gedanke sein, der verborgen werden kann. Wenn die Seele denkt, wird sie auch den Gedanken nach außen erklingen lassen. Er wird dann so sein, wie dieser Gedanke schon heute ist für den Eingeweihten. Für den Eingeweihten erklingt der Gedanke heute im Devachan. Aber dieses Devachan wird heruntergestiegen sein bis in die physische Welt, so wie die astralische Welt heruntergestiegen sein wird bis in die physische im sechsten Zeitraum. Heute schon ist der sechste Zeitraum zu finden in der astralischen Welt, der siebente in der himmlischen Welt. Der sechste Zeitraum ist die heruntergestiegene astralische Welt, das heißt die Abbilder, die Ausdrücke, die Offenbarungen davon. Der siebente wird sein die heruntergestiegene himmlische Welt, der Ausdruck derselben. Und dann wird die Erde am Ziele ihrer physischen Entwickelung angelangt sein.
[ 17 ] Dann verwandelt sich die Erde in einen astralischen Himmelskörper. Alles, was an der Erde ist als Wesen, verwandelt sich in einen astralischen Himmelskörper. Die physische Substanz verschwindet als physische Substanz, sie geht in dem Teil, der bis dahin die Möglichkeit gefunden hat sich zu vergeistigen, über in den Geist, in die astralische Substanz. Also denken Sie wohl: Alle diejenigen Wesenheiten der Erde, welche bis dahin die Möglichkeit gefunden haben, in ihrer äußeren materiellen Gestalt auszudrücken das Gute, das Edle, das Intellektuelle, das Schöne, die in ihrem Antlitz einen Abdruck zeigen werden des Christus Jesus, die in ihren Worten einen Ausdruck zeigen werden des Christus Jesus, die da tönen werden als tönende Gedanken, alle die werden die Macht haben, das, was sie an physischer Materie in sich haben, aufzulösen, wie laues Wasser Salz auflöst. Alles Physische wird übergehen in eine astralische Weltenkugel. Dasjenige aber, was bis dahin es nicht so weit gebracht hat, in dem Materiellen, in dem Körperlichen ein Ausdruck des Edlen, Schönen, Intellektuellen, des Guten zu sein, das wird nicht die Kraft haben, die Materie aufzulösen. Für das wird die Materie bestehen bleiben, das wird sich verhärten in die Materie, das wird behalten materielle Gestalt. Es wird an dieser Stelle der Erdenentwickelung stattfinden ein Aufstieg ins Geistige mit lauter Gestalten, die in diesem Astralischen leben werden und die ausscheiden werden aus sich eine andere materielle Kugel, eine Kugel, welche die Wesen enthalten wird, die unbrauchbar sind für den Aufstieg, weil sie nicht das Materielle auflösen können.
[ 18 ] So wird unsere Erde ihrer Zukunft entgegenleben. So wird sie in ihrer Materie sich immer mehr verfeinern, indem die Seele von innen heraus diese Materie allmählich verfeinert, bis sie die Kraft erhält, sie aufzulösen. Dann wird die Zeit kommen, wo das Nichtauflösbare herausgetrieben wird in einer besonderen Weltenkugel. Sieben Zeiträume werden vergehen, während das herausgetrieben wird, was in der Materie sich verhärtet hat, und die Kraft, die das herausgetrieben, wird die gegenteilige Kraft sein von der, welche die guten Wesen hinaufgetrieben haben wird. Was wird sie denn zum Auflösen der Materie bringen? Das ist eben die Kraft der Liebe, die durch das Christus-Prinzip gewonnen wird. Die Wesen werden fähig, die Materie aufzulösen dadurch, daß sie die Liebe in ihre Seele aufnehmen. Je wärmer die Seele wird durch die Liebe, desto intensiver wird sie wirken können auf das Materielle. Sie wird die ganze Erde vergeistigen, verastralisieren, in eine Astralkugel verwandeln. Aber ebenso wie ‘die Liebe die Materie auflöst wie laues Wasser das Salz, so wird das Gegenteil von Liebe hinunterdrücken, wiederum durch sieben Stufen, alles, was nicht fähig geworden ist, diese Erdenmission zu erfüllen.
[ 19 ] Das Gegenteil der göttlichen Liebe nennt man den göttlichen Zorn. Das ist der technische Ausdruck. Wie diese Liebe im Laufe der vierten Kulturstufe der Menschheit eingeprägt worden ist, wie sie immer wärmer und wärmer wird durch die letzten Kulturstufen unserer Zeit, durch die sechste und siebente, so wächst an auf der anderen Seite dasjenige, was die Materie um sich verhärtet: der göttliche Zorn. Und dieses Wirken des göttlichen Zornes, dieses Hinausstoßen der Materie, wird uns angedeutet in der Apokalypse des Johannes durch das Ausgießen der sieben göttlichen Zornesschalen. Stellen Sie sich vor, wie das Ganze sozusagen figürlich sein wird: Die Erde wird immer feiner und feiner in der Materie, der Mensch auch immer geistiger in seiner Materie, und die gröbsten Teile werden nur sichtbar sein in dem Feinen wie Schalen, wie zum Beispiel die Reptilien sie abwerfen oder die Schnecken. So werden die harten Teile immer mehr und mehr angegliedert sein der sich verfeinernden Materie. In dem letzten Zeitraum, dem Zeitraum der Posaunenklänge, würden Sie schon sehen mit hellseherischen Augen, wie die Menschen aus feinen Leibern bestehen, aus durchgeistigten Leibern, und wie diejenigen, die in sich verhärtet haben das materielle Prinzip, das in sich bewahrt haben, was heute die wichtigsten Bestandteile der Materie sind, und wie das wie Hülsen herunterfallen wird in diese materielle Kugel, die als Überbleibsel sein wird nach diesem Zeitraum, der durch die Posaunenklänge angedeutet wird.
[ 20 ] Das ist es, was uns die Apokalypse des Johannes als Prophetie gibt. Und es ist wichtig, daß wir uns mit unserer Seele in diese Prophetie einfühlen, so daß sie befeuernd auf unseren Willen wirkt. Denn was hat alsdann der Mensch aus sich gemacht, wenn dieser sechste und siebente Zeitraum vorüber sein werden? Was hat der Mensch dann aus seinem Leibe gemacht? Wenn wir jetzt den menschlichen Leib ansehen, so ist er noch nicht der Ausdruck der inneren Seele. Aber immer mehr und mehr wird der Leib ein Ausdruck dessen werden, was die Seele in ihrem Innern erlebt. Dadurch wird das äußere Leibliche ein Ausdruck des Guten, daß der Mensch aufnimmt die höchste Botschaft, die höchste Lehre, die es auf dieser Erde gibt, und diese höchste der Lehren ist die Botschaft von dem Christus Jesus auf der Erde. Das Höchste, das uns gegeben werden kann, ist die Botschaft von Christus Jesus. Wohl müssen wir sie aufnehmen, und nicht bloß mit dem Verstand. Wir müssen sie in unser Innerstes aufnehmen, wie man die Nahrung im physischen Leibe aufnimmt. Und indem die Menschheit sich durch diese Kulturstufe hinüberentwickelt, wird sie immer mehr und mehr die frohe Botschaft in ihr Inneres aufnehmen, und gerade die Aufnahme der Botschaft der Liebe wird sie als das Ergebnis der Erdenmission zu betrachten haben. In den Evangelien, in dem «Buche», ist die Kraft der Liebe enthalten, alle Kraft der Liebe. Und der Seher kann nichts anderes sagen als: Ich sehe im Geiste eine Zeit vor mir, wo dasjenige, was im Evangelium ist, nicht mehr in einem Buche draußen sein wird, sondern wo das verschlungen sein wird vom Menschen selber.
[ 21 ] Unsere Erdenentwickelung beruht auf zweierlei. Unserer Erde ist vorangegangen dasjenige, was wir nennen den Kosmos der Weisheit, und ihm ist vorangegangen dasjenige, was wir nennen — das Wort sagt freilich nicht viel, aber wir müssen es gebrauchen, weil es gebräuchlich geworden ist — den Kosmos der Stärke, der Kraft. Weisheit und Stärke ist es, was die Erde als Erbschaft von früheren Entwickelungsstufen, vom alten Mond und der alten Sonne übernommen hat. Wir werden sehen, wie innerhalb unserer Erdenentwickelung das auch zum Ausdruck kommt dadurch, daß wir die erste Hälfte der Erdenentwickelung nach dem Vertreter der Sonnenkraft, dem Mars, benennen. Denn jetzt brauchen wir nur zu bedenken, daß wir innerhalb unserer Erdenentwickelung im Mars dasjenige haben, was der Erde eingepflanzt hat das Eisen. Wir sehen im Mars den Bringer von Stärke. Und in dem, was die zweite Hälfte der Erdenentwickelung beherrscht, haben wir den Stellvertreter der alten Mondenentwickelung, den Merkur, welcher der Erde die alte Erbschaft des Mondes, die Weisheit, einverleibt. So setzt sich uns die Erdenentwickelung zusammen aus Mars- und Merkurentwickelung. Sie hat als Erbschaft übernommen zwei starke, gewaltige Kräfte. Das, was sie ererbt hat vom Kosmos der Stärke, drückt sich aus im Mars, und was sie ererbt hat vom Kosmos der Weisheit, drückt sich im Merkur aus. Sie, die Erde selber, soll hinzubringen die Liebe durch ihre Mission. Diese Liebe soll als das Ergebnis der Erdenentwickelung sich herrlich offenbaren. Das ist ein sehr tiefer Gedanke des Apokalyptikers. Das ist der tiefe Gedanke, der außerdem anknüpft an die ganze übrige Erdenentwickelung. (Siehe das vierte Siegelbild.)
[ 22 ] Noch einmal versetzen Sie sich mit mir zurück in die älteste atlantische Zeit, in jene Zeit, von der wir gesagt haben, daß die Luft noch durchsetzt war von Wasser. Der Mensch war noch für das Wasser gebaut. In der Mitte der Atlantis erst ist er so weit, daß er sich dem Wasser entreißt und den festen Boden betritt. Bis zu der Zeit, wo die Erde in der Mitte ihrer Entwickelung war, müssen wir das Wasser ebenso als den Träger der menschlichen Entwickelung auffassen wie später die feste Erde. Die feste Erde wurde sozusagen erst spät der Schauplatz der Menschen. Es ist nur halb richtig, wenn man von der ganzen Atlantis wie von einem trockenen Lande spricht. Sie ist in vieler Beziehung nicht etwa vom Meere bedeckt, aber von einem solchen Mittelding, wie Luft, die von Wasser dicht erfüllt ist, und diese Wasser-Luft gehört zu dem Elemente, in dem der Mensch lebte. Erst später wurde er fähig, in der freien Luft zu leben und auf dem festen Boden zu stehen. Das ist verhältnismäßig noch nicht lange her. So daß wir sagen, wenn wir die Erdenentwickelung überblicken, symbolisch ausgedrückt: Wir haben auf der einen Seite Erde und auf der anderen Seite Wasser. Das ist die frühere Zeit. Und aus dem Wasser ragt hervor die eine der Kräfte bis zur ersten Hälfte der Entwickelung, und aus der Erde ragt hervor die andere der Kräfte. Bis zur Mitte der vierten Periode sprechen wir von den Marskräften, von den Kräften, die sozusagen das Wasser gibt, und wir sprechen von den Merkurkräften in der späteren Zeit, wo die feste Erde die Stützkräfte gibt. Das gliedert sich so recht zusammen in die Vorstellung, daß der Mensch gestützt wird in seiner ganzen Erdenmission durch zwei Säulen, jene zwei Säulen, die Sie symbolisch gesehen haben beim Münchener Kongreß im Saale. Diese zwei Säulen stellen dar die zwei Teile der Erdenmission, die zwei Erbschaften, die der Mensch gemacht hat von früheren Zeiten. Und über ihnen symbolisiert sich dasjenige, was durch die Erde selber erreicht werden soll: die Liebe, die sich darlebt, herrlich sich offenbarend, die gestützt wird durch diese Erbschaften.
[ 23 ] So schildert der Apokalyptiker es wirklich so, wie es sich darstellt für den Menschen, der aufsteigt in geistige Regionen. Deshalb wird dasjenige, was uns entgegentritt, wenn wir anschauen, was über die Erde hinaus liegt, was uns entgegentritt in dem Momente, wo die Erdensubstanz ihre Materie auflöst ins Geistige, symbolisch angedeutet durch das, was wir in dem vierten Siegel sehen. Selbstverständlich muß es jetzt umgekehrt erscheinen, weil es Zukünftiges darstellt. Es erscheinen uns die zwei Kräfte, welche die Erde als Erbschaft übernommen hat vom Kosmos der Weisheit und der Stärke, und es erscheint uns alles, was als Erfüllung der Erdenmission sich zeigt als die Kraft der Liebe, die der Mensch ausbildet, und das Ganze erscheint uns wie die Personifikation des zukünftigen Menschen, so daß der Mensch der Zukunft, gestützt von diesen beiden Kräften, durchdrungen von dieser Kraft der Liebe, uns symbolisch hier entgegentritt. Die Botschaft der Liebe, das Buch, das er vor sich hat, ist ein Buch, das nicht nur von außen wirkt, sondern das er verschlingen soll. Da sehen wir vor uns hingestellt das gewaltige Bild, das hier uns erscheint. «Und ich sah einen anderen Kraftengel» — das heißt ein Wesen, das so dargestellt wird, weil es schon über dem heutigen Menschen steht — «von den geistigen Sphären herabkommen», so sieht es der Seher, «der war mit einer Wolke bekleidet und sein Antlitz war wie die Sonne und seine Füße wie Pfeiler, feurige Pfeiler.» Das sind die zwei Kräfte, von denen wir gesprochen haben, welche die Erde als Erbschaft empfangen hat. «Und er hatte in seiner Hand ein Büchlein aufgetan; und er setzte seinen rechten Fuß auf das Meer und den linken auf die Erde.» Und Johannes sprach zum Engel: «Gib mir das Büchlein.» «Und er sprach zu mir: Nimm hin und verschlinge es; und es wird dich im Bauche grimmen, aber in deinem Munde wird es süß sein wie Honig. — Und ich nahm das Büchlein von der Hand des Engels und verschlang es; und es war süß in meinem Munde wie Honig.»
[ 24 ] Da haben wir das, was uns gesagt werden muß als die Empfindung, die auftritt im Seher, wenn er seinen Blick hinrichtet auf den Punkt, wo die Erde aus dem Physisch-Materiellen ins Astralisch-Geistige übergeht, wo die Erdenmission erreicht ist. Und wenn der Seher dies sieht, dann lernt er, was wirklich mit dieser Botschaft der Liebe zusammenhängt, die als Impuls auf der vierten Kulturstufe hereingezogen ist: er lernt schon im heutigen Leben, wie der Apokalyptiker es gelernt hat, was Seligkeit ist und was der Menschheit als Seligkeit vorangestellt werden kann. Aber er lernt es eben im heutigen Leibe; denn wenn auch ein noch so hohes Wesen mit Menschen leben wollte, müßte es sich fleischlich verkörpern. Und in mancher Beziehung gibt der heutige Leib gerade dadurch, daß er dem Geist die Möglichkeit bietet, hoch hinaufzusteigen, auch die Möglichkeit zu leiden. Während also die Seele des Sehers, die der Apokalyptiker geschildert hat, in geistige Regionen hinaufsteigen kann, um das Evangelium der Liebe zu empfangen, und im Geiste die Seligkeit süß wie Honig empfinden kann, lebt der Seher doch in einem heutigen Leibe, und dementsprechend muß er ausdrücken, daß das Hinaufsteigen im heutigen Leibe in vieler Beziehung das Gegenstück jener Seligkeit hervorruft. Das drückt er dadurch aus, daß er sagt, das Büchlein mache ihm, ob es gleich süß sei wie Honig, als er es verschluckt hat, grimmige Schmerzen im Bauche. Aber das ist nur ein kleiner Abglanz von dem, «im Leibe gekreuzigt» zu sein. Je höher der Geist steigt, desto schwieriger wird ihm das Wohnen im Leibe. Und das ist zunächst der symbolische Ausdruck für diese Schmerzen: «Gekreuzigt sein im Leibe.»
[ 25 ] Damit haben wir skizzenhaft angedeutet, was geschehen wird innerhalb unserer Erdenentwickelung, was dem Menschen in der Erdenentwickelung bevorsteht. Wir sind herangekommen bis zu dem Punkt, wo der Mensch verwandelt wird, verwandelt wird ins Astralische, wo die Erde in ihren besten Teilen als physische Erde verschwinden und ins Geistige übergehen wird, wo nur etwas wie ein abgesonderter Teil durch den göttlichen Zorn abfallen wird in den Abgrund. Und wir werden sehen, daß selbst da noch nicht die letzte Stufe erstiegen ist, aus der nicht Rettung möglich wäre, obzwar dasjenige, was sich geltend macht in dem Abgrund, durch die furchtbarsten Symbole gekennzeichnet wird: durch das siebenköpfige und zehnhörnige und durch das zweihörnige Tier.
Eighth Lecture
[ 1 ] Now that it has been repeatedly stated that our seven stages of culture will come to an end through a war of all against all, we must imagine such a war of all against all in a completely different way than we have been accustomed to imagining wars up to now. We need only consider what the basis, the actual cause of this war is. This basis or cause is the prevalence of egoism, selfishness, and selfhood in human beings. And we have now progressed so far in our considerations that we have seen what a double-edged, sharp sword this human ego is. Those who do not understand that this ego is a double-edged sword will hardly understand the whole meaning of human and world evolution. On the one hand, this ego is the cause of people hardening within themselves, of wanting to use everything that is available to them, both external things and inner goods, in the service of their ego. It is this ego that causes all human desires to be directed toward satisfying this ego as such. How this ego strives to appropriate a part of the common property of the earth as its own, how this ego strives to drive all other egos out of its domain, to wage war against them, to fight them: that is one side of the ego. But on the other side, we must not forget that this ego is at the same time what gives man his independence, his inner freedom, what elevates man in the truest sense of the word. His dignity is founded in this ego. It is the predisposition to the divine in man.
[ 2 ] This concept of the ego causes difficulty for many people. It has become clear to us that the human ego has developed out of a group soul, out of a kind of comprehensive All-Ego, from which it has differentiated itself. It would be wrong for human beings to desire once again to lose their I in some kind of universal consciousness, in some kind of collective consciousness. Everything that causes human beings to strive to lose their I, to merge with a universal consciousness, is a product of weakness. Only those who know that, having attained this ego in the course of cosmic evolution, it is now irretrievable, understand the ego, and human beings must strive above all for the strong power to make this ego ever more inner, ever more divine, if they understand the world mission. True anthroposophists have nothing of that phrase in them which repeatedly emphasizes the merging of the I into an All-I, the melting together into some kind of primordial mush. The true anthroposophical worldview can only set as its ultimate goal the community of independent and free I's, of individualized I's. This is precisely the mission of the earth, expressed through love, that the I learns to stand freely opposite the I. No love is perfect that arises from compulsion, from being chained together. Only when each I is so free and independent that it cannot love is its love a completely free gift. This is, so to speak, the divine plan for the world: to make the ego so independent that it can freely offer love to God as an individual being. It would mean leading people by strings of dependence if they could be forced in any way, even remotely, to love.
[ 3 ] Thus, the ego will be the pledge of man's highest goal. But at the same time, if it does not find love, if it hardens within itself, it becomes the tempter that plunges him into the abyss. Then it is that which separates people from one another, which calls them to the great war of all against all, not only to war of peoples against peoples—for the concept of peoples will then no longer have the meaning it has today—but to war of individuals against individuals in the most diverse areas of life, to war of classes against classes, of castes against castes, of sexes against sexes. In all areas of life, the ego will become a bone of contention, and therefore we can say that the ego can lead to the highest on the one hand and to the lowest on the other. That is why it is a sharp, double-edged sword. And the one who brought full self-consciousness to human beings, Christ Jesus, is symbolically and rightly depicted in our Apocalypse as the one who has the sharp, double-edged sword in his mouth.
[ 4 ] We have presented it as a great achievement of humanity that it has been able to rise to this free concept of the self precisely through Christianity. Christ Jesus brought this I into its full extent. Therefore, this I must be expressed precisely by the sharp, double-edged sword that you know from one of our seals. And that this sharp, double-edged sword comes from the mouth of the Son of Man is understandable, for when man learned to express the I with full consciousness, he was given the ability to ascend to the highest and descend to the lowest. The sharp, double-edged sword is one of the most important symbols we encounter in the Apocalypse. (First seal.)
[ 5 ] If we are now clear about what came to us at the end of the last consideration, that our present culture will be followed by the one characterized in the epistles by the city of Philadelphia, we must remember above all that from this sixth stage of culture those human souls will be taken who have to pass over into the following age. For then, after the war of all against all — as we have often emphasized — what is being prepared in the souls of people in our time will be lived out in their faces. The so-called seventh stage of culture will be of very little importance. We are therefore living in the fifth stage of culture, followed by the sixth, from which a number of people will emerge with a full understanding of the spiritual world, imbued with that spirit of brotherly love that follows directly from spiritual knowledge. The ripest fruit of our present culture will appear in this sixth epoch. And what follows will be that which is lukewarm, neither warm nor cold. What follows as the seventh stage is, so to speak, something like an overripe fruit in the entire culture, something that survives the great war of all against all, but contains no principle of progress within itself.
[ 6 ] This was also the case when our culture came into being. Let us think back to the time before the Atlantic flood. We have said that it was in the last third of the Atlantic period, when people were still living on the land that is now covered by the Atlantic Ocean, that a small group formed near what is now Ireland, which had reached the highest level of culture in Atlantis and then set out for the East, from where all later cultures originated. Let us really visualize this: let us imagine this patch of earth that today forms the sea to the west of Ireland, and let us imagine a stream of people migrating eastward from there, from which a multitude of tribes then spread out to populate Europe. Everything that exists in the European population came from there. The most gifted part of the Atlanteans moved to Central Asia; from there, the various cultures we have described spread to us. So you see that our present culture has its origins in a small group of Atlanteans.
[ 7 ] But this Atlantean culture also had seven successive stages, just as our culture has seven stages, which we know as the ancient Indian, ancient Persian, Assyrian-Babylonian-Chaldean-Egyptian-Jewish, the Greek-Latin, our own, and two more. And it was in the fifth stage of the Atlantean culture that this migration began, so that the most select population of ancient Atlantis, which forms the basis of our culture, was taken from the fifth Atlantean race — in Atlantis we may speak of races. This was followed by a sixth and a seventh race. These were, so to speak, the lukewarm races. They also survived the great flood, but there was no living, sprouting power in them. They were to the fifth culture what the bark, which is woody and hardened, is to the juicy stem. Thus, the two races that followed the original root race were incapable of development; they were, so to speak, overripe.
[ 8 ] You can still see remnants of these old, overripe races today, especially in the Chinese people. The Chinese people are characterized by the fact that they did not join what was revealed in the fifth race, the root race. At that time, when the etheric body entered the physical body, it was when human beings received the first inclination to say “I.” They had missed this period. They had, however, developed the high culture that is well known, but it was not capable of further development. The fifth Atlantean race sent its culture bearers everywhere, who created new, ever more perfect and growing folk cultures. Yes, everything grows, from the ancient Indian culture to our own. The sixth and seventh races of Atlantis had become hardened and had therefore reached a stationary state. As I said, Chinese culture is a remnant of this. It cannot break out of itself. It had inherited a wonderful ancient Atlantean heritage in ancient Chinese culture, but it could not go beyond its peak. Nothing remains unaffected by other things. You can look at ancient Chinese literature: it has been influenced from all sides, but its basic character is clearly Atlantean. This inward-looking attitude, this inventiveness and stubbornness, never able to go beyond a certain level, all stems from the character of Atlantis.
[ 9 ] Just as it was with the fifth race, which produced those capable of education, and with the sixth and seventh, which fell into decline, so it will be in our time. Now we still live with all our longing for the sixth culture, for what must be described as arising from the spiritual marriage between the West and the East. The sixth cultural stage will be the foundation for what will emerge as new cultures after the great war of all against all, just as our cultures emerged after the Atlantean era. In contrast, the seventh cultural stage will be represented by the lukewarm. This seventh stage will carry over into the new era just as the sixth and seventh races of the Atlantean era carried over into our era as hardened and rigid races. After the war of all against all, there will be two currents among human beings: on the one hand, those from Philadelphia with the principle of progress, inner freedom, and brotherly love, a small group composed of all tribes and nations; and on the other hand, the great mass of those who will be lukewarm, the remnants of those who are now lukewarm, the current of Laodicea. And after the great war of all against all, it will be a matter of gradually bringing the evil current over to the good through the good race, through the good current. This will be one of the main tasks after the great war of all against all: to save what can be saved from those who, after the great war, will have only the desire to fight one another, to live out their egoism to the utmost. Within the sphere of occultism, provision is always made in the world for all such things.
[ 10 ] Do not regard it as a harshness of the plan of creation, not as something about which one can argue with the plan of creation, that humanity will be divided into those who stand on the right and those who stand on the left. Rather, regard it as something that is supremely wise in the plan of creation. For consider that it is precisely because evil separates itself from good that good will gain its main strength in good, for after the great war of all against all, good will have to make every possible effort to draw the evil back over to its side during the period when this is still possible. This will not be an educational task as educational tasks are today, but occult forces will be at work, for in this next great period, human beings will know how to set occult forces in motion. The good will have the task of working on their brothers and sisters of the evil current. And all this is being prepared in the occult world currents. But the deepest of all occult world currents is the least understood. The world current that is preparing this says the following to its disciples: People talk about good and evil, and they do not know that it is necessary in the world plan for evil to reach its peak so that those who must overcome this evil may use the power they gain in overcoming evil to bring about an even greater good. But the most select people must be prepared to live through the age of the great war of all against all, when they will be confronted by people who will have the signs of evil on their faces. They must be prepared for the fact that as much good power as possible must flow into humanity. It will still be possible for the bodies, which will have become somewhat softened after the great war of all against all, to be transformed by the converted souls, by the souls who will still be led over to the good during this last period. Much will be achieved by this. The good would not be such a great good if it did not grow in this way through the overcoming of evil. Love would not be so intense if it did not have to become such a great love in order to overcome even the ugliness in the faces of evil people. This is being prepared in advance, and the disciples are told: Therefore, you must not believe that evil is not part of the Creator's plan. It is part of it, for through it the great good will one day come about.
[ 11 ] Those who are prepared in their souls by such teachings so that they may one day solve this great educational task are the disciples of that spiritual movement called Manichaeism. Manichaeism is usually misunderstood. Wherever you hear or read anything about it, you hear phraseological speech. It is said that the Manichaeans believed that from the beginning of the world there were two principles, good and evil. This is not so, but rather it is the teaching that has just been explained to you. Such a doctrine and its implementation for the future, and the disciples who are instructed in such a way that they can fulfill such a task in future incarnations, is what is meant by the name Manichaeism. Manes is that high individuality that is incarnated on earth again and again, who is the guiding spirit of those who are there to convert evil. When we speak of the great leaders of humanity, we must also remember this individuality that has set itself this task. Even though this principle of Manes has had to recede into the background in the present, because there is little understanding of spiritualism, this wonderfully glorious Manichean principle will win more and more disciples the more we move toward an understanding of spiritual life.
[ 12 ] Thus you see how the present humanity will live over into the new, later time beyond the war of all against all, just as that ancestral race of Atlanteans lived over into our time and founded our culture. In seven successive stages, humanity will unfold after the great war of all against all. And we have already seen how what is said about the unsealing of the seven seals in the Apocalypse of John indicates to us the character of the successive seven root cultures, the seven cultural stages after the great war. Then, when this culture, which today's human beings can only see as initiates in the astral world and in its symbolism, has come to an end, a new period will begin for our Earth's development, in which new forms will appear. And this new period, which will follow the one just described, is symbolized for us in the Apocalypse of John by the seven trumpet blasts. Just as the culture after the great war of all against all is characterized by the seven seals, because the seer today can only see it from the astral world, so the cultural stage that follows it is characterized by the trumpet blasts, because human beings can only perceive it from the actual spiritual world, where the sounds of the spheres resound. Just as man perceives the world in images and symbols on the astral plane, so he perceives the world in the inspiring music of the spheres in Devachan, and in this Devachan lies, so to speak, the summit of what will be revealed following the great war of all against all.
[ 13 ] So, if we represent this once again, in the diagram opposite, we have our seven cultural stages in the line a-b, with the ancient Indian culture as the first, the ancient Persian as the second, the Assyrian-Babylonian-Chaldean-Egyptian-Jewish as the third, the Greek-Latin as the fourth, and our own as the fifth cultural stage of the post-Atlantean era. Line IV would be the Atlantean period, a the great flood that brought it to an end, and b the great war of all against all. This is followed by a culture of seven stages (VI), represented by the seven seals, and then a culture of seven stages, represented by the seven trumpets. This is where the limit of our physical Earth's development lies.

[ 14 ] Now, the Atlantean culture, the culture that preceded ours, was also preceded by cultural stages. For ours, which follows the Atlantean, is already the fifth cultural stage on our Earth. It is preceded by four cultural stages. However, we can hardly call the first one a cultural stage. Everything is still finely ethereal and spiritual, everything is still such that, if it had continued to develop in this way, it would not have become visible to the sense organs of our kind at all. The first stage of culture developed when the sun had not yet moved away from the earth. Conditions were completely different then; one cannot speak of anything that resembled our things. Then follows a period characterized by the sun moving away, then one characterized by the moon leaving the earth. This is the third stage, which we call the ancient Lemurian period. This is when the present human being appeared on our Earth in its very earliest beginnings, which I have indicated to you were such grotesque bodily forms that you would be shocked if you were to hear them described. This Lemurian epoch was followed by the Atlantean and finally our own.
[ 15 ] So you see that we have seven cultural stages on our Earth, seven periods of development of the Earth. We look back on two of them as completely unlike our time, on a third as having taken place partly in a place between present-day Africa and present-day Asia and Australia, in ancient Lemuria. There was again a small group among the people of that time, which included the most advanced. This group was the very last of the races. So, the very last of the Lemurian races had a small group that was able to emigrate and later founded the seven races of the Atlanteans. The last of the Lemurian races founded the Atlantean races. The fifth of the Atlantean races founded our culture. The sixth of the unholy cultures will found the future culture after the great war of all against all, and the very last of these cultures will have to found the one that is indicated by the seven trumpets.
[ 16 ] And after this culture, what will happen? Our Earth will have reached the end of its physical development. All things and beings on our Earth will have changed. For if we must say that in the sixth period of time, people will bear their good and evil on their faces, then we must say all the more of the seventh period that human beings in their form and all beings in their form will be an expression of good and evil to a much higher degree than in the sixth period. Everything that is matter will bear the stamp of the spirit. Nothing, nothing in this seventh period will be such that it can be concealed in any way. Even for the inhabitants of the sixth period, it is not possible to conceal anything from those who have the eyes to see. The evil will express evil, the good will express good. But in the seventh period, it will not even be possible to conceal what is in the soul through language. The thought will no longer be a silent thought that can be hidden. When the soul thinks, it will also let the thought sound outward. It will then be as this thought already is today for the initiated. For the initiated, the thought sounds today in the Devachan. But this Devachan will have descended into the physical world, just as the astral world will have descended into the physical world in the sixth period. Today, the sixth period can already be found in the astral world, the seventh in the heavenly world. The sixth period is the descended astral world, that is, the images, expressions, and revelations of it. The seventh will be the descended heavenly world, the expression of the same. And then the Earth will have reached the goal of its physical development.
[ 17 ] Then the earth will be transformed into an astral heavenly body. Everything that exists on earth as a being will be transformed into an astral heavenly body. The physical substance disappears as physical substance; it passes into the spirit, into the astral substance, in that part which has found the possibility of becoming spiritual. So you see: all those beings on earth who have found the possibility of expressing the good, the noble, the intellectual, the beautiful in their outer material form, which will show in their faces an imprint of Christ Jesus, which will show in their words an expression of Christ Jesus, which will sound as sounding thoughts, all of these will have the power to dissolve what they have in themselves of physical matter, as lukewarm water dissolves salt. Everything physical will pass over into an astral world sphere. But that which has not yet reached the point of being an expression of the noble, beautiful, intellectual, and good in the material, in the physical, will not have the power to dissolve matter. For that, matter will remain, it will harden into matter, it will retain its material form. At this point in the Earth's development, an ascent into the spiritual realm will take place with pure beings who will live in this astral realm and who will separate from themselves to form another material sphere, a sphere that will contain the beings who are unsuitable for ascension because they are unable to dissolve matter.
[ 18 ] Thus our Earth will live toward its future. Thus it will become increasingly refined in its matter, as the soul gradually refines this matter from within until it receives the power to dissolve it. Then the time will come when the indissoluble will be driven out into a special sphere. Seven periods will pass while that which has hardened in matter is being driven out, and the force that drives it out will be the opposite of the force that has driven the good beings upward. What will cause matter to dissolve? It is the power of love gained through the Christ principle. Beings become capable of dissolving matter by taking love into their souls. The warmer the soul becomes through love, the more intensely it can act on matter. It will spiritualize the whole earth, astralize it, and transform it into an astral sphere. But just as love dissolves matter like lukewarm water dissolves salt, so the opposite of love will press down, again through seven stages, everything that has not become capable of fulfilling this earthly mission.
[ 19 ] The opposite of divine love is called divine wrath. That is the technical term. Just as this love has been imprinted in the course of the fourth stage of human culture, just as it is becoming warmer and warmer through the last stages of our time, through the sixth and seventh, so on the other side grows that which hardens matter around itself: divine wrath. And this working of divine wrath, this expulsion of matter, is hinted at in the Apocalypse of John through the pouring out of the seven bowls of divine wrath. Imagine how the whole thing will be, figuratively speaking: the earth will become finer and finer in its matter, and human beings will also become more and more spiritual in their matter, and the coarsest parts will only be visible in the fine parts, like shells, such as those shed by reptiles or snails. Thus, the hard parts will become more and more attached to the refining matter. In the last period, the period of the trumpet blasts, you would already see with clairvoyant eyes how human beings consist of fine bodies, of spiritualized bodies, and how those who have hardened themselves, who have preserved within themselves the material principle that today is the most important component of matter, will fall like husks into this material sphere, which will remain after this period, which is indicated by the trumpet sounds.
[ 20 ] This is what the Apocalypse of John gives us as prophecy. And it is important that we empathize with this prophecy with our soul so that it has a fiery effect on our will. For what will man have made of himself when this sixth and seventh period are over? What will man have made of his body? When we look at the human body now, it is not yet the expression of the inner soul. But more and more, the body will become an expression of what the soul experiences within itself. Through this, the outer physical body becomes an expression of goodness, in that human beings take in the highest message, the highest teaching that exists on this earth, and this highest of teachings is the message of Christ Jesus on earth. The highest thing that can be given to us is the message of Christ Jesus. We must take it in, and not just with our minds. We must take it into our innermost being, just as we take food into our physical body. And as humanity develops through this stage of culture, it will take more and more of the good news into its inner being, and it will have to regard the acceptance of the message of love as the result of the Earth mission. The Gospels, the “Book,” contain the power of love, all the power of love. And the seer can say nothing else than: I see in my mind's eye a time when what is in the Gospels will no longer be in a book, but will be absorbed by human beings themselves.
[ 21 ] Our earthly development is based on two things. Our earth was preceded by what we call the cosmos of wisdom, and that was preceded by what we call—the word does not mean much, but we must use it because it has become customary—the cosmos of strength, of power. Wisdom and strength are what the earth has inherited from earlier stages of development, from the old moon and the old sun. We will see how this is also expressed in our Earth's development by the fact that we name the first half of Earth's development after the representative of the sun's power, Mars. For now we need only consider that within our Earth's development we have in Mars that which implanted iron into the Earth. We see in Mars the bringer of strength. And in that which dominates the second half of Earth's development, we have the representative of the old lunar development, Mercury, which incorporates into the Earth the old inheritance of the Moon, wisdom. Thus, Earth's development is composed of the Mars and Mercury developments. It has inherited two strong, powerful forces. What it has inherited from the cosmos of strength is expressed in Mars, and what it has inherited from the cosmos of wisdom is expressed in Mercury. The Earth itself is to bring about love through its mission. This love is to reveal itself gloriously as the result of Earth's development. This is a very profound thought of the apocalyptic writer. This is the profound thought that also ties in with the entire rest of Earth's development. (See the fourth seal image.)
[ 22 ] Once again, let us go back with me to the earliest Atlantean time, to the time when, as we have said, the air was still mixed with water. Man was still built for water. It was only in the middle of Atlantis that he was ready to tear himself away from the water and set foot on solid ground. Until the time when the earth was in the middle of its development, we must regard water as the vehicle of human development, just as we later regard solid earth. Solid earth became the scene of human life only late in the process, so to speak. It is only half true to speak of the whole of Atlantis as a dry land. In many respects it was not covered by the sea, but by something intermediate, like air densely filled with water, and this water-air belonged to the element in which man lived. Only later did he become capable of living in the open air and standing on solid ground. This is relatively recent. So when we look at the development of the Earth, we can say symbolically: on one side we have earth and on the other side we have water. That is the earlier time. And out of the water emerges one of the forces until the first half of the development, and out of the earth emerges the other of the forces. Until the middle of the fourth period, we speak of the Mars forces, of the forces that, so to speak, the water gives, and we speak of the Mercury forces in the later time, when the solid earth provides the supporting forces. This fits in well with the idea that human beings are supported in their entire earthly mission by two pillars, the two pillars that you saw symbolically in the hall at the Munich Congress. These two pillars represent the two parts of the earthly mission, the two legacies that human beings have received from earlier times. And above them is symbolized that which is to be achieved through the earth itself: love, which lives and reveals itself gloriously, supported by these inheritances.
[ 23 ] This is how the apocalyptic writer truly describes it as it appears to the human being who ascends into spiritual regions. Therefore, what we encounter when we look beyond the earth, what we encounter at the moment when the earth's substance dissolves its matter into the spiritual, is symbolically indicated by what we see in the fourth seal. Of course, it must now appear reversed, because it represents the future. We see the two forces which the earth has inherited from the cosmos of wisdom and strength, and everything that appears to us as the fulfillment of the earth's mission appears as the power of love that human beings develop, and the whole appears to us as the personification of the future human being, so that the human being of the future, supported by these two forces, permeated by this power of love, symbolically confronts us here. The message of love, the book he has before him, is a book that not only has an effect from the outside, but which he is to devour. There we see before us the powerful image that appears to us here. “And I saw another angel” — that is, a being who is depicted in this way because he already stands above the present human being — ‘coming down from the spiritual spheres,’ as the seer sees him, ”clothed with a cloud, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.” These are the two forces we have spoken of, which the earth has received as its inheritance. “And he had a little book open in his hand; and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth.” And John said to the angel, “Give me the little book.” “And he said to me, ‘Take it and eat it; and it will be bitter in your stomach, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’ And I took the little book from the angel's hand and ate it; and it was sweet in my mouth like honey.”
[ 24 ] Here we have what must be told us as the sensation that arises in the seer when he directs his gaze to the point where the earth passes from the physical-material into the astral-spiritual, where the earth mission is accomplished. And when the seer sees this, he learns what is really connected with this message of love that has been brought in as an impulse on the fourth cultural stage: he learns already in his present life, as the apocalyptic writer learned, what bliss is and what can be held before humanity as bliss. But he learns it in his present body; for even if a being, however high, wanted to live with human beings, it would have to incarnate itself in flesh. And in some respects, it is precisely because the present body offers the spirit the opportunity to ascend to higher realms that it also offers the opportunity to suffer. So while the soul of the seer, as described by the apocalyptic writer, can ascend to spiritual regions to receive the gospel of love and can feel bliss as sweet as honey in the spirit, the seer still lives in a present body, and accordingly he must express that the ascent in the present body in many respects brings about the opposite of that bliss. He expresses this by saying that the little book, even though it was sweet as honey when he swallowed it, causes him fierce pains in his belly. But this is only a small reflection of what it means to be “crucified in the body.” The higher the spirit rises, the more difficult it becomes for it to dwell in the body. And that is the symbolic expression of these pains: “to be crucified in the body.”
[ 25 ] We have thus sketched what will happen within our earth's evolution, what lies ahead for human beings in the earth's evolution. We have come to the point where human beings are being transformed, transformed into the astral, where the best parts of the earth will disappear as physical earth and pass into the spiritual, where only something like a separate part will fall into the abyss through divine wrath. And we will see that even then the last step has not yet been climbed, from which there would be no salvation, although that which asserts itself in the abyss is marked by the most terrible symbols: by the seven-headed and ten-horned beast and by the two-horned beast.