The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Third Lecture

[ 1 ] A day of remembrance such as we have today means something quite different to members of the Theosophical Movement, who feel themselves to be part of a spiritual movement, than a day of remembrance for other people, the passing away of a person firmly rooted in our material culture. For us, it is also a day of union, for what would theosophical teaching be if it did not penetrate every fiber of our hearts and become our innermost feeling, our immediate emotion? When a soul has detached itself from the physical body, it only means that the innermost being of a human being has entered into a different relationship with us. On this day, we want to make such a relationship with the founder of the theosophical movement particularly alive within us. We want to fill ourselves with a feeling of belonging to the founder of our movement. We want to make ourselves fully aware that thoughts and feelings are invisible powers in our soul, that they are facts. Feelings are living forces. When we connect all our thoughts today with what the name “Helena Petrovna Blavatsky” encompasses, when we are connected with the spirit that shed its earthly shell on May 8, 1891, then our feelings and thoughts are real forces and form a real spiritual bridge to another form of existence. Another world finds access to our souls through this bridge. For the seeing person, such thoughts and feelings are truly living rays, rays of spiritual light that spring forth from the human being and unite in a point and can then meet with the spiritual entity. Thus, such a solemn moment is a reality. When our soul, which dwells in our body, wants to work on the physical plane, it must form a body; it must build up the substances and forces in such a way that it can find expression through them. If the substances and forces of the soul did not conform, this soul could never live out its life on the physical plane. As it is here on the physical plane, so it is with the spiritual beings on the higher planes. If we want to understand Helena Petrovna Blavatsky correctly, we must understand her in such a way that all her thoughts and aspirations are connected with the proper progress of the theosophical movement. This has been the case since her soul detached itself from the physical body. She is still working as a living entity within the theosophical movement. If she is to work, substances and forces must be made available to her. Where better to obtain them than from the souls of those within the theosophical movement who understand this being? Just as our soul grasps the substances and forces on the physical plane, so such a being grasps the substances and forces of souls in order to work through them. If those who are members of the theosophical movement did not willingly place themselves at the disposal of this entity, it could not express itself on the physical plane. We must create places of worship, love, and devotion in our own souls, thereby forming the forces through which Helena Petrovna Blavatsky can work, just as our soul works through our physical body. We must become aware that we are doing something real by loving and worshipping at this moment. It is true that all the love and worship that flow up to the soul of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky today are called upon as forces to connect with her.

[ 2 ] We must understand correctly what this personality means within our spiritual culture. The 19th century will one day be described in the history of humanity as the truly materialistic century. People of the 20th century cannot even imagine how deeply the 19th century was entangled in materialism; this will only be possible later, when people have become spiritual again. Everything, including religious life, is permeated by materialism. Anyone who can look at development from a higher perspective knows that the 1940s were a particularly low point in spiritual life. Science, philosophy, and religion were gripped by materialism. It was incumbent upon the leaders of humanity to gradually allow a stream of spiritual life to flow into humanity. Much is said when it is stated that in the wide circle of spiritual life within Western culture, no one was found who was as suited as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky to channel the stream of spiritual life into the world, to refresh the life of humanity and tear it out of materialism. Whatever attacks are being hurled at her today, the significance of all such attacks pales in comparison to this one fact. For among many other things, the Theosophical Movement must teach us a sense of positivity. We must bring ourselves to feel that we can see above all what is great in a person; in contrast, all those little lights that criticism of such a personality ignites can be extinguished. Just as many things have faded away from other great personalities that their contemporaries viewed with critical eyes, so too will everything fade away from her. But what she has done that is great will remain.

[ 3 ] Let us learn to regard people's mistakes as their own business, and let us learn to regard people's deeds as the business of all humanity. What people lack is part of their karma; what they do is the business of humanity. Let us learn not to worry about people's mistakes; they must atone for them themselves. But let us learn to be grateful for their achievements, for it is from these that the entire development of humanity lives.

[ 4 ] This year's White Lotus Day, which is a day of remembrance that a soul has broken free from the body and carries its experiences upward in another form, like the lotus flower, is the first day of its kind that we no longer celebrate in the company of Henry Steel Olcott, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's comrade. He too has left the physical plane, he who stands as the great organizer, as the formative force. [An incomprehensible sentence follows.] We direct our grateful, reverent, and loving thoughts to him; these thoughts will flow into the spiritual worlds, and we ourselves will gain strength from them. We should continue the celebration on the other days of the year by sending out the forces we have received as rays of light, by applying these forces in the work we call the Theosophical Movement. We will only work in her spirit if we are completely free of dogma and sectarianism and devoted to spiritual life. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky did not demand blind faith from anyone. What can be demanded of her followers is that they allow themselves to be enriched by their spirituality. In what Helena Petrovna Blavatsky has handed down to the physical plane lies a source of spiritual power that will be so beneficial to us if we allow it to work on us in a living way. We can allow ourselves to be enriched by the letters, but the spirit must become alive within us. One thing is certain about Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's writings: only those who do not understand them can underestimate them. But those who increasingly find the key to what is great in these works will become ever greater admirers of them. That is the significance of these works: the more one delves into them, the greater an admirer one becomes. It is not the case that one cannot see any mistakes in them; but those who grasp the living life know, as they delve deeper and deeper into these works, that what is expressed there could only have come from the great spiritual beings who are guiding the development of the world today. This is how we must read “Isis Unveiled,” a book that truly contains the greatest truths, but sometimes distorted and caricatured, like a beautiful face reflected in a mirror that distorts it.

[ 5 ] Those who wish to adopt a purely critical attitude may say that it would be better not to present such a distorted picture. But those who see things in the right light will say to themselves: if someone places their weak mental powers at the disposal of the spiritual powers that want to reveal themselves, and knows that these powers can only give a distorted picture, but that no one else is capable of doing better, then through this devotion they are making a great sacrifice for the world. All reproduction of the great truth is a distorted picture. If one wanted to wait until the whole truth could come to light, one would have to wait a long time. Selfless are those who want to give themselves and say: Let people tear me apart, I must bring the truth as I can bring it. This sacrifice, this high sacrifice of the intellect—a word so misused by a misguided religious view—is a much greater sacrifice than a moral sacrifice. It means sacrificing the intellect for the spiritual truth that is pouring in. If we do not sacrifice the intellect, we cannot serve the truth. When we look gratefully upon Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, it is above all because she is, in the sense just described, a martyr among the great martyrs of truth. This is how we look upon her when we gladly and willingly regard her as a model in the Theosophical Society. We know that we do not desecrate the day when we speak of the realms to which she had no access.

[ 6 ] We should speak of the spiritual world current that Helena Petrovna Blavatsky understood least on the physical plane. We serve her best when we place ourselves in the service of that to which she did not find access. She would much rather find followers than imitators. Even if some things sound contrary to her, we know that we are acting in her spirit; it is through this freedom that we honor her most.

[ 7 ] The transition to the Apocalypse is not sought, nor is it far-fetched. For if we want to understand Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's world-historical mission more deeply, we must imagine its development as consisting of two currents. 1841 was the low point of spiritual life. In 1841, the opponents of spiritual life had their strongest point of attack in human development. They prepared the ground for many of the things that are described as prophetic thoughts about the future in the Apocalypse. What is expressed by the beast with the ram's horns and the number 666, the beast with the seven heads, and so on, is being prepared by the forces that found their point of attack in human development in 1841. Those elemental beings who found suitable ground for themselves at that time, those powers, have now taken possession of a large part of humanity and are exerting their influence there. Otherwise, the opposing forces expressed in the two beasts would not be in humanity, pulling it down. However, there is another path that leads upward. What is being accomplished today in order to ascend is the preparation for all those who are to be sealed, who are to enter the spiritual stream of development. This stream of spiritual life has created an instrument for itself in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. We do not understand our time if we do not recognize this spiritual stream as a profound necessity.

[ 8 ] We are in the fifth subrace of the fifth root race and live in opposition to the sixth subrace and the seventh subrace, then the sixth root race. What does it mean to live in opposition to these races? It means that for those who want it, the sixth period—whether it be the sixth period of the prophetically announced sixth subrace or the sixth root race—will contain the understanding of Christ. There will be Christ-people, the sealed ones; in the times of future spirituality, the human souls will be unlocked. The fact that the five virgins have oil in their lamps, that the bridegroom finds illuminated souls, means that what is still hidden from humanity today will then be revealed to a part of humanity. The book with seven seals will be unraveled for a large part of humanity. John the Apocalyptic wants to point to this time; he wants to foretell this time through signs.

[ 9 ] In one sentence it says: “And there appeared a great sign in heaven...” (Rev. 12:1). This means that in the Apocalypse we are dealing with signs for the great phases of human development. We have to decipher these signs. We remember that our present fifth main race was preceded by the Atlantean race, which was destroyed by a flood. What will destroy the fifth race? The fifth race has a special task: to bring egoism to fruition. This selfishness will also be what brings about the downfall of the fifth main race. A small portion will live in opposition to the time of the sixth main race. The greater part of humanity will not yet have found the light within. And because egoism is the fundamental force, war will rage within this portion of humanity, with everyone fighting against everyone else. Just as the Lemurian race perished through the forces of fire, and Atlantis through water, so will the fifth race meet its downfall through the raging of selfish forces against each other and a war of all against all. This line of development will go ever deeper; when it reaches the bottom, all will rage against all. A small portion will escape this, as happened at the downfall of the Atlantean race. It is up to each individual to find the connection with spiritual life in order to pass over to the sixth main race. Great revolutions await humanity, and this is what the Apocalypse describes.

[ 10 ] First we are presented with seven letters to seven churches. If people are to find the way to that great moment, they must have something to hold on to, something through which they can refine their seven human members, so that they will be ready when the great moment comes. There are places on earth where religious practices focus mainly on the development of the physical body. In other places, more attention is paid to the development of the etheric body. In yet other places, more attention is paid to the development of the astral body or the ego. There will also be more and more places where special attention will be paid to the development of the manas, or the budhi, or the atma. One would not believe in reincarnation in the true sense if one did not say to oneself: Once a person is born in a place where the physical body is mainly taken into consideration, he will be born again in a place where more consideration will be given to the other bodies, and so on.

[ 11 ] Seven letters are addressed to seven separate geographical regions in which special consideration was given to one of the seven parts of the human being. The first letter is addressed to the Ephesians. Among them, great importance was attached to the development of the physical body. Among the Phrygians, in Smyrna, special consideration was given to the etheric body, and in Pergamon to the astral body.

[ 12 ] Let us see why seven geographical regions, in relation to the seven members of the human being, signify particular modes of human development. Let us suppose that a person lives in a region where the physical body is predominantly developed; if he then neglects his physical body, it will become a caricature of what it should have become. If that which is to be brought to a certain perfection is not developed, then something arises within him that prepares him for the terrible phenomena of human evolution.

[ 13 ] The first epistle is addressed to the community in Ephesus, the place dedicated to Diana. It emphasizes the beautiful design of the physical body. Where is the physical body headed? We can understand this more and more when we know that the physical body must become more and more purified and more and more an expression of the etheric body, and this in turn of the astral body, and this of the I.

[ 14 ] In the ancient Pythagorean schools, numbers played an important role. Let us remember that in the Devachan world, as elsewhere, everything is ordered according to measure and number. What would it mean to seek the laws of nature if they did not exist? We weigh and measure the bodies of the world as we do with substances on a small scale. We must combine this fact with another fact. We imagine this space filled with the sound structures of a high musical composition, for example, the tones of the Good Friday spell. This is the higher soul form of what the physicist would express to us in the numbers of air vibrations. Our souls are flooded by the spirit of these vibrations in music. Now imagine the numbers heard by the ear of the spirit, and we have the music of the spheres. If a physicist were to record the vibrations of the air in numbers, he would record the Good Friday spell just as little as a mathematician could record Pythagorean ideas in measurements and numbers. Only the harmonies were expressed in the numbers. When the Pythagoreans want to express the four limbs of the human being, they sound together in the ratio of 1:3:7:12. This means that sound in which the four numbers sound together like the four parts of the human being. The three tones: I tone from the sun, II tone from the moon, III tone from the earth itself — resound into the astral body.

Physical body 12 Ephesus
Etheric body 7 Smyrna
Astral body 3 Pergamon
I 1
Spiritual self
Life spirit
Spiritual human being

[ 15 ] What emanates from the earth, the sun, and the moon resonates together in our astral body. But what emanates from the seven planets resonates in our etheric body. There is a sevenfold influence from the planets on the etheric body, like the seven tones: prime, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh — Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus. These seven planets resonate within our etheric body. Twelve influences, emanating from the signs of the zodiac, resonate within the physical body. The seer experiences twelve fundamental tones on the Devachan plane. These influence our physical body. Everything that is in the I, in the astral body, etheric body, and physical body resonates in tones.

One tone resonates in the ego,
three tones resonate in the astral body,
seven tones resonate in the etheric body,
twelve tones resonate in the physical body.

[ 16 ] Together, this creates harmony or disharmony.

[ 17 ] There is an expression in occultism: the 12 goes into the 7, which means that the physical body becomes more and more like the etheric body. If the physical body sounds right, you can hear the seven tones of the stars through the twelve tones. Become so that the 12 becomes 7, that the 7 stars appear, the Ephesians are told, because there the physical body is particularly well developed. They should turn their gaze to the 7 stars. We know that the development of Christianity means the transition from the old tribal communities to spiritual love, that the physical must be replaced by the spiritual. Those who tell us that we must strive above all else to give the sensual, the elemental, its due were called Nicolaitans in those days; they were those who wanted to remain stuck in material blood; hence the warning against Nicolaitanism. These Nicolaitans are those who will bring about the downfall.

[ 18 ] Opposite them stand those who want to overcome material development, who want spiritual life. The letter closes with the symbol of the tree of life: “He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches: To him who overcomes, I will give to eat of the hidden manna...” (Rev. 2:17)

[ 19 ] The second letter is addressed to the community, which should be particularly concerned with the care of the etheric body. The etheric body must gradually be spiritualized into the life spirit. Man now passes through birth and death; but later this etheric body will become the life spirit; then it will have overcome death. In the Sermon on the Mount it says: “Blessed are those who hunger for spirit, for they shall find the kingdom of heaven.” (cf. Matthew 5:3) Those who hunger for spirit are blessed, that is, their lives are permeated by the soul. Just as the physical body develops upward in the Ephesians, so the etheric body develops into the soul body in the second community. When they strive for this bliss, they are called “beggars for spirit”; they beg for bliss through the enlivenment of the etheric body. This is indicated in the words: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). Here the development of the etheric body is clearly expressed.

[ 20 ] One of the greatest spiritual documents is the Apocalypse. There are hardly any great spiritual truths whose meaning cannot be found in the Apocalypse. The consideration of the Apocalypse itself is not unrelated to theosophical development.

[ 21 ] By understanding such a work, we allow ourselves to be truly inspired by the spirit that spoke through Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. What the theosophical movement wants must appear to us like a trumpet blast sent forth to humanity. The more we understand the Apocalypse, the more we understand the task of our movement.