Rosicrucian Esotericism
GA 109
11 June 1909, Budapest
9. Man's Experience after Death
It has often been emphasized that the present can best be understood in the light of the past and its happenings, and we shall most easily discover and understand the characteristics of our spiritual ideals for the future by looking back into times of remote antiquity. Today, therefore, we will consider developments that took place after the destruction of ancient Atlantis and, in connection with those developments, man's experience during the life after death.
The conditions experienced by the soul between death and a new birth have not always been the same. They, too, have changed in the course of evolution. During the great cultural epochs—the ancient Indian, the epoch of the Holy Rishis; the ancient Persian, epoch of the Zarathustrian culture; the Egypto-Chaldean, Greco-Latin and our present epoch—man has connected himself ever more closely with the physical plane, which he grew to love more and more intensely. In every such epoch the human soul descended deeper into the material world. The greater the understanding acquired by man for this world, the stranger the spiritual world became for him after death. This was the case most strongly in the Greco-Latin epoch. The Greeks loved the physical world because in their glorious art, in that splendid adornment of physical existence, their whole soul could live joyfully. The physical world was dear to the Roman because in his discovery of the ego, the “I,” the feeling of his own personality could develop to the full. The concepts of Roman citizenship and Roman rights are hallmarks of this cultural epoch. The Roman felt at home in this physical, material world. The concept of rights has existed only since that epoch, so it is quite correct to say that jurisprudence began in the Roman Empire; it is the sign of reverence for the single personality. Death was the great unknown and evoked fear. The utterance of Achilles: “Better it is to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of Shades,” aptly indicates the conception prevailing in that epoch of the soul's experience during the life after death in the spiritual world. The more fully these souls had given expression in the realm of earth to all their faculties, the more did the capacity to find their bearings in the spiritual world after death depart from them. The soul felt isolated in the spheres it had now entered. Even in spiritland (Devachan) the soul felt that everything around it was dark, empty and cold. The soul was no longer capable of experiencing the spirituality of yonder world. Even the great leaders of mankind, the initiates, could not change this condition, yet they are the teachers of men not only here on earth but also in yonder worlds. When they told the dead anything about the world this side of the threshold, these souls felt still greater pain at having been obliged to leave the physical world that had become so dear to them. The teachers could bring with them nothing that would help or be of value to the dead, all of whom longed for reincarnation. A human being felt as though he were shut away from his brothers, abandoned even in the realm of the spirit. Had these conditions remained, love and brotherliness would also have gradually disappeared from the earth. For this sojourn in the realm of spirit would have meant that these souls would bring egoism with them into the physical world and into a life wholly centered in the individual self.
In the ancient. Indian epoch man still regarded the earthly world as maya, but things changed in the course of evolution. Zarathustra already proclaimed that the spiritual can also be found by man in the physical world. He revealed the path by which the people were ultimately to realize that the sun with its light is only the external body of a sublime spiritual being whom he called Ahura Mazdao, the Great Aura, in contrast to the little human aura. His aim was to proclaim that this being, as yet far off, would one day come down to the earth in order to unite with its very substance and to work further in the evolution of humanity. For the people of Zarathustra this heralded the same being who in later history lived on the earth as Christ. To his pupils Zarathustra proclaimed, “If you learn to understand that the spiritual is present in everything physical and material, that the physical is permeated by the great Sun Aura, by Ahura Mazdao, then Ahriman will no longer lead you astray.”
At other times Zarathustra said, “So great, so mighty is He who has revealed Himself to me in the sun that I sacrifice everything to him. Gladly I offer to Him the life of my body, the etheric existence of my senses, the expression of my deeds, the astral body.”
This was the pledge once made by the great Zarathustra. He announced to his pupils that the great Sun Spirit would reveal Himself directly in the earth itself, in the realities of earthly existence. Thus did Zarathustra inaugurate the teaching that the material is only the physiognomy, the expression of the spiritual.
Then came the time when the being who had been heralded by Zarathustra revealed himself to Moses in the burning thornbush and on Sinai. Moses taught that this Sun Being is also the Ego Being, the highest principle that can be membered into man. But it is not only into man that a particle of the Sun Spirit has descended; it has also descended into everything in external nature, into the elements, everywhere. The same divinity who, in the name of the “I am the I am,” is the principle once revealed to Zarathustra as Ahura Mazdao, as the innermost core, the primordial ground of all existence, was proclaimed by Moses to a whole people as the supreme being whose name was inexpressible and might be uttered only in the innermost sanctuary by the officiating priest. The Godhead who dwells in man, who does not reveal Himself only in the elements, in the flaming fire, is He who is here proclaimed.
Thus we can regard Zarathustra as the herald of Jehovah, of the same being who at the beginning of our time-reckoning dwelt for three years in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. This is the same God who had been proclaimed by Moses and Zarathustra.
Christ says, “How shall ye believe me if ye have not believed )Moses and the prophets?” Herewith Christ confirms that the Old Testament had proclaimed in advance, only under different names, the same God whom He, Christ also proclaims. All events in the world need a certain time to take effect. On Sinai, in the burning thornbush, this Sun Being, descending from the heights of the spiritual world, had reached the point where He could announce Himself to man through the elements. He now came nearer and nearer to the earth, into the sheaths of Jesus of Nazareth at the Baptism in the Jordan, and when the Mystery of Golgotha took place on the earth and the blood flowed from the wounds of the Redeemer, this was not only the expression of a great cosmic event but also of the greatest of all earthly events: the Christ passed into the earth's aura as the Spirit of the earth. A new impetus had been given and could be perceived by clairvoyance, for at that moment the earth's aura changed, revealing particular colors. New colors were revealed and new powers were incorporated in the earth's aura. At the moment when the blood that is the physical expression of the ego flowed from the wounds of the Redeemer on Golgotha, at that moment the ego of Christ united with the earth. But the moment had also come when conditions in the spiritual world could begin to change for souls after death. This was the meaning of Christ's descent into Hell.
A clairvoyant, living before the event of Golgotha, would not have seen in the earth's aura what could be seen there later on, when Christ Jesus had passed through the death on Golgotha. Let us now think of the event of Damascus. Saul who, as an initiate of the Jewish Mysteries, knew full well that the “Great Aura,” Ahura Mazdao, would one day unite with the earth, rebelled against the belief that this being could have died on the shameful cross. Although he had participated in the events in Palestine, he did not believe that this great spirit had dwelt on the earth in Jesus of Nazareth. It was when he became clairvoyant near the gates of Damascus that in the earth's aura he beheld the Christ spirit, the living Christ, who could not previously have been seen there. He then said to himself, “Yes, it was predicted that the earth's aura would change, and that has now come to pass.” Then Saul became Paul. Paul spoke of himself as one who had been born prematurely, one who had become clairvoyant through grace; his was a premature birth because maturity had not yet been fully reached; he had not descended so deeply into matter and was less firmly connected with the physical body. Those who follow the course of Christianity know that the personality in it of supreme importance is Paul. He achieved more than anyone else for its propagation.
It was an occult fact, an occult event, by which Paul was converted, and it can justly be said that through that clairvoyant experience humanity was led to Christ. At that time a change took place in the earth's aura, and since then it has been changed. The words of St. John's Gospel were thus fulfilled: “He who eats my bread treads upon me with his feet.” Since then Christ has been the Spirit of the earth, the planetary Spirit. The earth is the body of Christ; His habitation is within the earth. This profound utterance in St. John's Gospel is not to be understood in an adverse sense or as a pointer to Judas who betrayed Christ. Rather, the reference is to the Christ-Jehovah Divinity and His relation to the earth.
When the occult investigator compares the effect of the art of the Greeks and post-Christian art upon the world man enters after death, he still finds that when a clairvoyant contemplates with physical eyes a Greek temple with its Doric pillars—for example, the ruins at Paestum-he may well be entranced by the harmonious forms that follow the spiritual lines of direction and thereby make this temple an actual dwelling place of the god. Just as a soul feels drawn to the body that is fitting for it, so does the god descend into these forms that harmonize so perfectly with his nature and being. But when a seer turns his eyes to the spiritual counterpart of his temple, he finds nothing in the spiritual world. The temple seems to have been obliterated from that world and a space left empty there: nothing of the temple is to be seen. If, on the other hand, a seer is contemplating works of art of the post-Christian era or, for example, contemplating the Gospel of St. John or the passages in the Old and New Testaments that have to do with Christ-Jehovah or Raphael's Madonnas—if the seer contemplates these creations first with physical eyes and then with clairvoyant sight, they are by no means invisible in the spiritual world but radiate there in even greater splendor. This is especially true of the Gospel of St. John. It is in the spiritual world that the greatness of that creation is first realized. It is in the spiritual world that whatever is connected with the Mystery of Golgotha first becomes radiant and clear in the fullest sense.
Simultaneously with the historical event on the physical plane, a spiritual happening, which was also a symbolic happening, took place when the blood flowed from the Redeemer's wounds. When Christ was no longer living in the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth, at the moment when He died on Golgotha, He appeared in the spiritual world to the souls living between death and rebirth, and the darkness abated. The spiritual world was suddenly filled with light. Just as the objects in a dark room suddenly become visible when a ray of light shines into the room and you see the objects that were always there although you could not previously detect them, thus did light pour into the world of the dead. The souls there were again able to perceive what was around them, to feel united in the realm of spirit with their brothers and could now bring into the physical world the qualities of love and brotherliness. Thus a new light came into this world of the dead, for the Mystery of Golgotha has significance not only for the world in which it took place physically but for all the worlds with which man is connected in the course of his evolution. If the spiritual world had remained as the dead experienced it during the Greco-Latin epoch, if the human soul had remained in the icy coldness and loneliness then prevailing, brotherliness and love would have gradually vanished from the world. Man would have brought with him from Devachan the longing for seclusion. For the light that then streamed into the earthly world and also into the world of the dead was meant to establish the kingdom of brotherliness and love on the earth. That is the mission of the Christ impulse.
We will now consider from still another side the Mystery of Golgotha and the secret of the blood flowing from the wounds of the Redeemer.
We know that man on the earth has received an inheritance from Old Moon. The three lower bodies, physical body, etheric body and astral body had been prepared for him and it was on the earth that the ego was first added—the ego as the expression of human freedom and independence. In ancient times it was important to establish the homogeneity of mankind. At the beginning, conditions were such that the relations of one human being to another were saved only by being given a physical foundation. The blood is the expression of the ego. Blood kinship and the ties of blood were the ruling principles. The physical blood was the medium operating from man to man. This was how things were in times of antiquity. But through Christ Jesus love became a non-material bond. The activity of the human group ego declined. In earlier times the human being belonged to a communal tribal ego and he felt safe and secure within it, within the bosom of Father Abraham. This kinship was much more important to him than his personal identity. His higher self continued to exist in the ties of blood kinship. In the Old Testament we hear of Noah and other tribal fathers that they lived for hundreds of years. We are there led back to times when the human being not only had a memory of what he himself had experienced but also to a time when this memory extended far back into the generations. He did not say “I” of himself but he lived in his “I” right back to remote ancestors. His life did not begin with his birth; it was not then that he began to say “I” of himself but he said “I” of everything his ancestors had experienced.
It was against love based on blood that the luciferic beings at all times directed their sharpest attacks. Their aim was to make each single human being dependent upon himself alone, to instill consciousness of self into man even between death and a new birth. But divine beings, bearers of love, strove to bring individuals together through bonds other than those based on ties of blood, which take no account of freedom. The Christ principle unites with the full expression of the “I” the power flowing from the spirit of love and lets it hold sway from individual to individual. Hence there is a saying, Christ is the true Lucifer (Christus verus Luciferus) or Light-bringer, and finally the opponent of the fallen Lucifer. The love based on blood was transformed by Christ into spiritual love, into the brotherly love streaming from soul to soul. Christ's utterance, “He who forsakes not father and mother cannot be my disciple,” is to be understood in the sense that love based on blood must be transformed into the brotherly love that embraces all human beings with equal strength. Spiritual science takes nothing away from any of these biblical utterances but when it is rightly understood can only enrich them with a deeper understanding of Christian grace. The power of spiritual love was brought to the souls of men for the first time by Christ when He appeared on the earth; and with the blood that flowed on Golgotha from the wounds of the Redeemer the superfluous blood of humanity was as it were sacrificed. Through this act the teaching was confirmed that individual must confront individual as human brothers. In the world today there is still little understanding of Christ. Mankind has first to learn to realize the greatness of this most. mighty cosmic event. A few individuals have always had a divining of the whole significance of the Christ Being and His appearance on the earth. How have they thought of that event? Think of the human beings and peoples who preserved for some considerable time the connection with the spiritual world. The ancient Indian set little store by his connection with the physical world. He was intent upon the acquisition of super-sensible truths and lofty spiritual life in the spiritual world but had no desire to love physical existence. Let me tell you about an Eastern saga, which indicates in a splendid way how the Christ principle was tentatively grasped there.
In the course of time, so runs this saga, there appeared the power that guides our earth. An oriental legend, which reports it, was narrated in the temples of Northern Tibet to the pupil of the wisdom of the Buddha, and has been preserved ever since. This Eastern legend narrates that Kashyapa, the worthiest pupil of the Buddha, lived at a time when, even in the East, little understanding of wisdom was to be found. When he felt his end approaching he withdrew into a cave where he lived for long ages; his corpse was to be preserved there to await the appearance of the Maitreya Buddha in order then to ascend to heaven.
The gist of this legend follows. If there had been no special event, that is to say, if Christ had not appeared on the earth, neither the East nor the West would have been able to find the path into the spiritual world. The body of Kashyapa is pre-served until the Maitreya Buddha releases the corpse from the earth. This means that in the future man will again have powers whereby what is earthly can be spiritualized. The sublime being who conducts Kashyapa's body into the spiritual world will have descended more deeply than any being has ever done. Christ Himself releases the body of Kashyapa. In the period following this event the body is no longer there. What does this mean? It means that the body was immediately transported into the spiritual world. The body of Kashyapa can be liberated in the element of fire. Where is this fire? When seen by Paul before Damascus it was spiritualized. Thus the appearance of Christ on the earth is the great turning point when man can ascend again from the physical into the spiritual world.
Now think of the Buddha's teaching. Through observing old age, illness, death, and so forth, the great truth concerning suffering dawned in him. He now taught of the cessation of suffering, of release from suffering through the elimination of the desire for birth, for physical incarnation.
Now think of humanity six hundred years later. What do you find? Humanity reveres a corpse. Men gaze at Christ on the cross, Christ who dies and through His death brought life. Life has vanquished death.
One: To be born is suffering? No, for Christ entered into our earth and henceforward for me, a Christian, to be born is no longer suffering.
Two: Illness is suffering? But the great medicine will exist, that is, the power of the soul that has been kindled by the Christ impulse. In uniting himself with the Christ impulse, man spiritualizes his life.
Three: Old age is suffering? But whereas man's body becomes frail and infirm, in his real self he grows ever stronger and more powerful.
Four: Death is suffering? But through Christ the corpse has become the symbol of the fact that death, physical death, has been vanquished by life, by the spirit; death has been finally overcome by life.
Five: To be separated from the being one loves is suffering? But the man who has understood Christ is never separated from the one he loves, for Christ has brought light to the world stretching between death and a new birth; so a man remains united with the object of his love.
Six: Not to receive that for which one craves is suffering? He who lives with Christ will no longer crave for what does not come to him, or is not given to him.
Seven: To be united with what one does not love is suffering? But the man who has recognized Christ kindles in himself that universal love that envelops every being, every object according to its value.
Eight: To be separated from what one loves is no longer suffering, for in Christ there is no more separation.
Thus for the illness of suffering, which Buddha proclaimed and recognized, the remedy has been given through Christ.
This turning of humanity to Christ and to the dead body on the cross is the greatest transformation that has ever come to pass in evolution.
Das Erleben des Menschen nach dem Tode
Öfters schon haben wir betont, wie die Gegenwart uns am besten verständlich werden kann aus der Vergangenheit und ihren Geschehnissen heraus, und auch das Charakteristische unserer spirituellen Zukunftsideale werden wir am leichtesten dadurch finden und erfassen lernen, daß wir zurückblicken in alte, längst verflossene Zeiten. Heute wollen wir daher hinweisen auf das, was nach dem Untergang der alten Atlantis sich herausgebildet hat, und dabei wollen wir uns mit dem beschäftigen, was der Mensch in der Zeit nach dem Tode erlebt hat.
Der Zustand der Seele zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt war nämlich nicht immer der gleiche, auch er hat sich im Laufe der Menschheitsentwickelung geändert. Während der vier großen Kulturepochen, der uralt indischen, derjenigen der heiligen Rishis, der urpersischen, der Zarathustra-Kultur, der ägyptisch-chaldäischen, der griechisch-lateinischen und unserer Gegenwart, verband sich der Mensch immer enger mit dem physischen Plan, gewann ihn immer lieber. In jedem solchen Zeitraume stieg sozusagen die Menschenseele immer tiefer in die sinnliche Welt hinab. Je mehr Verständnis der Mensch für diese Welt hatte, desto fremder wurde ihm die geistige Welt nach dem Tode. Am meisten war dies der Fall in der griechischlateinischen Kultur. Lieb hatten sie die physische Welt, dieses sinnliche Dasein, die Griechen, weil sie in ihrer wunderbaren Kunst, in dieser herrlichen Verschönerung des physischen Daseins, ihre ganze Seele ausleben konnten. Dem Römer war diese Welt lieb, weil er in der Entdeckung des Ich das Gefühl der eigenen Persönlichkeit voll in sich entwickeln konnte. Der Begriff des römischen Bürgers und das römische Recht sind Marksteine dieser Kulturepoche. Heimisch fühlt sich der Römer in dieser physisch-sinnlichen Welt. Erst seit dieser Zeit entstehen die Rechtsbegriffe, so daß man mit Recht spricht von dem Heraufkommen der Jurisprudenz im Römischen Reiche, sie ist das Zeichen der Verehrung der Einzelpersönlichkeit. Und der Tod wurde das große Unbekannte, das Furcht einflößte. Der Ausspruch des Achilles: Lieber ein Bettler sein in der Oberwelt, als ein König im Reiche der Schatten -, er bezeichnet am besten die damalige Auffassung des Zustandes der Seelen während des Lebens nach dem Tode. Es entspricht dem Erlebnis der Seele in der geistigen Welt. Je mehr diese Seelen ihre ganzen Fähigkeiten auslebten im Reich des Irdischen, desto mehr schwand ihnen das Vermögen, sich in der geistigen Welt nach dem Tode zurechtzufinden. Die Seele fühlte sich einsam in den Welten, die sie nun betrat. Auch im Geistgebiet hatte sie das Gefühl, daß es finster um sie herum sei, leer und kalt. Es fehlte ihr die Fähigkeit, mitzuerleben das Geistige der jenseitigen Welt. Auch die großen Führer der Menschheit, die Eingeweihten, auch sie konnten diesen Zustand nicht ändern, sie, die ja nicht nur hier auf Erden die Lehrer der Menschen sind, sondern auch drüben in den jenseitigen Welten. Wenn sie den Toten etwas von der diesseitigen Welt erzählten, so empfanden diese dann gerade doppelt schmerzlich, daß sie die physische Welt entbehren mußten, die sie so lieb gewonnen hatten. Sie konnten also den Toten nichts hinübertragen, was diesen etwas gab, was ihnen wertvoll war, und so sehnten sich diese alle nach der Wiederverkörperung. Der Mensch fühlte sich wie abgeschlossen von seinen Brüdern, er fühlte selbst im Geistgebiet sich verlassen. Wäre das so geblieben, dann wäre auch auf der Erde die Liebe und die Brüderlichkeit immer mehr verschwunden. Denn das Verweilen im Geistgebiet hätte für die Seelen nichts anderes bewirkt, als daß sie als Anlage sich von dort mit ins sinnlich-physische Dasein den Egoismus gebracht hätten, das Leben in dem eigenen Selbst.
Wenn in der uralt indischen Zeit der Mensch die irdische Welt noch als Maja betrachtete, so wurde die Sache anders im Laufe der Entwickelung. Zarathustra wies schon darauf hin, daß der Mensch auch in der physischen Welt wiederfinden könne das Geistige. Er eröffnete jenen Weg, durch den die Völker einsehen sollten, daß in dem äußeren Sonnenlichtleib nur gegeben ist der äußere Leib eines hohen geistigen Wesens, welches er - im Gegensatz zu der kleinen menschlichen Aura — die große Aura, Ahura Mazdao nannte. Er wollte damit andeuten, daß dieses zwar jetzt noch weit entfernte Wesen einstmals heruntersteigen würde auf die Erde, um innerhalb der Menschheitsgeschichte sich substantiell mit der Erde zu vereinigen und im Menschheitswerden weiterzuwirken. Damit wurde für diese Menschen von Zarathustra auf dieselbe Wesenheit hingewiesen, die später in der Geschichte als der Christus lebte. Wenn ihr allmählich verstehen lernt, sagte er zu seinen Schülern, daß in allem Physisch-Sinnlichen das Geistige drinnen ist, daß das Physische durchdrungen ist von der großen Sonnenaura, von Ahura Mazdao, dann wird euch Ahriman nicht mehr verführen.
Zu andern Zeiten sprach der Zarathustra: So groß und so mächtig ist der, der sich mir in der Sonne geoffenbart hat, daß ich alles für ihn dahingebe. Gerne opfere ich ihm meines Leibes Leben, meiner Sinne ätherisches Sein, den Ausdruck meiner Taten - den Astralleib.
Das war das Gelöbnis, das einstens der große Zarathustra getan. Er wies seine Schüler darauf hin, daß der große Sonnengeist in der Erde selber, in ihren Tatsachen sich unmittelbar offenbaren werde. So macht Zarathustra den Anfang mit der Lehre, die im Sinnlichen nur die Physiognomie, den Ausdruck des Geistigen sicht.
Dann kam die Zeit, wo diese selbe Wesenheit, die der Zarathustra verkündigt hatte, sich dem Moses im brennenden Dornbusch und auf dem Sinai geoffenbart hat. Moses lehrt nun, daß diese Sonnenwesenheit zugleich die Ich-Wesenheit ist, das Höchste, was der Mensch in sich aufnehmen könne. Aber nicht nur im Menschen ist ein Tropfen des Sonnengeistes hineingesenkt, sondern auch in allem draußen in der Natur, in den Elementen, überall. Dieselbe Gottheit, die sich dem Moses offenbarte in dem Namen «Ich bin der Ich-bin», das, was sich dem Zarathustra einstmals geoffenbart hat als Ahura Mazdao, als das Innerste, Intimste, als der Urgrund alles Wesens, das war damit einem ganzen Volke verkündet als der Höchste, dessen Name unaussprechlich war, nur im Allerheiligsten vom Priester ausgesprochen werden durfte. Die Gottheit, die im Menschen lebt, nicht nur sich offenbarte im Wesen der Elemente, im Aufblitzen des Feuers, die wird hier verkündigt.
In Zarathustra können wir so den Vorherverkünder des Jahve sehen, derselben Wesenheit, die im Beginne unserer Zeitrechnung in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth gewohnt hat und drei Jahre darinnen blieb. Es ist derselbe Gott, den Moses und Zarathustra verkündigt haben.
«Wie werdet ihr mir glauben, so ihr Moses und den Propheten nicht geglaubt habt», sagt Christus. Damit bestätigt der Christus, daß das Alte Testament denselben Gott vorherverkündigt hat, nur unter anderem Namen den Christus verkündigt. Alle Ereignisse in der Welt brauchen eine gewisse Zeit, um sich auszuleben. Auf dem Sinai, im feurigen Dornbusch, war diese aus geistigen Höhen sich herabsenkende Sonnenwesenheit auf dem Punkte angelangt, daß sie sich durch die Elemente dem Menschen mitteilen konnte. Nun kam sie der Erde immer näher und näher, bei der Taufe im Jordan in die Hülle des Jesus von Nazareth, und als das Mysterium von Golgatha auf der Erde sich vollzog und das Blut aus den Wunden des Erlösers floß, da war das nicht nur der Ausdruck eines großen kosmischen Ereignisses, sondern auch des größten irdischen Ereignisses: der Christus zog als Geist der Erde in die Erdenaura ein. Ein neuer Einschlag war geschehen. Hellseherisch war das so zu verfolgen, daß in diesem Augenblick die Erdenaura sich veränderte, daß sie ganz bestimmte Farben zeigte. Neue Farben traten auf in ihr, neue Kräfte wurden ihr einverleibt. In dem Augenblick, da das Blut aus den Wunden des Erlösers auf Golgatha geflossen war, das Blut, das der physische Ausdruck des Ich ist, da verband sich das Ich des Christus mit der Erde. Es war aber auch der Augenblick gekommen, wo es anfangen konnte anders zu werden in der geistigen Welt für die Seelen nach dem Tode. Dies ist der Sinn der Höllenfahrt Christi.
Wer vor dem Ereignis von Golgatha hellsehend war, der hätte in der Erdenaura das nicht gesehen, was später darin wahrgenommen werden konnte, als der Christus Jesus auf Golgatha durch den Tod geschritten war. Betrachten wir das Ereignis von Damaskus: Saulus, der als Eingeweihter der jüdischen Mysterien sehr wohl wußte, daß die große Aura - Ahura Mazdao - sich einst mit der Erde verbinden werde, er weigerte sich zu glauben, daß diese Wesenheit auf dem schimpflichen Kreuze geendet haben könnte. Trotzdem er die Geschehnisse in Palästina miterlebte, glaubte er nicht, daß in dem Jesus von Nazareth dieser große Geist auf der Erde geweilt habe. Erst als er vor den Toren von Damaskus hellseherisch wurde, da sah er in der Erdenaura den Christus-Geist, den lebendigen Christus, den man früher darin nicht sehen konnte. Da sagte er sich: Ja, das, was vorausgesagt ist, daß die Erdenaura sich ändern wird, das ist jetzt eingetreten! - und aus dem Saulus wurde ein Paulus. Eine Frühgeburt nennt sich der Paulus selbst, die durch Gnade hellsehend geworden ist; eine Frühgeburt, weil noch nicht ganz ausgereift, nicht so tief in die Materie heruntergestiegen und weniger fest mit dem physischen Leibe verbunden. Wer den Gang des Christentums verfolgt, der weiß, daß Paulus die wichtigste Persönlichkeit ist, die am meisten zu dessen Ausbreitung beigetragen hat. Eine okkulte Tatsache, ein übersinnliches Ereignis also war es, das den Paulus bekehrt hat, und man kann sagen, durch dieses hellseherische Ereignis ist die Menschheit zu Christus gekommen. Damals, als sich die Erdenaura veränderte - und sie ist seither verändert —, als das Blut aus den Wunden des Erlösers floß, damals vollzog sich das, was hineingeheimnißt ist in die Worte des Johannes-Evangeliums: «Der mein Brot isset, der tritt mich mit Füßen.» Der Christus ist seither der Geist der Erde, der planetarische Geist geworden. Die Erde ist der Leib des Christus; er hat seinen Wohnplatz im Innern der Erde. Nicht'nur abfällig oder als ein Hinweis auf den Judas, der den Christus verrät, ist dieser tiefe Ausspruch des Johannes-Evangeliums aufzufassen, sondern er ist auf dieChristusJahve-Gottheit und ihr Verhältnis zur Erde zu beziehen.
Der okkulte Forscher findet, wenn er die Kunst der Griechen und die nachchristliche Kunst vergleicht, in ihrer Wirkung auf jene Welt, die der Mensch nach dem Tode betritt, noch folgendes: Wenn der Hellseher zum Beispiel einen griechischen Tempel mit seinen dorischen Säulen, etwa die Ruinen von Paestum, mit dem sinnlichen Auge betrachtet, so kann er schwelgen in den harmonischen Formen, die aus den geistigen Richtlinien selbst herausgeboren sind und die dadurch wirklich diesen Tempel zu einem Wohnort des Gottes machen, Wie eine Seele sich hingezogen fühlt zu dem Leibe, der ihr entspricht, so steigt der Gott nieder in diese Formen, die so vollkommen seinem Wesen entsprechen. Wenn aber dann das Seherauge hinblicken will auf das geistige Gegenbild dieses Tempels, dann findet er davon nichts in der geistigen Welt. Wie ausgelöscht ist dort dieser Tempel, wie ausgespart ist der Raum in der geistigen Welt, nichts ist von ihm dort zu sehen. Betrachtet dagegen im gleichen Sinne der Seher die Werke der nachchristlichen Kunst oder zum Beispiel das Johannes-Evangelium, das, was mit dem Christus-Jahve zusammenhängt, das Alte und das Neue Testament, oder Raffaels Madonnen, betrachtet er diese Schöpfungen erst sinnlich und dann hellsehend, so sind sie in der geistigen Welt nicht verloren, sondern leuchten dort noch viel herrlicher auf. Ganz besonders mit dem Johannes-Evangelium ist es so. Da erst geht Ihnen die Größe dieser Schöpfung auf. Hell und klar wird Ihnen erst in der geistigen Welt das, was als zusammenhängend mit dem Ereignis von Golgatha bezeichnet werden kann.
Gleichzeitig mit dem historischen Ereignis auf dem physischen Plan geschah etwas Spirituelles, das zugleich auch ein Symbolisches war, da aus den Wunden des Erlösers das Blut floß. Als der Christus nicht mehr lebte in dem physischen Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth, in dem Augenblick, da er auf Golgatha gestorben war, erschien der Christus in der geistigen Welt den zwischen Tod und Geburt lebenden Seelen, und da wich die Finsternis dort. Wie von einem Lichte wurde plötzlich die geistige Welt durchstrahlt. Wie in einem dunklen Raum die Gegenstände alle plötzlich sichtbar werden, wenn ein Lichtstrahl hereindringt, wie Sie plötzlich alles das sehen, was ja immer vorhanden war, was Sie aber vorher nicht wahrnehmen konnten, so ergoß sich das Licht in jene Welt der Abgeschiedenen. Und diese konnten wiederum wahrnehmen, was um sie herum war, konnten wieder sich verbunden fühlen im Geistgebiet mit ihren Brüdern und konnten nun als Anlage in die physische Welt hereinbringen die Liebe und die Brüderlichkeit. Ein neues Licht kam so hinein in diese Welt der Toten, denn das Mysterium von Golgatha hat nicht nur eine Bedeutung für die Welt, in der es sich physisch vollzogen hat, sondern es hat eine Bedeutung für alle die Welten, mit denen der Mensch in seiner Entwickelung es zu tun hat. Wäre es in der geistigen Welt so geblieben, wie es für die Toten in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit war, wäre die Seele in der eisigen Kälte und Einsamkeit von damals geblieben, so wäre immer mehr in der physischen Welt das verschwunden, was man Brüderlichkeit und Liebe nennt. Es hätte der Mensch aus dem Devachan mitgebracht den Hang zur Abgeschlossenheit. Denn das Licht, das damals hineinströmte in die irdische Welt und das auch hineingeleuchtet hat in die Welt der Toten, das soll das Reich der Brüderlichkeit und der Liebe auf der Erde begründen. Das ist die Mission des Christus-Impulses.
Nun wollen wir uns noch von einer andern Seite her das Mysterium von Golgatha, das Geheimnis des aus den Wunden des Erlösers fließenden Blutes, klarmachen.
Wir wissen, daß der Mensch auf der Erde vom Monde her eine Erbschaft angetreten hat. Die drei niederen Leiber, physischer Leib, Äther- und Astralleib waren ihm zubereitet, und erst auf der Erde kam das Ich dazu, der Ausdruck der menschlichen Freiheit und Selbständigkeit. Wichtig war es in alten Zeiten, zu begründen die Zusammengehörigkeit der Menschheit. Es geschah anfangs so, daß nur gerettet wurden die Beziehungen von Mensch zu Mensch dadurch, daß man ihnen eine physische Grundlage gab. Das Blut, es ist der Ausdruck des Ich. Die Blutsverwandtschaft und die Blutsbande beherrschten das Menschengeschlecht. Das physische Blut war das Mittel, das Medium, um von Mensch zu Mensch zu wirken. So war es in alten Zeiten. Nun ist aber durch den Christus Jesus die Liebe zu einem unsinnlichen Band geworden. Das Wirken des menschlichen Gruppen-Ichs tritt zurück. Früher gehörte der einzelne Mensch zu einem gemeinschaftlichen Stammes-Ich, und er fühlte sich darin geborgen, im Schoße des Vaters Abraham. Viel wichtiger war diese Zusammengehörigkeit als seine individuelle Person. In der Zusammengehörigkeit der Blutsverwandtschaft besteht sein höheres Selbst. Wir hören im Alten Testament von Noah und andern Stammvätern, daß sie jahrhundertelang lebten. Das ist so zu nehmen, daß wir da in Zeiten zurückgeführt werden, in denen der Mensch nicht nur ein Gedächtnis für das hatte, was er selbst erlebte, sondern wo dieses weit hinauf in die Generationen zurückging. Er sagte nicht «Ich» zu sich, sondern er lebte wie in seinem Ich bis zu den fernliegenden Urahnen hin. Sein Leben fing nicht an bei seiner Geburt, er fing nicht da an, zu sich Ich zu sagen, sondern er sagte Ich zu alledem, was seine Ahnen erlebt hatten.
Gegen die Blutsliebe führten in allen Zeiten die luziferischen Wesenheiten ihre allerschärfsten Angriffe. Sie wollten jeden einzelnen Menschen auf sich selbst stellen. Das Selbstbewußtsein, das wollten sie den Menschen einimpfen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Göttliche Wesenheiten, Träger der Liebe, trachteten den Menschen mit dem Menschen in Liebe zusammenzubringen durch andere Bande als die Blutsbande, die nicht mit der Freiheit rechnen. Das Christus-Prinzip verbindet mit der vollen Ausprägung des Ich die dem Geist der Liebe entströmende Kraft und läßt sie walten von Mensch zu Mensch. Daher heißt ein Ausspruch: Christus verus Luciferus - Christus der wahre Luzifer oder Lichtbringer, und zuletzt der Gegner des gefallenen Luzifer. Die Blutsliebe wurde umgewandelt durch den Christus in die geistige Liebe, in die strömende Bruderliebe von Seele zu Seele. Der Ausspruch des Christus: Wer nicht verlässet Vater und Mutter, der kann nicht mein Jünger sein - ist so zu verstehen, daß die Blutsliebe sich umwandeln muß in die Bruderliebe, die alle Menschen mit gleicher Kraft umfaßt. Nichts wegnehmen will die Geisteswissenschaft von all diesen Aussprüchen der Bibel, sondern hinzufügen kann sie nur ein tieferes Verständnis der christlichen Gnade, wenn sie im rechten Sinne entgegengenommen wird. Die Kraft der geistigen Liebe, die hat der Christus der Menschenseele zuerst gebracht bei seinem Erscheinen auf der Erde, und mit dem Blute, das auf Golgatha aus den Wunden des Erlösers floß, war sozusagen das überschüssige Blut der Menschheit geopfert worden, durch die Tat war die Lehre besiegelt worden, daß das Individuum dem Individuum als Menschenbruder dem Menschenbruder gegenüberzustehen hat. Das Christus-Verständnis ist heute noch sehr klein in der Welt. Man muß erst lernen, die ganze Größe dieses gewaltigsten kosmischen Ereignisses zu verstehen. Geahnt haben immer einige die ganze Bedeutung des Christus-Wesens und seines Erscheinens auf der Erde. Wie haben sie es geahnt? Schauen Sie hin auf die Menschen und Völker, die länger aufrechterhalten haben den Zusammenhang mit der geistigen Welt. Der Inder, er machte sich nicht viel aus dem Zusammenhang mit der physischen Welt. Übersinnliche Wahrheiten und höchstes spirituelles Leben wollte er sich erringen in der geistigen Welt, aber nicht lieb gewinnen wollte er das physische Leben. Eine morgenländische Sage lassen Sie mich Ihnen erzählen, die in grandioser Weise darauf hinweist, wie das Christus-Prinzip ahnend dort erfaßt worden ist.
Im Laufe der Zeit - so heißt es - erschien die Macht, die unsere Erde lenkt. Eine morgenländische Sage, die darüber berichtet, wurde in den Tempeln Tibets, in dessen nördlichen Teilen, dem Schüler der Urweltweisheit des Buddha erzählt und hat sich seither bewahrt. Kashyapa, so berichtet die morgenländische Legende, der beste Schüler des Buddha, lebte in einer Zeit, in der wenig Verständnis selbst im Osten für die Weisheit zu finden war. Und als er herannahen fühlte sein Ende, zog er sich zurück in eine Höhle; dort lebte er lange Zeit, und sein Leichnam sollte dort aufbewahrt bleiben und harren des Erscheinens des Maitreya-Buddha, um dann zum Himmel aufsteigen zu können.
Diese Legende will sagen: Wenn nichts Besonderes eingetreten wäre, das heißt, wenn der Christus nicht auf der Erde erschienen wäre, so hätte das Morgen- und das Abendland nicht mehr finden können den Weg in die geistige Welt. Der Leib des Kashyapa wird aufbewahrt, bis der Maitreya-Buddha befreien wird den Leichnam von der Erde, das heißt, der Mensch wird wieder Kräfte haben in der Zukunft, wonach das, was irdisch ist, vergeistigt werden kann. Tiefer als jemals eine solche Wesenheit heruntergestiegen ist, wird die hohe Wesenheit herabsteigen, die des Kashyapa Leib hinaufführt in die geistige Welt. Der Christus selber befreit den Leib des Kashyapa. Und in der Zeit, die diesem Ereignis folgt, ist der Leib nicht mehr da. Was heißt das? Der Leib ist zugleich in die spirituelle Welt übergeführt. Im Elemente des Feuers kann der Leib des Kashyapa befreit werden. Wo ist dies Feuer? Vergeistigt ist es, als es der Paulus vor Damaskus sieht. So ist das Erscheinen des Christus auf der Erde der große Wendepunkt, wo der Mensch wieder hinaufsteigen kann aus der physischen Welt in die geistige Welt.
Und nun blicken Sie auf das, was der Buddha gelehrt hat. Dem Buddha ging durch die Betrachtung von Alter, Krankheit, Tod und so weiter die große Wahrheit vom Leiden auf. Und er lehrte nun die Aufhebung des Leidens, die Befreiung vom Leid durch die Auslöschung des Verlangens nach Geburt, nach sinnlicher Verkörperung.
Nun betrachten Sie die Menschheit sechshundert Jahre später. Was erkennen Sie da? Die Menschheit verehrt einen Leichnam: sie schaut auf den Christus am Kreuze, der gestorben ist und durch seinen Tod das Leben gebracht hat. Das Leben hat den Tod überwunden.
Erstens: Geboren werden ist Leiden? - Nein, denn der Christus ist durch die Geburt in unsere Erde eingetreten, fortan ist für mich, den Christen, Geborenwerden kein Leiden mehr. - Zweitens: Krankheit ist Leiden? — Aber es wird erstehen das große Heilmittel, die Seelenkraft, die durch den Christus-Impuls entzündet worden ist. Indem der Mensch sich verbindet mit dem Christus-Impuls, vergeistigt er sein Leben. - Drittens: Alter ist Leiden? - Aber während sein Leib gebrechlich wird, wird er selbst immer stärker und mächtiger. — Viertens: Tod ist Leiden? - Aber durch den Christus ist der Leichnam das Symbol geworden dafür, daß der Tod, das Physische, durch das Leben, den Geist, besiegt worden ist, daß der Tod endgültig überwunden worden ist durch das Leben. - Fünftens: Getrenntsein von dem, was man liebt, ist Leiden? - Aber der Mensch, der den Christus erfaßt hat, ist nimmer getrennt von dem, was er liebt, denn der Christus hat die Welt zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt erhellt, so daß der Mensch verbunden bleibt mit dem, was er liebt. - Sechstens: Nicht erhalten, was man begehrt, ist Leiden? - Wer mit Christus lebt, der wird nicht mehr begehren, was ihm nicht zukommt, was nicht gegeben wird. - Siebentens: Vereint sein mit dem, was man nicht liebt, ist Leiden? - Aber der Mensch, der den Christus erkannt hat, der entfacht in sich jene große, umfassende Liebe, die jedes Wesen, jedes Ding umschließt und liebt nach seinem Werte. — Achtens: Getrennt sein von dem, was man liebt, ist nicht mehr Leiden, denn es gibt in Christo keine Trennung mehr.
So ist für die Krankheit des Leides, die der Buddha gelehrt und erkannt hat, durch den Christus das Heilmittel gegeben.
Diese Entwickelung der Menschheit zu Christus und dem Leichnam am Kreuz ist der größte Umschwung, der jemals in der Evolution geschah.
The Human Experience After Death
We have often emphasized how the present can best be understood from the past and its events, and that the characteristics of our spiritual ideals for the future can also be most easily found and understood by looking back to ancient times long past. Today, therefore, we want to point out what emerged after the demise of ancient Atlantis, and in doing so we want to deal with what human beings experienced in the time after death.
The state of the soul between death and a new birth was not always the same; it too changed in the course of human evolution. During the four great cultural epochs, the ancient Indian, the sacred Rishi, the ancient Persian, the Zarathustra, the Egyptian-Chaldean, the Greek-Latin, and our present, human beings became more and more closely connected with the physical plane and grew to love it more and more. In each of these periods, the human soul descended deeper and deeper into the sensory world, so to speak. The more understanding humans had of this world, the more foreign the spiritual world after death became to them. This was most evident in the Greek-Latin culture. The Greeks loved the physical world, this sensual existence, because they could live out their whole soul in their wonderful art, in this magnificent embellishment of physical existence. The Romans loved this world because they could fully develop their sense of their own personality in the discovery of the self. The concept of the Roman citizen and Roman law are milestones of this cultural epoch. The Romans felt at home in this physical, sensual world. It was only from this time onwards that legal concepts emerged, so that one can rightly speak of the advent of jurisprudence in the Roman Empire, which is a sign of the veneration of the individual personality. And death became the great unknown that inspired fear. Achilles' saying, “Better to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of shadows,” best describes the view of the state of souls during life after death at that time. This corresponds to the experience of the soul in the spiritual world. The more these souls lived out their full potential in the earthly realm, the more their ability to find their way in the spiritual world after death diminished. The soul felt lonely in the worlds it now entered. Even in the spiritual realm, it felt that everything around it was dark, empty, and cold. It lacked the ability to experience the spiritual nature of the world beyond. Even the great leaders of humanity, the initiates, were unable to change this state of affairs, for they are not only the teachers of human beings here on earth, but also in the worlds beyond. When they told the dead something about the world here, the latter felt twice as painful that they had to do without the physical world they had grown so fond of. They could therefore not convey anything to the dead that gave them something that was valuable to them, and so they all longed for reincarnation. Human beings felt cut off from their brothers; they felt abandoned even in the spiritual realm. If this had remained so, love and brotherhood would have disappeared more and more from the earth. For remaining in the spiritual realm would have had no other effect on the souls than to bring egoism, life in one's own self, with them into the sensory-physical existence as a predisposition.
In ancient Indian times, when humans still regarded the earthly world as Maya, things were different. Zarathustra already pointed out that man could also find the spiritual in the physical world. He opened the way for people to understand that the outer body of a high spiritual being is only present in the outer body of sunlight, which he called the great aura, Ahura Mazdao, in contrast to the small human aura. He wanted to imply that this being, though still far away, would one day descend to earth in order to unite substantially with the earth within human history and continue to work in the evolution of humanity. Thus, Zarathustra pointed these people to the same being who later lived in history as the Christ. When you gradually learn to understand, he said to his disciples, that the spiritual is within everything physical and sensory, that the physical is permeated by the great solar aura, by Ahura Mazdao, then Ahriman will no longer seduce you.
At other times, Zarathustra said: So great and so powerful is he who has revealed himself to me in the sun that I will give everything for him. I gladly sacrifice to him the life of my body, the etheric being of my senses, the expression of my deeds—the astral body.
That was the vow once made by the great Zarathustra. He pointed out to his disciples that the great spirit of the sun would reveal itself directly in the earth itself, in its facts. Thus Zarathustra begins with the teaching that sees in the sensual only physiognomy, the expression of the spiritual.
Then came the time when this same entity, which Zarathustra had proclaimed, revealed itself to Moses in the burning bush and on Mount Sinai. Moses now teaches that this solar being is at the same time the I-being, the highest thing that man can take into himself. But not only is a drop of the sun spirit sunk into man, but also into everything outside in nature, in the elements, everywhere. The same divinity that revealed itself to Moses in the name “I am that I am,” that which once revealed itself to Zarathustra as Ahura Mazdao, as the innermost, most intimate, as the source of all being, was thus proclaimed to an entire people as the highest being, whose name was unpronounceable and could only be uttered by the priest in the holy of holies. The deity that lives in man, not only revealed itself in the essence of the elements, in the flash of fire, is proclaimed here.
In Zarathustra, we can thus see the forerunner of Yahweh, the same being who dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth at the beginning of our era and remained there for three years. It is the same God whom Moses and Zarathustra proclaimed.
“How will you believe me if you did not believe Moses and the prophets?” says Christ. With this, Christ confirms that the Old Testament foretold the same God, only under a different name. All events in the world need a certain amount of time to play out. On Mount Sinai, in the fiery bush, this solar being descending from spiritual heights had reached the point where it could communicate with humans through the elements. Now it came closer and closer to the earth, at the baptism in the Jordan into the shell of Jesus of Nazareth, and when the mystery of Golgotha was accomplished on earth and the blood flowed from the wounds of the Redeemer, this was not only the expression of a great cosmic event, but also of the greatest earthly event: Christ entered the earth's aura as the spirit of the earth. A new impact had taken place. Clairvoyantly, this could be observed in that the earth's aura changed at that moment, displaying very specific colors. New colors appeared in it, new forces were incorporated into it. At the moment when the blood flowed from the wounds of the Savior on Golgotha, the blood that is the physical expression of the I, the I of Christ connected itself with the earth. But it was also the moment when things could begin to change in the spiritual world for souls after death. This is the meaning of Christ's descent into hell.
Anyone who was clairvoyant before the events of Golgotha would not have seen in the earth's aura what could later be perceived there after Christ Jesus had passed through death on Golgotha. Let us consider the event at Damascus: Saul, who as an initiate of the Jewish mysteries knew very well that the great aura—Ahura Mazdao—would one day connect with the earth, refused to believe that this being could have ended on the shameful cross. Even though he witnessed the events in Palestine, he did not believe that this great spirit had dwelt on earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. It was only when he became clairvoyant at the gates of Damascus that he saw in the earth's aura the Christ spirit, the living Christ, who could not be seen there before. Then he said to himself: Yes, what has been foretold, that the earth's aura will change, has now come to pass! - and Saul became Paul. Paul himself calls himself a premature birth who has become clairvoyant through grace; a premature birth because he is not yet fully mature, has not descended so deeply into matter and is less firmly connected to the physical body. Anyone who follows the course of Christianity knows that Paul is the most important personality who contributed most to its spread. It was therefore an occult fact, a supernatural event, that converted Paul, and one can say that through this clairvoyant event, humanity came to Christ. At that time, when the earth's aura changed — and it has changed ever since — when the blood flowed from the wounds of the Savior, then what is hidden in the words of the Gospel of John was fulfilled: “He who eats my bread treads me underfoot.” Since then, Christ has become the spirit of the earth, the planetary spirit. The earth is the body of Christ; he has his dwelling place within the earth. This profound statement in the Gospel of John is not to be understood disparagingly or as a reference to Judas, who betrayed Christ, but rather it refers to the Christ-Yahweh deity and its relationship to the earth.
When comparing Greek art and post-Christian art, occult researchers find the following in their effect on the world that humans enter after death: When a clairvoyant looks at a Greek temple with its Doric columns, such as the ruins of Paestum, with the physical eye, they can revel in the harmonious forms which are born out of spiritual guidelines themselves and which thereby truly make this temple a dwelling place for God. Just as a soul feels drawn to the body that corresponds to it, so God descends into these forms, which correspond so perfectly to His being. But when the seer's eye then wants to look at the spiritual counterpart of this temple, it finds nothing of it in the spiritual world. How obliterated this temple is there, how empty is the space in the spiritual world, nothing of it can be seen there. On the other hand, if the seer looks in the same way at the works of post-Christian art, or for example at the Gospel of John, at what is connected with Christ-Yahweh, at the Old and New Testaments, or at Raphael's Madonnas, if he looks at these creations first with the senses and then with clairvoyance, they are not lost in the spiritual world, but shine there even more gloriously. This is especially true of the Gospel of John. Only then does the greatness of this creation become apparent to you. Only in the spiritual world does what can be described as connected with the event of Golgotha become clear and bright.
At the same time as the historical event on the physical plane, something spiritual happened that was also symbolic, since blood flowed from the wounds of the Savior. When Christ no longer lived in the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth, at the moment when he died on Golgotha, Christ appeared in the spiritual world to the souls living between death and birth, and the darkness there receded. The spiritual world was suddenly illuminated as if by a light. Just as in a dark room all objects suddenly become visible when a ray of light enters, just as you suddenly see everything that was always there but which you could not perceive before, so light poured into that world of the departed. And they in turn were able to perceive what was around them, could feel connected again in the spiritual realm with their brothers, and could now bring love and brotherhood into the physical world as a predisposition. A new light thus entered this world of the dead, for the mystery of Golgotha has not only significance for the world in which it physically took place, but it has significance for all the worlds with which human beings have to do in their development. If things had remained in the spiritual world as they were for the dead in the Greek-Latin period, the soul would have remained in the icy cold and loneliness of that time, and what we call brotherhood and love would have disappeared more and more from the physical world. Human beings would have brought with them from Devachan a tendency toward isolation. For the light that streamed into the earthly world at that time and also shone into the world of the dead was to establish the kingdom of brotherhood and love on earth. That is the mission of the Christ impulse.
Now let us look at the mystery of Golgotha, the secret of the blood flowing from the wounds of the Savior, from another angle.
We know that human beings on Earth have inherited something from the Moon. The three lower bodies, the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, were prepared for them, and only on Earth did the I come into being, the expression of human freedom and independence. In ancient times, it was important to establish the unity of humanity. In the beginning, the only way to save relationships between people was to give them a physical basis. Blood is the expression of the I. Blood relationships and blood ties ruled the human race. Physical blood was the means, the medium, for influencing one person to another. That's how it was in ancient times. Now, however, through Christ Jesus, love has become a non-sensory bond. The activity of the human group ego recedes. In the past, the individual human being belonged to a communal tribal ego and felt secure in it, in the bosom of Father Abraham. This sense of belonging was much more important than his individual person. His higher self exists in the togetherness of blood relationship. In the Old Testament, we hear of Noah and other patriarchs who lived for centuries. This is to be understood as taking us back to times when people not only had a memory of what they themselves had experienced, but when this memory went far back into the generations. He did not say “I” to himself, but lived as if in his “I” back to his distant ancestors. His life did not begin at his birth; he did not begin to say “I” to himself, but said “I” to everything his ancestors had experienced.
Throughout all ages, the Luciferic beings have directed their fiercest attacks against blood love. They wanted to isolate each individual human being. They wanted to instill self-consciousness in human beings between death and a new birth. Divine beings, bearers of love, sought to bring human beings together with other human beings in love through bonds other than blood ties, which do not allow for freedom. The Christ principle connects the full expression of the I with the power flowing from the spirit of love and allows it to flow from person to person. Hence the saying: Christus verus Luciferus – Christ the true Lucifer or bringer of light, and ultimately the opponent of the fallen Lucifer. Blood love was transformed by Christ into spiritual love, into the flowing brotherly love from soul to soul. The saying of Christ, “Whoever does not forsake father and mother cannot be my disciple,” is to be understood in such a way that blood love must be transformed into brotherly love, which embraces all people with equal power. Spiritual science does not wish to take anything away from these statements in the Bible, but can only add a deeper understanding of Christian grace when it is accepted in the right sense. The power of spiritual love was first brought to the human soul by Christ when he appeared on earth, and with the blood that flowed from the wounds of the Redeemer on Golgotha, the surplus blood of humanity was, so to speak, sacrificed. Through this act, the teaching was sealed that the individual must stand before the individual as a human brother to a human brother. The understanding of Christ is still very small in the world today. We must first learn to understand the full magnitude of this most powerful cosmic event. Some have always sensed the full meaning of the Christ being and his appearance on earth. How did they sense it? Look at the people and nations who have maintained their connection with the spiritual world for longer. The Indian did not care much about the connection with the physical world. He wanted to attain supersensible truths and the highest spiritual life in the spiritual world, but he did not want to love physical life. Let me tell you an Eastern legend that points in a magnificent way to how the Christ principle was intuitively grasped there.
Over time, it is said, the power that governs our earth appeared. An Eastern legend that tells of this was recounted in the temples of Tibet, in its northern parts, to the disciples of the Buddha's primordial wisdom, and has been preserved ever since. Kashyapa, according to the Eastern legend, the best disciple of Buddha, lived at a time when even in the East there was little understanding of wisdom. And when he felt his end approaching, he withdrew to a cave, where he lived for a long time, and his body was to remain there, awaiting the appearance of the Maitreya Buddha, so that he could then ascend to heaven.
This legend means that if nothing special had happened, that is, if Christ had not appeared on earth, the East and the West would not have been able to find their way into the spiritual world. The body of Kashyapa is preserved until the Maitreya Buddha frees the corpse from the earth, which means that human beings will again have the power in the future to spiritualize what is earthly. Deeper than any such being has ever descended, the high being will descend who will lead Kashyapa's body up into the spiritual world. Christ himself will liberate Kashyapa's body. And in the time following this event, the body will no longer be there. What does this mean? The body will simultaneously be transferred into the spiritual world. In the element of fire, the body of Kashyapa can be liberated. Where is this fire? It is spiritualized, as Paul saw it before Damascus. Thus, the appearance of Christ on earth is the great turning point where human beings can ascend again from the physical world into the spiritual world.
And now look at what Buddha taught. Through contemplating old age, sickness, death, and so on, Buddha realized the great truth of suffering. And he taught the abolition of suffering, liberation from suffering through the extinction of the desire for birth, for sensual embodiment.
Now look at humanity six hundred years later. What do you see? Humanity worships a corpse: it looks at Christ on the cross, who died and brought life through his death. Life has overcome death.
Firstly: Is being born suffering? No, because Christ entered our earth through birth, and from then on, for me as a Christian, being born is no longer suffering. Second: Is illness suffering? But the great remedy will arise, the soul force that has been ignited by the Christ impulse. By connecting with the Christ impulse, human beings spiritualize their lives. Third: Is old age suffering? - But while his body becomes frail, he himself becomes stronger and more powerful. - Fourthly: Is death suffering? - But through Christ, the corpse has become the symbol that death, the physical, has been defeated by life, the spirit, that death has been finally overcome by life. - Fifthly: Is separation from what one loves suffering? - But the person who has grasped Christ is never separated from what he loves, for Christ has illuminated the world between death and a new birth, so that man remains connected with what he loves. - Sixth: Not getting what one desires is suffering? - Those who live with Christ will no longer desire what does not belong to them, what is not given to them. Seventh: Is it suffering to be united with what one does not love? But the person who has recognized Christ kindles within himself that great, all-encompassing love which embraces and loves every being, every thing, according to its value. Eighth: Being separated from what one loves is no longer suffering, for in Christ there is no more separation.
Thus, the remedy for the disease of suffering, which Buddha taught and recognized, is given by Christ.
This development of humanity toward Christ and the body on the cross is the greatest reversal that ever occurred in evolution.