The Principle of Spiritual Economy
GA 109
7 March 1909, Munich
3. More Intimate Aspects of Reincarnation
It is now my task to speak to the various groups about the more intimate aspects of reincarnation and various matters related to it because deep inside we must become more and more familiar with this subject matter and allow it to penetrate our being. In this context, we will also have to say a few things about the significance of the topic for the life of all humanity. Although we will also little by little discuss relevant questions of importance to the present age, we shall have to take very ancient times as our starting point. This is necessary because the method of inquiry in Spiritual Science differs from that employed by other theories of life or by the disciplines studying social problems. We in Spiritual Science treat the facts of life first in a general way, and then we elaborate on the details.
First of all, we express our world view in the most elementary sense through the statement that the human innermost core—an individual's divine ego—continues to develop from one life to another in successive incarnations. In the second instance, however, such a statement covers the question of reincarnation only in a very elementary way, and that is why we now want to speak about these things in greater detail and in a more intimate sense. Just saying that the ego of a human being hurries from one incarnation to another is not enough; there are many other phenomena connected with the subject of reincarnation, and only a discussion of how they are related to life itself will shed the right light on the issue. Let us begin to characterize reincarnation from this point of view by looking back into ancient times.
We have often talked about the fact that humanity must consider its ancestors to have come from ancient Atlantis, a former geographical region situated between what is today Africa and Europe on the one hand and America on the other. All the souls that are present today had already been incarnated in Atlantis, but in bodies that were in part considerably different from the ones we are accustomed to seeing. The Atlantean humanity had its own special form of leadership, and the soul-forces—indeed all the faculties—of the Atlanteans differed greatly from those of human beings. Hence, leadership as we know it today was nonexistent. In Atlantis, for example, there were no churches, ceremonial centers, or schools in the modern sense, but there existed an intermediate institution between ceremonial center and school; that is what we call the mystery sanctuaries or centers. Leadership of the Atlanteans with respect to learning and the conditions of external life was vested in these sanctuaries, and one could say that the spiritual leaders were at the same time kings of the Atlantean tribes. Initiates, whose mission can be circumscribed by a word of later coinage, by the word oracle, imported knowledge and exercised leadership in the mysteries. We therefore designate the great centers of Atlantean culture as the “Atlantean Oracles.”
We have to get a clear understanding of the function of these oracles. They had to impart knowledge to human beings about the spiritual world behind the physical world. Knowledge such as this is different from ordinary knowledge in many ways; to stress only one difference, spiritual knowledge is not confined to space as is our present knowledge of the physical world. Anyone who, for example, knows about the mysteries of Mars also knows a great deal about the spiritual mysteries of the entire universe. All the heavenly bodies of our solar system are interconnected, and as such they are the exterior expression of spiritual beings. The individual who knows these spiritual beings also knows the forces that are at work from one planet to another as well as in the spiritual world during the time between death and rebirth. And so it was the primary task of one oracle in Atlantis to transmit and proclaim to human beings the mysteries of Mars, whereas the primary task of another was to communicate the mysteries of Jupiter, and so on; and these compartmentalized insights made it possible to lead certain sections of the population. We shall speak about the reason for this at another occasion since our task today is a different one.
The Atlanteans were divided into groups, and part of the whole developmental process was that one group of human beings had to be governed especially by the forces that could be acquired through the knowledge of Mars. Other groups had to be governed by the forces acquired through the knowledge of Venus, or Mercury, and so on. In ancient Atlantis there were actually human beings alive whom we could call “Jupiter People” or “Mars People,” and there were seven oracle centers because the populace in ancient Atlantis was divided into seven groups according to racial characteristics. The names applicable to these oracle centers corresponded to the names of the planets, but they were assigned to the oracles at a later time. The leadership of, and supreme sovereignty over, all other oracles was vested in what we may designate as the Atlantean Sun Oracle. Whatever oracles existed in the post-Atlantean periods—in Greece, Egypt, Asia, all were successors of the Sun Oracle in Atlantis. This is true also for the Apollo Oracle in Greece. The initiate who headed this Sun Oracle was the guardian of the deepest mysteries of our solar system. Together with his subordinates, he was called upon to investigate the nature of the spiritual life on the sun itself. His role was to proclaim to Atlantean humanity the secrets of the whole planetary system and to exercise supreme authority over the other oracle centers.
A very special task devolved on the Initiate of the Sun Oracle. It was to guide humanity in such a way that when the great catastrophe culminating in the submergence of Atlantis was over, the human race would be able to propagate and establish what we have often discussed as the postAtlantean cultures. Specifically, the task of the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle was to prepare human beings during the Atlantean time in such a way that they could enter the ancient Indian, Persian, Egypto-Babylonian-Hebraic, and Graeco-Roman cultures. To put it differently, the Great Initiate had to see to it that enough suitable soul material was available for these cultural epochs.
We must now inform ourselves a little about the task of this Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle. What were the essential features of Atlantean culture? Certainly it was quite different from later cultures. In ancient Atlantis, an individual belonging to the highest level of cultural life—the levels at which today's great leaders in, say, scholarship, art, industry, or commerce can be found—was one who possessed extraordinary clairvoyant faculties and who was especially skilled in the use of magical powers. The qualities usually attributed to a leader or to a scholar were nonexistent in those days, or they were known only in the most primitive form. But although modern arithmetic, counting, logical reasoning, and intellectual deduction were unknown to the Atlanteans, they did possess primitive clairvoyant faculties and powers with which they could pierce into the spiritual worlds. Without the modern ego-consciousness, the Atlanteans saw into the spiritual world, and those whose vision was the most penetrating became the pillars of Atlantean culture. We have already stressed that the Atlanteans were able to manipulate certain inner forces of nature, for example the seed forces of plants; they propelled their vehicles with them, just as we utilize coal to propel our vehicles.
To repeat, the leaders of the Atlantean culture were not the people who tried, as the leaders of our time try, to unlock the secrets of the universe with their intellectual powers; rather, the leading individuals in Atlantis were those who excelled as clairvoyants and magicians. And those human beings who had the first rudimentary inkling about arithmetic, counting, logical reasoning, and intellectual deduction were in a certain sense despised because of their simplicity and were not considered as belonging to the aristocracy of cultural life. But it was precisely those human beings who possessed the very first rudimentary knowledge of the aforementioned skills and who were the most lacking in clairvoyant and magical powers whom the Great Leader of the Sun Oracle gathered from all regions. Yes, he assembled the most simple and, in a sense, the most despised people of ancient Atlantis—those who had first developed intellectual capacities. But those who were then at the highest level of cultural life and who were the acknowledged masters of a dimmed clairvoyance were not suitable material to be led through and beyond the great Atlantean catastrophe. No, the call of the Initiate went out to the simple people.
Incidentally, it may be said that we are living in an epoch today when a similar call is once again going out to humanity. To be sure, this appeal is what is appropriate for today, a time when humanity sees only what is in the physical world. The call to humanity issues from unknown depths of the spirit, depths that humanity will gradually become acquainted with, asking that humanity prepare itself for a new culture of the future, which will be permeated with clairvoyant powers. As with Atlantis, a catastrophe will occur, and afterwards a new culture imbued with spiritual capacities will arise, and it will be linked to what we call the idea of the universal brotherhood of humanity.
But today, as in Atlantean times, the call cannot go out to those who stand at the highest levels of cultural life because they will not understand. The Atlantean clairvoyants and magicians, who were in a way destined to die out with their culture, occupied a position similar to that of people in contemporary life who occupy the highest positions in the realms of scholarship and external industrial life—the great inventors and discoverers of our time. No matter how much the present leaders feel there is still to be done, they nevertheless occupy the same position as their Atlantean counterparts. Contemptuously they look down on those who are beginning to feel something of the spiritual life to come. The consciousness of this fact must be awakened in the soul of anyone whose cooperative efforts in the theosophical workshops are to be strengthened. When leading representatives of modern culture look contemptuously down at these small circles, those who are participating diligently in the preparation of future conditions must say to themselves that the intellectual giants of today cannot be counted on to lead the way in this task. It is precisely the people who are held in contempt because they are not considered to have reached the heights of contemporary erudition who are being assembled today, just as the leader of the Sun Oracle once gathered around him the simple of Atlantis. These disdained people are being assembled to prepare the dawn of a new culture whereas erudition of the modern form will bring about the twilight of our culture. This is mentioned in passing to fortify those who have to endure and hold their own against the attacks of the people who consider themselves to be on the cutting edge of contemporary culture.
The Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle gathered his simple people in a region approximately to the west of present-day Ireland. Now we have to get a clear picture of the situation. It took Atlantis a long, long time to come to its end. Great masses of people were continually moving from the West toward the East. In the various regions of Asia, Europe, and Africa there were tribes who had arrived at different times and had intermingled. Then the Great Leader of the Sun Oracle took His small group of chosen people and made His way to Central Asia, where he established a colony from which the currents were to emanate that would later found the post-Atlantean cultures. However, in addition to His simple people, the Great Leader has taken something else with Him. And here we arrive at one of the chapters of human evolution, the truth of which we can comprehend only if we draw on the inner assurance gained by a steadfast engagement in Spiritual Science.
The Great Leader inspected, as it were, the other oracle centers for the purpose of finding in them the most notable initiates. Now there is a certain method by means of which “spiritual economy,” as it may be called, can be put into practice. As you know, it is quite correct to say that the etheric body dissolves after a human being has died; what remains is an extract, and that is taken along. But the extract is only the elementary truth, which must be modified as one advances to higher levels of spiritual knowledge. It is not the case that the etheric bodies of all human beings are dissolved in the universal ether. Etheric bodies such as those possessed by the most notable initiates of the seven Atlantean Oracles are valuable. The spiritual achievements of these initiates were woven into their etheric bodies, and it would be against the principle of spiritual economy if the etheric bodies of the great initiates had simply been dissolved. They were to be preserved as prototypes for a later time, and it was incumbent upon the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle to preserve the etheric bodies of the seven greatest initiates for this purpose. While leading His small group of simple people to Asia, He carried the etheric bodies of the seven most significant initiates of Atlantis with Him. Such a thing is possible through the methods that had been developed in the mystery centers. You have to visualize this as purely a spiritual process and not in the way as if one could wrap up etheric bodies and put them into boxes for safekeeping. What is certain, however, is that etheric bodies can be preserved for later times.
Over in Asia, the following happened. The simple people around the Leader propagated from one generation to another. Above all, these people had a tremendous devotion to and affection for their Great Leader. Their education was guided with wisdom and insight so that after many generations certain things occurred through one of the methods worked out in the mystery centers. Such methods are employed behind the scenes of external life, and we shall presently see how they take effect. Today's lecture will be the first in a series of several lectures designed to explain some of the details.
When a human being is descending to a new incarnation, he must envelop himself again with a new etheric body. Now, through the methods alluded to above, it is perfectly possible to weave into this new etheric body an old one that was preserved. And so after a diligent educational process, when the time had come, there were to emerge from the immigrants and their descendants seven individuals whose souls at their birth were sufficiently prepared to have the preserved etheric bodies of the seven greatest initiates of the Atlantean Oracles woven into their own etheric bodies. Thus, the preserved etheric body of the most important Saturn initiate was woven into that of one of the individuals gathered around the Great Leader of the Sun Oracle, the etheric body of the Mars initiate into another, the etheric body of the Jupiter initiate into a third, and so on. Hence the Great Leader of the Sun Oracle had seven individuals whose etheric bodies were interwoven with those of the most important initiates of the ancient Atlantean Oracles.
If you had met these seven individuals somewhere in everyday life, you would have found them to be simple human beings, for they were not the reincarnated egos of the Atlantean initiates; they were merely simple human beings possessing the new faculties of the post-Atlantean era. Their egos were not much different from the egos of those who became the bearers of the first primitive and simple culture immediately after the Atlantean catastrophe. What made them different was that their etheric bodies contained the forces of the seven great Atlantean initiates, so we are dealing here not with a re-embodiment of the ego, but rather of the etheric bodies of these great initiates. Thus we see not only that the ego but also that the second member of the super-sensible constitution—the etheric body—is capable of reincarnation. The seven individuals from among the followers of the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle were inspired human beings simply by the fact that they had received these etheric bodies containing the forces and powers of the Atlantean era. At certain times their etheric bodies were capable of letting the forces stream into themselves that unveiled the mysteries of the Sun, Mars, Saturn, and so forth. Hence they appeared to be inspired individuals, but their utterances certainly exceeded anything their astral bodies or egos were able to understand.
What these seven inspired individuals taught from various parts of the world sounded like a wonderful harmonious choir, and after the seven had been united in the Lodge of the Seven Rishis, they were sent to India to inspire that country's ancient culture. Much that was profound in this culture has been preserved in a magnificent form in the Vedas,27The Vedas are the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The Veda is the literature of the Aryans who invaded NW India about 1500 B.C. and pertains to the fire sacrifice central to their religious beliefs. and just as many wonderful ideas that give testimony to the deeply scientific nature of Indian culture have been preserved in the Upanishads,28The Upanishads constitute the last section of the Hindu Veda and are said to have been composed around 900 B.C. As the wellspring of Hindu speculative and religious thought, they became the basis for the later schools of Vedanta. “Vedanta” literally means “The end of the Veda” and refers to how the Upanishads are to be taught and interpreted. in the Vedanta philosophy, and so on. However, the teachings of the ancient Holy Rishis, given in times when nothing was recorded, far exceed in beauty anything conveyed to us by the Indian scripts. What was written down in later times is at most a faint echo, for no records were kept of the primeval, sacred culture inspired by the Rishis; everything they taught was transmitted in a spiritual way through the mysteries.
We are interested today in learning how etheric bodies can be reincarnated, how the legacies of the ancient Atlantean epoch were transmitted by the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle into the post-Atlantean era, and how they were then carried into the first culture of that era—into the resplendent Indian culture.
The mysteries of the Sun Oracle itself could not be directly revealed in ancient India, and that is why the seven Rishis spoke of a Being beyond their cognitive reach. They spoke of a Being who is the Leader of the Sun and directs its forces to the earth; they spoke of Vishva-Karman as a Being beyond the range of their knowledge. Vishva-Karman is none other than the Christ who was to appear later and whose coming had already been proclaimed in the ancient Indian culture.
The most important disciple of the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle to receive the secrets of the Sun's essence was Zarathustra, who was subsequently to establish the second post-Atlantean culture. He was not the Zarathustra history talks about however. It was customary in ancient times that the successor of a great teacher or humanity took the name of his esteemed predecessor. No document contains any reference to the Zarathustra of whom we are now speaking; only his last successor is mentioned in history books. Yet it was the original Zarathustra who founded the primordial Persian culture and who was the first to point out to his Persian peoples that the sun not only possesses physical energy but also spiritual power that streams down to earth. In his endeavor to awaken in his people a realization of this truth, Zarathustra's argument was as follows: If we direct our eyes to plants and everything else around us that contains life, we have to ask ourselves what we would be without sunlight. But together with the physical sunlight, a spiritual force also streams down to earth under the direction of a great sublime Being. Just as a human being has his or her physical body and an aura—we call it the small aura—so the sun has its physical body and its aura. Ahura Mazdao, the “great aura,” consists of the group of great sun beings and their leader. Zarathustra spoke of this Ahura Mazdao, or Aura Mazdao—the Great Aura—and proclaimed the power of the sun aura by which the flow of evolution was made possible. However, Zarathustra also proclaimed that the forces of Ahriman would oppose the Sun Being. This then is what can be said about the external teachings of Zarathustra, but there is more to be said about him.
Zarathustra had some close disciples whom he initiated into the great mysteries of the world. We shall mention two of them in this context. To begin with the first, Zarathustra communicated to him all the wisdom necessary to bring about clairvoyance in the astral body, as well as the ability to perceive in one's present time frame simultaneously everything that is happening and all the mysteries spread out in both physical and spiritual space. To the second disciple Zarathustra transmitted what one might call the power to read the Akasha Chronicle, and this is nothing less than the clairvoyant power of the etheric body enabling the human being to perceive the successive phases of evolution in time. Thus, one disciple received the ability to perceive simultaneous events, and the other the vision of the Akasha Chronicle to perceive successive events that could lead to an understanding of the evolution of the earth and sun. By imparting these faculties to these disciples, Zarathustra had a profound effect on the continuation of culture in the postAtlantean era.
The first disciple was reincarnated as the great individual who was to inspire and inaugurate the new currents of Egyptian culture, the being whom we know by the name of Hermes or Hermes Trismegistos. Through processes that are known, the astral body of Zarathustra was transmitted to Hermes so that he could proclaim the message of the higher worlds and their mysteries and incorporate them into Egyptian culture. Thus by processes we will gradually learn to understand, the astral body of Zarathustra was preserved and was transmitted to one disciple when he was born again as Hermes. Hermes wore Zarathustra's astral body as if it were a garment.
The other disciple was also reincarnated, and in him everything was meant to be revealed that is presented to the earth in the Akasha Chronicle. Since the etheric body of Zarathustra was to be woven into that of a disciple, a very special event had to take place to make this possible. The forces of the new etheric body somehow had to be illuminated in the disciple for his awakening. The Biblical story relates to us in a beautiful and marvelous way what this special event was. Allow your souls to visualize how it had to unfold.
You must first realize that this reborn disciple of Zarathustra possessed his own astral body and ego, and he was now to have the etheric body of Zarathustra woven into his soul. As a small child, he first had to feel how the forces of the etheric body of Zarathustra became active in him, and he had to feel this before the powers of judgment could be activated by his own astral body and before his own ego was able to interfere. So the special event that had to take place was some sort of initiation. The forces of Zarathustra's etheric body had to be awakened in this reborn disciple when he was a very small child, that is before his own individual development could come into play. For this reason, the child was placed into an ark of bulrushes that was then put into the water, so that he was completely cut off from the rest of the world and was unable to interact with it. That is when the forces of Zarathustra's etheric body that had been woven into him germinated and, as we said earlier, became illuminated.
I am sure you know by now that this reborn disciple of Zarathustra was none other than Moses. The Biblical story about his abandonment is really a presentation of that profound mystery behind the scenes of the external world dealing with the preservation of Zarathustra's etheric body and its reawakening in Moses. And this is how Hermes and Moses were able to guide the post-Atlantean culture through its recorded stages.
After hearing about these examples of the reincarnation of etheric bodies and of an astral body, we know it is insufficient to speak only of the reincarnation of the ego. Rather, the other members of the human constitution that we have become acquainted with—the etheric body and the astral body—can also be reincarnated. It is a principle of spiritual economy that what has once been gained cannot perish, but is preserved and transplanted on the spiritual soil of posterity. However, what we have described can be accomplished in another way. We shall see from an example that there are still other methods whereby the past is transported into the future.
You will remember a personality mentioned in the Bible: Shem, a son of Noah and progenitor of the Semitic people. Occult research confirms that there is an individual behind Shem that must be regarded as the tribal individuality of all Semitic peoples. When a number of human beings are to descend from a particular progenitor, a special provision must be made for this in the spiritual world. In the case of Shem, the provision was that an etheric body was specially woven for him from the spiritual world, which he was to carry. This enabled him to bear in his own etheric body an especially exalted being from the spiritual world, a being who could not otherwise have incarnated on earth because it was incapable of descending into a compact physical body. This being was capable of incarnating only by virtue of the fact that it could now enter the etheric body of Shem. Since Shem had his own physical, etheric, and astral body, as well as his ego, he was first an individual in his own right. Beyond that, however, he was an individual whose etheric body was interwoven with the etheric body of another high being of the spiritual world, specially prepared for the purpose of founding a nation, as characterized above. If clairvoyant perception had confronted Shem, it would have seen Shem himself, but with a second entity extending out of him like a second being, yet still united with Shem's etheric body. This higher being was not Shem, but it incarnated in Shem—the human being—for a special mission. Unlike ordinary human beings, this higher being did not undergo various incarnations, but descended only once into a human body. Such a being is called an avatar. An avatar does not feel at home in the world as a human being would; he descends but once into this world for the sole purpose of carrying out a certain mission.
The part of a human being that is indwelled by such an avatar being acquires a special character in that it is able to multiply. When a grain of seed is sown into the ground, the stalk grows from it, and the grain is multiplied into the ears of grain. In the same way, the etheric body of Shem multiplied into many copies, and these were woven into all his descendants. That's what happened, and thus the copies of the etheric body that had been specially prepared in Shem as the prototype were woven into the etheric bodies of his direct descendants.
But this etheric body of Shem was later used in yet another way. How this was done can best be placed before our souls by the visualization of an analogy. You may be a highly cultured European, but if you want to acquaint the Hottentots with your culture, you simply must learn their language. By analogy, the exalted beings that descend to earth to guide humanity must weave into themselves the forces by which they will be put into a position to communicate with human beings on earth. Now in the later phase of the evolution of the Semitic people, it became necessary that a very exalted being descend to earth in order to communicate with them and provide an impetus to their culture. Such a being was the Melchizedek of Biblical history who, as it were, had to "put on" the preserved etheric body of Shem—the very etheric body that was still inhabited by an avatar being. Once it was woven into him, Melchizedek was able to transmit to Abraham the impulse necessary for the continued progress of Semitic culture. Here, then, we have become acquainted with another unique way in which an etheric body develops in a particular human being and is subsequently allotted to a specially selected individuality for the fulfillment of a mission.
Such examples can be found up to the most recent times, and as we trace them, we gradually realize the truth of what occultism is able to say today about this subject matter. Occultism conveys to us that most human beings living at present no longer have etheric or astral bodies that were originally woven anew from the general fabric of the world Almost every human being has in his or her etheric and astral body a fragment that has been preserved from ancient times because the principle of spiritual economy is at work preserving useful elements for repeated utilization.
Let us mention two more examples from the modern age that can illustrate to us how mysteries are at work from one epoch to another. The first example is related to the personality who is discussed in my book Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nicholas of Cusa. He called one of his writings De docta ignorantia, a Latin title that can be translated “Learned Ignorance”; yet it contains more erudition than many a book claiming to contain learned knowledge. There were certain reasons for the title. If you read other writings by Nicholas of Cusa, you will find that a prophetic presentation of the Copernican picture of the universe is woven into them in a curious way. Those who read carefully cannot fail to recognize it. Yet it was not until the time of Copernicus that the world was mature enough to accept this view of the universe in its actual form. Investigation into the connection reveals the following: One of the members of Cusa's super-sensible constitution contained an ancient individuality of the highest rank, and that made it possible for the astral body of Nicholas of Cusa to be preserved and then to be woven into the astral body of Nicholas Copernicus. The wisdom once possessed by Nicholas of Cusa could, as it were, be resurrected in Copernicus, and that is an example of how the astral body has reincarnated.
The second example deals with Galileo, who has been immensely important for modern thought, as many of you who have thought about the matter know. Without him, there would have been no physics in the modern sense because the whole mode of thinking in terms of physics today must be attributed to Galileo. Every schoolboy today will read in the most elementary books of Galileo's law of inertia, of continuity, which indicates that a body in motion tends to continue its movement until it encounters an obstacle. Thus, if we throw some object, it will travel forward by its own momentum until it is stopped by an obstacle or outer force. This is how we think today, and this is what children in school learn from their textbooks. However, people living before Galileo thought in a different manner. They thought that if a stone were thrown, its flight could not continue unless the air drove or pushed it from behind. So we see that the laws of falling bodies, of the pendulum, and of simple machines are all derived from Galileo.
Galileo received his insights through a certain inspiration. I need only to remind you of how he discovered the law of the pendulum by observing the swinging lamp in the Cathedral at Pisa—a stroke of genius. Many people had walked past this lamp without noticing a thing, but when Galileo observed it, the fundamental laws of mechanics dawned on him. A human being who can be inspired in such a profound way has an etheric body of enormous richness; to allow it to perish would contradict the law of spiritual economy.
It is for this reason that Galileo's etheric body too was preserved and reappeared after a comparatively short period of time in an individual whose achievements were also to be of great significance. It was woven into a personality who grew up in a remote peasant village in Russia, ran away from his parents, and journeyed to Moscow. The great talent of this young man became apparent very soon, and he rapidly absorbed the knowledge of his day in the schools of Russia and Germany, so that he had soon encompassed the total of the general knowledge available in the culture of his time. All he had to do was to accumulate the knowledge developed on earth since he had died—in his etheric body—as Galileo. And then this very same person became, so to speak, the founder of the whole classical literature movement in Russia, creating lasting literary treasures practically out of the void. But more than that, he also provided important stimuli to every scientific discipline related to physics and chemistry, and particularly to all areas of mechanics. This individual was none other than Michail Lomonosov, whose achievements and reforms were possible only because the etheric body of Galileo had been woven into him. Galileo died in the middle of the seventeenth century, and Michail Lomonosov was born early in the eighteenth century with Galileo's etheric body, representing one of those intimate reincarnations where a member of the super-sensible constitution of the human being other than the ego is reincarnated. Such things lead us toward a deep understanding of the entire evolutionary process and of many other factors that have developed in the course of time, leading to the conditions prevailing at present.
The greatest avatar on earth was Christ Himself, who lived for three years in the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. Because Christ lived in the three bodies of the super-sensible constitution of Jesus of Nazareth, it was possible for the latter's etheric and astral bodies, and of the ego too in a lesser degree, to multiply in the same way as we have discussed it before. After the Mystery of Golgotha and as a result of the wonderful laws of spiritual economy, quite a few copies of the astral body and of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth were present as archetypes in the spiritual world. If an avatar enters a human sheath, the essence of the host is dispersed into many replicas. In contrast to the copies of Shem's etheric body, the copies of the astral and etheric bodies of Jesus of Nazareth had another special characteristic. The copies of Shem's etheric body could be implanted only into his own descendants whereas the copies of the etheric body and the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth could be implanted into all human beings of the most diverse peoples and races. A copy of the archetypal astral and etheric bodies of Jesus of Nazareth could be implanted in anyone who through his or her personal development had become ready for this transfer, no matter what race such an individual belonged to. And we see how in this subsequent evolution of Christendom, strange developments take place behind the external historical facade, and only such developments can render the external course of events intelligible.
Now, how did Christianity spread? We can say that in the first few centuries the dissemination of the idea of Christianity depended on what happened on the physical plane. In this era we see that Christianity is decidedly propagated through everything that lives on the physical plane. The Apostles stressed the fact that the propagation of Christianity was based on direct physical perception of eyewitnesses. "We have laid our hands into His wounds" was a statement of proof that the Christ had walked on earth in a human body. In other words, the stress was put on anything on the physical plane that could serve as documentation for the development of Christianity. Time and again during those first few centuries, it was asserted that those who had been disciples of the Apostles themselves were responsible for the continuing propagation of Christianity, and it was emphasized that they had known the immediate followers of the Lord Himself. So we see that people in this era relied, as it were, on eyewitness reports, and this continues in a still deeper sense up to the time of St. Augustine, who said: “I would not believe in the truth of the Gospels if the authority of the Catholic Church did not compel me to do so.” Why, then, did he believe? Because it was his conviction that the visible Church has propagated the Gospel on the physical plane from one decade and from one century to another. However, in the following centuries, from the fifth to the tenth, Christianity was propagated in a different way. Why and how? It is instructive to learn the answer to this question if we are interested in following the spiritual progress of human evolution.
You can visualize the method of propagation in this next period by considering, for example, the Old Saxon gospel epic entitled Heliand. In this work, a kind of initiate presents his readers with his version of the Christ idea and with his perception of the Christ-Being. The Heliand, the Savior, presented by this Saxon initiate is a super-sensible being. Yet, He is portrayed not within the context of the events in Palestine, but rather as a prince of a Germanic tribe. The disciples are individuals from Germanic lands, and the whole of Christianity is clothed in Central European imagery. Why was this done? It was done because the initiate who wrote the Heliand at the suggestion of Louis the Pious had clairvoyant faculties, so that he was able to see Christ in a way similar to Paul's perception of Christ at Damascus. Through the event at Golgotha the Christ-Being had united Himself with the astral body of the earth, thereby infusing His power into the aura of the earth; and when Paul became clairvoyant, he could clearly perceive: The Christ is present! Paul did not allow himself to become a believer merely on the strength of what was reported to have happened in Palestine. Only after he had seen the being that was woven into the earth with his own eyes did he change from Saul to Paul. In a similar vision, the Risen Christ, the eternal Christ living in the spiritual world after Golgotha, was revealed to the writer of the Heliand, and He was more important to him than was the historical Christ of Palestine. And so he presents Him in another setting because the spiritual Christ was more important to him than was the external image of the Christ. You may want to ask why the author of the Heliand was able to communicate such an image from clairvoyant perception. He was able to do this because a copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into his own etheric body. This was the case because during these centuries—starting with the fifth or sixth and ending with the ninth or tenth century—the etheric bodies of those who were destined to do something for the advancement of Christianity were interwoven with a copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth, and one of these special individuals was the writer of the Heliand.
Since there were many others who had a copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their own etheric body, we can readily see that human beings in these centuries lived in imaginations that were closely related to the events on Golgotha. All those who created the original artistic portrayals of the Savior on the cross and of Mary with the Jesus Child had been inspired to do pictorial representations of anything connected with the event on Golgotha by one and the same thing: a copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into the etheric body of each of these individuals. If the paintings of the events on Golgotha seemed like representations of a type, this points to the fact that all the artists were clairvoyant; what they created was then transmitted to posterity by the forces of tradition. In these early centuries, not all the inspired individuals destined to propagate the idea of Christianity were, of course, artists. Take, for example, John Scotus Erigena,29John Scotus Erigena (c. 810–c. 877) was an Irish scholastic philosopher. the scholastic philosopher, who in the days of Charles the Bald wrote the famous De Division Naturae. He, too, had a copy of the etheric body of Jesus woven into his own etheric body.
If human beings were born during the period from the fifth to the tenth centuries who had a copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their own etheric bodies, human beings living in the period from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries received copies of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth rather than copies of His etheric body. Only by considering this fact do we fully understand some of the important personalities of that time. How will a personality whose own astral body is interwoven with a copy of the astral body of Jesus appear to the outside world? After all, the ego of Jesus is not incarnated in such an individual; each personality retains his or her own ego. Ego judgment can cause many an error to creep into the life of such an individual; but because the copy of the great prototype has been woven into his or her astral body, devotion, all the feelings, everything in short that permeates and weaves through this astral body will come to the fore as the intrinsic essence of the astral body, even though it may perhaps be at variance with the ego itself. Think of Francis of Assisi. There you have a personality into whose astral body a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven. You may have found many extremes in the biography of Francis of Assisi, and if you did, you should consider that they were caused by his ego, which was not on the same level with his astral body. But the moment you study his soul under the assumption that his ego was not always capable of making the right judgments about the wonderful feelings and the humility contained in the astral body, then you will understand him. A copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was reincarnated in Francis of Assisi, and this was the case with many individuals of that time—Franciscans, Dominicans, and all other personalities of that time who will be intelligible only when studied in the light of this knowledge. For example, one of those personalities was the renowned St. Elisabeth of Thüringen.
And so what has happened in the external life of our existence becomes fully intelligible only when we see how spiritual impulses are conveyed in each era and how they are propagated in the course of time.
When Christ incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth, something like an imprint of the ego was made in the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. When the Christ-Being entered the astral body, we can easily conceive that something like a replica of the ego could be produced in the surrounding parts of the astral body. This copy of the ego of Christ Jesus produced many duplicates that were preserved, so to speak, in the spiritual world. In the case of a few individuals who were to be prophets for their own age, something was woven into their ego. Among them were the German mystics who proclaimed the inner Christ with such fervor because something like a copy of the ego of Christ was incarnated in them—only a copy or image of Christ's ego, of course. Only human beings who prepare themselves gradually for a full understanding of the Christ and who understand through their knowledge of the spiritual worlds what the Christ really is, as He surfaces time and again in ever changing forms during the course of human evolution—only those human beings will also gradually gain the maturity necessary to experience Christ in themselves. They will be ready to absorb, so to speak, the waiting replicas of the Christ-Ego, ready to absorb the ego that the Christ imprinted in the body of Jesus.
Part of the inner mission of the universal stream of spirituality is to prepare human beings to become so mature in soul that an ever-increasing number of them will be able to absorb a copy of the Ego-Being of Christ Jesus. For this is the course of Christian evolution: first, propagation on the physical plane, then through etheric bodies, and then through astral bodies that, by and large, were reincarnated astral bodies of Jesus. Now the time is at hand when the ego-nature of Christ Jesus will increasingly light up in human beings as the innermost essence of their souls. Yes, these imprinted copies of the Christ Jesus individuality are waiting to be taken in by human souls—they are waiting!
And now you see from what depths the universal stream of Spiritual Science flows into our souls. Spiritual Science is not a theory, not the sum total of concepts given merely for the intellectual enlightenment of human beings; it is a reality, and it intends to offer realities to the human soul. Those who wish to gain a spiritual understanding of Christianity and experience it within themselves will strive to make a personal contribution so that either in the present or in a later incarnation a copy of the Christ Jesus individuality can be woven into their own egos. A person who understands the true, inmost essence—the actuality—of the universal stream of Spiritual Science will prepare himself or herself not just for knowledge, but rather for an encounter with actual reality. You must develop a feeling that we in our world movement are not concerned with the mere communication of theories, but rather with preparing human beings to accept facts. We are also concerned that human beings receive what is waiting in the spiritual world and what they have the power to receive, provided they prepare themselves for this task in the right way.
Intimere Reinkarnationsfragen
Es ist mir eine Aufgabe jetzt, in den verschiedenen Zweigen über ein ganz bestimmtes Thema zu sprechen, weil dieses Thema uns immer mehr und mehr innerlich bekanntwerden und uns durchdringen soll, nämlich das Thema «Intimere Wiederverkörperungs- oder Reinkarnationsfragen» und verschiedenes, was damit im Zusammenhange steht. Daher werden wir auch heute über diese intimeren Fragen der Reinkarnation und deren Bedeutung für das ganze Leben der Menschheit einiges zu besprechen haben. Unseren Ausgang werden wir zu nehmen haben von sehr alten Zeiten, und werden uns aber dann nach und nach wichtigen Fragen der Gegenwart nähern. Es ist in unserer Geisteswissenschaft einmal so, daß man in ihr anders vorschreiten muß als in andern Lebensanschauungs- oder etwa in gesellschaftlichen Fragen. Man muß in der Geisteswissenschaft zuerst die Tatsachen des Lebens im allgemeinen behandeln, und sie dann mehr ins einzelne herausarbeiten. Es wird in unserer Weltanschauung im allerelementarsten Sinn zunächst davon gesprochen, wie sich des Menschen innerer Wesenskern, sein göttliches Ich von Leben zu Leben immer wiederum fortentwickelt, wie es sich reinkarniert. Damit ist aber die Frage der Reinkarnation eigentlich nur in einem elementaren Sinn behandelt, und es handelt sich jetzt darum, diese Dinge genauer und intimer zu schildern. Denn damit ist es nicht abgetan, daß das Ich des Menschen von Leben zu Leben eilt, sondern es gibt noch manches andere, was mit diesen Wiederverkörperungsfragen zusammenhängt und eigentlich erst das richtige Licht in diese Wiederverkörperungsfragen und ihre Zusammenhänge mit dem Leben bringt. Wenn wir nun zurückblicken in alte Zeiten, so wollen wir sie von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus charakterisieren.
Wir haben oft davon gesprochen, daß die Menschheit ihre Vorfahren zu suchen hat in der alten Atlantis, also in dem Landgebiet zwischen dem heutigen Afrika und Europa einerseits und Amerika andererseits. Da waren in Leibern, die zum Teile von den heutigen Menschenleibern recht verschieden sind, alle die Seeleri schon verkörpert, die heute hier sitzen. Da haben wir die nächste Vorfahrenschaft der Menschheit zu suchen. Diese atlantische Menschheit hatte nun ihre ganz bestimmte Führerschaft. Es waren aber die Seelenkräfte, überhaupt alle Fähigkeiten der atlantischen Menschheit anders als die unserer heutigen Menschheit. Daher gab es in der alten Atlantis nicht das, was wir etwa heute als Führerschaft haben. Und wenn wir etwas von dieser alten Atlantis herausgreifen: Kirchen, Kultusstätten und Schulen im heutigen Sinne gab es damals nicht. Es gab etwas wie ein Zwischending zwischen Kultusstätte und Schule; es gab eben im ausgeprägtesten Maße das, was wir als Mysterienstätten kennen. Diese hatten in bezug auf Erkenntnis und das äußere Leben durchaus die Führung der Atlantier. Man möchte sagen, daß die geistigen Führer zu gleicher Zeit die Könige der atlantischen Volksstämme waren. Ein Wort, das natürlich erst später geprägt worden ist, kann uns wiedergeben den Sinn von der Aufgabe dieser atlantischen Mysterien, dieser atlantischen Kultusstätten und Schulen, von denen aus die Eingeweihten der Atlantier wirkten, von denen aus sie sowohl mit Erkenntnis die einzelnen Menschen befruchteten, wie auch die Führerschaft über sie ausübten. Dieses Wort, das eben später geprägt worden ist, aber heute uns wiedergibt die Aufgabe der Mysterienstätten, ist das Wort «Orakel». Daher sprechen wir von den atlantischen Orakeln als den großen Mittelpunkten atlantischer Kultur.
Wir müssen uns einen Begriff machen von dem, was diese Orakel zu tun hatten. Sie hatten den Menschen Lehren zu verkünden über die geistige Welt, die hinter der physischen ist. Diese Lehre der geistigen Welt ist nun nicht so - wenn wir zunächst nur dieses eine Merkmal hervorheben - im Raume beschränkt als unsere Erkenntnis in bezug auf die physische Welt. Wer da weiß, welches die Geheimnisse zum Beispiel des Mars sind, der weiß überhaupt einen großen Teil von den geistigen Geheimnissen unserer Welt. Alle diese physischen Weltenkörper unseres Sonnensystems zunächst sind ja in Verbindung miteinander, sind der äußere Ausdruck von geistigen Wesenheiten. Wer diese geistigen Wesenheiten kennt, der kennt auch die Kräfte, die von Planet zu Planet gehen, welche also in der geistigen Welt, in der wir uns zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt befinden, wirksam sind. Es gab nun ein Orakel, welches vorzugsweise die Aufgabe hatte, die Geheimnisse des Mars, ein anderes, welches die Aufgabe hatte, die Geheimnisse des Jupiter und so weiter den Menschen zu verkünden und zu übermitteln, und aus diesen einzelnen Erkenntnissen gewann man die Möglichkeit, gewisse Volksmassen zu führen. Ein anderes Mal werden wir davon sprechen, warum das so war, heute wollen wir es nur andeuten. Unsere Aufgabe ist heute eine andere.
Die atlantischen Völker waren in Gruppen geteilt und mit der ganzen Entwickelung hing es zusammen, daß eine Gruppe der Menschen insbesondere regiert werden mußte mit den Kräften, die man gewinnen konnte durch Erkenntnis des Mars. Eine andere Gruppe war zu regieren mit den Kräften, die man gewinnen konnte mit den Erkenntnissen des Jupiter oder mit denen der Venus, des Merkur und so weiter. Es gab ja in der alten Atlantis das, was man nennen konnte Jupitermenschen oder Marsmenschen. Sieben Orakelstätten gab es, weil das Leben der Atlantis nach den verschiedenen Merkmalen der Rassenbildung in sieben Gruppen zerfiel. Es gab das Mars-, Venus-, Merkur-, Jupiterorakel und so weiter: alles Namen, die später geprägt wurden, aber anwendbar sind auf diese Orakelstätten. Und die Führerschaft, gleichsam die Oberherrschaft über sie hatte das Orakel, das wir bezeichnen können als das uralte atlantische Sonnenorakel. Was an Orakeln nach der atlantischen Zeit in Griechenland, Ägypten und so weiter war, alles das, was in Asien an Orakeln war, waren Nachzügler der großen atlantischen Orakel. Das Apolloorakel Griechenlands war ein Nachzügler des Sonnenorakels der atlantischen Zeit. Der Eingeweihte, der an der Spitze des Sonnenorakels stand, war der Träger der tiefsten Geheimnisse unseres Sonnensystems. Er hatte mit seinen Untergebenen zu erforschen, was das geistige Leben der Sonne selbst war. Alle die Geheimnisse unseres ganzen Planeten-Sonnensystems hatte er damit als Botschaft zu verkünden der atlantischen Menschheit und er hatte die Oberherrschaft über die andern Orakelstätten auszuüben.
Diesem Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels fiel eine ganz besondere Aufgabe zu. Ihm fiel die Aufgabe zu, die Menschheit so zu leiten und zu führen, damit sie sich, wenn die große atlantische Katastrophe, die mit dem Untergange der Atlantis endete, vorüber sein würde, in die nachatlantische Zeit hinein fortpflanzen und begründen könne die Kulturen, die wir öfter als die nachatlantischen besprochen haben. Also es hatte der große Eingeweihte des Sonnenorakels die Aufgabe, die Menschen schon während der atlantischen Zeit so vorzubereiten, daß in der nachatlantischen die altindische, altpersische, ägyptischbabylonisch-jüdische, die griechisch-lateinische Kultur kommen konnte, daß geeignetes Menschenmaterial dazu vorhanden sei.
Nun müssen wir uns ein wenig unterrichten über die Aufgabe dieses großen Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels. Was war eigentlich atlantische Kultur? Sie war ganz anders als die späteren Kulturen. Derjenige war in der alten Atlantis an der Spitze der Kultur, gleich einem heutigen großen Führer in der Gelehrsamkeit oder Kunst oder Industrie oder Handel, der über besondere hellseherische Kräfte verfügte und besonders magisch zu wirken wußte. Was heute den Menschen zum Führer, zum Gelehrten und so weiter macht, das gab es damals noch nicht oder höchstens in den allerersten Anfängen. Rechnen, Zählen, Kombinieren, verstandesmäßiges Urteilen wie heute, gab es nicht. Es waren primitive Kräfte hellseherischer Art, hellseherischer Kraft vorhanden, die hineinschauen konnten in die geistigen Welten. Ohne das heutige Selbstbewußtsein sah damals der Mensch in die geistige Welt hinein, und wer am besten hineinschaute, der war Träger der atlantischen Kultur. Wir haben hervorgehoben, daß die Atlantier gewisse innere Kräfte der Natur beherrschten, zum Beispiel die Samenkräfte der Pflanzen, daß sie damit ebenso ihre Fahrzeuge lenkten, wie heute der Mensch mit den Kräften der Steinkohle seine Fahrzeuge lenkt. So waren diejenigen, die die Führer der atlantischen Kultur waren, nicht wie Menschen von heute, die durch die Urteilskraft die Geheimnisse der Welt zu erforschen suchen, sondern diejenigen, die die größten Hellseher und Magier waren, die gingen an der Spitze. Und jene Menschen, die die allerersten Entwickelungskeime hatten zum Rechnen, Zählen, Kombinieren, verstandesmäßigen Urteilen, waren in einer gewissen Beziehung durch ihre Schlichtheit verachtet, gehörten nicht zu dem, was die Aristokratie der Kultur ausmachte. Aber gerade diese Menschen, die die allerersten Anfänge dieser nachatlantischen Fähigkeiten hatten, die am wenigsten hatten von dem Hellsehen, von den magischen Kräften, die sammelte sich der große Führer des Sonnenorakels aus allen Gegenden zusammen. Es waren die schlichtesten, in einer gewissen Beziehung verachtetsten Leute der alten Atlantis; die sammelte er sich. Mit ihnen hatte er ja gerade das zu begründen, was nachatlantische Kultur werden sollte. Das, was an der Spitze der atlantischen Kultur marschierte, was das dämmerhafte Hellsehen am meisten beherrschte, war kein brauchbares Material, um hinübergeführt zu werden über die große atlantische Katastrophe. An die schlichten Leute der Atlantis, die zuerst die intellektuellen Fähigkeiten entwickelten, erging der Ruf des großen Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels.
Nur nebenbei sei erwähnt, daß wir heute in einer ähnlichen Zeit leben, daß heute wiederum ein ähnlicher Ruf an die Menschheit ergeht; allerdings so, wie es heute, wo die Menschheit nur äußerlich, nur auf dem physischen Plan sieht, sein muß: Aus unbekannten Geistestiefen heraus, welche die Menschheit nach und nach kennenlernen wird, ergeht der Ruf an die Menschheit, wiederum vorzubereiten etwas, was als neue, von hellseherischen Kräften wieder durchzogene Kultur der Zukunft dastehen soll. Eine Katastrophe wird kommen, ähnlich der atlantischen, und dann wird eine neue Kultur mit spirituellen Fähigkeiten aufgehen, die verknüpft sein wird mit dem, was wir die umfassende Bruderschaftsidee der Menschheit nennen.
Auch heute kann nicht der Ruf an diejenigen ergehen und verstanden werden, welche an der Spitze unserer Kultur stehen. Die Stellung, welche die atlantischen Hellseher und Magier eingenommen haben, die dazu bestimmt waren sozusagen auszusterben mit ihrer Kultur, dieselbe Stellung nehmen heute diejenigen ein, die an der Spitze der Gelehrsamkeit und des äußeren industriellen Lebens stehen, die großen Erfinder und Entdecker der Gegenwart. So viel sie auch noch zu tun haben, sie nehmen dieselbe Stellung ein. Sie sehen verachtungsvoll herunter auf diejenigen, die etwas zu fühlen beginnen von dem spirituellen Leben, das folgen soll. Dieses Bewußtsein muß sich derjenige in die Seele pflanzen, der heute in seiner Mitarbeiterschaft gestärkt werden soll in den theosophischen Arbeitsgruppen. Wenn mit Verachtung geblickt wird auf die kleinen Konventikel von seiten der Führer der heutigen Kultur, so muß der, welcher fleißig in seiner Seele mitarbeitet an der Vorbereitung eines Zukünftigen, sich sagen: Auf diejenigen, die heute an der Spitze stehen mit ihrer intellektuellen Kraft, auf die ist nicht gerechnet. Gerade die, die von ihnen verachtet werden, von denen gesagt wird, daß sie nicht auf der Höhe der heutigen Gelehrsamkeit stehen, gerade diese Menschen werden heute gesammelt - so wie gesammelt worden sind die schlichten Leute der alten Atlantis von dem Führer des Sonnenorakels -, um vorzubereiten eine künftige Kultur, um die Morgenröte zu sein derselben, während in der Gelehrsamkeit die Abendröte der heutigen Kultur vor uns steht. Das sei nebenbei gesagt zur Stärkung derjenigen, die die Angriffe von Seite derer, die an der Spitze unserer Kultur wandeln wollen, auszuhalten und ihnen standzuhalten haben.
Dieser große Eingeweihte des Sonnenorakels sammelte nun seine schlichten Leute in einer Gegend ungefähr westwärts vom heutigen Irland. Nun müssen wir uns die Situation klarmachen. Die Atlantis ging im Laufe langer, langer Zeiträume zugrunde. Immer wieder zogen mächtige Völkerschaften von Westen nach Osten. In den verschiedensten Gebieten von Asien, Europa und Afrika saßen Völker, die in verschiedenen Zeiten angekommen waren und sich mischten. Da brach auch der große Führer des Sonnenorakels mit seiner kleinen Schar auf, um in der Mitte von Asien eine Kolonie zu gründen, von der ausgehen sollten die Strömungen, welche die nachatlantischen Kulturen begründeten. Neben seinen schlichten Leuten hatte aber der große Führer noch etwas anderes mitgenommen. Und hier kommen wir an eines der Kapitel, wo wir eben ein durch das Zweigleben in der Geisteswissenschaft gefestigtes und etwas gestärktes Herz brauchen, um überhaupt eine Ahnung zu haben von der Wahrheit dessen, was da gesagt wird.
Es inspizierte gleichsam der große Führer die andern Orakelstätten und er hatte aufzusuchen die größten Eingeweihten der verschiedenen Orakel. Nun gibt es eine gewisse Methode, durch die das in Ausführung gesetzt werden kann, was man nennen könnte «spirituelle Ökonomie». Sie wissen ja, und es ist ganz richtig, wenn es so geschildert wird, daß, nachdem der Mensch gestorben ist, sein Ätherleib sich auflöst. Nur ein Extrakt bleibt und wird mitgenommen. Das ist aber nur die elementare Wahrheit. Diese Wahrheit muß modifiziert werden, wenn man weiter aufsteigt in der spirituellen Erkenntnis, Nicht alle Ätherleiber aller Menschen werden in dieser Weise aufgelöst im allgemeinen Äther. Solche Ätherleiber, wie sie die größten Eingeweihten der sieben alten atlantischen Orakel hatten, sind wertvoll. In sie sind hineinverwoben die spirituellen Arbeiten dieser Eingeweihten, und es wäre gegen die spirituelle Ökonomie, wenn diese Ätherleiber der großen Eingeweihten einfach aufgelöst würden. Sie bleiben erhalten wie Modelle für eine spätere Zeit, und der große Eingeweihte des Sonnenorakels hatte die sieben Modelle der sieben bedeutendsten Eingeweihten aufzubewahren. Er nahm sie mit. Da er seine schlichte Schar hinüberführte nach Asien, nahm er die sieben Ätherleiber der sieben bedeutendsten Eingeweihten der alten Atlantis mit. So etwas ist möglich durch die Methoden, die in den Mysterien ausgebildet werden. So etwas kann man machen. Sie müssen sich durchaus spirituelle Vorgänge vorstellen und nicht etwa, daß man die Ätherleiber in Schachteln verpacken kann; aber man kann sie für spätere Zeiten aufbewahren.
In Asien drüben machte nun der Führer folgendes: Von Generation zu Generation pflanzten sich fort die schlichten Leute, die als eine Schar sich um den Führer gesammelt hatten. Sie hatten vor allen Dingen eine ungeheure Ergebenheit und unendliche Anhänglichkeit an ihren großen Führer. Von Generation zu Generation pflanzten sie sich fort und ihre Erziehung wurde in bestimmter Weise klug und spirituell bedeutsam geleitet, so geleitet, daß nach langen Generationen folgendes möglich wurde, wiederum durch eine der Methoden, die in den Mysterien ausgearbeitet werden, die sich abspielen hinter den Kulissen des äußeren Lebens. Wir werden sehen, wie solche Methoden wirken. Es soll der heutige Vortrag der Anfang sein von vielen, die einzelnes dann erklären können.
Es ist durch solche Methoden durchaus möglich, daß man, wenn der Mensch wiederum heruntersteigt zu einer neuen Verkörperung, wo er sich wiederum mit einem Ätherleib umgeben muß, daß man in diesen Ätherleib einverwebt einen alten Ätherleib, den man aufbewahrt hat. Und so wurde, als die Zeit gekommen war, da durch eine sorgfältige Erziehung der eingewanderten Schar und ihrer Nachkommen sieben Leute da waren, bei welchen so etwas vorgenommen werden konnte, es wurden ihnen einverwoben bei ihrer Geburt die aufbewahrten sieben Ätherleiber der sieben bedeutendsten Eingeweihten der atlantischen Orakel. Einer von denen, die da um den großen Führer des Sonnenorakels waren, bekam eingewoben den Ätherleib des bedeutendsten Saturneingeweihten, ein anderer den des Mars-, ein dritter den des Jupitereingeweihten und so weiter. Und so hatte der große Führer sieben Leute, denen einverwoben waren die sieben Ätherleiber der sieben bedeutendsten Eingeweihten der alten atlantischen Orakel. Wenn Sie diesen sieben Leuten begegnet wären irgendwo im Alltag, so würden Sie sie gefunden haben als schlichte Leute, denn sie waren nicht die wiederverkörperten Iche der atlantischen Eingeweihten, sondern waren eben schlichte Leute mit den neuen Fähigkeiten der nachatlantischen Zeit. In ihrem Ich unterschieden sie sich nicht besonders von dem, was sozusagen die erste schlichte primitive Kultur war in dieser Zeit unmittelbar nach der atlantischen Katastrophe. Aber in ihrem Ätherleib hatten sie die Kräfte der sieben großen atlantischen Eingeweihten. Wir haben hier eine Wiederverkörperung nicht des Ich, sondern der Ätherleiber der atlantischen Eingeweihten. So sehen wir, daß nicht nur das Ich sich wiederverkörpern kann, sondern daß auch das zweite Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit für sich sich wiederverkörpern kann. Und dadurch, daß diese Sieben aus der Gefolgschaft des großen Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels diese Ätherleiber erhielten mit den Kräften, die eben von der atlantischen Zeit darinnen waren, dadurch waren sie große Inspirierte. Sie hatten in gewissen Stunden die Fähigkeit, hereinströmen zu lassen in ihre Ätherleiber die Kräfte, welche die Geheimnisse von Sonne, Mars, Saturn und so weiter enthüllten. Daher erschienen sie wie Inspirierte, die in ihrer Botschaft weit hinausreichten über das, was sie in ihrem Astralleib oder in ihrem Ich hätten beurteilen können. Wie ein wunderbarer harmonischer Chor wirkten zusammen die Botschaften, welche von den verschiedensten Gliedern der Welt zusammenklingen ließen diese Sieben, die in der Loge der sieben Rishis vereinigt und hinuntergeschickt wurden nach Indien, wo sie die uralte indische Kultur zu inspirieren hatten. Es ist uns viel und Großes von dieser Kultur in wunderbarer Form erhalten in den Veden, es ist uns Wunderbares erhalten von der tiefen wissenschaftlichen Art dieser indischen Kultur in den Upanishaden, in der Vedantaphilosophie und so weiter; aber das, was die alten heiligen Rishis gelehrt hatten, wo noch nichts niedergeschrieben worden ist, das ragt weit hinaus über das, was uns als Schönstes mitgeteilt worden ist in den indischen Schriften. Wie ein schwaches Nachklingen erweist sich das, was später aufgeschrieben worden ist. Denn von der uralt heiligen Kultur der Rishis wurde nichts aufgeschrieben, das pflanzte sich durch die Mysterien auf geistige Art fort.
Uns soll heute interessieren, wie Ätherleiber wiederverkörpert werden können und wie das, was in der alten atlantischen Zeit erarbeitet worden ist, durch die Mysterien herüberverpflanzt wurde durch den großen Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels in die nachatlantische Zeit und in die erste Kultur, die indische Kultur, herübergetragen worden ist, welche so groß heraufstrahlt.
Nur die Geheimnisse des Sonnenorakels selber konnten nicht unmittelbar gegeben werden im alten Indien. Daher sprechen diese sieben Rishis von einer Wesenheit, die jenseits ihrer Wissenssphäre war. Sie sprachen von jenem Wesen, das die Sonne selber führt und die Sonnenkräfte der Erde zuführt und von dem sie sagten, daß es jenseits ihrer Erkenntnismöglichkeit liegt, von dem Vishva-Karman. Dieser Vishva-Karman ist nichts anderes als der spätere Christus. Er wurde auch schon in der alten indischen Kultur verkündet.
Der zweite bedeutsame Schüler des Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels, der nun die Geheimnisse des Sonnenwesens übermittelt erhielt, war derjenige, der einst die zweite nachatlantische Kultur begründen sollte: Zarathustra. Nicht der Zarathustra, von dem die Gelehrsamkeit spricht. Es war in alten Zeiten so üblich, daß der Nachfolger eines großen Menschheitslehrers denselben Namen annahm wie der große Vorfahr. Von dem Zarathustra, von dem wir jetzt reden, redet allerdings kein Buch, sondern nur von seinem letzten Nachfolger reden die Bücher. Dieser uralte Zarathustra war es, welcher eine ururalte persische Kultur begründete, die zuerst die persischen Völker hinwies darauf, daß es in der Tat ebenso eine geistige Macht in der Sonne gibt, wie es eine physische gibt, die herunterströmt auf die Erde. So etwas suchte der alte Zarathustra in seinen Menschen zu erwecken, was wir charakterisieren können, indem wir sagen: Wenn wir die Augen auf die Pflanzen und alles andere, was ringsherum Leben hat, richten, wenn wir das tun, so müssen wir fragen: Was wäre es ohne Sonnenlicht? Aber wie das physische Sonnenlicht herunterfließt, so fließt herunter die spirituelle Kraft, deren Führer eine große überragende Wesenheit ist. Wie der Mensch seinen physischen Leib hat und seine Aura, diejenige Aura, die wir die kleine Aura nennen, so hat auch die Sonne ihren physischen Leib und ihre Aura: Ahura Mazdao, die große Aura, die Schar der großen Sonnenwesen mit ihrem Führer. Von diesem Ahura Mazdao oder Aura Mazdao, von der großen Aura sprach Zarathustra. Ebenso nun, wie der Zarathustra diese die Fortentwickelung bewirkende Kraft der Sonnenaura verkündete, so verkündete er auch die der Sonnenwesenheit feindlichen Kräfte als Ahriman. Das waren die Lehren Zarathustras äußerlich. Aber Zarathustra hatte seine intimen Schüler, die er einweihte in die großen Geheimnisse der Welt. Zwei der Schüler Zarathustras kommen für uns in Betracht. Dem einen der Schüler vermittelte der Zarathustra alle diejenigen Weistümer, die zum Hellsehen im Astralleibe führen. Er vermittelte ihm alles das, was man wahrnehmen kann in der Welt des physischen und geistigen Raumes sozusagen in derselben Zeit, in der man eben ist. So daß er einen Schüler hatte, der von ihm hellseherisch gemacht worden ist im astralischen Leibe, der hineinschauen konnte in die geistigen Welten der Astral- und Devachansphäre und in noch höhere Welten. Alles, was gleichzeitig ausgebreitet ist an physischen und geistigen Geheimnissen, wurde diesem Schüler übermittelt. Einem andern Schüler übermittelte er alles das, was man bezeichnen könnte als Lesen in der Akasha-Chronik, als jene hellseherische Kraft, die kommt, wenn der Ätherleib hellseherisch wird, wodurch der Mensch die verschiedenen Phasen der Entwickelung, die sich nacheinander abspielten, wahrnimmt. Während der eine übermittelt erhielt das, was gleichzeitig sich abspielt, erhielt der andere das übermittelt, was die Akasha-Chronik der Erde und Sonne selbst überhaupt ist, was sich nacheinander abspielt, und zum Verständnis der Erden- und Sonnenentwickelung führen kann. Dadurch, daß Zarathustra dieses seinen Schülern gegeben hat, wirkte er in der Richtung, daß nun die Kultur der nachatlantischen Zeit weitergehen konnte. Denn der eine Schüler wurde wiedergeboren als der große Inspirator, als der Einleiter der ägyptischen Kultur, als die Wesenheit, die wir kennen unter dem Namen Hermes, Hermes Trismegistos. Dieser Hermes hatte nun zugleich übermittelt erhalten, damit er verkündigen konnte die Botschaft von den höheren Welten und ihren Geheimnissen und sie einverleiben konnte der ägyptischen Kultur, er hat übermittelt erhalten durch Vorgänge, die bekannt sind in den Mysterien, den Astralleib des Zarathustra. So sehen wir, daß der Astralleib des Zarathustra aufbewahrt worden war durch jene Vorgänge, welche wir nach und nach kennenlernen werden, und nun übertragen wurde bei der Wiedergeburt des einen Schülers, übertragen wurde an Hermes. Wie ein Kleid trug Hermes diesen wiedergeborenen Astralleib des Zarathustra.
Auch der andere Schüler wurde wiedergeboren. Ihm sollte aufgehen alles das, was in der Akasha-Chronik der Erde sich darbietet. Er sollte einverwoben erhalten den Ätherleib des Zarathustra. Dazu mußte eine ganz besondere Sache sich abspielen. Er mußte in gewisser Weise aufleuchten haben in sich die Kräfte dieses Ätherleibes. Was da geschah, ist uns in der entsprechenden religiösen Urkunde in einer schönen, wunderbaren Weise angedeutet. Führen wir uns vor die Seele, wie sich das eigentlich abspielen mußte.
Dieser wiedergeborene Schüler des Zarathustra hatte ja seinen eigenen Astralleib, sein eigenes Ich, und er erhielt einverwoben den Ätherleib des Zarathustra. Er mußte also als kleines Kind aufgehen fühlen die Kräfte aus diesem Ätherleib des Zarathustra, bevor noch die eigene Urteilskraft aus dem Astralleib angeregt war, bevor das Ich hineinpfuschte. Da mußte eine Art Initiation stattfinden. Als ganz kleines Kind, bevor noch die eigene individuelle Entwickelung mitspielte, mußten auferweckt werden in diesem wiedergeborenen Schüler die Kräfte des Ätherleibes des Zarathustra. Daher wurde das Kind eingeschlossen in ein Kästchen und ins Wasser gesetzt, so daß es abgeschlossen war von der übrigen Welt und diese nicht hineinspielen konnte. Da keimten auf die Kräfte des Ätherleibes des Zarathustra. Dieser wiedergeborene Schüler des Zarathustra ist nämlich Moses, und in der Erzählung von Moses und seiner Aussetzung haben wir nichts anderes gegeben als jenes tiefe Geheimnis, welches hinter den Kulissen der äußeren Welt vor sich gegangen ist, von der Aufbewahrung des Ätherleibes des Zarathustra und seiner Wiedererweckung in Moses. Dadurch konnten Hermes und Moses die nachatlantische Kultur so weiterleiten, wie es geschehen ist.
Hier haben wir Beispiele von Wiederverkörperungen von Ätherleibern, von der Wiederverkörperung eines Astralleibes. So daß wir nicht bloß sprechen von einer Wiederverkörperung des Ich, sondern von der Wiederverkörperung der Glieder der menschlichen Natur, die wir sonst auch kennengelernt haben: des Ätherleibes und Astralleibes. In der spirituellen Ökonomie liegt es begründet, daß dasjenige, was erobert worden ist, nicht zugrunde geht, sondern daß es erhalten bleibt und auf die Nachwelt verpflanzt wird. Aber auch in anderer Weise kann dies, was gesagt worden ist, geschehen. An einem andern Beispiel wollen wir sehen, wie es wiederum andere Methoden gibt, um die Vergangenheit in die Zukunft zu tragen.
Sie erinnern sich an eine Persönlichkeit, welche in der Bibel erwähnt wird, an einen der Söhne des Noah, an den Stammvater des semitischen Volksstammes, an Sem. Es liegt - das ist auch okkultistisch nachzuweisen — hinter Sem eine Individualität, die wir als Stammindividualität der semitischen Völker bezeichnen müssen. Es stammen von diesem Urvater die semitischen Völker ab. Wenn so etwas sich vollzieht, daß von einem Stammvater eine Anzahl von Menschen abstammt, dann muß eine besondere Vorkehrung in der spirituellen Welt getroffen werden. Diese Vorkehrung spielte sich im besonderen Falle des Sem so ab: Es wurde für den Sem aus der geistigen Welt heraus ein eigener Ätherleib gewoben. Sem trug also einen Ätherleib, der aus der geistigen Welt heraus besonders gewoben wurde. Dadurch war er fähig geworden, in seinem eigenen Ätherleib eine besonders hohe Wesenheit aus der geistigen Welt zu tragen, eine hohe Wesenheit, die sich sonst nicht hätte verkörpern können auf der Erde, eine Wesenheit, die nicht imstande gewesen wäre, bis zum dichten physischen Leibe zu gehen, die sich nun so verkörperte, daß sie sich hineinbegeben konnte in den Ätherleib des Sem, so daß dieser Sem erstens er selber war - er hatte seinen physischen, Äther-, Astralleib und sein Ich -, daß dann aber in den Sem hineinverwoben war ein Ätherleib, der besonders zubereitet worden ist für den eben charakterisierten Zweck der Gründung eines Stammes. Aber in diesen Ätherleib war hineinverwoben eine andere hohe Wesenheit der geistigen Welt. So daß dem hellseherischen Bewußtsein, wenn es sich gegenübergestellt hätte dem Sem, sich dargestellt hätte der Sem selber und herausragend aus ihm, wie eine zweite Wesenheit, verbunden mit Sems Ätherleib, diese höhere Wesenheit, eine solche Wesenheit, die sich herabsteigend— also nicht Sem - gleichsam in einem Menschen verkörperte zu einer besondern Aufgabe. Die hat also nicht hinter sich verschiedene Inkarnationen wie die Menschen, sondern steigt in diese eine Inkarnation herab. Eine solche Wesenheit nennt man Avatar. Sie ist nicht menschlich heimisch in unserer Welt, sondern steigt herab, um einmal zu einer bestimmten Mission zu wohnen innerhalb dieser Welt.
Dadurch, daß eine solche avatarische Wesenheit in einem Menschen wohnt, hat der Teil des Menschen, den dieser bewohnt, noch eine ganz besondere Eigenschaft. Er kann sich nämlich vervielfältigen. Geradeso wie wenn Sie ein Samenkorn in die Erde stecken und der Halm wächst heraus und Sie finden in der Ähre eine Vervielfachung des Kornes, so vervielfältigte sich der Ätherleib des Sem in viele Abbilder, und diese wurden einverwoben allen denjenigen, die zum Stamme Sem gehörten. So geht es. So haben wir in denjenigen, die echte Abkömmlinge waren des Sem, hineinverwoben in ihre eigenen Ätherleiber die Abbilder des Ätherleibes, der damals besonders zubereitet worden war als das Urbild in dem Sem.
Aber noch in anderer Weise wurde dieser Ätherleib des Sem später benützt. Wie diese Benutzung war, können wir uns am besten vor die Seele rufen durch einen Vergleich. Sie können ein bedeutender europäischer Bildungsmensch sein. Wenn Sie aber zu den Hottentotten Ihre Bildung tragen wollen, müssen Sie die Hottentottensprache lernen. So müssen auch hohe Wesenheiten, die heruntersteigen, wenn sie die Menschheit führen wollen, sich einverweben die Kräfte, durch die sie auf der Erde zu den Menschen sprechen können. Nun gab es in einer späteren Entwickelungsphase des semitischen Volkes die Notwendigkeit, daß eine sehr bedeutende Wesenheit herabstieg auf die Erde, um sich den Menschen mitzuteilen und die Kultur weiterzuschieben. Diese Wesenheit, die erwähnt wird unter dem Namen Melchisedek, mußte nun sich gleichsam anziehen den erhaltengebliebenen Ätherleib des Sem, so daß wir in Melchisedeks Ätherleib einverwoben haben jenen Ätherleib, der einstmals in Sem vorhanden war, der von einem avatarischen Wesen bewohnt war und der wieder von Melchisedek benützt wird, damit er dem Abraham den Impuls zum Weiterstoß der semitischen Kultur geben kann. So haben wir wieder eine eigentümliche Art kennengelernt, wie der Ätherleib sich fortbildet in einem bestimmten Menschen, dann von einem bestimmten Menschen wiederum zu einer dazu ausersehenen Individualität führt.
Solche Beispiele können wir bis in die neueste Zeit herauf verfolgen. Und wenn wir sie so herauf verfolgen, dann wird uns allmählich klar, was der Okkultismus heute schon wirklich sagen kann: Bei den meisten Menschen der Gegenwart haben wir gar nicht mehr einen Ätherleib, der ursprünglich, oder einen Astralleib, der ursprünglich herausgewoben wurde aus dem allgemeinen Weltengewebe. Fast jeder Mensch hat ein Stück in seinem Äther- und Astralleib, das aus alten Zeiten aufbewahrt worden ist, weil in der spirituellen Ökonomie das Brauchbare immer weiter und weiter aufbewahrt wird.
Es seien noch aus der neuen Zeit zwei Beispiele erwähnt, die uns veranschaulichen können, in welcher Art die Geheimnisse von Zeit zu Zeit wirken. Zunächst das Beispiel, das anknüpft an die Persönlichkeit, die Sie erwähnt finden in meiner «Mystik im Aufgange des neuzeitlichen Geisteslebens und ihr Verhältnis zur modernen Weltanschauung», an Nikolaus von Kues. Wenn Sie seine Schriften lesen, so finden Sie eine, die von ihm genannt ist «De docta ignorantia», die gelehrte Unwissenheit, obwohl mehr Gelehrsamkeit drinnensteckt als in manchem Buch, das sich gelehrte Wissenheit nennt. Sie heißt aus gewissen Gründen so. Wenn Sie andere seiner Schriften lesen, so werden Sie finden, daß in merkwürdiger Weise hineinverwoben ist die prophetische Vorherverkündigung des Weltbildes des Kopernikus. Ganz drinnen ist es für den, der da lesen will. Bei Kopernikus erst war die Sache so, daß die Welt reif war, in der unmittelbaren Gestalt dieses Weltbild entgegenzunehmen. Wenn man den Zusammenhang durchforscht, so bekommt man folgendes heraus. In dem Nikolaus von Kues steckte in einem seiner Wesensglieder eine sehr hohe alte Individualität. Dadurch war es möglich, daß der Astralleib des Nikolaus von Kues aufbewahrt wurde und hinübergeleitet wurde so, daß er eingewoben werden konnte dem Nikolaus Kopernikus, so daß dieser einverwoben hatte den Astralleib des Nikolaus von Kues. Daher konnte in ihm gleichsam auferstehen, was Nikolaus von Kues in sich hatte. Das ist ein solches Beispiel, wie der Astralleib sich wiederverkörpert hat.
Ein anderes Beispiel ist das Folgende: Diejenigen unter Ihnen, die nachgedacht haben über die Sache, wissen, welche ungeheure Bedeutung für das neue Denken Galilei hat. Denn es gäbe eigentlich unsere ganze Physik nicht, wenn es nicht Galilei gegeben hätte. Die ganze Art, wie heute physikalisch gedacht wird, führt zurück auf Galilei. Jeder Schulknabe findet heute in den allerersten, in den elementaren Büchern, daß es das Beharrungsvermögen oder das Trägheitsgesetz gibt, das besagt, daß ein Körper in der Bewegung, in der er sich befindet, zu bleiben trachtet, bis ein Hindernis kommt. Also wenn wir etwas werfen, so wird das vermöge seiner eigenen Trägheit weiterfliegen, bis ein Hindernis kommt. So denkt man heute, und so wird es den Kindern in den Schulbüchern beigebracht. Vor Galilei dachte man nicht so. Da dachte man: Wenn ein Stein weitergeworfen wird, so könnte er nicht fliegen, wenn die Luft ihn nicht weitertreiben, nicht hinten anschieben würde. Ganz anders wurde da über diese Dinge gedacht. Also die Gesetze des Falles, der Pendelbewegung, die Gesetze der einfachen Maschine, alles das ist zurückzuführen auf Galilei. Galilei schöpfte seine Erkenntnisse aus einer gewissen Inspiration heraus. Ich will Sie nur daran erinnern, wie er die Pendelgesetze erkannte an jener schwingenden Kirchenlampe im Dome von Pisa. Eine geniale Tat war die Entdeckung der Pendelgesetze durch Galilei! Viele Menschen sind an dieser Lampe vorübergegangen und ihnen ist nichts eingefallen. Dem Galilei sind aufgegangen die großen mechanischen Grundgesetze. Ein solcher Mensch, der in dieser Weise inspiriert sein kann, hat einen Ätherleib, welchen verfallen zu lassen widersprechen würde der spirituellen Ökonomie. Dieser Ätherleib wurde ebenfalls aufbewahrt und nach verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit erscheint er wieder. Er wird verwendet so, daß er einverwoben wird einer Persönlichkeit, die ebenfalls Bedeutsames leistete. Einverwoben wurde er derjenigen Persönlichkeit, die in einem ganz fernen Bauerndorfe Rußlands aufwächst, da eines Tages den Eltern durchgeht und aufbricht nach Moskau. Schon bald entwickelt sich bei diesem Menschen eine hohe Begabung und schnell macht er in Schulen Rußlands und Deutschlands alles das durch, was ihn sozusagen auf die Höhe der Kultur seiner Zeit bringen kann. Er hatte nur nachzuholen, was über die Erde gegangen war seit der Zeit, seit er als Galilei - im Ätherleib gestorben war. Und dann wird dieser selbe Mensch sozusagen der Begründer der ganzen klassischen Literatur in Rußland. Wie aus dem Nichts heraus schafft er diese Schriften. Aber nicht nur dieses, er wird auch ein bedeutender Anreger auf allen Gebieten der Mechanik, des physikalischen und chemischen Lebens der Wissenschaft. Es ist Michail Lomonossow, der da also durchaus nur dadurch zu seiner reformatorischen Tat kommen konnte, daß ihm einverwoben war der Ätherleib des Galilei. Wenn wir sehen, wie gegen das Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts Galilei stirbt und am Anfange des 18. Jahrhunderts Michail Lomonossow geboren wird mit demselben Ätherleib, so sehen wir eine von jenen intimen Wiederverkörperungen, wo ein anderes Wesensglied als das Ich wiederverkörpert wird. Solche Dinge führen uns tief hinein in das Verständnis des ganzen Hergangs der Menschheitsentwickelung und sie führen uns zum Verständnis mancher andern Tatsachen, die sich entwickelt haben im Laufe der Zeit und die zu unserer Gegenwart heraufgeführt haben.
Der größte Avatar auf der Erde war Christus selber, der Christus, der gewohnt hat durch drei Jahre hindurch in den drei Leibern des Jesus von Nazareth. Dadurch, daß der Christus gewohnt hat in den drei Leibern des Jesus von Nazareth als Avatar, dadurch ist es auch möglich geworden, daß für diese drei Leiber, vor allen Dingen für Astral- und Ätherleib des Jesus etwas eintrat, was ich eben charakterisiert habe: eine Vervielfältigung. In der Tat, nachdem das Mysterium von Golgatha sich vollzogen hatte, waren in der geistigen Welt durch die wunderbare Ökonomie in vielen, vielen Abbildern vorhanden der Astralleib und Ätherleib des Jesus von Nazareth. Also: wie wenn wir die Urbilder hätten im Astral- und Ätherleib des Jesus von Nazareth, und jetzt waren viele Abbilder da. Dadurch, daß ein Avatar hineinfährt in eine menschliche Hülle, dadurch wird sie auseinandergetrieben und ist in vielen Abbildern da. Nun hatten diese Abbilder des Astralleibes und Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth im Verhältnis zum Beispiel zu den Abbildern des Ätherleibes des Sem noch eine besondere Eigenschaft. Die Abbilder des Ätherleibes des Sem konnten nur eingepflanzt werden denjenigen, die abstammten von Sem, während die Astral- und Ätherleiber, die abstammten von dem Astral- und Ätherleib des Jesus von Nazareth, einverpflanzt werden konnten allen Menschen der verschiedensten Völker und Rassen. Jedem, der sich durch seine eigene Entwickelung reif gemacht hatte, so etwas in seinen eigenen Astral- oder Ätherleib einverwoben zu erhalten, welcher Rasse er auch angehört, konnte einverpflanzt werden dieser Astralund Ätherleib, die Abbilder waren des Urbildes vom Astralleibe und Ätherleibe des Jesus von Nazareth. Und wir sehen in der nachfolgenden Entwickelung des Christentums, wie sich hinter den äußeren geschichtlichen Ereignissen merkwürdige Dinge vollziehen, die erst erklärlich machen den äußerlichen Verlauf der Ereignisse selber.
Wie ist die Verbreitung des Christentums? In den ersten Jahrhunderten so, daß wir sagen können: Es ist diese Verbreitung auf den physischen Plan angewiesen. Wir sehen auch betont, daß durch dasjenige, was auf dem physischen Plan lebt, das Christentum fortgepflanzt wird. Wird es doch von den Aposteln hervorgehoben, daß der Fortpflanzung des Christentums die unmittelbare, sinnenfällige Wahrnehmung zugrunde liegt. «Wir haben unsere Hände in seine Wundmale gelegt», das wird angeführt zum Beweise dafür, daß der Christus in einem Menschenleibe gewandelt hat. Betont wurde sozusagen das, was der physische Plan als Unterlage für die Entwickelung des Christentums bieten konnte. Es wird immer erwähnt, wie diejenigen, die noch selber Schüler der Apostel waren, das Christentum fortgepflanzt hatten, indem hervorgehoben wird, daß sie gekannt haben solche, die noch dem Herrn selber gefolgt sind. Also sozusagen auf den Augenschein wird gebaut. Und in einem noch tieferen Sinne wird bis Augustinus hin auf den Augenschein gebaut. Augustinus sagt: Ich würde an die Wahrheit der Evangelien nicht glauben, wenn mich nicht die Autorität der katholischen Kirche dazu zwänge. - Warum also glaubt er? Weil er der Ansicht ist, daß die sichtbare Kirche dieses Evangelium von Jahrzehnt zu Jahrzehnt, von Jahrhundert zu Jahrhundert auf dem physischen Plan fortgepflanzt hat. Aber in den folgenden Jahrhunderten, von dem 5. bis zum 10. Jahrhundert, da geschieht diese Fortpflanzung auf andere Weise. Warum und wie? Das ist lehrreich, wenn wir den spirituellen Fortgang der Menschheitsentwickelung verfolgen wollen.
Die Art der Fortpflanzung in dieser Periode können Sie sich veranschaulichen, wenn Sie zum Beispiel ein solches Werk nehmen wie die altsächsische Evangelienharmonie, den «Heliand». Da haben Sie das, was die Christus-Idee ist, die Anschauung vom Christus-Wesen, durch eine Art Eingeweihten dargestellt. Der Heliand, den der sächsische Eingeweihte darstellt, ist übersinnlich; aber er wird eingekleidet nicht in die Ereignisse von Palästina, sondern wie ein Fürst eines germanischen Stammes. Die Jünger sind einzelne Leute aus germanischen Ländern. Das ganze Christentum ist da getaucht in ein mitteleuropäisches Kleid. Warum? Weil der Eingeweihte, der hinter dem Heliand steht, der, angeregt durch Ludwig den Frommen, diese Geschichte schrieb, ein hellseherisches Vermögen hatte, um den Christus in einer ähnlichen Weise zu sehen wie Paulus selber bei dem Ereignis von Damaskus. Dadurch, daß durch das Ereignis von Golgatha die Christus-Wesenheit sich verbunden hat dem Astralleibe der Erde, dadurch hat er die Erdenaura mit seiner Kraft durchdrungen, und als der Paulus hellseherisch geworden war, konnte er wahrnehmen: der Christus ist da. Er hat sich nicht zum Glauben bewegen lassen durch das, was in Palästina geschehen war; aber dadurch, daß er ihn selber gesehen hat, ihn, der einverwoben war der Erde, dadurch war aus Saulus ein Paulus geworden. Ähnlich sah den ewigen, den auferstandenen Christus, den Christus, der in der geistigen Welt lebt seit Golgatha, der Verfasser des «Heliand», und ihm war er wichtiger als der historische Christus von Palästina. Er kleidet ihn in ein anderes Bild ein; denn nicht das äußere Bild war ihm das Wichtige, sondern der geistige Christus. Warum konnte der, der den «Heliand» schrieb, ein solches Bild aus hellseherischer Anschauung mitteilen? Weil seinem Ätherleib einverwoben war ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Denn in diesen Jahrhunderten, von dem 5., 6. bis ins 9., 10. Jahrhundert hinein wurde in die Ätherleiber derer, die etwas leisten sollten für den Fortgang des Christentums, hineinverwoben ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Ein solcher, der ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth einverwoben hatte, war der Schreiber des «Heliand».
Aber viele haben solch ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth einverwoben erhalten. Daher sehen wir, daß in diesen Jahrhunderten diese Menschen in Imaginationen lebten, welche sich anschlossen an die Ereignisse von Golgatha. Alle diejenigen, die die Urbilder des Heilands am Kreuze, der Maria mit dem Jesuskinde geschaffen haben, die nachher wiederholt wurden, es waren solche Leute, die zu diesen bildlichen Darstellungen des Ereignisses von Golgatha und was damit zusammenhängt, gekommen waren dadurch, daß ihnen einverwoben war in den eigenen Ätherleib ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. In diesen Zeiten sind wie typisch diese Bilder entstanden dadurch, daß diese Leute hellseherisch waren. Dadurch entstanden die Dinge, die sich fortpflanzten dann durch die Tradition. Was wir an bildlichen Darstellungen des Ereignisses von Golgatha haben, es rührt her von Leuten, denen einverwoben waren solche Abbilder des Ätherleibes des Jesus. Sie schauten gerade dadurch in ihren Visionen das Ereignis von Golgatha und was damit zusammenhängt. Auch derjenige, der die «Einteilung der Natur» geschrieben hat zur Zeit Karls des Kahlen, Johannes Scotus Erigena, er hat einverwoben gehabt ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus. Und vom 11., 12., 13. bis 15. Jahrhundert, da kamen dann die Menschen, die einverwoben erhielten in ihren eigenen Astralleib ein Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth.
So sehen wir in den Jahrhunderten, vom 5. bis 10. Jahrhundert, Menschen geboren werden, die in ihren Ätherleib einverwoben erhielten ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth, bei den späteren Menschen, vom 11. bis 15. Jahrhundert, sehen wir in den eigenen Astralleib hineinverwoben Abbilder des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Dadurch wird uns manche Persönlichkeit dieser Zeit verständlich. Wie wird uns eine solche Persönlichkeit, die in den eigenen Astralleib ein Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus einverwoben hat, erscheinen? Das Ich des Jesus ist ja nicht etwa verkörpert in diesen Menschen; das Ich ist von dieser Persönlichkeit selber. Durch das Urteil des Ich kann mancher Irrtum hineinkommen in sein Leben, aber dadurch, daß in den Astralleib hineinverwoben ist dieses große Abbild des großen Urbildes, dadurch wird Hingebung, dadurch wird in allen Gefühlen, in alledem, was diesen Astralleib durchwebt, etwas erscheinen, mit dem vielleicht das Ich selber in Widerspruch steht, das aber gerade alles, was im Astralleib wurzelt, als etwas Besonderes erscheinen läßt. Nehmen Sie Franz von Assisi! Da haben Sie eine Persönlichkeit, in deren Astralleib einverwoben war ein Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Mögen Sie manches Extreme in Franz von Assisi finden: sein Ich hat es getan, das war nicht auf derselben Höhe wie der Astralleib. Aber studieren Sie jetzt die Seele des Franz von Assisi unter der Voraussetzung, daß sein Ich nicht immer das richtige Urteil fällen konnte über die wunderbaren Gefühle und die wunderbare Demut des Astralleibes, so werden Sie ihn verstehen. In Franz von Assisi war wiederverkörpert ein Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. In sehr vielen Leuten damals waren solche Abbilder gerade im Astralleibe wiederverkörpert. Bei Franziskanern und Dominikanern finden Sie viele, welche solche Abbilder des Astralleibes damals verkörpert haben. Auch bei andern Persönlichkeiten der damaligen Zeit, die Sie nur verstehen können, wenn Sie sie so betrachten, war es so. Zum Beispiel war die berühmte heilige Elisabeth von Thüringen eine solche Persönlichkeit, in welcher ein Abbild des Astralleibes von Jesus von Nazareth einverwoben war. So wird uns das, was äußerlich geschieht, erst verständlich, wenn wir sehen, wie das Geistige gegeben wird von Zeit zu Zeit, wie es sich im Laufe der Zeit fortpflanzt.
Als nun der Christus in dem Jesus von Nazareth sich verkörperte, wurde ferner in dem Astralleibe des Jesus von Nazareth etwas wie ein Abdruck des Ich geschaffen. Wir können uns leicht vorstellen, wenn dies die Christus-Wesenheit ist, die in den Astralleib sich hineinbegibt, daß dann in den umliegenden Partien des Astralleibes etwas wie ein Abbild entsteht [Es wurde offenbar an die Tafel gezeichnet]. Dieses Abbild des Ich von dem Christus [in dem Leibe des} Jesus hatte nun zahlreiche Vervielfältigungen hervorgerufen, die in der geistigen Welt sozusagen aufbewahrt blieben. Einzelne hatten in ihrem eigenen Ich gleichsam als Propheten einer neuen Zeit etwas einverwoben erhalten, so zum Beispiel einige der deutschen Mystiker, die deshalb den inneren Christus mit solcher Inbrunst verkündeten, weil sich etwas wie ein Abbild des Ich des Christus in ihnen verkörpert hat; aber ein Abbild natürlich! Erst die Menschen, welche nach und nach sich vorbereiten zum vollen Christus-Verständnis, die durch die Erkenntnis der spirituellen Welten verstehen werden, was der Christus ist, indem er von Zeit zu Zeit, sich wandelnd, immer wieder sich findet im Fortgang der Erdenentwickelung, die werden nach und nach reif, dieses ChristusErlebnis in sich zu haben, sozusagen die wartenden Abbilder des Christus-Ich, das der Christus im Leibe des Jesus durch einen Abdruck gebildet hat, dieses Ich aufzunehmen.
Das gehört zu der inneren Mission der spirituellen Weltenströmung, die Menschen dazu vorzubereiten, ihr Seelisches so reif zu machen, daß nun auch eine immer größere und größere Anzahl von Menschen ein Abbild der Ich-Wesenheit des Christus Jesus in sich aufnehmen kann. Denn so ist der Gang der christlichen Entwickelung: Erst die Fortpflanzung auf dem physischen Plan, dann die Fortpflanzung durch die Ätherleiber, dann durch die Astralleiber, die vielfach die wiederverkörperten Astralleiber des Jesus waren. Nun soll die Zeit kommen, wo immer mehr und mehr in den Menschen die Ich-Natur des Christus Jesus selber als die innerste Wesenheit ihrer Seele aufgeht. Ja, es warten diese geprägten Abbilder der Christus-Jesus-Individualität, daß sie aufgenommen werden von den Seelen, sie warten! Und hier sehen Sie, aus welchen Tiefen heraus die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltenströmung wirkt. Sie ist nicht eine Theorie, nicht eine Summe von Begriffen, die bloß gegeben werden, um den Menschen aufzuklären, sie ist eine Realität, und Realitäten sollen der Seele gegeben werden durch die Geisteswissenschaft. Derjenige, der das Christentum spirituell verstehen und in sich erleben wird, der wird dazu beitragen, daß entweder in der jetzigen oder in einer späteren Inkarnation in sein Ich einverwoben wird ein Abbild des Ich der Christus-Jesus-Individualität. Nicht bloß zu einer Erkenntnis, zu einer realen Tatsache bereiten sich diejenigen vor, welche die wahre innere, die wahrhafte Realität der geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltenströmung verstehen, denn das ist ihre wahre innere spirituelle Wirklichkeit. Fühlen Sie das, daß es sich in unserer Weltbewegung nicht handelt um die Mitteilung von Theorien allein, sondern um die Vorbereitung von Tatsachen, um das Entgegennehmen von etwas, was da wartet in der spirituellen Welt und was die Menschen empfangen können aus der spirituellen Welt, wenn sie sich dazu in der entsprechenden Weise vorbereiten.
More Intimate Questions about Reincarnation
It is now my task to speak about a very specific topic in the various branches, because this topic should become more and more familiar to us and permeate our consciousness, namely the topic of “more intimate questions about reincarnation” and various related matters. Therefore, today we will also have some things to discuss about these more intimate questions of reincarnation and their significance for the whole life of humanity. We will have to start from very ancient times, but then gradually approach important questions of the present. In our spiritual science, it is necessary to proceed differently than in other worldviews or, for example, in social questions. In spiritual science, one must first deal with the facts of life in general and then work them out in more detail. In our worldview, we first speak in the most elementary sense about how the inner core of the human being, his divine I, continues to develop from life to life, how it reincarnates. However, this only deals with the question of reincarnation in a very basic sense, and we now need to describe these things in more detail and greater depth. For it is not enough to say that the human ego rushes from one life to the next; there are many other things connected with these questions of reincarnation which actually shed light on them and their connections with life. When we now look back to ancient times, let us characterize them from this point of view.
We have often spoken of the fact that humanity must seek its ancestors in ancient Atlantis, that is, in the land area between present-day Africa and Europe on the one hand and America on the other. There, in bodies that were in part quite different from the bodies of present-day human beings, all the souls that are sitting here today were already embodied. There we must seek the closest ancestry of humanity. This Atlantean humanity had its own specific leadership. However, the soul forces, indeed all the abilities of the Atlantean humanity, were different from those of our present humanity. Therefore, in ancient Atlantis there was not what we have today as leadership. And if we pick out something from this ancient Atlantis: There were no churches, places of worship, or schools in the modern sense. There was something between a place of worship and a school; there was, in the most pronounced form, what we know as mystery centers. These had complete leadership over the Atlanteans in terms of knowledge and outer life. One might say that the spiritual leaders were at the same time the kings of the Atlantean tribes. A word that was of course coined later can convey to us the meaning of the task of these Atlantean mysteries, these Atlantean places of worship and schools, from which the initiates of the Atlanteans worked, from which they both enriched individual human beings with knowledge and exercised leadership over them. This word, which was coined later but today conveys to us the task of the mystery centers, is the word “oracle.” That is why we speak of the Atlantean oracles as the great centers of Atlantean culture.
We must form a concept of what these oracles had to do. They had to proclaim to people teachings about the spiritual world that lies behind the physical world. This teaching about the spiritual world is not limited in space, if we emphasize only this one characteristic, as our knowledge of the physical world is. Anyone who knows the secrets of Mars, for example, knows a great deal about the spiritual secrets of our world. All the physical bodies of our solar system are connected with each other and are the outer expression of spiritual beings. Those who know these spiritual beings also know the forces that pass from planet to planet, which are therefore active in the spiritual world in which we find ourselves between death and new birth. There was an oracle whose primary task was to proclaim and convey to people the secrets of Mars, another whose task was to proclaim and convey the secrets of Jupiter, and so on. From these individual insights, it became possible to lead certain masses of people. We will talk about why this was so another time; today we will only hint at it. Our task today is different.
The Atlantean peoples were divided into groups, and it was connected with the whole development that one group of people in particular had to be ruled with the forces that could be gained through knowledge of Mars. Another group had to be ruled with the forces that could be gained through knowledge of Jupiter or Venus, Mercury, and so on. In ancient Atlantis, there were what could be called Jupiter people or Mars people. There were seven oracle sites because life in Atlantis was divided into seven groups according to the different characteristics of racial formation. There were the Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter oracles, and so on: all names that were coined later but are applicable to these oracle sites. And the leadership, the supreme authority over them, was held by the oracle that we can call the ancient Atlantean Sun Oracle. What remained of the oracles after the Atlantean period in Greece, Egypt, and so on, as well as all the oracles in Asia, were remnants of the great Atlantean oracles. The Oracle of Apollo in Greece was a remnant of the Sun Oracle of the Atlantean period. The initiate who stood at the head of the sun oracle was the bearer of the deepest secrets of our solar system. Together with his subordinates, he had to explore what the spiritual life of the sun itself was. He had to proclaim all the secrets of our entire planetary solar system as a message to the Atlantean humanity, and he had to exercise supreme authority over the other oracle sites.
This initiate of the Sun Oracle had a very special task. He was responsible for guiding and leading humanity so that, when the great Atlantean catastrophe that ended with the downfall of Atlantis was over, it could continue into the post-Atlantean era and establish the cultures that we have often discussed as the post-Atlantean cultures. So the great initiate of the Sun Oracle had the task of preparing people during the Atlantean era so that in the post-Atlantean era, the ancient Indian, ancient Persian, Egyptian-Babylonian-Jewish, and Greek-Latin cultures could emerge, and that suitable human material would be available for this purpose.
Now we need to learn a little about the task of this great initiate of the Sun Oracle. What was Atlantean culture actually like? It was very different from later cultures. In ancient Atlantis, the person at the top of the culture, like a great leader today in scholarship or art or industry or trade, possessed special clairvoyant powers and knew how to work magic. What makes people leaders, scholars, and so on today did not exist at that time, or at most only in its very earliest stages. Calculating, counting, combining, and intellectual judgment as we know them today did not exist. There were primitive powers of a clairvoyant nature, clairvoyant powers that could see into the spiritual worlds. Without the self-awareness we have today, people at that time looked into the spiritual world, and those who saw best were the bearers of the Atlantean culture. We have emphasized that the Atlanteans mastered certain inner forces of nature, for example the seed forces of plants, and that they used these forces to drive their vehicles in the same way that people today use the forces of coal to drive their vehicles. Thus, those who were the leaders of the Atlantean culture were not like people today, who seek to explore the secrets of the world through their power of judgment, but those who were the greatest clairvoyants and magicians were at the forefront. And those people who had the very first seeds of development for calculating, counting, combining, and intellectual judgment were, in a certain sense, despised because of their simplicity and did not belong to what constituted the aristocracy of culture. But it was precisely these people, who had the very first beginnings of these post-Atlantean abilities, who had the least of clairvoyance and magical powers, that the great leader of the Sun Oracle gathered together from all regions. They were the simplest, in a certain sense the most despised people of ancient Atlantis; he gathered them together. With them he had to establish what was to become post-Atlantean culture. Those who marched at the forefront of Atlantean culture, who had mastered the twilight clairvoyance, were not suitable material to be carried over from the great Atlantean catastrophe. The call of the great initiate of the Sun Oracle went out to the simple people of Atlantis, who were the first to develop intellectual abilities.
It should be mentioned in passing that we are living in a similar time today, that a similar call is being made to humanity; however, it must be in a way that is appropriate for today, when humanity sees only externally, only on the physical plane: From unknown depths of the spirit, which humanity will gradually come to know, the call goes out to humanity to prepare once again for something that will stand as a new culture of the future, permeated by clairvoyant forces. A catastrophe will come, similar to that of Atlantis, and then a new culture will arise with spiritual abilities that will be linked to what we call the comprehensive idea of the brotherhood of humanity.
Even today, the call cannot be heard and understood by those who stand at the forefront of our culture. The position occupied by the Atlantean clairvoyants and magicians, who were destined to die out with their culture, is now occupied by those who stand at the forefront of scholarship and external industrial life, the great inventors and discoverers of the present day. No matter how much they still have to do, they occupy the same position. They look down with contempt on those who are beginning to feel something of the spiritual life that is to follow. This awareness must be planted in the soul of those who are to be strengthened today in their collaboration in the theosophical working groups. When the leaders of today's culture look with contempt upon the small conventicles, those who are working diligently in their souls to prepare for the future must say to themselves: Those who stand at the forefront today with their intellectual power are not to be counted on. It is precisely those who are despised by them, those who are said not to be up to the level of today's scholarship, who are being gathered today—just as the simple people of ancient Atlantis were gathered by the leader of the Sun Oracle—to prepare a future culture, to be the dawn of that culture, while in scholarship the twilight of today's culture stands before us. This is said in passing to strengthen those who have to endure and withstand the attacks of those who want to walk at the forefront of our culture.
This great initiate of the Sun Oracle now gathered his simple people in an area roughly west of present-day Ireland. Now we must clarify the situation. Atlantis was destroyed over a long, long period of time. Again and again, powerful peoples migrated from west to east. In various regions of Asia, Europe, and Africa, peoples who had arrived at different times settled and mixed. Then the great leader of the Sun Oracle set out with his small band to found a colony in the middle of Asia, from which the currents that established the post-Atlantean cultures were to emanate. However, the great leader had taken something else with him besides his simple people. And here we come to one of the chapters where we need a heart that has been strengthened by the branch life in spiritual science in order to have any idea of the truth of what is being said.
The great leader inspected the other oracle sites, as it were, and he had to seek out the greatest initiates of the various oracles. Now there is a certain method by which what might be called “spiritual economy” can be put into practice. You know, and it is quite correct when it is described in this way, that after a person dies, their etheric body dissolves. Only an extract remains and is taken along. But that is only the elementary truth. This truth must be modified as one ascends further in spiritual knowledge. Not all etheric bodies of all human beings are dissolved in this way in the general ether. Such etheric bodies as the greatest initiates of the seven ancient Atlantean oracles had are valuable. The spiritual work of these initiates is woven into them, and it would be contrary to spiritual economy if these etheric bodies of the great initiates were simply dissolved. They are preserved as models for a later time, and the great initiate of the Sun Oracle had to keep the seven models of the seven most important initiates. He took them with him. When he led his simple band over to Asia, he took with him the seven etheric bodies of the seven most important initiates of ancient Atlantis. Something like this is possible through the methods developed in the mysteries. Such a thing can be done. You must imagine spiritual processes and not think that the etheric bodies can be packed into boxes; but they can be kept for later times.
Over in Asia, the leader did the following: From generation to generation, the simple people who had gathered around the leader as a group continued to reproduce. Above all, they had tremendous devotion and infinite loyalty to their great leader. They reproduced from generation to generation, and their education was guided in a certain way that was wise and spiritually significant, guided in such a way that after many generations the following became possible, again through one of the methods developed in the mysteries that take place behind the scenes of outer life. We will see how such methods work. Today's lecture shall be the beginning of many that will then explain individual details.
Through such methods, it is entirely possible that when a human being descends again to a new embodiment, where he must once more surround himself with an etheric body, an old etheric body that has been preserved can be woven into this etheric body. And so, when the time came, through careful education of the immigrant group and their descendants, there were seven people with whom such a thing could be done. At their birth, the seven etheric bodies of the seven most important initiates of the Atlantean oracles were woven into them. One of those who were around the great leader of the Sun Oracle received the etheric body of the most important Saturn initiate, another that of Mars, a third that of Jupiter, and so on. And so the great leader had seven people who had woven into them the seven etheric bodies of the seven most important initiates of the ancient Atlantean oracles. If you had met these seven people somewhere in everyday life, you would have found them to be simple people, for they were not the reincarnated egos of the Atlantean initiates, but were simply people with the new abilities of the post-Atlantean era. In their egos, they did not differ particularly from what was, so to speak, the first simple primitive culture in the time immediately after the Atlantean catastrophe. But in their etheric bodies they had the powers of the seven great Atlantean initiates. What we have here is not a reincarnation of the ego, but of the etheric bodies of the Atlantean initiates. Thus we see that not only the ego can reincarnate, but that the second member of the human being can also reincarnate on its own. And because these seven from the followers of the great initiate of the Sun Oracle received these etheric bodies with the powers that were still present from the Atlantean era, they were great inspirers. At certain times, they had the ability to allow the powers that revealed the secrets of the Sun, Mars, Saturn, and so on to flow into their etheric bodies. Therefore, they appeared as inspired beings whose message reached far beyond what they could have judged in their astral bodies or in their egos. The messages from the most diverse parts of the world worked together like a wonderful, harmonious choir. These seven, united in the lodge of the seven Rishis, were sent down to India, where they were to inspire the ancient Indian culture. Much that is great has been preserved for us in wonderful form in the Vedas, we have received wonderful things from the profound scientific nature of this Indian culture in the Upanishads, in Vedanta philosophy, and so on; but what the ancient holy Rishis taught, where nothing has yet been written down, far surpasses what has been communicated to us as the most beautiful in the Indian scriptures. What was written down later proves to be a faint echo. For nothing was written down of the ancient sacred culture of the rishis; it was passed on spiritually through the mysteries.
Today, we should be interested in how etheric bodies can be reincarnated and how what was developed in ancient Atlantean times was transferred through the mysteries by the great initiate of the Sun Oracle into the post-Atlantean era and into the first culture, the Indian culture, which shines so brightly.
Only the secrets of the Sun Oracle itself could not be given directly in ancient India. Therefore, these seven Rishis speak of a being that was beyond their sphere of knowledge. They spoke of that being who guides the sun itself and brings the sun's forces to the earth, and of whom they said that it lies beyond their knowledge, the Vishva-Karman. This Vishva-Karman is none other than the later Christ. He was already proclaimed in ancient Indian culture.
The second significant disciple of the initiate of the Sun Oracle, who now received the secrets of the Sun Being, was the one who was to found the second post-Atlantean culture: Zarathustra. Not the Zarathustra of whom scholarship speaks. It was customary in ancient times for the successor of a great teacher of humanity to take the same name as his great ancestor. However, no book speaks of the Zarathustra we are now talking about, but only of his last successor. It was this ancient Zarathustra who founded an ancient Persian culture, which first pointed out to the Persian peoples that there is indeed a spiritual power in the sun, just as there is a physical power that flows down to the earth. The old Zarathustra sought to awaken something in his people that we can characterize by saying: When we turn our eyes to the plants and everything else that has life around us, when we do that, we must ask: What would it be without sunlight? But just as physical sunlight flows down, so flows down the spiritual power, whose leader is a great, towering being. Just as human beings have their physical body and their aura, the aura we call the small aura, so too does the sun have its physical body and its aura: Ahura Mazdao, the great aura, the host of great sun beings with their leader. It was of this Ahura Mazdao or Aura Mazdao, of the great aura, that Zarathustra spoke. Just as Zarathustra proclaimed this force of the sun's aura that brings about further development, he also proclaimed the forces hostile to the sun beings as Ahriman. These were the outward teachings of Zarathustra. But Zarathustra had his intimate disciples, whom he initiated into the great secrets of the world. Two of Zarathustra's disciples are of interest to us. To one of the disciples, Zarathustra imparted all the wisdom that leads to clairvoyance in the astral body. He taught him everything that can be perceived in the world of physical and spiritual space, so to speak, at the same time as one is there. So he had a disciple whom he had made clairvoyant in the astral body, who could look into the spiritual worlds of the astral and devachan spheres and into even higher worlds. Everything that is simultaneously spread out in physical and spiritual mysteries was transmitted to this disciple. To another disciple, he transmitted everything that could be described as reading in the Akashic Records, as that clairvoyant power that comes when the etheric body becomes clairvoyant, whereby the human being perceives the various phases of development that took place one after the other. While one received what was happening at the same time, the other received what the Akashic Records of the Earth and Sun themselves actually are, what happens one after the other, and what can lead to an understanding of the development of the Earth and Sun. By giving this to his disciples, Zarathustra worked in such a way that the culture of the post-Atlantean era could continue. For one of the disciples was reborn as the great inspirer, the initiator of Egyptian culture, the being we know under the name Hermes, Hermes Trismegistos. This Hermes had also been given the task of proclaiming the message of the higher worlds and their secrets and incorporating them into Egyptian culture. He received this task through processes known in the mysteries, namely through the astral body of Zarathustra. So we see that the astral body of Zarathustra had been preserved through those processes which we will gradually come to know, and was now transferred at the rebirth of one disciple, transferred to Hermes. Hermes wore this reborn astral body of Zarathustra like a garment.
The other disciple was also reborn. Everything that is presented in the Akashic Chronicle of the Earth was to dawn upon him. He was to be interwoven with the etheric body of Zarathustra. For this to happen, something very special had to take place. He had to have the forces of this etheric body shining within him in a certain way. What happened there is indicated to us in a beautiful, wonderful way in the corresponding religious document. Let us imagine how this must have actually happened.
This reborn disciple of Zarathustra had his own astral body, his own I, and he received the etheric body of Zarathustra woven into himself. As a small child, he had to feel the forces from this etheric body of Zarathustra rising up within him before his own power of judgment from the astral body was stimulated, before the I interfered. A kind of initiation had to take place. As a very small child, before his own individual development came into play, the forces of Zarathustra's etheric body had to be awakened in this reborn disciple. Therefore, the child was enclosed in a box and placed in water so that he was cut off from the rest of the world and it could not influence him. There the forces of Zarathustra's etheric body germinated. This reborn disciple of Zarathustra is Moses, and in the story of Moses and his abandonment we have given nothing other than that deep mystery which took place behind the scenes of the outer world, the preservation of Zarathustra's etheric body and its reawakening in Moses. This enabled Hermes and Moses to pass on the post-Atlantean culture as it happened.
Here we have examples of the reincarnation of etheric bodies, of the reincarnation of an astral body. So we are not merely speaking of the reincarnation of the ego, but of the reincarnation of the members of human nature that we have otherwise come to know: the etheric body and the astral body. It is inherent in the spiritual economy that what has been conquered does not perish, but is preserved and transplanted to posterity. But what has been said can also happen in another way. Let us look at another example to see how there are other methods of carrying the past into the future.
You remember a personality mentioned in the Bible, one of Noah's sons, the progenitor of the Semitic tribe, Shem. Behind Shem there is — and this can also be proven occultistically — an individuality that we must call the tribal individuality of the Semitic peoples. The Semitic peoples are descended from this forefather. When something like this happens, when a number of people descend from a progenitor, then a special provision must be made in the spiritual world. In the special case of Shem, this provision took the following form: a separate etheric body was woven for Shem out of the spiritual world. Shem thus carried an etheric body that was specially woven out of the spiritual world. This enabled him to carry within his own etheric body a particularly high being from the spiritual world, a high being that otherwise could not have incarnated on earth, a being that would not have been able to descend into the dense physical body, but which now incarnated in such a way that it could enter the etheric body of Shem, so that Sem was first of all himself—he had his physical, etheric, and astral bodies and his ego—but then woven into Sem was an etheric body that had been specially prepared for the purpose just described of founding a tribe. But woven into this etheric body was another high being from the spiritual world. So that when the clairvoyant consciousness faced Sem, it would have seen Sem himself and, protruding from him like a second being, this higher being, connected with Sem's etheric body, a being that descended—not Sem—and incarnated itself in a human being for a special task. It does not have various incarnations behind it like human beings, but descends into this one incarnation. Such a being is called an avatar. It is not humanly at home in our world, but descends in order to dwell within this world for a time with a specific mission.
Because such an avataric being dwells in a human being, the part of the human being that it inhabits has a very special quality. Namely, it can multiply itself. Just as when you put a seed in the ground and the stalk grows out and you find a multiplication of the grain in the ear, so the etheric body of Sem multiplied into many images, and these were woven into all those who belonged to the tribe of Sem. That is how it is. Thus, in those who were true descendants of Sem, the images of the etheric body that had been specially prepared at that time as the archetype in Sem were woven into their own etheric bodies.
But this etheric body of Sem was later used in another way. We can best understand how this was used by making a comparison. You may be a highly educated European. But if you want to bring your education to the Hottentots, you must learn the Hottentot language. In the same way, when high beings descend to guide humanity, they must weave into themselves the forces that enable them to speak to people on Earth. Now, in a later phase of the Semitic people's development, it became necessary for a very significant being to descend to Earth in order to communicate with humans and advance their culture. This being, who is mentioned under the name Melchizedek, now had to, as it were, clothe itself in the preserved etheric body of Shem, so that we have woven into Melchizedek's etheric body the etheric body that once existed in Shem, which was inhabited by an avataric being and which is now used again by Melchizedek so that he can give Abraham the impulse to carry the Semitic culture forward. Thus we have again learned of a peculiar way in which the etheric body develops in a particular human being and then leads from one particular human being to another individuality chosen for that purpose.
We can trace such examples right up to the present time. And when we trace them in this way, it gradually becomes clear to us what occultism can already really say today: Most people today no longer have an etheric body that was originally woven out of the general fabric of the world, nor do they have an astral body that was originally woven out of it. Almost every human being has a piece of their etheric and astral bodies that has been preserved from ancient times, because in the spiritual economy, what is useful is always preserved further and further.
Let me mention two examples from the new era that can illustrate how the mysteries work from time to time. First, the example that ties in with the personality you will find mentioned in my book Mysticism at the Dawn of Modern Spiritual Life and Its Relationship to the Modern Worldview, referring to Nicholas of Cusa. If you read his writings, you will find one that he called “De docta ignorantia,” learned ignorance, although it contains more scholarship than many books that call themselves scholarly knowledge. It is called this for certain reasons. If you read his other writings, you will find that the prophetic foretelling of Copernicus' world view is woven into them in a remarkable way. It is there for those who want to read it. With Copernicus, the world was ready to accept this world view in its immediate form. If you investigate the connection, you will discover the following. In one of his essential members, Nicholas of Cusa possessed a very high, ancient individuality. This made it possible for the astral body of Nicholas of Cusa to be preserved and transferred in such a way that it could be woven into Nicholas Copernicus, so that the latter had the astral body of Nicholas of Cusa woven into himself. This enabled what Nicholas of Cusa had within himself to be resurrected, as it were. This is an example of how the astral body reincarnated.
Another example is the following: Those of you who have thought about this matter know what tremendous significance Galileo has for new thinking. For without Galileo, our entire physics would not exist. The entire way of thinking about physics today can be traced back to Galileo. Every schoolboy today learns in his very first elementary books that there is such a thing as inertia or the law of inertia, which states that a body in motion tends to remain in motion until an obstacle comes along. So when we throw something, it will continue to fly by virtue of its own inertia until it encounters an obstacle. That is how we think today, and that is what children are taught in school textbooks. Before Galileo, people did not think that way. They thought that when a stone was thrown, it could not fly unless the air propelled it forward, pushing it from behind. People thought about these things very differently back then. So the laws of falling bodies, the movement of pendulums, the laws of simple machines, all of that can be traced back to Galileo. Galileo drew his insights from a certain inspiration. I would just like to remind you how he discovered the laws of pendulums from that swinging lamp in the cathedral in Pisa. Galileo's discovery of the laws of pendulums was a stroke of genius! Many people passed by this lamp and nothing occurred to them. Galileo realized the great fundamental laws of mechanics. A person who can be inspired in this way has an etheric body, which it would be contrary to spiritual economy to allow to decay. This etheric body was also preserved and reappears after a relatively short time. It is used in such a way that it is woven into a personality that also accomplishes something significant. It was woven into the personality of someone who grew up in a remote farming village in Russia, but one day left his parents and set off for Moscow. This person soon develops a high level of talent and quickly accomplishes everything in schools in Russia and Germany that can bring him, so to speak, to the height of the culture of his time. He only had to catch up on what had happened on Earth since the time he died as Galileo in his etheric body. And then this same person becomes, so to speak, the founder of all classical literature in Russia. He created these writings out of nothing. But not only that, he also became an important innovator in all fields of mechanics and the physical and chemical life of science. It was Mikhail Lomonosov who was able to achieve his reformatory deeds solely because he was interwoven with the etheric body of Galileo. When we see how Galileo died at the end of the 17th century and Mikhail Lomonosov was born at the beginning of the 18th century with the same etheric body, we see one of those intimate reincarnations in which a part of the being other than the I is reincarnated. Such things lead us deeply into the understanding of the entire course of human evolution and they lead us to the understanding of many other facts that have developed in the course of time and have led up to our present.
The greatest avatar on earth was Christ himself, the Christ who lived for three years in the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. Because Christ lived in the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth as an avatar, it also became possible for something to happen to these three bodies, especially to the astral and etheric bodies of Jesus, which I have just described: a multiplication. In fact, after the mystery of Golgotha had been accomplished, the astral body and etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth were present in the spiritual world in many, many images through the wonderful economy. So, it was as if we had the archetypes in the astral and etheric bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, and now there were many images. When an avatar enters a human shell, it is dispersed and exists in many images. Now these images of the astral body and etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth had a special quality in relation to, for example, the images of the etheric body of Shem. The images of the etheric body of Shem could only be implanted in those who were descended from Shem, while the astral and etheric bodies that were descended from the astral and etheric bodies of Jesus of Nazareth could be implanted in all people of the most diverse peoples and races. Anyone who had matured through their own development to receive something like this woven into their own astral or etheric body, regardless of their race, could have this astral and etheric body implanted in them, which were images of the archetype of the astral body and etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth. And we see in the subsequent development of Christianity how, behind the external historical events, remarkable things take place which alone explain the external course of events themselves.
How did Christianity spread? In the first centuries, we can say that its spread was dependent on the physical plane. We also see emphasized that Christianity is propagated through what lives on the physical plane. The apostles emphasize that the propagation of Christianity is based on immediate, sensory perception. “We have laid our hands on his wounds” is cited as proof that Christ walked in a human body. Emphasis was placed, so to speak, on what the physical plane could offer as a basis for the development of Christianity. It is always mentioned how those who were themselves disciples of the apostles propagated Christianity, emphasizing that they knew those who had followed the Lord himself. So, so to speak, the focus is on what can be seen with the eyes. And in an even deeper sense, up until Augustine, the focus was on what could be seen. Augustine said: I would not believe in the truth of the Gospels if the authority of the Catholic Church did not compel me to do so. So why did he believe? Because he believed that the visible Church had spread this Gospel from decade to decade, from century to century, on the physical plane. But in the following centuries, from the 5th to the 10th century, this propagation took place in a different way. Why and how? This is instructive if we want to follow the spiritual progress of human development.
You can illustrate the nature of this propagation in this period by taking, for example, a work such as the Old Saxon Gospel Harmony, the “Heliand.” There you have what the idea of Christ is, the view of the Christ being, presented by a kind of initiate. The Heliand, represented by the Saxon initiate, is supersensible; but he is not clothed in the events of Palestine, but as a prince of a Germanic tribe. The disciples are individual people from Germanic countries. The whole of Christianity is immersed in a Central European garb. Why? Because the initiate behind the Heliand, who wrote this story inspired by Louis the Pious, had clairvoyant abilities that enabled him to see Christ in a similar way to Paul himself at the event in Damascus. Through the event at Golgotha, the Christ being connected itself to the astral body of the Earth, thereby permeating the Earth's aura with its power, and when Paul became clairvoyant, he was able to perceive that Christ was there. He was not moved to believe by what had happened in Palestine; but because he saw him himself, him who was woven into the earth, Saul became Paul. The author of the Heliand saw the eternal, risen Christ, the Christ who has lived in the spiritual world since Golgotha, in a similar way, and he was more important to him than the historical Christ of Palestine. He clothes him in a different image, for it was not the outer image that was important to him, but the spiritual Christ. Why was the author of the Heliand able to convey such an image from clairvoyant observation? Because an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into his etheric body. For in those centuries, from the 5th, 6th, up into the 9th and 10th centuries, an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into the etheric bodies of those who were to accomplish something for the progress of Christianity. One such person who had an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into his etheric body was the writer of the “Heliand.”
But many received such an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their etheric bodies. Therefore, we see that during these centuries, these people lived in imaginations that were connected to the events of Golgotha. All those who created the original images of the Savior on the cross and Mary with the baby Jesus, which were later repeated, were people who had come to these pictorial representations of the events of Golgotha and everything connected with them because an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into their own etheric bodies. In those times, these images arose typically because these people were clairvoyant. This gave rise to things that were then passed on through tradition. What we have in pictorial representations of the events of Golgotha comes from people who had such images of the etheric body of Jesus woven into their own etheric bodies. It was precisely through this that they saw the events of Golgotha and everything connected with them in their visions. Even the author of “The Division of Nature” during the time of Charles the Bald, Johannes Scotus Erigena, had an image of the etheric body of Jesus woven into his consciousness. And from the 11th, 12th, 13th to the 15th century, there came people who received an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their own astral body.
Thus, in the centuries from the 5th to the 10th, we see people being born who received an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their etheric bodies. In later people, from the 11th to the 15th century, we see images of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their own astral bodies. This makes some personalities of that time understandable to us. How will such a personality appear to us, who has woven an image of the astral body of Jesus into their own astral body? The I of Jesus is not embodied in these people; the I is of this personality itself. Through the judgment of the I, many errors can enter into one's life, but because this great image of the great archetype is woven into the astral body, devotion arises, and in all feelings, in everything that permeates this astral body, something appears that may be in contradiction to the ego itself, but which makes everything rooted in the astral body appear as something special. Take Francis of Assisi! There you have a personality in whose astral body was woven an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. You may find many extremes in Francis of Assisi: his ego did it, it was not on the same level as the astral body. But if you now study the soul of Francis of Assisi on the assumption that his ego was not always able to make the right judgment about the wonderful feelings and the wonderful humility of the astral body, you will understand him. In Francis of Assisi, an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was reincarnated. In very many people at that time, such images were reincarnated precisely in the astral body. Among the Franciscans and Dominicans you will find many who embodied such images of the astral body at that time. This was also the case with other personalities of that time, whom you can only understand if you look at them in this way. For example, the famous Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia was such a personality in whom an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven. Thus, what happens externally only becomes understandable to us when we see how the spiritual is given from time to time, how it propagates itself in the course of time.
When Christ incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth, something like an imprint of the I was created in the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. We can easily imagine that when the Christ being enters the astral body, something like an image arises in the surrounding parts of the astral body [it was apparently drawn on the blackboard]. This image of the I of Christ [in the body of Jesus] had now produced numerous duplicates, which remained preserved, so to speak, in the spiritual world. Individuals had received something woven into their own ego, as it were, as prophets of a new age, for example, some of the German mystics who proclaimed the inner Christ with such fervor because something like an image of the Christ's ego had become embodied in them; but an image, of course! Only those people who gradually prepare themselves for a full understanding of Christ who, through their knowledge of the spiritual worlds, will understand what Christ is, in that he finds himself again and again, changing, in the course of earthly evolution, will gradually become ripe to have this Christ experience within themselves, to take up, as it were, the waiting images of the Christ-I that Christ formed in the body of Jesus through an imprint.
This is part of the inner mission of the spiritual world stream to prepare people to make their souls so mature that an ever-increasing number of people can take up within themselves an image of the I-being of Christ Jesus. For such is the course of Christian development: first procreation on the physical plane, then procreation through the etheric bodies, then through the astral bodies, which were in many cases the reincarnated astral bodies of Jesus. Now the time is coming when more and more of the I-nature of Christ Jesus Himself will dawn in human beings as the innermost essence of their souls. Yes, these imprinted images of the individuality of Christ Jesus are waiting to be taken up by souls; they are waiting! And here you see from what depths the spiritual-scientific world current is working. It is not a theory, not a sum of concepts that are merely given to enlighten people; it is a reality, and realities must be given to the soul through spiritual science. Those who understand Christianity spiritually and experience it within themselves will contribute to the fact that, either in the present or in a later incarnation, an image of the I of the Christ-Jesus individuality will be woven into their I. Those who understand the true inner, the true reality of the spiritual scientific world stream are not merely preparing themselves for a piece of knowledge, for a real fact, for this is their true inner spiritual reality. Can you feel that what is happening in our world movement is not merely the communication of theories, but the preparation of facts, the reception of something that is waiting in the spiritual world and that human beings can receive from the spiritual world if they prepare themselves in the appropriate way?