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The Principle of Spiritual Economy
GA 109

6 April 1909, Malsch

6. On the Occasion of the Dedication of the Francis of Assisi Branch

Today we are gathered for the dedication ceremony of our anthroposophical branch in Maisch. Although this “Section” of our Society has been fully at work for a while, we are able only today to officially celebrate its opening.

Many of our anthroposophical friends have come to this celebration from the most diverse regions to which our anthroposophical endeavors have spread. By coming here, they have demonstrated that they wish to unite their anthroposophical feelings and thoughts with those of serious and hardworking people in this group. One might say this group of people in Maisch has been thrown into these remote mountains, but surrounded by all the beautiful, great, and noble forces of nature, they will successfully unfold anthroposophical life. Those of you who were able to look around in the vicinity of this hospitable house in Malsch will have noticed that much has been done for its external appearance, as if the people responsible wished to say externally that the spiritual life by which all of us are inspired shall find special expression in this beautiful spot.

Let us look back at the modest beginnings of our anthroposophical life at the founding of our German Section, into which the Section in Malsch is now being incorporated. At that time we began with but a small group of people of spiritual scientific enthusiasts. Then, as we look at events such as this one today and observe the large number of souls who unite with us in spiritual scientific feelings and sentiments, we can be satisfied with the last few years of our endeavors.

The Stockmeyer family has spared no efforts to help with the unfolding of spiritual life on this beautiful piece of land although the spirits of nature have clearly aided their efforts. Also, this family must find great satisfaction in seeing how many genuine and true friends have hurried to this hospitable place, and I am sure all anthroposophical friends may be justly called genuine and true friends. This is so because anthroposophy must above all be truth in our hearts, and truth is sincerity. Anthroposophy, therefore, must be sincere; and anthroposophical friendship is expressed by your participation in such a dedication festival. Everything must be imbued with sincerity because honesty in friendship unites us with those who have worked so industriously so that here, too, there would arise a working sphere of anthroposophic activity. The hearts of those who have come here will be filled with gratitude for the efforts of the Stockmeyer family, who can be assured of our truly sincere anthroposophical appreciation.

On the other hand, the very success of such a dedication festival with so many souls present shows that Spiritual Science in our time is a powerful magnet for human striving, and on this occasion it may also be fitting to say that we can certainly look beyond the rooms that, surrounded by the spirits of beautiful nature, enclose us today and look at the rest of the world. It is possible to say that life and the endeavors of Spiritual Science today appear as phenomena whose existence results from an inner necessity. Really, it is as if many a page in the book about the life of old cultures, which sustained European and Western humanity for millennia and gave security and strength for life to it, were now beginning to wither and appear cold and lifeless to human hearts. That is why we see today a longing for spiritual scientific truths in so many areas of life. I, for one, having been permitted to speak to you here, sense something like a future force at work because of what has been taking place around me in the last few days.

We are here surrounded by green trees, the budding life of nature, and also by the magnificent sunlight that shines on us benevolently at this dedication since it animates everything and is imbued with spirit. This, then, is a perfect place to relate to you the words of our great harbingers of the new wisdom, the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings.

A few days have passed since I was permitted to speak in the same spirit in a lecture cycle in Rome, and this event symbolized to me what a magnet spiritual striving is. I was to speak to those who harbor a spiritual scientific longing in their hearts, but their longing is still fairly undefined at times. Yet the place where I was to speak looked differently, and it was on ground that actually had been entered only by cardinals in pursuit of spiritual endeavors or by others who work out of the convictions of the most positive and orthodox Catholicism. And so the air of the rooms where normally nothing but the official message from the orthodox center of Rome was proclaimed resounded with the free pronouncements of the spiritual scientific world view.

This shows us that although the free contemporary spirits of these Northern lands feel more attracted to anthroposophy, they can nevertheless look with a certain satisfaction to the souls who long to escape from an old, iron-clad orthodox tradition. It is certainly a good indication of the spirit of the times that it was possible to speak as freely and frankly about anthroposophic truths on territory heretofore reserved for cardinals, and as freely as this would be possible in the North. For what has been said before holds true everywhere: anthroposophy is sincerity; and where souls are in need of it and a call is issued, anthroposophy will follow it. But at no time will anthroposophy deviate in the least from the overall precepts that inspire its pronouncements, just because the consideration for the territory on which these pronouncements are made may make this expedient.

Wherever anthroposophical truth is proclaimed and where the spiritual element that pulsates through us is cultivated, there our message must be delivered in the light of sincerity, even when it is still surrounded by the thoughts of those who hate anthroposophy. However, in the midst of those who hate anthroposophy there are souls who, more or less consciously, long for the light of anthroposophy. And especially a strong contrast such as the one I have experienced during the past fourteen days can show us what a strong magnet anthroposophical life is.

The observation of our immediate present teaches us that this anthroposophical force is now strong enough to justify our joyful and satisfying hope that the small seedling planted today will in the future grow into a mighty tree. As theosophists, we are today in the same position humanity was in during the ancient Atlantean time. And just as life has become different since that time, so it will change again in the future, up to a time following a catastrophe. The wide perspective will now be made to appear before our souls.

Let us call to memory a similar movement in the last third of the Atlantean epoch that started small just like ours. The Atlantean soul life, which in many ways was still clairvoyant, had reached a high point during that time, but it did not yet have the consciousness of self, the strong feeling of the “I.” Instead, Atlanteans had a certain ability of clairvoyance and also certain magical powers, and this enabled them to look into the spiritual world. Those who had progressed to be leaders of this civilization were the ones best able to gaze into the spiritual world in the old ways and to bring forth the most knowledge from the astral realms. This clairvoyance disappeared little by little; in fact, mankind had to lose it completely in order to conquer for itself the consciousness of self in the physical world. But it is certain that clairvoyant knowledge in the last third of the Atlantean era had reached a special climax.

You will remember the technological achievement of the Atlanteans. They flew over the earth in small space vehicles—close to the earth because the atmosphere was saturated with thick fog formations. They propelled their small vehicles through this sea of air and water with energy derived from sprouting plants. The leading creators of this technology can be compared to today's industrial wizards who construct ingenious machines from lifeless forces. And those Atlanteans who could relate the most from the spiritual world can be compared to today's leading scholars and natural scientists.

However, within this Atlantean humanity a segment of people began to evolve who had only minor clairvoyant faculties, but possessed the ability to regard the external world with affection. The first rudimentary beginnings of arithmetic and counting could be observed in these people, but their participation in the great advances of the Atlantean industry—the construction of ever mightier vehicles for this sea of water and air—was very limited. And thus a small, insignificant group of people had developed in this last third of the Atlantean period who, in a certain sense, were despised for their comparative lack of clairvoyant power and their inability to participate in this great industry. However, this group of people prepared the way for seeing and knowing that is prevalent today, the way of seeing and knowing of which the external world today is so proud since it developed it in such a one-sided way.

Those leaders of the Atlantean civilization who had mastered everything that could be known from the vantage point of the Atlantean consciousness, including technology, conceived of a technical idea toward the end of the Atlantean era that has become fully productive in modern times. We can compare it to another measure of progress in our time that will carry over into the next catastrophe. During their golden age, the Atlanteans had vehicles that moved through air that was heavily mixed with water. Later, however, when their culture was already in a state of decline, it also became necessary to navigate the water, and this led the last cultural races of the Atlantean era first to embracing and then to realizing the idea of navigation and the conquest of the seas. This momentous idea in the Atlantean era not only of traversing the air but also of navigating the ocean water was quite a sensational idea that was put into reality by the last Atlantean races. After long experiments to navigate the waters, success came during the time when Atlantean culture was already in its decline.

Those responsible for this tremendous progress were not the ones who could be recruited for the task of transmitting the legacy of the actual spiritual life from the Atlantean era to our time. Rather, this task was reserved for the plain and simple people because they had been the first ones to be endowed with the ability to relate to the physical world. They were the ones whose clairvoyant faculties, though deteriorated the most among the several groups of people, were still adequate for those who were messengers from the spiritual world. These people, despised by the great scholars and inventors, were gathered by an eminent initiate whom we call The Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle. This small group was comprised of people who had least preserved their technical abilities and who were disdained by the leaders and by the great scholars and inventors. Yet it was precisely they whom the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle led from the West to the East, through Europe and into Asia. And it is also this small group of people that made the foundation of the post-Atlantean cultures possible.

The best of what was subsequently developed by the various cultures, the mighty tree of post-Atlantean knowledge and wisdom, emanated from the descendants of the despised simple people from the Atlantean era. Above all, something else emanated from the midst of the descendants of this group of modest people. Let us place the external events side by side with the internal events of our evolution. Let us look at the great sensation of the Atlantean era when the secondary racial group, whose descendants were the Phoenicians, invented navigation. What was accomplished by this invention?

We need only to remember the great events from the beginning of modern times, such as the great voyages of discovery by Columbus and other seafarers, which would have been impossible without navigation and the invention of ships, and we shall see how this sensational invention led to the gradual conquest of the physical plane on earth. PostAtlantean peoples were confined to a small radius of activities, but through the invention of ships the circle defining the earth became rounded out so that we now have a completed configuration of the physical plane. And thus, the sensational invention of the Atlantean world reaches into our time and promotes further progress on the physical plane.

However, the greatest conquest in the Atlantean era emanated from the descendants of that group of plain people gathered around the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle. And when those descendants, through their own development, had prepared the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, GraecoLatin, and our cultures, the earth became capable of yielding the material into which the Christ could be born. Therefore, the greatest spiritual event and deed of the post-Atlantean era had its beginning in the people who belonged to the most despised human beings in the eyes of the leaders of the Atlantean civilization, and this event gave rise to the immense spiritual progress that supports and maintains all spiritual life in our time—weaves through it and makes it productive.

The events in Atlantis are paralleled by those of our time. Seeing that the germinal beginnings of man's ability to do arithmetic and to count were present in Atlantis, we can recognize how these capabilities are today furthered in a marvelous conquest of the physical plane and how they brought about all kinds of technical progress. We also see how the great inventors and discoverers today have reached the culmination, in a sense, in applying those forces that first began to germinate with the small group of despised people in the Atlantean time. And what was then clairvoyant knowledge is today knowledge of nature and of the physical world. There is also a similarity between the spiritual leaders of the Atlantean civilization and today's natural scientists and scholars. On the other hand, a class of plain people exists everywhere—irrespective of positions its members might hold in the world, whose hearts are filled with the mighty magnet that attracts us to spiritual life, just as people in Atlantis were attracted to a life in which the external faculties for the physical plane could be developed.

Despite these similarities, there is also a certain difference between the modern and the ancient situation. In the old days referred to, the last remnants of clairvoyance were still present in people so that they were able to behold the Great Initiate. In a certain way, things today are more difficult for human beings when a call from the spiritual world issues to an equally small group of people, something we designate as the call of the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings. But since people today are placed on the physical plane, these Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings are at first unknown to this small nucleus of human beings that has crystallized itself out of the mass of people. As we can deduce from the facts of the present time, this small group feels in its hearts that there is such a thing as a new spiritual message that is meant to have an effect on the future just as the message in former ages has had an effect on the present. These human beings who today come from all walks of life and whom we can find everywhere are the true theosophists because they carry in their hearts a longing for a spiritual life that is meant to lay the foundation for future cultures. The true theosophists in our time are emerging—just as we now encounter a sensational discovery similar to the one in the Atlantean era.

In ancient times water was conquered through the highest technological progress; the same is true today in the case of air. This conquest will, of course, extend into a later epoch. But just as ships in our times have brought about mastery of the physical plane only, so the air ship that will lead human beings into the atmosphere and beyond will empower the pilots to find only matter—material things. Granted, new realms of the physical plane will be conquered, and this will be beneficial for the external world. However, the inner spiritual life is borne in the hearts of those who feel spiritually fulfilled by the promise of being able in the future to look into the spiritual world while being conscious of self.

Look into life and you will find out there our leaders of civilization, the pillars of external culture, active as inventors and discoverers, as scholars and natural scientists. They look with scorn and contempt on a small group such as the one assembled here today that constitutes itself as a new bearer of culture and that unites its members with others in spiritual scientific associations. The events of the ancient Atlantean era repeat themselves.

However, when the spiritual life touches your hearts with such force that you can compare yourselves with dignity to those who were gathered around the Great Initiate of the Sun Oracle, then you will be the bearers of spiritual life in later ages. In addition to offering humanity the external, material, and corporeal realities, such a life would also make possible a renewed immersion in the spiritual world. Although the Great Initiate gathered human beings around Himself in ancient times, today the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings fulfill a similar function and issue their call to you. If you feel your mission from a sense of history, then your hearts will become strong enough to withstand all the ridicule and disdain that the so-called pillars of civilization heap on Spiritual Science from the outside. And if you understand your mission in this spirit, then your thoughts will be strong and any doubt that may reverberate into your souls from the outside will be unable to shake you in your conviction. Your thoughts will be spiritually refined by the very force that can issue from such a knowledge of our mission. Even if we have to review thousands of years and establish far-reaching ideals, it is worth the effort because where such ideals are established, life is transmuted, and where they are absent, life is dead. Ideals transform themselves into the force of a moment even if they have been taken from vast periods of time and may seem to make the person subscribing to them appear somewhat petty and despondent. You will be strong for the most insignificant task if you are capable of extracting your ideal from the loftiest heights. This will make you stand fast when those who govern the world with their erudition talk with disdain and contempt about the little spiritual scientific associations where those people sit who “do not want to go along with contemporary culture.” Oh yes, they do want to go along, and they also know to appreciate the accomplishments of the external, physical world, but they also know that just as a body cannot be without a soul, no external culture can exist without spiritual life.

Just as the despised human beings characterized above gathered around the Great Initiate and after generations made the existence of Christ on earth possible, so the anthroposophical movement must facilitate a comprehensive understanding of Christ. Christ descended to earth in the fourth major era, and those who wish to understand Him completely will be able to do so from the anthroposophical vantage point.

Why do people who have heretofore been nourished by the positive, orthodox religions, come to Spiritual Science as if responding to an undefined longing in their consciousness? Why do they listen to the anthroposphical message when before they listened only to the Vatican? Why? Is it still permissible today to say anthroposophy exists only for those who regard the greatest spiritual fact of our age—the Christ Impulse—with indifference? What do the people coming to us need from us? They want us to tell them who Christ was and what He accomplished! They are coming to us because those who consider themselves to be the privileged bearers of the Christ-name today cannot tell them who Christ was, whereas anthroposophy can. Today's cultural leaders use the denial of Christ to oppose the external tradition emanating from various religions, but they cannot effectively challenge the moribund positive religious movements. Those who do not know what the Great Christ is, those who deny His spirituality will be no match even for the old religious movements. But only the spiritual movements that place themselves in the midst of those who claim an exclusive right to the Christ-name, the movements who know how to express the true essence of the Christ even to those who wish to hear the opposite, only those spiritual movements will attract human beings to their cause who carry the future in their hearts. The ancient religious trends will prove to be stronger than all religious nihilism.

We do not conceive of anthroposophical life in a petty, dogmatic sense, nor do we want to comprehend it with the help of individual tenets or maxims, but rather by recognizing and understanding the mission and the task of our time. We want to embrace anthroposophical life in such a way that the true spirit of our time speaks to us and that the most significant event of our post-Atlantean era can be expressed through the words of anthroposophy. If these words are not just recited but rather put into practice as an expression of the spirit of our time, they will become a dynamic force of life in our souls, and this will make people understand what anthroposophical life is.

When we truly feel this, we will increasingly grow stronger, and the newly gained strength will help us to embrace our ideal firmly. Then we will know how this ideal can be justified, regardless of whether this happens in an environment where an old culture yearns for a new content, or in this environment here, where nature and the magnificent, spirit-endowed sunrays glittering around us encircle what the daily efforts of anthroposophy achieve. We will again learn to recognize the spirit within these sunrays and know that when the sun has set, the spirit indwelling in it will look into our hearts. We will also learn what it means to behold the sun and its spirit at midnight, and in understanding what this spirit is, we will see how it has descended and how it is now united with the highest impulses of our age. It is necessary that humanity understand the Christ-Impulse and that we can say who the Christ was. Such an understanding is now only in the beginning stages, but in direct proportion to its increasing spiritual insights, mankind will gradually understand how the Christ-Impulse has penetrated this worldly edifice.

To feel this way at the dedication of a branch of our movement is especially appropriate when, as is the case here, the members were united in wanting to express a heartfelt desire and name this branch after Francis of Assisi, whose life is enveloped by a deep spiritual mystery.

When Christ descended to the earth, He enveloped Himself with the threefold physical, etheric, and astral bodies of Jesus of Nazareth and lived three years in this sheath as Christ, the Sun-Spirit. With the event of the Mystery of Golgotha, Christ descended to the earth; but aside from what is known to all of you, something else special happened by virtue of the fact that Christ indwelled the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, particularly the astral and etheric bodies. After Christ cast off the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, they were still present as spiritual substance in the spiritual world, but multiplied in a great many copies. They did not perish in the world ether or in the astral world, but continued to live as identical images. Just as the seed of a plant, once buried in the ground, reappears in many copies according to the mystery of number, so the copies of Jesus of Nazareth's etheric and astral bodies were present in the spiritual world. And for what purpose were they present, considering the large framework of spiritual economy? They were there to be preserved and to serve the overall progress of the human race.

One of the first individuals to benefit from the blessed fact of these countless copies of Jesus's etheric body being present in the spiritual world was St. Augustine. When he again descended to earth after an earlier incarnation, not just any etheric body was woven into his own, but rather the copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth. Augustine had his own astral body and ego, but his etheric body was interwoven with the image of the etheric body of Jesus. He had to work through the culture of his ego and astral body, but when he had made his way to the etheric body, he realized the great truths that we find in his mystical writings.

Many other human beings from the sixth to the ninth centuries had a copy of the etheric body of Jesus woven into their own etheric bodies. Many of these individuals conceived the Christian images that later were to be glorified in the arts in the form of the Madonna or the Christ on the cross. They were the creators of religious images who experienced in themselves what the people living at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha had experienced.

In the period spanning the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries the time had come when a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into the astral bodies of certain reincarnated souls. From the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries many human beings, for example Francis of Assisi and Elisabeth of Thüringen, had the imprint of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into them while their own astral bodies—the source of their knowledge—were formed during reincarnation. This enabled these individuals to proclaim the great truths of Christianity in the form of judgments, logical constructs, and scientific wisdom. But, in addition, they were also able to experience the feeling of carrying the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within themselves.

Your eyes will be opened if you allow yourselves to experience vicariously all the humility, the devotion, and the Christian love that was part of Francis of Assisi. You will then know how to look at him as a person prone to make mistakes—because he possessed his own ego—and as a great individual because he carried a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within his own astral body. All the humble feelings, the profound mysticism, and the spiritual soul life of Francis of Assisi become comprehensible if we know this one secret of his life.

Having such knowledge, we can see with our inner eye that the future of this new branch augurs well as it climbs upward under the guiding light of this great individual, for those who, like Francis of Assisi, received the grace and the calling to guide Christian humanity in the West will at all times let their spiritual light radiate into the areas of spiritual activity. And especially if this Francis of Assisi Section works in a genuinely spiritual sense, the unison of thoughts and feelings of this branch will be the reflection of the harmonizing light of Francis of Assisi, which he received as a gift of grace, as we mentioned before, by an infusion of his own astral body with a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. Something of this light will radiate into this very branch.

In letting such perspectives roll by our inner eye, we who are assembled today in this modest branch for the purpose of dedicating the new branch will leave the proper feelings behind us when we depart. Let us look up to the light of Francis of Assisi; let us take along with us what can be ignited in us in this moment, and let us remember this branch in the future. In doing so, our feelings and thoughts will hover invisibly over this Francis of Assisi Branch, so that the impulses struggling upward from below may prove to be worthy of the light that shines into our souls from the outside. In such a moment we become conscious of the fact that we are here to work for the true and real measures of progress in our post-Atlantean era. Surely, when the founders of this branch felt the need to name it after Francis of Assisi, their souls must have sensed something of the great progress.

What was the most decisive turning point of our entire evolution? It was the time when the Christ descended to earth. Let us look back six hundred years from that event and then compare the earth to what it was six hundred years after Christ, a period spanning some twelve hundred years. First, let us look at Buddha, who lived six hundred years before Christ. In him we see an individuality of such greatness that words of admiration should be superfluous. Specifically, let us look at the moment where he is led out into life, but not into the life he wanted to live. Consider how he first meets a helpless child and how from this experience he forms the perception that there is suffering in the journey that human beings begin with their birth. And upon seeing a sick person, he says to himself, “Not only is there suffering in this world, but human beings on this plane are also subjected to illness.” He sees an old person who no longer is able to move his limbs and says to himself, “Aging involves suffering.” And when he sees a corpse, the sight of it conjures up in him the perception that death is suffering. Another perception is that to be separated from a loved one creates suffering, as is the case when one is united with someone whom one doesn't love. Finally, not to obtain what one desires is suffering too.

This, then, is the teaching that spread as the teaching of Buddha, some six hundred years before Christ. Let us fix in our minds the moment where Buddha steps out into the world, sees a corpse, and stands face to face with death. It was six hundred years after the event of Golgotha when for the first time one particular image came into being: the image of the cross with the corpse of the Savior hanging on it. Thousands of people were there to look at it. Now when Buddha looked at a corpse, it was to him a personification of all suffering on earth. The believers of the Christian community six hundred years after Christ would look at the corpse and see it as the victory of all spiritual life over death, the claim to bliss. And here we see how a faithful community looked at a dead body six hundred years before Christ, and then six hundred years after the event of Golgotha.

What can the Christ-Event tell us about the other pronouncements of suffering? Is birth suffering, as Buddha expressed it? Looking at Christ on the cross, the part of humanity that really understands Him will say, “Through birth we step into this existence—an existence that was found worthy of harboring the Christ. We are born into a life in which we can unite with Christ.” Likewise, sickness is not suffering if one understands Christ. People will have to learn to understand through the Christ-Impulse what, from a spiritual point of view, creates health. Illnesses will be healed in a spiritual way through the innermost, Christianized life. By dying to the outer world, we become assured that the treasure acquired in connection with the Christ-Impulse is carried into every other life. Through Christ's victory, death appears to us as a bridge that leads to the spiritual world, and we learn to understand the meaning of death for this spiritual world through this Christ-Impulse.

Also, it is no longer possible to say that the separation from the object of one's love creates suffering because the power of Christ will unite us, as one soul to another, with everything we want to love. Moreoever, the power of Christ will tie those together who love each other. The suffering that could arise through the separation of those loving each other is overcome through Christ.

Let us learn to love all people, lest our interpretation of the world be that to be united with what one does not love means suffering. Rather, let us learn to love every creature in its own right, and when our spiritual wells start to flow, our desires will be purified in such a way that we can partake in everything our souls are destined to receive, once the hurdles of the physical world are eliminated. And those spiritual fountainheads can begin to flow through the Christ- Impulse. People who will be content to obtain through the Christ-Spirit what they want will have their desires purified.

The new spiritual life has placed itself next to the old spiritual life through the Christ-Impulse. That is how deep progress in spiritual life ran before and after the Christ-Impulse had surfaced. This is keenly felt by someone who turns to one of the most ardent and joyful admirers and messengers of the Christ-Impulse—Francis of Assisi; his name, therefore, may well be bestowed on an association in which spiritual life is to be cultivated. May this name be a good augury, and may the work in this branch proceed in the true spirit of our time, properly understood, because this is necessary for the programs we have envisioned in our souls.

Let us consecrate this branch of our movement in the spirit expressed by the preceding words and by calling down the benediction we used yesterday when we broke ground for the outer temple. Let us conjure up the same spirit one more time so that it may hold sway and weave in this Francis of Assisi Branch.

May the feelings of those who have come to this dedication ceremony unite with this spirit and also unite in a brotherly way with those who are at work here in serious, anthroposophical endeavors so that spiritual life may germinate in the midst of the trees, forests, and sprouting plants of this sunny piece of nature. It matters little whether the bright sunrays outside indicate what is beautiful or magnificent in nature, whether snow be piled up outside, or whether a thick cloud cover be out there to obscure the external, physical sunlight. In times when nature renews itself or when she wears her somber garb, may the spirit of a higher life always imbue those who will be engaged in spiritual activities, and let us now conjure up this spirit to aid all the human beings in this branch.

With this, let us dedicate, from the bottom of our hearts, the Francis of Assisi Branch and hope that it will continue its work in the spirit in which it began—through the spiritual force of the Masters of Truth and of the Harmony of Feelings that streams into every branch. May it also continue its work through the good spirit with which it has endowed itself by naming itself after the splendid bearer of Christ.

May this branch continue as it began. Good spirits will guide its course as it becomes one of the centers where the kind of life is cultivated of which our time is clearly in need and where the seeds for the requirements of a far-distant future are sown. Let us hope the people who will soon have to work in solitude here emerge strengthened from today's festivities, where so many sincere friends united their feelings with them! Then the spiritual life cultivated in this place will flow back to all people involved and coalesce with the great harmony of anthroposophical life. Thoughts that originate in this place will encounter our thoughts, just as our thoughts will flow here from distant places. This harmony is something like an external garment of spirituality, and spirituality must pass through human evolution like a spiritual breath of air if beneficial forces are to reign over humanity.

May this branch be dedicated in the fullest sense of the word; may it become a field of activity into which we can always place our hopes with the same love and inner satisfaction as is the case in today's dedication ceremony.

Zur Einweihung des Franz Von Assisi-Zweiges

Wir sind heute hier versammelt, um unserem anthroposophischen Zweig in Malsch die Weihe zu geben. Zwar ist dieser Zweig schon seit längerer Zeit in voller Arbeit tätig, doch sind wir erst heute imstande, die Eröffnungsweihe diesem Zweige zu geben.

Zu dieser Feier sind die lieben anthroposophischen Freunde von den verschiedensten Gegenden unseres anthroposophischen Strebens zusammengekommen und haben damit gezeigt, daß sie ihre anthroposophischen Gefühle und Gedanken vereinigen wollen mit jener ernsten, arbeitenden Menschengruppe, die hier - man möchte sagen, verschlagen ins Gebirge, aber zugleich umgeben von allen schönen und großen und edlen Kräften der Natur - anthroposophisches Leben entfalten wird. Diejenigen von Ihnen, die ihr Auge haben herumschweifen lassen in der Umgebung dieses gastlichen Hauses in Malsch, werden gesehen haben, daß da mancherlei auch in bezug auf das Äußere gearbeitet worden ist, um auch in der äußeren Erscheinung zutage treten zu lassen, daß das spirituelle Leben, welches uns alle beseelt, hier auf diesem Fleck Erde ganz besonders zum Ausdruck kommen soll.

Und wenn wir zurückblicken auf unseren Anfang des anthroposophischen Lebens bei der Gründung unserer deutschen Sektion, der sich Malsch als Faktor einfügt, wenn wir zurückblicken auf die geringfügigen Anfänge unseres Lebens in der deutschen Sektion, wo wir mit einer kleinen Gruppe geisteswissenschaftlich begeisterter Menschen begonnen haben, und dann den Blick schweifen lassen auf solche Ereignisse wie heute und sehen, wie zahlreich die Seelen sind, die sich vereinigen mit uns in geisteswissenschaftlichen Gefühlen und Empfindungen, so dürfen wir wohl mit Befriedigung auf die letzten Jahre unseres Strebens zurückblicken.

Und die Familie Stockmeyer, welche sich hier auf diesem Fleck Erde die größte Mühe gegeben hat, um dieses spirituelle Leben hier zu entfalten innerhalb der es allerdings sehr fördernden Geister der Natur, diese Familie kann wiederum mit Befriedigung sehen, wie nach ihrem gastlichen Fleckchen Erde herbeigeeilt sind so viele echte, wahre Freunde; denn echte, wahre Freunde dürfen alle die anthroposophischen Freunde genannt werden. Denn Anthroposophie muß vor allem sein Wahrheit in unseren Herzen. Und Wahrheit ist Aufrichtigkeit. Anthroposophie muß daher sein Aufrichtigkeit und anthroposophische Freundschaft, die sich ausdrückt in dem Mitfeiern eines solchen Festes, eines solchen Weihefestes. Getaucht muß das alles sein in Aufrichtigkeit. Freundschaft in Aufrichtigkeit verbindet uns mit denen, die hier so emsig gearbeitet haben, damit auch hier ein Arbeitsfeld anthroposophischen Wirkens sei. Und aller derjenigen Herzen, die herbeigekommen sind, werden von Dankbarkeit erfüllt sein gegenüber dem, was gerade hier von der Familie Stockmeyer gearbeitet worden ist, und versichert kann sie sein dieser dankbaren Gefühle wahrhaftiger Aufrichtigkeit, anthroposophischer Dankbarkeit.

Auf der andern Seite zeigt gerade der Erfolg eines solchen Weihefestes mit den zahlreichen Seelen, daß Geisteswissenschaft in unserer Gegenwart ein mächtiger Magnet für das menschliche Streben ist. Und es darf vielleicht bei einem solchen Weihefeste erwähnt werden, daß wir ja auch hinausblicken können über die Räume, die, so schön umschlossen von den Geistern einer herrlichen Natur, uns heute umschließen, daß wir hinausblicken dürfen in die übrige Welt. Man darf sagen: Geisteswissenschaftliches Leben und Streben, es ist heute wahrhaft etwas, was sich zeigt wie mit einer inneren Notwendigkeit behaftet. Es ist wirklich so, wie wenn manches Blatt der alten Kulturen, die durch Jahrtausende hindurch die europäische und abendländische Menschheit aufrechterhalten haben, die dieser Menschheit gegeben haben Sicherheit und Kraft fürs Leben, wie wenn sie heute anfingen zu verdorren, kalt und nüchtern zu erscheinen den Menschenherzen. Daher sehen wir, wie auf mancherlei L.ebensgebieten heute geisteswissenschaftliche Sehnsucht lebt. Und wahrhaftig, es ist etwas wie Zukunftskraft, was gerade in den letzten Tagen um mich herum sich abspielen durfte, der ich hier zu Ihnen sprechen darf.

Jetzt darf ich das Wort unserer großen Verkündiger der neuen Weisheit, das Wort unserer Meister der Weisheit und des Zusammenklangs der Empfindungen hier an diesem Ort vermitteln, an diesem Ort, der umgeben ist von grünen Bäumen und dem sprießenden Leben der Natur, von dem herrlichen, alles belebenden und geistdurchdrungenen Sonnenlicht, das heute so günstig herniederschaut auf unsere liebe Feier. Heute darf das geschehen.

Und es sind wenige Tage her, da durfte ich aus demselben Geiste heraus sprechen in einem Vortragszyklus, weit weg von hier. Ich durfte sprechen in einem Zyklus, den ich in Rom halten konnte. Und gerade diese Tatsache symbolisiert mir so recht, welcher Magnet das geisteswissenschaftliche Streben ist. Anders sah aus der Ort, an dem da gesprochen werden sollte zu denjenigen, die auch geisteswissenschaftliche Sehnsucht im Herzen haben, wenn auch manchmal eine Sehnsucht, die noch recht ungeklärt ist. Auf einem Boden, den eigentlich mit geistigen Angelegenheiten nur Kardinäle betreten haben, nur diejenigen, die aus positiv-orthodoxestem Katholizismus heraus wirken, auf diesem Boden durfte in den letzten Tagen der freie Hauch geisteswissenschaftlicher Weltanschauung verkündet werden. Dasselbe Wort durfte tönen durch die Luft derjenigen Räume, in denen eigentlich nur die Botschaft verkündet worden ist aus dem orthodoxen Zentrum Roms heraus.

So sehen wir, daß die freien Geister der Gegenwart, die sich hier mehr im Norden zur Anthroposophie herangezogen fühlen, doch auch mit einer gewissen Befriedigung blicken können auf jene Seelen, die sich heraussehnen aus einer wie mit eisernen Banden haltenden alten Tradition, aus einem alten Orthodoxismus. Und es ist immerhin ein Zeichen der Zeit, daß es möglich war, ebenso frei und unbefangen über die anthroposophischen Wahrheiten auf dem Boden zu sprechen, wo bisher nur Kardinäle gesprochen haben, wie hier auf dem freien nordischen Boden.

Denn das ist wahr gesprochen, was vorhin gesagt worden ist: Anthroposophie ist Aufrichtigkeit. Und wo sie gerufen wird, wo Seelen ihrer bedürfen, da geht sie hin. Aber in keinem Augenblick wird sie aus irgendeiner Rücksicht auf den Boden, wo sie verkündigt wird, auch nur das allergeringste ablassen von dem, was die große Richtschnur ist, die uns beseelt bei der Verkündigung.

Wo sie auch immer verkündigt wird die anthroposophische Wahrheit, wo das Spirituelle gepflegt wird, das uns durchpulst: Im Lichte der Aufrichtigkeit soll diese Botschaft verkündet werden, auch da, wo sie noch umgeben wird von den Gedanken derer, die Anthroposophie hassen. Mitten unter denen, die Anthroposophie hassen, leben aber die Seelen, die mehr oder weniger bewußt doch nach dem Lichte der Anthroposophie sich hinsehnen. Und so kann gerade ein solcher Kontrast, wie er an mir vorübergegangen ist seit vierzehn Tagen, uns zeigen, ein wie starker Magnet das anthroposophische Leben ist.

Wenn uns so die Betrachtung der unmittelbaren Gegenwart lehrt, daß diese anthroposophische Kraft eine starke in der Gegenwart ist, die Betrachtung der Zeiten, die lehrt uns erst recht, daß wir mit freudiger und uns befriedigender Zuversicht hoffen dürfen, daß das, was wir mit kleinen Keimen heute pflanzen, zum mächtigen Baum sich entfalten wird in der Zukunft. Wir sind als Theosophen heute in einer Lage, die wir nur vergleichen können mit der Lage, in der die Menschheit war in der alten atlantischen Zeit. Und wie seit der Zeit das Leben anders geworden ist, so wird das Leben in eine gewisse Zukunft hinein wiederum bis nach einer Katastrophe anders werden. Aber diese große Perspektive soll vor unsere Seele treten.

Erinnern wir uns einmal an eine ähnliche Bewegung, die klein ausgegangen ist wie die unsrige, im letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit. Da war das atlantische Seelenleben auf einen Höhepunkt gediehen. Dieses Seelenleben war in vieler Beziehung noch ein hellseherisches. Was sich die Menschheit hinzuerobert hat, das ist das Selbstbewußtsein, das ist das starke Ich-Gefühl. Dieses Ich-Gefühl, dieses Selbstbewußtsein hatte die atlantische Menschheit noch nicht. Die atlantische Menschheit hatte dafür ein gewisses Hellsehen und gewisse magische Kräfte. Hineinschauen konnte der Atlantier in die geistige Welt. Und das waren diejenigen, die an der Spitze der Zivilisation geschritten waren, die am besten hineinschauen konnten in die geistige Welt in der alten Weise, diejenigen, die am meisten Kundschaft herausbringen konnten aus dem Reich des Astralischen. Denn nach und nach schwand dieses Hellsehen dahin. Die Menschheit mußte es verlieren als ein Ganzes, um sich das Selbstbewußtsein an der physischen Außenwelt zu erobern. Aber es war das hellseherische Wissen im letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit auf eine besondere Höhe gestiegen.

Sie erinnern sich, wie die eigentliche Technik der Atlantier war. Auf kleinen Luftschiffen fuhren die Atlantier dahin über die Erde, nahe der Erde, weil die Luft durchsetzt war von dichten Nebelmassen. Und für dieses Luft-Wassermeer hatten sie ihre kleinen Fahrzeuge, die sie mit der Kraft der sprießenden Pflanze in Bewegung setzten. Diejenigen, welche in bezug auf solche Technik das Äußerste leisteten, das waren diejenigen Menschen, die verglichen werden können mit unseren heutigen großen Industriellen, mit denjenigen, die kunstvolle Maschinen bauen aus toten Kräften heraus. Und diejenigen, die aus der geistigen Welt am meisten verkündigen konnten, das waren diejenigen, die sich vergleichen lassen mit denen, die [heute] unsere Gelehrten, Naturforscher sind, die an der Spitze der Bildung marschieren.

Aber innerhalb dieser Menschheit bereitete sich eine andere Menschheit vor, eine Menschheit, die nur geringe Kräfte des Hellsehens hatte, dafür aber die Fähigkeit, die äußere Welt liebevoll zu beobachten. Die ersten Elemente des Rechnens und Zählens bereiteten sich vor. Aber sie konnten sich nur in geringem Maße beteiligen an den großen Fortschritten der atlantischen Industrie, an dem Bau der mächtiger und immer mächtiger werdenden Fahrzeuge, die das Wasser-Luftmeer durchsetzten. Und so war eine kleine, unscheinbare Menschenmenge gerade im letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit entstanden, die in gewisser Beziehung verachtet wurde, denn sie war wenig hellseherisch, wenig imstande, sich zu beteiligen an dieser großen Industrie. Sie bereitete aber das Erkennen vor, das heute unser Erkennen ist, auf das die äußere Welt in unserer Zeit so stolz ist, da sie es einseitig ausgebildet hat.

Bei denjenigen Menschen, welche an der Spitze der atlantischen Zivilisation standen, die alles beherrschten, was man aus dem atlantischen Wissen heraus erfahren konnte, welche in der Beherrschung der Technik der Atlantis am weitesten vorgeschritten waren, da tauchte gegen Ende der atlantischen Zeit zuerst ein technischer Gedanke auf, der dann fruchtbar geworden ist für unsere Zeit. Wir können ihn mit einem andern Fortschritt in unserer Zeit vergleichen, mit einem Fortschritt, der hinüberragen wird über die nächste Katastrophe. Die Atlantier hatten Fahrzeuge während ihrer Blüteperiode, welche durch die wassergeschwängerte Luft hingingen. Aber später, als die atlantische Kultur schon im Niedergang war, tauchte die Notwendigkeit auf, auch das Wasser zu befahren. Und bei den späteren Kulturrassen der atlantischen Zeit entstand der Gedanke an die Schifffahrt, die Eroberung des Wassers. Das war ein gewaltiger, in der alten atlantischen Zeit einschlagender Gedanke. Und ungeheure Sensation im atlantischen Leben machte es, als man zuerst auf einem Fahrzeug nicht nur in die Lüfte sich erhob und die Luft durchmaß, sondern hinsegelte auf der Wasser-Meeresfläche. Ein Gedanke, der ungeheuer sensationell wirkte, und der bei den letzten atlantischen Rassen in die Wirklichkeit umgesetzt wurde. Lange Versuche wurden gemacht, um auf dem bloßen Wasser zu fahren. Dann gelang es. Es gelang das in jener Zeit, wo die atlantische Kultur im Niedergang begriffen war.

Aus denjenigen, welche an diesem mächtigen Fortschritt beteiligt waren, konnten sich nicht rekrutieren die einfachen Leute, die mit den Fähigkeiten für die physische Welt zuerst ausgestattet waren, und die hinübertragen sollten das eigentliche geistige Leben aus der atlantischen Zeit in unsere Zeit, das geistige Leben: Schlichte, einfache Leute, die sich am wenigsten Reste bewahrt hatten von dem Hellsehen, aber doch noch so viel, als nötig war für den, der ein Sendbote war aus der geistigen Welt. Menschen mit diesem Geistvermögen sammelte damals ein großer Eingeweihter um sich, der, den wir nennen den großen Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels. Es waren die Menschen, die am wenigsten technische Fähigkeiten bewahrt hatten, auf die höhnend herabsahen diejenigen, die an der Spitze standen. Alle die, welche die großen Forscher und Entdecker waren, sahen verachtungsvoll herunter auf dieses kleine Häuflein. Aber diese waren es, die der große Eingeweihte des Sonnenorakels führte von Westen nach Osten, durch Europa nach Asien. Und dieses kleine Häuflein war es, welches dann die Möglichkeit lieferte, daß die nachatlantischen Kulturen begründet worden sind.

Denn das Beste, was die verschiedenen Kulturen dann entwickelten, der mächtige Baum der nachatlantischen Bildung, ging hervor aus den Nachkommen der verachteten, schlichten Leute aus der atlantischen Zeit. Vor allen Dingen ging aus der Mitte derer, die die Nachkommen dieses schlichten Häufleins waren, noch etwas anderes hervor. Stellen wir die äußeren Ereignisse neben die inneren Ereignisse unserer Bildung.

Sehen wir uns an die große Sensation der atlantischen Zeit, als die Erfindung gemacht wurde bei derjenigen Unterrasse, deren Nachkommen die Phönizier waren: sehen wir uns die Schiffahrt an. Was hat sie geschaffen, diese Schiffahrt?

Wir brauchen uns nur zu erinnern an die großen Ereignisse vom Beginn der neuen Zeit, an das, was Kolumbus und die andern Seefahrer getan haben, an die großen Entdeckungsteisen, die nicht hätten gemacht werden können ohne die Schiffahrt, und wir werden sehen, daß diese Sensation dazu geführt hat, den physischen Plan der Erde nach und nach zu erobern. Die Erde hat sich geschlossen, sozusagen. Auf kleine Kreise waren beschränkt die Nachatlantier. Aber die Erfindung der Schiffe hat die Erde abgerundet zu einem geschlossenen Gebilde des physischen Planes. So ragt die sensationelle Erfindung der atlantischen Welt herein in unsere Zeit und hilft mit, die großen Fortschritte auf dem physischen Plan zu machen.

Die größte Eroberung aber, sie ging hervor in der nachatlantischen Zeit aus denjenigen, die die Nachfolger waren jener schlichten Schar um den großen Eingeweihten des Sonnenorakels. Und nachdem sie vorbereitet hatten, was so zu tun war, diese schlichten Leute, durch ihre eigene Entwickelung die indische, persische, ägyptische, griechisch-lateinische und unsere Kultur, da war es der Erde möglich, das Material herzugeben, in das der Christus hineingeboren werden konnte. Und so ging das größte geistige Ereignis, die größte spirituelle Tat der nachatlantischen Zeit hervor aus dem Volk, das zu den verachtetsten Menschenschichten gehörte bei denen, die an der Spitze der Zivilisation in der Atlantis marschierten. Daraus ging der große spirituelle Fortschritt hervor, der alles geistige Leben in unserer Zeit trägt und hält und durchfruchtet und durchwebt.

Wir sehen etwas ähnliches in unserer Zeit sich abspielen. Wir sehen, wie jene Fähigkeiten, die in der Atlantis in ihren ersten Keimen enthalten waren, das Rechnen, das Zählen, wie diese Fertigkeiten alle ausgebildet werden heute zu einer wunderbaren Eroberung des physischen Planes durch alle möglichen technischen Fortschritte hindurch. Wir sehen heute die großen Erfinder und Entdecker gerade diejenigen Kräfte anwenden in gewisser Beziehung auf einem Gipfelpunkt, die bei einem verachteten Menschenhäuflein der atlantischen Zeit zuerst aufsprießten. Und was damals hellseherische Erkenntnis war, in der atlantischen Zeit, heute ist es Naturerkenntnis, heute ist es Erkenntnis der physischen Welt. Und vergleichen lassen sich mit den Spitzen der atlantischen Zivilisation unsere heutigen Naturforscher und Gelehrten. Aber auch heute ist wieder eine schlichte Menschenklasse da, ohne Unterschied der andern Stellungen in der Welt, überall verbreitet, und hat im Herzen jenen mächtigen Magnet, der zum spirituellen Leben hinzieht wie damals zum Leben in den äußeren Fähigkeiten für den physischen Plan.

Nur ist ein gewisser Unterschied. Während damals die letzten Reste des Hellsehens noch da waren, konnten sie erkennen den großen Eingeweihten. Heute haben es die Menschen in gewisser Richtung noch schwieriger. Heute ertönt an ein ähnliches kleines Häuflein ein Ruf aus der geistigen Welt, den wir den Ruf der Meister der Weisheit und des Zusammenklangs der Empfindungen nennen. Weil aber heute die Menschen herausgestellt sind auf den physischen Plan, bleiben die Meister der Weisheit und des Zusammenklangs der Empfindungen zunächst wie etwas Unbekanntes dem heutigen kleinen Menschenkern, der sich herauskristallisiert aus der großen Masse. Aber in ihren Herzen fühlen diese Menschen, wie wir aus den Tatsachen der Gegenwart ersehen können, daß es so etwas gibt wie eine neue spirituelle Botschaft, die ebenso in die Zukunft hineinwirken soll, wie die damalige Botschaft in unsere Gegenwart hereingewirkt hat. Diese Menschen, die heute aus allen Schichten unserer Bevölkerung heraus kommen, mit der Sehnsucht im Herzen nach spirituellem Leben, das die Zukunftskulturen begründen soll, diese Menschen, die wir überall finden, diese sind eben die wahren Theosophen.

Und die wahren Theosophen, die tauchen auf in unserer Zeit, gerade als in unserer Zeit eine ähnliche Sensation auftaucht wie damals in der atlantischen Zeit.

Das Wasser wurde damals erobert durch die höchsten Fortschritte der Technik. Die Luft wird erobert in unserer Zeit. Freilich wird diese Eroberung hineinragen in eine spätere Epoche. Aber wie in unserer Zeit die Schiffe nur heraufgebracht haben die Eroberung des physischen Planes, so wird das Luftschiff die Menschen in die Lüfte führen, in den Lüften aber werden die Luftschiffer nur finden den Stoff, nur Materielles. Und wenn auch neue Gebiete des physischen Planes erobert werden, und wenn auch segensreich für die äußere Welt wirken wird, was in der äußeren Technik geschieht, das innere, geistige Leben tragen diejenigen im Busen, welche sich spirituell, geistig fühlen, erfüllt fühlen von dem, was in der Zukunft führen soll zu einem Hineinschauen in die geistige Welt mit Selbstbewußtsein.

Und diejenigen, die an der Spitze der Zivilisation heute marschieren, die sich vergleichen lassen mit den atlantischen Weisen und Technikern — seht hinaus, draußen wirken sie als Erfinder und Entdecker und Gelehrte und Naturforscher. Auf ein solches Häuflein, das heute sich rekrutiert zu einem neuen Kulturträger, wie es hier sitzt, wie es sich vereinigt in unseren geisteswissenschaftlichen Vereinigungen, da blicken diese großen Forscher und Gelehrten, die die äußere Kultur tragen, mit Verachtung und Hohn wieder herab. Die Erscheinungen der alten atlantischen Zeit wiederholen sich.

Aber wenn das spirituelle Leben Eure Herzen so stark ergreift, daß Ihr Euch mit Würde vergleichen könnt mit denen, die um den großen Sonneneingeweihten sich geschart haben, wenn dieselbe Kraft der Zuversicht in Euch lebt, dann werdet Ihr in späteren Zeiten die Träger sein des geistigen Lebens, jenes Lebens, das der Menschheit zu den äußeren, materiellen Körperlichkeiten gibt das Wiederhineindringen in die geistige Welt. Damals war es der große Eingeweihte, der in ähnlicher Weise die Menschen um sich versammelte, heute sind es die Meister der Weisheit und des Zusammenklangs der Empfindungen. Ihr Ruf ergeht an Euch. Und wenn Ihr so fühlt, so aus der Geschichte heraus Eure Mission fühlt, dann werden Eure Herzen stark werden, das zu ertragen, was von außen als Spott und Hohn von denen auf die Geisteswissenschaft gegossen wird, die sich Kulturträger nennen. Und wenn Ihr so Eure Mission begreift, dann werden Eure Gedanken stark sein, und kein Zweifel, der von außen heranklingt, wird Euch erschüttern können in Eurer Überzeugung. Denn Eure Gedanken selber werden durchgeistigt sein durch die Kraft, die ausfließen kann aus einer solchen Erkenntnis unserer Mission. Und wenn wir auch über Jahrtausende den Blick werfen müssen und Ideale aufstellen müssen, die weithin reichen: Wo solche Ideale nicht aufgestellt werden, ist das Leben tot; wo sie aufgestellt werden, verwandelt sich das Leben. Ideale, die zwar den großen Zeiträumen entnommen sind und manchen kleinmütig erscheinen lassen könnten, die verwandeln sich in eine Kraft des Augenblicks. Ihr werdet stark sein für die kleinste Tat, wenn Ihr Euer Ideal aus den höchsten Höhen herauszunehmen imstande seid. So werdet Ihr feststehen, wenn diejenigen, die die Welt beherrschen mit ihrer Bildung, mit Hohn und Verachtung von den kleinen geisteswissenschaftlichen Vereinigungen sprechen, in denen die sitzen, die «nicht mitwollen mit der heutigen Kultur». Oh, sie wollen mit, sie wissen ebenso zu schätzen das, was in der äußeren, physischen Welt gewonnen wird, aber sie wissen auch, daß ebensowenig wie ein Körper ohne Seele ist, ebensowenig eine äußere Kultur ohne spirituelles Leben bestehen könnte.

Wie die Menschheit, die charakterisiert worden ist, die sich als ein damals verachtetes Häuflein um den großen Eingeweihten geschart hat, nach Generationen das Material gegeben hat, um den Christus auf Erden möglich zu machen, so muß die heutige anthroposophische Menschheit wieder möglich machen, Christus vollkommen zu verstehen. Christus ist im vierten Zeitraum herabgestiegen. Den Christus ganz zu verstehen, es wird gegeben sein denjenigen, die ihn aus der Anthroposophie verstehen wollen.

Warum kommen aus einem unbestimmten Bewußtsein diejenigen, die bisher genährt worden sind von den positiven Religionen, von den orthodoxen Religionen, warum kommen sie auch zur Geisteswissenschaft? Warum hören sie das anthroposophische Wort, während sie bisher nur den Vatikan gehört haben? Warum? Darf man heute noch sagen, Anthroposophie sei etwas, was nur da sei für diejenigen, die die größte geistige Tatsache unseres Zeitalters gleichgültig ansehen, die Tatsache des Christus-Impulses? Was verlangen jene Leute von uns? Daß wir ihnen sagen, wer der Christus war, was der Christus getan hat! Sie kommen, weil diejenigen, die sich heute als die privilegierten Träger des Christus-Namens bezeichnen, ihnen nicht sagen können, wer der Christus war. Deshalb kommen sie zur Anthroposophie, weil diese sagen kann, was der Christus ist. Nicht die heutigen Kulturträger, welche der äußeren Überlieferung, die sich anschließt an diese oder jene Religion, entgegenstellen die Leugnung des Christus, nicht diese können etwas anhaben den positiven, absterbenden spirituellen Strömungen. Wer nicht zu sagen weiß, was der große Christus ist, wer den Christus ableugnet in seiner Spiritualität, demgegenüber werden sich die alten Religionsströmungen noch immer stärker erweisen. Erst die geistigen Richtungen, die sich hineinstellen mitten unter diejenigen, die sich das Privilegium auf den Christus-Namen geben, die zu sagen wissen, was die wahre Wesenheit des Christus ist, denen, die es im andern Sinne verlangen, die werden sammeln um sich eine Menschheit, die in sich die Zukunft im Busen trägt. Gegenüber allem Religionsnihilismus werden sich die althergebrachten Religionsströmungen stärker erweisen.

Nicht im kleinen, dogmatischen Sinne fassen wir auf das anthroposophische Leben. Nicht mit einzelnen Dogmen, nicht mit einzelnen Erkenntnissätzen wollen wir dieses anthroposophische Leben umfassen, sondern so, daß wir die Mission und die Aufgabe unserer Zeit erkennen. Wir wollen es so umfassen, daß aus uns der wahre Geist unserer Zeit spricht, daß die größte Tatsache unserer nachatlantischen Zeit durch die Worte der Anthroposophie ausgesprochen werden kann. Dann werden diese Worte lebendiges Leben und lebendige Kraft in unserer Seele sein. Dann wird man verstehen, was das anthroposophische Leben ist. Das läßt sich nicht deklamieren, sondern nur herausleben aus dem Geiste unserer Zeit.

Wenn wir so fühlen, werden unsere Kräfte größer und größer. Wenn wir so fühlen, bekommen wir Stärke, uns fest anzuklammern an unser Ideal. Und dann wissen wir, wie wir dieses Ideal vertreten können, gleichgültig ob auf diesem oder jenem Boden, wo eine alte Kultur sich sehnt nach einem neuen Inhalt, oder auf diesem Boden hier, wo ringsherum umschlossen ist das, was durch das Tagewerk der Anthroposophie zustande gebracht wird, von der Natur und den herrlichen, geistbelebten Sonnenstrahlen, die uns jetzt hier umglänzen. Denn wir werden wiederum, was uns auch äußere Forschung sagen mag, in den Sonnenstrahlen, die uns hier umglänzen, erkennen den Geist dieser Strahlen. Und wir werden wissen, daß, wenn die Sonne untergegangen sein wird, der Geist, der in der Sonne lebt, in unsere Herzen hineinscheint. Wir werden lernen, was es heißt, die Sonne um Mitternacht zu schauen, den Geist der Sonne zu schauen. Und wenn wir den Geist der Sonne begreifen, dann werden wir sehen, wie dieser heruntergestiegen ist, sich vereinigt hat als spirituelles Leben mit demjenigen, was als das Beste in unserer Zeit lebt. Es ist notwendig, daß der Christus-Impuls verstanden wird, daß wir zu sagen wissen, wer der Christus war. In dieser Beziehung ist die Menschheit erst im Anfang. In demselben Maße wie die spirituelle Einsicht wachsen wird, in demselben Maße wird die Menschheit erkennen, wie sich der Christus-Impuls in dieses Weltgebäude hineingestellt hat.

So etwas fühlt man mit Recht, wenn ein Zweig ins Leben tritt, dem man die Weihe zu geben hat, wie wir heute hier, und der aus einem tiefen Bedürfnis der in diesem Zweig Vereinigten sich mit einem Namen belegt hat, der in so tief inniger Beziehung steht zu der ganzen Entwickelung des Christentums. Aus einem tiefen Bedürfnis der in diesem Zweige Vereinigten nennt sich dieser Zweig: Franz von AssisiZweig. Oh, es umschwebt ein tiefes, spirituelles Geheimnis jenen Franz von Assisi.

Als der Christus auf die Erde herniederstieg, umhüllte er sich mit dem dreifachen Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth, mit dem physischen, Äther- und Astralleib des Jesus von Nazareth. Drei Jahre lebte der Christus, der Sonnengeist, in der Hülle des Jesus von Nazareth. Und als das Mysterium von Golgatha eintrat, da geschah so mancherlei. Der Christus stieg aus den Höhen herunter auf die Erde. Aber es geschah, abgesehen von dem, was Ihr kennt, auch noch etwas anderes. Durch das Wohnen des Christus in dem Jesus von Nazareth geschah mit den drei Leibern des Jesus von Nazareth, namentlich mit dem Astralleib und Ätherleib, etwas ganz Besonderes. Da der Christus abgelegt hat die Leiber des Jesus von Nazareth, da waren sie geistig vorhanden in der geistigen Welt, aber vervielfältigt in vielen, vielen Abbildern. Nicht zugrunde gingen sie im Weltenäther oder in der astralischen Welt, sondern fortlebten sie in der geistigen Welt in Abbildern. So wie das Pflanzenkorn, das wir hinab in die Erde senken, in vielen Körnern erscheint nach dem Geheimnis der Zahl, so waren in der geistigen Welt vorhanden in Abbildern der Ätherleib und der Astralleib des Jesus von Nazareth. Und wozu waren sie da in dem großen Zusammenhange spiritueller Ökonomie? Um aufbewahrt zu werden und ihren Dienst zu tun im großen Fortschritt des Menschengeschlechts.

Einer der ersten, dem die große Wohltat wurde, die dadurch der Menschheit möglich geworden ist, daß der Ätherleib des Jesus in vielen, vielen Abbildern in der geistigen Welt vorhanden war, einer der ersten war der, den man den Augustinus nennt. Als Augustinus nach seiner früheren Verkörperung wieder herunterstieg auf die Erde, da wurde ihm nicht ein beliebiger Ätherleib einverwoben, sondern in seinen Ätherleib wurde hineinverwoben ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Den Astralleib und das Ich hatte er für sich. In seinem Ätherleib hatte er ein Abbild des Jesus von Nazareth. Er mußte sich hindurcharbeiten durch die Kultur seines Ich und Astralleibes. Als er an den Ätherleib drang, da kamen ihm die großen Wahrheiten, die uns in seiner Mystik entgegentreten. Und viele Menschen des 6., 7., 8. und 9. Jahrhunderts bekamen in ihren eigenen Ätherleib einverwoben Nachbilder des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Manche von denen, welche in jener Zeit die große christliche Konzeption gefaßt haben jener Bilder, die die Kunst dann so verherrlicht hat - die Madonna, Christus am Kreuz -, alle diejenigen, die gewirkt haben so, daß sie die Bilder schufen, trugen einverwoben in ihren Ätherleib ein Abbild des Ätherleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Daher erlebten sie wieder in sich das, was die Menschen erlebt hatten zur Zeit des Ereignisses von Golgatha.

Und im 11., 12., 13., 14. und 15. Jahrhundert war die Zeit gekommen, wo bei der Verkörperung gewisser Seelen verwoben wurde in den Astralleib ein Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Viele Menschen des 11., 12., 13., 14. Jahrhunderts bekamen nicht bloß den Astralleib beim Heruntersteigen, sondern während sich ihr Astralleib bei der Wiederverkörperung bildete, wob sich ein in diesen Astralleib ein Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Daher konnten diese Leute die großen christlichen Wahrheiten verkündigen. Denn sie hatten in ihren Astralleib, aus dem ihr Wissen entsprungen ist, einverwoben das, was Abbild war des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth selber. Unter denen aber, die in sich verwoben hatten ein solches Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth, war Franz von Assisi. Es waren in der damaligen Zeit viele, unter andern Zlisabeth von Thüringen, die hatten eingewoben [in ihren Astralleib] ein Abbild des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Daher konnten sie die großen Wahrheiten des Christentums als Urteil, als logische Erkenntnis, als wissenschaftliche Weisheit verkündigen. Aber sie konnten noch etwas anderes: Sie konnten in sich erleben, was man fühlen kann, wenn man den Astralleib des Jesus von Nazareth selbst in sich trägt.

Nun lassen Sie auf sich wirken all die Demut, das Hingebungsvolle, das christlich Liebende in dem Franz von Assisi, und es wird Ihnen wie Schuppen von den Augen fallen. Und Sie werden verstehen, wie Sie Franz von Assisi begreifen können: in allen seinen Irrtümern, weil er sein Ich für sich hatte; in all seinem Großen, da er ein Abbild in sich trug des Astralleibes des Jesus von Nazareth.

Alle die demutsvollen Gefühle, die tiefe, tiefe Mystik, all das spirituelle psychische Leben, das in Franz von Assisi lebt, wird verständlich, wenn wir dieses Geheimnis seines Lebens kennen. Und dann können wir gute Aussicht für die Zukunft dieses Zweiges im Geiste erblicken, wenn er sich so recht aufrankt an dieser großen Gestalt des Franz von Assisi. Denn diejenigen, die durch solche Gnade wie Franz von Assisi berufen worden sind, die christliche abendländische Menschheit zu leiten, die lassen auch ihr spirituelles Licht hineinstrahlen da, wo in spirituellem Sinne gearbeitet wird in allen Zeiten. Und wenn in echtem spirituellem Sinne gerade der Franz von AssisiZweig arbeitet, dann wird in der Vereinigung der Gedanken und Gefühle, die da walten in diesem Zweig, es wird in ihm walten das harmonisch einigende Licht des Franz von Assisi, das er durch eine solche Gnade, wie geschildert worden ist, in dem Durchdringen seines eigenen Astralleibes mit dem Astralleib des Jesus von Nazareth, erhalten hat. Es wird etwas hereinscheinen von diesem seinem Lichte in diesen Zweig.

Und wir werden die rechten Weihegefühle heute zurücklassen, die wir versammelt sind, um diesem Zweige die Weihe zu geben, diesem Zweige, der an bescheidenem Orte wirkt, wenn wir an uns vorüberziehen lassen die Betrachtung solcher Perspektiven. Blicken wir auf zum Lichte des Franz von Assisi, nehmen wir mit das, was entzündet werden kann in uns in diesem Augenblick, und denken wir zurück mit solchen Gefühlen an diesen Zweig und an diesen Augenblick, dann werden unsere Gefühle und Gedanken unsichtbar auch umschweben diesen Zweig Franz von Assisi, in dem gearbeitet werden wird in einer Weise dann, daß das, was von unten hinauf sich ringt, sich würdig erweisen mag dem Lichte, das von außen hereinkommt. In einem solchen Augenblick werden wir uns bewußt, daß wir da sind zu wirken für die wahren, wirklichen Fortschritte unserer nachatlantischen Zeit. Und es lebte wohl in den Seelen der Begründer dieses Zweiges, als das Bedürfnis entstand, ihn so zu nennen, etwas von dem Bewußtsein dieses großen Fortschrittes in unserer Zeit, jenes großen Fortschrittes in unserer nachatlantischen Zeit.

Wann ist der tiefste Einschnitt geschehen in unserer ganzen Evolution? Da, als der Christus heruntergestiegen ist. Blicken wir zurück sechshundert Jahre vor diesen Zeitraum, und blicken wir sechshundert Jahre später die Erde an, nachdem der Christus da war. Zwölfhundert Jahre liegen die beiden Zeiten auseinander.

Blicken wir auf eine Individualität, so groß, daß wahrhaftig nicht Worte der Bewunderung ausgesprochen werden sollen, blicken wir auf den großen Buddha, der gelebt hat sechshundert Jahre vor Christus. Sehen wir auf jenen Augenblick, wo er herausgeführt wird, wo er nicht hat leben können das Leben, das er hat leben sollen, wo er hinausgeführt wird ins Leben. Sehen wir, wie ihm begegnet zuerst ein unbeholfenes Kind. Und er bildet sich die Anschauung: Ja, es ist Leid in dem, in das der Mensch eintritt durch die Geburt. Und dann sieht er einen Kranken. Und er sagt sich: Es ist ja Leid, Krankheit da. Der Krankheit ist der Mensch ausgesetzt auf diesem Plan. Und er sieht einen alten Menschen, der seine Glieder nicht mehr bewegen kann. Und er sagt sich: Es ist Leid, alt zu werden. Und er sieht einen Leichnam. Und der ruft in ihm hervor die Anschauung: Der Tod, er ist Leid. Und dann bildet er sich noch die Anschauung: Getrennt sein von dem, was man liebt, ist Leid. Vereint sein mit dem, was man nicht liebt, ist Leid. Nicht erlangen, was man begehtt, ist leid. Und diese Lehre breitete sich aus als die Lehre des großen Buddha, sechshundert Jahre vor Christus.

Halten wir jenen Moment fest, wo der Buddha hinaustritt in die Welt und einen Leichnam sieht, dem Tode ins Angesicht sieht. Sechshundert Jahre vor Christus war das. Und sechshundert Jahre nach dem Ereignis von Golgatha entsteht zuerst das Bild, zu dem Tausende ihre Augen richten, das Holz des Kreuzes, an dem der Leichnam des Erlösers hängt. Buddha hat einen Leichnam angeschaut, und der Leichnam personifizierte ihm alles Erdenleid. Die Gläubigen der ChristusGemeinde sehen hin auf einen Leichnam, sechshundert Jahre nach Christus, und, indem sie den Leichnam anblicken, sehen die Gläubigen den Sieg alles geistigen Lebens über den Tod, die Anwartschaft auf die Seligkeit. So wurde ein Leichnam angeschaut von einem der größten Menschen sechshundert Jahre vor Christus, und so wurde er angesehen sechshundert Jahre nach dem Ereignis von Golgatha von einer gläubigen Gemeinde.

Und was sagt uns das Christus-Ereignis über die andern Sätze des Leides? Ist die Geburt Leiden? Buddha hat es gesagt. Im Anblick des Christus sagt sich die Menschheit, die ihn versteht: Durch die Geburt treten wir ein in dieses Dasein, das wert befunden wurde, den Christus zu tragen. Geboren werden wir in ein Leben hinein, in dem wir uns mit Christus verbinden können. Krankheit ist nicht Leid, wenn man Christus versteht. Man wird aus dem Christus-Impuls verstehen lernen das, was aus dem Geiste heraus die Gesundheit schafft. Auf spirituelle Weise wird die Krankheit geheilt werden aus dem innersten, christianisierten Leben heraus. Indem wir dem Äußeren absterben, werden wir gewiß, daß wir das, was wir in der Verbindung mit dem Christus-Impuls haben, hinübertragen in jegliches Leben.

Der Tod erscheint uns dadurch, daß der Christus den Sieg davongetragen hat, als das, was uns hinüberführt in eine geistige Welt. Den Tod lernen wir verstehen in seiner Bedeutung für die geistige Welt durch den Christus-Impuls.

Und nicht mehr kann man sagen, es sei Leid, von dem getrennt zu sein, was man liebt. Denn die Christus-Kraft wird uns zusammenführen mit alldem, was wir lieben wollen von Seele zu Seele. Zu dem, was sich liebt, wird die Christus-Kraft die Bande schlingen. Das Leid, das kommen könnte dadurch, daß getrennt wird, was sich liebt: Mit Christus wird diese Trennung überwunden werden.

Und lernen wir, alle zu lieben, werden wir nicht mehr anschauen die Welt, als ob vereinigt sein mit dem, was man nicht liebt, Leid sei. Ein jegliches Geschöpf wollen wir lieben lernen nach seinem Maße. Und unsere Begierde wird so geläutert werden, daß uns zuteil werden kann, was der Seele zuteil werden muß, wenn nicht mehr die Hindernisse der physischen Welt da sind, wenn die geistigen Quellen fließen. Fließen können sie durch den Christus-Impuls. Im Geist, im Christus-Geist werden Sie erlangen, was Sie begehren. Denn Sie werden ein geläutertes Verlangen haben.

So hat sich hingestellt durch den Christus-Impuls das neue spirituelle Leben neben das alte. So tief war der Fortschritt im geistigen Leben vor und nach dem Christus-Impuls.

So etwas fühlt derjenige, der an einen der frohesten, der glühendsten Verehrer und Botschafter des Christus-Impulses sich wendet, um einen Namen zu haben für die Vereinigung, in der spirituelles Leben gepflegt werden soll. Möge dieser Name eine gute Vorbedeutung sein, damit in diesem Zweige hier so gearbeitet wird, wie es aus dem Geiste unserer Zeit, aus dem wahrhaft begriffenen Geiste unserer Zeit heraus notwendig ist für jenen Fortschritt, den wir uns vor die Seele gemalt haben.

In dem Geiste, der aus den Worten heraus gesprochen, in dem Geiste sei heute dieser Zweig eingeweiht durch die Herunterrufung eines Segens, den wir schon gestern heruntergerufen haben, als wir den Grundstein legten zum äußeren Tempel. Noch einmal sei dieser Geist angerufen, daß er walte und webe in diesem Franz von AssisiZweige.

Vereinigen mögen sich mit diesem Geiste alle die Gefühle von uns allen, die wir heute herbeigekommen sind, um die Weihe zu geben diesem Zweige, um uns brüderlich zu vereinigen mit denjenigen, die hier im ernsten anthroposophischen Sinne arbeiten, damit mitten unter Bäumen und Wald, unter sprießenden, sprossenden Pflanzen, mitten unter einer sonnigen Natur geistiges Leben aufsprießen könne. Und ob draußen die hellen Sonnenstrahlen verkünden das, was in der Natur ein Schönes, Herrliches ist, ob draußen auch hoch der Schnee liegen möge und ob dichte Wolken das äußere, physische Sonnenlicht verdunkeln mögen: Zu allen Zeiten, zu den Zeiten, wo die äußere Natur sich erneut, oder wo sie ihr düsteres Kleid anzieht, immer soll walten hier der Geist spirituellen Lebens, den wir heute mit unserer Weihe über diesen Zweig von allen Geistern, die diese Geistigkeit leiten, herbeisehnen möchten.

Damit sei aus unserer aller Herzen diesem Franz von Assisi-Zweig die Weihe gegeben. Er wirke fort in dem Sinn, wie er angefangen hat, durch die in jeden Zweig hineinströmende spirituelle Gewalt der Meister der Weisheit und des Zusammenklanges der Empfindungen. Er wirke fort durch den guten Geist, den er sich selbst gegeben hat, indem er in seinem Namen den glänzenden Christus-Träger angerufen hat. Er wirke fort, wie er begonnen hat.

Es werden gute Geister über ihm walten. Er wird eine von den Pflegestätten sein jenes Lebens, das nach so vielen Anzeichen unsere Zeit braucht, braucht, um die Keime zu legen zu dem, was eine fernste Zukunft notwendig haben wird.

Mögen diejenigen, die jetzt wieder einsam hier arbeiten müssen, aus dieser heutigen Festlichkeit, wo so viele gleichgesinnte, aufrichtige Freunde ihre Gefühle mit ihnen vereinigen, gestärkt hervorgehn! Dann wird zurückfließen zu allen das spirituelle Leben, das auf diesem Boden hier gepflegt wird. Und eine der Quellen möge auch hier an diesem Orte erfließen, zusammenfließen in die große Harmonie anthroposophischen Lebens hinein. Die Gedanken, die hier entstehen, werden den unsrigen begegnen. Unsere Gedanken werden hierher fließen. Diese Harmonie aber bedeutet etwas wie ein äußeres Kleid der Spiritualität, die wie ein geistiger Windhauch durch die Evolution der Menschheit gehen muß, wenn Segenskräfte über der geistigen Menschheit walten sollen.

Und damit sei dieser Zweig im vollsten Sinne des Wortes eröffnet, geweiht, zu einem Arbeitsfelde gemacht, auf das wir immer hoffen, mit derselben Liebe, mit derselben inneren Befriedigung sehen zu können, wie wir das heute in diesem Weiheaugenblicke, wo wir so schön beisammen sind, tun.

The Inauguration of the Franz von Assisi Branch

We are gathered here today to inaugurate our anthroposophical branch in Malsch. Although this branch has been fully active for some time, we are only now able to hold the opening ceremony.

Our dear anthroposophical friends from various regions of our anthroposophical endeavour have come together for this celebration, thereby demonstrating their desire to unite their anthroposophical feelings and thoughts with those of the serious, hard-working group of people who have gathered here – one might say, tucked away in the mountains, yet surrounded by all the beautiful, great, and noble forces of nature. Those of you who have looked around the surroundings of this hospitable house in Malsch will have seen that a great deal of work has been done on the exterior as well, in order to show in the outward appearance that the spiritual life which animates us all is to find its particular expression here in this spot on earth.

And when we look back on the beginnings of our anthroposophical life with the founding of our German Section, of which Malsch is a part, when we look back on the humble beginnings of our life in the German Section, where we started with a small group of people enthusiastic about spiritual science, and then let our gaze wander to events such as today's and see how numerous are the souls who unite with us in spiritual scientific feelings and sensibilities, we can look back with satisfaction on the last years of our striving.

And the Stockmeyer family, who have made such great efforts here in this corner of the earth to develop this spiritual life, albeit within the very supportive spirits of nature, this family can in turn look back with satisfaction at how so many genuine, true friends have flocked to their hospitable corner of the earth; for all anthroposophical friends can be called genuine, true friends. For anthroposophy must above all be truth in our hearts. And truth is sincerity. Anthroposophy must therefore be sincerity and anthroposophical friendship, which is expressed in the celebration of such a festival, such a dedication festival. All of this must be steeped in sincerity. Friendship in sincerity connects us with those who have worked so diligently here to make this a field of anthroposophical activity. And all those who have come here will be filled with gratitude for what the Stockmeyer family has accomplished here, and they can be assured of these feelings of gratitude, which are truly sincere and anthroposophical.

On the other hand, the success of such a dedication ceremony with so many souls shows that spiritual science is a powerful magnet for human striving in our time. And perhaps it is worth mentioning at such a dedication ceremony that we can also look beyond the spaces that surround us today, so beautifully enclosed by the spirits of a magnificent nature, that we can look out into the rest of the world. It can be said that spiritual scientific life and striving are truly something that today appear to be imbued with an inner necessity. It is really as if some of the leaves of the ancient cultures that have sustained European and Western humanity for thousands of years, that have given this humanity security and strength for life, are now beginning to wither, appearing cold and sober to human hearts. That is why we see a longing for spiritual science living on in many areas of life today. And truly, it is something like a power for the future that has been unfolding around me in recent days, which I am privileged to share with you here today.

Now I am allowed to convey the words of our great proclaimers of the new wisdom, the words of our masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings, here in this place, surrounded by green trees and the sprouting life of nature, by the glorious, life-giving and spirit-filled sunlight that shines so favorably today on our dear celebration. Today this is allowed to happen.

And just a few days ago, I was able to speak in the same spirit in a series of lectures far away from here. I was able to speak in a series that I held in Rome. And this fact alone symbolizes for me the magnet that is the pursuit of spiritual science. The place where I was to speak looked very different to those who also have a longing for spiritual science in their hearts, even if this longing is sometimes still quite unclear. On ground that had actually only been trodden by cardinals, only those who work from the most positive and orthodox Catholicism, on this ground, the free breath of spiritual scientific worldview was allowed to be proclaimed in recent days. The same word was allowed to resound through the air of those rooms where only the message from the orthodox center of Rome had actually been proclaimed.

Thus we see that the free spirits of the present, who feel more drawn to anthroposophy here in the north, can also look with a certain satisfaction upon those souls who long to break free from an old tradition that holds them in iron bonds, from an old orthodoxy. And it is, after all, a sign of the times that it was possible to speak as freely and impartially about anthroposophical truths on the ground where previously only cardinals have spoken, as here on the free soil of the North.

For what was said earlier is true: anthroposophy is sincerity. And where it is called for, where souls need it, there it goes. But at no moment will it, out of any consideration for the ground on which it is proclaimed, depart in the slightest from what is the great guiding principle that inspires us in our proclamation.

Wherever the anthroposophical truth is proclaimed, wherever the spiritual that pulsates through us is cultivated, this message should be proclaimed in the light of sincerity, even where it is still surrounded by the thoughts of those who hate anthroposophy. But even among those who hate anthroposophy, there live souls who, more or less consciously, long for the light of anthroposophy. And so it is precisely a contrast such as I have experienced over the past fortnight that shows us how powerful a magnet anthroposophical life is.

If consideration of the immediate present teaches us that this anthroposophical force is a strong one in the present, consideration of the ages teaches us even more that we may hope with joyful and satisfying confidence that what we plant today with small seeds will develop into a mighty tree in the future. As theosophists today, we are in a situation that we can only compare to the situation in which humanity found itself in the ancient Atlantean epoch. And just as life has changed since that time, so will life change again in the future, until a catastrophe occurs. But this great perspective should come before our souls.

Let us recall a similar movement that began small, like ours, in the last third of the Atlantean epoch. At that time, the Atlantean soul life had reached a high point. In many respects, this soul life was still clairvoyant. What humanity has conquered is self-awareness, a strong sense of self. The Atlantean humanity did not yet have this sense of self, this self-awareness. Instead, the Atlantean humanity had a certain clairvoyance and certain magical powers. The Atlanteans could look into the spiritual world. And these were the ones who had advanced to the forefront of civilization, who were best able to see into the spiritual world in the old way, those who were best able to bring knowledge out of the astral realm. For little by little, this clairvoyance faded away. Humanity had to lose it as a whole in order to gain self-consciousness in the physical outer world. But clairvoyant knowledge had risen to a special height in the last third of the Atlantean era.

You remember what the actual technology of the Atlanteans was like. The Atlanteans traveled across the earth in small airships, close to the earth, because the air was filled with dense fog. And for this sea of air and water they had their small vehicles, which they propelled with the power of sprouting plants. Those who achieved the most in terms of such technology were people who can be compared to our great industrialists of today, to those who build elaborate machines out of dead forces. And those who were able to proclaim the most from the spiritual world were those who can be compared to our scholars and natural scientists of today, who march at the forefront of education.

But within this humanity, another humanity was preparing itself, a humanity that had only limited powers of clairvoyance, but in return had the ability to observe the outer world with love. The first elements of arithmetic and counting were being prepared. But they could only participate to a limited extent in the great advances of Atlantean industry, in the construction of the powerful and increasingly powerful vehicles that traversed the sea of water and air. And so, in the last third of the Atlantean period, a small, inconspicuous group of people emerged who were despised in a certain sense because they had little clairvoyance and were unable to participate in this great industry. However, they prepared the way for the knowledge that is ours today, of which the outer world is so proud in our time because it has developed it in a one-sided manner.

Among those people who stood at the forefront of Atlantean civilization, who mastered everything that could be learned from Atlantean knowledge, who were most advanced in the mastery of Atlantean technology, a technical idea first emerged toward the end of the Atlantean era, which then became fruitful for our time. We can compare it to another advance in our time, an advance that will transcend the next catastrophe. During their heyday, the Atlanteans had vehicles that traveled through the water-saturated air. But later, when the Atlantean culture was already in decline, the need arose to navigate the water as well. And among the later cultural races of the Atlantean era, the idea of shipping, of conquering the water, arose. This was a powerful idea that had a profound impact in the ancient Atlantean era. And it caused a tremendous sensation in Atlantean life when, for the first time, a vehicle not only rose into the air and traversed the air, but also sailed on the surface of the water. It was an idea that had an enormous impact and was put into practice by the last Atlantean races. Long attempts were made to sail on the water. Then they succeeded. This happened at a time when Atlantean culture was in decline.

Those who were involved in this mighty advance could not be recruited from among the simple people who were initially equipped with the skills for the physical world and who were to carry over the actual spiritual life from the Atlantean era into our time, the spiritual life: simple, unassuming people who had retained the least remnants of clairvoyance, but still enough for those who were messengers from the spiritual world. People with this spiritual ability were gathered around a great initiate whom we call the great initiate of the Sun Oracle. These were the people who had retained the least technical skills, who were looked down upon with scorn by those at the top. All the great researchers and discoverers looked down contemptuously on this small group. But it was they whom the great initiate of the Sun Oracle led from west to east, through Europe to Asia. And it was this small group that then provided the opportunity for the post-Atlantean cultures to be founded.

For the best that the various cultures then developed, the mighty tree of post-Atlantean education, sprang from the descendants of the despised, simple people of the Atlantean era. Above all, something else emerged from the midst of those who were the descendants of this simple little group. Let us place the external events alongside the internal events of our education.

Let us look at the great sensation of the Atlantean era, when the invention was made by the subrace whose descendants were the Phoenicians: let us look at seafaring. What did this seafaring create?

We need only remember the great events of the beginning of the new era, what Columbus and the other navigators did, the great discoveries that could not have been made without navigation, and we will see that this sensation led to the gradual conquest of the physical plane of the earth. The earth closed itself, so to speak. The post-Atlanteans were confined to small circles. But the invention of ships rounded off the Earth into a closed physical structure. Thus, the sensational invention of the Atlantean world has entered our time and is helping to bring about great progress on the physical plane.

The greatest conquest, however, emerged in the post-Atlantean era from those who were the successors of that simple band around the great initiate of the Sun Oracle. And after they had prepared what needed to be done, these simple people, through their own development of the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek-Latin, and our culture, it was possible for the Earth to provide the material into which Christ could be born. And so the greatest spiritual event, the greatest spiritual deed of the post-Atlantean era, emerged from the people who belonged to the most despised classes of humanity among those who marched at the forefront of civilization in Atlantis. From this emerged the great spiritual progress that sustains, nourishes, and permeates all spiritual life in our time.

We see something similar happening in our time. We see how those abilities that were contained in their first seeds in Atlantis, arithmetic, counting, how these skills are all being developed today into a wonderful conquest of the physical plane through all kinds of technical advances. Today we see the great inventors and discoverers applying, in a certain sense, those forces that first sprouted among a despised handful of people in the Atlantean era. And what was clairvoyant knowledge in the Atlantean era is now knowledge of nature, knowledge of the physical world. Our present-day natural scientists and scholars can be compared with the pinnacles of the Atlantean civilization. But today there is again a simple class of people, without distinction of position in the world, spread everywhere, and they have in their hearts that powerful magnet that draws them toward spiritual life, just as in those days they were drawn toward life in the outer faculties for the physical plane.

There is only one difference. While the last remnants of clairvoyance still existed at that time, they were able to recognize the great initiates. Today, people have a more difficult time in a certain sense. Today, a call from the spiritual world resounds to a similar small group, which we call the call of the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings. But because people today are focused on the physical plane, the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings remain, at first, something unknown to the small core of people who are crystallizing out of the great mass. But in their hearts, these people feel, as we can see from the facts of the present, that there is such a thing as a new spiritual message that will have the same effect on the future as the message of that time had on our present. These people, who today come from all strata of our population, with a longing in their hearts for a spiritual life that will form the basis of future cultures, these people, whom we find everywhere, are the true theosophists.

And the true theosophists are appearing in our time, just as a sensation similar to that of the Atlantean era is emerging in our time.

At that time, water was conquered through the highest advances in technology. In our time, the air is being conquered. Of course, this conquest will extend into a later epoch. But just as in our time ships have only brought about the conquest of the physical plane, so the airship will carry human beings into the air, but in the air the airship pilots will find only matter, only material things. And even if new areas of the physical plane are conquered, and even if what happens in external technology has a beneficial effect on the external world, the inner, spiritual life is carried in the hearts of those who feel spiritual, who feel fulfilled by what will lead in the future to a self-conscious insight into the spiritual world.

And those who march at the forefront of civilization today, who can be compared to the Atlantean sages and technicians—look outside, they are working as inventors and discoverers and scholars and naturalists. Such a small group, which today is recruiting itself as a new bearer of culture, as it sits here, as it unites in our spiritual scientific associations, is looked down upon with contempt and scorn by these great researchers and scholars who carry the outer culture. The phenomena of the ancient Atlantean era are repeating themselves.

But if spiritual life grips your hearts so strongly that you can compare yourselves with dignity to those who gathered around the great sun initiate, if the same power of confidence lives in you, then in later times you will be the bearers of spiritual life, that life which gives humanity, through its outer, material physicality, the ability to penetrate back into the spiritual world. At that time, it was the great initiate who gathered people around him in a similar way; today it is the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings. Their call goes out to you. And if you feel this way, if you feel your mission arising from history, then your hearts will become strong enough to endure what is poured out from outside as mockery and scorn by those who call themselves bearers of culture. And if you understand your mission in this way, then your thoughts will be strong, and no doubt coming from outside will be able to shake your conviction. For your thoughts themselves will be imbued with spirit through the power that can flow from such an understanding of our mission. And even if we have to look thousands of years ahead and set ideals that reach far into the future: where such ideals are not set, life is dead; where they are set, life is transformed. Ideals that are taken from great periods of time and may seem small-minded to some are transformed into a power of the moment. You will be strong for the smallest deed if you are able to take your ideal from the highest heights. You will stand firm when those who rule the world with their education speak with scorn and contempt of the small spiritual-scientific associations in which sit those who “do not want to go along with today's culture.” Oh, they want to go along, they appreciate just as much what is gained in the outer, physical world, but they also know that just as a body cannot exist without a soul, so an outer culture cannot exist without spiritual life.

Just as the humanity that has been characterized, which gathered around the great initiate as a despised handful at that time, provided the material over generations to make Christ possible on earth, so must today's anthroposophical humanity make it possible again to understand Christ completely. Christ descended in the fourth epoch. To understand Christ completely will be given to those who want to understand him through anthroposophy.

Why do those who have been nourished by the positive religions, by the orthodox religions, come from an undefined consciousness to spiritual science? Why do they listen to the anthroposophical word when they have only listened to the Vatican until now? Why? Can we still say today that anthroposophy is something that is only there for those who view the greatest spiritual fact of our age, the fact of the Christ impulse, with indifference? What do these people want from us? They want us to tell them who Christ was and what Christ did! They come because those who today call themselves the privileged bearers of the name of Christ cannot tell them who Christ was. That is why they come to anthroposophy, because it can tell them what Christ is. It is not today's cultural leaders, who oppose the denial of Christ with the external traditions associated with this or that religion, who can harm the positive, dying spiritual currents. Those who do not know how to say what the great Christ is, who deny Christ in their spirituality, will find that the old religious currents will prove even stronger against them. Only the spiritual movements that place themselves in the midst of those who claim the privilege of the name of Christ, who know how to say what the true essence of Christ is, who demand it in the other sense, will gather around themselves a humanity that carries the future within itself. In contrast to all religious nihilism, the traditional religious currents will prove stronger.

We do not understand anthroposophical life in a narrow, dogmatic sense. We do not want to encompass this anthroposophical life with individual dogmas or individual statements of knowledge, but rather in such a way that we recognize the mission and task of our time. We want to embrace it in such a way that the true spirit of our time speaks through us, that the greatest fact of our post-Atlantean time can be expressed through the words of anthroposophy. Then these words will be living life and living power in our souls. Then people will understand what anthroposophical life is. This cannot be declaimed, but only lived out of the spirit of our time.

When we feel this way, our powers grow greater and greater. When we feel this way, we gain the strength to cling firmly to our ideal. And then we will know how to represent this ideal, regardless of whether it is on this or that soil, where an old culture longs for new content, or on this soil here, where we are surrounded by what has been brought about by the daily work of anthroposophy, by nature and the wonderful, spirit-filled rays of the sun that now shine around us. For whatever external research may tell us, we will again recognize the spirit of these rays in the sunbeams that shine around us here. And we will know that when the sun has set, the spirit that lives in the sun shines into our hearts. We will learn what it means to look at the sun at midnight, to look at the spirit of the sun. And when we understand the spirit of the sun, we will see how it has descended and united itself as spiritual life with what lives as the best in our time. It is necessary that the Christ impulse be understood, that we know how to say who Christ was. In this respect, humanity is only at the beginning. To the same extent that spiritual insight grows, humanity will recognize how the Christ impulse has entered into the structure of the world.

One feels this rightly when a branch comes into being that one has to consecrate, as we are doing here today, and which, out of a deep need of those united in this branch, has given itself a name that is so deeply connected with the whole development of Christianity. Out of a deep need of those united in this branch, this branch calls itself the Francis of Assisi Branch. Oh, there is a deep, spiritual mystery surrounding Francis of Assisi.

When Christ descended to earth, he enveloped himself in the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth, with the physical, etheric, and astral bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ, the Sun Spirit, lived for three years in the shell of Jesus of Nazareth. And when the mystery of Golgotha took place, many things happened. Christ descended from the heights to earth. But apart from what you know, something else also happened. Through Christ's dwelling in Jesus of Nazareth, something very special happened to the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, namely to the astral body and the etheric body. When Christ laid aside the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, they remained spiritually present in the spiritual world, but multiplied into many, many images. They did not perish in the world ether or in the astral world, but lived on in the spiritual world in images. Just as the seed of a plant that we sink into the earth appears in many grains according to the mystery of numbers, so the etheric body and the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth were present in the spiritual world in images. And what were they there for in the great context of spiritual economy? To be preserved and to do their service in the great progress of the human race.

One of the first to receive the great blessing that became possible for humanity through the presence of the etheric body of Jesus in many, many images in the spiritual world was the man known as Augustine. When Augustine descended back to earth after his previous incarnation, he was not woven into just any etheric body, but an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into his etheric body. He had his astral body and his ego for himself. In his etheric body he had an image of Jesus of Nazareth. He had to work his way through the culture of his ego and astral body. When he reached the etheric body, the great truths that confront us in his mysticism came to him. And many people of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries had afterimages of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their own etheric bodies. Some of those who, at that time, conceived the great Christian conception of those images that art then glorified so much—the Madonna, Christ on the cross—all those who worked in such a way that they created the images carried woven into their etheric bodies an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, they experienced again within themselves what people had experienced at the time of the events on Golgotha.

And in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, the time had come when, during the incarnation of certain souls, an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into the astral body. Many people in the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries did not merely receive the astral body when they descended, but while their astral body was forming during reincarnation, an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into this astral body. That is why these people were able to proclaim the great Christian truths. For they had woven into their astral body, from which their knowledge sprang, that which was the image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth himself. Among those who had woven such an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth into themselves was Francis of Assisi. At that time, there were many, among others Elizabeth of Thuringia, who had woven into their astral bodies an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. That is why they were able to proclaim the great truths of Christianity as judgment, as logical knowledge, as scientific wisdom. But they could do something else as well: they could experience within themselves what one feels when one carries the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within oneself.

Now let all the humility, devotion, and Christian love in Francis of Assisi sink in, and it will be like scales falling from your eyes. And you will understand how you can comprehend Francis of Assisi: in all his errors, because he had his ego for himself; in all his greatness, because he carried within himself an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth.

All the humble feelings, the deep, deep mysticism, all the spiritual psychic life that lives in Francis of Assisi becomes understandable when we know this secret of his life. And then we can see good prospects for the future of this branch in the spirit, if it really takes root in this great figure of Francis of Assisi. For those who have been called by such grace as Francis of Assisi to lead Western Christian humanity also allow their spiritual light to shine where spiritual work is being done in all ages. And when the Francis of Assisi branch works in a genuine spiritual sense, then in the union of the thoughts and feelings that prevail in this branch, the harmoniously unifying light of Francis of Assisi will prevail, which he received through such grace as has been described, in the permeation of his own astral body with the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. Something of this light will shine into this branch.

And we will leave behind us today the right feelings of consecration with which we have gathered to consecrate this branch, this branch that works in a humble place, when we allow ourselves to pass by the contemplation of such perspectives. Let us look up to the light of Francis of Assisi, let us take with us what can be kindled in us at this moment, and let us think back with such feelings to this branch and to this moment, then our feelings and thoughts will invisibly surround this branch of Francis of Assisi, in which work will be done in such a way that what struggles upward from below may prove worthy of the light that enters from without. At such a moment, we become aware that we are here to work for the true, real progress of our post-Atlantean time. And when the need arose to name this branch, something of the awareness of this great progress in our time, this great progress in our post-Atlantean time, must have lived in the souls of its founders.

When did the deepest turning point in our entire evolution occur? It was when Christ descended. Let us look back six hundred years before this period, and let us look at the Earth six hundred years later, after Christ was here. Twelve hundred years lie between these two periods.

Let us look at an individuality so great that words of admiration cannot truly be uttered, let us look at the great Buddha who lived six hundred years before Christ. Let us look at that moment when he is led out, when he has not been able to live the life he was meant to live, when he is led out into life. Let us see how he is first met by a clumsy child. And he forms the view: Yes, there is suffering in what man enters into through birth. And then he sees a sick person. And he says to himself: There is suffering, there is illness. Man is exposed to illness on this plane. And he sees an old man who can no longer move his limbs. And he says to himself: It is suffering to grow old. And he sees a corpse. And this evokes in him the view: Death is suffering. And then he forms the view: Being separated from what one loves is suffering. Being united with what one does not love is suffering. Not obtaining what one desires is suffering. And this teaching spread as the teaching of the great Buddha, six hundred years before Christ.

Let us hold fast to that moment when Buddha steps out into the world and sees a corpse, looks death in the face. That was six hundred years before Christ. And six hundred years after the event at Golgotha, the image first arises to which thousands turn their eyes, the wood of the cross on which hangs the corpse of the Savior. Buddha looked at a corpse, and the corpse personified all earthly suffering for him. The believers of the Christian community look at a corpse, six hundred years after Christ, and in looking at the corpse, the believers see the victory of all spiritual life over death, the promise of bliss. Thus a corpse was viewed by one of the greatest men six hundred years before Christ, and thus it was viewed six hundred years after the event of Golgotha by a community of believers.

And what does the Christ event tell us about the other statements of suffering? Is birth suffering? Buddha said so. In the sight of Christ, humanity that understands him says to itself: Through birth we enter into this existence that was found worthy to bear Christ. We are born into a life in which we can connect with Christ. Illness is not suffering if one understands Christ. From the Christ impulse, we will learn to understand what it is in the spirit that creates health. In a spiritual way, illness will be healed from the innermost, Christianized life. By dying to the outer, we become certain that we carry over into every life what we have in connection with the Christ impulse.

Through Christ's victory, death appears to us as that which carries us over into a spiritual world. We learn to understand death in its significance for the spiritual world through the Christ impulse.

And we can no longer say that it is suffering to be separated from what we love. For the power of Christ will bring us together with everything we want to love, soul to soul. The power of Christ will bind together all that loves one another. The suffering that could come from separating what loves one another will be overcome with Christ.

And when we learn to love everyone, we will no longer look at the world as if being united with what we do not love is suffering. We want to learn to love every creature according to its measure. And our desire will be so purified that we will be able to receive what the soul must receive when the obstacles of the physical world are no longer there, when the spiritual sources flow. They can flow through the Christ impulse. In the spirit, in the Christ spirit, you will attain what you desire. For you will have a purified desire.

Thus, through the Christ impulse, the new spiritual life has been placed alongside the old. So profound was the progress in spiritual life before and after the Christ impulse.

This is what one feels when one turns to one of the most joyful, most ardent admirers and messengers of the Christ impulse in order to have a name for the union in which spiritual life is to be cultivated. May this name be a good omen, so that work in this branch may be carried out in accordance with the spirit of our time, with the truly understood spirit of our time, as is necessary for the progress we have set before our souls.

In the spirit spoken in these words, in this spirit may this branch be inaugurated today by invoking the blessing we invoked yesterday when we laid the foundation stone for the outer temple. Once again, may this spirit be invoked to reign and work in this branch of Francis of Assisi.

May all the feelings of all of us who have come here today to consecrate this branch unite with this spirit, so that we may unite ourselves in brotherhood with those who work here in the serious anthroposophical sense, so that spiritual life may sprout up in the midst of trees and woods, among sprouting and budding plants, in the midst of sunny nature. And whether the bright rays of the sun proclaim what is beautiful and glorious in nature, whether the snow lies deep outside and thick clouds darken the outer, physical sunlight: At all times, at times when outer nature renews itself or when it dons its dark garment, the spirit of spiritual life should always reign here, which we would like to invoke today with our consecration of this branch by all the spirits who guide this spirituality.

With this, let the consecration be given from all our hearts to this branch of Francis of Assisi. May it continue to work in the spirit in which it began, through the spiritual power of the masters of wisdom and the harmony of feelings flowing into each branch. May it continue to work through the good spirit it has given itself by invoking the shining bearer of Christ in its name. May it continue to work as it has begun.

Good spirits will watch over it. It will be one of the places that nurtures the life that, according to so many signs, our time needs in order to sow the seeds of what a distant future will require.

May those who now have to work here alone again emerge strengthened from today's festivities, where so many like-minded, sincere friends unite their feelings with theirs! Then the spiritual life that is cultivated here on this ground will flow back to all. And may one of the sources also flow here in this place, flowing together into the great harmony of anthroposophical life. The thoughts that arise here will meet ours. Our thoughts will flow here. But this harmony means something like an outer garment of spirituality, which must pass through the evolution of humanity like a spiritual breath of wind if blessing forces are to reign over spiritual humanity.

And with that, this branch is opened in the fullest sense of the word, consecrated, made into a field of work that we always hope to be able to look upon with the same love and inner satisfaction as we do today in this moment of consecration, when we are so beautifully gathered together.