The East in the Light of the West
GA 113
31 Aug 1909, Munich
9. The Bodhisattvas and the Christ
The facts stated at the end of the last chapter cannot but be somewhat unintelligible to persons who encounter them for the first time, for they belong to the secrets of numbers. And the secrets of numbers are those which are in a comparative sense the most difficult to master.
It has been stated that there is a certain relation between the numbers seven and twelve, and that this relation has something to do with time and space. Now this profound mystery can, gradually, be understood by everybody, but it must necessarily remain a mere statement to the kind of cognition which today is alone recognised as such. It has to be elucidated, explained. An understanding of the ‘machinery’ of the world may be reached, as I have already indicated, by distinguishing between conditions which are essentially those of space and conditions which belong essentially to time. We understand the world which surrounds us primarily in terms of space and time; but if we do not confine ourselves to speaking of time and space in an abstract sense and endeavour to understand how conditions are regulated in time and how the different beings in space are related to each other, we find a thread leading on the one side through the complicated relations of time, and on the other through the complex conditions of space. In the first place we observe the course of world events in the light of spiritual science. We look back at earlier incarnations of man, of races and civilisations, as well as of the earth itself. We build up within ourselves an idea of what will happen in the future, i.e. in time. And we shall always see our way if we judge of evolution in time from a framework built up by means of the number seven. We must not build and speculate and attribute all kinds of meanings to the number seven; we must only pursue the facts from the point of view of the number seven. In the first place this number seven is only a means of facilitating our task. Take, for instance, a man whose spiritual vision is so far opened that he can examine data of the Akashic Records of the past. He may use the number seven as a guide and realise that what runs its course in time is built up on the basis of the number seven; that which repeats itself in various forms can very well be analysed by using the number seven as a foundation and proceeding from this as a basis. In this sense it is right to say that since the earth goes through various embodiments we have to look for its seven incarnations; Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. Because human civilisations pass through seven incarnations we must seek their connections by once more using the number seven as a basis. Let us for instance consider the civilisations in post-Atlantean times. The old Indian is the first, the second is the old Persian, the third the Chaldaic-Egyptian, the fourth the Graeco-Latin, the fifth our own and we are expecting two more, the sixth and seventh to succeed our own. We can also find our way in the study of the Karma of an individual by trying to look at his three former incarnations. By starting with the incarnation of a man of the present day and looking back at his three former incarnations it is possible to draw certain conclusions concerning his next three incarnations. The three former and the present incarnations, plus the three following make seven again. Seven is a clue for everything that happens in time.
On the other hand the number twelve is a clue for all things that co-exist in space. Science, which at the same time was wisdom, was always conscious of this. It said: ‘It is possible to find the right way by connecting the spatial relationship of everything that occurs upon the earth with twelve permanent points in space—the twelve signs of the Zodiac in the cosmos.’ These are the twelve basic points with which everything in space is connected. This declaration was not an arbitrary yield of human thinking; but the power of thought in those early times had learned from reality and so ascertained the fact that space was best understood when it was divided into twelve constituent parts, thus making the number twelve a clue for all spatial relations. But where the question of changes came in, that is to say in the time element, the seven planets were given as a clue by a still older science. Seven is here the clue.
Now how does this apply to the evolution of human life? We have said that up to the point of time in human evolution characterised, by the advent of the Christ-impulse, it is a fact that when a man looked into his inner being, when he sought the way to the world of the Gods through the veil of his inner being, he entered—to use a collective name—the Luciferic world. This too was the path upon which, in those olden times, man sought for wisdom, upon which he sought to acquire a higher knowledge concerning the world than he could find behind the covering of the external sense world. His quest consisted in sinking down into his inner world; for in this world the intuitions and inspirations of moral and ethical life originated, even as the intuitions of conscience arose there. And of course all other intuitions and inspirations which pertain to the moral nature, to that which belongs to the soul, arose out of that soul world. Hence those lofty individualities who were the leaders of mankind in ancient times, had of necessity first to contact the inner life of a man if they wanted to give instruction upon that which belongs to the highest in humanity. The Holy Rishis had to contact the soul-life of man, his inner being, that is, as did all the great teachers of humanity in older civilisations. But the soul life of man belongs to time; it runs its course in time. That which surrounds us externally groups itself in space; that which runs its course inwardly, groups itself in time. Hence everything which is to speak to the inner being of man must use the clue of the number seven. How can we best understand a being with a message for the inner life of man? How, for instance, can we best understand those beings with their fundamentally individual characteristics whom we call the Holy Rishis? By relating them to soul life which runs its course in time. Hence in those ancient epochs wherein the great sages spoke, one question above all was asked: ‘Whence have they descended?’ Just as we might ask a son ‘Who are your father and mother?’—so ancestry, the time element, was then the subject of inquiry. On meeting a wise man the primary concern was: ‘Whence does he come?’ Who was the being who preceded him? What is his descent? Whose son is he? Therefore in speaking about the Luciferic world, the number seven had to be taken as basic and the interest was whose child it was who was speaking to the human soul. We speak of the children of Lucifer in this sense when we speak of those who in olden times taught of the spiritual world lying hidden behind the veil of soul life, behind that which belongs to time.
But the Christ comes under a different category altogether. The Christ did not descend to earth by the path of time. The Christ came to the earth at a certain point of time, but from outside, from space. Zarathustra saw Him when he directed his gaze to the sun, and spoke of Him as Ahura Mazdao. To the spiritual vision of man in space Ahura Mazdao came nearer and nearer until He descended and became Man. Here therefore the interest lies in the approach through space, not in the time sequence. The approach through space, this advent of the Christ out of the infinitude of space down to our earth has an eternal and not a temporary value. With this is connected the fact that Christ's work upon earth is not carried on only under the conditions of time. He does not bring to the earth anything corresponding to the relationships between father and child, or mother and child, which exist under time conditions, but He brings into the world something which goes on side by side, which co-exists. Brothers live side by side, they co-exist. Parents, children and grandchildren live after one another in time, and the conditions of time express their individual relation to each other. But the Christ as the Spirit of Space brings a spatial element into the civilisation of the earth. What Christ brings is the co-existence of men in space, a condition of increasing community of soul regardless of time conditions. The mission of the Earth planet in our cosmic system is to bring love into the world. In olden days the task of the earth was to bring in love with the help of time. Inasmuch as through the conditions of ancestry and descent, the blood poured—itself from generation to generation, from father to child and grandchildren, those who were connected through time were ipso facto those who loved each other. Family connections, blood relationships, the descending stream of blood through the generations following each other in time, provided the foundation of love in the olden times. And the cases where love took on more of a moral character, were also rooted in the conditions of time. Men loved their ancestors, those who had preceded them in time. Through Christ there came the love of soul to soul, so that that which is side by side, which co-exists in space enters a relationship which was at first represented by brothers and sisters living side by side and at the same time—the relationship of brother love which one human soul is intended to bear towards another in space. Here the condition of co-existent life in space begins to acquire its special significance.
Hence in the olden times, it was natural to speak of those who were connected by the rule of the number seven: the seven Rishis, and the seven Sages. But Christ is surrounded by twelve Apostles in whom we see the prototypes of man living side by side, co-existing in space. And this love which, independently of successive ages, is to encompass all that exists side by side in space, will enter social life on earth through the Christ principle. To love what is around us with brother love, that is to follow Christ. If, therefore, we speak in the olden times of the children of Lucifer, the Christ principle is the impulse, which causes us to say: ‘Christ is the firstborn of many Brethren.’ And the brotherhood relationship to Christ, the feeling oneself drawn not as to a father, but as to a brother, whom one loves as an elder brother, but nevertheless as a brother, is the fundamental relationship which men have learned to assume in consequence of the descent of the Christ principle upon the earth.
These of course are only instances which illustrate and make clear, although they do not prove, the relation between the numbers seven and twelve. The more, therefore, that the Christ influence shines down into the world, the more allusion is made to the nature and reality of things by grouping them in twelve's, as for instance, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Apostles and so on. In this connection the number twelve has a mystical and secret meaning as regards the evolution of the earth.
This may be termed the external aspect, the outer view of the great change which took place in the earth evolution through the infusion of the Christ principle. We might speak at great length about the relation of the number seven to the number twelve and have to leave much that concerns the deep mysteries of our universe still incomprehensible. If what has been said in elucidation of the numbers seven and twelve be taken as clues to the relationships existing in time and in space, we shall be able to penetrate more and more deeply into the secrets of the universe. But for all of us this relation between the numbers seven and twelve should, in the first place, be one which apart from everything else indicates how profoundly momentous the Christ event was for the world, and how necessary it is thenceforth to seek another numerical clue if we are to find our way in it.
But there is also an inner relationship of space and time which I can only indicate here in bare outline with which the numbers twelve and seven have something to do. And my illustration shall be made as was usual in the mysteries when the relations of twelve to seven in the cosmos was being portrayed. It has been said that if we do not consider universal space in an abstract sense, but really relate earth conditions to universal space, we must refer those earth conditions to the circle described by the twelve essential points of the Zodiac, viz. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. These twelve points of the Zodiac were not alone the real and veritable world symbols for the very oldest divine spiritual beings, but the symbols themselves were thought to correspond, in a certain sense, with reality. Even when the earth was embodied as old Saturn, the forces issuing from these twelve directions were at work upon that ancient planet; so they were later on the old Sun, and on the old Moon, and are now and will continue to be in the future. Therefore they have as it were the nature of permanence, they are far more sublime than that which arises and passes away within our earth existence. That which is symbolised by the twelve signs of the Zodiac is infinitely higher than that which is transformed in the evolutionary course of our planet from old Saturn to old Sun and from that to old Moon and so on. Planetary existence arises and passes away, but the Zodiac is ever there. What is symbolised by the points of the Zodiac is more sublime than what upon our earth plays its part as the opposition between good and evil.
In an early chapter I called your attention to the fact that on penetrating into the astral realm we enter a world of change—where something which from one point of view works for good, may from another point of view appear as evil. These differences between good and evil have their meaning in evolution and seven is the key number. That which is the symbol of Gods in the twelve points in space, in the twelve points of permanence is above good and evil. Out in space we have to seek for the symbols of those divine-spiritual beings which considered in themselves and without reference to their effects upon our earthly sphere, are beyond the differences between good and evil.
But now let us conceive that which becomes our earth beginning to be active. That can only happen by a division as it were coming to pass in the permanent deities and that which takes place entering into a different relation to these gods of permanence, who are divided into two spheres, into a sphere of good and a sphere of evil. In themselves neither is good nor evil; but inasmuch as it influences the evolution of the earth it is sometimes good, sometimes evil; so that all that belongs to the one may be described as the sphere of goodness, and that which belongs to the other, as the sphere of evil. In order to obtain the correct conception, we must consider the civilisations of the post-Atlantean era, which had gone through the old Indian, the old Persian, the Chaldaic-Egyptian civilisations, and which will also go through the civilisations which are to follow these, up to the next great catastrophe, and beyond it. If we inquire where is there a truer image of what runs through the whole evolution of mankind than can be found in sense perception or in human intellect, we must turn to occult science and ask what is that which is to be discovered in the spiritual world, and which moves more or less as a continuous spiritual stream through all these seven civilisations. In the wisdom of the East a word has been formed for that which runs through all these civilisations; it is—if one considers its real nature—not an abstraction, but something concrete—it is a Being. And if we wish to describe this Being, more intimately, of whom in reality all other beings—whether the seven holy Rishis or even higher beings who do not descend into physical incarnation—are the messengers, we may designate it by a name which has rightly been used by the East. Every revelation and all the wisdom in the world can be traced back finally to this one source, the source of primeval wisdom, under the dominion of a Being who evolves on through each and all the above-named civilisations of the post Atlantean era, who appears in each epoch in one form or another, but who is always One Being, the bearer of the wisdom which has appeared in the most varied guise. When I described in the last chapter how the holy Rishis breathed in this wisdom and took it in concretely, this soul of the light which was spread abroad externally and was breathed in as light-wisdom by the holy Rishis, was the out flowing of that sublime—I cannot go into this fully here—we must understand that what only belongs in minor degree to the sphere of goodness, must also be called good. As soon as that which in the spiritual world (which as I have said is permanent, eternal, having nothing to do with time) passes into time, it divides itself into good and evil. Of the twelve points of permanence there remain belonging to the good, the five actually within the sphere of good and the two on the border, making seven. Therefore we speak of seven as remaining over from the twelve. When we wish to speak of that which is good and which acts as our guide in time, we must speak of seven wise men, of seven Rishis, for this corresponds to reality. Hence also comes the conception that seven signs of the Zodiac belong to the world of light, to the upper world, and that the lower five beginning with Scorpio belong to the world of darkness.
This is only a mere indication serving to show that space, when if forsakes its sphere of eternity and takes into itself created things which run their course in time, is divided into good and evil; and in bringing out the good, seven is raised out of the twelve; seven then becomes the true number for temporal conditions. For truths, which belong to time, we must take the number seven as our clue; the remainder, the number five would lead us into error. That is the inner meaning of these things.
Do not at the moment imagine that this is very difficult to understand, but realise rather that the world is very profound and that there must be things whose meaning is very hard to fathom.
Christ came into the world to sit down even with publicans and sinners. He came in order to take up that which would otherwise have had to be cast out of the world process. In the story of Oedipus the same thing had to be cast out that in the Christ-life was gathered up as a leaven, as was corroborated by the story of Judas. Just as new bread must be leavened with a small portion of the old, if it is to rise and spread; so the new world must take in a leaven made of something which came out of evil. Hence, Judas, who had been cast out from every place, who had even made himself impossible at the court of Pilate, could be admitted where the Christ was working. He Who came to heal the world in such a way that the seven could be changed into the twelve and that which had been represented by the number seven might henceforth be represented by the number twelve. The number twelve is in the first instance represented to us by the twelve brothers of Christ, by the twelve disciples.
This must serve as a slight indication of the profound change that thus came into our whole earth evolution. It is possible to elucidate the significance of the Christ-principle, and of its entrance into the evolution of the earth, from many different points of view, and what has just been touched upon is one of them.
Now let us once more place before our souls that which is a consequence of all that has gone before. It is felt and recognised by spiritual science, wherever it is truly cultivated that with Christ, something very special entered into the evolution of the earth. Wherever true spiritual science is studied, it is felt and recognised that there is one thing which runs through all the Beings of whom we are now speaking. And what we then described as their wisdom had poured down in other ages (for instance, in that quite different conception which was expressed in the old Persian epoch) from the same one Being, who is the great teacher of all civilisations. The Being who was the teacher of the holy Rishis, of Zarathustra, of Hermes—the Being whom we may designate as the great teacher, who in the different ages manifests Himself in the most various ways—the Being who as is natural, at first remains entirely concealed from external vision—is designated, by means of an expression borrowed from the East, as the totality of the Bodhisattvas. The Christian conception would designate it the Holy Spirit. The Bodhisattva is a Being who passes through all civilisations, who can manifest Himself to mankind in various ways. Such is the Spirit of the Bodhisattvas. All the ages have looked up to the Bodhisattvas. The holy Rishis, Zarathustra, Hermes and Moses looked up to them—it matters not how they named the Being in whom they perceived the embodiment of the Bodhisattva principle. The Bodhisattva can be given this one name, ‘The Great Teacher,’ and to him those individuals looked who wished to receive and could receive the teachings of the post-Atlantean era. This Bodhisattva spirit of the post-Atlantean era has taken human form many times, but one such interests us in particular. A Bodhisattva took on that radiant human form of the Being of Gautama Buddha—it does not for the moment concern us in what other fashion he was also manifest. And it signified an advance of this Bodhisattva when it was no longer necessary for him to remain in the upper spiritual realms, when his development in the spiritual worlds was such that he could master his physical corporeality to the extent of becoming man as Buddha. A Bodhisattva advancing in human existence is Buddha. The Buddha is one of the human incarnations of the all-embracing Wisdom figures underlying the evolution of the earth. In the Buddha we have the incarnation of that great Teacher who may be called the essence of wisdom itself. The Buddha is the Bodhisattva who has become an earth being. And it is unnecessary to believe that a Bodhisattva incarnated in only the Buddha; for one of the Bodhisattvas has incarnated either wholly or in part in other human personalities. Such incarnations are not all similar; it must be quite clear that just as a Bodhisattva lived in the etheric body of Gautama Buddha, so such an one also lived in the members of other human individuals; and because the being of that Bodhisattva who inherited the astral body of Zarathustra streamed into the members of other individualities, for instance, Hermes, we may—but only if we understand the matter in this sense—call other individualities who also are great teachers an incarnation of a Bodhisattva. It is permissible to speak of ever-recurring incarnations of the Bodhisattva, but we must understand that behind all the men in whom the incarnation took place the Bodhisattva stood as a part of that Being who is the personified All-Wisdom of our world.
In this sense, then, we gaze upon the Wisdom-element which in olden times was imparted to mankind from the Luciferic worlds. When we gaze upon this we are looking at the Bodhisattvas. Now in post-Atlantean evolution there is a Being who is fundamentally different from a Bodhisattva and not to be confused with the latter, although this Being of Whom we are here speaking, was once incarnate in a human individuality who at the same time received the in-pouring of the Bodhisattva-Buddha being. Because a man once lived in whom the Christ incarnated and because at the same time the radiations of the Bodhisattva entered this human individuality, we must not take the essential thing in this incarnation to be the embodiment of the Bodhisattva in the personality who was Jesus of Nazareth. During the last three years the Christ principle was predominant and the Christ principle and the Bodhisattva principle are fundamentally different. How can we instance this difference? It is exceedingly important for us to know whereby the Christ, Who was once incarnate in a human body—only once, never before and never after—could so incarnate. Since that time He can be reached by the path which leads to the inner essence of the human soul; before then He was accessible if the gaze, as was the case with Zarathustra, was directed outwards. Wherein, then, does the difference consist between the Christ, between that Being to whom we must ascribe such a central position, and a Bodhisattva? It consists in this, that the Bodhisattva is the Great Teacher, the incarnation of wisdom, which pervades all the civilisations, which incarnates in many different ways; but the Christ is not only a teacher—that is the essential point—Christ is not only a teacher of men. He is a Being whom we can best understand if we expand to the sphere where in dazzling spiritual heights we can find Him as an Object of Initiation and where we may compare Him with other spiritual beings. There are regions of spiritual life where, freed of all the dust of earth, we may find the sublime Bodhisattva being in his spiritual essence and where we may find the Christ stripped of all that He became on the earth or in its vicinity. There we find the origin of humanity, the source whence all life proceeds: the primeval, spiritual source. We find not only one Bodhisattva, but a series of Bodhisattvas.
Even as there is a Bodhisattva who underlies our seven successive civilisations, so there was a Bodhisattva underlying the Atlantean civilisations, and so on. We find in these spiritual heights a series of Bodhisattvas, who were, for their age, the great teachers and instructors not only of mankind but also of those beings who do not descend into the region of physical life. We find them there as the great teachers there they gather that which they are to teach, and in their midst is One Being Who is great not only because He teaches, and that is the Christ. He is not alone great because He teaches, rather is He a Being Who works upon the Bodhisattvas who surround Him by manifesting Himself to them. He is seen by the Bodhisattvas and He reveals His Glory to them. The Bodhisattvas are what they are through being great teachers; the Christ is to the world what He is, through His own Being, through His own Essence. He needs only to be seen, and the manifestation of His own Being needs only to be reflected in His surroundings, for the teachings to spring forth. He is not only a Teacher; He is Life, a Life that pours itself into the other beings, who then become teachers.
The Bodhisattvas are mighty teachers because from their spiritual heights they enjoy the bliss of being able to see Christ. And when in the course of the evolution of our earth we find incarnations of the Bodhisattvas, we speak of great teachers of mankind, because the Bodhisattva principle is the most essential in them. The Christ does not only teach; we learn of Christ in order to understand Him, in order to recognise what He is. Christ is more an object than a subject of learning. The difference between Christ and the Bodhisattvas is that He is to the world what He is, because the world is blessed by sight of Him. The Bodhisattvas are to the world what they are because they are great teachers. Therefore if we wish to look up to the living being, to the life-source of our earth, we must look at the incarnation in which was embodied not a Bodhisattva (in which this fact was the most important feature of the incarnation) but a Being who did not Himself leave any teaching behind, but who gathered round Him those who spread Gospels and teachings concerning Him over the whole world. The point of prime importance is that no document exists written by Christ Himself, but that teachers surround Him and speak about Him, so that He is the object and not the subject of the teaching. It is a remarkable circumstance and one of utmost importance with reference to the Christ event that nothing has been received from Him Himself, but that others have written about His Being. It is therefore not to be wondered at that we are told we can find all the teachings of Christ in other faiths also; for Christ is in nowise merely a teacher. He is a Being who desires to be understood as a Being; He does not wish to sink into us only through His teachings, but through His life. We may gather together all the teachings in the world that are accessible to us, and we shall even then not have sufficient to enable us to understand the Christ. If men of the present day cannot turn directly to the Bodhisattvas, and with the spiritual eyes of the Bodhisattvas look up to Christ, then they must learn from these Bodhisattvas what can eventually make Christ comprehensible. If therefore we wish not only to become participant in Christ, but to understand Him, we must not only look at what Christ has done for us, but we must learn of all the teachers of West and of East, and we must account it a holy thing to become familiar with the teachings of the whole known world; we must devote ourselves to the sacred task of understanding the Christ in His completeness by means of the highest teaching.
Now the mysteries always make appropriate preparation for the corresponding duty of mankind. Every age has its special task; and every age has to receive the truth in the particular form needed by that epoch. Truth in its present form could not have been given to the old Indian, or to the old Persian. The truth had to be given to them in the form suitable to their capacities of perception. Therefore in the age, which owing to its other characteristics was best suited to receive the Christ upon earth that is to say the fourth or Graeco-Latin epoch—the truth about Christ and about the world connected with Him was brought to mankind in a form adapted for humanity of that time. To believe that in the age following directly on the Christ-manifestation the whole truth about the Christ was already known, is to be in complete ignorance concerning the progress of the human race. He who believes only the teaching of the first centuries after the Christ event, who considers that which was written and recorded then to be the only true Christian teaching, knows nothing of human progress; he does not know that the greatest teacher of the first Christian centuries could tell him no more about Christ than the people of that time were able to assimilate. And because the men of the first Christian centuries were pre-eminently such as had descended the deepest into the physical world, their understanding permitted them to take in comparatively little of the highest teaching concerning Christ. The majority of the early Christians could understand but little about the Christ Being.
We know that in old Indian times men possessed a high degree of clairvoyance in consequence of the relation of the etheric body to the other members; but the time had not then come for this vision to perceive the Christ as anything other than Vishvakarman—a Spirit in distant regions beyond the sense-world. In the time of the old Persian civilisation it was first possible dimly to sense the Christ behind the physical sun. And so it went on. It was possible for Moses to perceive the Christ, as Jehovah, in thunder and lightning that is quite near the earth. And in the person of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ was seen incarnated as man. This is the manner of human progress; in old India wisdom was absorbed through the etheric body, in the old Persian period through the astral body, in the Chaldaic-Egyptian period through the sentient soul, in the Graeco-Latin period through that which we call the intellectual soul. The intellectual soul is bound to the world of sense. Therefore it lost the vision of that which extends far, far beyond the sense-world. Accordingly in the first post-Christian centuries little more of existence was seen than that which lies between birth and death, and that which directly follows as the nearest spiritual region. Nothing was known of that which passes through many incarnations. This was due to the condition of human understanding. Only one part of the life cycle could be made intelligible, man's life on earth, and the fragment of spiritual life which follows it. That, therefore, is what we find described for the mass of the people. But that was not to continue. The outlook of man had to be prepared for an excursion beyond this part of his understanding. Preparation had to be made for a gradual revival of the all-embracing wisdom which man was able to enjoy in the time of Hermes, of Moses, of Zarathustra and of the old Rishis, as well as for offering us the possibility of an ever increasing understanding of Christ. Christ had to come into the world just at a time when the means of understanding were most contracted. The way had to be opened for the revival of the ancient wisdom during the ages to come and for placing it gradually in the service of the understanding of Christ. This could only be accomplished by the creation of Mystery wisdom. Those men who came over into and beyond Europe from old Atlantis brought with them great wisdom. In old Atlantis the majority of the people were instinctively clairvoyant; they could see into spiritual realms. This clairvoyance could not develop further; and withdrew perforce into separate personalities in the West. It was guided there by a Being who once upon a time lived in deepest concealment, withdrawn behind those who had already forsaken the world and who were pupils of the great initiates. This Being had remained behind in order to preserve for later ages what was brought over from old Atlantis. Among the great initiates who had founded mystery places in the West for the preservation of the old Atlantean wisdom, a wisdom that entered deeply into all the secrets of the physical body was the great Skythianos, as he was called in the Middle Ages. And anyone who knows the nature of the European mysteries knows that Skythianos is the name given to one of the greatest initiates of the earth.
But there also lived in the world for a long, long time, the Being which in a spiritual sense we may describe as the Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva was the same Being who after completing its task in the West, was incarnated in Gautama Buddha about six hundred years before our era. This exalted Being who, as Teacher, had by that time withdrawn more towards the East was a second great Teacher, a second great Keeper of the Seal of the wisdom of mankind. There was also a third individuality destined to greatness of whom we have spoken in various lectures.1We are here speaking of these Beings in the spirit in which they were understood by older conceptions of the world, justified today from the standpoint of spiritual science. It is he who was the teacher of the old Persians, the great Zarathustra. The three great spiritual Beings and individualities known to us under the names of Zarathustra, Gautama Buddha and Skythianos are, as it were, incarnations of Bodhisattvas. That which lived in them was not the Christ.
Mankind had now to be given time to experience in itself the advent of Christ Who had formerly made Himself manifest to Moses upon Mount Sinai; Jehovah was the same Being as Christ, though wearing another form. Time had to be allowed to mankind in which to prepare to receive the Christ. That occurred in the epoch in which the comprehension for such things reached the nadir. But preparation had to be made, in order that understanding and wisdom should again grow greater and greater; and this was part of Christ's mission on earth.
There is a fourth individuality named in history behind whom for those who have the proper comprehension, much lies hidden—an individuality still higher and more powerful than Skythianos, than Buddha or than Zarathustra. This individuality is Manes, and those who see more in Manichaeism than is usually the case know him to be a very high messenger of Christ. It is said that a few centuries after Christ had lived on the earth, there was held one of the greatest assemblies of the spiritual world connected with the earth that ever took place, and that there Manes gathered round him three mighty personalities of the fourth century after Christ. In this figurative description a most significant fact in connection with spiritual development is expressed. Manes called these persons together to consult with them as to the means of reintroducing the wisdom that had lived throughout the changing times of the post Atlantean age and of causing it to unfold more and more gloriously in the future. Who were the personalities brought together by Manes in that memorable assembly? (It should be remembered that such an event can only be witnessed by spiritual sight.) He called together the personality in whom Skythianos lived at that time, and also the physical reflection of the Buddha who had then appeared again, and the erstwhile Zarathustra who was wearing a physical body at that time. Around Manes was this council, himself in the centre and around him Skythianos, Buddha and Zarathustra. And in that council a plan was agreed upon for causing all the wisdom of the Bodhisattvas of the post-Atlantean time to flow more and more strongly into the future of mankind; and the plan of the future evolution of the civilisations of the earth then decided upon was adhered to and carried over into the European mysteries of the Rosy Cross. These particular mysteries have always been connected with the individualities of Skythianos, of Buddha and of Zarathustra. They were the teachers in the schools of the Rosy Cross; teachers who gave their wisdom to the earth as a gift, in order that through it the Christ Being might be understood. Hence in all spiritual Rosicrucian schools the deepest reverence is paid to these old initiates who preserved the primeval wisdom of Atlantis; to the re-incarnated Skythianos, in whom was seen the great and honoured Bodhisattva of the West; to the temporarily incarnated reflection of the Buddha, who also was honoured as one, of the Bodhisattvas; and finally to Zarathustra, the reincarnated Zarathustra. These were looked up to as the great Teachers of the European Initiates. Such presentations must not be taken in the sense of external history, although they elucidate the historical course of events better than any external description could do.
Let me illustrate this statement by saying that there is hardly to be found a single country in the Middle Ages in which a certain legend was not everywhere current, though at that time no one in Europe knew anything of Gautama Buddha, and the tradition of Gautama Buddha had been completely lost. Yet the following story was related (it is to be found in many books of the Middle Ages and is one of the widely disseminated stories of that period): Once upon a time there was a King in India to whom a son was born called Josaphat. Extraordinary things were prophesied about this child when he was born. His father therefore especially guarded him; he was only to know what was most precious, he was to dwell in perfect happiness, he was not to become acquainted with pain and sorrow or with the misfortunes of life. He was protected from everything of that sort. It happened, however, that Josaphat one day went out of the palace and passed in succession a sick man, a leper, an aged man and a corpse—so runs the tale. He returned deeply moved into the king's palace and chanced upon a man whose soul was filled with the secrets of Christianity and whose name was Balaam; Balaam converted Josaphat, and this Josaphat who had experienced all this, became a Christian.
It is not necessary to bring the Akashic records to our aid in order to interpret this legend, since ordinary philology suffices to reveal the origin of the name Josaphat. Josaphat is derived from an old word Joaphat; Joaphat again from Joadosaph; Joadosaph from Juadosaph which is identical with Budhasaph—both these last forms are Arabic—and Budhasaph is the same name as Bodhisattva. So the European occult teaching not only knows the Bodhisattva, it also knows, if it can decipher the name of Josaphat, the meaning of that word. This cultivation of occult knowledge in the West by means of legends contained the fact that there was a time when the being who lived in Gautama Buddha became a Christian. Whether this be a matter of knowledge or no, it is none the less true. Just as belated traditions may exist, as men may believe today that which was believed thousands of years ago, and which has been propagated by means of tradition—so they may also believe that it accords with the laws of the higher worlds for Gautama Buddha to have remained the same as he was six hundred years before our era. But it is not so. He has ascended, he has evolved and in the true Rosicrucian teachings the knowledge of this fact has been preserved in the form of the above legend.
Within the spiritual life of Europe we find him who was the bearer of the Christ, Zarathas or Nazarathos—the original Zarathustra—appearing again from time to time; in the same way we meet with Skythianos again and the third great pupil of Manes, Buddha, as he was after he had taken part in the experiences of later ages.
Thus the European who had some knowledge of initiation looked into the changing ages and kept his gaze fixed on the true figures of the Great Teachers. He knew of Zarathas, of Buddha, of Skythianos—he knew that through them wisdom was pouring into the civilisation of the future-wisdom which had always proceeded from the Bodhisattvas and which must be used in order to promote understanding of the greatest treasure of all comprehension, the Christ, Who is fundamentally a completely different Being from the Bodhisattvas and Whom we can understand only by gathering together all the wisdom of the Bodhisattvas. Therefore in the spiritual wisdom of Europe there is a synthesis of all the teachings that have been given to the world through the three great pupils of Manes and by Manes himself. Even though men may not have understood Manes, a time will come when European civilisation will take such form that there will be a feeling for what is connected with the names of Skythianos, Buddha and Zarathustra. They give to mankind the material whose study will teach us to understand Christ, and through them our understanding of Him will grow more and more complete. The Middle Ages certainly showed a strange form of reverence and worship to Skythianos, to Buddha and to Zarathustra when their names began to percolate through; in certain communities of the Christian religion anyone who wished to be taken for a true Christian had to utter the formula: ‘I curse Skythianos, I curse Buddha, I curse Zarathas!’ But what it was then thought necessary to curse will become the centre for those who will best make Christ comprehensible to man, a central point to which mankind will look up as it did to the great Bodhisattvas through whom the Christ will be understood. Today mankind can at the most bring two things to these teachings of the Rosy Cross—two things which may indicate a beginning of the power and greatness that will appear in the future in the form of the understanding of Christianity, Spiritual science of today will be the means of making one such beginning, by bringing the teachings of Skythianos, of Zarathustra, of Gautama Buddha to the world again, not in their old but in an absolutely new form, accessible to investigation from out its very nature. The elements of what we learn from these three great Teachers must be embodied into civilisation. From Buddha, Christianity had to learn the teachings of reincarnation and of Karma, but in the older religion they are to be found in an ancient guise, unsuited to modern times. Why are the teachings of reincarnation and of Karma flowing into Christianity today? Because the initiates have learned to understand them in a modern sense, just as Buddha himself after his fashion understood them—and Buddha was the great Teacher of reincarnation. In the same way we shall attain to an understanding of Skythianos, whose teaching deals not only with the reincarnation of men but with the powers which rule from eternity to eternity. So shall the central Being of the world, the Christ, be ever more and more understood. In this way the teachings of the initiates gradually flow into humanity. The spiritual scientist of today can only bring two things in as elementary beginnings compared to what must come about in the future spiritual evolution of mankind. The first element will be that which sinks into our innermost being in the form of the Christ-life; and the second will be an increasingly comprehensive understanding of the Christ by the aid of spiritual Cosmology. The Christ life in the inmost heart and an understanding of the world which leads to an understanding of Christ—these are the two elements. We may begin today, for we are only on the threshold of these things, by having the right feeling. We meet together for the purpose of cultivating right feeling about the spiritual world and all that is born out of it, as well as right feeling towards man. And as we cultivate this right feeling we gradually make our spiritual forces capable of receiving the Christ into our innermost being; for the higher and nobler our feelings become, the more nobly can Christ live within us. We make a beginning by teaching the elementary truths of our earth evolution, by seeking that which we owe originally to Skythianos, Zarathustra and Buddha and by accepting it as they teach it in our age, in the form they themselves know it, their evolution having progressed to our present age. We have reached a point in civilisation now where the elementary teachings of initiation are beginning to be disclosed.
Neunter Vortrag
Die Tatsache, mit der wir gestern unsere Betrachtungen geschlossen haben, muß notwendigerweise, wenn sie zum erstenmal an den Menschen herantritt, etwas unverständlich bleiben. Sie gehört zu den Geheimnissen der Zahl. Und die Geheimnisse der Zahl sind diejenigen, zu denen verhältnismäßig am schwierigsten hin zu gelangen ist.
Es ist gesagt worden, daß zwischen den Zahlen Sieben und Zwölf ein gewisses Verhältnis besteht, und daß dieses Verhältnis etwas zu tun hat mit Zeit und Raum. Nun ist es zwar möglich, daß das Geheimnis, das damit ausgesprochen ist, nach und nach von allen Menschen verstanden werden kann, aber im Sinne der gegenwärtig allein anerkannten Erkenntnis ist dieSache eine bloße Behauptung. Sie soll zunächst erläutert werden. Man findet sich im Weltengetriebe, darauf konnte schon hingewiesen werden, zurecht, wenn man unterscheidet zwischen denjenigen Verhältnissen, die vorzugsweise räumlich sind, und denjenigen die vorzugsweise zeitlich sind. Man begreift die Welt, wie sie uns umgibt, zunächst in Raum und Zeit. Wenn man sich aber nicht darauf beschränkt, abstrakt von Raum und Zeit zu sprechen, sondern verstehen will, wie sich die Verhältnisse in der Zeit ordnen, und wie sich die einzelnen Wesenheiten im Raum zueinander stellen, dann gibt es einen Faden, der hindurchführt auf der einen Seite durch die Verhältnisse der Zeit und auf der anderen Seite durch die Verhältnisse des Raumes. Wir betrachten geisteswissenschaftlich zunächst den Werdegang der Welterscheinungen. Wir blicken zurück auf frühere Verkörperungen des Menschen, auf frühere Verkörperungen der Rassen, der Kulturen, auf frühere Verkörperungen der Erde selbst. Wir verschaffen uns eine Ahnung von demjenigen, was in der Zukunft, also auch zeitlich geschehen soll. Aber wir finden uns immer zurecht, wenn wir uns sagen: Wir werden die zeitliche Entwickelung von einem Gerüste aus beurteilen, das wir uns bauen durch die Zahl Sieben. - Man darf da nicht konstruieren oder spekulieren und mit der Zahl Sieben allerlei Deutungen vornehmen, sondern man soll zunächst einmal die Tatsachen unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Siebenzahl verfolgen. Es ist dies zunächst nur eine Erleichterung des Betrachtens. Nehmen Sie zum Beispiel den Menschen an, dessen Geistesauge geöffnet ist, so weit, daß er die Tatsachen der Akasha-Chronik in der Vergangenheit prüfen kann, so wird ihn die Siebenzahl dadurch leiten können, daß er sich sagt: Was in der Zeit verläuft, baut sich nach dem Gerüste der Siebenzahl auf; was sich wiederholt in verschiedenen Formen, das betrachtet man gut dadurch, daß man die Sieben zugrunde legt und die entsprechenden Gestaltungen dann aufsucht. — So ist es gut, sich zu sagen: Weil die Erde verschiedene Verkörperungen durchmacht, suchen wir ihre sieben Verkörperungen: Saturn, Sonne, Mond, Erde, Jupiter, Venus und Vulkan. Weil die menschlichen Kulturen sieben Verkörperungen durchmachen, suchen wir ihren Zusammenhang, indem wir wiederum die Siebenzahl zugrunde legen. — Wir gehen zum Beispiel zur ersten Kultur in der nachatlantischen Zeit. Die altindische Kulturperiode ist die erste, die zweite ist die urpersische, die dritte die chaldäisch-ägyptische, die vierte die griechisch-lateinische, die fünfte unsere eigene, und wir erwarten die zwei folgenden, welche als die sechste und siebente die unsere ablösen werden. Da haben wir wiederum die Siebenzahl in aufeinanderfolgenden Kulturverkörperungen zugrunde gelegt. Wir können aber auch in dem Karma eines Menschen uns zurecht finden, wenn wir zurückzublicken suchen auf seine drei vorhergehenden Inkarnationen. Wenn man die Inkarnation eines Menschen der Gegenwart nimmt und überblickt von dieser Gegenwart ausgehend die drei vorhergehenden Inkarnationen, dann ist es möglich, gewisse Schlüsse zu ziehen für die drei nächstfolgenden Inkarnationen. Die drei vorhergehenden Inkarnationen und die jetzige mit den drei folgenden geben wiederum sieben. So ist die Siebenzahl ein Leitfaden für alles zeitliche Geschehen.
Dagegen ist die Zahl Zwölf ein Leitfaden für alles, was im Raume nebeneinander besteht. Das hat eine Wissenschaft, die zu gleicher Zeit Weisheit war, immer gefühlt. Daher hat sie bei Welterscheinungen, die unserer Erde angehören, gesagt: Wir finden uns zurecht, wenn wir die räumlichen Beziehungen von irgend etwas, was auf der Erde geschieht, auf zwölf Dauerpunkte, die im Raume verteilt sind, beziehen. — Diese zwölf Dauerpunkte sind durch die zwölf Tierkreis-Zeichen im Weltenraum angegeben. Das sollten zwölf Grundpunkte sein, auf die alles im Raume bezogen wird. Das liegt aber nicht bloß in einer Willkür der menschlichen Denk weise, sondern diese hat an der Wirklichkeit gelernt und sich dieses Verhältnis, daß man im Raum sich am besten zurechtfindet, wenn man sich auf zwölf Glieder bezieht, als orientierend ausgebildet. Wo es sich um Veränderungen handelt, das heißt um Zeitliches, da werden die sieben Planeten von einer älteren Wissenschaft zugrunde gelegt. Da ist die Siebenzahl der Leitfaden.
Nun fragen wir uns: Wie wendet sich das auf dieses menschliche Leben in seiner Entwickelung an? — Wir haben gesagt, daß bis zu dem Zeitpunkt in der Menschheitsentwickelung, der durch den Eintritt des Christus-Prinzipes bezeichnet wird, es sich darum handelt, daß der Mensch, wenn er in sein Inneres hineinblickte, den Weg zu der Götterwelt durch den Schleier seines Inneren suchte, in die luziferische Welt hineinkam. Und wir haben alles dasjenige, was da der Mensch findet, mit einem Sammelnamen als die luziferische Welt bezeichnen können. Das war auch in diesen älteren Zeiten der Weg, auf dem der Mensch seine Weisheit gesucht hat, auf dem er eine höhere Erkenntnis über die Welt gesucht hat, als man hinter dem Teppich der äußeren Sinneswelt finden kann. Der Mensch hat gesucht, indem er sich in seine innere Welt versenkt hat; aus dieser heraus mußten weitere Intuitionen und Inspirationen des moralischen und ethischen Lebens geradeso aufsteigen, wie die Intuitionen des Gewissens aus dieser inneren Welt aufgestiegen sind. Es sind auch alle anderen Intuitionen und Inspirationen, die sich auf das Moralische, auf das Seelische überhaupt bezogen, selbstverständlich aus dem Seelischen aufgestiegen. Daher mußten sich diejenigen hohen Individualitäten, welche Führer waren der Menschheit in diesen alten Zeiten, zunächst, wenn sie über das Höchste die Menschen aufklären wollten, an das menschliche Innere wenden. An das menschliche Seelenleben, an das menschliche Innere mußten sich wenden die heiligen Rishis, mußten sich wenden bei allen älteren Kulturen die großen Lehrer der Menschheit. Das menschliche Innere aber ist kein Räumliches, es ist ein Zeitliches. Das Seelenleben verläuft in der Zeit. Dasjenige, was uns außen umgibt, gruppiert sich im Raum; was innerlich verläuft, gruppiert sich in der Zeit. Daher wird alles dasjenige, was zum menschlichen Innern sprechen will, geprüft an dem Leitfaden der Zahl Sieben. Wie kann man daher ein Wesen am besten verstehen, das zum menschlichen Innern sprechen will? Wie könnte man jene Wesen in ihren Grundeigentümlichkeiten am besten verstehen, die wir zum Beispiel die heiligen Rishis nennen? Dann könnte man sie am besten verstehen, wenn man sie erfaßt in demjenigen Verhältnis, das verwandt ist mit dem zeitlichen Seelenleben. Daher erstand in diesen älteren Zeiten, wo die großen Weisen gesprochen haben, vor allen Dingen diese Frage: Woher stammen sie? — wie wir fragen bei einem Sohne: Wer ist Vater und Mutter? Nach dem Zeitlichen, nach dem Abstammungsverhältnis frug man. Wenn man einen Weisen vor sich hatte, da interessierte man sich vor allen Dingen für die Frage: Woher kommt er? Welches war die Wesenheit, die früher da war? Woher stammt er? Wessen Sohn ist er? Indem man also über die luziferische Welt spricht, muß man dieSiebenzahl zugrunde legen und muß sich interessieren, wessen Kind der ist, der da spricht zu der menschlichen Seele. Von den Kindern des Luzifer sprechen wir in diesem Sinne, wenn wir von den älteren Verkündigern der spirituellen Welt sprechen, die hinter dem Schleier des Seelenlebens, die hinter dem Zeitlichen verborgen liegt.
Anders aber liegt die Frage bei dem Christus. Der Christus ist nicht zur Erde heruntergekommen auf einem zeitlichen Wege, der Christus ist, indem er zeitlich erschienen ist, auch dem Raume nach, von außen in die irdische Welt gekommen. Der Zarathustra hat ihn gesehen, indem er den Blick nach der Sonne hinaus gerichtet hat, und hat ihn angesprochen als Ahura Mazdao. Immer mehr und mehr hat sich für das menschliche Schauen im Raum dieser Ahura Mazdao genähert, bis er heruntergestiegen und Mensch geworden ist. Da interessiert also auch das räumliche Herankommen, nicht nur die zeitliche Folge. Das räumliche Herankommen, dieses Herankommen des Christus aus der Unendlichkeit des Raumes auf unsere Erde zu, das hat einen Ewigkeitswert, nicht bloß einen zeitlichen Wert. Damit hängt es dann auch zusammen, daß der Christus nicht auf der Erde so zu wirken hat, wie es dem Zeitenverhältnis allein entspricht, daß der Christus nicht auf die Erde so etwas bringt, wie es dem Verhältnis von Vater und Kind, von Mutter und Kind entspricht, was in der Zeit sich abspielt, sondern er bringt etwas in die Welt, was im Nebeneinander sich abspielt. Nebeneinander leben Brüder. Vater und Mutter und Enkel leben nacheinander in der Zeit, und das zeitliche Verhältnis drückt ihr eigentliches Verhältnis aus. Der Christus bringt aber als der Geist des Raumes etwas Räumliches auch in die Erdenkultur hinein. Was er hineinbringt, ist die Nebeneinanderstellung der Menschen im Raum, und das Verhältnis, das nun von einer Seele zur anderen immer mehr und mehr hinüberziehen soll im Nebeneinanderleben, gleichgültig wie sich das zeitliche Verhältnis regelt. Unsere Erde ist der Planet in unserem kosmischen System, der die Mission hat, in die Welt die Liebe einzuführen. Es war in alten Zeiten die Aufgabe der Erde, die Liebe einzuführen mit Hilfe der Zeit. Indem sich durch die Abstammungsverhältnisse das "Blut von Generation zu Generation, vom Vater auf Kind und Enkel herunter ergoß, war dasjenige, was durch die Zeit verwandt war, zugleich dasjenige, was sich liebte. Der Familienzusammenhang, der Blutzusammenhang, das Herabströmen des Blutes durch die in der Zeit aufeinanderfolgenden Generationen, das war dasjenige, was die Liebe begründete in den älteren Zeiten. Und auch da, wo die Liebe einen mehr moralischen Charakter annahm, da begründete sie sich auf ein zeitliches Verhältnis. Man liebte die Ahnherren, diejenigen, die in der Zeit vorangegangen sind. Durch Christus kam die Liebe von Seele zu Seele, so daß dasjenige, was räumlich nebeneinander steht, in ein Verhältnis kommt, wie es die gleichzeitig nebeneinander stehenden Geschwister zunächst vorgebildet haben als die Bruderliebe, die die Menschen im Raume von Seele zu Seele einander entgegenbringen sollen. Hier beginnt das räumliche Nebeneinanderleben seine besondere Bedeutung zu gewinnen.
Daher redet man in älteren Zeiten, wenn es sich um die großen Angelegenheiten der Menschheit handelt, von demjenigen, was nach der Regel der Siebenzahl zusammenhängt: Sieben Rishis, sieben Weise! Daher ist der Christus umgeben von zwölf Aposteln als den Vorbildern der im Raume nebeneinander lebenden Menschen. Und diese Liebe, die alles dasjenige, was im Raume nebeneinander ist, unabhängig von der Zeitenfolge umspannen wird, soll durch das Christus-Prinzip in das soziale Leben der Erde hineinkommen. Derjenige ist ein Nachfolger des Christus, der das, was um ihn herum ist, liebt in Brüderlichkeit. Sprechen wir daher in älteren Zeiten von den Kindern desLuzifer, so ist das Christus-Prinzip die Veranlassung, daß wir sagen: Christus ist der Erstgeborene unter vielen Brüdern. — Und das Bruderschaftsverhältnis zu dem Christus, das Sich-hingezogen-Fühlen nicht wie zu einem Vater, sondern wie zu einem Bruder, den man als den ersten der Brüder, aber doch als einen Bruder liebt, das ist das Grundverhältnis zu Christus.
Das sind wiederum natürlich nur Anführungen, welche belegen, nicht beweisen, aber belegen und verdeutlichen dasjenige, was das Verhältnis der Zahlen Sieben und Zwölf ausmacht. Je mehr also das Christus-Verhältnis in die Welt herunterleuchtet, desto mehr sprichtman von Gruppierungen im Sinne der zwölf Stämme Israels, der zwölf Apostel und so weiter. Die Zwölfzahl gewinnt also von da aus ihre mystische, geheimnisvolle Bedeutung für die Erdenentwickelung.
Damit ist sozusagen der äußere Aspekt, der äußere Anblick dieser großen Veränderung angedeutet, die sich durch das Christus-Prinzip in bezug auf die Erdenentwickelung abgespielt hat. Wir könnten nun lange reden über das Verhältnis der Zahl Sieben zu der Zahl Zwölf und würden mancherlei noch unverständlich lassen müssen in diesem tiefen Geheimnis unseres Weltendaseins. Wenn Sie sich das Gesagte wie eine Verdeutlichung der Zahl Sieben und der Zahl Zwölf als Leitfaden für Zeit- und Raumverhältnisse gesagt sein lassen, so können Sie tiefer hineindringen in die Geheimnisse des Universums. Für uns soll aber zunächst dieses Verhältnis der Zahlen Sieben und Zwölf dasjenige sein, welches zu allem anderen dazu uns noch darauf hinweist, wie tief einschneidend das Christus-Ereignis für die Welt war, wie man selbst sozusagen einen anderen Zahlenleitfaden suchen muß, wenn man sich da zurechtfinden will.
Aber es ist auch ein inneres Verhältnis in bezug auf Raum und Zeit; dieses kann ich Ihnen nur ganz skizzenhaft andeuten. Und das will ich so machen, wie man es in der Regel in den Mysterien gemacht hat, um anzudeuten das Kosmische in dem Verhältnis von Zwölf und Sieben. Man hat gesagt: Wenn man den Weltenraum nicht betrachtet als etwas Abstraktes, sondern so, daß man die irdischen Verhältnisse wirklich auf diesen Weltenraum bezieht, so muß man diese Verhältnisse auf jenen Umkreis beziehen, indem man sich die zwölf Grundpunkte des Tierkreises denkt als Widder, Stier, Zwillinge, Krebs, Löwe, Jungfrau, Waage, Skorpion, Schütze, Steinbock, Wassermann, Fische. Diese zwölf Grundpunkte des Tierkreises, sie waren zu gleicher Zeit das wirkliche, reale Weltensymbolum für die urältesten göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten, in dem man sich in einer gewissen Weise die Wirklichkeit entsprechend gedacht hat. Schon als die Erde verkörpert war im alten Saturn, wirkten diejenigen Kräfte, die aus diesen zwölf Richtungen herkommen, auf diesen alten Saturn ein; sie wirkten wiederum ein während der alten Sonnenzeit, während der alten Mondenzeit und werden weiter wirken. Sie sind also gewissermaßen ein Dauerndes und sind über dasjenige weit erhaben, was innerhalb unseres Erdenwerdens entsteht und vergeht. Erhaben ist dasjenige, was symbolisiert wird durch die zwölf Zeichen des Tierkreises, über dasjenige, was übergeht im Laufe des Werdens unseres Planeten vom alten Saturn auf die Sonne, von der alten Sonne zum alten Mond und so weiter. Während dasjenige, was da vorgeht, entsteht und vergeht, hat das vom Tierkreis Bedingte die Planetengeschehnisse überdauert, also überdauert die Verhältnisse auf dem alten Saturn, auf der alten Sonne, auf dem alten Mond. Es ist auch dasjenige, was durch die Grundpunkte des Tierkreises symbolisiert wird, erhaben über dasjenige, was sich auf unserer Erde abspielt als der Gegensatz von Gut und Böse. Erinnern Sie sich, daß ich in der ersten Stunde dieses Zyklus aufmerksam gemacht habe darauf, wie, wenn man in das astralische Gebiet eindringt, man es zu tun hat mit einer Welt der Verwandlung, wie das, was von einem Gesichtspunkt aus als ein Gutes wirken kann, von dem anderen als böse erscheinen kann. Diese Unterschiede zwischen Gut und Böse, sie haben ihre Bedeutung innerhalb des Werdens. Und für diese Bedeutung ist die Siebenzahl ein orientierender Leitfaden. Dasjenige, was an Göttern symbolisiert wird in den zwölf Raumpunkten, in den zwölf Dauerpunkten, das ist erhaben über Gut und Böse. Und daher haben wir im Umkreis innerhalb der zwölf Dauerpunkte das über Gutes und Böses Erhabene. Da draußen haben wir gleichsam die Symbole für jene göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten zu suchen, die, wenn sie an sich betrachtet werden, ohne daß sie hereingreifen in unsere irdische Sphäre, erhaben sind über die Unterschiede von Gut und Böse.
Nun aber beginnt sich einmal in der Zeit zu regen dasjenige, das zu unserer Erde wird. Das kann nur dadurch geschehen, daß gleichsam eine Zweiteilung innerhalb dieser Dauergöttlichkeiten eintritt und dasjenige, was vorgeht, in ein verschiedenes Verhältnis tritt zu diesen Dauergöttern, daß sich diese in zwei Sphären gliedern, in eine Sphäre des Guten und in eine Sphäre des Bösen. An sich ist weder das eine noch das andere gut oder böse, aber indem es wirkt auf die Erde in ihrem Werden, wirkt es einmal als gut, einmal als böse, so daß also alles dasjenige, was an dem einen teilnimmt, als die Sphäre des Guten, und was am anderen teilnimmt, als die Sphäre des Bösen bezeichnet werden darf. Nur liegt die Vorstellung zugrunde, daß dasjenige, was nur ein wenig teilnimmt an der Sphäre des Guten, auch gut genannt werden muß. Sobald dasjenige, was in der geistigen Welt, wie ich gesagt habe, Dauer hat, was mit der Zeit nichts zu tun hat, sobald das in die Zeit eingreift, gliedert es sich in ein Gutes und in ein Böses. Für das Gute bleiben von den zwölf Dauerpunkten übrig die fünf rein in der Sphäre des Guten befindlichen und die zwei an der Grenze; das sind sieben. Daher sprechen wir von demjenigen, was als Sieben übrig bleibt von den Zwölf. Wenn wir das Gute, das Vortreflliche, das Führende in der Zeit suchen wollen, müssen wir sprechen von sieben Weisen, von sieben Rishis; und dem entspricht dann auch die Wirklichkeit. Daher auch die Vorstellung, daß der lichten Welt, der oberen Welt sieben Zeichen des Tierkreises angehören; daß die unteren fünf, vom Skorpion angefangen, der finsteren Welt angehören.
Das soll nur ein skizzenhafter Hinweis sein darauf, daß der Raum, wenn er sozusagen seine Sphäre der Ewigkeit verläßt und Schöpfungen in sich aufnimmt, die in der Zeit verlaufen, sich gliedert in ein Gutes und ein Böses und daß, indem man das Gute heraushebt, die Sieben heraushebt aus der Zwölf, die Sieben die gute Zahl für die Zeitverhältnisse ist. Wollen wir die Wahrheiten der Zeit suchen, so müssen wir die Siebenzahl als Leitfaden betrachten; denn was als Fünfzahl übrigbleibt, würde uns in den Irrtum führen. Da haben Sie die innere Bedeutung dieser Sache.
Sagen Sie sich nicht in diesem Augenblick, daß dies schwer verständlich ist, sondern sagen Sie sich: Die Welt ist tief, und es muß auch Dinge geben, die schwierig zu verstehen sind.
Der Christus aber ist in die Welt gekommen, um auch zu sitzen mit den Zöllnern und Sündern. Er ist gekommen, um auch aufzunehmen dasjenige, was sonst aus dem Weltgange ausgeschieden werden müßte. In Odipus mußte dasselbe ausgeschieden werden, was in das Christusleben aufgenommen worden ist wie ein Ferment; das wurde Ihnen erhärtet durch die Judas-Sage. Wie das neue Brot einen kleinen Teil des alten als ein Ferment aufnehmen muß, um weiter zu gedeihen, so mußte die neue Welt, um zu gedeihen, um recht gut zu werden, etwas aufnehmen als ein Ferment, das aus dem Bösen heraus ist. Daher konnte Judas, der überall ausgeschlossen war, der sich auch am Hofe des Pilatus unmöglich gemacht hatte, aufgenommen werden da, wo der Christus wirkte, der gekommen ist, die Welt wiederum so zu heilen, daß die Sieben in die Zwölf umgewandelt werden kann, daß dasjenige, was unter der Siebenzahl begriffen worden ist, nunmehr unter dem Symbolum der Zwölfzahl begriffen werden kann. Zunächst ist uns die Zwölfzahl repräsentiert durch die zwölf Brüder des Christus, durch die zwölf Apostel.
Das alles, wie gesagt, sollte nur besprochen werden als ein Hinweis darauf, wie tief die Veränderung war, die damit für unser ganzes Erdenwerden eintrat. Diese Bedeutung des Christus-Prinzipes und seines Einschlages in das Erdenwerden kann man von vielen Gesichtspunkten aus erläutern und der, den wir damit berührt haben, ist einer davon.
Nunmehr wollen wir das noch einmal so recht vor unsere Seele stellen, was uns aus alledem hervorging. Daß mit dem Christus etwas ganz Besonderes eingeschlagen hat in die Erdenentwickelung, das ist etwas, was in der Geisteswissenschaft da, wo sie ihre wahren Pflegestätten hat, gefühlt und erkannt wird. Gefühlt und erkannt wird in den Stätten wahrer Geisteswissenschaft, daß es eines gibt, was zunächst geht durch alleKulturen der nachatlantischen Zeit; was schon gegangen ist durch die uraltindische, die urpersische, die chaldäisch-ägyptische Kultur und so weiter, was gehen wird auch durch diejenigen Kulturen, die auf diese folgen bis zur nächsten großen Katastrophe und darüber hinaus. Wenn wir uns fragen: Wo können wir eine wahrere Gestalt dessen finden, was durch die ganze Menschheitsentwickelung durchgeht, als wir sie finden können durch die Sinnesanschauung oder den menschlichen Verstand? — so müssen wir bei der Geisteswissenschaft anfragen und sagen: Wie nennt man das, was in der spirituellen Welt zu entdecken ist, und was sich gewissermaßen wie eine fortlaufende Geistesströmung durch alle diese sieben Kulturen durchbewegt? — Man hat gerade in der orientalischen Weisheit ein Wort geprägt für dasjenige, was sich durch alle diese Kulturen durchzieht; es ist, wenn man es in Wirklichkeit betrachtet, nicht etwas Abstraktes, sondern etwas Konkretes, ein Wesen. Und will man dieses Wesen näher bezeichnen, von dem im Grunde genommen alle anderen Wesen, seien es die sieben heiligen Rishis oder selbst höhere Wesenheiten, die gar nicht heruntersteigen bis zur physischen Verkörperung, Sendboten sind, so können wir es bezeichnen mit einem Namen, den der Orient richtig geprägt hat. Alle Verkündigung, jegliche Weisheit in der Welt führt zunächst auf diese eine Quelle zurück, auf die Quelle der Urweisheit, welche ein Wesen besitzt, das durch alle Kulturen der nachatlantischen Zeit sich hindurchentwickelt, das in jeder Epoche in dieser oder jener Form erscheint, das aber immer ein Wesen ist, ein Grundträger der Weisheit, die in den verschiedensten Gestalten erschienen ist. Wenn ich Ihnen gestern beschrieben habe, wie — gleichsam einatmend — die heiligen Rishis diese Weisheit konkret erfaßt haben, so war dasjenige, was da draußen wie die Seele des Lichtes ausgebreitet war und als Lichtweisheit eingeatmet wurde von den heiligen Rishis, der Ausfluß jener erhabenen Wesenheit, von der hier die Rede ist. Und für die anderen Zeitalter ist dasjenige, was wir gestern erwähnen konnten als ihre Weisheit — zum Beispiel in jener ganz anderen Anschauung, wie sie in der urpersischen Kulturepoche zum Ausdruck kam -, wiederum herabgeströmt von dieser einen Wesenheit, die der große Lehrer aller Kulturen ist. Jene Wesenheit, die der Lehrer der heiligen Rishis, die der Lehrer des Zarathustra, der Lehrer des Hermes war, die man als den großen Lehrer bezeichnen kann und die in den verschiedensten Epochen in der verschiedensten Weise sich manifestierte, die natürlich für den äußeren Blick zunächst tief verborgen bleibt, bezeichnet man mit einem aus dem Orientalischen heraus geprägten Ausdrucke als Gesamtheit der Bodhisattvas. Die christliche Anschauung würde sie als Heiligen Geist bezeichnen. Wenn man vom Bodhisattva spricht, spricht man von einer über alle Kulturen hin sich ziehenden Wesenheit, die sich auf die eine oder andere Weise kundgeben und manifestieren kann für die Menschen. Das ist der Geist der Bodhisattvas. Zu den Bodhisattvas haben sie alle aufgeblickt, haben die heiligen Rishis, hat der Zarathustra, der Hermes, der Moses aufgeblickt, gleichgültig wie sie die betreffende Wesenheit empfunden und genannt haben. Man kann sie mit diesem einen Namen belegen, sie ist «der große Lehrer», und zu ihm blicken auf diejenigen, die die Lehren der nachatlantischen Zeit empfangen wollen und können. Dieser Bodhisattva-Geist unserer nachatlantischen Zeit hat mehrmals Menschengestalt angenommen, eine derselben interessiert uns aber vor allen Dingen. Ein Bodhisattva hat die weithin leuchtende Menschengestalt angenommen, gleichgültig wie er sich sonst manifestiert hat, in jener Wesenheit, die man als Gautama Buddha bezeichnet. Und es war ein Fortschritt des entsprechenden Bodhisattva, als er nicht mehr bloß zu bleiben brauchte in den oberen geistigen Regionen, sondern es so weit gebracht hatte durch seine Ausbildung innerhalb der geistigen Regionen, daß er die physische Leiblichkeit so weit bezwingen konnte, um in Buddha Mensch zu werden. So also haben wir in dem Buddha eine der Menschwerdungen eines Bodhisattva zu sehen, eine der Menschwerdungen der allumfassenden Weisheitsgestalten, wie sie dem Erdenwerden zugrunde liegen. In dem Buddha haben wir sozusagen die Verkörperung jenes großen Lehrers, der einfach die wesenhafte Weisheit selber genannt werden kann. So sehen wir den Buddha in der richtigen Weise an: Er ist die Erdenwerdung des Bodhisattva. Und es braucht dann nicht geglaubt zu werden, daß ein Bodhisattva nur in dem Buddha sich verkörpert hat, sondern es hat sich ganz oder teilweise ein solcher auch in anderen menschlichen Persönlichkeiten verkörpert. Aber solche Verkörperungen müssen wir nicht alle nach der Schablone auffassen, sondern wir müssen uns klar sein darüber, daß so, wie ein Bodhisattva lebte im Ätherleib des Gautama Buddha, ein solcher auch in Leibesgliedern anderer menschlicher Individuen lebte. Und weil die Wesenheit desjenigen Bodhisattva, welcher den Astralleib des Zarathustra geerbt hatte, einströmte in die Glieder anderer Individualitäten, zum Beispiel des Hermes, so kann man - aber nur wenn man die Sache so versteht- auch andere Individualitäten, die wiederum große Lehrer sind, eine Verkörperung eines Bodhisattva nennen. Man kann von einer immer und immer wiederkehrenden Verkörperung des Bodhisattva sprechen, muß aber wissen, daß der Bodhisattva hinter all den Menschen, in denen er sich verkörpert, gestanden hat als Teil derjenigen Wesenheit, die selber die personifizierte Allweisheit unserer Welt ist.
So also blicken wir auf das Weisheitselement, das in älteren Zeiten aus den luziferischen Welten heraus der Menschheit sich mitteilte. Wenn wir auf dieses schauen, schauen wir auf die Bodhisattvas. Nun gibt es aber in bezug auf die nachatlantische Entwickelung eine Wesenheit, die grundverschieden ist von den Bodhisattvas, die etwas prinzipiell anderes ist als ein Bodhisartva, und die man nicht mit dem Bodhisattva verwechseln darf, deshalb, weil sie einmal in einer menschlichen Individualität verkörpert war, die auch zu gleicher Zeit die Einströmungen des Bodhisattva als Buddha hatte. Weil einmal ein Mensch lebte, in dem der Christus sich verkörperte und zu gleicher Zeit in diese Menschenindividualität dieStrahlen des Bodhisattva hineingingen, darf man es bei dieser Verkörperung nicht als Hauptsache betrachten, daß der Bodhisattva sich bei jener Persönlichkeit verkörpert hat. Das ist Jesus von Nazareth. Da überwiegt gerade während der drei letzten Jahre das grundsätzlich vomBodhisattva verschiedene Christus-Prinzip. Wodurch können wir den Unterschied nun angeben von Christus-Prinzip und Bodhisattva-Prinzip? Das ist außerordentlich wichtig, daß man weiß, wodurch der Christus, der einmal in einem menschlichen Leib verkörpert war, nur einmal, nicht vorher und nicht nachher als Christus in einem Menschenleib verkörpert sein kann. Er ist seit jener Zeit zu erreichen auf dem Wege in das Innere der menschlichen Seele; er war vorher zu erreichen, wenn der Blick hinausgerichtet wurde in die Welt, wie ihn Zarathustra hinausgerichtet hat. Wodurch unterscheidet sich der Christus, dieses Prinzip, dieses Wesen, dem wir eine solche Mittelpunktstellung zuschreiben müssen, von einem Bodhisattva? Der grundsätzliche Unterschied des Christus von dem Bodhisattva ist der, daß wir den Bodhisattva nennen müssen den großen Lehrer, die Verkörperung der Weisheit, die durch alle Kulturen durchgeht, die in der verschiedensten Weise sich verkörpert. Der Christus aber ist nicht bloß Lehrer, das ist das Wesentliche! Der Christus lehrt nicht bloß die Menschen, der Christus ist eine Wesenheit, die wir am besten verstehen, wenn wir sie aufsuchen da, wo wir in schwindelnder Geisteshöhe sie finden können als ein Objekt der Initiation, und wo wir sie vergleichen können mit anderen geistigen Wesenheiten.
Wir können sie am besten in folgender Weise charakterisieren: Es gibt Regionen des Geisteslebens, wo man sozusagen, entledigt alles Erdenstaubes, diese hohe Wesenheit, den Bodhisattva, in seiner spirituellen Eigentümlichkeit finden kann, und wo man finden kann den Christus, entkleidet von alledem, was er geworden ist auf der Erde und in deren Nähe. Da findet man dann das Folgende: Man findet sozusagen die Grundlage der Menschheit, dasjenige, wovon alles Leben ausgeht: den spirituellen Urquell. Man findet nicht nur einen Bodhisattva, sondern eine Reihe von Bodhisattvas. Wie wir hingewiesen haben auf denjenigen Bodhisattva, der unseren aufeinanderfolgenden sieben Kulturen zugrunde liegt, so gibt es einen Bodhisattva, der den atlantischen Kulturen zugrunde liegt und so weiter. Sie finden in spirituellen Höhen eine Reihe von Bodhisattvas, die für ihre Zeiten die großen Lehrer, die Unterweiser sind nicht nur der Menschen, sondern die Unterweiser auch derjenigen Wesenheiten, die nicht heruntersteigen in die Region des physischen Lebens. Sie finden wir da alle sitzen, wenn wir vergleichsweise sprechen dürfen, als die großen Lehrer; sie sammeln sich dasjenige, was sie lehren sollen, und in ihrer Mitte finden wir eine Wesenheit, die nicht nur dadurch etwas ist, daß sie lehrt: und das ist der Christus. Er ist nicht nur dadurch etwas, daß er lehrt, sondern er ist in der Mitte der Bodhisattvas als eine Wesenheit, die auf die umgebenden Bodhisattvas dadurch wirkt, daß diese ihren Anblick haben; angeschaut wird sie von den Bodhisattvas, denen sie ihre eigene Herrlichkeit offenbart. Sind die anderen dasjenige, was sie sind, dadurch, daß sie große Lehrer sind, so ist der Christus dasjenige, was er der Welt ist, durch das, was er in sich selbst ist, durch sein Wesen. Ihn braucht man nur anzuschauen; und die Offenbarung seines eigenen Wesens, die ist etwas, was sich bloß zu spiegeln braucht in seiner Umgebung; dann entsteht daraus die Lehre. Er ist nicht bloß Lehrer, er ist Leben, ein Leben, das sich eingießt in die anderen Wesenheiten, die dann die Lehrer werden. So sind die Bodhisattvas diejenigen, die ihre Lehre davon herhaben, daß sie die Seligkeit genießen, die Anschauung des Christus zu haben in ihrer spirituellen Höhe. Und finden wir im Verlaufe unserer Erdenentwickelung Verkörperungen der Bodhisattvas, so nennen wir solche, weil in ihnen der Bodhisattva das Wesentliche ist, große Lehrer der Menschheit. Der Christus lehrt nicht bloß. Über den Christus lernt man, um ihn zu verstehen, um das zu erkennen, was in ihm ist. Der Christus ist mehr Objekt als Subjekt des Lernens. Er ist daher eine Wesenheit von ganz grundsätzlich anderer Bedeutung als die Bodhisattvas, die durch die Welt gehen. Das ist der Unterschied des Christus von den Bodhisattvas, daß er dasjenige ist, was er der Welt ist, dadurch, daß die Welt seinen Anblick genießt. Die Bodhisattvas sind dasjenige, was sie der Welt sind, dadurch, daß sie die großen Lehrer sind.
Wollen wir daher zu der lebendigen Wesenheit, zu dem Lebensquell auf unserer Erde hinblicken, so müssen wir zu derjenigen Verkörperung hinblicken, wo nicht bloß ein Bodhisattva sich verkörperthat, so daß dies das Wesentliche ist, sondern wo dasjenige sich verkörpert hat, was selber kein Schriftwerk zu hinterlassen brauchte, was nicht selber eine Lehre von sich hinterlassen hat, sondern um sich diejenigen gesammelt hat, die über es Botschaften und Lehren in die Welt verbreitet haben. Das ist wesentlich, daß von dem Christus selber nicht ein Schriftstück vorhanden ist, sondern daß die Lehrer um ihn herum sind und über ihn reden, so daß er das Objekt der Lehre ist, nicht nur das Subjekt. Das drückt sich aus in dem eigentümlichen Umstande, der hier eine Notwendigkeit bedeutet bei dem Christus-Ereignis, daß von ihm selber nichts erhalten ist, sondern daß die anderen seine Wesenheit aufgeschrieben haben. Es ist daher gar kein Wunder, wenn gesagt wird, daß wir alles, was wir als Lehren des Christus finden, auch in anderen Bekenntnissen finden können, weil Christus gar nicht bloß Lehrer ist, weil er eine Wesenheit ist, die als Wesenheit begriffen werden will, weil er nicht bloß durch seine Lehren in uns etwas hineinversenken will, sondern durch sein Leben. Daher können wir aber auch alle Lehren der Welt, die uns zugänglich sind, zusammenbringen, und wir werden noch nicht alles haben, was den Christus begreifen kann. Wenn die gegenwärtige Menschheit sich nicht direkt hinaufwenden kann zu den Bodhisattvas, um mit den geistigen Augen der Bodhisattvas den Christus anzuschauen, so muß die Menschheit eben noch bei diesen Bodhisattvas in die Schule gehen, um dasjenige zu lernen, was dann den Christus zuletzt begreiflich machen kann. Wollen wir also nicht nur des Christus teilhaftlig werden, sondern wollen wir den Christus verstehen, dann müssen wir nicht nur bequem hinblicken darauf, was der Christus für uns getan hat, sondern dann müssen wir bei allen Lehrern des Westens und des Ostens in die Schule gehen, und es muß uns ein Heiliges sein, die Lehren des ganzen Blickkreises uns anzueignen; und das andere Heilige muß uns sein, diese Lehren so zu verwenden, daß wir durch die höchsten Lehren den Christus vollständig begreifen.
Das aber, was die Menschen tun sollen, das wird in den Mysterien entsprechend vorbereitet. Eine jede Zeit hat ihre besondere Aufgabe; einer jeden Zeit obliegt es, die Wahrheit gerade in derjenigen Gestalt zu empfangen, die diese Wahrheit für die betreffende Menschheitsepoche annehmen muß. Dem alten Inder konnte man nicht eine solche Wahrheitsform geben, wie sie heute gegeben wird, ebensowenig dem alten Perser. Man mußte ihm die Wahrheit in der Gestalt geben, in welcher sie für seine Empfindungsfähigkeiten geeignet war. Daher mußte in der Zeit, die durch ihre sonstige Eigentümlichkeit geeignet war, den Christus auf der Erde zu empfangen - das ist im vierten Zeitraume, im griechischlateinischen -, die Wahrheit über den Christus und über die mit dem Christus zusammenhängende Welt auch in derjenigen Form an die Menschheit gebracht werden, wie es der damaligen Menschheit angemessen war. Zu glauben, daß in der Zeit, die unmittelbar auf die Christus-Offenbarung folgte, die ganze Wahrheit schon vorhanden war über den Christus, das heißt: überhaupt nichts wissen von dem Fortschritte des Menschengeschlechtes. Wer nur die Lehren der ersten Jahrhunderte nach dem Christus-Ereignis bewahren will, wer nur das, was da geschrieben und aufbewahrt ist, ansehen wollte als echte christliche Lehre, der weiß nichts von menschlichem Fortschritt, der weiß nicht, daß der höchste Lehrer der ersten christlichen Jahrhunderte den Menschen über den Christus nichts anderes hätte sagen können als dasjenige, was sie aufnehmen konnten. Weil aber die Menschen der ersten christlichen Jahrhunderte vor allem diejenigen waren, die sozusagen am tiefsten heruntergestiegen sind in die physische Welt, so konnten sie auch mit ihrem Verständnis verhältnismäßig sehr wenig aufnehmen an höheren Lehren über den Christus. Verhältnismäßig wenig konnte begriffen werden von der großen breiten Masse der Christen über die Christus-Wesenheit.
Wir haben gesehen, daß im alten Indien ein hohes hellseherisches Anschauen vorhanden war durch die damalige Stellung des Atherleibes zu den anderen Gliedern des Menschen, aber es war für dieses Anschauen noch nicht die Zeit gekommen, den Christus als etwas anderes zu sehen als einen in fernen Regionen jenseits der Sinnenwelt liegenden Geist, ihn als den Vishvakarman zu begreifen. In der Zeit der urpersischen Kultur war erst die Möglichkeit, den Christus zu ahnen hinter der physischen Sonne. Und so ging es weiter. Bei Moses war es möglich, den Christus zu schauen als Jehova in Blitz und Donner, das heißt schon ganz nahe der Erde. Und im Jesus von Nazareth sah man den Christus als Menschen verkörpert. Die Menschheit ist so fortgeschritten, daß im alten Indien noch die Weisheit aufgenommen worden ist durch den Ätherleib, in der urpersischen Periode durch den Empfindungsleib, in der chaldäisch-ägyptischen Periode durch die Empfindungsseele, in der griechisch-lateinischen Periode durch dasjenige, was wir Verstandesseele nennen. Und die Verstandesseele ist schon mit ihrem Verständnisse an die Sinneswelt gebunden. Ihr ging daher verloren der Blick über dasjenige, was über die Sinneswelt hinausgeht. Daher erblickte man in den ersten nachchristlichen Jahrhunderten kaum mehr als dasjenige, was zwischen Geburt und Tod liegt und was sich unmittelbar nachher als das nächste Geistgebiet anreiht. Man wußte nichts von demjenigen, was durch viele Inkarnationen hindurchgeht. Das lag am menschlichen Verständnis. Man konnte nur das eine Stück des gesamten Lebens des Menschen begreiflich machen: sein Erdenleben und das sich anschließende Stück Geistesleben. Das finden Sie daher für die breiten Massen beschrieben. Das durfte aber nicht konserviert werden. Es mußte vorgesorgt werden, daß der Blick der Menschen sich hinaus erweitern könne über dieses Stück des Verständnisses; es mußte vorgesorgt werden, daß die umfassende Weisheit, die man damals hat haben können in der Hermeszeit, in der Moseszeit, in der Zeit des Zarathustra, in der Zeit der alten indischen Rishis, nach und nach wieder aufleben kann, daß wieder dieMöglichkeit geboten werde, den Christus in immer breiterem Verständnisse zu begreifen.
So war der Christus zwar in die Welt gekommen, aber die Mittel des Verständnisses waren gerade zu seiner Zeit die eingeschränktesten. Es mußte vorgesorgt werden für die folgenden Zeiten; esmußten wiederum alle alten Weisheiten aufleben, damit diese Weisheiten nach und nach in den Dienst des Christus-Verständnisses gestellt werden konnten. Das konnte nur geschehen auf folgende Weise. Es mußte eine Mysterienweisheit geschaffen werden. Es hatten sich große Weistümer mitgebracht die Menschen, die aus der alten Atlantis herübergezogen sind nach Europa und weiter. In der alten Atlantis waren die meisten Menschen instinktiv hellseherisch, sie konnten hineinsehen in die Gebiete des Geistigen. Diese Hellsichtigkeit konnte sich nicht fortentwickeln, sie mußte sich zurückziehen zu einzelnen Persönlichkeiten des Westens. Sie wurde da geleitet von einem Wesen, das in tiefer Verborgenheit lebte einstweilen, zurückgezogen selbst hinter denen, die auch schon zurückgezogen und Schüler waren eines großen Eingeweihten, das sozusagen zurückgeblieben war, bewahrend dasjenige, was aus der alten Atlantis herübergebracht werden konnte, bewahrend es für spätere Zeiten. Diesen hohen Initiierten, diesen Bewahrer der uralten atlantischen Weisheit, die tief hineinging sogar in alles dasjenige, was die Geheimnisse des physischen Leibes sind, kann man Skythianos nennen, wie es im frühen Mittelalter üblich war. Und es blickt derjenige, der das europäische Mysterienwesen kennt, zu einem der höchsten Eingeweihten der Erde hinauf, wenn der Name Skythianos genannt wird.
Dann lebte aber auch innerhalb dieser Welt lange Zeit dieselbe Wesenheit, die man, wenn man sie von ihrem spirituellen Aspekte betrachtet, als den Bodhisattva bezeichnen kann. Dieser Bodhisattva war dieselbe Wesenheit, die, nachdem sie im Westen ihre Aufgabe vollendet hatte, sechshundert Jahre ungefähr vor unserer Zeitrechnung in dem Gautama Buddha verkörpert worden ist. Also diejenige Wesenheit, die dann als Lehrer weiter nach dem Osten gezogen ist, war sozusagen schon auf einem vorgeschritteneren Posten. Er war ein zweiter großer Lehrer, ein zweiter großer Siegelbewahrer der Weisheit der Menschheit und wurde der Gautama Buddha.
Dann aber war eine dritte Individualität, die zu Großem vorausbestimmt war.1Es wird hier von diesen Wesen so gesprochen, wie sie im Geiste älterer- Weltanschauungen aufgefaßt worden sind, und wie es, in gewissem Sinne, vom geisteswissenschaftlichen Gesichtspunkte auch heute berechtigt ist. Und diese dritte Individualität kennen wir aus verschiedensten Vorträgen. Das ist derjenige, der der Lehrer des alten Persiens war, der große Zarathustra. Wir sprechen drei wichtige geistige Wesenheiten und Individualitäten an, wenn wir dieNamen Zarathustra, Gautama Buddha und Skythianos aussprechen. Wir sprechen von Verkörperungen von Bodhisattvas, wenn wir die Namen Skythianos, Zarathustra und Buddha nennen. Dasjenige, was in ihnen lebte, war nicht der Christus.
Nun mußte der Menschheit Zeit gelassen werden, die Ankunft des Christus zu erleben, der sich vorher verkündigt hatte dem Moses auf dem Sinai, denn das ist dieselbe Wesenheit: Jahve und Christus, nur in anderer Form. Nun mußte Zeit gelassen werden der Menschheit, den Christus zu empfangen. Das geschah in der Zeit, als das Verständnis für solche Dinge das denkbar geringste war. Aber vorgesorgt werden mußte dafür, daß das Verständnis, daß die Weisheit immer größer und größer wieder wurde; und dafür hat auch der Christus auf der Erde vorgesorgt.
Es wird nun eine vierte Individualität in der Geschichte genannt, hinter der sich für viele etwas verbirgt, das noch höher, noch gewaltiger ist als die drei genannten Wesenheiten, als Skythianos, als Buddha und als Zarathustra. Es ist Manes, der wie ein hoher Sendbote des Christus genannt wird von vielen, die mehr im Manichäismus sehen, als gewöhnlich gesehen wird. Manes, so sagen viele, versammelte nun wenige Jahrhunderte, nachdem Christus auf der Erde gelebt hatte, in einer der größten Versammlungen, diein der zur Erde gehörigen spirituellen Welt überhaupt stattgefunden haben, drei wichtige Persönlichkeiten des vierten Jahrhunderts der nachchristlichen Zeit um sich. In dieser bildhaften Schilderung soll eine wichtige spirituelle Kulturtatsache ausgedrückt werden. Manes versammelte diese Persönlichkeiten aus dem Grunde, um mit ihnen zu beraten, wie allmählich jene Weisheit, die gelebt hat durch die Zeitwende in der nachatlantischen Zeit, wiederum aufleben kann in die Zukunft hinein immer weiter und weiter, immer glorreicher und glorreicher. Welche Persönlichkeiten versammelte Manes in jener denkwürdigen Versammlung, die nur zu erreichen ist durch spirituelles Schauen? Die eine ist jene Persönlichkeit, in welcher in der damaligen Zeit Skythianos lebte, der wiederverkörperte Skythianos der Maneszeit. Die zweite Persönlichkeit ist ein physischer Abglanz des damals wiedererschienenen Buddha, und die dritte ist der damals wiederverkörperte Zarathustra. So haben wir ein Kollegium um Manes herum, Manes in der Mitte, um ihn herum Skythianos, Buddha und Zarathustra. Damals wurde in diesem Kollegium festgestellt der Plan, wie alle Weisheit der Bodhisattvas der nachatlantischen Zeit immer stärker und stärker hineinfließen kann in die Zukunft der Menschheit. Und was damals als der Plan zukünftiger Erdenkulturentwickelung beschlossen worden ist, das wurde bewahrt und dann herübergetragen in jene europäischen Mysterien, welche die Mysterien des Rosenkreuzes sind. In den Mysterien des Rosenkreuzes verkehrten immer die Individualitäten des Skythianos, des Buddha, des Zarathustra. Sie waren in den Schulen des Rosenkreuzes die Lehrer; Lehrer, die ihre Weisheit deshalb der Erde als Gaben schickten, weil durch diese Weisheit der Christus in seiner Wesenheit begriffen werden sollte. Daher ist es in aller Geistesschulung des Rosenkreuzes so, daß man hinaufblickt mit tiefster Verehrung zu jenen alten Eingeweihten, die die uralte Weisheit der Atlantis bewahrten: zu dem wiederverkörperten Skythianos, in ihm sah man den großen verehrten Bodhisattva des Westens; zu dem jeweilig verkörperten Abglanz des Buddha, den man ebenfalls verehrte als einen der Bodhisattvas, und endlich zu Zarathas, dem wiederverkörperten Zarathustra. Zu ihnen blickte man hinauf als zu den großen Lehrern der europäischen Eingeweihten. Es dürfen solche Darstellungen nicht wie äußerlich geschichtliche genommen werden, trotzdem sie den geschichtlichen Verlauf als Tatbestand treffender charakterisieren als eine äußerliche Darstellung das könnte.
Um nur eines zu erwähnen, muß gesagt werden, daß Sie kaum finden irgendein Landgebiet im Mittelalter, wo nicht eine bestimmte Legende überall verbreitet ist. Als in Europa niemand etwas wußte von dem Gautama Buddha, als die Tradition von dem Gautama Buddha vollständig verschollen war, erzählte man folgendes. Sie finden das in vielen Büchern des Mittelalters; es gehört zu den verbreitetsten Erzählungen des Mittelalters. Es war in Indien einstmals einem König ein Sohn geboren mit Namen Josaphat. Von diesem Josaphat wurde bei seiner Geburt Wichtiges geweissagt. Daher wurde er besonders behütet von seinem Vater; er sollte nur das Allerkostbarste kennenlernen, sollte in voller Seligkeit schwelgen, sollte nicht die Schmerzen und Leiden und das Unglück des Lebens kennenlernen. Bewahrt wurde Josaphat von alledem. Da aber findet es sich doch, daß Josaphat eines Tages hinausging aus dem Palaste, und er fand einen Kranken, einen Aussätzigen, er fand einen gealterten Menschen und einen Leichnam; das erzählte man von Josaphat! Da ging er tief erschüttert in den Königspalast zurück, und es fand sich ein Mann, der ergriffen war im tiefsten Herzen von den Geheimnissen des Christentums, Barlaam, der gewann den Josaphat für das Christentum. Und es wurde Josaphat, der dies erlebt hatte, ein Christ. So erzählte die Legende des Mittelalters. Und nun brauchen Sie nicht einmal die Akasha-Chronik zu Hilfe zunehmen, sondern der gewöhnliche Philologe genügt da schon, um den Namen Josaphat zu untersuchen. Josaphat geht zurück auf ein altes Wort Joasaph; Joasaph geht wieder zurück auf Jodasaph; Jodasaph auf Yudasaf, was identisch ist mit Budasaf — beide letzten Formen sind arabisch-und Budasaf das ist derselbe Name wie Bodhisattva. So kennt die europäische Geheimlehre nicht nur den «Bodhisattva», sondern sie kennt, wenn sie den Namen Josaphat entziffern kann, auch den Begriff dieses Wortes. Diese legendenhafte Ausbildung der Geheimlehre im Westen weiß, daß es eine Zeit gegeben hat, wo dieselbe Wesenheit, die im Gautama Buddha gelebt hat, ein Christ geworden ist. Das kann man entweder wissen oder man kann es nicht wissen; wahr bleibt es doch! Gerade so wie Traditionen hinter der Zeit zurückbleiben können, wie die Menschen heute das glauben können, was man vor Jahrtausenden geglaubt hat und was sich in Traditionen fortpflanzen kann, so kann man auch glauben, daß es den höheren Welten entspricht, daß der Gautama Buddha dasselbe geblieben ist, was er sechshundert Jahre vor unserer Zeitrechnung war. Doch ist es nicht so. Er ist aufgestiegen, er hat sich entwickelt. Und in den wahren Lehren des Rosenkreuzes ist aufbewahrt dasjenige, was sich davon legendenhaft zum Ausdruck gebracht hat, wie ich Ihnen das eben erzählt habe. Man darf nur nicht mit diesen wahren Lehren des Rosenkreuzes verwechseln all das Törichte, das durch eine bedenkliche Literatur fließt.
So finden wir innerhalb des Geisteslebens Europas denjenigen, der der Träger des Christus war, Zaratas oder Nazarathos, den Zarathustra, von Zeit zu Zeit wieder; so finden wir Skythianos wieder; so finden wir auch den dritten großen Schüler des Manes, auch Buddha wieder, wie er war, nachdem er die späteren Zeiten miterlebt hat.
So blickte der europäische Kenner der Initiation immer hinein in der Zeiten Wende, zu den wahren Gestalten der großen Lehrer aufschauend. Von Zaratas, von Buddha, von Skythianos, von ihnen wußte er, daß durch sie einströmte in die Kultur der Zukunft diejenige Weisheit, die immerdar von den Bodhisattvas gekommen ist und die verwendet werden soll, um zu begreifen das würdigste Objekt alles Verstehens, den Christus, der ein von den Bodhisattvas grundverschiedenes Wesen ist, den man nur verstehen kann, wenn man alle Weisheit der Bodhisattvas zusammennimmt. Daher istin den Geistesweisheiten der Europäer außer allem andern auch ein synthetischer Zusammenschluß aller Lehren enthalten, die der Welt gegeben worden sind durch die drei großen Schüler des Manes und den Manes selbst. Wenn man auch nicht verstanden hat den Manes, es wird eine Zeit kommen, wo die europäische Kultur sich so gestalten wird, daß man wieder einen Sinn verbinden wird mit den Namen Skythianos, Buddha und Zarathustra. Sie werden den Menschen das Lehrmaterial geben, um den Christus zu verstehen. Immer besser und besser werden die Menschen durch sie den Christus verstehen. Angefangen hat das Mittelalter allerdings mit einer sonderbaren Verehrung und Anbetung gegenüber dem Skythianos, gegenüber dem Buddha und gegenüber dem Zarathustra, als ihre Namen ein wenig durchgesickert waren; angefangen hat es damit, daß derjenige, der sich in gewissen christlichen Religionsgemeinschaften als ein echter Christ bekennen wollte, die Formel sprechen mußte: «Ich verfluche Skythianos, ich verfluche Buddha, ich verfluche Zaratas!» Das war eine über viele Gebiete des christlichen Zeitalters verbreitete Formel, durch die man sich als rechter Christ bekannte, Was man aber damals glaubte verfluchen zu müssen, das wird das Kollegium der Lehrer sein, die der Menschheit den Christus am allerbesten verständlich machen werden, zu denen die Menschheit emporblicken wird als zu den großen Bodhisattvas, durch die der Christus wird begriffen werden.
Heute kann kaum die Menschheit als das wenigste zweierlei entgegenbringen diesen großen Lehrern des Rosenkreuzes, zweierlei, was nur einen Anfang bedeuten kann von dem, was in der Zukunft groß und mächtig als Verständnis des Christentums dastehen soll. Das soll gemacht werden durch die heutige Geisteswissenschaft; sie soll beginnen, die Lehren des Skythianos, des Zarathustra und des Gautama Buddha in die Welt zu bringen, nicht in ihrer alten, sondern in einer durchaus neuen, heute aus sich selbst erforschbaren Form. Wir beginnen damit, daß wir zunächst das Elementare, welches wir von ihnen lernen können, der Kultur einverleiben. Von dem Buddha hat das Christentum hinzuzulernen die Lehre von der Wiederverkörperung und dem Karma, wenn auch nicht in einer alten, heute nicht mehr zeitgemäßen Art. Warum fließen heute in das Christentum die Lehren von der Wiederverkörperung und dem Karma? Sie fließen ein, weil sie die Eingeweihten verstehenlernen können im Sinne unserer Zeit, wie sie Buddha, der große Lehrer der Wiederverkörperung in seiner Art verstanden hat. So wird man auch anfangen den Skythianos zu verstehen, der nicht nur dieWiederverkörperung des Menschen zu lehren hat, sondern der das zu lehren hat, was von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit waltet. So wird immer mehr und mehr das Wesen der Welt, immer mehr und mehr das Wesen des Zentrums unserer Erdenwelt, das Wesen des Christus begriffen werden. So fließen immer mehr und mehr die Lehren der Initiierten in die Menschheit hinein. Heute kann der angehende Geistesforscher nur zweierlei als Elementaranfang zu demjenigen bringen, was die beiden Elemente sein müssen der zukünftigen Geistesentwickelung der Menschheit. Was sich ins Innere hineinsenkt als das Christus-Leben, wird das erste Element sein; was in umfassender Weise als die geistige Kosmologie Verständnis bringen wird für den Christus, das wird das zweite sein. Christus-Leben im Innern des Herzens, Weltverständnis, das zu Christus-Verständnis führt, das werden die beiden Elemente sein. Heute, wo wir am Anfang stehen, können wir beginnen damit, daß wir die richtige Gesinnung haben im Innern. Daher versammeln wir uns, um die richtige Gesinnung gegenüber der geistigen Welt und all dessen, was daraus geboren ist, gegenüber dem Menschen zu pflegen. Damit, daß wir die richtige Gesinnung pflegen, machen wir unsere Geisteskräfte allmählich geeignet, den Christus im Innern aufzunehmen, denn je höher und edler sich die Gesinnung ausprägt, desto edler wird sich Christus ausleben können. Und wir machen den Anfang damit, daß wir die elementaren Zusammenhänge unserer Erdenentwickelung lehren, daß wir erneut suchen dasjenige, was von Skythianos, Zarathustra und Buddha stammt, daß wir es nehmen so, wie sie es lehren können in unserer Zeit, so wie diese Lehrer selbst es wissen, nachdem sie sich entwickelt haben bis in unsere Zeit herein. Wir sind so weit, daß wir anfangen, die elementaren Lehren der Einweihung zu verbreiten.
Ninth Lecture
The fact with which we concluded our reflections yesterday must necessarily remain somewhat incomprehensible when it first presents itself to human beings. It belongs to the mysteries of numbers. And the mysteries of numbers are among those that are relatively most difficult to grasp.
It has been said that there is a certain relationship between the numbers seven and twelve, and that this relationship has something to do with time and space. Now, it is possible that the mystery expressed here may gradually be understood by all human beings, but in the sense of the only knowledge currently recognized, the matter is a mere assertion. It should first be explained. As has already been pointed out, one finds oneself in the world's machinery when one distinguishes between those relationships that are primarily spatial and those that are primarily temporal. We initially understand the world around us in terms of space and time. However, if we do not limit ourselves to speaking abstractly about space and time, but want to understand how relationships are ordered in time and how individual entities relate to each other in space, then there is a thread that runs through the relationships of time on the one hand and the relationships of space on the other. From a spiritual scientific perspective, we first consider the development of world phenomena. We look back at earlier incarnations of human beings, at earlier incarnations of races, of cultures, at earlier incarnations of the earth itself. We gain an idea of what is to happen in the future, that is, also in time. But we always find our bearings when we say to ourselves: we will judge temporal development from a framework that we construct for ourselves using the number seven. We must not construct or speculate and give all kinds of interpretations to the number seven, but should first of all follow the facts from the point of view of the number seven. This is initially only a means of facilitating our observation. Take, for example, a person whose spiritual eye is open to such an extent that they can examine the facts of the Akashic Records in the past. The number seven will guide them by telling them: What happens in time is built up according to the framework of the number seven; what repeats itself in different forms can be clearly seen by taking the number seven as a basis and then looking for the corresponding forms. So it is good to say to oneself: Because the earth goes through different incarnations, we look for its seven incarnations: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. Because human cultures undergo seven incarnations, we seek their connection by again taking the number seven as our basis. — We go, for example, to the first culture in the post-Atlantean period. The ancient Indian cultural period is the first, the second is the ancient Persian, the third the Chaldean-Egyptian, the fourth the Greek-Latin, the fifth our own, and we await the two following, which will replace ours as the sixth and seventh. Here again we have taken the number seven as our basis in successive cultural embodiments. However, we can also find our way in a person's karma if we try to look back on their three previous incarnations. If we take the incarnation of a person in the present and look back from this present on the three previous incarnations, it is possible to draw certain conclusions about the three next incarnations. The three previous incarnations and the present one, together with the three following ones, again make seven. Thus, the number seven is a guide for all temporal events.
In contrast, the number twelve is a guide for everything that exists side by side in space. This has always been felt by a science that was at the same time wisdom. Therefore, when it comes to world phenomena that belong to our Earth, it has said: We find our way around when we relate the spatial relationships of anything that happens on Earth to twelve permanent points distributed in space. These twelve permanent points are indicated by the twelve signs of the zodiac in the world space. These should be twelve basic points to which everything in space is related. But this is not merely an arbitrary construct of human thinking; rather, human thinking has learned from reality and developed this relationship as a guide, namely that one finds one's way best in space by relating to twelve members. Where changes are concerned, that is, temporal phenomena, an older science takes the seven planets as its basis. The number seven is the guiding principle here.
Now we ask ourselves: How does this apply to human life in its development? We have said that up to the point in human development marked by the advent of the Christ principle, when human beings looked within themselves, they sought the way to the world of the gods through the veil of their inner being and entered the Luciferic world. And we have been able to describe everything that human beings find there with a collective name: the Luciferic world. In those earlier times, this was also the path on which human beings sought wisdom, on which they sought a higher knowledge of the world than could be found behind the curtain of the outer sensory world. Man sought by immersing himself in his inner world; from this inner world, further intuitions and inspirations of moral and ethical life had to rise, just as the intuitions of conscience rose from this inner world. All other intuitions and inspirations relating to morality and the soul in general naturally arose from the soul. Therefore, those high individualities who were the leaders of humanity in those ancient times had to turn first to the human inner life if they wanted to enlighten people about the highest things. The holy rishis had to turn to the human soul life, to the human inner life, as did the great teachers of humanity in all older cultures. But the human inner life is not spatial, it is temporal. The soul life proceeds in time. That which surrounds us externally is grouped in space; that which proceeds internally is grouped in time. Therefore, everything that wants to speak to the human inner life is tested by the guiding principle of the number seven. How, then, can we best understand a being that wants to speak to the human inner life? How can we best understand the fundamental characteristics of those beings whom we call, for example, the holy Rishis? We can best understand them when we grasp them in the relationship that is related to the temporal soul life. Therefore, in those ancient times when the great sages spoke, the question arose above all: Where do they come from? — as we ask of a son: Who is his father and mother? People asked about the temporal, about the relationship of descent. When one had a sage before one, one was interested above all in the question: Where does he come from? What was the being that was there before? Where does he come from? Whose son is he? So when we speak of the Luciferic world, we must take the number seven as our basis and be interested in whose child is the one who speaks to the human soul. We speak of the children of Lucifer in this sense when we speak of the older proclaimers of the spiritual world, who lie hidden behind the veil of soul life, behind the temporal.
But the question is different with Christ. Christ did not come down to earth in a temporal way; Christ, in appearing temporally, also came into the earthly world from outside, in terms of space. Zarathustra saw him when he looked up at the sun and addressed him as Ahura Mazdao. More and more, Ahura Mazdao drew closer to human vision in space until he descended and became human. So it is not only the temporal sequence that is of interest here, but also the spatial approach. The spatial approach, this approach of Christ from the infinity of space to our earth, has an eternal value, not merely a temporal value. This is also connected with the fact that Christ does not have to work on earth in a way that corresponds solely to the relationship of time, that Christ does not bring something to earth that corresponds to the relationship between father and child, between mother and child, which takes place in time, but rather he brings something into the world that takes place in coexistence. Brothers live side by side. Father, mother, and grandchild live one after the other in time, and the temporal relationship expresses their actual relationship. But Christ, as the spirit of space, also brings something spatial into the earthly culture. What he brings in is the juxtaposition of human beings in space, and the relationship that is now to pass over more and more from one soul to another in their coexistence, regardless of how the temporal relationship is regulated. Our Earth is the planet in our cosmic system that has the mission of introducing love into the world. In ancient times, it was the task of the Earth to introduce love with the help of time. Through the relationships of descent, the “blood flowed from generation to generation, from father to child and grandchild, and that which was related through time was at the same time that which loved each other. The family connection, the blood connection, the flow of blood through successive generations in time, was what established love in ancient times. And even where love took on a more moral character, it was based on a temporal relationship. People loved their ancestors, those who had gone before them in time. Through Christ, love came from soul to soul, so that what stands spatially next to each other comes into a relationship, as was first exemplified by siblings standing next to each other at the same time, as the brotherly love that people should show each other in space, from soul to soul. Here, spatial coexistence begins to take on its special meaning.
That is why, in earlier times, when it came to the great matters of humanity, people spoke of what was connected according to the rule of seven: seven rishis, seven wise men! That is why Christ is surrounded by twelve apostles as models of people living side by side in space. And this love, which will encompass everything that is side by side in space, regardless of the sequence of time, is to enter into the social life of the earth through the Christ principle. He is a follower of Christ who loves what is around him in brotherhood. Therefore, when we speak in older times of the children of Lucifer, the Christ principle is the reason why we say: Christ is the firstborn among many brothers. — And the brotherhood relationship to Christ, the feeling of being drawn to him not as to a father, but as to a brother whom one loves as the first of brothers, but still as a brother, is the fundamental relationship to Christ.
These are, of course, only quotations, which do not prove but illustrate and clarify what constitutes the relationship between the numbers seven and twelve. The more the Christ relationship shines down into the world, the more one speaks of groupings in the sense of the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles, and so on. From this, the number twelve gains its mystical, mysterious meaning for the development of the earth.
This, so to speak, indicates the outer aspect, the outer appearance of this great change that has taken place through the Christ principle in relation to the development of the earth. We could now talk at length about the relationship between the number seven and the number twelve and still leave many things incomprehensible in this deep mystery of our world existence. If you take what has been said as an explanation of the numbers seven and twelve as a guide to time and space relationships, you will be able to penetrate more deeply into the mysteries of the universe. For us, however, this relationship between the numbers seven and twelve should first be that which points us to everything else and shows us how profoundly the Christ event was for the world, how we must, so to speak, seek another numerical guide if we want to find our way there.
But there is also an inner relationship in relation to space and time; I can only hint at this very sketchily. And I will do so as was usually done in the mysteries to indicate the cosmic in the relationship between twelve and seven. It has been said: If you do not view the world space as something abstract, but rather relate earthly conditions to this world space, then you must relate these conditions to that circumference by thinking of the twelve basic points of the zodiac as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. These twelve fundamental points of the zodiac were at the same time the real, actual symbol of the world for the most ancient divine-spiritual beings, in which reality was conceived in a certain way. Even when the Earth was embodied in ancient Saturn, the forces coming from these twelve directions were already acting upon this ancient Saturn; they continued to act during the ancient Sun era, during the ancient Moon era, and will continue to act. They are therefore, in a sense, permanent and far above what arises and passes away within our Earth's evolution. That which is symbolized by the twelve signs of the zodiac is exalted above that which passes away in the course of the evolution of our planet from ancient Saturn to the Sun, from the ancient Sun to the ancient Moon, and so on. While what is happening there arises and passes away, that which is conditioned by the zodiac has outlasted the planetary events, that is, it outlasts the conditions on the old Saturn, on the old Sun, on the old Moon. It is also what is symbolized by the cardinal points of the zodiac, elevated above what takes place on our Earth as the opposition of good and evil. Remember that in the first lesson of this cycle I drew your attention to how, when one enters the astral realm, one has to deal with a world of transformation, where what may appear good from one point of view may appear evil from another. These differences between good and evil have their meaning within the process of becoming. And the number seven is an orienting guide for this meaning. That which is symbolized by the gods in the twelve points of space, in the twelve points of time, is exalted above good and evil. And therefore, within the circle of the twelve points of time, we have that which is exalted above good and evil. Out there, we must seek, as it were, the symbols for those divine-spiritual beings which, when viewed in themselves, without interfering in our earthly sphere, are above the differences between good and evil.
Now, however, that which is to become our earth begins to stir in time. This can only happen through a division within these eternal deities, so that what proceeds enters into a different relationship with these eternal gods, dividing them into two spheres, a sphere of good and a sphere of evil. In themselves, neither one nor the other is good or evil, but insofar as they act upon the earth in its becoming, they act sometimes as good and sometimes as evil, so that everything that participates in the one may be called the sphere of good, and everything that participates in the other may be called the sphere of evil. However, the underlying idea is that anything that participates only a little in the sphere of good must also be called good. As soon as that which, as I have said, has duration in the spiritual world, which has nothing to do with time, intervenes in time, it divides into good and evil. Of the twelve points of permanence, five remain for the good, those located purely in the sphere of good, and two at the boundary; that makes seven. That is why we speak of what remains as seven of the twelve. If we want to seek the good, the excellent, the leading in time, we must speak of seven sages, of seven rishis; and this then corresponds to reality. Hence also the idea that the light world, the upper world, has seven signs of the zodiac; that the lower five, beginning with Scorpio, belong to the dark world.
This is only a sketchy indication that when space, so to speak, leaves its sphere of eternity and takes in creations that run their course in time, it divides itself into good and evil, and that by emphasizing the good, by emphasizing the seven out of the twelve, the seven is the good number for the conditions of time. If we want to seek the truths of time, we must regard the number seven as a guide; for what remains as the number five would lead us into error. There you have the inner meaning of this matter.
Do not say to yourself at this moment that this is difficult to understand, but say to yourself: The world is deep, and there must also be things that are difficult to understand.
But Christ came into the world to sit with the tax collectors and sinners. He came to take in what would otherwise have to be eliminated from the world. In Oedipus, the same thing had to be excluded that was taken in during the life of Christ as a ferment; this was confirmed for you by the legend of Judas. Just as new bread must take in a small part of the old as a ferment in order to continue to rise, so the new world, in order to flourish, in order to become truly good, had to take in something as a ferment that came out of evil. Therefore, Judas, who was excluded everywhere, who had made himself impossible even at Pilate's court, could be accepted where Christ was working, who had come to heal the world again so that the seven could be transformed into the twelve, so that what had been understood under the number seven could now be understood under the symbol of the number twelve. First of all, the number twelve is represented to us by the twelve brothers of Christ, by the twelve apostles.
All this, as I said, should only be discussed as an indication of how profound the change was that this brought about for our entire earthly existence. The significance of the Christ principle and its impact on earthly existence can be explained from many points of view, and the one we have touched upon here is one of them.
Now let us once again bring before our souls what has emerged from all this. That something very special entered into the development of the earth with Christ is something that is felt and recognized in spiritual science where it has its true home. It is felt and recognized in the places of true spiritual science that there is something that initially passes through all cultures of the post-Atlantean period; something that has already passed through the ancient Indian, Persian, Chaldean-Egyptian cultures, and so on, and something that will also pass through the cultures that follow these until the next great catastrophe and beyond. When we ask ourselves: Where can we find a truer form of what runs through the entire development of humanity than we can find through sensory perception or the human intellect? — we must turn to spiritual science and ask: What do we call that which can be discovered in the spiritual world and which moves through all these seven cultures like a continuous spiritual stream? In Eastern wisdom, a word has been coined for what runs through all these cultures; when viewed in reality, it is not something abstract, but something concrete, a being. And if we want to describe this being more precisely, of which all other beings, whether they be the seven holy Rishis or even higher beings who do not descend to physical embodiment, are messengers, we can describe it with a name that the Orient has coined correctly. All proclamation, all wisdom in the world, leads back to this one source, to the source of primordial wisdom, which possesses a being that develops through all cultures of the post-Atlantean era, that appears in every epoch in this or that form, but that is always a being, a fundamental carrier of wisdom that has appeared in the most diverse forms. When I described to you yesterday how the holy rishis grasped this wisdom concretely, as if breathing it in, what was spread out there like the soul of light and breathed in as light-wisdom by the holy rishis was the outflow of that sublime being of which we are speaking here. And for other ages, what we mentioned yesterday as their wisdom — for example, in that completely different view expressed in the ancient Persian cultural epoch — flowed down again from this one being, who is the great teacher of all cultures. That being, who was the teacher of the holy Rishis, the teacher of Zarathustra, the teacher of Hermes, who can be called the great teacher and who manifested himself in various ways in various epochs, who of course remains deeply hidden from the outer gaze at first, is described with an expression coined from the East as the totality of the Bodhisattvas. The Christian view would call it the Holy Spirit. When we speak of the Bodhisattva, we are speaking of a being that transcends all cultures and can reveal and manifest itself to human beings in one way or another. This is the spirit of the Bodhisattvas. All looked up to the bodhisattvas, the holy rishis, Zarathustra, Hermes, Moses, regardless of how they perceived and named the entity in question. They can be given this one name, they are “the great teacher,” and those who want to and are able to receive the teachings of the post-Atlantean era look up to him. This Bodhisattva spirit of our post-Atlantean time has taken on human form several times, but one of these forms interests us above all others. A Bodhisattva took on a human form that shone far and wide, regardless of how he otherwise manifested himself, in that being known as Gautama Buddha. And it was a step forward for the corresponding bodhisattva when he no longer needed to remain in the higher spiritual regions, but had progressed so far through his training within the spiritual regions that he was able to conquer physical corporeality to such an extent that he could become a human being in Buddha. Thus, in the Buddha we see one of the incarnations of a Bodhisattva, one of the incarnations of the all-encompassing figures of wisdom that underlie becoming on earth. In the Buddha we have, so to speak, the embodiment of that great teacher who can simply be called essential wisdom itself. This is the correct way to view the Buddha: he is the incarnation of the Bodhisattva on earth. And it is not necessary to believe that a Bodhisattva has incarnated only in the Buddha, but that such a being has also incarnated wholly or partially in other human personalities. But we must not understand all such embodiments according to a template; rather, we must be clear that just as a bodhisattva lived in the etheric body of Gautama Buddha, so too did one live in the bodily members of other human individuals. And because the essence of the Bodhisattva who had inherited the astral body of Zarathustra flowed into the limbs of other individualities, for example Hermes, one can – but only if one understands the matter in this way – also call other individualities, who in turn are great teachers, an embodiment of a Bodhisattva. One can speak of an ever-recurring embodiment of the Bodhisattva, but one must know that the Bodhisattva stood behind all the people in whom he embodied himself as part of that entity which is itself the personified omniscience of our world.
This is how we view the element of wisdom that communicated itself to humanity in ancient times from the Luciferic worlds. When we look at this, we look at the bodhisattvas. Now, however, in relation to post-Atlantean development, there is a being who is fundamentally different from the Bodhisattvas, who is something fundamentally different from a Bodhisattva, and who must not be confused with the Bodhisattva, because he was once embodied in a human individuality that also had the inflow of the Bodhisattva as Buddha at the same time. Because there once lived a human being in whom Christ was incarnated and at the same time the rays of the Bodhisattva entered into this human individuality, one must not regard it as the main thing in this incarnation that the Bodhisattva incarnated in that personality. This is Jesus of Nazareth. During the last three years, the Christ principle, which is fundamentally different from the Bodhisattva principle, predominates. How can we now distinguish between the Christ principle and the Bodhisattva principle? It is extremely important to know why Christ, who was once incarnated in a human body, can only be incarnated once, not before or after, as Christ in a human body. Since that time, he can be reached on the path into the inner soul of the human being; before that, he could be reached by looking out into the world, as Zarathustra did. How does Christ, this principle, this being to whom we must attribute such a central position, differ from a bodhisattva? The fundamental difference between Christ and the bodhisattva is that we must call the bodhisattva the great teacher, the embodiment of wisdom that passes through all cultures and embodies itself in the most diverse ways. But Christ is not merely a teacher, that is the essential point! Christ does not merely teach human beings; Christ is a being whom we understand best when we seek him where we can find him at dizzying spiritual heights as an object of initiation, and where we can compare him with other spiritual beings.
We can best characterize it in the following way: There are regions of spiritual life where, so to speak, stripped of all earthly dust, one can find this high being, the Bodhisattva, in his spiritual uniqueness, and where one can find Christ, stripped of all that he has become on earth and in its vicinity. There one finds the following: one finds, so to speak, the foundation of humanity, that from which all life springs: the spiritual source. One finds not only one Bodhisattva, but a series of Bodhisattvas. As we have pointed out with regard to the Bodhisattva who lies at the foundation of our seven successive cultures, there is a Bodhisattva who lies at the foundation of the Atlantean cultures, and so on. In spiritual heights, you find a series of bodhisattvas who are the great teachers of their times, not only of human beings, but also of those beings who do not descend into the region of physical life. We find them all sitting there, if we may speak comparatively, as the great teachers; they gather together what they are to teach, and in their midst we find a being who is not only something because he teaches: and that is the Christ. He is not only something because he teaches, but he is in the midst of the bodhisattvas as a being who influences the surrounding bodhisattvas by their seeing him; he is looked upon by the bodhisattvas, to whom he reveals his own glory. If the others are what they are because they are great teachers, then Christ is what he is to the world through what he is in himself, through his essence. One need only look at him, and the revelation of his own essence is something that merely needs to be reflected in his surroundings; then the teaching arises from this. He is not merely a teacher, he is life, a life that pours itself into other beings, who then become teachers. Thus, the Bodhisattvas are those who derive their teaching from the fact that they enjoy the bliss of having the vision of Christ in their spiritual height. And if we find incarnations of Bodhisattvas in the course of our earthly development, we call them that because the Bodhisattva is the essence in them, great teachers of humanity. Christ does not merely teach. We learn about Christ in order to understand him, to recognize what is in him. Christ is more the object than the subject of learning. He is therefore a being of a fundamentally different nature than the bodhisattvas who pass through the world. The difference between Christ and the bodhisattvas is that he is what he is to the world through the fact that the world enjoys beholding him. The bodhisattvas are what they are to the world through the fact that they are great teachers.
If we therefore want to look to the living entity, to the source of life on our earth, we must look to that embodiment where not merely a bodhisattva is embodied, so that this is the essential thing, but where that which did not need to leave behind any written work, which did not leave behind any teaching of itself, but gathered around itself those who spread messages and teachings about it throughout the world, has incarnated itself. It is essential that there is no written document from Christ himself, but that the teachers are around him and speak about him, so that he is the object of the teaching, not just the subject. This is expressed in the peculiar circumstance, which here signifies a necessity in the Christ event, that nothing has been preserved from him himself, but that others have written down his essence. It is therefore no wonder that it is said that we can find everything we find as the teachings of Christ in other creeds as well, because Christ is not merely a teacher, because he is a being who wants to be understood as a being, because he does not want to instill something in us merely through his teachings, but through his life. Therefore, we can bring together all the teachings of the world that are accessible to us, and we will still not have everything that can comprehend Christ. If the present human race cannot turn directly to the Bodhisattvas in order to see Christ with the spiritual eyes of the Bodhisattvas, then humanity must go to school with these Bodhisattvas in order to learn what can ultimately make Christ comprehensible. If we do not want merely to participate in Christ, but want to understand Christ, then we must not just look comfortably at what Christ has done for us, but we must go to school with all the teachers of the West and the East, and it must be sacred to us to acquire the teachings of the entire sphere of vision; and it must be sacred to us to use these teachings in such a way that we can fully understand Christ through the highest teachings.
But what people should do is prepared accordingly in the mysteries. Every age has its own special task; it is incumbent upon each age to receive the truth in precisely the form that this truth must take for the human epoch in question. The ancient Indian could not be given the same form of truth as is given today, any more than the ancient Persian. The truth had to be given to him in the form that was suitable for his sensibilities. Therefore, in the period that was suited by its other characteristics to receive Christ on earth—that is, in the fourth epoch, the Greco-Latin epoch—the truth about Christ and about the world connected with Christ had to be brought to humanity in the form that was appropriate to the humanity of that time. To believe that in the period immediately following the Christ revelation the whole truth about Christ was already available is to know nothing at all about the progress of the human race. Anyone who wants to preserve only the teachings of the first centuries after the Christ event, anyone who wants to regard only what has been written and preserved as genuine Christian teaching, knows nothing of human progress, knows not that the highest teacher of the first Christian centuries could have told people about Christ anything other than what they were able to receive. But because the people of the first Christian centuries were above all those who had descended, so to speak, to the lowest depths of the physical world, they were able to take in relatively little of the higher teachings about Christ with their understanding. Relatively little could be understood by the great masses of Christians about the Christ being.
We have seen that in ancient India there was a high level of clairvoyance due to the position of the etheric body in relation to the other members of the human being at that time, but the time had not yet come for this clairvoyance to see Christ as anything other than a spirit lying in distant regions beyond the sensory world, to understand him as Vishvakarman. In the time of the ancient Persian culture, it was only possible to sense Christ behind the physical sun. And so it continued. With Moses, it was possible to see Christ as Jehovah in lightning and thunder, that is, already very close to the earth. And in Jesus of Nazareth, Christ was seen as incarnated in a human being. Humanity has progressed so far that in ancient India wisdom was still received through the etheric body, in the ancient Persian period through the sentient body, in the Chaldean-Egyptian period through the sentient soul, and in the Greek-Latin period through what we call the intellectual soul. And the intellectual soul is already bound to the sensory world through its understanding. It therefore lost sight of what lies beyond the sensory world. As a result, in the first centuries after Christ, people saw little more than what lies between birth and death and what immediately follows as the next spiritual realm. People knew nothing of what passes through many incarnations. This was due to human understanding. It was only possible to comprehend one part of the whole of human life: the earthly life and the spiritual life that follows it. This is what you find described for the broad masses. But this could not be preserved. Provision had to be made that people's view could be expanded beyond this piece of understanding; precautions had to be taken so that the comprehensive wisdom that was available at that time, in the Hermetic era, in the time of Moses, in the time of Zarathustra, in the time of the ancient Indian rishis, could gradually be revived, so that the opportunity would once again be offered to understand Christ in an ever broader sense.
Thus, Christ had indeed come into the world, but the means of understanding were most limited at that time. Provision had to be made for the times that followed; all the ancient wisdom had to be revived so that it could gradually be placed at the service of understanding Christ. This could only happen in the following way. A mystery wisdom had to be created. The people who migrated from ancient Atlantis to Europe and beyond brought with them great wisdom. In ancient Atlantis, most people were instinctively clairvoyant; they could see into the spiritual realms. This clairvoyance could not develop further; it had to retreat into individual personalities in the West. It was guided by a being who lived in deep seclusion, withdrawn even behind those who were already withdrawn and disciples of a great initiate who had, so to speak, remained behind, preserving what could be brought over from ancient Atlantis and keeping it for later times. This high initiate, this preserver of the ancient Atlantean wisdom, which penetrated deeply into all the secrets of the physical body, can be called Skythianos, as was customary in the early Middle Ages. And those who are familiar with European mystery teachings look up to one of the highest initiates on earth when the name Skythianos is mentioned.
But then, for a long time, the same being lived within this world, who, when viewed from his spiritual aspect, can be called the Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva was the same being who, after completing his task in the West, was incarnated in Gautama Buddha approximately six hundred years before our era. So the being who then moved further east as a teacher was, so to speak, already at a more advanced stage. He was a second great teacher, a second great keeper of the seal of human wisdom, and became Gautama Buddha.
But then there was a third individuality who was predestined for greatness. 1These beings are spoken of here as they were understood in the spirit of older worldviews and as, in a certain sense, is still justified today from a spiritual scientific point of view. And we know this third individuality from various lectures. This is the one who was the teacher of ancient Persia, the great Zarathustra. We refer to three important spiritual beings and individualities when we utter the names Zarathustra, Gautama Buddha, and Skythianos. We speak of incarnations of bodhisattvas when we mention the names Skythianos, Zarathustra, and Buddha. What lived in them was not Christ.
Now humanity had to be given time to experience the arrival of Christ, who had previously announced himself to Moses on Mount Sinai, for it is the same being: Yahweh and Christ, only in a different form. Now humanity had to be given time to receive Christ. This happened at a time when understanding of such things was at its lowest ebb. But provision had to be made for understanding to grow greater and greater, and Christ also made provision for this on earth.
A fourth individuality is now mentioned in history, behind which many see something even higher and more powerful than the three beings mentioned above, namely Skythianos, Buddha, and Zarathustra. It is Manes, who is called a high messenger of Christ by many who see more in Manichaeism than is usually seen. Many say that Manes, a few centuries after Christ had lived on earth, gathered three important personalities of the fourth century AD in one of the largest assemblies that ever took place in the spiritual world belonging to the earth. This vivid description is intended to express an important spiritual cultural fact. Manes gathered these personalities for the purpose of consulting with them on how the wisdom that had lived through the turning point in the post-Atlantean era could gradually be revived in the future, ever further and further, ever more gloriously. Which personalities did Manes gather in that memorable assembly, which can only be reached through spiritual vision? One is the personality in whom Skythianos lived at that time, the reincarnated Skythianos of the Manes period. The second personality is a physical reflection of the Buddha who reappeared at that time, and the third is the reincarnated Zarathustra. Thus we have a collegium around Manes, with Manes in the middle, surrounded by Skythianos, Buddha, and Zarathustra. At that time, this collegium determined the plan by which all the wisdom of the Bodhisattvas of the post-Atlantean era could flow ever more strongly into the future of humanity. And what was decided at that time as the plan for the future development of Earth's culture was preserved and then carried over into those European mysteries which are the mysteries of the Rosicrucians. The individualities of the Scythian, the Buddha, and Zarathustra always moved in the mysteries of the Rosicrucians. They were the teachers in the schools of the Rosicrucians; teachers who sent their wisdom to the earth as gifts because through this wisdom Christ was to be understood in his essence. Therefore, in all spiritual training of the Rosicrucians, one looks up with deepest reverence to those ancient initiates who preserved the ancient wisdom of Atlantis: to the reincarnated Skythianos, in whom they saw the great revered Bodhisattva of the West; to the respective incarnated reflection of the Buddha, whom they also revered as one of the Bodhisattvas; and finally to Zarathas, the reincarnated Zarathustra. They looked up to them as the great teachers of the European initiates. Such representations should not be taken as external historical facts, even though they characterize the historical course of events more accurately than an external representation could.
To mention just one example, it must be said that you will hardly find any country in the Middle Ages where a certain legend is not widespread. When no one in Europe knew anything about Gautama Buddha, when the tradition of Gautama Buddha had been completely lost, the following story was told. You will find it in many books of the Middle Ages; it is one of the most widespread stories of the Middle Ages. Once upon a time in India, a king had a son named Josaphat. At his birth, an important prophecy was made about Josaphat. Therefore, he was especially protected by his father; he was to know only the most precious things, was to revel in complete bliss, and was not to know the pain, suffering, and misfortune of life. Josaphat was protected from all of this. But one day Josaphat went out of the palace and found a sick man, a leper, an old man, and a corpse; this was reported to Josaphat! Deeply shaken, he returned to the royal palace, and there he found a man who was deeply moved by the mysteries of Christianity, Barlaam, who won Josaphat for Christianity. And Josaphat, who had experienced this, became a Christian. So tells the legend of the Middle Ages. And now you don't even need to consult the Akashic Records; the ordinary philologist is sufficient to examine the name Josaphat. Josaphat goes back to an old word, Joasaph; Joasaph goes back to Jodasaph; Jodasaph to Yudasaf, which is identical to Budasaf — both of the latter forms are Arabic, and Budasaf is the same name as Bodhisattva. Thus, European esotericism not only knows the “Bodhisattva,” but if it can decipher the name Josaphat, it also knows the meaning of this word. This legendary development of esotericism in the West knows that there was a time when the same being who lived in Gautama Buddha became a Christian. One can either know this or one cannot know it; but it remains true nonetheless! Just as traditions can remain behind the times, just as people today can believe what was believed thousands of years ago and what can be perpetuated in traditions, so too can one believe that it corresponds to the higher worlds that Gautama Buddha remained the same as he was six hundred years before our era. But this is not the case. He ascended, he developed. And in the true teachings of the Rosicrucians, what has been expressed in legend, as I have just told you, has been preserved. One must not confuse these true teachings of the Rosicrucians with all the foolishness that flows through questionable literature.
Thus, within the spiritual life of Europe, we find from time to time the one who was the bearer of Christ, Zaratas or Nazarathos, Zarathustra; we find Skythianos again; we also find the third great disciple of Manes, Buddha, as he was after he had witnessed later times.
Thus, the European connoisseur of initiation always looked back to the turning point of time, looking up to the true figures of the great teachers. From Zaratas, from Buddha, from Skythianos, he knew that through them the wisdom that had always come from the Bodhisattvas flowed into the culture of the future, and that this wisdom was to be used to understand the most worthy object of all understanding, the Christ, who is a being fundamentally different from the Bodhisattvas. which had always come from the Bodhisattvas and which was to be used to understand the most worthy object of all understanding, the Christ, who is a being fundamentally different from the Bodhisattvas and who can only be understood if one takes all the wisdom of the Bodhisattvas together. Therefore, the spiritual wisdom of Europeans contains, among other things, a synthetic synthesis of all the teachings that have been given to the world by the three great disciples of Manes and by Manes himself. Even if one has not understood Manes, a time will come when European culture will take shape in such a way that one will again associate meaning with the names Skythianos, Buddha, and Zarathustra. They will give people the teaching material to understand Christ. Through them, people will understand Christ better and better. The Middle Ages began, however, with a strange veneration and worship of Skythianos, Buddha, and Zarathustra when their names had leaked out a little; it began with the fact that anyone who wanted to profess himself a true Christian in certain Christian religious communities had to say the formula: “I curse Skythianos, I curse Buddha, I curse Zaratas!” This was a formula widespread throughout many areas of the Christian era, by which one professed to be a true Christian. But what people believed they had to curse at that time will be the college of teachers who will make Christ most understandable to humanity, to whom humanity will look up as the great Bodhisattvas through whom Christ will be understood.
Today, humanity can hardly offer these great teachers of the Rosicrucians the least of two things, two things that can only be the beginning of what will stand in the future as great and powerful understanding of Christianity. This is to be done through today's spiritual science; it must begin to bring the teachings of Scythian, Zarathustra, and Gautama Buddha into the world, not in their old form, but in a completely new form that can be explored today. We begin by incorporating into our culture the elementary things we can learn from them. From Buddha, Christianity has to learn the teachings of reincarnation and karma, though not in an old form that is no longer appropriate today. Why are the teachings of reincarnation and karma flowing into Christianity today? They flow in because the initiated can learn to understand them in the spirit of our time, as Buddha, the great teacher of reincarnation, understood them in his own way. In this way, we will also begin to understand the Scythians, who not only teach the reincarnation of human beings, but also teach what reigns from eternity to eternity. In this way, the essence of the world, the essence of the center of our earthly world, the essence of Christ, will be understood more and more. Thus, the teachings of the initiates flow more and more into humanity. Today, the budding spiritual researcher can only bring two things as an elementary beginning to what must be the two elements of the future spiritual development of humanity. What sinks into the inner being as the Christ life will be the first element; what brings understanding of Christ in a comprehensive way as spiritual cosmology will be the second. Christ life in the heart, understanding of the world that leads to understanding of Christ—these will be the two elements. Today, as we stand at the beginning, we can start by having the right attitude within ourselves. That is why we gather together to cultivate the right attitude toward the spiritual world and everything that comes from it, toward human beings. By cultivating the right attitude, we gradually make our spiritual powers suitable for receiving Christ within ourselves, for the higher and nobler the attitude, the more nobly Christ will be able to live out his life. And we begin by teaching the elementary connections of our earth's development, by seeking anew what comes from Skythianos, Zarathustra, and Buddha, by taking it as they can teach it in our time, as these teachers themselves know it, having developed up to our time. We are now ready to begin spreading the elementary teachings of initiation.