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The Christ Impulse and the Development of the Ego-Consciousness
GA 116

25 October 1909, Berlin

I. The Sphere of the Bodhisattvas

Today, on the occasion of our General Meeting, I feel it incumbent upon me to speak upon a very sublime subject with which man is concerned. You must allow me to begin by mentioning once again that it is necessary for us to grow accustomed to speak in such a way on these subjects, that we must not rest satisfied with a one-sided rendering of the particulars connected with the higher world, as regards the general idea of the Bodhisattvas and their mission. We must accustom ourselves here to penetrate from the abstract into the concrete and to try, with the help of the ideas and sentiments which we have acquired from our sincere and loving study of life, to press through even to the sublime subjects pertaining to the Bodhisattvas. In doing this we must not merely accept the facts communicated to us, but try to a certain extent to understand them. For this reason I intend in this lecture to-day to begin by giving some description of the idea men had of the Bodhisattvas and of how that idea moved through the world.

We cannot really understand what a Bodhisattva is, without going somewhat deeply into the progressive course of man's evolution, and calling to mind some of the things we have heard in the last few years. Let us consider the nature of this progress. After the great Atlantean catastrophe humanity went through the period of the Old Indian civilisation, during which the great Rishis were the teachers of man. Then followed the period of the Old Persian civilisation; then that of the Egypto-Chaldean civilisation, then the Graeco-Latin period—up to our own, which is the fifth period of civilisation of the Post-Atlantean age. The purpose of these periods is the progressive development of humanity from one form of life to another. Progress is not made only in what is generally described in external history; for if we take great periods of time, we find that all the sentiments and feelings, all the conceptions and ideas of men, alter and are renewed in the course of the development of humanity. What would be the use of advocating the idea of re-embodiment or reincarnation, if we did not know this? What use would it be for our soul to come back over and over again into an earthly body, unless it were to learn something new each time—and not only to have new experiences, but to learn to feel differently? Even the capacities of man, the intimacies of his soul-life, are each time renewed and altered. This makes it possible for the soul to do more than merely ascend stage by stage as though up a series of steps, for each time it meets with new opportunities, through the altered conditions of life, of acquiring something new on earth. The soul is not merely guided from one incarnation to another by its sins and errors; but as our earth alters in every one of its conditions of life, so our souls can each time add something new from without. Therefore the soul progresses from incarnation to incarnation, but also from one period of civilisation to another. It would not, however, be able to progress and develop, were it not that those Beings who had already reached a high development, and were in some way or other above the ordinary humanity, had taken care that something new might always flow into earthly civilisation. In other words, we could not have advanced if there had not been great Teachers at work who, on account of their higher development, were able to receive the experiences from the higher worlds and carry them down to the scene of action of the life of earthly culture. There have always been such Beings in the development of our earth. (I am only speaking to-day of the Post-Atlantean development) and these Beings were in certain respects the Teachers of the rest. We can only understand the nature of these Teachers of humanity if we are clear as to the way humanity itself progresses.

You will have heard the two Lectures just given by Dr. Unger, on the Ego in its relation to the Non-Ego in its comprehension of itself considered according to the theory of Knowledge. Now do you suppose that what you then heard rendered by human lips and human thinking, could have been heard in this form 2,500 years ago? It would have been impossible in any part of the earth to speak about the Ego in this form of pure thought. Suppose some individuality 2,500 years ago had desired to incarnate into our earth-life, having made up its mind beforehand to speak of the Ego in that special way, well, it could not have done so! Anyone who supposes that anything of the kind could have been uttered by human lips, 2,500 years ago, entirely fails to recognise the actual progress and alteration in the development of civilisation since that time. For this to be possible it would not only be necessary for an individuality to resolve to incarnate in a human body, but it would also have been necessary that our earth in her evolution should have produced a human body with a particular sort of brain, so that the truths, which in the higher worlds are quite of a different nature, could in that particular brain take the form which we call ‘pure thought.’ For the way in which Dr. Unger spoke of the Ego we call the form of pure thought. 2,500 years ago there would have been no human brain capable of being an instrument for translating these truths into such thoughts. The Beings who wish to descend to our earth must make use of the bodies which this earth-cycle itself produces. Our earth, however, throughout the different periods of civilisation has always brought forth bodies with ever different organisations; only in our fifth Post-Atlantean epoch of civilisation, has it become possible to speak in the form of pure thought—the human race having produced the necessary bodies. Even in the Graeco-Latin age it would not yet have been possible to speak like that along the lines of the theory of knowledge, for there would have been no instrument there to translate such thoughts into human language. That precisely is the task of our fifth Post-Atlantean period; it must gradually form the physical organisation of man into an instrument through which those truths, which in other ages were grasped in quite other forms, can flow in ever purer and purer thought. We will take another example. When a man considers the question of good and evil at the present day, hesitating as to whether he should or should not do a certain thing, he says that a kind of inner voice speaks, telling him: ‘You ought not to do this. You ought to do that!’ and that this has nothing to do with any outer law. If we listen to this inner voice, we distinguish in it a certain impulse, an incitement to act in a certain way in a given case. We call this inner voice conscience. If a man is of the opinion that the different periods of man's development were all exactly alike, he might easily believe that as long as man has inhabited the earth, conscience has always existed. That would not be correct. We can, so to speak, prove historically that there was a beginning to the time when men began to speak of conscience. When this was, is clearly evident. It lay between the periods of two tragic poets: Æschylos, who was born in the sixth century before our era, and Euripides, who was born in the fifth century. You will find no mention of conscience previous to this. Even in Æschylos you will not as yet find what could be called the inner voice; what he writes of, still took the form of an astral, pictorial apparition; the Furies or Erinyes, vengeful beings, appeared to men. The time came, however, when the astral perception of the Furies was replaced by the inner voice of conscience, Even in the Graeco-Latin period, in which a dim astral perception was still present, a man who had committed a wrong could perceive that every wrong act created astral forms in his environment, whose presence filled him with anxiety and fear as to what he had done. Those forms were man's educators at that time; they gave him his impulses. When he lost the last remains of his astral clairvoyance, this perception was replaced by the invisible voice of conscience; that means, that what was at first outside, then entered into the soul and became one of the forces now within it. The alteration that has taken place in mankind in the course of development comes from the fact that the external instrument of man, in which he seeks embodiment, has changed. Five thousand years ago, when a human soul did something wrong, the Furies were perceived; it could not then have heard the Voice of Conscience. In this way it learnt to establish an inner relation to good and evil. This same soul was born again and again, and at last it was born into a body possessing an organisation in which the quality of conscience could approach it. In a future cycle of human development other forms and other capacities will be experienced in the soul.

I have repeatedly laid stress on the fact that no one who really understands Anthroposophy will take up the dogmatic attitude of asserting that the form in which this is given out to-day will be permanent and will suffice for the humanity of all future time. Such is not the case. In 2,500 years' time the same truths will not be revealed in this form, but in a different form, according to the instruments then existing. If you bear this in mind, it will be clear to you that humanity must be spoken to in a different manner in each successive age and that the attitude of the great Teachers towards the capacities and qualities of man must likewise differ. This signifies that the great Teachers themselves undergo development from one cycle to another, from one age to another. In the ages through which humanity progresses, we find going on above man, as it were, a progressive evolution of the great Teachers of humanity. Just as man passes through certain stages and then reaches a certain turning-point, so likewise do the Great Teachers.

We are now living in the fifth period of our Post-Atlantean epoch of civilisation. This is in a certain sense, a recapitulation of the third, of the Egypto-Chaldean period. The sixth will, in like manner, recapitulate the Old Persian, and the seventh will recapitulate the Old Indian. Thus do the various cycles overlap each other. The fourth period will not be recapitulated; it stands in the middle—sufficient unto itself, as we might say. What does this mean? It means that what men experienced in the Graeco-Latin period they only need go through once in an epoch of civilisation; not that they were only once incarnated in it, but that they only experience that period in one form. What was experienced in the Egypto-Chaldean period is being recapitulated now; it will thus be experienced in a two-fold form. There are certain stages of development which betoken a sort of crisis; while other periods are in certain respects like one another, the one recapitulating the other, not in the same way, but in a different form. The manner of man's development in the Post-Atlantean age is this: he went through a certain number of incarnations in the Old Indian period—and will go through a certain number in the seventh period, and these latter will resemble the former. A like resemblance will exist between the second and the sixth—and between the third and the fifth periods. Between these—in the fourth period—there are a number of incarnations, which resemble no other, and which therefore do not signify a transition. Man goes through a descending and an ascending development. The great Teachers of humanity also go through a period of descent and one of ascent, and differ absolutely at the different periods.

Now as man in the first Post-Atlantean period had quite different capacities from those he acquired later, he had to be instructed in quite a different way. To what do we owe the fact that in our time wisdom can be clothed in the concise forms of pure thought? We owe this to the circumstance that in our period of development the chief and average quality that is being developed is the consciousness soul (Since 1923 called by Dr. Steiner “The Spiritual Soul.”). In the Graeco-Latin period the intellectual soul or mind was being developed, in the Egypto-Chaldean the sentient soul, in the Old Persian the sentient body, and in the Old Indian the etheric body;—as the chief factor in their culture, of course. What the consciousness-soul is to us, that the etheric body was to the inhabitants of Old India. They had therefore quite a different mode of grasping and understanding. If you had spoken to the Old Indian in forms of pure thought, he would not have had the faintest idea what you meant. To him such words would have been mere sounds, without meaning. The great Teachers could not have taught the Old Indians by communicating wisdom to them in the form of pure thought, nor could they have explained it by word of mouth. To the Old Indians the Great Teachers said very little; for at the stage which the etheric body had then reached people were not receptive to the word which enclosed the thought. It is very difficult for people of our day to imagine how teaching could have taken place under those conditions. Very little indeed was spoken; rather did the listening soul recognise in the nuances of the sound, in the way a word was uttered, what flowed down from the spiritual world. That, however, was not the chief thing. The word was, so to speak, only the call to attention, the signal, that a relationship must now be established between the teacher and the hearer. In the earliest times of the Old Indian period the word was hardly more than when we ring a bell as a sign that something is about to begin. It was a crystallising point around which were woven the indescribable, spiritual currents which passed from the teacher to his pupil. What was of greatest importance was what the teacher saw, in his inner personality. It did not matter what he said; the qualities of his soul were of the greatest importance; for a sort of inspiration passed over from him to the pupil. The latter, having in particular developed the etheric body, the teacher had to address himself specially to that; and it was much easier to understand what the teacher himself was, than anything spoken. Before they could understand the spoken word, men had to pass through the subsequent periods of civilisation. It was therefore not necessary for any one of the great Teachers of the Old Indians to have a particularly developed intellectual or consciousness soul, for such would have been at that time an instrument of which he could make no use.

One thing, however, was necessary in these great Teachers: their own etheric bodies had to be at a more advanced stage of development than were those of the people. If a great teacher had stood at the same stage of development as they, he could not have had much effect upon them; he could not have communicated messages from a higher world, nor given an impulse for progress. In a certain sense what man was to grow to in the future, had first to be brought to him. The Indian teacher had to anticipate, as it were, what the others would only be able to acquire in the subsequent period of civilisation, that of the Old Persians. What the ordinary man in the Old Persian period would take in through the sentient body, that the Great Teacher of the Indians had to communicate through the etheric body. That means that the etheric body of such a teacher must not work like those of other men, it had to work as the sentient body was to do in the Persian civilisation. If a seer, in the present sense of the word, had come in contact with one of the great Indian teachers, he would have said: “What sort of etheric body is that?” For such an etheric body would have looked like an astral body of the Old Persian period.

It was, however, no such simple matter for such an etheric body to have worked as an astral body of a later period. It could not have been brought about at that time by any advanced stage of development. It could only be made possible by the descent of a Being who had already reached a further stage than the others, and who incarnated in a human body which was really neither suited to nor well adapted to him, but which he was obliged to enter to make himself understood by the others. Outwardly he looked like other men, but inwardly he was quite different. To judge of such an individual by his outer aspect would mean to deceive oneself utterly; for while the outer appearance of ordinary persons harmonises with their inner being, in the case of these Teachers it was in complete contradiction. Here we have an individuality, who, as far as he himself was concerned, had no longer any need to come down to earth at all, but who descended to a certain stage and took his place among the Old Indian people, to teach them. He descended willingly, and incarnated in human form, though he was a different Being altogether. He was an individual of such a nature that the destiny to which a normal man—as man—is subject, did not affect him. A Teacher of this kind would live in a body having an external destiny, yet he would have no part in that destiny; he lived in that body as in a house. When that body died, death for him was a very different experience from what it is for other men. Birth, too, and the experiences between birth and death were quite different for him. Hence also such a Being worked in quite a different way in this human instrument. Let us picture to ourselves in what way such an individuality used the brain, for instance. For even if he was able to perceive through the astral body, yet the brain which indeed was otherwise organised, still had to be used as an instrument to observe the pictures through which perceptions were received. There were, therefore, two human types; the one, who used his brain as an ordinary human being, and the Teacher type, who did not use his brain at all in the ordinary way, but in a certain sense left it unused, A great Teacher did not need to use the brain in all its details; he knew things that other people could only learn through the instrument of the brain. It was not a real, earthly incarnation as such; it was not a real incarnation of a human being in the ordinary sense. It represented a sort of double nature; a spiritual being lived in this organisation. There were such Beings also in the later Persian and in the Egyptian periods. It was always the case that in their individuality they towered far above the stature of their human organisation. They were not wholly contained within it. For that reason they were able to work upon the rest of the people in those olden times. This state of things continued down to the time when, in the Graeco-Latin period, an important crisis occurred in the development of mankind.

Now in the Graeco-Latin age the intellectual soul or mind (Mind in the sense of ‘I have a mind to do’ a thing.) began gradually to form inner faculties. Whereas in the time preceding this the chief things flowed in from outside, so to speak—as we saw in the example of the Furies, when men had avenging beings around them but not within them—in the Graeco-Latin period something began to flow from within, towards the great Teachers. In this way quite new conditions were established. Formerly, Beings from the Higher Worlds descended and found a state of things which enabled them to say: “It is not necessary for us completely to enter the human organisation; for we can do our work by carrying down to men what they cannot otherwise obtain, and causing that to flow into them from the Higher Worlds.” At that time it was not yet necessary for man to contribute anything, there was no need for him to bring anything to meet the great Teachers. But if the great Teachers had gone on with this policy, it might have occurred—from the fourth Period onwards—that one of these great Individualities would have descended into some part of the earth and found there something which did not exist above. As long as the Furies, the avenging spirits, were visible, men could turn their attention away from what was to be found on earth. Now, however, came something quite new—conscience. That was unknown to the spirits above; there was no possibility up there of observing it. It came as something quite new to them. In other words, in the fourth period of Post-Atlantean civilisation the necessity arose for these great Teachers actually to descend to the stage of man, therein to learn what it was that was coming up to meet them out of the human souls. Now began the time when it would not do for them not to share to some extent in the qualities inherent in man. Let us now observe that significant Being, whom in his earthly incarnation we know as Gautama Buddha.

Gautama Buddha was a Being who had always been able to incarnate in the earthly bodies of the various periods of civilisation, without having had to use everything in this human organisation. It had not been necessary for this Being to go through real human incarnations. Now, however, came an important turning-point for the Bodhisattva; it now became necessary for him to make himself acquainted with all the destinies of the human organisation within an earthly body which he was to enter. He was to experience something which could only be experienced in an earthly body; and because he was such a high Individuality, this one incarnation was sufficient for him to see all that a human body can develop. Other people have to evolve the inner capacities gradually, throughout the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh periods; but Buddha could experience in this one incarnation all that it was possible to evolve. In his incarnation as Gautama Buddha he saw, in advance, the first germ of what was to arise in man as conscience, which will become greater and greater as time goes on. He was therefore able to re-ascend into the spiritual world directly after that incarnation; there was no need for him to go through another. What man will, in a certain sphere evolve out of himself during future cycles, Buddha was able to give in this one incarnation, as a great directing force. This came about through the event which has been described as the “sitting under the Bodhi-tree.” He then gave forth—in accordance with his special mission—the teaching of compassion and love contained in the eightfold path. This great Ethic of humanity which men will acquire as their own during the civilisations yet to come, was laid down as a basic force in the mind of the Buddha who descended at that time, and from Bodhisattva became Buddha, which means that he really rose a stage higher, for he learnt through his descent.

That, in different words, describes that great event in Eastern civilisation known as “the Bodhisattva becoming Buddha.” When this Bodhisattva, who had never really incarnated, was 29 years of age, his individuality fully entered the son of Suddhodana; not having fully had possession of him. He then experienced the great human teaching of compassion and love. Why did this Bodhisattva, who then became Buddha, incarnate in this people? Why not in the Graeco-Latin people?

If this Bodhisattva was really to become the Buddha of the fourth Post-Atlantean period of civilisation, he had to bring in something new for the future. When the consciousness-or spiritual-soul has been fully developed, man will, by its means, gradually become sufficiently ripe to recognise of himself the great impetus given by Buddha. At a time when man had only developed the intellectual soul, it was necessary that Buddha should already have developed the spiritual soul. He had so to use the physical instrument of the brain that he was complete master of it; and this in quite a different fashion than could have been done by one who might have progressed in advance as far as the Graeco-Latin period of civilisation. The Graeco-Latin brain would have been too hard for him to use. It would only have enabled him to develop the intellectual or mind (Mind in the sense of ‘I have a mind to do a thing.’) soul, whereas he had to develop the spiritual soul. For that he required a brain that had remained softer. He made use of the soul that was only to develop later, in an instrument that had been used by man in earlier times and had been retained by the Indian people. Here again we have a recapitulation: Buddha repeated a human organisation belonging to earlier times, together with a soul-capacity belonging to times yet to come. The events that take place in the evolution of humanity are to this extent, of the nature of a necessity. In the 5th to the 6th century before our era, Buddha had the task of introducing the spiritual-soul into the organisation of man. He, as a single individual, could not, however, take over the whole task of doing all that was necessary in order that the spiritual-soul might prepare itself in the right way from the 5th century onward. His own particular mission only comprised one part of that task: that of bringing to man the doctrine of Compassion and Love. Other teachers of humanity would have other tasks. This part of the Ethics of Humanity, the ethic of Love and Compassion, was first introduced by Buddha, and its vibrations still endure; but humanity must in future develop a number of other qualities besides these, as, for instance, that of thinking in forms of pure thought, in crystal-clear thoughts. It was no part of Buddha's mission to build up thoughts, to add one clear thought to another. His task was to form and establish that which leads man of his own accord to find the eight-fold path.

So there had to be another Teacher of humanity having quite different faculties, one who carried down a different stream of spiritual life from the higher spiritual worlds into this world. To this other individuality was given the task of carrying down what is gradually showing itself, in mankind to-day, as the faculty of logical thought. A Teacher had to be found, able to carry down what makes it possible for man to express himself in forms of pure thought; for logical thought itself only developed as time went on. What Buddha accomplished had to be carried into the intellectual- or mind-soul. This soul, through its position between the sentient soul and the consciousness- or spiritual-soul, possesses the peculiar attribute of not having to recapitulate anything. The Old Indian epoch will be repeated in the seventh, the Old Persian in the sixth, the Egyptian in our own; but just as the fourth epoch stands alone, apart from the others, so does the intellectual- or mind-soul. The forces necessary for our intellectual faculties which only appear in the spiritual-soul, could not be developed in the intellectual soul; although these were only to appear later, they had to be laid down in germ and stimulated at an earlier period.

In other words: the impulse for logical thinking had to be given before the Buddha gave the impulse for Conscience. Conscience was to be organised into man in the fourth epoch; conscious, pure thinking was to develop in the consciousness- or spiritual-soul in the fifth epoch, but had to be laid down in the third epoch of civilisation, as the germ for what we are evolving now. That is why that other Great Teacher had the task of instilling into the sentient soul the forces which now appear as pure thought. It is therefore easy to see that the difference between this Teacher and the normal man was even greater than it was in Buddha. Something had to be aroused in the sentient soul which did not as yet exist in any living man. Ideas or conceptions would not have helped to develop this; therefore although this Individuality had the task of laying the germ of certain faculties, he could not himself make any use of them. That would have been impossible. He had to employ other, quite different, forces.

I explained this morning (in the second lecture on “Anthroposophy”) that certain forces working through the power of vision on the sentient soul, will at a higher stage become conscious forces, and will then appear in the form of thought. If that great Teacher-Individuality was able so to stimulate the sentient-soul that the forces of thought could penetrate it, in somewhat the same way as life subconsciously penetrated it through the act of vision—without the least realising it, that Teacher could then achieve something. This could only be done in one way. To stimulate the sentient soul and instill into it, so to speak, the power of thought, this Individuality had to work in a very special way. He had to give his instruction, not in conceptions—but through music! Music engenders forces which set free in the sentient soul something, which, when it rises into the consciousness and has been worked upon by the spiritual soul, becomes logical thinking. This music came forth from a mighty Being, who taught through music. You will think this strange, and may perhaps not believe it possible, yet such was the case. Before the Graeco-Latin age, in certain parts of Europe, there existed an ancient culture among those peoples who had remained behind as regards the qualities strongly developed in the East. In those parts of Europe the people were not able to think much, for their development had been of quite a different nature; they had but little of the forces of the intellectual soul. Their sentient soul, however, was very receptive to what proceeded from the impulses of a special kind of music, which was not the same as our music to-day. We thus go back to a time in Europe when there was what we might call an ancient “musical culture”—a time when not only the “Bards” were the teachers, as they were later, when these things had already fallen into decadence, but when a music full of enchantment passed through all those parts of Europe. In the third epoch of civilisation (i.e., the Egyptian) there was a profound musical culture in Europe, and the minds of those peoples who were waiting quietly for what they were destined to carry out later, were receptive in a particular way to the effects of music. These effects worked upon the sentient soul in a similar way to that in which the thought-substance works upon it through the eyes. Thus did music work on the physical plane; but the sentient soul had the subconscious feeling: “This comes from the same regions as the Light.” Music—the song from the realms of Light!

Once upon a time there was a primeval Teacher in the civilised parts of Europe—a primeval Teacher who in this sense was a primeval Bard, the pioneer of all the ancient Bards and minstrels. He taught on the physical plane by means of music, and he taught in such a way that something was thereby communicated to the sentient-soul, which was like the rising and shining of a sun. What tradition has retained concerning this great Teacher was later on gathered together by the Greeks—who were still influenced by him from the West as they were influenced in a different way from the East. This was embodied in their conception of Apollo, who was a Sun-God and at the same time the God of music. This figure of Apollo dates back, however, to that great Teacher of primeval times, who put into the human soul the faculty which appears to-day as the power of clear thinking.

The Greeks also tell of a pupil of this Great Teacher of humanity—of one who became a pupil in a very special way. How could anyone become the “pupil” of this Being?

In those bygone times, when this Being was to work in the manner just described, he was not, of course, encompassed in the physical organisation; he transcended that which walks the earth as physical man. A man with an ordinary sentient-soul might have been receptive to the effects of the music, but he could not have aroused them in others. A higher Individuality had come down and was like the radiance of what lived in the cosmos outside. It became necessary, however, that in the fourth Post-Atlantean epoch of civilisation, in the Graeco-Latin period, he should descend again—that he should descend to the human stage and make use of all the faculties that are in man. Yet, although he made use, so to speak, of all the human faculties, he could not quite descend. For, in order to bring about what I have described, he required faculties transcending those possessed by a human organisation in the fourth post-Atlantean period. The effects of this music even then included what was to be found in the spiritual soul; and it could not at that time have lived in an individuality organised only for the intellectual soul. Hence, although incarnated in such a form, he still had to hold something back. His incarnation in the fourth epoch was such, that although he completely filled the whole human form, yet he as man, dwelling within that form, had, as it were, something within him that extended far beyond it; he knew something of a spiritual world, but he could not make use of this knowledge. He had a soul which extended beyond his body. Humanly speaking, there was something tragic in the fact that the Individuality who had acted as a great Teacher in the third epoch of civilisation, should have had to incarnate again in a form in which his soul was to a great extent outside it—and yet that he could not make any use of this superior and unusual faculty of soul. This kind of incarnation was called a “Son of Apollo”, because that, which had dwelt on earth before, was reincarnated in a very complicated and not in a direct way. A Son of Apollo bore within him as soul what Mysticism designates by the symbol of the ‘feminine’ element; he could not bear all of it within him, because it was in another world. His own feminine soul element was itself in another world to which he had no access but for which he longed, because a part of himself was there. This marvellous inner tragedy of the reincarnated Teacher of former times has been wonderfully preserved in Greek Mythology under the name of ‘Orpheus’—the name given to the reincarnated Apollo, or “Son of Apollo.”

This tragedy of the soul is represented in a marvellous way in the figures of ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’. Eurydice was soon torn from Orpheus. She dwelt in another world; but Orpheus still had the power, through his music, of teaching the beings of the nether world. He obtained permission from them to take Eurydice back with him. But he must not look around him; for that would mean inner death;—at all events it would bring about a loss of what he formerly was and which he cannot now take into himself.

Thus in this incarnation of Apollo as Orpheus, we have again a sort of descent of a Bodhisattva—if we may use this Eastern term—to Buddha-hood. We might quote a number of such Beings who stand out from age to age as the great Teachers of humanity and who always had a very special experience at the time of their deepest descent. The Buddha experiences the bliss of inspiring the whole of humanity. That Bodhisattva, whose memory is preserved externally under the name of ‘Apollo,’ had an individual experience: he was to prepare the individuality, the quality of the Ego. He experiences the tragedy of the Ego; he experiences the fact that this ego is, in the present state of man as regards this attribute of his, not entirely with him. Man is struggling up to the higher ego. That was foreshadowed for the Greeks by the Buddha or Bodhisattva in Orpheus.

These particulars furnish us with a characterisation of the great Teachers of humanity and we are then able to form a picture in our minds. If you summarise what I have said, you will find that I have all along been speaking of those Beings who formed the sentient-soul and the spiritual-soul in a particular way as inner faculties—faculties which must draw into man from within. As we are now surveying this one period we can only for the moment consider two of these Beings, those who formed the sentient soul. But there are many such, for the inner nature of man evolved gradually, stage by stage.

Let us now compare yet another Being with that which affects the inner nature of man, so to speak. For indeed we cannot but say to ourselves: If there is a constant succession of Teachers who supply the progressing and developing inner faculties of man with spiritual food from the higher regions, there must be other Individualities who accomplish other work and above all take part in the changes in the earth itself and in what evolves from one age to another. When the Buddha influenced the intellectual soul from within, so to speak, through the consciousness or spiritual soul in the fourth period of civilisation, it must also be influenced from without. Something had to approach the intellectual soul from without. This Being had to approach from another aide and to work in quite a different way. A Teacher such as those we have been describing, had, when he appeared among men, to pour into their inner being what he had to bring down from higher regions. He was a Teacher. What had the other Being to do, who was to bring the earth forward, so that it developed further from one generation to another? He was not only to influence the inner being of man to develop this or that faculty within him, but He Himself, as Being, had to descend to the earth. He who was to descend, was not merely to teach, the intellectual soul, but to form it. One had to appear who was to form that soul and who was Himself to be its direct expression in the fourth period, that eminent period that stands alone in the middle. This Being had to come from quite a different side. He had to draw into human nature itself, to incarnate within it. The Bodhisattvas transformed the inner nature of man; this Being transformed his whole nature. He made it possible for the Teachers to find a suitable soil on which to work in the future. He transformed the whole human being. We must recollect how the different souls in man build themselves into the different bodies: the sentient soul into the sentient body, the intellectual into the etheric body and the spiritual soul into the physical body. The field of action of the Bodhisattva is there where the spiritual soul builds itself into the physical body. That is where they lay hold of man from the one side. There the intellectual- or mind-soul works into the etheric body, another Being, in the fourth period, influenced man from another side. When did he do this? It was accomplished at the time when the etheric body in man could be directly affected,—when that Being whom we have described more closely as Jesus of Nazareth, forsook the physical body at the moment of the Baptism in Jordan. When that whole body was immersed, whereby occurred what we have described as a ‘shock,’ the Christ-Being sank down into that etheric body. That is the Individuality Who comes from quite a different side and is of quite a different nature. Whereas in the case of the other great Leaders of humanity we have, in a sense, to do with more highly evolved human beings, men who have at least once been subject to all the fate of a man,—of Christ that cannot be said. What is the lowest principle of the Christ-Being? Counting from below, it is the etheric body. That means that when some day man, through Spirit-Self, shall have transformed his whole astral body and will set to work on his etheric body, he will then be working in an element in which the Christ once worked in the same way. Christ gives an impulse of the most powerful kind, which will continue to work on into the future, and which man will only reach when he begins to work at the transmutation of his etheric body in a conscious way.

In his journey through life, man starts from birth, or even from conception, and travels on till death; from death to his next birth is another journey. On his way from death to a new birth he first passes through the astral world then through what we call the lower part of the Devachanic world, and after that through the higher Devachanic world. Or, using the European terms, we call the physical world the little world or the world of mental powers, of intelligence; the astral world is called the elemental world; the lower Devachan the heavenly world, and the Higher world is the world of reason, of discernment, of discretion. The European mind is only gradually evolving to the point where the true expressions may be found in its language. Therefore, what lie beyond the Devachanic world has been given a religious colouring and is called the ‘World of Providence’—which is the same as the Buddhi-plane. What is beyond that again could indeed be seen by the old clairvoyant vision, an ancient tradition tells of it; in the European languages no name could be formed for it.—Only in our present day can the seer once more work his way up to that world which is above and beyond the World of Providence. European languages cannot truly give a name to this world. This world does indeed exist; but thought is not yet far enough advanced to be able to describe it. For to that which Eastern Theosophy calls Nirvana and which lies above the ‘World of Providence,’ one cannot just give any name one pleases.

As I was saying, between death and rebirth, man ascends to the higher Devachan or world of Reason. When there he looks into higher worlds, worlds he cannot himself enter, and there he sees the Higher Beings at work. Whereas man spends his life in worlds extending between the physical plane and Devachan, it is normal for the Bodhisattvas to extend to the Buddhi-plane, or what we in Europe call the World of Providence. That is a good name, for it is precisely the task of the Bodhisattvas to guide the world as a good ‘providence’ from age to age. Now what took place when the Bodhisattva went through the embodiment of Gautama Buddha?—When he reaches a certain stage, he can ascend to the next higher plane—to the Nirvana-Plane. That is his next sphere. It is characteristic of the Bodhisattvas that when they become Buddhas they ascend to the Plane of Nirvana. Everything that works on the inner being of man dwells in a sphere extending to that Plane. A Being such as the Christ works into the nature of man from the other side. He also works, from the other side, into those worlds to which the Bodhisattvas ascend when they leave the region of man; in order themselves to learn, in order that they may become Teachers of humanity. There they meet,—coming down to them from above, from the other side—a Being such as the Christ. They then become pupils of Christ. A Being such as He, is surrounded by twelve Bodhisattvas; we cannot indeed speak of more than twelve; for when the twelve Bodhisattvas have accomplished their mission we shall have completed the period of earth-existence.

Christ was once on earth; He has descended to earth, has dwelt on the earth, has ascended from it. He comes from the other side; He is the Being who is in the midst of the twelve Bodhisattvas, and they receive from Him what they have to carry down to earth.—Thus, between two incarnations the Bodhisattva-Beings ascend to the Buddhi-Plane; there they meet the Being of Christ as Teacher, and they are fully conscious of Him. He in this Being, extends to that Plane. The meeting between the Bodhisattvas and the Christ takes place on the Buddhi-Plane. When men progress further and shall have developed the qualities instilled into them by the Bodhisattvas, they will become more and more worthy themselves to penetrate that sphere. In the meantime it is necessary that they should learn that the Christ-Being was incarnated in human form in Jesus of Nazareth, and that in order to reach the true Being of the Individuality of Christ, one must first permeate the human form with understanding.

Thus twelve Bodhisattvas belong to Christ, and they prepare and further develop what He brought as the greatest impulse in the evolution of human civilisation. We see the twelve, and—in their midst—the thirteenth. We have now ascended to the sphere of the Bodhisattvas, and entered a circle of twelve stars; in their midst is the Sun, illuminating, warming them; from this Sun they draw that source of life which they afterwards have to carry down to earth. How is the image of what takes place above, represented on earth? It is projected into the earth in such wise that we may render it in the following words: Christ, Who once lived on the earth, brought to this earth evolution an impulse for which the Bodhisattvas had to prepare humanity and they then had to develop further what He gave to the earth-evolution. Thus the picture on earth, is something like this: Christ in the middle of the earth-evolution; the Bodhisattvas as His advance-messengers and His followers, who have to bring His work closer to the minds and hearts of men.

A number of Bodhisattvas had thus to prepare mankind, to make men ripe to receive the Christ. Now, although men were ripe enough to have Christ among them, it will be a long time before they mature sufficiently to recognise, to feel, and to will, all that Christ is. The same number of Bodhisattvas will be required to develop to maturity in man what was poured into him through Christ, as was necessary to prepare men for His coming. For there is so much in Him, that the forces and faculties of men must go on ever increasing, before they are able to understand Him. With the existing faculties of man, Christ can only be understood to a minute extent. Higher faculties will arise in man, and each new faculty will enable him to see Christ in a new light. Only when the last Bodhisattva belonging to Christ shall have completed his work, will humanity realise what Christ really is; man will then be filled with a will in which the Christ Himself will live. He will draw into man through his Thinking, Feeling, and Willing, and man will then really be the external expression of Christ on the earth.

Erster Vortrag

Heute, gelegentlich der Generalversammlung, obliegt es mir, über eine hohe Angelegenheit der Menschheit zu sprechen. Nachdem wir uns sonst in den Vorträgen über Anthroposophie bemühen, ein mehr auf dem physischen Plan wurzelndes Fundament zu legen, darf wohl heute von höheren Welten Angehörendem gesprochen werden. Lassen Sie mich als Vorbemerkung noch einmal erwähnen, daß wir uns gewöhnen sollen auch über die höheren Angelegenheiten der Menschheit so zu sprechen, daß wir nicht zufrieden sind mit der einseitigen Angabe der Daten aus der höheren Welt, so daß etwa im allgemeinen definiert wird der Begriff der Bodhisattvas, von denen heute die Rede sein soll, und dann angegeben wird, welche Mission sie haben, sondern wir sollen uns auch hier angewöhnen, aus dem Abstrakten in das Konkrete überzugehen. Versuchen wollen wir, auch solche hohen Angelegenheiten wie die der Bodhisattvas mit den Ideen und Empfindungen zu durchdringen, die uns eigen sind aus einer gründlichen und liebevollen Betrachtung des Lebens, wodurch wir die Tatsachen nicht nur als eine Mitteilung empfangen, sondern sie auch bis zu einem gewissen Grade verstehen können. Deshalb möchte ich auch in dieser Betrachtung von unten aufsteigen und mir zum Ziele setzen, mehr als in einer schematischen Darstellung den Begriff des Bodhisattva und seinen Wandelgang durch die Welt ein wenig zu charakterisieren.

Was ein Bodhisattva ist, können wir eigentlich gar nicht verstehen, wenn wir uns nicht etwas vertiefen in den Entwickelungsgang der Menschheit und manches vor uns hintreten lassen, was wir in den aufeinanderfolgenden Jahren gehört haben. Nehmen Sie nur einmal die Tatsache, wie die Menschheit weiterschreitet. Nach der großen atlantischen Katastrophe hat die Menschheit eine Periode der alten indischen Kultur durchgemacht, wo die großen Rishis die Lehrer der Menschheit waren, dann eine Periode der urpersischen Kultur, eine Periode der ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur, dann die griechisch-lateinische Kulturperiode, bis hinauf in unsere Zeit, welche die fünfte Kulturperiode der nachatlantischen Zeit ist. Diese Kulturepochen haben dadurch einen Sinn, daß sie ein Weiterschreiten der Menschheit von Lebensform zu Lebensform bedeuten.

Es ist ja so, daß nicht nur dasjenige fortschreitet, was man gewöhnlich in der äußeren Geschichte schildert, sondern wenn man längere Zeiträume ins Auge faßt, wandeln und erneuern sich auch alle Empfindungen und Gefühle, alle Begriffe und Ideen im Verlaufe der Menschheitsentwickelung. Was würde es für einen Sinn haben, die Idee der Wiederverkörperung oder Reinkarnation zu vertreten, wenn man nicht wüßte, daß das so ist in der Welt? Wozu sollte eigentlich unsere Seele immer wieder in einen irdischen Leib eintreten, wenn sie nicht jedesmal Neues nicht nur zu erleben, sondern auch zu empfinden und zu fühlen hätte? Dadurch, daß auch die Fähigkeiten der Menschen, auch die Intimitäten des Seelenlebens immer wieder neue werden, sich verändern, dadurch ist es möglich, daß unsere Seele nicht nur wie auf einer Treppe hinaufsteigt von Stufe zu Stufe, sondern jedesmal ist auch für sie Gelegenheit vorhanden, von außen, durch die Verwandlung der Lebensverhältnisse unserer Erde, Neues in sich aufzunehmen. Nicht bloß durch ihre Verfehlungen, durch ihre karmischen Sünden wird unsere Seele von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation geführt; sondern weil unsere Erde in allen ihren Lebensverhältnissen sich ändert, ist es möglich, daß unsere Seele immer wieder Neues auch von außen aufnehmen kann. Daher schreitet die Seele vorwärts von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation, aber auch von Kulturzyklus zu Kulturzyklus.

Nun würde aber diese Seele nicht vorwärtsschreiten, sich nicht entwickeln können, wenn nicht jene Wesenheiten, die eine höhere Entwickelung bereits erlangt haben und also in irgendeinem Grade über die Durchschnittsentwickelung der Menschheit hinausgehen, dafür sorgen könnten, daß immer wieder Neues einfließen kann in unsere Erdenkultur, mit anderen Worten: wenn nicht große Lehrer wirkten, die durch ihre höhere Entwickelung aus den höheren Welten die Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen aufnehmen und hinuntertragen können auf den Schauplatz des irdischen Kulturlebens. Immer waren in der Zeit der Erdenentwickelung — und wir reden heute nur von der nachatlantischen Entwickelung — solche Wesenheiten vorhanden, die die Lehrer der anderen Menschheit waren, denen höhere Empfindungsquellen und Willensmöglichkeiten geöffnet sind. Wir können das Wesen solcher Lehrer der Menschheit nur verstehen, wenn wir uns klarmachen, wie diese Menschheit selber vorschreitet.

Sie haben gestern und heute in zwei ausgezeichneten Vorträgen unseren lieben Dr. Unger über das Ich und über das Ich in seinem Verhältnis zum Nicht-Ich, in philosophischer und erkenntnistheoretischer Weise sprechen gehört. Glauben Sie nun, daß Sie dasjenige, was Sie gestern und heute durch Menschenmund, aus Menschendenken heraus gehört haben, in dieser Form hätten hören können vor etwa 2500 Jahren? Nirgends auf unserer Erde wäre eine Möglichkeit gewesen, in der Form des reinen Denkens zum Beispiel über das «Ich» zu sprechen. Nehmen wir an, es hätte sich irgendeine Individualität in unser Erdendasein verkörpern wollen vor 2500 Jahren, welche sich vor ihrer Verkörperung vorgenommen hätte, in dieser eigenartigen Form, wie Sie das gehört haben, über das Ich zu sprechen, sie hätte es nicht tun können. Denn derjenige verkennt den wirklichen Fortgang und die Verwandlungen innerhalb der Kulturentwickelung, der glauben würde, daß so etwas vor 2500 Jahren in dieser Form von Menschenmund hätte gesagt werden können. Denn um das zu ermöglichen, dazu gehört nicht allein eine Individualität, die sich vornimmt, in einen menschlichen Leib sich zu verkörpern, sondern dazu gehört noch, daß unsere Erde in ihrer Entwickelung einen menschlichen Leib hergibt, der ein so eingerichtetes Gehirn hat, daß die Wahrheiten, die in den höheren Welten in ganz anderer Art vorhanden sind, sich innerhalb dieses Gehirnes zu dem formen können, was wir «reine Gedanken» nennen. Denn diese Form, in der gestern und heute Dr. Unger über das Ich vorgetragen hat, nennen wir die Form der reinen Gedanken. Vor 2500 Jahren hätte es kein menschliches Gehirn gegeben — das wäre ganz ausgeschlossen gewesen -, welches ein Werkzeug hätte sein können, um derartige Wahrheiten in solche Gedanken herunter zuführen.

Die Wesen, die auf unsere Erde heruntersteigen wollen, müssen die menschlichen Leiber, die wiederum dieser Erdkreis selbst hervorbringt, benutzen. Aber unsere Erde hat durch die verschiedenen Kulturperioden hindurch immer andere Leiber hervorgebracht, mit immer anderen Organisationen; und erst in unserer fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode ist es möglich geworden, weil das Menschengeschlecht selber solche Leiber hervorbringt, in denen reine Gedanken sich bilden können, in der Form des reinen Gedankens zu sprechen. Selbst in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit wäre eine solche erkenntnistheoretische Betrachtung noch nicht möglich gewesen, weil kein Instrument, kein Werkzeug da gewesen wäre, um diese Gedanken in einer menschenverständlichen Sprache zu formen. Das ist gerade die Aufgabe unserer fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode: den Menschen in bezug auf seine physische Organisation nach und nach als ein Werkzeug so zu gestalten, daß in immer reineren Gedanken auch diejenigen Wahrheiten herunterfließen können, die zu anderen Zeiten in ganz andere Formen als in die Form des reinen Gedankens gefaßt wurden.

Nehmen wir ein anderes Beispiel. Wenn heute der Mensch an die Frage von Gut und Böse herantritt, wenn er dieses oder jenes tun oder nicht tun soll, dann redet er davon, daß eine Art innerer Stimme spreche, die ihm ganz unabhängig von einem äußeren Gesetz sagt: Das sollst du tun, das sollst du nicht tun! — Wer hinhorcht auf die innere Stimme, der vernimmt in ihr einen gewissen Impuls, eine Anregung, im gegebenen Fall das eine zu tun, das andere zu lassen. Wir nennen diese innere Stimme «das Gewissen». Wer nun der Ansicht ist, daß die einzelnen Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung sich einander doch so ähnlich sehen, der könnte nun wieder glauben, daß es ein Gewissen immer gegeben hat, so lange Menschen auf der Erde sind. Das wäre aber nicht richtig. Es läßt sich sozusagen geschichtlich nachweisen, daß einmal die Menschen angefangen haben, vom Gewissen zu reden. Diese Zeit ist mit Händen zu greifen. Sie liegt zwischen den beiden griechischen Tragikern, Äschylos, der im 6. Jahrhundert vor unserer Zeitrechnung geboren worden ist, und Euripides, der im 5. Jahrhundert geboren worden ist. Vorher werden Sie nicht finden, daß vom Gewissen die Rede ist. Auch bei Äschylos gibt es noch nicht das, was wir als innere Stimme bezeichnen, sondern bei ihm tritt noch das auf, was eine astralische Bilderscheinung für den Menschen ist: Es treten solche Erscheinungen auf, die sich als rächende Wesen heranmachen an den Menschen, Furien oder Erinnyen. Es trat eben der Zeitpunkt einmal ein, wo die astralische Wahrnehmung der Furien ersetzt wurde durch die innere Stimme des Gewissens.

Noch in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit, in der bei einem großen Teil von Menschen das astralische dämmerhafte Wahrnehmen noch vorhanden war, konnte jemand, wenn er ein Unrecht getan hatte, wahrnehmen, wie jedes Unrecht astralische Gestalten in seiner Umgebung schaffte, die ihn für das begangene Unrecht mit Angst und Schrecken erfüllten. Das waren die Erzieher, der Impuls dazumal. Und als die Menschen die letzten Reste des astralischen Hellsehens verloren, ersetzte sich diese Anschauung durch die unsichtbare Stimme des Gewissens, das heißt, was erst draußen war, das ging hinein in die Seele und wurde da eine der Kräfte, die jetzt in der Seele sind. Das kam daher, weil sich die Menschheit, weil sich das äußere Instrument, in das der Mensch hineinverkörpert wird, im Verlaufe der Entwickelung geändert har. Vor fünftausend Jahren hätte niemals eine menschliche Seele die Stimme des Gewissens wahrnehmen können; wenn sie etwas Unrechtes tat, hat sie die Furien wahrgenommen. In dieser Weise lernte damals die Seele sich in ein Verhältnis zu Gut und Böse zu setzen. Dann wurde sie immer wieder verkörpert und endlich in einen Leib hineingeboren, dessen Organisation so war, daß nun die Fähigkeit des Gewissens in dieser Seele auftreten konnte. In einem zukünftigen Menschheitszyklus werden wieder andere Fähigkeiten und andere Formen des Auslebens der Seele vorhanden sein.

Ich habe schon öfter betont: Wer die Anthroposophie wirklich versteht und sich nicht auf einen dogmatischen Standpunkt stellt, der wird nicht glauben, daß die Form, in welcher Anthroposophie heute ausgesprochen wird, eine ewige sei, die so bleiben könnte für die ganze zukünftige Menschheit. Das ist nicht der Fall. Nach 2500 Jahren werden dieselben Wahrheiten nicht in diesen Formen mehr verkündet werden können, sondern in andere Formen gegossen werden, je nach dem Instrument, das dann da sein wird. Wenn Sie das berücksichtigen, werden Sie sich darüber klar sein, daß in jedem Zeitalter in einer anderen Weise zu den Menschen gesprochen werden muß, und daß auch von den großen Lehrern je nach den menschlichen Fähigkeiten in einer anderen Weise Stellung genommen werden muß. Das heißt aber, daß diese großen Lehrer der Menschheit selber Entwickelungen durchmachen müssen, von Zyklus zu Zyklus, von Lebensalter zu Lebensalter. So finden wir die Zyklen, welche die Menschheit durchmacht, und wir finden, gleichsam darüberstehend, eine fortschreitende Entwickelung der großen Lehrer der Menschheit. Und wie der Mensch gewisse Stufen durchmacht, in denen er gewissermaßen an Wendepunkte kommt, so machen auch diese großen Lehrer gewisse Stufen der Entwickelung durch, in denen sie zu Wendepunkten kommen.

Denken Sie nur an das, was schon öfter gesagt worden ist: Wir leben jetzt im fünften Zeitraum unserer nachatlantischen Kulturentwickelung. Dieser fünfte Zeitraum ist in gewisser Beziehung eine Wiederholung des dritten Zeitraumes, des ägyptisch-chaldäischen. Der sechste Zeitraum wird in gleicher Weise eine Wiederholung des urpersischen Zeitraumes sein und der siebente eine Wiederholung der altindischen Zeit. So greifen die Zyklen übereinander. Der vierte Zeitraum wird keine Wiederholung haben; er steht in der Mitte, steht sozusagen für sich da. Was bedeutet das? Es heißt, daß die Menschen dasjenige, was sie in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit durchmachten, nur einmal in einem Kulturzeitalter durchmachen; nicht etwa, als ob sie nur einmal darinnen verkörpert wären, sondern sie machen es nur in einer Form durch. Was dagegen im ägyptisch-chaldäischen Zeitalter durchgemacht wurde, das wird in unserer Zeit wiederholt, es wird also in einer zweifachen Form durchgemacht. Also Entwickelungsstufen gibt es, die eine Art Krisis bedeuten, während andere Zeiten so sind, daß sie sich in gewisser Beziehung ähnlich sehen, sich zwar nicht in derselben Weise, aber in anderer Form doch wiederholen. Wie der Mensch sich in der nachatlantischen Zeit entwickelt, macht er gleichsam eine Anzahl von Inkarnationen durch in der indischen Zeit und eine andere Anzahl in der siebenten Kulturepoche, die einander ähnlich sehen. Ebenso ist es mit der zweiten und sechsten, und mit der dritten und fünften Epoche. Dazwischen liegt die vierte Epoche, sie wird keine Wiederholung haben, sie steht in der Mitte. Was bedeutet das? Das bedeutet, daß der Mensch diese Periode nur einmal durchmachen muß. Nicht, daß er sich nur einmal verkörpert im vierten Zeitraum, sondern daß da eine Anzahl von Inkarnationen liegen, die keinen anderen ähnlich sehen. Ein Absteigen und ein Aufsteigen macht so der Mensch durch. So machen auch die großen Lehrer der Menschheit ihre Entwickelung durch in einem Abstieg und in einem Aufstieg, und sie sind zu den einen Zeiten etwas durchaus anderes als zu anderen Zeiten.

Da nun die Menschen im ersten nachatlantischen Zeitraum ganz andere Fähigkeiten hatten als später, so mußten sie auch in einer ganz anderen Art unterrichtet werden. Wem ist es denn zu verdanken, daß in unserer Zeit in logisch konziser Weise die Weisheiten auch in die Form des reinen Denkens zu kleiden sind? Das ist dem Umstande zu verdanken, daß in der heutigen Zeit innerhalb der Erdenentwickelung als Durchschnittseigenschaft der Menschheit gerade die Bewußtseinsseele in der Fortentwickelung ist. Im griechischlateinischen Zeitalter war es die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele, im ägyptisch-chaldäischen Zeitraum die Empfindungsseele, in der urpersischen Kultur der Empfindungsleib und im alten Indertum der Ätherleib - wohlgemerkt als Kulturentwickelungsfaktor.

Was für uns die Bewußtseinsseele ist, war für den Angehörigen des Urindertums der Ätherleib. Daher hatte er eine ganz andere Art aufzufassen und zu begreifen. Wenn Sie dem Inder mit reinem Denken gekommen wären, hätte er nicht die Spur davon verstanden. Das wären für ihn Laute gewesen, die keinen Sinn gehabt hätten. Den alten Inder konnten die großen Lehrer nicht dadurch unterrichten, daß sie ihm in der Form des reinen Denkens die Dinge überlieferten, sie ihm mit dem Munde auseinandersetzten. Gesprochen wurde zum Beispiel von einem großen Lehrer im alten Indien außerordentlich wenig, denn auf der Stufe, auf der damals der Ätherleib stand, hatte man nicht die Empfänglichkeit für das Wort, das den Gedanken umfaßt. Es ist für den heutigen Menschen so schwer, sich vorzustellen, wie ein solcher Unterricht gewesen ist. Es wurde außerordentlich wenig gesprochen, und mehr an der Färbung des Lautes, mehr durch die Art und Weise, wie ein Wort gesprochen wurde, erkannte die andere Seele, was eigentlich da aus der geistigen Welt herausfließt. Aber das war nicht die Hauptsache. Das Wort war sozusagen nur das «Anschlagen», das Zeichen, daß eine Beziehung zwischen dem Lehrer und dem anderen da sein soll. Es war das Wort in den ältesten indischen Zeiten nicht viel mehr, als wenn wir mit der Glocke anläuten, um das Zeichen zu geben, daß etwas anfängt. Es war der Kristallisationspunkt, um den sich herumweben undefinierbare, feine geistige Strömungen, die vom Lehrer zum Schüler gehen. Ganz besonders aber kam es darauf an, was der Lehrer in seiner innersten Persönlichkeit war. Nicht darauf kam es an, was ein Lehrer sagte, sondern auf seine Seelenqualität; denn es ging wie eine Art von Eingebung auf den Schüler über. Weil man im besonderen den Ätherleib ausgebildet hatte, mußte man sich auch in der entsprechenden Art zu dem Ätherleib verhalten, und man verstand das Ungesprochene, das was irgendein Lehrer war, viel besser als das Gesprochene. Denn um das Gesprochene zu verstehen, mußten sich die Menschen erst durch die späteren Kulturepochen vorbereiten. Daher wäre es auch nicht notwendig gewesen, daß irgendeiner der großen Lehrer dieses alten Indiens eine besonders ausgebildete Verstandesoder Bewußstseinsseele gehabt hätte, denn das wäre für die damalige Zeit ein ganz unbrauchbares Instrument gewesen.

Aber etwas anderes war für diese großen Lehrer notwendig: Es mußte der Lehrer in der Entwickelung seines eigenen Ätherleibes über dem anderen stehen. Wäre er auf derselben Entwickelungsstufe gestanden wie der andere, dann hätte er gar nicht auf ihn besonders wirken können, hätte ihm keine Kundschaft und Botschaft aus einer höheren Welt bringen können, keinen Impuls des Fortschrittes ge‘ben können. Es mußte in gewisser Weise dasjenige dem Menschen gebracht werden, worin er erst in der Zukunft hineinwachsen sollte. Der indische Lehrer mußte gleichsam dasjenige vorausnehmen, was die anderen erst in der persischen Kulturepoche in sich aufnehmen konnten. Was die gewöhnlichen Menschen in der persischen Epoche aufnehmen söllten durch den Empfindungsleib, das mußte er herunterbringen in den Ätherleib. Das heißt, der Ätherleib eines solchen Lehrers durfte gar nicht so wirken wie die Ätherleiber der anderen Menschen, er mußte wirken, wie der Empfindungsleib erst in der persischen Kultur gewirkt hat. Wenn ein Hellseher im heutigen Sinne vor einen großen indischen Lehrer hingetreten wäre, würde er gesagt haben: Was ist denn das für ein Ätherleib? - Denn ein solcher Ätherleib hätte ausgesehen wie später ein Astralleib in der persischen Zeit.

Aber nicht ohne weiteres konnte ein solcher Ätherleib so wirken wie ein späterer Astralleib. Das konnte nicht durch irgendeine vorausschreitende Entwickelung in der damaligen Zeit geschehen. Das war nur dadurch möglich, daß tatsächlich eine Wesenheit, die schon um eine Stufe höher war als die anderen, herunterstieg und sich in einen menschlichen Organismus verkörperte, der eigentlich nicht für sie paßte, nicht für sie taugte, in den sie nur hineinzog, um von den anderen verstanden zu werden. Sie sah äußerlich gewiß so aus wie die anderen, aber innerlich war sie etwas ganz anderes. Es war vollständiges Blendwerk und Täuschung, wenn man bei einer solchen Individualität nach dem äußeren Anschauen urteilte. Denn während bei einem gewöhnlichen Menschen das Äußere dem Inneren entspricht, widerspricht bei einem solchen Lehrer das Äußere dem Innern. So daß hier die Tatsache vorliegt, daß Sie das alte indische Volk haben und inmitten dieses altindischen Volkes eine Individualität, die für sich selber nicht nötig gehabt hätte herunterzusteigen, die aber herunterstieg bis zu einer entsprechenden Stufe, um die anderen lehren zu können. Sie stieg freiwillig herunter, verkörperte sich in Menschengestalt, war aber etwas ganz anderes.

Dadurch war sie auch wieder eine solche Individualität, welche die Schicksale, die der Mensch dadurch erlebt, daß er ein normaler Mensch ist, nichts angehen. Ein solcher Lehrer lebte in einem Leib mit einem äußeren Schicksal und hatte keinen Anteil an diesem Schicksal, er wohnte bloß in diesem Leibe drinnen wie in einem Haus. Und wenn der Leib starb, war für ihn der Tod ein ganz anderes Ereignis als für die anderen Menschen; ebenso die Geburt und die Erlebnisse zwischen Geburt und Tod. Daher arbeitete eine solche Individualität auch in ganz anderer Art in diesem menschlichen Instrument.

Stellen wir uns nun vor, wie sich eine solche Individualität zum Beispiel des Gehirns bediente. Denn wenn auch damals mit dem astralischen Leib wahrgenommen wurde, so wurde das Gehirn, das zwar anders organisiert war, doch benutzt, um die Bilder, in denen wahrgenommen wurde, wie mit einem Instrument zu bemerken. Es gab also zweierlei Menschentypen: einen Typus, der sich seines Gehirns bediente wie ein gewöhnliches Menschenwesen, und einen Typus des Lehrers, der sich seines Gehirnes gar nicht in derselben Art bediente, sondern der es in gewisser Beziehung unbenutzt ließ. Der große Lehrer hatte nicht nötig, alle Einzelheiten des Gehirnes zu benutzen. Er wußte sozusagen Dinge, die der andere erst wissen konnte, indem er das Werkzeug des Gehirns anwendete. Was so einen großen Lehrer darstellte, war also keine wirkliche, richtige Inkarnation auf der Erde, keine wirklich richtige Inkarnation eines Menschen, wie es sonst der Fall war, es war eigentlich etwas, was eine Art Doppelnatur darstellte: eine Art geistigen Wesens war in dieser Organisation drinnen. Solche Wesen gab es auch in der späteren persischen Zeit, in der ägyptischen Zeit und so weiter. Immer war es so, daß sie mit ihrer Individualität gleichsam herausragten über das Maß dieser menschlichen Organisation, nicht darinnen aufgingen. Dadurch waren sie in der Lage, in jenen älteren Zeiten auf die anderen Menschen zu wirken. Und das war der Fall bis zu jener Zeit, als im griechisch-lateinischen Zeitalter eine wichtige Krisis in der Menschheitsentwickelung eingetreten ist.

In der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit war es besonders die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele, die nun nach und nach anfing, die inneren Fähigkeiten herauszutreiben. Während in der vorhergehenden Zeit die Hauptsache sozusagen von außen einfloß in den Menschen wie Sie das an dem Beispiel der Furien sehen können, wo der Mensch die rächenden Gestalten um sich, nicht in sich hatte -, so tritt in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit das ein, daß gleichsam von innen heraus etwas entgegenströmt den großen Lehrern. Dadurch waren jetzt ganz neue Verhältnisse eingetreten.

Früher waren also Wesen von den höheren Welten heruntergestiegen, hatten eine solche Lage vorgefunden, daß sie sich sagen konnten: Wir haben nicht nötig, ganz hineinzugehen in die menschliche Organisation, denn wir können so wirken wie wir sollen, wenn wir aus höheren Welten heruntertragen in die Menschen, was sie noch nicht können, und es eben in sie einfließen lassen. — Da brachten die Menschen den Lehrern noch nichts entgegen. Wenn aber die großen Lehrer diese Politik weiter getrieben hätten, dann hätte es vom vierten Zeitraum ab geschehen können, daß eine solche Individualität heruntergestiegen wäre, in irgendeiner Gegend aufgetreten wäre, aber jetzt auf der Erde etwas gefunden hätte, was es da oben gar nicht gibt. Solange man auf der Erde die Rächerinnen, die Erinnyen gesehen hatte, konnte man absehen von dem, was es auf der Erde gab. Aber nun trat unten etwas ganz Neues auf: das Gewissen. Das kannte man oben nicht, dafür gab es keine Möglichkeit, es oben zu beobachten. Das war etwas Neues, was denen, die da oben waren, entgegenkam.

Es trat also im vierten Zeitraum der nachatlantischen Kultur, mit anderen Worten, die Notwendigkeit ein, daß tatsächlich diese Lehrer bis in die Menschheitsstufe herunterstiegen und innerhalb der Menschheitsstufe selber kennenlernten, was aus der Menschenseele selbst nach oben der geistigen Welt entgegenschlägt. Jetzt fing also die Zeit an, wo es nicht mehr ging, keinen Anteil zu haben an den menschlichen Fähigkeiten. Und jetzt betrachten wir jenes eigenartige Wesen, von dem wir in seiner irdischen Inkarnation als dem Gautama Buddha sprechen.

Gautama Buddha war vorher ein Wesen, welches so leben konnte, daß es sich immer in irdische Leiber der entsprechenden Kulturperioden verkörpern konnte, ohne Anspruch zu machen, alles in dieser menschlichen Organisation zu benutzen. Dieses Wesen hatte es nicht nötig, wirkliche menschliche Inkarnationen durchzumachen. Jetzt tritt aber für den Bodhisattva ein wichtiger Wendepunkt ein, nämlich die Notwendigkeit, kennenzulernen alle Schicksale der menschlichen Organisation in einem irdischen Leib, in den er ganz einkehren mußte. Da gab es für ihn etwas zu erfahren, was man nur in einem irdischen Leib erfahren konnte. Und weil er eine höhere Individualität war, so genügte diese eine Verkörperung, um das wirklich zu sehen, was alles aus diesem menschlichen Leib sich herausentwickeln kann. Für die anderen Menschen lag die Sache so, daß sie jetzt die inneren Fähigkeiten durch den vierten, fünften, sechsten und siebenten Zeitraum der nachatlantischen Kulturentwickelung nach und nach zu entfalten haben. Buddha dagegen konnte in dieser einmaligen Inkarnation alles erleben, was als Entwickelungsmöglichkeit darinnen war. Was die Menschen als «Gewissen» hervortreiben werden, und was immer größer und größer werden wird, das sah er gleichsam voraus in seinem ersten Keim, als er seine Inkarnation als Gautama Buddha durchlebte. Daher konnte er gleich wieder nach dieser Inkarnation hinaufsteigen in die göttlich-geistigen Welten und brauchte nicht später noch eine zweite Inkarnation durchzumachen. Was die Menschen auf einem gewissen Gebiete in den zukünftigen Zyklen aus sich herausentwickeln werden, das konnte er in dieser einen Inkarnation wie eine große Richtkraft angeben. Das geschah durch das Ereignis, das uns angedeutet wird in dem «Sitzen unter dem Bodhibaum». Damals ging ihm auf — nach seiner besonderen Mission — die Lehre vom Mitleid und von der Liebe, die im «achtgliedrigen Pfad» enthalten ist. Diese große Menschheitsethik, welche sich die Menschen als ihr Eigentum durch die folgenden Kulturen erobern werden, ist wie eine Grundkraft hineingelegt gewesen in das Gemüt des Buddha, der damals herunterstieg und vom Bodhisattva zum Buddha wurde, das heißt, eine wirkliche höhere Stufe durchmachte. Denn hier hat er gelernt im Heruntersteigen.

Das ist, ein wenig umschrieben, jenes große Ereignis, das in der morgenländischen Kultur bezeichnet wird als «das Buddha-Werden des Bodhisattva». Als dieser Bodhisattva, der sich früher niemals wirklich inkarniert hatte, neunundzwanzig Jahre alt war, da zuckte hinein in den Sohn des Suddhodana, da ergriff ihn vollständig die Individualität des Bodhisattva, die vorher noch nicht vollständig davon Besitz ergriffen hatte, und er erlebte die große Menschheitslehre vom Mitleid und von der Liebe. Warum hat sich dieser Bodhisattva, der dann der Buddha wurde, gerade in diesem Volke inkarniert? Warum nicht zum Beispiel innerhalb des griechisch-lateinischen Volkes?

Wenn dieser Bodhisattva wirklich der Buddha der vierten nachatlantischen Kulturperiode werden sollte, dann mußte er etwas Zukünftiges bringen. Jetzt wird der Mensch durch seine Bewußtseinsseele, wenn sie sich entwickeln wird, reif werden, nach und nach aus sich selbst das zu erkennen, was der Buddha als einen großen Anschlag gegeben hat. Es mußte der Buddha in der Zeit, wo die Menschen nur erst die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele entwickelt hatten, schon die Bewußtseinsseele entwickelt haben. Er mußte also das physische Instrument des Gehirns so benutzen, daß er es überwältigte, in ganz anderer Weise es überwältigte als ein bis zur griechischlateinischen Kulturperiode vorgeschrittener Mensch. Das griechischlateinische Gehirn wäre für ihn zu hart gewesen. Er hätte darinnen nur die Verstandesseele ausbilden können; er mußte aber die Bewußtseinsseele ausbilden. Daher brauchte er ein Gehirn, das weicher geblieben war. Er gebrauchte die Seele, die sich später entwickeln sollte, in einem Instrument, das vorher Usus war bei der Menschheit und das sich erhalten hatte bei dem indischen Volke.

Da haben Sie auch eine Wiederholung: Der Buddha wiederholt eine Menschheitsorganisation von vorher mit einer Seelenfähigkeit von nachher. Bis zu diesem Grade sind die Dinge, die in der Menschheitsentwickelung vorgehen, notwendig. Und der Buddha hatte die Aufgabe, im 5. bis 6. Jahrhundert vor unserer Zeitrechnung die Bewußtseinsseele hineinzutauchen in die menschliche Organisation. Er konnte aber als Einzelindividualität nicht die volle Aufgabe übernehmen, er konnte nicht alles tun, damit diese Bewußtseinsseele sich vom fünften Zeitraum ab richtig ausbildet. Er hatte nur einen Teil dieser Aufgabe als seine besondere Mission, nämlich die Aufgabe, der Menschheit die Lehre vom Mitleid und von der Liebe zu bringen. Andere Aufgaben oblagen anderen, ähnlichen Lehrern der Menschheit. Die in diesem Teil beschlossene Menschheitsethik, die Ethik der Liebe und des Mitleids, wurde angeschlagen von dem Buddha, und sie vibriert weiter fort. Die Menschheit aber muß außerdem für die Zukunft eine ganze Summe anderer Fähigkeiten entwickeln, zum Beispiel in reinen Formen des Denkens zu denken, in auskristallisierten Gedanken Gedankenplastik zu treiben, einen Gedanken als reinen Gedanken zu dem andern zu setzen. Diese Fähigkeit lag nicht in der Buddha-Mission. Er sollte herausbilden, was den Menschen dazu führt, von selber den achtgliedrigen Pfad zu finden.

So mußte ein anderer Lehrer der Menschheit da sein, der ganz andere Fähigkeiten hatte und ganz andere Ströme geistigen Lebens heruntertrug aus den höheren, geistigen Welten in diese Welt hinein. Diese andere Individualität hatte die Aufgabe, dasjenige herunterzutragen, was sich heute nach und nach in der Menschheit vorzugsweise zeigt als die Fähigkeit des logischen Denkens. Es mußte auch ein Lehrer sich finden, der das herabtrug, was dazu gehört, sich in den Formen des logischen Denkens auszusprechen; denn das logische Denken hat sich auch erst im Laufe der Zeit entwickelt.

Was der Buddha geleistet hat, mußte in die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele hineingetragen werden. Diese Verstandesseele hat dadurch, daß sie in der Mitte zwischen Empfindungsseele und Bewußtseinsseele drinnensteht, die ganz besondere Eigentümlichkeit, daß sich die Dinge nicht über Kreuz wiederholen. Wie sich der urindische Zeitraum im siebenten, der urpersische im sechsten Zeitraum wiederholen wird, und wie der vierte für sich allein dasteht, so steht auch die Verstandesseele für sich allein da. Die Kräfte für unsere intellektuellen Fähigkeiten, die erst in der Bewußtseinsseele entstehen mußten, konnten nicht in der Verstandesseele entwickelt werden, sie mußten aber gerade, obwohl sie erst später auftreten sollten, bereits früher veranlagt und angeregt werden. Mit anderen Worten: Es mußte der Impuls für das logische Denken früher gegeben werden, als der Impuls für das Gewissen durch Buddha gegeben wurde. Das

Gewissen sollte hineinorganisiert werden in den vierten Zeitraum; das bewußte reine Denken sollte im fünften Zeitraum in der Bewußtseinsseele herauskommen, mußte aber schon veranlagt sein als Keim zu dem, was heute aufgeht, in der dritten Kulturperiode. Daher hatte jener andere große Lehrer die Aufgabe, der Empfindungsseele jene Kräfte einzuimpfen, welche heute als logisches Denken zum Vorschein kommen. Deshalb ist es leicht zu denken, daß der Abstand dieses Lehrers von dem Normalmenschen ein noch größerer sein mußte als der des Buddha von dem gewöhnlichen Menschen. Es sollte in der Empfindungsseele etwas angeregt werden, was im Grunde gar nicht in irgendeinem Menschen damals vorhanden war. Mit Begriffen, mit dem, was entwickelt werden sollte, konnte man gar nichts anfangen. Es hatte also jene Individualität die Aufgabe, den Keim zu legen zu gewissen Kräften, aber sie durfte oder konnte nicht diese Kräfte selber verwenden. Das ging nicht. Sie mußte daher ganz andere Kräfte verwenden.

Nun habe ich heute morgen in dem zweiten Vortrag über «Anthroposophie» auseinandergesetzt, wie allerdings zum Beispiel im Sehen in der Empfindungsseele Kräfte wirken, die eigentlich auf einer höheren Stufe erst bewußt werden und dabei als denkerische zum Vorschein kommen. Wenn es also einer solchen großen Lehrerindividualität gelingen konnte, diese Empfindungsseele so anzuregen, daß die Kräfte des Denkens in sie ungefähr ebenso hineindrangen wie denkerisches Leben auf unterbewußte Art im Sehakt, ohne daß sich der Mensch Rechenschaft darüber gibt, dann konnte diese Individualität erreichen, daß die Kräfte später auf höherer Stufe benutzt werden konnten. Das war nur durch eines möglich. Um die Empfindungsseele anzuregen, ihr sozusagen das Denkerische einzuimpfen, mußte wirklich diese Individualität damals auf eine ganz besondere Weise wirken: Sie mußte unterrichten nicht in Begriffen, sondern durch Musik! Die Musik gibt Kräfte her, welche in der Empfindungsseele dasjenige auslösen, was, wenn es ins Bewußtsein hinaufsteigt und von der Bewußtseinsseele verarbeitet wird, zum logischen Denken wird. Diese besondere Musik wirkte von einem Wesen aus, von einem gewaltigen Wesen, das so — durch Musik unterrichtete.

Sie werden das sonderbar finden und vielleicht glauben, so etwas wäre nicht möglich. Es war aber doch so. Gerade in den Gegenden Europas war vor der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit eine uralte Kultur bei Völkern vorhanden, die in bezug auf solche Eigenschaften, die im Osten stark ausgebildet waren, zurückgeblieben waren. In diesen europäischen Gegenden konnten die Menschen, weil sie sich ganz anders entwickeln sollten, wenig denken, sie hatten wenig von dem, was Kräfte der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele sind. Aber ihre Empfindungsseele war gerade empfänglich für das, was aus den Impulsen einer besonderen Musik, die unserer heutigen nicht ganz ähnlich wat, hervorging. Da kommen wir in Europa auf eine Zeit zurück, wo eine uralte, wir können sie nennen «musikalische Kultur» vorhanden war, wo nicht nur die «Barden» die Lehrer waren wie in Zeiten, in denen diese Sache schon in Dekadenz war, sondern wo eine bezaubernde Musik durch die ganzen europäischen Gegenden ging. Es gab während der dritten Kulturperiode eine tief musikalische Kultur in Europa, und das Gemüt jener Völker, die in der Stille abwarteten, wozu sie in späteren Zeiten bestimmt waren, war in einer besonderen Art empfänglich für musikalische Wirkungen. Das waren Wirkungen auf die Empfindungsseele in ähnlicher Art, wie für das Auge die denkerische Substanz auch wieder in der Empfindungsseele wirkt. Die Empfindungsseele wurde bearbeitet, in ihr sollte Bewußtsein entstehen, das auf höherer Stufe in der Bewußtseinsseele sich als logisches Denken offenbarte. Nun kommt aber alles Bewußtsein aus den Regionen des Lichtes, ebenso Musik und Gesang. Darum hatte durch die Musik, die auf dem physischen Plan wirkte, die Empfindungsseele das unterbewußte Empfinden: Das kommt aus Regionen, wo das Licht herkommt, Musik, Gesang aus den Reichen des Lichtes!

Es war ein uralter Lehrer innerhalb der europäischen Kulturgegenden - ein uralter Lehrer, der in diesem Sinne uralter Barde war, der Anführer aller alten Bardenschaft. Er lehrte auf dem physischen Plan durch Musik, und er lehrte so, daß durch seine Wirkungen sich der Empfindungsseele etwas mitteilte, wie wenn eine Sonne aufging und leuchtete. Was sich über diesen großen Lehrer in der äußeren Tradition erhalten hat, das haben später die Griechen, die noch vom Westen her von ihm beeinflußt waren, wie sie in anderer Weise vom Osten beeinflußt waren, zusammengefaßt in ihren Anschauungen über den Apollo, der ein Sonnengott ist und zu gleicher Zeit der Gott der Musik. Diese Gestalt des Apollo führt aber zurück auf diesen großen Lehrer der Vorzeit, der in die menschliche Seele die Fähigkeit gelegt hat, welche heute als logisches Denken hervortritt.

Und ein Schüler dieses großen Lehrers der Menschheit ist ebenfalls von den Griechen genannt; ein Schüler, der allerdings auf eine ganz eigentümliche Weise Schüler wurde. Wie konnte jemand Schüler dieser Wesenheit werden? — Auf folgende Art.

Diese Wesenheit war natürlich in jenen Zeiten, in denen sie auf die geschilderte Art wirken sollte, auch so, daß sie nicht aufging in der physischen Organisation des Menschen, daß sie mehr war als das, was als physischer Mensch auf der Erde herumging. Ein Mensch mit einer gewöhnlichen Empfindungsseele hätte die musikalischen Wirkungen aufnehmen können, sie aber nicht erregen können. Eine höhere Individualität war heruntergestiegen und wie der Schein war das, was da außen lebte.

Aber in der vierten nachatlantischen Kulturperiode, im griechisch-lateinischen Zeitalter war es notwendig, daß diese Individualität nun wieder herunterstieg, sozusagen bis zur Menschlichkeitsstufe, und alle die Fähigkeiten, die im Menschen sind, benutzte. Aber obwohl sie sozusagen alle Fähigkeiten benutzte, konnte sie doch nicht ganz heruntersteigen. Denn um das zu bewirken, was ich eben geschildert habe, um diese Wirkung über Kreuz zusammenzubringen, brauchte sie Fähigkeiten, die hinausgingen über das Maß dessen, was eine menschliche Organisation im vierten nachatlantischen Zeitraum hatte. In den musikalischen Wirkungen lag ja schon alles drinnen, was in der Bewußtseinsseele ist. Das konnte aber in jener Zeit noch nicht vorhanden sein in einer Individualität, die erst für die Gemütsseele in Betracht kam. Daher mußte diese Individualität, nachdem sie in jener Gestalt verkörpert war, trotzdem wieder etwas zurückbehalten. Sie mußte sich im vierten Zeitraum so verkörpern, daß sie zwar den ganzen Menschen ausfüllte, aber der Mensch, der da lebte, hatte gleichsam aber doch etwas in sich, das über ihn hinausreichte. Er wußte etwas von einer geistigen Welt, das er nicht verwenden konnte. Er hatte eine Seele, die über diesen Leib hinausragte.

Es war, wenn wir es menschlich betrachten würden, etwas Tragisches, daß sich die Individualität, die als großer Lehrer in der dritten Kulturperiode gewirkt hatte, wiederverkörpern sollte in einer solchen Gestalt, die in ihrer Seele über sich selbst hinausragte und doch keine Verwendung hatte für eine über das gewöhnliche Maß hinausgehende Seelenfähigkeit. Man nennt deshalb diese Art der Verkörperung, weil das, was früher da war, sich nicht unmittelbar, sondern in einer sehr komplizierten Art verkörperte, einen «Sohn des Apollo» — einen Sohn, der das als Seele in sich trug, was man in der Mystik gewöhnlich mit dem Symbol eines Weiblichen bezeichnet. Aber es war so in ihm vorhanden, daß er es nicht ganz haben konnte, da es in einer anderen Welt war. Das eigene Seelisch-Weibliche trug er in sich in einer andern Welt, zu der er nicht den Zugang hatte, in die er sich aber hineinsehnte, weil ein Teil seines eigenen Selbstes darinnen war. Diese wunderbare innere Tragik der wiederverkörperten großen Lehrerindividualität von früher hat der griechische Mythos in einer wunderbaren Art festgehalten bei dem Namen, den er dem wiederverkörperten Apollo oder dem «Sohn des Apollo» gegeben hat: in Orpheus.

In dem Mythos von Orpheus und Eurydike wird diese Tragik der Seele in einer wunderbaren Weise dargestellt. Eurydike wird dem Orpheus früh entrissen. Sie ist in einer anderen Welt. Orpheus steigt ins Reich der Schatten hinunter. Er hat noch die Fähigkeit, die Wesenheiten in der Unterwelt durch seine Musik zu rühren. Er erhält die Erlaubnis, Eurydike wieder mitzunehmen. Aber er darf sich nicht umschauen, denn es ist der Anblick für ihn innerlich ertötend, oder wenigstens verlustbringend, wenn er auf das zurückschaut, was er vorher gewesen ist, und was er jetzt nicht in sich aufnehmen kann.

So haben wir in dem Orpheus-Werden des Apollo wiederum eine Art Herabsteigen eines Bodhisattva, wenn wir einen orientalischen Namen anwenden wollen, der zu einem Buddha wird. Und so könnten wir eine Reihe von solchen Wesenheiten anführen, welche von Zeitalter zu Zeitalter als die großen Lehrer der Menschheit dastehen, und welche innerhalb ihres tiefsten Herabstieges, wenn sie zu einem Buddha werden, etwas ganz besonderes erleben. Der Buddha erlebt die Seligkeit, die ganze Menschheit zu inspirieren. Jener Bodhisattva, der äußerlich unter dem Namen «Apollo» erhalten ist, erlebt etwas Individuelles; er sollte ja gerade die Individualität, die Ich-Eigenschaft vorbereiten. Er erlebt die Tragik des Ich, er erlebt, daß dieses Ich nicht ganz bei sich selber ist, wie die Menschen in bezug auf diese Menschheitseigenschaft heute eben sind. Der Mensch strebt hinauf zu dem höheren Ich. Das ist vorgebildet in dem, was für Griechenland der Buddha oder Bodhisattva in entsprechender Weise in Orpheus ist.

Da sind wir aus Einzelheiten heraus zu einer Charakteristik jener großen Lehrer der Menschheit gekommen und können uns jetzt etwas vorstellen bei solchen Begriffen. Wenn Sie nun das zusammenfassen, was ich jetzt gesagt habe, so werden Sie sehen, daß ich immer von solchen Wesenheiten gesprochen habe, welche ausgebildet haben zum Beispiel die Empfindungsseele, die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele und die Bewußtseinsseele in einer bestimmten Weise als innerliche Fähigkeiten - als Fähigkeiten, die von innen in den Menschen einziehen müssen. Wir können, weil wir nur diesen Zeitraum überblicken, zunächst nur diese zwei vor uns haben: die Ausbilder der Empfindungsseele. Aber es gibt viele solcher Wesenheiten, weil sich die Innerlichkeit des Menschen nach und nach, Stufe für Stufe, entwickelt.

Vergleichen wir jetzt mit dem, was sozusagen das Innerliche des Menschen ergreift, eine andere Wesenheit, und zwar aus dem Grunde, weil wir uns doch sagen müssen: Wenn immer Lehrer kommen, welche die steigernd sich fortentwickelnden inneren Fähigkeiten mit geistiger Nahrung aus den oberen Regionen versehen, so müssen andere Individualitäten da sein, die eine andere Arbeit verrichten, die vor allem Hand anlegen an die Veränderung der Erde selber und an dem, was sich da von Zeitalter zu Zeitalter fortentwickelt. Wenn der Buddha in der vierten Kulturepoche sozusagen die Verstandesseele durch die Bewußtseinsseele von innen ergriff, so mußte diese Verstandesseele auf der anderen Seite auch von außen ergriffen werden. Es mußte von außen etwas an sie herankommen. Diese Wesenheit mußte nun von einer anderen Seite herkommen und in einer ganz anderen Weise wirken.

Ein solcher Lehrer, wie wir ihn eben charakterisiert haben, mußte, indem er sich hinstellte vor den Menschen, hineingießen in das menschliche Innere, was er zu bringen hatte aus höheren Regionen. Lehrer war er. Was mußte die andere Wesenheit tun, welche sozusagen die Erde weiterbrachte, daß sie sich von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht entwickelte? Sie mußte nicht bloß ein Inneres ergreifen, nicht bloß an den Menschen herangehen, um in ihm diese oder jene Fähigkeiten zu entwickeln, sondern sie mußte selber als solche Wesenheit, als Wesenheit auf die Erde heruntersteigen. Da mußte nicht nur ein Lehrer für die Verstandesseele, sondern ein Former für die Verstandesseele heruntersteigen. Einer, der sie selber bildete, mußte auftreten, der sozusagen der unmittelbare Ausdruck dieser Seele des vierten Zeitraumes war, dieses ausgezeichneten Zeitraumes, der in der Mitte dasteht. Diese Wesenheit mußte von einer ganz anderen Seite kommen. Sie mußte in die menschliche Natur selber einziehen, sich da selber verkörpern. Schufen die Bodhisattvas das menschliche Innere um, dieser schuf die ganze menschliche Natur um. Er machte erst möglich, daß die Lehrer einen geeigneten Boden fanden in der Zukunft. Er gestaltete die ganze menschliche Wesenheit um.

Erinnern wir uns daran, wie sich bei der menschlichen Wesenheit die verschiedenen Seelen hineinbauen in die einzelnen Leiber: die Empfindungsseele in den Empfindungsleib, die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele in den Ätherleib und die Bewußtseinsseele in den physischen Leib. Wo die Bewußtseinsseele sich in den physischen Leib hineinbaut, da ist die Wirkung der Bodhisattvas, da ergriffen sie den Menschen von der einen Seite. Da, wo die Verstandesseele oder Gemütsseele wirkt bis zum Ätherleib, da ergriff eine andere Wesenheit den Menschen im vierten Zeitraum von der anderen Seite. Wann tat sie das?

Das geschah in der Zeit, als ein Ätherleib des Menschen unmittelbar zu ergreifen war, als jene Wesenheit, die wir als Jesus von Nazareth genauer geschildert haben, den physischen Leib im Moment der Johannestaufe verließ. Als dieser ganze Leib untergetaucht wurde wobei sonst dasjenige eintrat, was wir als einen «Schock» beschrieben haben -, da senkte sich in den Ätherleib dieser Individualität hinein die Christus-Wesenheit. Das ist jene Individualität, welche von der anderen Seite kommt, die nun aber auch ganz anderer Natur ist. Während wir es bei den anderen großen Führerindividualitäten in gewisser Beziehung mit höher entwickelten Menschen zu tun haben, mit solchen Menschen, die wenigstens einmal alle Menschheitsschicksale durchgemacht haben, können wir das von der ChristusIndividualität nicht sagen. Was ist das Unterste bei dieser ChristusWesenheit? Von unten herauf ist es der Ätherleib. Das heißt, wenn einmal der Mensch durch das Geistselbst seinen ganzen astralischen Leib umgearbeitet haben wird und hineinwirken wird in den Ätherleib, dann wird er in diesem Ätherleibe in einem Element arbeiten, in dem der Christus schon dazumal auf dieselbe Weise gearbeitet hat. Der Christus gibt einen Impuls mächtigster Art, der bis in die Zukunft hineinwirkt, an den der Mensch erst kommt, wenn er an die Bearbeitung seines Ätherleibes in bewußter Weise herantritt.

Wenn der Mensch sein Leben durchwandelt, geht er von der Geburt oder auch von der Empfängnis zum Tode, dann vom Tode zu einer neuen Geburt. Auf dem Wege zur neuen Geburt macht er nach dem Tode zunächst die astralische Welt durch, dann das, was wir den unteren Teil der devachanischen Welt nennen und danach den oberen Teil der devachanischen Welt. Wenn wir europäische Ausdrücke gebrauchen, nennen wir den physischen Plan die kleine Welt oder die Welt des Verstandes, das Astralische die Welt des Elementarischen, das untere Devachan die himmlische Welt und das obere Devachan die Vernunftwelt. Und weil der europäische Geist sich erst nach und nach heraufarbeitet, um in seiner Sprache die entsprechenden wirklichen Ausdrücke zu haben, so hat dasjenige, was über der devachanischen Welt liegt, einen religiös gefärbten Ausdruck bekommen und heißt so die «Welt der Vorsehung», das ist dasselbe wie der Buddhiplan. Was darüber ist, das konnte das alte Hellsehen zwar überblicken und alte Überlieferungen konnten es der Menschheit geben, aus den europäischen Sprachen heraus konnte ihm aber kein Name gegeben werden, weil heute erst der Seher sich wieder dazu heraufarbeitet. So daß über der Welt der Vorsehung eine Welt liegt, für die es in ganz ehrlicher und richtiger Weise den Namen in den europäischen Sprachen noch nicht geben darf. Sie ist wirklich da, nur ist das Denken noch nicht so weit, um sie charakterisieren zu können; denn es kann auch nicht ein beliebiger Name gefunden werden für das, was sonst im Orientalischen «Nirwana» genannt wird und was über der «Welt der Vorsehung» liegt.

Der Mensch, sagte ich, geht hinauf zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt bis zu dem oberen Devachan oder der Vernunftwelt. Dort sieht er hinein in höhere Welten, in denen er nicht selber drinnen ist, und sieht jene über ihm stehenden Wesenheiten in diesen höheren Welten wirken. Während der Mensch sein Leben zubringt in Welten vom physischen Plan bis zum Devachanplan, ist es das Normale einer Bodhisattva-Wesenheit, daß sie bis in den Buddhiplan hinaufgeht, was wir in Europa die Welt der Vorsehung nennen. Das ist ein gutes Wort, denn es ist ihre Aufgabe, die Welt von Zeitalter zu Zeitalter mit Vorsehung zu lenken. Was tritt nun ein, wenn der Bodhisattva durch die Verkörperung — wie bei Gautama Buddha durchgegangen ist?

Wenn er eine gewisse Stufe erreicht hat, gelangt er hinauf zum nächsten Plan, zum Nirwanaplan. Da hat er seine nächste Sphäre. Damit haben wir charakterisiert die Bodhisattvas, die dann die Buddhas werden, um in den Nirwanaplan hineinzugehen. Alles was am menschlichen Innern so arbeitet, in das Innere hinein, das lebt in einer Sphäre, die hinaufreicht bis zum Nirwanaplan. Von der anderen Seite her wirkt in die menschliche Natur hinein eine Wesenheit wie der Christus. Von der anderen Seite her wirkt er auch in jene Welten hinein, in welche die Bodhisattvas hinaufsteigen, wenn sie die Region der Menschheit verlassen, um selber zu lernen, damit sie dann Lehrer werden können in der Menschheit. Da tritt ihnen von oben, von der anderen Seite her, eine solche Wesenheit entgegen wie der Christus. Dann sind sie die Schüler des Christus. Zwölf Bodhisattvas umgeben eine solche Wesenheit, wie es der Christus ist, und wir können überhaupt nicht von mehr als zwölf reden, denn wenn die zwölf Bodhisattvas ihre Mission erreicht haben, haben wir die Zeit des Erdenseins erschöpft.

Der Christus war ein einziges Mal physisch da und hat damit dasjenige durchgemacht, was Abstieg, Ankunft auf der Erde und Aufstieg ist. Er kommt von der anderen Seite und ist diejenige Wesenheit, die in der Mitte der zwölf Bodhisattvas ist, die sich dort dasjenige holen, was sie auf die Erde herunterzutragen haben. So steigen die Bodhisattva-Wesenheiten zwischen zwei Inkarnationen hinauf bis zum Buddhiplan, und bis zum Buddhiplan reicht dasjenige, was ihnen vollbewußt als Lehrer entgegentritt: die Wesenheit des Christus. Auf dem Buddhiplan begegnen sich die Bodhisattvas und der Christus. Und wenn die Menschen weiterschreiten und diejenigen Eigenschaften entwickeln, die ihnen durch die Bodhisattvas eingeträufelt werden, dann werden sie auch immer reifer werden, um in dieselbe Sphäre hinaufzudringen. Einstweilen aber handelt es sich darum, daß die Menschheit erkennen lernt, daß in dem Jesus von Nazareth inkarniert war, das heißt in menschlicher Gestalt erschienen war die Christus-Wesenheit, und daß durch diese menschliche Gestalt erst durchzudringen ist, um zu der wahren Wesenheit der Christus-Individualität zu gelangen.

So gehören zu dem Christus zwölf Bodhisattvas, die vorzubereiten und weiter auszubauen haben, was er als den größten Impuls unserer Kulturentwickelung gebracht hat. Da erblicken wir die Zwölf und in ihrer Mitte den Dreizehnten. Damit sind wir aufgestiegen in die Sphäre der Bodhisattvas und eingetreten in einen Kreis von zwölf Sternen, und in ihrer Mitte die Sonne, die sie erleuchtet und erwärmt, von der sie jenen Lebensquell haben, den sie dann wieder herunterzutragen haben auf die Erde. Wie nimmt sich auf der Erde das Abbild von dem aus, was da oben geschieht?

Auf die Erde herunterprojiziert nimmt es sich so aus, daß wir sagen können: Der Christus, der auf der Erde gelebt hat, hat dieser Erdenentwickelung einen solchen Impuls gebracht, daß die Bodhisattvas vorzubereiten hatten die Menschheit für diesen Impuls.und auch wieder auszubauen haben, was der Christus der Erdenentwickelung gibt. Das nimmt sich wie ein Bild auf der Erde aus: Der Christus in der Mitte der Erdenentwickelung, die Bodhisattvas als seine Vorboten und seine Nachfolger, die seine Arbeit der Menschheit wiederum nahezubringen haben.

So mußte eine Anzahl von Bodhisattvas in der Menschheit vorarbeiten, damit die Menschheit reif wurde, den Christus zu empfangen. Nun ist aber die Menschheit, nachdem sie reif war, den Christus unter sich zu haben, noch lange nicht reif, alles dasjenige zu erkennen, zu fühlen und zu wollen, was der Christus ist. Und ebenso viele Bodhisattvas als notwendig waren, um die Menschen für den Christus vorzubereiten, ebenso viele sind notwendig, um das, was durch den Christus in die Menschheit einfließen soll, in die Menschheit hinauszuführen. Denn in dem Christus ist so viel, daß die Kräfte und Fähigkeiten der Menschen immer größere werden müssen, um ihn ganz zu verstehen. Mit den heutigen Fähigkeiten ist er nur zum kleinsten Teil zu verstehen. Höhere Fähigkeiten werden der Menschheit erstehen, und mit jeder neuen Fähigkeit werden wir den Christus in einem neuen Lichte ansehen. Und erst wenn der letzte zum Christus gehörige Bodhisattva seine Arbeit getan haben wird, wird die Menschheit empfinden, was der Christus ist; dann wird sie von einem Willen beseelt sein, in dem der Christus selber lebt. Der Christus wird durch das Denken, Fühlen und Wollen in die menschlichen Wesen einziehen, und die Menschheit wird die äußere Ausprägung des Christus auf der Erde sein.

First lecture

Today, on the occasion of the General Meeting, it falls to me to speak about a matter of great importance for humanity. Whereas in our lectures on anthroposophy we usually strive to lay a foundation that is rooted more in the physical plane, today we may speak of matters belonging to higher worlds. Let me mention once again as a preliminary remark that we should accustom ourselves to speaking about the higher matters of humanity in such a way that we are not satisfied with a one-sided presentation of data from the higher world, so that, for example, the concept of bodhisattvas, which we are going to discuss today, is defined in general terms and then their mission is described. Instead, we should also accustom ourselves here to move from the abstract to the concrete. Let us try to permeate even such lofty matters as those of the bodhisattvas with the ideas and feelings that are our own, gained from a thorough and loving observation of life, whereby we not only receive the facts as a communication, but can also understand them to a certain degree. That is why I would like to start from the bottom in this reflection and set myself the goal of characterizing the concept of the bodhisattva and his journey through the world a little more than in a schematic presentation.

We cannot really understand what a bodhisattva is unless we delve a little deeper into the course of human development and allow ourselves to consider some of the things we have heard over the years. Just consider the fact that humanity is progressing. After the great Atlantean catastrophe, humanity went through a period of ancient Indian culture, where the great rishis were the teachers of humanity, then a period of ancient Persian culture, a period of Egyptian-Chaldean culture, then the Greek-Latin cultural period, up to our time, which is the fifth cultural period of the post-Atlantean era. These cultural epochs have meaning in that they represent the progression of humanity from one form of life to another.

It is not only what is usually described in external history that progresses, but when we consider longer periods of time, all sensations and feelings, all concepts and ideas also change and renew themselves in the course of human development. What would be the point of advocating the idea of reincarnation or reincarnation if we did not know that this is the case in the world? Why should our soul enter an earthly body again and again if it did not have something new to experience, to feel and to sense each time? Because the abilities of human beings, including the intimacies of the soul life, are constantly becoming new and changing, it is possible for our soul not only to ascend from step to step as if on a staircase, but also to have the opportunity each time to take in something new from outside, through the transformation of the conditions of life on our earth. It is not merely through its transgressions, through its karmic sins, that our soul is led from incarnation to incarnation; but because our earth changes in all its living conditions, it is possible for our soul to take in something new from outside again and again. Therefore, the soul progresses from incarnation to incarnation, but also from cultural cycle to cultural cycle.

Now, however, this soul would not be able to progress, to develop, if those beings who have already attained a higher level of development and thus, to some degree, surpass the average development of humanity, were not able to ensure that new things can continually flow into our earthly culture. In other words, if there were no great teachers who, through their higher development, are able to take in experiences from the higher worlds and carry them down to the stage of earthly cultural life. Throughout the period of Earth's development — and we are speaking here only of post-Atlantean development — there have always been beings who were the teachers of other human beings, beings to whom higher sources of feeling and possibilities of will are open. We can only understand the nature of such teachers of humanity if we realize how humanity itself progresses.

Yesterday and today, in two excellent lectures, you heard our dear Dr. Unger speak in a philosophical and epistemological manner about the I and the I in its relationship to the not-I. Do you now believe that what you heard yesterday and today through human lips, out of human thinking, could have been heard in this form about 2,500 years ago? Nowhere on earth would it have been possible to speak about the “I,” for example, in the form of pure thought. Let us assume that 2,500 years ago, some individuality wanted to incarnate into our earthly existence and had decided before its incarnation to speak about the I in the peculiar form you have heard. It would not have been able to do so. For anyone who believes that something like this could have been said in this form by human lips 2,500 years ago misunderstands the real progress and transformations within cultural evolution. For this to be possible, it requires not only an individuality that decides to incarnate itself in a human body, but also that our Earth, in its development, produces a human body with a brain that is so structured that the truths that exist in the higher worlds in a completely different form can form within this brain into what we call “pure thoughts.” For we call the form in which Dr. Unger spoke yesterday and today about the I the form of pure thoughts. 2,500 years ago, there would have been no human brain — that would have been completely impossible — that could have been a tool for bringing such truths down into such thoughts.

The beings who want to descend to our Earth must use the human bodies that this sphere itself produces. But throughout the various cultural periods, our Earth has always produced different bodies with different organizations; and only in our fifth post-Atlantean cultural period has it become possible to speak in the form of pure thought, because the human race itself produces bodies in which pure thoughts can form. Even in the Greek-Latin period, such an epistemological consideration would not yet have been possible, because there would have been no instrument, no tool, to form these thoughts into a language comprehensible to human beings. This is precisely the task of our fifth post-Atlantean cultural period: to gradually shape human beings, in relation to their physical organization, as instruments in such a way that truths which in other times were expressed in forms quite different from the form of pure thought can flow down in ever purer thoughts.

Let us take another example. When people today approach the question of good and evil, when they should do this or that or not do this or that, they speak of a kind of inner voice that tells them, quite independently of any external law: You should do this, you should not do that! Those who listen to this inner voice hear in it a certain impulse, a suggestion to do one thing or another in a given situation. We call this inner voice “conscience.” Anyone who believes that the individual periods of human development are so similar to one another might think that conscience has always existed, as long as humans have been on Earth. But that would not be correct. It can be proven, historically speaking, that humans began to talk about conscience at a certain point in time. This time is tangible. It lies between the two Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, who was born in the 6th century BC, and Euripides, who was born in the 5th century BC. Before that, you will not find any mention of conscience. Even in Aeschylus, there is not yet what we call the inner voice, but rather what appears to humans as an astral image: phenomena occur that present themselves as vengeful beings, furies or Erinyes. There came a time when the astral perception of the furies was replaced by the inner voice of conscience.

Even in Greek and Latin times, when a large part of humanity still possessed astral twilight perception, someone who had done something wrong could perceive how every wrongdoing created astral figures in their surroundings that filled them with fear and terror for the wrong they had done. These were the educators, the impulse at that time. And when people lost the last remnants of astral clairvoyance, this view was replaced by the invisible voice of conscience, that is, what was once outside went into the soul and became one of the forces that are now in the soul. This came about because humanity, because the external instrument into which the human being is embodied, has changed in the course of evolution. Five thousand years ago, a human soul could never have perceived the voice of conscience; when it did something wrong, it perceived the Furies. In this way, the soul learned to relate to good and evil. Then it was incarnated again and again and finally born into a body whose organization was such that the capacity for conscience could now arise in this soul. In a future cycle of humanity, other capacities and other forms of soul life will be available.

I have often emphasized that anyone who truly understands anthroposophy and does not take a dogmatic stand will not believe that the form in which anthroposophy is expressed today is eternal and can remain so for all future humanity. That is not the case. After 2,500 years, the same truths will no longer be able to be proclaimed in these forms, but will be cast into other forms, depending on the instrument that will then be available. If you take this into account, you will realize that in every age it is necessary to speak to people in a different way, and that even the great teachers must take a different position depending on human abilities. This means, however, that these great teachers of humanity must themselves undergo development, from cycle to cycle, from age to age. Thus we find the cycles that humanity goes through, and we find, as it were, superimposed on them, a progressive development of the great teachers of humanity. And just as human beings go through certain stages in which they reach turning points, so these great teachers also go through certain stages of development in which they reach turning points.

Just think of what has often been said: we are now living in the fifth period of our post-Atlantean cultural development. This fifth period is, in a certain sense, a repetition of the third period, the Egyptian-Chaldean period. The sixth period will be a repetition of the ancient Persian period, and the seventh a repetition of the ancient Indian period. Thus the cycles overlap. The fourth period will not be repeated; it stands in the middle, so to speak, on its own. What does this mean? It means that human beings experience what they went through in the Greek-Latin period only once in a cultural epoch; not as if they were embodied in it only once, but they experience it only in one form. What was experienced in the Egyptian-Chaldean era, on the other hand, is repeated in our time; it is thus experienced in a twofold form. So there are stages of development that represent a kind of crisis, while other periods are such that they appear similar in a certain respect, repeating themselves not in the same way, but in a different form. As human beings develop in the post-Atlantean era, they undergo a number of incarnations in the Indian era and another number in the seventh cultural epoch, which are similar to each other. The same is true of the second and sixth epochs, and of the third and fifth epochs. Between them lies the fourth epoch, which will not be repeated; it stands in the middle. What does this mean? It means that human beings only have to go through this period once. Not that they only incarnate once in the fourth period, but that there are a number of incarnations that are unlike any others. Human beings thus undergo a descent and an ascent. The great teachers of humanity also undergo their development in a descent and an ascent, and they are something completely different at one time than at another.

Since people in the first post-Atlantean period had completely different abilities than later, they also had to be taught in a completely different way. To whom do we owe the fact that in our time wisdom can be clothed in the form of pure thought in a logically concise manner? We owe this to the fact that in the present period of Earth's evolution, the consciousness soul is developing as the average characteristic of humanity. In the Greek-Latin era, it was the intellectual or emotional soul, in the Egyptian-Chaldean period the sentient soul, in the ancient Persian culture the sentient body, and in ancient India the etheric body—mind you, as a factor in cultural development.

What the consciousness soul is for us was the etheric body for the members of the ancient Indian culture. Therefore, they had a completely different way of perceiving and understanding. If you had come to the Indian with pure thinking, he would not have understood a trace of it. For him, these would have been sounds that made no sense. The great teachers could not teach the ancient Indians by handing down things to them in the form of pure thinking, by explaining them to them with their mouths. For example, a great teacher in ancient India spoke very little, because at the stage the etheric body had reached at that time, people were not receptive to words that encompassed thoughts. It is so difficult for people today to imagine what such teaching was like. Very little was spoken, and it was more through the coloring of the sound, more through the way a word was spoken, that the other soul recognized what was actually flowing out of the spiritual world. But that was not the main thing. The word was, so to speak, only the “striking,” the sign that a relationship between the teacher and the other was to exist. In the earliest Indian times, the word was not much more than when we ring a bell to signal that something is beginning. It was the crystallization point around which indefinable, subtle spiritual currents flowed from the teacher to the student. But what was particularly important was what the teacher was in his innermost personality. It was not what a teacher said that mattered, but the quality of his soul, for it was transferred to the student as a kind of inspiration. Because the etheric body had been specially trained, one had to behave in a manner appropriate to the etheric body, and one understood the unspoken, what a teacher was, much better than the spoken word. For in order to understand what was spoken, people first had to prepare themselves through the later cultural epochs. Therefore, it would not have been necessary for any of the great teachers of ancient India to have had a specially trained intellect or consciousness, for that would have been a completely useless instrument at that time.

But something else was necessary for these great teachers: the teacher had to stand above the others in the development of his own etheric body. If he had been on the same stage of development as the others, he would not have been able to have any special effect on them, would not have been able to bring them knowledge and messages from a higher world, would not have been able to give them any impulse for progress. In a certain sense, what was to be brought to human beings was what they would only grow into in the future. The Indian teacher had to anticipate, as it were, what others would only be able to absorb during the Persian cultural epoch. What ordinary people were to take in through their sentient body in the Persian epoch, he had to bring down into the etheric body. This means that the etheric body of such a teacher could not work in the same way as the etheric bodies of other people; it had to work as the sentient body had worked in the Persian culture. If a clairvoyant in the modern sense had stood before a great Indian teacher, he would have said: What kind of etheric body is that? For such an etheric body would have looked like an astral body in the Persian epoch.

But such an etheric body could not simply act like a later astral body. This could not have happened through any kind of advance development at that time. It was only possible because a being that was already one step higher than the others descended and embodied itself in a human organism that was not really suitable for it, that it only entered in order to be understood by the others. Outwardly, it certainly looked like the others, but inwardly it was something completely different. It was complete deception and illusion to judge such an individuality by its outward appearance. For while in an ordinary human being the outer corresponds to the inner, in such a teacher the outer contradicts the inner. So here we have the fact that you have the ancient Indian people, and in the midst of this ancient Indian people, an individuality that did not need to descend for its own sake, but descended to a corresponding level in order to be able to teach the others. It descended voluntarily, incarnated itself in human form, but was something completely different.

As a result, it was once again an individuality that was not affected by the fates that humans experience as a result of being normal human beings. Such a teacher lived in a body with an outer destiny and had no part in this destiny; he merely dwelt in this body as in a house. And when the body died, death was a completely different event for him than for other human beings, as were birth and the experiences between birth and death. Therefore, such an individuality also worked in a completely different way in this human instrument.

Let us now imagine how such an individuality made use of the brain, for example. For even though perception took place through the astral body at that time, the brain, which was organized differently, was nevertheless used to perceive the images in which perception took place, as if with an instrument. There were therefore two types of human beings: one type that used its brain like an ordinary human being, and another type, the teacher, who did not use his brain in the same way, but left it unused in a certain respect. The great teacher did not need to use all the details of the brain. He knew, so to speak, things that the other could only know by using the tool of the brain. What constituted such a great teacher was therefore not a real, true incarnation on earth, not a real incarnation of a human being as was otherwise the case, but actually something that represented a kind of dual nature: a kind of spiritual being was present in this organization. Such beings also existed in the later Persian period, in the Egyptian period, and so on. It was always the case that they stood out with their individuality, as it were, above the level of this human organization; they did not merge into it. This enabled them to influence other people in those earlier times. And that was the case until the time when an important crisis in human development occurred in the Greek-Latin age.

In the Greek-Latin period, it was especially the intellectual or emotional soul that gradually began to drive out the inner abilities. Whereas in the previous period the main thing flowed into human beings from outside, as you can see in the example of the Furies, where human beings had the avenging figures around them and not within themselves, in the Greek-Latin period something flowed out from within, as it were, to oppose the great teachers. This brought about entirely new conditions.

In earlier times, beings had descended from the higher worlds and found themselves in such a situation that they could say to themselves: We do not need to enter completely into the human organization, for we can work as we should by bringing down from the higher worlds into human beings what they cannot yet do, and allowing it to flow into them. At that time, human beings did not oppose the teachers in any way. But if the great teachers had continued this policy, then from the fourth period onwards, it could have happened that such an individuality would have descended, appeared in some region, but now found something on Earth that did not exist up there. As long as people on Earth had seen the avengers, the Erinyes, they could foresee what existed on Earth. But now something completely new appeared below: conscience. This was unknown above; there was no way of observing it above. It was something new that came to meet those who were above.

So in the fourth period of the post-Atlantean culture, in other words, it became necessary for these teachers to descend to the human stage and learn within the human stage itself what rises up from the human soul toward the spiritual world. Now began the time when it was no longer possible to have no part in human abilities. And now let us consider that peculiar being of whom we speak in his earthly incarnation as Gautama Buddha.

Gautama Buddha was previously a being who could live in such a way that he could always incarnate in earthly bodies of the corresponding cultural periods without claiming to use everything in this human organization. This being did not need to go through actual human incarnations. But now an important turning point came for the Bodhisattva, namely the necessity of getting to know all the destinies of the human organization in an earthly body, into which he had to enter completely. There was something for him to experience that could only be experienced in an earthly body. And because he was a higher individuality, this one incarnation was sufficient to truly see everything that can develop out of this human body. For other people, the situation was such that they now have to gradually develop their inner abilities through the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh periods of post-Atlantean cultural development. Buddha, on the other hand, was able to experience everything that was possible in terms of development during this unique incarnation. What human beings will bring forth as “conscience,” and what will become greater and greater, he foresaw, as it were, in its first germ when he lived through his incarnation as Gautama Buddha. Therefore, immediately after this incarnation, he was able to ascend to the divine-spiritual worlds and did not need to undergo a second incarnation later on. What human beings will develop out of themselves in a certain area in future cycles, he was able to indicate in this one incarnation as a great guiding force. This happened through the event that is hinted at in the “sitting under the Bodhi tree.” At that time, according to his special mission, the teaching of compassion and love contained in the “eightfold path” dawned on him. This great human ethic, which people will conquer as their own through the following cultures, was laid down as a fundamental force in the mind of the Buddha who descended at that time and became a Buddha, that is, who passed through a real higher stage. For here he learned in descending.

This is, to put it briefly, the great event that is referred to in Eastern culture as “the becoming of the Buddha from the Bodhisattva.” When this Bodhisattva, who had never truly incarnated before, was twenty-nine years old, the individuality of the Bodhisattva, which had not yet completely taken hold of him, suddenly seized the son of Suddhodana, and he experienced the great teaching of humanity about compassion and love. Why did this Bodhisattva, who then became the Buddha, incarnate in this particular people? Why not, for example, among the Greek-Latin people?

If this Bodhisattva was really to become the Buddha of the fourth post-Atlantean cultural period, then he had to bring something future. Now, through the development of their consciousness soul, human beings will gradually become ripe to recognize for themselves what the Buddha gave as a great impetus. At a time when human beings had only just developed their intellectual or emotional soul, the Buddha had to have already developed the consciousness soul. He therefore had to use the physical instrument of the brain in such a way that he overcame it, in a completely different way than a human being who had advanced to the Greco-Latin cultural period. The Greco-Latin brain would have been too hard for him. He could only have developed the intellectual soul in it, but he had to develop the consciousness soul. Therefore, he needed a brain that had remained softer. He used the soul that was to develop later in an instrument that had previously been customary among humanity and had been preserved among the Indian people.

Here you also have a repetition: the Buddha repeats a human organization from before with a soul capacity from after. Up to this point, the things that happen in human evolution are necessary. And the Buddha had the task of immersing the consciousness soul into the human organization in the 5th to 6th centuries before our era. However, as an individual, he could not take on the full task; he could not do everything necessary for this consciousness soul to develop properly from the fifth period onwards. He had only part of this task as his special mission, namely, the task of bringing the teaching of compassion and love to humanity. Other tasks were assigned to other, similar teachers of humanity. The human ethics decided upon in this part, the ethics of love and compassion, were struck by the Buddha, and they continue to vibrate. But humanity must also develop a whole range of other abilities for the future, for example, to think in pure forms of thought, to engage in thought plasticity in crystallized thoughts, to place one thought as a pure thought alongside another. This ability was not part of the Buddha's mission. He was to develop what leads people to find the eightfold path on their own.

Thus, another teacher of humanity had to be present who had completely different abilities and brought completely different streams of spiritual life down from the higher spiritual worlds into this world. This other individuality had the task of bringing down what is now gradually becoming apparent in humanity, namely the ability to think logically. A teacher also had to be found who could bring down what is necessary to express oneself in the forms of logical thinking, for logical thinking also developed only in the course of time.

What the Buddha accomplished had to be carried into the intellectual or emotional soul. Because it stands in the middle between the sentient soul and the conscious soul, the intellectual soul has the very special characteristic that things do not repeat themselves crosswise. Just as the primordial Indian period will repeat itself in the seventh period, the primordial Persian period in the sixth, and the fourth stands alone, so too does the intellectual soul stand alone. The forces for our intellectual abilities, which first had to arise in the consciousness soul, could not be developed in the intellectual soul, but although they were to appear later, they had to be predisposed and stimulated earlier. In other words, the impulse for logical thinking had to be given earlier than the impulse for conscience was given by Buddha. The

Conscience was to be organized into the fourth period; conscious pure thinking was to emerge in the fifth period in the consciousness soul, but it had to already be predisposed as a seed for what is emerging today in the third cultural period. Therefore, that other great teacher had the task of instilling into the sentient soul those forces that are emerging today as logical thinking. It is therefore easy to see that this teacher must have been even further removed from normal human beings than Buddha was. Something had to be stimulated in the sentient soul that was not really present in any human being at that time. Concepts, or what was to be developed, were of no use whatsoever. This individuality therefore had the task of planting the seed for certain forces, but it was not allowed or able to use these forces itself. That was not possible. It therefore had to use completely different forces.

Now, this morning in the second lecture on anthroposophy, I discussed how, for example, forces are at work in the sentient soul in seeing, which actually only become conscious at a higher level and then appear as thinking forces. So if such a great teacher individuality was able to stimulate this sentient soul in such a way that the forces of thinking penetrated it in much the same way as the thinking life penetrates the act of seeing in a subconscious way, without the human being being aware of it, then this individuality was able to achieve that the forces could later be used on a higher level. This was only possible in one way. In order to stimulate the sentient soul, to instill thinking into it, so to speak, this individuality had to work in a very special way at that time: it had to teach not in concepts, but through music! Music gives forces that trigger something in the sentient soul which, when it rises into consciousness and is processed by the conscious soul, becomes logical thinking. This special music emanated from a being, a powerful being who taught in this way — through music.

You will find this strange and perhaps believe that such a thing is not possible. But it was so. Especially in the regions of Europe before the Greek-Latin period, there was an ancient culture among peoples who were backward in relation to such qualities, which were strongly developed in the East. In these European regions, because they were to develop in a completely different way, people were unable to think very much; they had little of what we call the powers of the intellectual or emotional soul. But their sentient soul was particularly receptive to what emerged from the impulses of a special kind of music that was not quite like our music today. This brings us back to a time in Europe when an ancient “musical culture” existed, where not only the “bards” were teachers, as in times when this culture was already in decline, but where enchanting music pervaded the whole of Europe. During the third cultural period, there was a deeply musical culture in Europe, and the minds of those peoples, who waited in silence for what they were destined for in later times, were particularly receptive to musical influences. These influences affected the sentient soul in a similar way to how the thinking substance affects the sentient soul. The sentient soul was being worked on, and consciousness was to arise in it, which at a higher level would manifest itself in the conscious soul as logical thinking. But all consciousness comes from the regions of light, as do music and song. That is why, through music acting on the physical plane, the sentient soul had the subconscious feeling: this comes from regions where light comes from, music and song from the realms of light!

There was an ancient teacher within the European cultural regions—an ancient teacher who was, in this sense, an ancient bard, the leader of all ancient bards. He taught on the physical plane through music, and he taught in such a way that through his influence something was communicated to the sentient soul, as when a sun rose and shone. What has been preserved about this great teacher in the outer tradition was later summarized by the Greeks, who were still influenced by him from the West, just as they were influenced in other ways by the East, in their views about Apollo, who is a sun god and at the same time the god of music. This figure of Apollo, however, leads back to this great teacher of ancient times, who placed in the human soul the ability that today emerges as logical thinking.

And a disciple of this great teacher of humanity is also mentioned by the Greeks; a disciple who, however, became a disciple in a very peculiar way. How could anyone become a disciple of this being? — In the following way.

In those times when this being was to work in the manner described, it was naturally such that it did not merge with the physical organization of the human being, that it was more than what walked around on earth as a physical human being. A human being with an ordinary sentient soul could have perceived the musical effects, but could not have produced them. A higher individuality had descended, and what lived on the outside was like an appearance.

But in the fourth post-Atlantean cultural period, in the Greco-Latin age, it was necessary for this individuality to descend again, so to speak, to the level of humanity, and to use all the abilities that are in human beings. But although it used all these abilities, so to speak, it could not descend completely. For in order to bring about what I have just described, to bring these effects together in a cross-fertilizing way, it needed abilities that went beyond the capacity of the human organization in the fourth post-Atlantean period. The musical effects already contained everything that is in the consciousness soul. However, this could not yet be present in an individuality that was only just coming into being for the soul of the mind. Therefore, after being embodied in that form, this individuality had to hold something back. It had to embody itself in the fourth period in such a way that it filled the whole human being, but the human being who lived there had, as it were, something within himself that went beyond him. He knew something of a spiritual world that he could not use. He had a soul that transcended this body.

From a human point of view, it was tragic that the individuality that had worked as a great teacher in the third cultural period should re-embody itself in a form that transcended itself in its soul and yet had no use for soul capacities that went beyond the ordinary measure. This type of embodiment is called a “son of Apollo” because what was there before did not embody itself directly, but in a very complicated way — a son who carried within himself as his soul what is usually referred to in mysticism as the symbol of the feminine. But it was so present in him that he could not have it completely, since it was in another world. He carried his own soul-feminine within himself in another world to which he had no access, but into which he longed to enter because a part of his own self was there. The Greek myth captured this wonderful inner tragedy of the reincarnated great teacher individuality of earlier times in a wonderful way in the name it gave to the reincarnated Apollo or the “son of Apollo”: Orpheus.

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice depicts this tragedy of the soul in a wonderful way. Eurydice is snatched from Orpheus at an early age. She is in another world. Orpheus descends into the realm of shadows. He still has the ability to move the beings in the underworld with his music. He is given permission to take Eurydice back with him. But he must not look back, for the sight would be inwardly devastating for him, or at least cause him loss, if he looked back at what he had been before and what he could not now take in.

Thus, in Apollo's becoming Orpheus, we again have a kind of descent of a bodhisattva, if we want to use an Eastern name, who becomes a Buddha. And so we could list a series of such beings who stand from age to age as the great teachers of humanity and who, in their deepest descent, when they become Buddhas, experience something very special. The Buddha experiences the bliss of inspiring all of humanity. That bodhisattva, who is preserved outwardly under the name “Apollo,” experiences something individual; he was supposed to prepare precisely the individuality, the I-quality. He experiences the tragedy of the I, he experiences that this I is not entirely itself, as human beings are today in relation to this human quality. Human beings strive upward toward the higher self. This is prefigured in what the Buddha or Bodhisattva is for Greece in a corresponding way in Orpheus.

From details, we have arrived at a characteristic feature of those great teachers of humanity and can now imagine something when we hear such terms. If you now summarize what I have said, you will see that I have always spoken of beings who have developed, for example, the sentient soul, the intellectual or emotional soul, and the conscious soul in a certain way as inner abilities — as abilities that must enter into human beings from within. Because we can only look back over this period of time, we initially have only these two before us: the trainers of the sentient soul. But there are many such beings, because the inner life of the human being develops gradually, step by step.

Let us now compare this with what, so to speak, takes hold of the inner life of the human being, another being, for the reason that we must say to ourselves: Whenever teachers come who provide the increasingly developing inner abilities with spiritual nourishment from the higher regions, there must be other individualities who perform a different task, who above all lend a hand to the transformation of the earth itself and to what develops there from age to age. When the Buddha, in the fourth cultural epoch, took hold of the intellectual soul from within through the consciousness soul, this intellectual soul also had to be taken hold of from outside. Something had to come to it from outside. This entity had to come from another side and work in a completely different way.

Such a teacher, as we have just characterized him, had to stand before human beings and pour into their inner being what he had to bring from higher regions. He was a teacher. What did the other entity have to do, which, so to speak, carried the earth forward so that it developed from generation to generation? It did not merely have to grasp something inner, not merely approach human beings in order to develop this or that ability in them, but it had to descend to earth itself as such an entity, as an entity. Not only did a teacher for the intellectual soul have to descend, but also a shaper for the intellectual soul. Someone who formed it himself had to appear, who was, so to speak, the immediate expression of this soul of the fourth period, this distinguished period that stands in the middle. This being had to come from a completely different source. It had to enter human nature itself and embody itself there. While the Bodhisattvas transformed the human inner being, this being transformed the whole of human nature. It was this being that made it possible for teachers to find suitable ground in the future. It transformed the whole human being.

Let us remember how the various souls build themselves into the individual bodies of the human being: the feeling soul into the feeling body, the mind or soul into the etheric body, and the consciousness soul into the physical body. Where the consciousness soul builds itself into the physical body, there is the effect of the Bodhisattvas, there they seized human beings from one side. Where the intellectual soul or mind soul works up to the etheric body, there another being seized human beings from the other side in the fourth period. When did it do this?

This happened at the time when the etheric body of the human being could be grasped directly, when that being whom we have described more precisely as Jesus of Nazareth left the physical body at the moment of John's baptism. When this entire body was submerged, whereby what we have described as a “shock” occurred, the Christ being descended into the etheric body of this individuality. This is the individuality that comes from the other side, but which is now of a completely different nature. While in the case of other great leader-individualities we are dealing in a certain sense with more highly developed human beings, with people who have at least once gone through all the destinies of humanity, we cannot say this of the Christ-individuality. What is the lowest element in this Christ Being? From below, it is the etheric body. This means that once human beings have transformed their entire astral body through their spiritual self and are able to work into the etheric body, they will be working in this etheric body in an element in which Christ already worked in the same way. Christ gives a most powerful impulse that continues to work into the future, which human beings only reach when they consciously begin to work on their etheric body.

As human beings pass through life, they go from birth or even from conception to death, and then from death to a new birth. On the path to the new birth, after death they first pass through the astral world, then what we call the lower part of the devachanic world, and then the upper part of the devachanic world. Using European terms, we call the physical plane the small world or the world of the intellect, the astral world the world of the elemental, the lower devachan the heavenly world, and the upper devachan the world of reason. And because the European spirit only gradually works its way up to having the appropriate real expressions in its language, that which lies above the devachanic world has acquired a religiously colored expression and is called the “world of providence,” which is the same as the buddhi plane. What lies above this could be seen by ancient clairvoyants and passed on to humanity through ancient traditions, but no name could be given to it in European languages because only today are seers working their way up to it again. Thus, above the world of providence lies a world for which there cannot yet be a name in European languages that is entirely honest and correct. It really is there, but thinking is not yet advanced enough to be able to characterize it; for no arbitrary name can be found for what is otherwise called “nirvana” in the East and which lies above the “world of providence.”

I said that between death and a new birth, man ascends to the higher Devachan or world of reason. There he looks into higher worlds in which he himself is not yet, and sees those beings standing above him working in these higher worlds. While human beings spend their lives in worlds ranging from the physical plane to the Devachan plane, it is normal for a Bodhisattva being to ascend to the Buddhi plane, which we in Europe call the world of providence. This is a good word, for it is their task to guide the world from age to age with providence. What happens when the Bodhisattva has passed through incarnation, as Gautama Buddha did?

When he has reached a certain stage, he ascends to the next plane, the Nirvana plane. There he has his next sphere. This characterizes the Bodhisattvas who then become Buddhas in order to enter the Nirvana plane. Everything that works within the human being, inwardly, lives in a sphere that reaches up to the Nirvana plane. From the other side, a being like Christ works into human nature. From the other side, he also works into those worlds into which the bodhisattvas ascend when they leave the region of humanity in order to learn themselves, so that they can then become teachers in humanity. There, from above, from the other side, a being like Christ comes to meet them. Then they are the disciples of Christ. Twelve bodhisattvas surround such a being as Christ, and we cannot speak of more than twelve, for when the twelve bodhisattvas have fulfilled their mission, we have exhausted our time on earth.

Christ was physically present only once and thus went through what is descent, arrival on earth, and ascent. He comes from the other side and is the being who is in the middle of the twelve Bodhisattvas, who go there to obtain what they have to bring down to earth. Thus, between two incarnations, the Bodhisattva beings ascend to the Buddhi plane, and what confronts them as their fully conscious teacher reaches as far as the Buddhi plane: the being of Christ. On the Buddhi plane, the Bodhisattvas and Christ meet. And when human beings continue on their path and develop the qualities instilled in them by the Bodhisattvas, they will also become increasingly mature to ascend to the same sphere. For the time being, however, it is important that humanity learns to recognize that the Christ essence was incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth, that is, that it appeared in human form, and that it is only through this human form that we can penetrate to the true essence of the Christ individuality.

Thus, twelve bodhisattvas belong to Christ, whose task it is to prepare and further develop what he brought as the greatest impulse for our cultural evolution. There we see the Twelve and, in their midst, the Thirteenth. With that, we have ascended into the sphere of the Bodhisattvas and entered a circle of twelve stars, with the sun in their midst, illuminating and warming them, from which they draw the source of life that they must then carry back down to earth. How does the image of what is happening above appear on earth?

Projected down onto the earth, it appears as follows: the Christ who lived on earth gave such an impulse to the earth's development that the Bodhisattvas had to prepare humanity for this impulse and also have to build up again what Christ gives to the earth's development. This appears on Earth like a picture: Christ in the middle of Earth's development, the Bodhisattvas as his forerunners and successors, who in turn have to bring his work closer to humanity.

Thus, a number of Bodhisattvas had to do preparatory work in humanity so that humanity would become ripe to receive Christ. But now that humanity is ready to have Christ among them, they are still far from ready to recognize, feel, and want everything that Christ is. And just as many bodhisattvas as were needed to prepare people for Christ are needed to bring out into humanity what is to flow into humanity through Christ. For there is so much in Christ that human powers and abilities must become ever greater in order to understand him completely. With today's abilities, he can only be understood to a very small extent. Higher abilities will arise in humanity, and with each new ability we will see Christ in a new light. And only when the last Bodhisattva belonging to Christ has done his work will humanity feel what Christ is; then it will be animated by a will in which Christ himself lives. Christ will enter into human beings through their thinking, feeling, and willing, and humanity will be the outer expression of Christ on earth.