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

8 February 1910, Berlin

IV. The Sermon on the Mount

To-day we must again refer to the old and important teaching contained in the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, and, starting from that we shall carry forward our vision to our own times and the near future.

The Sermon on the Mount as reported in St. Matthew's Gospel can only be understood if we grasp the whole spirit of it, in the sense of the development of all humanity. Let us briefly recapitulate what was put before us in the last lecture: that the old dim clairvoyance of man had gradually receded and that the capacities and knowledge of man had to be more and more limited to the physical plane, and that for this reason the connection of man with the Spiritual worlds had to be based on an event on the physical plane. If we recollect all this we shall understand that the Divine-Spiritual Being whom we have characterised as the Christ, had to embody Himself in a physical body at the very time when the perception of man had become limited to the physical plane. This was done so that the most essential part of the life of this Divine-Spiritual Being could be described in words and expressions used on the physical plane. The important point is not so much that few persons (in comparison to the whole of humanity) were able to have a bodily perception and observation of Christ Jesus, as that what is related of Him is a presentation of events on the physical plane. For it cannot be said that the earlier records of other Divinities related in words belonging to the physical plane refer to actual physical events. In everything that we are told of these, words can only be useful as indications;—for what occurred with respect to these Divinities can only be understood by one able to apply the words to the events of higher planes. The life of Christ Jesus can however, be understood by anyone who can apply what is told to the events of the physical plane. In reference to this we can say: The Christ-Being descended into a physical embodiment, into complete life in a physical body. That had to be because human capacities at that time were of this nature, and because the human ego as such had to become conscious of its being if evolution was to go forward in the right way.

We have seen that the most important of the older intermediaries for the event of Golgotha was Zarathustra or Zoroaster. In order that he might become what he was to be, at that time a body had to be prepared, containing an extract, as it were, of what had been given to a whole people, a people who had to give to humanity the qualities which can only be communicated through physical inheritance. We have seen that the most essential thing in the old Hebrew people was the duty of developing in successive generations, from father to son, from son to grandson, and so on, those qualities which had to be inherited in a continually increased form, till they finally appear in their highest and best form in the body which was derived by inheritance from Abraham and Solomon and which was finally occupied by Zarathustra. We have a great deal more to learn through our studies before we shall be able to understand the full mission of the old Hebrew people, in all its details. This necessitates that we should gradually learn how the qualities needed for the body of Jesus were more and more ennobled in the course of the descent from generation to generation. It had to be made as perfect as possible for the fulfilment of its world-historical mission, for that mission could only be carried out if all that pertained to the body of the Solomonian Jesus Being was as perfect as possible in itself as regards those qualities. Now we know that the four principles of man's nature, the physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego, are active in every human body; and that in time to come Spirit-self, Life-Spirit and Spirit-man, will also be active therein. This must not be taken to mean that the activity of the astral body will suddenly cease, or that the later is not being prepared in the earlier. In a certain respect everything that follows later must be prepared in what went before. Of course man cannot of his own strength so work upon himself to-day that the Life-Spirit, for instance, could come to particular expression within him; but in him work other Divine Spiritual Beings, with an activity which may be called an activity of the Life Spirit. This applies also to Spirit-man. Therefore, all the seven principles of the body, or rather of the human organism of Jesus of Nazareth had to be ennobled, as regards the qualities which had to be dealt with. This required very special preparation. This preparation may to-day give us an inkling of the secrets concealed in the development of humanity and of the earth.

The germs of the perfection in the body of Jesus of Nazareth had to be prepared long before. We have seen how during the first period (extending from Abraham to Solomon or David), the generations were worked upon just as a man's physical body is worked upon during the time between his birth and the change of teeth. This work was so performed by the forces active behind evolution, that at a certain time there was actually an ancestor of Jesus who already contained within him, capacities as nearly perfect as possible, and these re-appeared in the body which became the vehicle of Zarathustra. Thus in an ancestor of Jesus the foundations of a right development of all the seven principles of man's nature were present. In other words: If we trace back the ancestry of Jesus, we must find one ancestor who possessed the germ of the seven-principled-nature—although not so perfectly developed as in the body of Jesus of Nazareth—yet present in rudimentary form. Although not expressed in their external tradition, the secret doctrine of the ancient Hebrews was cognisant of this fact. It was aware that once upon a time a man lived of whom it must be said that the seven principles worked in him in such a way that they had to be described as quite peculiarly worthy of note! The Initiates of the old Hebrew secret doctrine actually pointed to an ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth, knowing that be possessed these seven human principles in a quite remarkable degree!

They called the ego of this ancestor, ‘Itiel,’ to indicate that in him the ego must have possessed that force (for Itiel signifies something like ‘possessor of force’). He must have possessed that dauntlessness, which would, when carried down through the generations, become the proper ego-vehicle for the high being who was to reappear in Jesus of Nazareth. In the same way they called the astral body of this ancestor ‘Lemuel’; that would more or less describe an astral body so far developed that it does not merely feel the law, the conformity to law, outside itself, but feels that it bears the law within it. They called the etheric body of this ancestor ‘Ben Jage’; that would signify an etheric body as far as possible transmuted within, which having attained a certain perfection, is able to take habits into itself. The physical body of this ancestor they called ‘Agur’, because the physical activity, the capacity of this ancestor on the physical plane, consisted in his having assimilated everything brought over from old tradition; for ‘Agur’ signified a collector. ‘All the ancient conceptions of the world, all the old traditions, were gathered together in Jesus; and the rudiments of this were already developed in this ancestor. What worked as Spirit-Man in this ancestor, was called, (because the Divine-Spiritual Beings gave loving attention to their work on the rudiments of Spirit-Man,) ‘Jedidjah’, a word signifying something like ‘the darling of the Gods’. What worked in this ancestor as Buddhi or Life-Spirit, was called ‘Kohelet’; for it was said: ‘In this ancestor there must have worked a Life-Spirit which was able to act as a teacher to the whole nation, so that its content could be poured out to them all’. And finally, Manas or Spirit-self in this ancestor was known by the word, ‘Salomo’, which signifies inner balance, for they said: Such a Spirit-self must have had within it the rudiments of being inwardly whole, of being in a state of balance within. Thus this ancestor, who is usually known only by the name of Schelomo, Schleimo, or Solomon, has three principal names: Jedidjah, Kohelet, Salomo; and four additional names: Agur, Ben Jage, Lemuel and Itiel, for these names signify the four coverings, whereas the three first names signify the divine inner part. The secret doctrine of the old Hebrews had seven names for this person. If later, people were dissatisfied with Solomon, as was the case even among certain sects of the Jews themselves (whether rightly or wrongly cannot be gone into here), this can easily be accounted for. In Solomon there were great, important rudiments, which were to be further propagated for a distinct purpose. Now an individual human being, at a definite stage of his evolution, does not always display in his outer life the germs of the qualities he is to bequeath to his descendants; perhaps for the very reason that such great forces are within him he may even be more subject to failure in this direction. The lack of morality to be observed in Solomon is not in contradiction to what the old Hebrew secret doctrine saw in him; on the contrary it would explain his failings.

Thus the old Jewish secret doctrine looks back to an ancestor of Jesus, fully conscious of his significance for the whole mission of their people. All that was but rudimentary in this personality, was propagated by descent through the generations, and appeared in its essence when it was required and made use of in the course of the world's history. This may give us an inkling of the secrets, regulated by laws, which lie behind the evolution of mankind.

Now if the mission of the old Hebrew people pre-eminently consisted in the fact that through the physical inheritance certain capacities are, as it were, instilled into their blood, capacities to be given to all mankind from the Spiritual world through this people, then, at the time of the appearance of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, humanity ought to have been sufficiently advanced to be able, through these ennobled capacities, to reascend into the Spiritual world; in other words it ought to have been able to take up the Christ-Impulse. I have told you all this to show what preparations were necessary in order, in the development of physical humanity, to create a sheath capable of enclosing the Christ-Being.

We can now perhaps feel and realise the intrinsic nature of the progress in the mission of humanity brought about by the descent of the Divine mission into physical matter, in the Jewish people. We can feel how the Divine was carried down into the depths of physical matter, in order that from this turning-point man might reascend so much the higher, from the now finer physical into the Spiritual. The ascent into the Spiritual had to begin from that time. For this however, an impulse had to be given to mankind which should to some degree place all that man can desire or expect from evolution into that deepest centre in man's being which can be designated as the ego. Through Christ, the impulse was to penetrate to the depths of man's inner being, out of the body of Christ there spoke such an impulse as called to the deepest part of man's nature. What was to be made different by this impulse?

Before this impulse came, all that brought happiness to men, that gave them bliss and made them feel ‘filled with the Divine,’ came to them in a sense from without; they expected it to come thence. If we do not merely study the history of the world from external documents but according to what the Spiritual records can give us, we must say that we look back to ancient times, when man ascended to the realm of Spiritual beings through arousing in himself,—whether by normal means or not,—the gift of clairvoyance. But this vision awoke in a dreamy way; Divine-Spiritual forces worked in it and the ego was suppressed. Man was more or less outside his ego. Although in his normal state he was not so conscious of his ego as he became later, yet he was then in the age when the spirit worked within him and carried him outside himself, without his ego into the Spiritual world. He yielded himself completely, either to the external Divine-Spiritual or to the Divine-Spiritual within his soul. But during that time of ecstasy, of enchantment, he was not in any sense conscious of his condition. The time was still to come when man would realise the relation to the spirit in his own ego, and thence permeate the deepest core of his being with the consciousness: I belong to a Divine-Spiritual kingdom. That could only come about through Christ pouring His own Being into the earth-being, so that the ego could permeate itself with what was the pattern of Christ. That enabled man to say: ‘I am now in a Spiritual realm, in the Kingdoms of Heaven with my ego, ‘whereas man formerly entered the Kingdoms of Heaven while outside it. ‘The Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near, was the teaching given. For this the minds of men had to be changed, they were no longer to believe that they could only enter the Spiritual world in a state of ecstasy, for they would be able to find their relation to the Kingdoms of Heaven in full ego-consciousness.

We can see that this had to take place, for the old clairvoyant condition had, in the course of thousands of years, grown worse and worse. Whereas in olden times man, when in ecstasy ascended to the good Divine-Spiritual powers, that which still remained of the old ecstatic condition at the time of the founding of Christianity, had become such that when man was now outside himself he did not ascend to the good but to the evil spiritual powers. That is the great difference between the two states of development. In ancient times when man dreamily rose into the Spiritual worlds by the suppression of his ego—‘mediumistically’ as we should say to-day—he was then in the company of the good Spiritual beings. This had become different at the time when man was to find the way into the Kingdom of Heaven with his ego; when he now sought or brought about the states of ecstasy, they are described as being states of ‘obsession,’ which brought him into connection with evil hostile spiritual powers. So at the time of the appearance of Christ Jesus the following had to be proclaimed as a healing doctrine: ‘It is not right for you to try without your ego to get into a condition in which you can become aware of the Spiritual worlds; the right way now is to seek contact with the Divine-Spiritual worlds in the deepest core of your being!’

This is essentially the teaching contained in the Sermon on the Mount of St. Matthew's Gospel. We might re-write it thus: In olden times there was a dream-like clairvoyance. In this man was, in ecstasy, transported into the Spiritual worlds. At that time he was rich in Spiritual life; he was no beggar in the spirit as he became when Christianity was founded. When in olden times he was filled with the spirit, with what the Greeks called ‘Pneuma’, he was transported into the Spiritual worlds. Christ could not now say: ‘Blessed or God-filled are those who in their ecstatic states become rich in the spirit, for these are the very ones who will certainly be healed’! He now had to proclaim: ‘The time has come when blessed or God-filled are those who have become beggars in the spirit!’ That means, those who can no longer rise into ecstatic dreamy clairvoyant conditions, but who are obliged to seek the Kingdom of Heaven within, from out of their ego.

Formerly, when man was placed amidst the sorrows and sufferings of earth, he only had to call forth within him the state in which he could be transported into the Divine-Spiritual worlds. He was not obliged to endure suffering, for when it came to him, he could at once seek the state in which he was filled with the spirit, God-filled, and in that state—severed from his ego—he could find balm for the sorrows and sufferings of earth. Christ Jesus had to proclaim that this time too was now past and over. Those would now be blessed, or God-filled, who, while they could no longer look outside for help for their sufferings, might through the strengthening of their own ego seek within themselves the power to find the Paraclete in their inner being. ‘Blessed (God-filled) are they who do not banish sorrow by ecstatically raising themselves to the Divinity, but who endure it, developing the power of the ego whereby they can find within themselves the Paraclete, known later as the Holy Ghost who reveals himself through the Ego. ‘Even Buddha in his time did not recommend that sorrow should be endured, but that it should be thrown off, with all the thirst of earth. Even six hundred years before Christ Jesus, Buddha described sorrow and suffering on earth as the worst consequences of the longing for existence. Six hundred years later, in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ in the second Beatitude proclaimed that sorrow must not be done away with in that way, but must be endured, that it was a trial through which the Ego might develop the strength it can find within itself: the inner support of the Paraclete. This is literally contained in the second sentence of the Sermon on the Mount, even to the expression; Paraclete. It is only necessary to read these things in the right way. That is precisely the task of our age; we must learn, through what is given to us in Spiritual Science, to read the great scriptures of old aright, through the teachings of Spiritual Science.

A third point is this. In olden times, when men could permeate themselves with what came to them in ecstasy and which the Greeks called ‘Pneuma’ or Spirit, they were then guided instinctively in their course. All their impulses, actions, emotions and desires—in fact, all that dwells in the astral body of man—was instinctively guided, when man was able to raise himself to the good Spiritual beings. He had not yet tried from his own ego to control and purify his inner passions and desires and to bring them into balance. Now, however, the time had come—and Christ was to proclaim this—when men having tamed, purified and balanced the passions, desires and impulses of this astral body—would of themselves reach the goal for the humanity of to-day, to which we give expression by pointing to the great progress of evolution. This has often been presented to us in the following way. Man began his existence on ancient Saturn; he continued it through the Sun and Moon-existence, until on the earth the ego was added to him. Only when he becomes conscious of this ego, when he tames and balances what was added to him by the astral body on the Moon, can he really attain to the goal of the earth-mission. Those who are able to control and balance the desires in their astral body can be blessed (God-filled), for by this means they will, through themselves, discover the Earth. Thus the third sentence of the Sermon on the Mount, which as usually translated contains a meaningless word, tells us the following: Those who ‘balance’ their passions desires and emotions (not make them ‘meek’) to them shall be given—or they shall ‘inherit’—the earth.

Thus the three first sentences of the Sermon on the Mount in their worldwide significance, place before us the following summary.

The first sentence of the Sermon on the Mount refers to the physical body, and informs us that it was formerly possible, in the olden times of humanity through a particular training of the physical body to perceive the Spiritual in clairvoyant dreamy conditions, but the physical body has now become poor as regards the inner possession of the spirit.

As regards the etheric body, through which man becomes conscious of suffering—although he is first aware of it in the astral body—the indication is given that men must learn to develop in themselves a force which will enable them to find help for the suffering which is given them as a trial.

Thirdly, we come on to the astral body, concerning which we are told, that through the taming and purifying of his impulses and passions man will find in his inner being the strength which will enable him to become a real ego, one to whom the earth mission is then allotted as his portion.

When we now ascend to the Ego, we know that this works in the sentient soul, intellectual soul and spiritual soul. The ego works in the sentient soul, that is: it spiritualised it. This enables man to feel the outpouring of human brotherly love—which becomes universal through the spreading of Christianity—as righteousness: ‘hunger and thirst after the all-ruling righteousness’. The sentient soul otherwise feels only in the physical body; it must now, through Christianity, learn to feel for spiritual things: to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Those who are able to find their human centre in the ego, will, as a result of their work on themselves, satisfy the longing in their sentient soul for an all-ruling earthly righteousness. ‘Blessed are they who, through the Christ-Impulse, learn to hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they will find a strong force in their inner being whereby, because they are working for the righteousness of the world, they shall find within themselves the satisfaction of this quality.’

We now come to the intellectual soul. We have often emphasised the fact that whereas in the sentient soul the ego is as yet but dimly brooding, in the intellectual soul it begins to shine forth, later to attain full consciousness in the spiritual soul where it first becomes a pure ego. In the intellectual soul something very singular happens: the human ego—i.e., that wherein we each resemble all other men, for each of us bears the ego within him—shines forth. No matter in what part of the world we meet with our fellow-man, through the fact that an ego shines out of his intellectual soul he is a human being like ourselves. Something shines forth from our intellectual soul, and if we receive it as well as we can and carry it out into the world, we can enter into the right relation with our fellow-men. In our intellectual soul we are to develop something which we must pour forth into our surroundings and which must flow back to us again. That is why this is the only occasion in the Sermon on the Mount when the subject of the Beatitude is like the predicate, ‘Blessed (or God-filled) are they who develop love; for as they radiate forth love, it will return to them again. ‘This shows the infinite depths of such a spiritual document, for it can be understood by the very way in which the sentences are constructed, it can be understood even down to the smallest details, if gradually, year after year, one collects all that Spiritual Science can give for the understanding of man. The difference between the fifth Beatitude and the others, in all of which the subject and the predicate are different, cannot in the least be understood without knowing that the fifth Beatitude points directly to the intellectual soul, or Mind-soul. We will now ascend to the work of the ego on the Spiritual or Consciousness soul. Here at last the ego is pure and unalloyed; only here can it become conscious of itself. This is beautifully expressed in the Sermon on the Mount, in the verse which expresses that only in the ego can the divine substance in man come to life. ‘Blessed are they, who are pure in blood or in heart (which is the expression of the ego), who allow nothing to enter there but the pure ego-nature; for they will recognise God therein, they will perceive God!’

The Sermon on the Mount now rises to that which refers to the Spirit-Self, Life-Spirit, and Spirit-Man. Here man can no longer work through himself alone; at this stage of his evolution be must appeal to the divine Spiritual worlds, which, through Christ, have been brought into connection with the earth; he must look up to the renewed divine spiritual worlds. Whereas in former times strife and disharmony entered humanity through the ego-nature—as indeed it still does to-day—peace will be poured out over the earth through the Christ-Impulse. And those who take up the Christ-Impulse will become the founders of peace in that part of human nature which in the future will gradually develop as Spirit-Self; they will thus in a new sense become the sons of God, in that they will bring down the spirit from the Spiritual Realms—‘Blessed are they who bring peace—or harmony into the world; for they shall thereby be the sons of God!’ Thus must they be called, who are really filled inwardly with a spirit self which is to bring peace and harmony on the earth.

Now, we must clearly understand, that of all that develops on the earth, some part survives into later ages. This, in a certain respect, is hostile to what implants itself as a germ in later ages. What the Christ-Impulse brings, enters into the whole evolution of humanity—it does not, however, enter all at once, but rather in such a way that something still remains from the earlier stages of evolution. It is therefore necessary that those who first understand this Christ-Impulse should stand firm on the basis thereof, quite permeated inwardly with its force. If they are inwardly permeated by the force that proceeds from the seed that has come from the Christ and stand firm on that foundation, they will then be blessed in a new sense; in this they develop the force of firmness. ‘Blessed are they who stand under the new order, who stand under Christ and who suffer persecution from that which remains over from the old order!’ And the last of the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount points straight to the Christ-Impulse itself, for He says to the Apostles: ‘Blessed are ye, who are especially called to carry the Name of Christ out into the world!’

Thus we see how the Sermon on the Mount directs Christianity from out of the great teachings of cosmology and humanity, while everywhere directing attention to the force within, the centre point of which must be found in the Ego itself. The time has now come when this must be understood, and understood in such a way that people must not believe themselves to be true Christians because they try to find Christianity in some dogmatic collateral signification or side issue, but rather those are true Christians who understand the meaning of the text: ‘Change the disposition of your souls, for the kingdoms of heaven have descended even into the ego!’ Those persons can be called ‘Christians’ in the true sense who realise that this is the essential point, and who further understand that this had to be put at the beginning of our era in a different way from that in which it must be given out now! It would be a mistaken idea of Christianity to believe that what was considered Christian in the words spoken two thousand years ago has not since then undergone further development. Christianity would stand for nothing but a dead stream of culture. But it is a living one! It is developing, and will continue to develop! Just as it is true that Christianity had to start from the time when man had descended right down to the physical plane, when a Divine Being became man in a physical human body, so it is also true that at our present time man must learn to rouse himself to the understanding of Christianity and of the Christ Being Itself, from a Higher Spiritual Standpoint!—What does this mean?

Just as it is true that the old dreamy clairvoyant forces had been lost, so that at the time of Christ those persons who were filled ‘with God’ in the old sense could no longer be described as ‘blessed,’ but only such as formed the kingdoms of Heaven within them, it is also true that the ego of man will reascend into the Spiritual world in full consciousness and will develop ever new forces and capacities. Just as it is true that the time of the Baptist was the time when those capacities which led down to the physical plane had reached a crisis in humanity, it is also true that we have now again reached an important time. What is called the ‘Dark Age,’ which began in the year 3101 B.C. and reached its height at the time of the Incarnation, came to an end at the close of the 19th Century. The Kali-Yuga was concluded in 1899! We are now approaching a time when new forces and capacities will be developed by man and these will be distinctly apparent in the last half of our present century. These new forces and capacities must be understood. Particularly those persons who have studied and understood Anthroposophy must realise that such an uplifting of humanity towards the Spiritual has again become possible. For during the important times that will follow after 1930, single individuals will find it possible to develop higher forces in their nature, whereby what we know as the etheric body will become visible. A certain number of people will develop etheric clairvoyant powers.

One of two things will then be possible, either the materialism of our age will continue, in which case when these forces are manifested men will fail to understand that they lead into the Spiritual worlds; they will then be wrongly understood and so be crushed. Should that occur, would not people, speaking in a materialistic sense at the end of the year 1940, be justified in saying: ‘Now see what fantastic prophets those were who spoke at the beginning of the 20th century! Nothing of what they foretold has been fulfilled.’ But if the new capacities have not appeared, that would not contradict what may be said now, and must indeed be said; it would only prove that people without the right understanding have choked them in the bud and that they have missed something which humanity must possess if its further evolution is not to collapse into dissolution and decay. That is the great responsibility of Anthroposophy. Anthroposophy has sprung from a knowledge of the necessity for an advanced preparation for something which will come, but which might be overlooked and suppressed. Anthroposophy has the task of bringing about an understanding of the Spiritual forces developing in man. If these forces are suppressed humanity will sink deeper into the mire of materialism.

On the other hand, Anthroposophy may be successful in spreading through its teachings an understanding of the fact that man must rise into the Spiritual worlds; it may succeed in lifting mankind out of the materialistic frame of mind. For this, however, something must now come forth from the anthroposophical movement, something that was prepared centuries ago, but which must now, in our own age, evolve to a particular and important turning-point.

The centuries that lie behind us were fitted for cultivating to an increasing extent the materialistic ideas of man. Under this materialistic influence it was easy to believe that the Christ-Impulse and the Christ-Being would come into touch with the world by incarnating once again—or perhaps oftener—in a physical, material body. Instead of acquiring clear notions of the fact that men must grow up as regards their capacities so that a great number, and finally all, might experience the Event of Damascus—that is: might experience the Christ in the atmosphere around the earth, and see Him in His etheric body—it was believed that Christ would descend again in a physical body, for the materialistic satisfaction of those who refuse to believe in the spirit, and who will not believe what St. Paul saw in the Event of Damascus: that Christ is in the Earth-atmosphere and that He is always there! ‘I am with you always, even unto the end of the world!’ Those who develop the methods of clairvoyant vision into the Spiritual world will find what, could not be found there in the pre-Christian time: the Christ in His etheric body. That is the important progress in the evolution of humanity; before the first half of our century has elapsed, those faculties by means of which the event of Damascus becomes a personal experience, will develop naturally as it were, and men will see the Christ in His etheric body. He will not descend into flesh, but man will ascend when he has acquired understanding of the spirit.

That is the manner of Christ's return in our own age, for in this 20th century men must work their way up out of the Kali-Yuga into a century of clairvoyance. They must ascend to Christ by means of the capacities which they will develop; they must ascend to the Christ where He is and where He can be seen, at first sight, by those in the vanguard, those who through the teachings of Anthroposophy can be guided to what in the course of the next 2,500 years will be experienced to a greater or less degree by every human soul.

The great event which awaits mankind in the near future is, that those who raise themselves—with full Ego-consciousness—to the etheric vision of Christ in His etheric body, will be ‘God-filled’ or blessed. For this, however, the materialistic mind must be thoroughly overcome, and men must acquire understanding of Spiritual doctrine and Spiritual life.

In bygone centuries it was, comparatively speaking, not harmful for men continually to return to the materialistic conception of the so-called return of Christ. Particularly at the small times of transition, when that which has now reached its climax in a materialistic sense was being prepared for, as, for instance, in France in 1137, when a Messiah was expected, and was awaited by many in wide circles. A Messiah did actually appear then, but he led the people astray, because the belief in him had arisen through their materialistic ideas, for it was believed the Messiah would come in the flesh. Thirty years before, another Messiah appeared in Spain; there, too, it had been foretold that a Messiah would come in the flesh. At about the same time another new Messiah appeared in North Africa; there, too, it had been prophesied that one would come from the East, and appear in the flesh. Throughout the whole time during which the materialistic mind was being prepared, in that the highest things were being grasped by it, there appeared such prophets whose coming was foretold. Such phenomena are well known to those who understand the times, and they continued into the 17th century, when the approaching appearance of a sort of Christ, a Messiah, was proclaimed far and wide. This again found acceptance by the materialistically religious minds of men. Based on these prophecies, a false Messiah was thus able to arise in Smyrna, in 1667, bearing the name of Shabbathoi Zewi. He wrote letters and epistles at that time from Smyrna, which, although they contained nothing but false matter, being written in a materialistic sense, shook the world as greatly as had once the Epistles of St. Paul. In the 17th century there went forth from Smyrna the proclamation that in that city there dwelt a Messiah in the flesh! And Shabbathoi Zewi, the ‘just man of God’ was so considered, that it was said the whole world-reckoning would now take on another form. ‘He will pass through the world with his faithful disciples and all must believe in him who are willing to see the truth, who wish to see Christ in the flesh!’ It was preached to the people that his birthday must be held as the greatest Festival on Earth! Whole hosts of people undertook pilgrimages there—not only from Asia and Africa, but also from Poland, Russia, Spain, France, and so on; great numbers of persons traveled as pilgrims to Smyrna to see Shabbathoi Zewi, who was supposed to be Christ in the flesh, until the thing grew beyond all limits and he was arrested by order of the Sultan! This, said the people, was but the fulfilment of the prophesy, for it was foretold he would be in prison for nine months! The Sultan could think of no other method than to have him brought forth and stripped, saying: ‘We will see whether thou be a Messiah, a Christ; I shall have thee shot!’ And so it was finally proved that Shabbathoi Zewi was only an ordinary Ba Rabbi after all!

Such impersonations are the result of the materialistic thinking of our times, and there will be more of the kind, for the materialistic mind will make use of men.

What I am now saying will often and often be said during the next few decades: that the capacities of man will develop up to seeing the Etheric vision of Christ, in the reality of which they can then believe, just as firmly as did St. Paul himself! This is the immediate future of man, and this it is for which Spiritual Science must prepare him. But on account of the materialistic thoughts of men the time will also come when strong temptations will arise; false Messiahs will appear in the flesh. It will then be proved whether Anthroposophists have rightly understood Anthroposophy. Those who have not will be so adversely affected by the materialistic mind that they will succumb to the temptation. Although they believe in Christ they will believe in an incarnated Christ. But those who have gained understanding of true Spiritual life will realise that the ‘second Coming of Christ’ in our century, that greatest of Events, signifies that He comes to man in the Spirit, because mankind in the course of its development will have developed up to the Spiritual, will have evolved up towards Christ! Therefore in our century, the Sermon on the Mount undergoes a complete modification. It must be entirely re-modeled, so to speak. Those persons will be God-filled (or blessed) who, through having been beggars for the spirit in their past incarnations, have now advanced so far as to be able to ascend to that part of the kingdom of Heaven where Christ will appear before their spiritual sight!

Every single sentence of the Sermon on the Mount in its present form might be reconstructed in this sense. Christianity will only re-conquer its ancient documents when they are grasped in a living sense, when it is realised that they are living, not dead writings. When the time comes—and that time is here now—when materialistical research extends to the Gospel and takes away the tradition of Christ, then, as we have often stated, Spiritual research will give back the Gospels to mankind! This coincidence will not be accidental, it will come of necessity. It may be that in our own time—during which the materialistic mind having gone as far as it can, will reach a crisis—certain unfortunate persons having, through their mistaken philosophy been led into curious ideas, may conclude that effects may be produced without causes, and that there never was an historical Jesus-Christ. This should be comprehensible to Anthroposophists. They ought, indeed, to feel a certain pity for those poor men who, notwithstanding their philosophy, are so entangled in materialistic thought that they have altogether lost the faculty of imagining the existence of spirit, and who, consequently, keep flying in the face of the saying, that there is no effect without a cause. Christianity as an effect could not have existed without a cause! Anthroposophy, speaking from spiritual investigation, will tell men of Christ in the form in which He now lives, if they will but listen with an understanding mind. The understanding must be sufficiently matured to recognise definitely that the Christ will reappear, but as a reality higher than a physical one, a reality to which one can only look up, after first having acquired a sense and an understanding for spiritual life.

Inscribe in your hearts that Anthroposophy must be a preparation for the great epoch of humanity which is immediately ahead of us. Do not in this look upon it as matter of the first importance whether the souls now incarnated are still incarnated in physical bodies when Christ appears in the manner described, or whether they will then have already passed through the Portal and stand in the life between death and rebirth. For that which takes place in the 20th century is not of importance to the physical world alone, but to all the worlds with which man is connected. Just as those persons who will be in incarnation between 1930 and 1950 will experience the vision of the Etheric Christ, so a mighty revolution will also take place in the world in which man lives between death and rebirth. Just as Christ after the Mystery of Golgotha descended into the underworld, so will the effects of the Event which will occur for the inhabitants of the physical plane, rise into the spiritual plane. Those people who have not been prepared for this by Spiritual Science will miss the great and mighty Event, which will also take place in the Spiritual worlds in which man then lives. Those persons will have to wait for a new incarnation to experience on earth what makes them capable of receiving the new Christ-Impulse. For it is on earth that we must acquire the capacity of grasping all the Christ-Impulses, no matter how high they may lead us! Not in vain has man been placed in the physical world; for it is here we must acquire that which leads us to an understanding of the Christ-Impulse! For all the souls now living, Anthroposophy is the preparation for the Christ-Event that awaits us in the near future. This preparation is necessary. Other events will follow this Christ Event in the course of the development of mankind. It will therefore be a great omission, if those who have the opportunity of raising themselves during this century to the Christ-Event, do not take advantage of it.

Only if we look upon Anthroposophy in this way and inscribe it in our souls, can we realise what it means to each human soul and what it ought to become to all humanity.

Vierter Vortrag

Der Gegenstand unserer heutigen Betrachtung ist ja schon das letzte Mal angedeutet worden. Wir haben heute noch einmal hinzuweisen auf jene bedeutsame Urkunde, welche in den Sätzen der Bergpredigt enthalten ist, um dann von dieser Urkunde aus auf unsere Gegenwart und auf die nächste Zukunft der Menschheit einen Blick zu werfen.

Die Bergpredigt des Matthäus-Evangeliums kann nur verstanden werden, wenn man sie in ihrem ganzen Geiste erfaßt und sie begreift aus dem Geiste der Entwickelung der ganzen Menschheit. Wenn wir noch einmal kurz überblicken, was schon das letzte Mal vor unsere Seele getreten ist, daß das alte dämmerhafte Hellsehen des Menschen allmählich zurückgegangen ist, daß die menschlichen Fähigkeiten, die menschliche Erkenntnis immer mehr und mehr sich beschränken mußte auf den physischen Plan, und daß aus diesem Grunde der Zusammenhang des Menschen mit den geistigen Welten aus einem Ereignis des physischen Planes heraus begründet werden mußte, wenn wir das alles zusammenhalten, werden wir verstehen, daß jenes göttlich-geistige Wesen, das wir als das hohe Sonnenwesen, als den Christus charakterisiert haben, in einer Zeit, als die Menschen in ihrer Wahrnehmung auf den physischen Plan beschränkt waren, sich eben in einem physischen Leib verkörpern mußte. Das geschah aus dem Grunde, damit man erzählen konnte sozusagen das Wesentlichste des Lebens dieser göttlich-geistigen Wesenheit mit Ausdrükken, mit Worten, die auf den physischen Plan bezüglich sind. Denn nicht allein darauf kommt es an, daf jene im Verhältnis zur ganzen Menschheit Wenigen, die eine leibliche Anschauung und Beobachtung von dem Christus Jesus gewinnen konnten, diese Anschauung auf dem physischen Plane hatten, sondern darauf kommt es an, daß dasjenige, was man von dem Christus Jesus erzählen kann, solche Darstellungen sind, die Ereignisse des physischen Planes wiedergeben.

Denn von allem, was man früher über andere göttlich-geistige Wesenheiten zu erzählen hatte, konnte man nicht sagen, daß die Erzählung, welche die Worte des physischen Planes nimmt, sich deckt mit den wirklichen Ereignissen. Alles, was auf die höchsten göttlichen Wesenheiten bezüglich erzählt wurde, muß so aufgefaßt werden, daß die Worte nur als Hindeutungen gelten konnten, daß aber das, was geschehen ist, nur verstanden werden kann von demjenigen, der die Worte anwenden kann auf die Vorgänge der höheren Plane. Das Leben des Christus Jesus aber, wie es sich abgespielt hat, kann jeder verstehen, der auch nur imstande ist, das, was erzählt wird, anzuwenden auf Vorgänge des physischen Planes. Und in dieser Richtung kann man sagen: Die Christus-Wesenheit ist heruntergestiegen bis in eine physische Verkörperung, vollständig bis zum Leben in einem physischen Leibe. Das mußte also geschehen, weil die menschlichen Fähigkeiten dazumal diesen Charakter trugen, weil in der damaligen Zeit sich das menschliche Ich als solches seiner Wesenheit bewußt werden sollte und mußte, wenn die Entwickelung der Menschheit in der entsprechenden Weise vor sich gehen sollte.

Wir haben schon gesehen, daß der bedeutendste Vermittler des Ereignisses von Palästina aus der Reihe der älteren Individualitäten der Zarathustra oder Zoroaster war. Damit er aber das werden konnte, was er in jener Zeit werden mußte, dazu mußte ein Körper geschaffen werden, der wie einen Extrakt in sich selber alles enthielt, was einem ganzen Volke gegeben war, einem solchen Volke, das der Menschheit diejenigen Fähigkeiten zu geben hatte, welche durch physische Vererbung vermittelt werden müssen. Das haben wir als das Wesentliche des althebräischen Volkes von Abraham bis zu Jesus anzusehen, daß von Generation zu Generation sich diejenigen Fähigkeiten entwickeln mußten, die von Vater auf Sohn, von Sohn auf Enkel und so weiter sich immer steigernd, vererbt werden mußten, damit sie dann in ihrer höchsten und brauchbarsten Ausbildung erschienen in jenem Leibe, der eben vererbt war von Abraham an über Salomo herunter auf den Jesus, der der Träger des Zarathustra war. Es wird noch viel, viel dazu gehören, daß wir in der Lage sein werden durch unsere Betrachtungen, die hier in der Zukunft noch gepflegt werden, die ganze Mission des althebräischen Volkes in allen Einzelheiten zu verstehen. Denn dazu gehört, daß wir wirklich nach und nach verstehen lernen werden, wie von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht immer mehr veredelt wurden jene Eigenschaften, die der Körper des Jesus brauchte. Es mußte dieser Körper zu seinem welthistorischen Beruf so fähig wie möglich gemacht werden. Das war nur dadurch möglich, daß alles, was zu diesem Leibe des salomonischen Jesus gehörte, in bezug auf jene Fähigkeiten selber so vollkommen war als möglich.

Nun wissen wir, daß an jedem menschlichen Leibe tätig waren seit uralten Zeiten die vier Glieder der menschlichen Natur, der physische Leib, der Ätherleib, der Astralleib und das Ich, und daß in die Zukunft hinein tätig sein werden Geistselbst, Lebensgeist und Geistesmensch. Aber wir dürfen das nicht so ansehen, als ob da plötzlich etwa die Tätigkeit zum Beispiel des Astralleibes aufhörte und gar nicht sich vorbereiten würde das Spätere in dem Früheren. In gewisser Beziehung muß sich alles Spätere im Früheren vorbereiten. Der Mensch kann zwar aus eigener Kraft heute nicht so an sich arbeiten, daß zum Beispiel auch der Lebensgeist in ihm besonders zum Ausdruck käme; aber andere, göttlich-geistige Wesenheiten arbeiten mit einer solchen Tätigkeit im Menschen, die eine Tätigkeit des Lebensgeistes genannt werden kann. Das gilt auch in bezug auf den Geistesmenschen. Es mußten also alle sieben Glieder des Leibes des Jesus von Nazareth oder vielmehr der menschlichen Organisation des Jesus von Nazareth in bezug auf die Eigenschaften, die in Betracht kamen, veredelt werden. Dazu brauchte es einer ganz besonderen Vorbereitung. Diese Vorbereitung soll uns heute zunächst eine Ahnung davon verschaffen, welche Geheimnisse in der Entwickelung der Menschheit und der Erde eigentlich verborgen sind.

Es mußten die Keime zu jener Vollkommenbheit des Leibes des Jesus von Nazareth von langer Hand her vorbereitet werden. Wir haben gesehen, wie in der Zeit von Abraham bis zu Salomo oder David die erste Periode gerade so arbeitete an den Geschlechtern, wie sonst am einzelnen Menschen in dem Zeitraum von der Geburt bis zum Zahnwechsel gearbeitet wird am Physischen. Die Arbeit wurde nun so verrichtet von den hinter der Entwickelung tätigen Kräften, daß tatsächlich in einer gewissen Zeit ein Vorfahre des Jesus da war, der schon die Anlage enthielt zu den möglichst vollkommensten Fähigkeiten, die dann herauskamen in dem Leibe, der der Träger des Zarathustra wurde. Also in einem Vorfahren des Jesus war sozusagen die Anlage vorhanden zu einer richtigen Ausbildung aller sieben Glieder der menschlichen Natur. Mit anderen Worten: Wenn wir in der Vorfahrenreihe des Jesus von Nazareth heraufgehen, müssen wir einen solchen Vorfahren finden, der die Keime der siebengliedrigen Menschennatur, wenn auch nicht so vollkommen ausgebildet wie in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth, so doch in der Anlage zu dieser Vollkommenheit, enthielt. Wenn das auch nicht in der äußeren Überlieferung ausgedrückt ist, die althebräische Geheimlehre kannte diese Tatsache. Sie wußte, daß einmal ein Mensch gelebt hat, von dem man sagen muß, in ihm wirkten die sieben menschlichen Glieder so, daß man sie als ganz besonders bemerkenswerte zu bezeichnen hat. So deuten tatsächlich die Eingeweihten auch der althebräischen Geheimlehre auf einen Vorfahren des Jesus von Nazareth hin, bei dem sie sich bewußt waren: Wir müssen in diesem Vorfahren die sieben menschlichen Glieder in einer ganz besonderen Weise ansehen.

Und so nannten sie denn bei diesem Vorfahren das Ich «Itiel», um damit anzudeuten, daß in diesem Vorfahren das Ich jene Kraft haben mußte — denn das Wort «kiel» würde ungefähr heißen «Kraftbesitzer» —, jene Kraft, jene Kühnheit haben mußte, die, wenn sie sich durch die Geschlechter vererbte, der richtige Ich-Träger werden konnte für jene hohe Wesenheit, die dann wiedererscheinen sollte in dem Jesus von Nazareth. So nannten sie den Astralleib jenes Vorfahren «Lamuel»; das würde ungefähr bezeichnen einen astralischen Leib, der so entwickelt ist, daß er das Gesetz, die Gesetzmäßigkeit nicht allein außerhalb seiner, sondern als in sich tragend fühlt. So nannten sie den Ätherleib dieses Vorfahren «Ben Jake»; das würde heißen: ein solcher Ätherleib, der möglichst in sich durchgearbeitet worden ist und in gewisser Vollkommenheit Gewohnheiten in sich aufnehmen kann. Und den physischen Leib dieses Vorfahren nannten sie «Agur», aus dem Grunde, weil die physische Tätigkeit, die Fähigkeit dieses Vorfahren auf dem physischen Plan darinnen bestanden hat, daß er das, was an alten Überlieferungen vorhanden war, sammelte; denn «Agur» würde heißen «der Sammler». Wie dann durch das, was im Leibe des Jesus vorgegangen ist, gesammelt wurden alle alten Lehren der Welt, so hat sich das schon als Anlage bei diesem Vorfahren durch das Sammeln der alten Urkunden entwikkelt. Und was wie Atma oder Geistesmensch in diesem Vorfahren arbeitete, das nannten sie, weil mit einer besonderen Sorgfalt sozusagen die Liebe der göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten an dieser Anlage zum Geistesmenschen arbeitete, mit einem Wort, das ungefähr «der Liebling Gottes» bedeuten würde, «Jedidjah». Und was als Buddhi oder Lebensgeist hineinwirkte in diesen Vorfahren, wovon sie sagten: In diesem Vorfahren muß ein solcher Lebensgeist wirken, daß er wie ein Lehrer des ganzen Volkes wirken kann, damit sich ausgiefen kann, was dieser Lebensgeist enthält, auf das ganze Volk -, das bezeichneten sie als «Kohelet». Und endlich nannten sie Manas oder Geistselbst dieses Vorfahren — weil sie sagten, ein solches Geistselbst muß die Anlage in sich enthalten innerlich abgeschlossen zu sein, in sich im Gleichgewicht zu sein -, mit einem Wort, das da bedeutet «inneres Gleichgewicht», «Salomo».

So hat denn dieser Vorfahre, den man gewöhnlich nur kennt unter dem Namen «Schelomo», «Schlomo» oder «Salomo», die drei Hauptnamen: Jedidjah, Kohelet, Salomo; und er hat die vier Nebennamen Agur, Ben Jake, Lamuel, Itiel, weil diese Namen die vier Hüllen bedeuten, während die drei ersten Namen das göttliche Innerliche bezeichnen. Sieben Namen hat für die althebräische Geheimlehre diese Persönlichkeit.

Und wenn später sozusagen die Menschen, auch gewisse Sekten unter den Juden selber, nicht zufrieden waren mit Salomo — ob mit Recht oder Unrecht, soll hier nicht untersucht werden -, so kann das dadurch erklärt werden, daß in diesem Salomo hohe, ganz große, bedeutsame Anlagen waren, die sich zu dem angegebenen Ziel dann weiter verpflanzen sollten, und daß der einzelne Mensch auf einer bestimmten Stufe der Entwickelung in seinem äußeren Leben durchaus nicht immer das darzustellen braucht, was er als Anlage vererben soll auf seine Nachkommen, daß er vielleicht gerade deshalb, weil hohe Kräfte in ihm sind, mehr der Möglichkeit ausgesetzt ist, gegen die Richtung solcher Kräfte zu fehlen, als ein anderer, der solche Kräfte nicht in sich hat. Was man als moralische Fehler bei Salomo bemerken würde, das würde nicht in Widerspruch stehen mit dem, was die althebräische Geheimlehre in Salomo sieht, sondern es würde sich sogar im Gegenteil gerade aus dieser Tatsache heraus das Fehlerhafte an Salomo erklären.

So blickte die althebräische Geheimlehre auf einen Vorfahren des Jesus hin, von dessen Bedeutung sie in bezug auf die ganze Mission des althebräischen Volkes sich vollständig bewußt war. Alles, was in dieser Persönlichkeit veranlagt war, verpflanzte sich dann weiter herunter und erschien in der Essenz dann, als es im weltgeschichtlichen Verlauf gebraucht worden ist. Das ist etwas, was uns eine Ahnung verschaffen soll, welche gesetzmäßigen Geheimnisse sich hinter der Entwickelung der Menschheit verbergen.

Wenn nun so die Mission des althebräischen Volkes vornehmlich darinnen bestand, daß gleichsam hineingeimpft wurde in das Blut, in die physische Vererbung, was durch dieses Volk an Fähigkeiten der Menschheit aus den geistigen Welten gegeben werden sollte, so war eben zur Zeit des Auftretens des Täufers Johannes und des Jesus von Nazareth die Menschheit so weit, daß sie durch diese veredelten Eigenschaften aufnehmen sollte den Impuls, wiederum hinaufzusteigen in die geistige Welt, mit anderen Worten, aufnehmen sollte den Christus-Impuls. Deshalb wurde das gesagt, um anzudeuten, was alles für Veranstaltungen notwendig waren, um innerhalb der physischen Menschheitsentwickelung eine solche Hülle zu schaffen, die umschließen durfte das Christus-Wesen.

Nun fühlen und empfinden wir vielleicht auch das Radikale des Fortschrittes für die Menschheitsmission durch diese bis ins Physische herabgetragene göttliche Mission des jüdischen Volkes, fühlen, wie bis in die physische Materie das Göttliche am tiefsten herabgetragen worden ist, damit von diesem Wendepunkt aus die Menschheit um so mehr wieder hinaufsteigen kann von dem verfeinerten Physischen ins Geistige. Der Aufstieg ins Geistige mußte eben von jener Zeit an beginnen. Dazu aber mußte nunmehr ein solcher Impuls der Menschheit gegeben werden, der gewissermaßen alles, was die Menschheit wollen soll und erwarten soll von der Weltentwickelung, wirklich in jenes tiefste Zentrum des Menschen legte, das mit dem Ich zu bezeichnen ist. In das tiefste Innere des Menschen sollte der Impuls durch Christus hineingehen. Aus dem Leibe des Christus heraus sprach ein solcher Impuls, der an das tiefste Wesen der menschlichen Natur appellierte. Was also sollte unter diesem Impuls anders werden?

Bevor dieser Impuls gekommen war, war es so, daß die Menschen das, was sie am meisten beglückte, am meisten selig oder gotterfüllt machte, in gewisser Weise von außen empfingen oder erwarteten. Wenn man nicht die Weltgeschichte bloß nach den äußeren Urkunden betrachtet, sondern nach dem, was die geistigen Urkunden geben können, so muß man sich sagen: Wir blicken zurück in alte Zeiten, wo der Mensch dadurch in das Reich der geistigen Wesenheiten aufstieg, daß in ihm, sei es mehr oder weniger normal, die Hellsehergabe erwachte. Aber diese Hellsehergabe erwachte traumhaft, während göttlich-geistige Kräfte in ihm wirkten und das Ich heruntergedrückt war. Der Mensch war mehr oder weniger außerhalb des Ich. War er schon im normalen Zustand sich dieses Ich nicht so sehr bewußt als in späteren Zeiten, so war er in den Zeiten, wo der Geist in ihm wirkte und ihn hinauftrug in die geistige Welt, ganz außer sich, ganz außer seinem Ich. Er war völlig hingegeben entweder an das äußere Göttlich-Geistige oder an das Göttlich-Geistige in seiner Seele. Aber in diesen Augenblicken der Ekstase, der Begeisterung war er sich seines Zustandes gar nicht bewußt. Das sollte ja eben kommen, daß der Mensch eine Verbindung finden sollte zum Geistigen aus seinem Ich heraus und von da aus den tiefsten Kern seines Wesens durchdringen konnte mit dem Bewußtsein: Ich gehöre einem göttlich-geistigen Reiche an. —- Das konnte nur dadurch geschehen, daß der Christus auf der Erde lebte, sein Wesen den Erdenwesen einflößte, und daß das Ich sich mit dem durchdringen konnte, was sich als das Vorbild des Christus ergab. Dadurch konnte sich der Mensch sa gen: Ich bin jetzt mit meinem Ich im geistigen Reiche, in den Reichen der Himmel, so wie früher die Menschen außer dem Ich in den Reichen der Himmel waren. «Die Reiche der Himmel sind nahe herbeigekommen!», das war die neue Lehre. Dazu sollte die Seelenverfassung, der Sinn der Menschen geändert werden, um nicht mehr zu glauben, daß man außerhalb des Ich, nur im Zustande der Ekstase, hinaufgetragen werden könnte in die geistige Welt, sondern im Zustande des vollen Ich-Bewußtseins seine Verbindung finden kann mit den Reichen der Himmel.

Daß das geschehen mußte, das kann man noch dadurch einsehen, daß sich der Zustand des alten Hellsehens im Laufe der Jahrtausende immer mehr verschlechtert hat. Während in alten Zeiten der Mensch in seinen ekstatischen Zuständen zu den guten göttlichgeistigen Mächten hinaufstieg, in seine göttlich-geistige Heimat hineinstieg, war das, was dem Menschen in der Zeit der Begründung des Christentums noch geblieben war von ekstatischen Zuständen, so, daß er jetzt, wenn er außerhalb seiner war, nicht mehr zu den guten geistigen Mächten, sondern zu den schlimmen, bösen geistigen Mächten geführt wurde. Das ist überhaupt der große Unterschied zwischen diesen zwei Entwickelungszuständen: Wenn in uralten Zeiten der Mensch mit Unterdrückung des Ich, was wir heute medial nennen würden, sich traumhaft erhob zu den geistigen Welten, dann war er mit guten geistigen Wesenheiten in Gemeinschaft. Das hatte sich aber geändert in jener Zeit, als der Mensch durch das Ich das Band zu den Reichen der Himmel finden sollte; und wenn er jetzt die ekstatischen Zustände suchte oder entwickelte, dann wurden sie bezeichnet als Zustände der «Besessenheit», welche den Menschen mit bösen, ihm feindlichen geistigen Mächten in Verbindung brachten. So mußte in der Zeit, als der Christus Jesus auftrat, geradezu als heilsame Lehre verkündet werden: Es ist nicht richtig, daß ihr versucht, unter Ausschluß eures Ich in Zustände zu kommen, wo ihr die geistigen Welten wahrnehmt, sondern jetzt ist es richtig, daß ihr in eurem tiefsten Wesenskern das Band sucht zu den göttlichgeistigen Reichen!

Diese Lehre liegt im wesentlichen beschlossen in der Bergpredigt des Matthäus-Evangeliums. In alten Zeiten, so könnte man umschreiben, gab es ein traumhaftes Hellsehen. Da wurde der Mensch hinaufversetzt durch Ekstase in geistige Welten. Damals war er reich an geistigem Leben, er war kein Bettler um Geist, wie er es geworden ist in der Zeit, als das Christentum begründet wurde. Wenn er in alten Zeiten durchdrungen war von Geist, von dem, was man im Griechischen «Pneuma» nennt, dann wurde er hinaufentrückt in göttlich-geistige Welten. Jetzt konnte der Christus nicht sagen: Gotterfüllt sind die, welche durch ekstatische Zustände reich werden an Geist! — denn die mußten gerade geheilt werden als die Besessenen. Daher wird vorher von der Heilung der Besessenen gesprochen. Jetzt mußte er verkünden: Die Zeit ist gekommen, wo gotterfüllt sind diejenigen, welche geworden sind Bettler um Geist! — das heißt solche, die sich nicht mehr erheben können zu ekstatischen, zu traumhaft hellseherischen Zuständen, sondern die angewiesen sind, in sich selber das Reich der Himmel zu suchen, von ihrem Ich aus.

Wenn der Mensch früher hineinversetzt war in das Erdenleid und in den Erdenschmerz, dann brauchte er, weil es für ihn ja in seiner Wesenheit einen Zustand gab, durch den er entrückt werden konnte zu den göttlich-geistigen Welten, diesen Zustand nur in sich hervorzurufen. Er brauchte das Leid nicht zu ertragen, sondern wenn Leid ihn befiel, konnte er jenen Zustand aufsuchen, wo er geist- oder gotterfüllt war, und konnte in diesem Zustand, in einem Entrücktsein von seinem Ich, Heilung finden von den Leiden und Schmerzen der Erde. Aber auch diese Zeit mußte von dem Christus Jesus als eine solche bezeichnet werden, die vorüber ist. Jetzt sollen gotterfüllt werden diejenigen, die nicht mehr imstande sind, den Beistand im Leid von außen zu erfahren, sondern die durch Stärkung ihres eigenen Ich die Kraft im Innern suchen; die den Paraklet im Innern finden. Gotterfüllt sind die, die das Leid nicht verscheuchen durch ekstatische Erhebung zum Gott, sondern die es tragen und die Kraft des Ich entwickeln, wodurch sie in sich finden den Paraklet, den man später den «Heiligen Geist» nannte, der sich durch das Ich offenbart.

Noch der Buddha hatte nicht empfohlen, das Leid zu tragen, son dem das Leid abzustreifen, mit allem Erdendurst abzustreifen. Noch sechshundert Jahre vor dem Christus Jesus hat Buddha gerade das als schlimme Folge des Durstes nach Dasein bezeichnet, was als Leid auf der Erde ist. Sechshundert Jahre später sprach es der Christus im zweiten Satz der Bergpredigt aus, daß das Leid nicht in dieser Weise abgestreift werden sollte, sondern getragen werden soll, auf daß es eine Prüfung sei, damit das Ich jene Kraft entwickelt, die es in sich selber finden kann: den inneren Beistand, den «Paraklet». Das ist wörtlich im zweiten Satz der Bergpredigt enthalten bis auf den Ausdruck «Paraklet». Man muß nur die Dinge in der richtigen Weise lesen. Das ist ja gerade die Aufgabe in unserer Zeit, aus dem, was uns die Geisteswissenschaft gibt, die großen, ebenfalls geisteswissenschaftlichen Urkunden lesen zu lernen.

Ein drittes ist dies: Wenn in alten Zeiten die Menschen sich durchdringen konnten mit dem, was aus der Ekstase kommt, was man im Griechischen als «Pneuma», Geist, bezeichnet, dann wurden sie instinktiv ihre Bahn geleitet. Alle Impulse, Handlungen, Leidenschaften, Triebe und Begierden, kurz alles, was im astralischen Leib des Menschen ist, das wurde instinktiv geleitet; es wurde zum Guten geleitet, wenn der Mensch imstande war, sich zu guten geistigen Wesenheiten zu erheben. Aber es war noch nicht von dem Ich ausgegangen die innere Kraft, Leidenschaften, Triebe und so weiter zu zähmen, zu läutern und ins Gleichgewicht zu bringen. Jetzt aber war die Zeit gekommen -— das mußte wiederum der Christus verkünden -, wo die Menschen, wenn sie zähmen und läutern, gleichmütig machen die Leidenschaften, Triebe, Begierden ihres Astralleibes, durch sich selber erreichen, was das Ziel der gegenwärtigen Menschheit ist und was man dadurch ausdrückt, daß man hinweist auf den grofßen Fortgang der Entwickelung. Dieser Fortgang der Entwickelung hat sich uns oft in folgender Weise dargestellt. Der Mensch begann sein Dasein auf dem alten Saturn, setzte es fort durch Sonnenund Mondendasein und bekam auf der Erde sein Ich zuerteilt. Aber nur wenn er sich seines Ich bewußt wird, wenn er das, was ihm in seinem astralischen Leib noch auf dem Monde gegeben ward, zähmt, gleichmütig macht, kann er das Ziel der Erdenmission wirklich erreichen. Diejenigen können durch den Christus-Impuls gotterfüllt werden, die ihre Triebe und Begierden im astralischen Leib zähmen, gleichmütig machen. Dadurch werden sie durch sich selber finden die Erde. — So ist im dritten Satz der Bergpredigt dieses, was eigentlich immer mit einem unsinnigen Wort übersetzt wird, gesagt: Diejenigen, welche gleichmütig machen — nicht: sanftmütig — ihre Triebe, Begierden und Leidenschaften, werden als ein Los zugeteilt erhalten, oder man kann auch sagen, erben die Erde.

Da haben wir die drei ersten Sätze der Bergpredigt in ihrer ganzen weltgeschichtlichen Bedeutung vor uns stehen: Was im Physischen durch eine besondere Ausbildung des physischen Leibes in alten Menschheitszeiten möglich war, daß die Menschen in hellseherisch-traumhaften Zuständen das Geistige sahen, das ist im ersten Satz der Bergpredigt für den physischen Leib ausgesprochen, der jetzt verarmt ist an innerer Geisterfülltheit. Für den Ätherleib, durch den das Leid bewußt wird, wenn es auch zunächst im astralischen Leib bewußt wird, ist angedeutet, daß die Menschen in sich selber eine Kraft entwickeln müssen, um einen Beistand zu finden gegen das Leid, das sie als Prüfung tragen. Dann haben wir für den astralischen Leib angeführt, daß der Mensch durch Zähmung und Läuterung seiner Triebe, Leidenschaften und so weiter jene starke Kraft in seinem Innern findet, wodurch er ein eigentliches Ich wird und die Mission der Erde als sein Los zugeteilt erhält.

Wenn wir jetzt zu dem Ich hinauf kommen, so wissen wir, daß dieses Ich arbeitet in der Empfindungsseele, in der Verstandesseele und in der Bewußstseinsseele. Das Ich arbeitet in der Empfindungsseele, das heißt, es vergeistigt die Empfindungsseele. Dadurch wird für den Menschen in der äußeren Welt dasjenige zu einer wichtigen Angelegenheit, was gerade durch das Christentum verbreitet werden soll: die Allgerechtigkeit ausgießende menschliche Bruderliebe. Was sonst die Empfindungsseele nur im Physischen empfindet, Durst und Hunger, das muß sie durch das Christentum in bezug auf das Geistige zu empfinden lernen: Durst und Hunger nach der allwaltenden Gerechtigkeit. Diejenigen, welche so das Zentrum des Menschen im Ich finden, werden dadurch, daß sie an sich selber arbeiten, befriedigt werden für ihr Verlangen in der Empfindungsseele nach allwaltender irdischer Gerechtigkeit. Gotterfüllt werden sie sein, die durch den Christus-Impuls lernen nach Gerechtigkeit zu dürsten und zu hungern, wie man nach physischer Nahrung hungert und dürstet, denn durch die starke Kraft in ihrem Innern werden sie dadurch, daß sie arbeiten an der Gerechtigkeit in der Welt, in sich selber finden die Sattheit für diese Eigenschaft!

Nun kommen wir zur Verstandesseele. Wir haben öfter betont: Während in der Empfindungsseele das Ich noch dumpf brütet, glänzt es zuerst auf als eigentliches menschliches Ich in der Verstandesseele, um sich dann voll bewußt zu werden in der Bewußtseinsseele und da erst ein reines Ich zu werden. Da ist also etwas ganz Eigentümliches vorhanden: Das menschliche Ich, dasjenige, wodurch wir allen Menschen gleich sind, was ein jeder in sich trägt, glänzt auf in der Verstandesseele. Wo wir auch einen Menschen finden in der Welt, er ist dadurch ein Mensch und unseresgleichen, daß in seiner Verstandesseele ein Ich aufglänzt. Dadurch werden wir zu unseren Mitmenschen in ein richtiges Verhältnis kommen, daß uns gerade in der. Verstandesseele etwas aufgeht, das wir so, wie wir es empfangen können, in die Außenwelt hinaustragen sollen. In der Verstandesseele sollen wir etwas entwickeln, was wir so in die Umgebung hinausfließen lassen, wie es wieder zu uns zurückfließen soll. Daher ist es in der Bergpredigt das einzige Mal, daß das Subjekt des Satzes dem Prädikat gleich ist: Gotterfüllt, oder selig, sind die, die da Liebe entfalten; denn durch das Ausstrahlen der Liebe wird ihnen wieder Liebe. — Darinnen sehen Sie die unendliche Tiefe einer solchen geistigen Urkunde, daß sie selbst in ihrer Satzfügung bis in solche Einzelheiten hinein verstanden werden kann, wenn man nach und nach durch Jahre hindurch zusammengetragen hat, was Geisteswissenschaft geben kann, um den Menschen und die Welt zu begreifen. Den fünften Satz der Bergpredigt kann man gar nicht verstehen in seinem Unterschiede zu den anderen Sätzen, die alle ein anderes Prädikat als Subjekt haben, wenn man nicht den Hinweis dieses Satzes kennt gerade auf die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele.

Jetzt gehen wir hinauf zur Arbeit des Ich an der Bewußtseinsseele. Da wird das Ich sozusagen erst rein, kann sich seiner selbst erst vollständig bewußt werden. Das wird in der Bergpredigt sehr schön dadurch ausgedrückt, daß gesagt wird: Nur im Ich kann es sein, wo die göttliche Substanz dem Menschen aufgeht. Gotterfüllt sind die, die in ihrem Blute oder Herzen — was der Ausdruck des Ich ist — rein sind, die nichts hineinkommen lassen als das, was die reine Ichheit ist, denn sie werden darinnen den Gott erkennen, den Gott schauen!

Jetzt kommen wir hinauf zu demjenigen in der Bergpredigt, was schon nach dem Geistselbst, Lebensgeist und Geistesmenschen hin gerichtet ist. Da kann der Mensch nicht mehr bloß durch sich selber arbeiten, da muß er auf der jetzigen Entwickelungsstufe appellieren an die göttlich-geistigen Welten, die gerade durch den Christus in Verbindung mit der Erde gebracht worden sind, da muß er mit seinem Ich aufschauen zu den erneuerten göttlich-geistigen Welten. Während früher in die Menschheit hineingekommen ist, und auch heute noch hineinkommt Streit und Disharmonte durch die Ichheit, soll sich durch den Christus-Impuls über die Erde ausgießen Friede. Und diejenigen, welche den Christus-Impuls aufnehmen, werden in jenem Teil der Menschennatur, der sich erst nach und nach in der Zukunft als Geistselbst entwickelt, Friedenstifter werden; und sie werden dadurch in einem neuen Sinne «Söhne Gottes» werden, indem sie den Geist aus den geistigen Reichen heruntertragen. Gotterfüllt sind die, die da Frieden oder Harmonie bringen in die Welt; dadurch sind sie Söhne Gottes! — Denn so müssen die genannt werden, die wirklich innerlich erfüllt sind von einem Geistselbst, das Frieden und Harmonie bringen soll über die Erde.

Nun müssen wir uns klar sein, daß von allem, was sich auf der Erde entwickelt, Restliches aus früheren Zeiten zurückbleibt in spätere Zeiten hinein. Dieses Restliche ist in gewisser Weise demjenigen feindlich, was sich als Keim immer hineinstellt in die späteren Zeiten. So wird dasjenige, was der Christus-Impuls bringt, hineingestellt in die ganze Menschheitsentwickelung, aber nicht auf einmal, sondern so, daß Reste vorhanden bleiben von dem, was die frühere Menschheitsentwickelung gebracht hat. Da ist es notwendig, daß die, welche diesen Christus-Impuls zuerst verstehen, feststehen auf dem Boden desselben, ganz innerlich durchdrungen sind von seiner Kraft. Und wenn sie innerlich durchdrungen sind von der Kraft, die von dem Samen ausgeht, der durch den Christus gekommen ist, und wenn sie feststehen auf diesem Boden, dann werden sie gerade dadurch, daß sie die Kraft der Festigkeit entwickeln, im neuen Sinne gotterfüllt sein. Gotterfüllt sind die, die unter der neuen Ordnung, die unter dem Christus steht, Verfolgung erleiden von dem, was noch aus der alten Ordnung hereinragt! — Und der letzte Satz der Bergpredigt weist direkt auf den Christus-Impuls selber hin, indem er zu den Aposteln sagt: Und gotterfüllt sollt ihr sein, die ihr besonders berufen seid, den Namen des Christus in die Welt zu tragen! So sehen wir, wie aus den großen kosmologischen und Menschheitslehren heraus in der Bergpredigt direkt das Christentum abgeleitet wird, und daß überall hingewiesen wird auf jene Kraft des Innern, die im Ich selber ihren Mittelpunkt finden muß. Das muß durchaus verstanden werden. Das muß bis heute verstanden werden, und es muß bis heute so verstanden werden, daß nicht diejenigen glauben, im echten Sinne christlich zu sein, welche etwa in irgendwelchen dogmatischen Nebenbedeutungen das Christentum suchen, sondern gerade diejenigen sind im echten Sinne christlich, welche die Bedeutung des Satzes verstehen: Ändert die Seelenverfassung oder den Sinn, denn die Reiche der Himmel sind bis ins Ich hineingestiegen! — Die sind im echten Sinne christlich zu nennen, die darinnen das Wesentliche sehen, und die auch weiter verstehen, daß dasjenige, was im wahren Sinne christlich ist, anders ausgesprochen werden mußte im Beginne unserer Zeitrechnung und anders ausgesprochen werden muß heute!

Es ist ein schlimmes Mißverständnis des Christentums, wenn man glauben wollte, daß das, was als christlich mit den Worten der Zeit von vor zwei Jahrtausenden bezeichnet wurde, sich bis heute nicht weiter entwickelt hätte. Man müßte das Christentum als eine tote Kulturströmung bezeichnen, wenn man heute ebenso reden müßte wie vor zweitausend Jahren. Das Christentum ist ein lebendiges! Es entwickelt sich und wird sich immer weiter entwickeln. Und so wahr es ist, daß das Christentum seinen Ausgangspunkt nehmen mußte von der Zeit, in der die Menschen heruntergestiegen sind bis auf den physischen Plan, seinen Ausgangspunkt nehmen mußte von einer Vermenschlichung eines Gotteswesens in einem physischen Menschenleib, ebenso wahr ist es, daß die Menschen gerade in unserer Zeit lernen müssen, sich hinauf zu erheben, um das Christentum “und die Christus-Wesenheit selber wieder zu verstehen von einem höheren geistigen Standpunkt aus. Was heißt das?

So wahr die alten traumhaft hellseherischen Kräfte sich verloren haben, so daß zur Zeit des Christus nicht mehr die als gotterfüllt bezeichnet werden konnten, die im alten Sinne geisterfüllt waren, sondern die, die in sich selber fanden die Reiche der Himmel, so wahr ist es, daß mit diesem vollen Bewußtsein des Ich die Menschen wieder hinaufsteigen in die geistige Welt und sich wieder neue Kräfte und Fähigkeiten entwickeln werden. Und so wahr zur Zeit des Täufers die Zeit gekommen war, wo die Menschen jene Fähigkeiten gerade zu einer Krisis gebracht hatten, die auf den physischen Plan herunterführen, so wahr ist es, daß wir gegenwärtig in einer wichtigsten Zeit stehen. Was man das finstere Zeitalter nennt, das begonnen hat mit dem Jahre 3101 vor Christus, und das seinen Höhepunkt erreicht hatte, als sich der Christus verkörperte, das hat sein Ende erreicht am Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts. Das Kali Yuga hat sein Ende erreicht im Jahre 1899, und wir gehen einer Zeit entgegen, in welcher sich auf natürliche Weise unter den Menschen neue Kräfte und Fähigkeiten entwickeln, die sich noch in der ersten Hälfte unseres jetzigen Jahrhunderts klar und deutlich zeigen werden. Diese neuen Kräfte und Fähigkeiten wird man verstehen müssen. Insbesondere diejenige Menschheit, welche die Aufgabe der Geisteswissenschaft begriffen hat, wird verstehen müssen, daß ein solches Erheben zum Geistigen wieder möglich ist. Denn in den wichtigen Zeiten, die auf das Jahr 1930 folgen werden, werden einzelne Menschen wie aus ihrer Natur heraus fähig werden, höhere Kräfte zu entwikkeln, wodurch sichtbar werden wird, was wir den Ätherleib nennen. Ätherisch hellseherische Kräfte werden sich entwickeln bei einer Anzahl von Menschen.

Zweierlei wird dann möglich sein. Entweder der Materialismus unseres Zeitalters geht weiter: Dann wird man, wenn solche Kräfte sich zeigen, nicht verstehen, daß sie hinaufführen in die geistigen Welten; man wird sie mißverstehen, und dadurch werden sie unterdrückt werden. Wenn das geschähe, würde das nicht dazu berechtigen, daß die Menschen aus dem materialistischen Sinne heraus am Ende des Jahres 1940 etwa sagten: Nun seht, was das für phantastische Propheten waren am Anfange des 20. Jahrhunderts! Nichts hat sich erfüllt! — Denn wenn die neuen Fähigkeiten nicht da sein werden, wird das keine Widerlegung dessen sein, was jetzt gesagt werden kann und muß, sondern es wird nur ein Beweis dafür sein, daß die unverständige Menschheit diese Fähigkeiten im Keime erstickt und sich dadurch etwas genommen haben wird, was die Menschheit wird haben müssen, wenn sie in ihrer Entwickelung nicht verdorren und veröden will. Das ist die große Verantwortung der Anthroposophie. Die Anthroposophie ist entsprungen aus der Erkenntnis der Notwendigkeit, daß vorgearbeitet werden muß für etwas, was kommen wird, und das auch übersehen und unterdrückt werden könnte. Vorzuarbeiten hat die Anthroposophie für das Verständnis geistig sich entwickelnder Kräfte der Menschheit. Werden diese Kräfte unterdrückt werden, dann wird die Menschheit weiter in den Sumpf des Materialismus hineingehen.

Das andere ist, daß die Anthroposophie Glück hat mit ihren Lehren zur Verbreitung eines Verständnisses für die Erhebung der Menschen in die geistige Welt, daß sie Glück hat mit dem Herausheben der Menschen aus materialistischer Gesinnung. Dann aber wird jetzt etwas eintreten müssen aus der anthroposophischen Geistesbewegung heraus, was in früheren Jahrhunderten sich vorbereitet hat, was aber jetzt in unserer Zeit an einem besonders wichtigen Wendepunkt sich voll entwickeln muß.

Die früheren Jahrhunderte waren dazu geeignet, den materialistischen Sinn der Menschheit immer mehr zu pflegen. Daher konnte man früher unter dem materialistischen Einfluß glauben, daß der Christus-Impuls und die Christus-Wesenheit mit der Erde dadurch in eine Beziehung treten werde, daß sie sich noch einmal oder vielleicht noch öfter in einen physischen Leib, in einen materiellen Leib hinein verkörpern werde. Statt sich Klarheit darüber zu verschaffen, daß die Menschen hinaufwachsen werden mit ihren Fähigkeiten, um in größerer Anzahl, und zuletzt alle, das Ereignis von Damaskus zu erleben, das heißt, den Christus in der Erdenatmosphäre zu erleben, ihn im Ätherleibe zu schauen, statt dessen hat man immer geglaubt, der Christus werde wieder heruntersteigen in einen physischen Leib, damit er befriedigen könne den materialistischen Sinn der Menschen, die nicht glauben wollen an den Geist, an das, was Paulus gesehen hat in dem Freignis von Damaskus: Der Christus ist in der Erdenatmosphäre, er ist immer da! «Ich bin bei euch alle Tage bis an der Welt Ende!» — Wer sich durch die Methoden des Hellsehens hinaufentwickelt zum Schauen in der geistigen Welt, der findet das, was in der vorchristlichen Zeit nicht zu finden war in den geistigen Welten: den Christus in seinem Ätherleibe. Das ist der wichtige Fortschritt in der Menschheitsentwickelung, daß noch bevor die erste Hälfte unseres Jahrhunderts abgelaufen sein wird, bei vielen Menschen sich wie auf natürliche Art jene Fähigkeit entwickeln wird, durch die sie das Ereignis von Damaskus zu einer persönlichen Erfahrung machen und den Christus in seinem Ätherleib schauen werden. Nicht heruntersteigen ins Fleisch wird der Christus, sondern hinaufsteigen werden die Menschen, wenn sie sich Verständnis für den Geist erworben haben.

Das bedeutet das Wiederkommen des Christus in unserem Zeitalter, weil in diesem 20. Jahrhundert die Menschen sich herausarbeiten müssen aus dem Kali Yuga zu einem hellseherischen Zeitalter, zu dem die ersten Keime gelegt werden müssen in diesem Jahrhundert. Hinaufsteigen werden die Menschen durch die Fähigkeiten, die da kommen werden, zu dem Christus, der da ist, und der gesehen werden kann von der Vorhut derjenigen Menschen, die durch die anthroposophische Verkündigung zu dem geführt werden, was im Laufe der nächsten 2500 Jahre mehr oder weniger alle Menschenseelen erleben werden.

Das ist das große Ereignis, was der Menschheit für die nächste Zukunft bevorsteht, daß wiederum gotterfüllt sein werden diejenigen, die sich jetzt mit vollem Ich-Bewußtsein hinauferheben zum ätherischen Sehen des Christus in seinem Ätherleib. Dazu muß aber der materialistische Sinn gründlich überwunden werden und die Menschheit Verständnis gewinnen für spirituelle Lehren, für spirituelles Leben.

In den verflossenen Jahrhunderten war es verhältnismäßig unschädlich, wenn die Menschen aus dem Materialismus immer wieder irregeführt werden konnten in bezug auf das sogenannte Wiederkommen des Christus. Gerade in Zeiten, in denen in geringerem Maße eine Übergangszeit vorhanden war, wo sich vorbereitete, was heute als materialistischer Sinn auf einem Höhepunkt angelangt ist, da wurde zum Beispiel in weiten Kreisen Frankreichs verkündet, daß im Jahre 1137 ein Messias erscheinen werde. Ein Messias ist dazumal auch aufgetreten, der aber die Menschen irregeführt hat, weil der Glaube an ihn herausgeboren war durch den materialistischen Sinn, weil man glaubte, der Messias müßte im Fleische erscheinen. Dreißig Jahre früher erschien ein anderer Messias in Spanien; auch da wurde prophetisch vorherverkündet, es würde ein Messias im Fleische erscheinen. Und ungefähr um dieselbe Zeit erschien ein anderer neuer Messias in Nordafrika. Auch da war prophezeit worden, er werde von Osten kommen und im Fleische erscheinen. Und die ganze Zeit über, wo der materialistische Sinn sich vorbereitet hat dadurch, daß die höchsten Dinge von ihm ergriffen wurden, erschienen derartige prophetische Vorhersagungen, die durchaus für den, der die Zeiten kennt, etwas Bekanntes sind, bis hinein in das 17. Jahrhundert, wo weit und breit gepredigt wurde, es werde eine Art Christus, ein Messias, erscheinen, Das fand wiederum Glauben bei dem materialistischen religiösen Sinn der Menschen. Daher konnte, fußend auf dieser Prophezeihung, ein falscher Messias im Jahre 1667 in Smyrna auftreten, mit dem Namen Schabbathai Zewi. Er schrieb damals von Smyrna aus Episteln und Briefe, welche die Welt ebenso erschütterten, trotzdem sie gar nichts waren als trügerische Dinge, weil sie im materialistischen Sinne gehalten waren als trügerische Dinge, weil sie im materialistischen Sinne gehalten waren, wie einstmals die Paulus-Briefe die Welt erschütterten. Im 17. Jahrhundert verbreitete sich von Smyrna aus die Kunde: Es lebt dort ein Messias im Fleisch! -— Und Schabbathai Zewi der «Gerechte Gottes», wurde so angesehen, daß man sagte, es werde jetzt die ganze Weltenzeitrechnung eine ganz andere Gestalt annehmen: Er wird mit seinen Getreuen durch die Welt ziehen, und an ihn sollen glauben alle, die die Wahrheit sehen wollen, die den Christus im Fleische sehen wollen! — Gepredigt wurde ihnen, daß sein physischer Geburtstag als das größte Fest der Menschheit und der Erde gefeiert werden müsse! Ganze Scharen von Menschen pilgerten dahin, nicht nur aus Asien und Afrika, sondern auch aus Polen, Rußland, Spanien, Frankreich und so weiter. Ganze Züge von Wallfahrern gingen nach Smyrna zu Schabbathai Zewi, der als Christus im Fleische auftrat, bis die Sache einen zu großen Umfang annahm und Schabbathai Zewi vom Sultan gefangen gesetzt wurde. Da sagten die Leute: Das ist nur die ErfülJung einer Prophezeiung, denn es ist vorhergesagt, daß er neun Monate in Gefangenschaft sitzen werde. — Da wußte der Sultan sich nicht anders zu helfen, als daß er Schabbathai Zewi unbekleidet aufstellen ließ und sagte: Ich will an dir erproben, ob du wirklich ein Messias, ein Christus im Fleische bist, ich will nach dir schießen lassen! — Und da gestand endlich Schabbathai Zewi, daß er nur ein gewöhnlicher Rabbi sei.

Solche Versuchungen gehen hervor aus dem materialistischen Sinn unserer Zeit. Und dergleichen wird wiederkommen, denn den materialistischen Sinn werden die Menschen benutzen. Es wird oft und oft in den nächsten Jahrzehnten gesagt werden, was jetzt ausgesprochen worden ist, daß sich die menschlichen Fähigkeiten bis zum ätherischen Anblick des Christus hinaufentwickeln werden, an dessen Realität die Menschen dann ebenso sicher glauben können, wie Paulus selbst daran geglaubt hat! Das ist die nächste Zukunft der Menschheit, zu der heute die Geisteswissenschaft die Menschen vorbereiten soll. Aber es wird durch den materialistischen Sinn der Menschen auch die Zeit der starken Versuchung kommen, wo falsche Messiasse wieder erscheinen werden im Fleische. Dann wird es sich zeigen, ob die Theosophen die Theosophie richtig verstanden haben werden! Die sie nicht richtig verstanden haben, die werden vom materialistischen Sinn so durchkränkelt sein, daß sie der Versuchung verfallen werden. Trotzdem sie an den Christus glauben, werden sie an einen Christus im Fleische glauben. Die aber, welche Verständnis für wirkliches geistiges Leben gewonnen haben, die werden verstehen, daß das «Wiederkommen des Christus» in unserem Jahrhundert, als das größte Ereignis, bedeutet: Der Christus kommt zu den Menschen im Geiste, weil die Menschen durch ihre Entwickelung zum Geistigen hin sich bis zum Christus entwickelt haben! Und dadurch erfährt in unserem Jahrhundert die Bergpredigt eine völlige Modifikation. Alles wird sozusagen neugestaltet werden. Gotterfüllt oder selig werden die sein, die durch ihr Betteln um Geist in den verflossenen Inkarnationen so weit gekommen sein werden, daß sie hinaufgestiegen sein werden in jene Region der Reiche der Himmel, wo ihnen der Christus vor das geistige Auge tritt!

So könnte jeder einzelne Satz der Bergpredigt in seiner neuen Gestalt in diesem Sinne wiedergegeben werden. Das Christentum wird nur seine Urkunden wiedererobern können, wenn man es lebendig erfaßt, wenn man weiß, daß es kein Totes, sondern ein Lebendiges ist. In jener Zeit — und es ist unsere Zeit —, in der sozusagen die materialistische Forschung dem Menschen das Evangelium und die Überlieferung von dem Christus nimmt, wird, das ist oft betont worden, die geistige Forschung die Evangelien den Menschen wiedergeben. Das ist ein Zusammentreffen, das nicht zufällig, sondern notwendig ist. Mögen in unserer Zeit, weil ihr materialistischer Sinn, der bis ins höchste gestiegen ist, an eine Krisis gekommen ist, immerhin gewisse arme Menschen auftreten, die aus einer irregeleiteten Philosophie zu der sonderbaren Anschauung kommen können, daß es Wirkungen ohne Ursachen gibt, daß es keinen historischen Christus Jesus gegeben hat; das ist etwas, was dem Anthroposophen begreiflich sein soll. Er soll mit einem gewissen Mitleid sogar zu blicken wissen auf jene armen Menschen, die trotz ihrer Philosophie so in den materialistischen Sinn hineinverstrickt sind, daß sie sich überhaupt die Fähigkeit abgewöhnt haben, den Geist zu ahnen und daher immerfort dem Satz, den sie sonst immer zugeben, ins Gesicht schlagen: Es gibt keine Wirkung ohne Ursache. Das Christentum als Wirkung kann nicht da sein ohne Ursache! Anthroposophie wird es sein, die den Menschen aus der Geistesforschung heraus den Christus in jener Gestalt, in der er lebendig ist, lehren wird, wenn diese Menschen diesen Lehren nur Verständnis entgegenbringen wollen, Verständnis selbst so weit, daß man klar erkennt: Der Christus wird wiederkommen, aber in einer höheren Realität, als die physische ist, in einer solchen Realität, zu der man nur wird aufschauen können, wenn man sich erst den Sinn und das Verständnis für das geistige Leben wird erworben haben.

Schreiben Sie sich in Ihr Herz, was Anthroposophie sein soll: eine Vorbereitung für die große Epoche der Menschheit, die uns bevorsteht. Lassen Sie es sich dabei nicht als etwas Wesentliches erscheinen, ob die Seelen, die heute hier verkörpert sind, dann noch im physischen Leibe verkörpert sein werden, wenn der Christus in der geschilderten Weise wiederkommt, oder ob sie bereits durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind und in jenem Leben stehen, das zwischen Tod und der neuen Geburt abläuft. Denn was im 20. Jahrhundert geschieht, hat eine Bedeutung nicht nur für die physische Welt, sondern für alle Welten, mit denen der Mensch in Beziehung steht. Und ebenso wie die Menschen, die verkörpert sein werden zwischen den Jahren 1930 und 1950, erleben werden das Hinaufschauen zu dem ätherischen Christus, ebenso wird ein gewaltiger Umschwung eintreten in der Welt, in der der Mensch lebt zwischen Tod und Geburt. Gerade so wie der Christus nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha heruntergestiegen ist in die Reiche der Unterwelt, so gehen die Wirkungen der Ereignisse, die in unserer Zeit geschehen für die Bewohner des physischen Planes, hinauf in die geistigen Welten. Und den Menschen, die sich nicht durch Geisteswissenschaft vorbereiten werden auf das große Ereignis, denen entgeht in jener Zeit das Gewaltige, das sich auch vollziehen wird in den geistigen Welten, in denen der Mensch dann lebt. Diese Menschen müssen dann warten bis zu einer neuen Verkörperung, um dann auf der Erde zu erfahren, was sie fähig macht, den neuen Christus-Impuls zu empfangen. Denn zu allen Christus-Impulsen, wenn sie uns auch noch so hoch hinauftragen, müssen wir uns die Fähigkeit erringen auf dem physischen Plan. Nicht umsonst ist der Mensch so in die physische Welt hinunterversetzt worden: Hier müssen wir uns das aneignen, was zum Verständnis des Christus-Impulses führt! Für alle Seelen, die leben, ist Geistesforschung die Vorbereitung auf das Christus-Ereignis, das uns in der nächsten Zukunft bevorsteht. Diese Vorbereitung ist notwendig. Und auf dieses Christus-Ereignis werden in den Vorgängen der Menschheitsentwickelung andere folgen. Daher wird es gerade ein wichtiges Versäumnis sein für die Menschen, die sich nicht zu dem Christus-Ereignis erheben wollen in unserem Jahrhundert, wo sie dazu Gelegenheit haben.

Wenn wir so die Geisteswissenschaft betrachten und uns in die Seele schreiben, dann erst fühlen wir, was sie jeder einzelnen Menschenseele ist, und was sie sein soll der gesamten Menschheit.

Fourth Lecture

The subject of our consideration today has already been touched upon last time. Today we must once again refer to that significant document contained in the sentences of the Sermon on the Mount, in order to then take a look at our present and the near future of humanity from the perspective of this document.

The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew can only be understood if one grasps it in its entirety and comprehends it from the perspective of the development of the whole of humanity. If we briefly review what we considered last time, namely that the old, dim clairvoyance of human beings gradually receded, that human abilities and human knowledge had to become more and more limited to the physical plane, and that for this reason the connection between human beings and the spiritual worlds had to be established from an event on the physical plane, when we hold all this together, we will understand that the divine-spiritual being whom we have characterized as the high sun being, as Christ, had to incarnate in a physical body at a time when human beings were limited in their perception to the physical plane. This was done so that the most essential aspects of the life of this divine-spiritual being could be described in terms and words that relate to the physical plane. For it is not only important that those few in relation to the whole of humanity who were able to gain a physical view and observation of Christ Jesus had this view on the physical plane, but it is important that what can be told about Christ Jesus are representations that reflect events on the physical plane.

For of everything that was said in earlier times about other divine-spiritual beings, it could not be said that the narrative, which uses the words of the physical plane, corresponds to actual events. Everything that was said about the highest divine beings must be understood in such a way that the words could only be taken as indications, but that what happened can only be understood by those who can apply the words to the processes of the higher planes. But the life of Christ Jesus, as it unfolded, can be understood by anyone who is even capable of applying what is told to events on the physical plane. And in this sense, we can say that the Christ being descended into a physical embodiment, completely to the point of living in a physical body. This had to happen because human abilities at that time were of this nature, because at that time the human ego as such had to become conscious of its own nature if the development of humanity was to proceed in the appropriate manner.

We have already seen that the most important mediator of the event in Palestine was one of the older individualities of Zarathustra or Zoroaster. But in order for him to become what he had to become at that time, a body had to be created that contained within itself, like an extract, everything that was given to an entire people, a people that had to give humanity those abilities that must be transmitted through physical inheritance. We must regard this as the essence of the ancient Hebrew people from Abraham to Jesus, that from generation to generation those abilities had to develop which had to be passed on from father to son, from son to grandson, and so on, in ever-increasing measure, so that they could then appear in their highest and most useful form in that body which had been passed down from Abraham through Solomon to Jesus, who was the bearer of Zarathustra. Much, much more will be needed before we will be able to understand the entire mission of the ancient Hebrew people in all its details through our reflections, which will continue to be cultivated here in the future. For this requires that we gradually learn to understand how, from generation to generation, those qualities that the body of Jesus needed were increasingly refined. This body had to be made as capable as possible for its world-historical task. This was only possible because everything that belonged to the body of the Solomonic Jesus was as perfect as possible in relation to those abilities themselves.

Now we know that since ancient times the four members of the human nature, the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the I, have been active in every human body, and that in the future the spirit itself, the life spirit, and the spirit man will be active. But we must not view this as if, for example, the activity of the astral body suddenly ceased and the later did not prepare itself in the earlier. In a certain sense, everything that comes later must be prepared in what came before. Today, human beings cannot work on themselves through their own efforts in such a way that, for example, the life spirit would be particularly expressed in them; but other divine-spiritual beings work in human beings with an activity that can be called the activity of the life spirit. This also applies to the spiritual human being. All seven members of the body of Jesus of Nazareth, or rather of the human organization of Jesus of Nazareth, had to be refined in terms of the qualities that were relevant. This required very special preparation. This preparation should give us an initial idea of the secrets that are actually hidden in the development of humanity and the Earth.

The seeds of the perfection of the body of Jesus of Nazareth had to be prepared long in advance. We have seen how, in the period from Abraham to Solomon or David, the first period worked on the generations in the same way as the physical is worked on in the individual human being in the period from birth to the change of teeth. The work was carried out by the forces behind evolution in such a way that, at a certain point in time, there was an ancestor of Jesus who already possessed the potential for the most perfect abilities, which then emerged in the body that became the vehicle for Zarathustra. Thus, in an ancestor of Jesus, the potential for the proper development of all seven members of the human nature was present, so to speak. In other words: If we go back in the ancestral line of Jesus of Nazareth, we must find such an ancestor who contained the seeds of the sevenfold human nature, even if not as perfectly developed as in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, but at least in the potential for this perfection. Although this is not expressed in the outer tradition, the ancient Hebrew secret teaching knew this fact. It knew that there once lived a human being in whom the seven human members worked in such a way that they must be described as particularly remarkable. The initiates of the ancient Hebrew secret teaching also point to an ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth in whom they were aware of this: We must view the seven human members in this ancestor in a very special way.

And so they called the I in this ancestor “Itiel,” to indicate that in this ancestor the I must have had that power — for the word “kiel” means approximately “power holder.” — that power, that boldness which, when inherited through the generations, could become the true bearer of the I for that high being who was then to reappear in Jesus of Nazareth. So they called the astral body of that ancestor “Lamuel”; that would roughly describe an astral body that is so developed that it feels the law, the lawfulness, not only outside itself, but as something it carries within itself. They called the etheric body of this ancestor “Ben Jake,” which means an etheric body that has been worked through as thoroughly as possible and is able to absorb habits in a certain perfection. And they called the physical body of this ancestor “Agur,” because the physical activity, the ability of this ancestor on the physical plane, consisted in collecting what was available in ancient traditions; for “Agur” would mean “the collector.” Just as all the ancient teachings of the world were gathered through what took place in the body of Jesus, so this had already developed as a predisposition in this ancestor through the gathering of ancient documents. And what worked in this ancestor as Atma or spiritual man, they called, because the love of the divine-spiritual beings worked with special care, so to speak, on this predisposition to become a spiritual man, with a word that would mean approximately “the beloved of God,” “Jedidiah.” And what worked in this ancestor as Buddhi or life spirit, of which they said: In this ancestor there must be such a life spirit working that he can act as a teacher of the whole people, so that what this life spirit contains can be expressed to the whole people—they called this “Kohelet.” And finally, they called this ancestor Manas or spirit self — because they said that such a spirit self must contain within itself the capacity to be inwardly complete, to be in balance within itself — with a word that means “inner balance,” “Solomon.”

Thus, this ancestor, who is usually known only by the name “Schelomo,” “Schlomo,” or “Solomon,” has three main names: Jedidiah, Kohelet, Solomon; and he has four secondary names, Agur, Ben Jake, Lamuel, and Itiel, because these names signify the four shells, while the first three names designate the divine inner being. This personality has seven names in the ancient Hebrew secret teachings.

And if later, so to speak, people, including certain sects among the Jews themselves, were not satisfied with Solomon — whether rightly or wrongly, that is not to be examined here — this can be explained by the fact that Solomon had high, very great, significant predispositions which were then to be transplanted to the stated goal, and that the individual human being at a certain stage of development in his outer life does not always have to represent what he is to bequeath to his descendants as a predisposition, that perhaps precisely because he has high powers within him, he is more exposed to the possibility of failing to follow the direction of such powers than another who does not have such powers within himself. What one would perceive as moral errors in Solomon would not contradict what the ancient Hebrew secret doctrine sees in Solomon; on the contrary, it would explain precisely what was wrong with Solomon.

Thus, the ancient Hebrew secret doctrine looked to an ancestor of Jesus, whose significance in relation to the entire mission of the ancient Hebrew people it was fully aware of. Everything that was inherent in this personality was then transplanted further down and appeared in essence when it was needed in the course of world history. This is something that should give us an idea of the lawful mysteries hidden behind the development of humanity.

If, then, the mission of the ancient Hebrew people consisted primarily in implanting into the blood, into the physical inheritance, what this people was to give to humanity from the spiritual worlds in the way of abilities, then at the time of the appearance of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, humanity was ready that through these ennobled qualities it should take up the impulse to ascend again into the spiritual world, in other words, take up the Christ impulse. This was said to indicate all that was necessary in order to create, within the physical evolution of humanity, a shell that could enclose the Christ being.

Now we may also feel and sense the radical nature of the progress for the mission of humanity through this divine mission of the Jewish people, which was carried down into the physical realm, feel how the divine was carried down into the deepest physical matter so that, from this turning point, humanity could ascend all the more from the refined physical to the spiritual. The ascent into the spiritual had to begin at that time. But to do this, humanity had to be given an impulse that would place everything that humanity should want and expect from world development into the deepest center of the human being, which can be described as the I. The impulse through Christ had to enter into the deepest inner being of the human being. Such an impulse spoke from the body of Christ, appealing to the deepest essence of human nature. So what was to become different under this impulse?

Before this impulse came, it was the case that human beings received or expected what made them happiest, most blissful, or most filled with God, in a certain sense from outside themselves. If we look at world history not merely from the perspective of external documents, but from the perspective of what spiritual documents can reveal, we must say to ourselves: We look back to ancient times when human beings ascended into the realm of spiritual beings through the awakening, more or less normal, of clairvoyance within them. But this clairvoyant gift awakened in a dreamlike state, while divine-spiritual forces were at work within him and the ego was suppressed. Man was more or less outside the ego. If, even in his normal state, he was not as conscious of this ego as in later times, then in the times when the spirit was working within him and carrying him up into the spiritual world, he was completely outside himself, completely outside his ego. He was completely devoted either to the external divine-spiritual or to the divine-spiritual in his soul. But in these moments of ecstasy, of enthusiasm, he was not at all conscious of his state. This was precisely what was supposed to happen, that man should find a connection to the spiritual out of his ego and from there penetrate the deepest core of his being with the consciousness: I belong to a divine-spiritual realm. — This could only happen because Christ lived on earth, infused his being into earthly beings, and the ego was able to permeate itself with what emerged as the model of Christ. This enabled human beings to say: I am now with my ego in the spiritual realm, in the realms of heaven, just as human beings used to be outside the ego in the realms of heaven. “The realms of heaven have come near!” That was the new teaching. To this end, the soul state, the meaning of human beings, had to be changed so that they no longer believed that one could be carried up into the spiritual world outside of the ego, only in a state of ecstasy, but that one could find one's connection with the realms of heaven in a state of full ego consciousness.

That this had to happen can be understood from the fact that the state of ancient clairvoyance deteriorated more and more over the course of millennia. While in ancient times, in their ecstatic states, people ascended to the good divine spiritual powers and entered their divine spiritual home, what remained of ecstatic states for people at the time of the founding of Christianity was such that when they were outside themselves, they no longer ascended to the good spiritual powers, but to the evil, evil spiritual powers. This is the great difference between these two stages of development: in ancient times, when human beings rose up in a dreamlike state to the spiritual worlds through the suppression of the ego, which we would today call mediumship, they were in communion with good spiritual beings. But that changed at the time when human beings were to find the link to the realms of heaven through the ego; and when they now sought or developed ecstatic states, these were described as states of “possession,” which brought human beings into contact with evil spiritual powers that were hostile to them. Thus, at the time when Christ Jesus appeared, it had to be proclaimed as a salutary teaching: It is not right for you to try, by excluding your ego, to enter into states where you perceive the spiritual worlds; rather, it is now right for you to seek the connection to the divine-spiritual realms in the deepest core of your being!

This teaching is essentially contained in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. In ancient times, one might say, there was a dreamlike clairvoyance. Man was transported through ecstasy into spiritual worlds. At that time, he was rich in spiritual life; he was not a beggar for spirit, as he had become in the time when Christianity was founded. When, in ancient times, they were imbued with spirit, with what is called “pneuma” in Greek, they were lifted up into divine-spiritual worlds. Now Christ could not say: Those who become rich in spirit through ecstatic states are filled with God! — for they had to be healed as the possessed. That is why the healing of the possessed is mentioned beforehand. Now he had to proclaim: The time has come when those who have become beggars for spirit are filled with God! — that is, those who can no longer rise to ecstatic, dreamlike clairvoyant states, but who are instructed to seek the kingdom of heaven within themselves, from their own ego.

When people were previously immersed in earthly suffering and pain, they needed only to bring this state forth within themselves, because there was a state in their nature through which they could be transported to the divine-spiritual worlds. They did not need to endure suffering, but when suffering befell them, they could seek out that state in which they were filled with spirit or God, and in this state, in a state of rapture from their ego, they could find healing from the sufferings and pains of the earth. But even this time had to be designated by Christ Jesus as a time that is now past. Now those who are no longer able to experience assistance from outside in their suffering, but who seek strength within themselves by strengthening their own ego, who find the Paraclete within themselves, are to become filled with God. God-filled are those who do not chase away suffering through ecstatic elevation to God, but who bear it and develop the strength of the ego, whereby they find within themselves the Paraclete, who was later called the “Holy Spirit,” who reveals himself through the ego.

Even Buddha did not recommend bearing suffering, but rather casting it off, casting off all earthly thirst. Six hundred years before Christ Jesus, Buddha described what is suffering on earth as the terrible consequence of the thirst for existence. Six hundred years later, Christ said in the second sentence of the Sermon on the Mount that suffering should not be cast off in this way, but should be borne so that it may be a test, enabling the ego to develop the power it can find within itself: the inner help, the “Paraclete.” This is literally contained in the second sentence of the Sermon on the Mount, except for the expression “Paraclete.” One only has to read things in the right way. That is precisely the task of our time: to learn to read the great spiritual scientific documents from what spiritual science gives us.

A third point is this: in ancient times, when people were able to permeate themselves with what comes from ecstasy, what is called “pneuma,” spirit, in Greek, they were instinctively guided along their path. All impulses, actions, passions, drives, and desires—in short, everything in the astral body of the human being—were guided instinctively; they were guided toward the good if the human being was able to rise to good spiritual beings. But the inner power to tame, purify, and balance passions, drives, and so on had not yet emanated from the I. Now, however, the time had come—as Christ again had to proclaim—when human beings, by taming and purifying the passions, instincts, and desires of their astral body, would achieve through themselves what is the goal of present-day humanity and what is expressed by pointing to the great progress of evolution. This progress of development has often been presented to us in the following way. Man began his existence on ancient Saturn, continued it through the Sun and Moon, and received his I on Earth. But only when they become conscious of their ego, when they tame and make equanimous what was given to them in their astral body while still on the moon, can they truly attain the goal of their earthly mission. Those who tame and make equanimous their impulses and desires in their astral body can be filled with God through the Christ impulse. In this way they will find the earth through themselves. — Thus, in the third sentence of the Sermon on the Mount, what is actually always translated with a nonsensical word is said: Those who make their instincts, desires, and passions equanimous — not meek — will be assigned a lot, or one could also say, inherit the earth.

Here we have the first three sentences of the Sermon on the Mount in their entire world-historical significance: What was possible in the physical realm through a special training of the physical body in ancient times, namely that people saw the spiritual in clairvoyant, dreamlike states, is expressed in the first sentence of the Sermon on the Mount for the physical body, which is now impoverished in its inner spiritual fullness. For the etheric body, through which suffering becomes conscious, even if it first becomes conscious in the astral body, it is indicated that human beings must develop a power within themselves to find support against the suffering they bear as a test. Then we pointed out for the astral body that through the taming and purification of their instincts, passions, and so on, human beings find within themselves that strong power through which they become a real I and receive the mission of the earth as their lot.

When we now come to the I, we know that this I works in the sentient soul, in the intellectual soul, and in the conscious soul. The I works in the sentient soul, that is, it spiritualizes the sentient soul. This makes what Christianity is supposed to spread important for people in the outer world: human brotherly love that pours out universal justice. What the sentient soul otherwise feels only in the physical realm, thirst and hunger, it must learn to feel in relation to the spiritual realm through Christianity: thirst and hunger for universal justice. Those who thus find the center of the human being in the I will, by working on themselves, be satisfied in their desire in the sentient soul for all-pervading earthly justice. Those who learn through the Christ impulse to thirst and hunger for justice as one thirsts and hungers for physical nourishment will be filled with God, for through the strong power within them, by working for justice in the world, they will find within themselves the satisfaction for this quality!

Now we come to the soul of the mind. We have often emphasized that while the I still broods dimly in the soul of feeling, it first shines forth as the actual human I in the soul of the mind, in order then to become fully conscious in the soul of consciousness and only there to become a pure I. So there is something very peculiar here: the human I, that which makes us all equal, which each of us carries within ourselves, shines forth in the intellectual soul. Wherever we find a human being in the world, he is a human being and our equal because an I shines forth in his intellectual soul. This enables us to enter into a proper relationship with our fellow human beings, because it is precisely in the intellectual soul that something opens up to us which we can carry out into the external world as we are able to receive it. In the intellectual soul we are to develop something that we can carry out into the outer world as we receive it. In the intellectual soul we are to develop something that we allow to flow out into our surroundings, so that it may flow back to us again. That is why it is the only time in the Sermon on the Mount that the subject of the sentence is the same as the predicate: Blessed are those who develop love, for through the radiance of love, love returns to them. — Herein you see the infinite depth of such a spiritual document, that even its sentence structure can be understood in such detail if one has gathered together, little by little over many years, what spiritual science can offer in order to understand human beings and the world. The fifth sentence of the Sermon on the Mount cannot be understood in its difference from the other sentences, which all have a different predicate as their subject, unless one knows the reference of this sentence precisely to the intellectual or emotional soul.

Now we go up to the work of the I on the consciousness soul. There the I becomes, so to speak, pure, and can become fully conscious of itself. This is beautifully expressed in the Sermon on the Mount when it says: Only in the I can the divine substance dawn upon man. Those who are pure in their blood or heart — which is the expression of the I — who let nothing enter except pure I-ness, are filled with God, for they will recognize God within themselves, they will see God!

Now we come to that part of the Sermon on the Mount which is already directed toward the spirit self, the life spirit, and the spirit man. There, human beings can no longer work merely through themselves; at the present stage of development, they must appeal to the divine-spiritual worlds that have just been brought into connection with the earth through Christ; they must look up with their I to the renewed divine-spiritual worlds. Whereas in the past, strife and disharmony entered into humanity through egoism, and still do today, peace is to pour forth over the earth through the Christ impulse. And those who accept the Christ impulse will become peacemakers in that part of human nature which will only gradually develop in the future as the spirit self; and they will thereby become “sons of God” in a new sense, by bringing the spirit down from the spiritual realms. Those who bring peace or harmony into the world are filled with God; through this they are sons of God! — For this is what must be called those who are truly filled inwardly with a spiritual self that is to bring peace and harmony to the earth.

Now we must be clear that of everything that develops on earth, remnants from earlier times remain into later times. These remnants are in a certain sense hostile to what always enters as a seed into later times. Thus, what the Christ impulse brings is placed into the whole of human evolution, but not all at once, but in such a way that remnants remain of what earlier human evolution has brought. It is therefore necessary that those who first understand this Christ impulse stand firmly on its ground, are completely imbued with its power. And when they are imbued with the power that emanates from the seed that came through Christ, and when they stand firmly on this ground, then precisely because they develop the power of steadfastness, they will be filled with God in a new sense. Those who suffer persecution under the new order, which stands under Christ, from what still protrudes from the old order, are filled with God! — And the last sentence of the Sermon on the Mount points directly to the Christ impulse itself when it says to the apostles: And you, who are specially called to carry the name of Christ into the world, shall be filled with God! Thus we see how Christianity is directly derived from the great cosmological and human teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, and that everywhere reference is made to that inner power which must find its center in the I itself. This must be thoroughly understood. This must be understood today, and it must be understood in such a way that those who seek Christianity in some dogmatic secondary meaning do not believe themselves to be Christian in the true sense, but that those who understand the meaning of the sentence, “Change your soul or your mind, for the kingdom of heaven has come upon you,” are Christian in the true sense. Those who see the essence in this and also understand that what is truly Christian had to be expressed differently at the beginning of our era and must be expressed differently today are to be called Christian in the true sense.

It is a serious misunderstanding of Christianity to believe that what was called Christian in the words of two millennia ago has not developed further to this day. One would have to describe Christianity as a dead cultural movement if one had to speak today in the same way as two thousand years ago. Christianity is alive! It is developing and will continue to develop. And as true as it is that Christianity had to take its starting point from the time when human beings descended to the physical plane, had to take its starting point from the humanization of a divine being in a physical human body, it is equally true that people in our time must learn to rise up in order to understand Christianity and the Christ being itself again from a higher spiritual standpoint. What does that mean?

Just as the ancient dreamlike clairvoyant powers have been lost, so that at the time of Christ those who were filled with the spirit in the old sense could no longer be described as filled with God, but rather those who found the realms of heaven within themselves, so it is true that with this full consciousness of the I, human beings will ascend again into the spiritual world and develop new powers and abilities. And just as at the time of John the Baptist the time had come when people had brought those abilities that lead down to the physical plane to a crisis, so it is true that we are now standing at a most important time. What is called the dark age, which began in the year 3101 BC and reached its peak when Christ incarnated, came to an end at the end of the 19th century. The Kali Yuga came to an end in 1899, and we are moving toward a time when new powers and abilities will develop naturally among human beings, which will become clearly evident in the first half of our present century. These new powers and abilities will have to be understood. In particular, those members of humanity who have understood the task of spiritual science will have to understand that such an ascent to the spiritual is possible again. For in the important times that will follow the year 1930, individual human beings will become capable, as if by their very nature, of developing higher forces, through which what we call the etheric body will become visible. Etheric clairvoyant powers will develop in a number of people.

Two things will then be possible. Either the materialism of our age will continue: then, when such powers appear, people will not understand that they lead up to the spiritual worlds; they will misunderstand them, and as a result they will be suppressed. If that happened, it would not justify people saying at the end of 1940, out of a materialistic sense: Now look what fantastic prophets they were at the beginning of the 20th century! Nothing has come to pass! — For if the new abilities are not there, this will not be a refutation of what can and must be said now, but only proof that the uncomprehending humanity has nipped these abilities in the bud and thereby deprived itself of something that humanity will need if it does not want to wither and die in its development. This is the great responsibility of anthroposophy. Anthroposophy arose from the recognition of the necessity of preparing the way for something that is to come and that could also be overlooked and suppressed. Anthroposophy has the task of preparing the way for the understanding of the spiritually developing forces of humanity. If these forces are suppressed, humanity will sink further into the mire of materialism.

The other thing is that anthroposophy is fortunate in its teachings for spreading an understanding of the elevation of human beings into the spiritual world, that it is fortunate in lifting human beings out of a materialistic mindset. But now something must come out of the anthroposophical spiritual movement that has been preparing itself in previous centuries but must now, at a particularly important turning point in our time, develop to its full extent.

The earlier centuries were suited to cultivating the materialistic sense of humanity more and more. Therefore, under the materialistic influence, it was possible to believe that the Christ impulse and the Christ being would enter into a relationship with the earth by incarnating once again, or perhaps even more often, in a physical body, in a material body. Instead of gaining clarity that human beings will grow upward with their abilities so that a greater number, and ultimately all, will experience the event of Damascus, that is, experience Christ in the Earth's atmosphere, see him in the etheric body, people have always believed that Christ will descend again into a physical body so that he can satisfy the materialistic sense of human beings who do not want to believe in the Spirit, in what Paul saw in the vision of Damascus: Christ is in the earth's atmosphere, he is always there! “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world!” Those who develop themselves through the methods of clairvoyance to see into the spiritual world will find what could not be found in the spiritual worlds in pre-Christian times: Christ in his etheric body. This is the important advance in human evolution that, even before the first half of our century is over, many people will naturally develop the ability to make the event of Damascus a personal experience and see Christ in his etheric body. Christ will not descend into the flesh, but people will ascend when they have gained an understanding of the spirit.

This is what the return of Christ in our age means, because in this 20th century, human beings must work their way out of the Kali Yuga into a clairvoyant age, the first seeds of which must be sown in this century. Through the abilities that will come, people will ascend to the Christ who is there and who can be seen by the vanguard of those who, through the anthroposophical proclamation, will be led to what more or less all human souls will experience in the course of the next 2,500 years.

This is the great event that awaits humanity in the near future, that those who now raise themselves with full self-awareness to the etheric vision of Christ in his etheric body will once again be filled with God. To this end, however, the materialistic sense must be thoroughly overcome and humanity must gain an understanding of spiritual teachings and spiritual life.

In past centuries, it was relatively harmless if people could be repeatedly misled by materialism regarding the so-called return of Christ. Especially in times when there was less of a transition period, when what is now at its peak as materialistic thinking was being prepared, it was proclaimed in wide circles in France, for example, that a Messiah would appear in 1137. A Messiah did appear at that time, but he misled people because belief in him had been born out of materialistic thinking, because people believed that the Messiah had to appear in the flesh. Thirty years earlier, another Messiah appeared in Spain; there, too, it had been prophesied that a Messiah would appear in the flesh. And around the same time, another new Messiah appeared in North Africa. There, too, it had been prophesied that he would come from the East and appear in the flesh. And throughout the entire period in which the materialistic sense was preparing itself by grasping the highest things, such prophetic predictions appeared, which are quite familiar to those who know the times, right up to the 17th century, when it was widely preached that a kind of Christ, a Messiah, would appear. This again found credence in the materialistic religious sense of the people. Therefore, based on this prophecy, a false Messiah could appear in Smyrna in 1667 with the name Shabbatai Zevi. At that time, he wrote epistles and letters from Smyrna that shook the world, even though they were nothing but deceptive things, because they were held in a materialistic sense as deceptive things, just as the letters of Paul once shook the world. In the 17th century, the news spread from Smyrna: A Messiah in the flesh lives there! — And Sabbatai Zevi, the “Righteous One of God,” was so highly regarded that it was said that the entire world calendar would now take on a completely different form: He will travel the world with his faithful followers, and all who want to see the truth, who want to see Christ in the flesh, shall believe in him! They were preached that his physical birthday must be celebrated as the greatest festival of mankind and of the earth! Whole crowds of people made pilgrimages there, not only from Asia and Africa, but also from Poland, Russia, Spain, France, and so on. Entire trains of pilgrims went to Smyrna to Shabbatai Zevi, who appeared as Christ in the flesh, until the matter took on too great proportions and Shabbatai Zevi was imprisoned by the Sultan. Then the people said: This is only the fulfillment of a prophecy, for it has been foretold that he would sit in captivity for nine months. Then the Sultan knew no other way out than to have Sabbatai Zevi stand naked before him and say: “I will test you to see whether you are really a Messiah, a Christ in the flesh. I will have you shot!” And then Sabbatai Zevi finally confessed that he was only an ordinary rabbi.

Such temptations arise from the materialistic mindset of our time. And such things will come again, for people will make use of the materialistic mindset. It will be said often in the coming decades what has now been said, that human abilities will develop to the point of ethereal vision of Christ, in whose reality people will then believe as surely as Paul himself believed! This is the immediate future of humanity, for which spiritual science must prepare people today. But the materialistic mindset of people will also bring a time of great temptation, when false messiahs will reappear in the flesh. Then it will become clear whether theosophists have understood theosophy correctly! Those who have not understood it correctly will be so infected by the materialistic sense that they will succumb to temptation. Even though they believe in Christ, they will believe in a Christ in the flesh. But those who have gained an understanding of real spiritual life will understand that the “return of Christ” in our century, as the greatest event, means that Christ comes to people in the spirit because people, through their development toward the spiritual, have developed to the point of Christ! And through this, the Sermon on the Mount will undergo a complete modification in our century. Everything will be reshaped, so to speak. Those who, through their begging for spirit in past incarnations, will have progressed so far that they will have ascended to that region of the heavenly realms where Christ appears before their spiritual eyes will be filled with God or will be blessed.

In this sense, every single sentence of the Sermon on the Mount could be reproduced in its new form. Christianity will only be able to regain its documents if it is grasped in a living way, if it is known that it is not dead but alive. In that time — and it is our time — when materialistic research, so to speak, takes the Gospel and the tradition of Christ away from people, spiritual research will, as has often been emphasized, give the Gospels back to people. This is a coincidence that is not accidental but necessary. In our time, because its materialistic sense has risen to the highest degree and has reached a crisis, certain poor people may appear who, out of a misguided philosophy, come to the strange view that there are effects without causes, that there was no historical Christ Jesus; this is something that anthroposophists should be able to understand. They should even be able to look with a certain compassion upon those poor people who, despite their philosophy, are so entangled in the materialistic sense that they have completely lost the ability to sense the spirit and therefore constantly contradict the statement they otherwise always admit: There is no effect without a cause. Christianity as an effect cannot exist without a cause! It will be anthroposophy that, through spiritual research, will teach people about Christ in the form in which he is alive, if these people are willing to show understanding for these teachings, understanding to such an extent that they clearly recognize: Christ will come again, but in a higher reality than the physical one, in a reality that can only be looked up to once one has acquired a sense and understanding of spiritual life.

Write in your heart what anthroposophy should be: a preparation for the great epoch of humanity that lies ahead of us. Do not let it seem essential to you whether the souls that are embodied here today will still be embodied in physical bodies when Christ returns in the manner described, or whether they will already have passed through the gate of death and are now in the life that takes place between death and the new birth. For what happens in the 20th century has significance not only for the physical world, but for all worlds with which human beings are connected. And just as the people who will be incarnated between 1930 and 1950 will experience looking up to the etheric Christ, so will a tremendous upheaval take place in the world in which human beings live between death and birth. Just as Christ descended into the realms of the underworld after the Mystery of Golgotha, so the effects of the events taking place in our time ascend into the spiritual worlds for the inhabitants of the physical plane. And those who do not prepare themselves for the great event through spiritual science will miss the tremendous events that will also take place in the spiritual worlds in which human beings will then live. These people will then have to wait until a new incarnation to experience on earth what enables them to receive the new Christ impulse. For we must acquire the ability to receive all Christ impulses, however high they may carry us, on the physical plane. It is not for nothing that human beings have been placed in the physical world: here we must acquire what leads to an understanding of the Christ impulse! For all souls that live, spiritual research is the preparation for the Christ event that awaits us in the near future. This preparation is necessary. And other events will follow this Christ event in the course of human development. Therefore, it will be a significant omission for people who do not want to rise to the Christ event in our century, when they have the opportunity to do so.

When we look at spiritual science in this way and write it into our souls, only then do we feel what it is for each individual human soul and what it should be for the whole of humanity.