The Tasks and Aims of Spiritual Science
GA 117
13 November 1909, Stuttgart
Translation by D. S. Osmond
On this occasion let me once more call attention to the fact that as the German Section of the Theosophical 1In connection with the use of the words ‘Theosophy’, ‘theosophical’, in this text, it will be remembered that from the beginning of the century until the years 1911 or 1912, Dr. Steiner had been able to work as an independent teacher within the framework of the Theosophical Society and was the General Secretary of the German Section. His teaching of the unique nature and position of the Christ was at variance with the tendencies which had come to prevail in that Society and the statements on this subject made by its leaders, and Dr. Steiner's association with it inevitably came to an end. In 1912 the Anthroposophical Society was provisionally founded and its Headquarters established at Dornach in 1913. Society we find ourselves in an epoch of importance. What has been said in different lectures with regard to the cycles which run in sevens is no mere figure of speech, but is in harmony with the laws of existence. And having now completed a 7-years' cycle in the life of the German Section we may do well to pause and look into our whole work and endeavour. This work is only possible if the spiritual Movement, in its development, contains in its inner ordering something of the laws of the great cosmic system. The cosmic system runs its course in cycles which can be reckoned according to the number 7; for we reckon 7 planetary conditions and so on.
In a Movement like our own, the number 7 also has a certain part to play, and after 7 years our striving in a sense turns back again to the beginning, for it has in the meantime incorporated in itself what has been achieved; our striving turns back again to its beginning, but at a higher stage. It is only possible to arrive at this by considering how the whole rests upon an inner law.
If you look back a little at the work we have done in these 7 years, you will be able to notice one thing: there has been a certain order and regularity about this work. Of course you cannot take what I have said as being correct to a day, but if you take it in its essentials, you will see that it is true.
In the first years of our work in the German Section we so to speak laid the foundations. What we did in the first four years was to acquire some knowledge of the paths-which lead to the higher worlds, of the great cosmic connections, and of the examination and testing of what is found in the Akashic Record with regard to the secrets of the cosmos. Those members who joined later have found it necessary—and will always do so—to acquire knowledge afterwards of this foundation of our work. This is indispensable for everybody; for it is not sufficient to assimilate only what has happened in the last three years and has enabled the Movement to progress in the right way. If you look back you will see that the last three years have brought about the development of those truths and facts which have been put before you of late, perhaps in a somewhat astonishing form. If you try to establish the connection with what was done in the first four years of our work in the four-fold foundation, as it were, of the whole, you will see that even those great and all-embracing truths which have been impressing you so deeply, have a very close connection with what happened in the first four years. You will be able to convince yourselves of this if you ponder it well. The younger members must bear written upon their hearts the absolute necessity of acquiring for themselves a firm and sure foundation. Wherever the work is being carried on, we are making it more and more possible for those who join later to pick up for themselves what has been accomplished here in the early days. It is really impossible for them to co-operate without this recapitulation; and the Theosophical Movement must be taken seriously in the deepest sense. In this connection we may perhaps speak to-day on a subject that concerns the theosophical attitude of mind and the whole manner of theosophical thought; and we will relate it to the significant time through which we are passing. I mean the question: “What is the right attitude for the theosophist to take with regard to Theosophy itself?”
What is here meant will be clearer if I put the question in another way: “Why is Theosophy taught to-day at all as it is taught? Why is information given about the higher worlds, information that is the result of spiritual research and clairvoyant consciousness? Could one not perhaps proceed in quite a different way?” Let us suppose, e.g., that we were to begin by giving each person certain instructions as to how he can develop those inner faculties which at present are dormant within his soul, so that by means of these instructions it would be possible for him gradually to penetrate into the spiritual worlds himself, without having first been given any of the facts of the higher worlds, as is done to-day.
This was indeed the custom formerly, to a certain extent: it was so before the Theosophical Movement in the modern sense came into being. For a long time it had been said: It is really not of much use for anyone to stand before the world and communicate the results of spiritual investigation. Such communications were accordingly withheld as far as possible, and only certain maxims were given to people as to how they should develop the faculties dormant within their own souls; as a rule people were not told any more than they had gradually come to see for themselves in the higher worlds. The question might now arise: Why is this path not taken to-day? Why are the results of spiritual investigation communicated to men?
This step has not been taken out of any personal preference or from any personal decision: there are good reasons for it. We shall understand it better if we constantly remind ourselves of what it is that Spiritual Science really tells us. It tells us of facts and truths from the realm of the higher super-sensible worlds; it tells us of that which clairvoyant consciousness can discover in these higher worlds.
Now it is of course true that one who hears of such things and is not himself clairvoyant cannot convince himself of the facts as such through his own immediate vision; it is quite true that he receives them and cannot prove them by clairvoyant evidence. That is true; but it would be quite wrong to imagine that the man who is not clairvoyant cannot in any way prove or have insight into the facts which are now being presented. And it would be wrong to assert that one must merely take in faith and on authority what is given out of clairvoyant consciousness. These communications would be in the highest degree imperfect, would lack something essential, if they appealed only to authority and faith. What is being given out in the right way—this has often been emphasised—can be discovered only by clairvoyant consciousness but when it has once been discovered—if only by one person—when it has once been seen and communicated, everyone can understand it by means of unprejudiced reason, that is to say by those faculties which are accessible to him on the physical plane. And it may well be said: Even if no one of those here present ever has the opportunity of proving everything immediately in the most comprehensive sense, everyone could at any rate make this possible if he had the time and the necessary mental faculties (I mean, faculties of the physical plane). Let us even consider such difficult matters as were treated of here in recent lectures, with regard to the incarnations of Zarathustra, such difficulties as, e.g. that Zarathustra's etheric body passed over into Moses 2cp. The Alpha and the Omega. Lecture given in Berlin, 25 May 1909; also lectures 4 and 5 of the Course on The Gospel of St. Luke.—let us even imagine that such difficult, far-reaching and significant subjects are being dealt with, even then let no one assert that he who knows these things as the result of spiritual research appeals for blind credulity! That is by no means the case. But suppose someone were to come and say: “I for my part am no clairvoyant. But here is someone asserting these things about Zarathustra and his incarnations. I will now lay hold of everything that is at my disposal on the physical plane, everything that history hands down to us, everything that is contained in the stone monuments, or in ancient religious documents, and I will test all these most carefully.” And suppose he were to say further: “Assuming that what is being said is correct, does it tally with the facts that can be externally corroborated?”—Such a person would then investigate thoroughly what can be confirmed by external means, and he would see that the more closely he investigated the more he would find corroboration for what the clairvoyant has set forth. If the word “fear” had any meaning at all in this connection, then one could say that the research of Spiritual Science might perhaps really feel fear of an inexact examination; but it could never fear those who are ready to follow fully and accurately the paths of material investigation. For such people will see that the more closely they pursue their investigations the more corroboration they will find for the facts which the clairvoyant communicates. But for the things that are not so remote or difficult, things which are connected with karma and reincarnation, and the life between death and a new birth—for these one only needs to observe, in an open-minded way, what ordinary life has to offer. And the more this is done, the more will confirmation be found for the facts communicated by the clairvoyant; that is to say, there are possibilities enough of convincing oneself that what is acquired from super-sensible worlds can be confirmed by the outer physical world. This is something which should not be taken lightly, but which we should look upon as an essential fact. We must in our own lives put to the test the facts that only a few can really investigate, we should not. always be repeating the phrase: That must be taken on trust! Accept as little as possible on trust; examine, test and prove all the time! Only be sure that you do it in an open-minded, unprejudiced way. This, then, is the first thing upon which stress must be laid.
But now you will find that a testing of this kind requires great effort, it demands thought and work. It means that one must really set out to find confirmations in the physical world for what is stated out of clairvoyant research. And here we come to a matter of which we shall do well to speak, a matter that is closely connected with our main question. Is it not necessary, is it not even good, for the man of to-day, besides striving (as he certainly should strive) to penetrate into the spiritual world, also to occupy himself at the same time with an energetic cultivation of the ordinary means of knowledge and the ordinary methods of thought? In other words: Does the theosophist not do well to overcome the indolence that is certainly prevalent in the world to-day, and to develop his world of thought in all earnestness, to lay hold of the means by which man can be comprehended even only on the physical plane, and to turn these to his use? Is it not right that he should learn a great deal, and especially learn how to think?
It is indeed very difficult to make clear to the consciousness of the present day what is meant by this. It once happened that someone who wanted to make progress in theosophical knowledge and at the same time to learn how to think the thoughts with greater exactitude, came and asked me to recommend him what to read. I recommended him to study Spinoza's Ethics, so that he would be able to formulate in clear-cut outlines the thoughts that were being given him. Not many weeks afterwards he wrote to me that he could not see why he should study this book; it was rather voluminous and the whole object was simply to prove the existence of God, which he had never doubted; therefore he saw no need to wade through long trains of thought in order to prove the existence of God!
This is an example of just that kind of indolence with which men approach Theosophy or Spiritual Science to-day. They are very soon satisfied when they have come to some belief or other, and they fight shy of the trouble of building it up for themselves, bit by bit, into conceptions which are, admittedly, troublesome to acquire. But for such persons the only possible result is blind faith, whereas you will find that it ceases to be blind faith if you will really school your thinking and not simply want, out of curiosity, to develop those powers which lead to an elementary stage of clairvoyance. I do not, of course, say that this could not run parallel, but we need to train at the same time the physical powers of thought, those faculties of knowledge that have been given to us here on the physical plane; these must be trained too, even if it is irksome, in order that we may be in a position to form clearly defined ideas and clearly defined concepts of what is communicated to us from out of the higher worlds. It is very easy to imagine that it is better to have clairvoyance in the very smallest degree than it is to understand through the reasoning mind ever so many of the facts of the higher worlds. It might easily be said: “I really do not know why I am a member of this Society; we are always being told things about the higher worlds; all that is quite nice, but I would much prefer it if I could catch the merest glimpse of them myself by means of clairvoyant vision.”—I know a very learned theosophist who had an intense longing to get beyond mere learning to direct vision, and he expressed this longing as follows: “If only I could once be able to see even the tip of the tail of one of these elemental beings!” Such a remark is quite understandable. This particular theosophist would never have been ready to give up his knowledge of theosophical truth in exchange; but there might well be someone ready to do so, if he could gain only a small degree of clairvoyant vision. Such a feeling would, however be wrong from every point of view. For we must consider the age in which we live. It is the age which, in the whole evolution of man, is the epoch when conscious thought must be developed, just as in the ancient Indian period a quite different kind of consciousness was evolved, a consciousness that was reminiscent of a dim, shadowy clairvoyance; the powers of the present day have gradually been developing ever since that time. It is only we in this age, who in conjunction with the development of the Spiritual Soul have brought human thinking into the sphere of earth-evolution. For this reason Theosophy must now, at this time, be brought down out of the super-sensible world and must make its appeal to the reasoned thinking of men.
We need to distinguish clearly between two conditions. Firstly: a man may not be much of a thinker, his thinking may indeed be quite primitive and yet he may at the same time be comparatively far advanced as regards vision on the astral plane, and even, up to a certain point, on the devachanic plane; he may be quite advanced in this respect and able to see a great deal. Or again, the other case is possible: A man who knows a great deal about the theosophical truths may yet be able to see nothing at all for himself, may not be in the position, as we were saying, to see even “the tip of the tail” of an elemental being! This is also quite possible. Now let us ask ourselves: What is really the inner connection between these different faculties of the human soul?
Here it must be emphasised that to have something, and to be conscious of what we have, are two distinct things. It is extraordinarily important to grasp this point. You will understand it rightly if the question is put somewhat differently. You were all once clairvoyant, in primeval times everyone was clairvoyant, and there was a time too when men were able to look back into the far, far past. And now you may ask: But how is it that we do not remember our former incarnations if we were once able to look back through the ages? Then you may ask: If we become clairvoyant now, will that help us in the next incarnation to look back?
This fact you must have clearly before you, that the old clairvoyance is of no use for looking back to-day. You once had this clairvoyance. How is it, then, that the majority of people to-day do not remember their former incarnations? This question is of the greatest importance. People do not remember their former incarnations—although in earlier epochs they were clairvoyant to a greater or less degree—because in those times they had not developed the faculties which are the faculties of the self, of the ego. For the development of clairvoyant faculties in the general sense is not the essential point.
Let me make this clear to you by a comparison. Imagine that when you woke up in the morning you could remember nothing about your experiences of the day before.—Now however clairvoyant people may have been in former times, if they did not pay attention to the development of the faculties of the ego, namely, the faculty of thinking, the power of discrimination, which are the special faculties of the human ego on this earth, then the ego was not actively present in the former incarnations, the self-hood was not there! What, then, is there for people to remember? A self-contained ego must be there in the previous incarnation. That is the whole point! So that to-day it is only those people who in their earlier incarnations have worked through the medium of thought, of logic, of discrimination, who can remember those incarnations. Thus however advanced a man is in clairvoyance, if he has not in former incarnations worked through the power of discrimination, of logical thinking, he cannot remember a former incarnation. For he had not at that time set up the signpost as it were, to which his recollection has to go back. So you will see that when one understands Spiritual Science, one cannot too quickly set to work to acquire just these very faculties of genuine thought.
Now perhaps you will say: But when I am clairvoyant I shall already have mastered the faculty of logical thinking. That is not so! Why have the Gods allowed human beings to exist at all? Because it was only in human beings that they could cause faculties to develop which otherwise could not have been developed at all. The power to think, to picture something in thoughts in which there is the quality of discrimination—this faculty can be developed only on this our earth; formerly it did not exist, it could only come about through the fact of the existence of human beings. We might take the following comparison.—Suppose you have a grain of corn—of wheat, let us say. However long you look at it, no wheat will grow out of it. You must put it in the soil and let it grow, you must let the growth-forces work upon it. That which the divine-spiritual Beings had before the formation of man may be compared to the grain of wheat. If this “grain of wheat” was to come to life in the form of thoughts, it had first to be cultivated by human beings on the physical plane. The only possible means of cultivating thoughts on the earth from the higher world is through human incarnations. So that the thoughts of men on the physical plane have a character which is entirely their own and must lead up to what is possible in the higher worlds. It was necessary for the Gods that there should be men on the earth. The Gods allowed men to come into being in order to preserve through them in the form of thought what they had had in the higher worlds. Thus what comes down from the higher worlds would never have taken form in thought, if man had not been able to give it this form. And he who will not think, on the earth, deprives the Gods of what they have reckoned upon, and he cannot accomplish what is his real human task and destiny upon earth. For he can only attain this in an incarnation wherein he really labours at the development of his powers of thought. If this is realised, all the rest follows from it.
That which brings revelations, real facts about the spiritual world, can enter the human soul in manifold ways. It is certainly possible for men to come to clairvoyant vision without being clear thinkers, and indeed this is very frequently the case to-day. The majority of those who become clairvoyant are not clear thinkers. But those who are clear thinkers and those who are not will have very different experiences in the spiritual world. The difference might be expressed thus: What is revealed from out of the higher worlds impresses itself most clearly into those forms of mental perception which we bring to the higher worlds as thoughts. Thoughts are the best vehicle for the revelations.
But if we are not thinkers, the revelations must seek other forms, e.g. a picture. The most usual way for one who is not a thinker to receive revelations is in the form of a sense-image. And you may often hear those who are visionary clairvoyants without being thinkers, describe in sense-images what they have seen. These may have beauty; but we must at the same time be aware that a thinker has a different. subjective experience from a non-thinker. If you have revelations as a non-thinker, the sense-image is there; this or that figure stands before you. It reveals itself out of the spiritual world. Let us say, you see the figure of an angel, or some symbolic form—perhaps a cross, a monstrance, a chalice. This is present in the super-sensible realm and you see it as a finished picture. You say to yourselves that it is reality—but actually it is a picture. New experiences of the spiritual world will present themselves to the subjective consciousness of the thinker in a rather different way. It will not be the same as for the non-thinker. For the thinker, the things will not suddenly be there before him as though they had been shot out of a pistol; they will appear in a different way. Take a non-thinking, visionary clairvoyant and a thinking, visionary clairvoyant. They may both receive the same revelations. Let us take some particular case. The non-thinking clairvoyant sees this or that phenomenon of the spiritual world. The thinking clairvoyant does not see it yet, but only later; and the very moment he sees it, it is taken hold of by his own thought and he can at once discriminate and know whether it is or is not truth. He sees it somewhat later, but when he does see it, it comes to him in such a form that he has already penetrated it with his thoughts, and can tell whether it is illusion or reality; so that in a sense he possesses something before he actually sees it. The revelation comes to him at the same moment as to the non-thinking clairvoyant, but he sees it later. When he sees it, however, it is already penetrated with judgment and thought, and he knows exactly whether it is an hallucination, i.e. whether his own desires are being objectivised, or whether it is objective reality. That is the difference in the subjective experiences of the two clairvoyants. The non-thinking clairvoyant sees the phenomenon at once, the thinking clairvoyant, later. In the ease of the former the picture will remain as it was; all he can do is to describe it. But the thinking clairvoyant will be able to link it up and bring it completely into line with what is present in the ordinary physical world; for the physical world, no less than the phenomenon which he has seen, is a revelation from out of the spiritual world.
From this you will see that if you approach the spiritual world equipped with the instrument of thought, you will be able to bring reliable judgment to bear upon what is presented to you.
But now something else follows. A person might dispute the value of communications from the spiritual world if he has not seen the phenomena for himself. Let us imagine a third person as well as the two mentioned. This third person is not clairvoyant at all but is informed of the results of spiritual investigation in so far as they have been acquired by clairvoyance combined with clear thinking. He looks upon them as reasonable. Yes, they are facts from the spiritual world. The thinking clairvoyant has acquired them, and anyone who has grasped them with his reason possesses them, even if he is not conscious of it. You do not need to be at all clairvoyant, yet you have the full value in yourself of what has been communicated to you.. There is a difference between having something and being conscious that one has it. The relation of a non-clairvoyant theosophist to a clairvoyant theosophist can become clear by thinking of the following.—Imagine that you had been given a legacy, but had not yet heard about it. If this were the case, the legacy would nevertheless have its value for you. Even if you do not hear about it until later, yet you possess it all the same. So it is with whoever learns of the facts of the spiritual world through Spiritual Science. They are his, if he has grasped them in an understanding way; he possesses them and need only wait for the time when he will become conscious of them. The becoming conscious of them, however, is not of equal significance with their possession. This is particularly noticeable after death. Which is of more use—if we may put it thus trivially, to make the meaning clear—which is of more use to man after death: to see something in a visionary way, without thought, or to receive purely theosophical communications without seeing things in a visionary way?
One could easily imagine that visionary sight would be a better preparation for death than merely to hear of the facts of the spiritual world. And yet the truth is that after death, what a man has simply seen in a visionary way is of very little use to him, while on the other hand an actual reality is immediately present, as soon as he becomes conscious of what he has received in spiritual communications, if he has grasped these with his understanding. It is what has been understood that is of value after death, whether it has been seen or not.
Consider the deepest Initiate. Through his clairvoyance he can behold the whole spiritual world! But this will not enhance his significance after death, if he is not able to express these facts in human concepts. All that will help him after death is what he has possessed here on earth in the form of clear concepts of thought. There are the seeds for the life after death. Of course anyone who is a thinker as well as a visionary clairvoyant can turn his visions to good account. But two non-thinking persons, of whom one is clairvoyant and the other merely listens to the results of the clairvoyance—these two will be in exactly the same position after death. There is no difference between them, for what we take into the life after death is what we acquire for ourselves here by means of clear thinking. This springs up like a seed; but not so, what we have merely already seen on earth of the worlds we now enter. What we receive here from the higher worlds is not given to us as a free gift so as to make it easier for us when we leave the physical plane, but in order that we may translate it into the current coin of the earth. What we have thus translated, just so much helps us after death. That is the essential thing.
Thus it is in regard to the life after death. But here on the physical plane too, the case of the visionary clairvoyant is different from that of the thinking clairvoyant. It is interesting and beautiful to see into the spiritual worlds, but none the less there is a difference when the spiritual worlds are beheld merely in a visionary way. Apart from the fact that it is impossible to be secure from illusions—and the only way to avoid illusions is to apply clear thinking to what has been seen—apart from this, let us suppose that a visionary clairvoyant has perceived this or that; then the form in which he perceives it, and which you can discover from his own account of it, is penetrated by elements of the physical plane. Has anyone ever described to you an angel that was not permeated by elements of the physical plane? He had wings. So have the birds. He had a human-shaped body. So has every human being on the physical plane. The things the visionary clairvoyant describes are, it is true, put together in a fashion that is not to be found on the physical plane, but the pictures are nevertheless composed of elements of the physical plane. This is not without justification; but you will see that such a picture has within it something that belongs to the earth. The forms and pictures in your vision that are taken from the physical plane do not belong to the spiritual world, they only give a picture of the spiritual world in the domain of the senses. This I have set forth clearly in my Occult Science, which has now been completed. I have there shown that present-day clairvoyance must indeed be of a pictorial character in its early stages, but that it must not remain there, it must develop to the point where the last remnant of what is earthly in the visions is cast aside. There is of course a certain danger for the clairvoyant when he thus strips off the last remnant of earth. For example, when he sees the angel and then strips off all that is earthly, he is faced with the danger of seeing nothing at all! What is it that can prevent one from losing the vision altogether on entering actually into the spiritual world? The seed that can spring up out of thinking! Thoughts afford the substance whereby what is in the spiritual world may be comprehended. We acquire the power really to live in the spiritual world by comprehending, in our world of the senses, what is no longer permeated by sense-elements and yet is on the physical plane. Thoughts alone fulfil this condition. The only thing we may bring into the spiritual world is thoughts. With regard to a circle, for example, nothing of the chalk drawing of it, but simply and solely our thoughts about a circle. With these thoughts you can ascend into the spiritual worlds. You must bring nothing of the picture with you.
And now I can describe the above-mentioned subjective process more exactly. Let us suppose, for example, that something is seen in the field of spiritual vision, let us say, a monstrance. I will now characterise the two clairvoyants, the merely visionary and the thinking clairvoyant, by supposing that the one sees the monstrance here (a) and the other, the thinking clairvoyant, only sees it here (b)
It is only from this point onwards that he becomes conscious of it. He receives it, however, immediately with thoughts, he penetrates it with thought. But at the moment when the thinking clairvoyant fills his image with thoughts, it becomes indistinct for the visionary clairvoyant. It becomes black and indistinct here at this point (b) and reappears only after some time. Just at the point where thought can unite with the image, it becomes indistinct for the visionary clairvoyant; he is really never in a position to unite thought with it, therefore he never has the experience: ‘I was there with my ego’. This experience can never come to the merely visionary clairvoyant.
All this takes us more intimately into the whole question, and it is exceedingly important to reflect upon it. It leads us to consider the necessity of developing our thinking, and of overcoming the disinclination to acquire an understanding knowledge for ourselves. It is a thousand times better to have grasped the ideas of Spiritual Science with thought first of all, and then—sooner or later, each according to his karma—to be able oneself to ascend into the spiritual worlds; a thousand times better than to have ‘seen’ straight-away and not to have grasped with thought the knowledge that is imparted in the Movement known as the Theosophical. A thousand times better it is indeed, to know Theosophy and to see nothing as yet, than to see something and not be able to penetrate it with thought, for that is how unreliability is introduced.
You can express the matter even more exactly, as follows.—You say: There are at the present time very clear thinkers who can understand the theosophical view of the world in an intellectual way. How is it that it is sometimes just these people who have such difficulty in reaching clairvoyance?—Those who are not clear thinkers find it comparatively easy to become clairvoyant, and they are then apt to feel themselves superior to the thinkers, whilst the latter find it difficult to become clairvoyant at all. Here is the point—distant by a hair's breadth only—where a certain arrogance in disguise begins to assert itself. There is indeed hardly anything that breeds and fosters pride so much as a clairvoyance which has not been illumined with thought, and that is why it is so dangerous, because the clairvoyant does not as a rule consider himself proud at all, but very humble. He has no notion of the pride that consists in undervaluing the activity of thought and laying the chief emphasis on inspirations. It is a terrible form of pride, a masked pride.
The question is really as follows: How is it that for many a thinker—as experience teaches us—it is so exceedingly difficult to come to the point of being clairvoyant? This is connected with an important fact. What we call power of discrimination, power of judgment in man, in other words the logical thinking of the thinker, brings about a definite change in the whole structure of the human brain. Clear thinking causes a change in the physical instrument of the brain. Scientific research knows little of this, but it is a fact that a physical brain that has been used by a thinker has a different appearance from the brain which belongs to a non-thinker. The fact of being clairvoyant does not change it much. The brain of a non-thinker has very complicated convolutions, but that of a clear thinker is comparatively simple, without any special complications. Thinking actually expresses itself in the simplification of the convolutions of the brain. Present-day research knows nothing of this. Clear thinking is thinking that can survey wide vistas, not the thinking that occupies itself with analysis. Hence the greater simplicity of the brain-convolutions of a clear thinker. Whenever scientific research does condescend in any way to test clear thinking in its connection with material conditions, then it very soon appears that scientific research corroborates the statements of Spiritual Science. The examination of the brain of Mendeleeff to whom science owes the exposition of the periodic system of the elements confirms what Spiritual Science says. His brain-convolutions were simpler than usual. Within certain limits he had the power of comprehensive thinking, and physical examination bore out absolutely the truth of what I have said.—I do not mention this as being of any very special value but only by the way.—Thus, as I have said, a change comes about in the instrument, and this change must be brought about by the activity of thought itself. No one is born with all the faculties he will possess later; he may have tendencies in certain directions, but the faculties themselves he must first develop. So it is a fact that changes take place in the brain in the course of a man's life. After a life of thought the instrument of thinking is different from what it was before.
Now the fact is that our etheric body, which for clairvoyant consciousness must be loosened from the physical brain, becomes more closely bound to the brain through the activity of thought. Thinking chains the etheric body firmly to the brain. If through his karma anyone has not yet the forces necessary to loosen it again at the right time, it may be that he cannot get far in clairvoyance in this incarnation; this depends on his karma. Supposing that in a former incarnation his karma had ordained him to be a clear thinker, then at the present time his thinking will not bind his etheric body so strongly to the brain; he will be able to set free his etheric body comparatively easily, and for the very reason that the elements of thought are the best preparation for ascending into the higher worlds—for this very reason he can investigate the secrets of the higher worlds in the most intimate way. Of course he must first set free again the etheric body from the brain. But if with what one may call the fine chiseling of thought the etheric body has become so caught in the physical brain that it is exhausted, then his karma may perhaps make him wait a long time before he can set it free again. When, however, the etheric body does become free, it will mean that he has passed the point of logical thought. Then what he has acquired can never be lost; no one can take it away from him. That is an essential and important fact, because otherwise clairvoyance can often be lost again after it has been acquired. Let me remind you once again that you were all clairvoyant in earlier times. Why is it that you no longer possess the faculty of clairvoyance? It is because in former times you were not bound to the earth's existence, because you were remote, in spiritual worlds; you did not bring the spiritual world down into your faculties; your visionary clairvoyance was based upon the condition of being remote from the physical world.
This must be clear to us. We must inscribe these fine shades of thought upon our minds and souls; we must be clear that the task of a real occult science to-day is to impart those results of spiritual investigation which are permeated with a thinking content, so that one can always clothe the results of spiritual research in such a way as to be comprehensible through thinking to the man who is not clairvoyant. To this end they must first be combined with thought. This is why there is such difficulty with old books which speak of phenomena of the higher worlds. If you take up old books of this kind and approach them with the attitude of modern Spiritual Science, you will find something lacking in them all. These old books may impart wonderful knowledge, but they are not of much use to the man of to-day unless he is himself clairvoyant and knows how to place the knowledge rightly. In the case of modern Spiritual Science, however, anyone who takes pains is able to make something of what it presents, because he can permeate it with the element of thought he acquires on the physical plane. For the same concepts are used to grasp what is in the spiritual world and what is in the physical world. Present-day Natural Science speaks of evolution; so does Spiritual Science. If you have grasped the concept of evolution you can understand what is set forth in Spiritual Science. You can create a concept of karma, because you can create a picture of it in thought. Of course if you simply say, as many theosophists do: “Every spiritual cause has a spiritual effect and this is karma”, you have then no conception of karma. You can see the law of cause and effect in a billiard ball, but that would be no right comparison for karma. But now take an iron ball and throw it into a vessel of water. If the ball is cold the water will remain as it is. But if you make the ball hot and then throw it in, the water will get warm as a result of what has been done to the ball. Here we have something which may be compared with karma; here we have a later event that is the result of an earlier.
It must be quite clear to us that one who permeates the facts of the spiritual world with thought can also impart them in such a way that everyone who has thoughts acquired here on the physical plane can apply these same thoughts to what is imparted from the spiritual worlds. If he does this he can understand it. Everyone ought to keep this in mind. Everyone ought to understand that the important thing is, not the fact that we receive knowledge from the higher worlds, but how we receive it—that we receive it in a way that is suited to our present earthly conditions. We must see to it that we do not receive knowledge from the higher worlds in any other way. It is tempting just to believe what is told us but this is very wrong. If someone is willing just to believe, it is as though he wanted merely to be told that there is a light; whereas he needs the light to light up his room! He must have the light; mere belief is no use. Thus it is important first of all to understand the nature of thorough, conscientious thinking, so that the knowledge of the spiritual world may be received through this channel. The knowledge can only be discovered if one has the power of clairvoyance; but when it has been discovered and investigated, it can be understood by everyone who receives it in the right way.
If one thinks in this way, then all the dangers which are otherwise bound up with what is called the Theosophical Movement, will be, in the main, averted. These very dangers will however immediately arise if people develop clairvoyant powers and do not see to it that their thinking, and more especially their perception and discernment, are enriched at the same time through their own thinking. Many people have the desire just to seize hold of something out of the spiritual world instead of carefully bringing their perceptive thought to bear upon what has after all to be acquired on the physical plane. Even a God cannot comprehend the world in terms of thought unless he incarnates on this physical earth. He can comprehend the world in other forms and ways, but to comprehend it in this form he must incarnate upon the earth. If you reflect upon this it will be clear to you that there are certain dangers connected with the development of faculties within oneself which are then wrongly used. He who develops a certain visionary clairvoyance and uses it wrongly by cutting off all possibility of convincing the world with it, he who remains on the astral plane alone and does not bring his experiences down on to the physical plane, is laying himself open to the danger that an abyss will open between his visions and the physical plane. Let us suppose that someone has had visions of real significance which belong to the astral plane. They may be true visions of reality—for this may happen even with the non-thinking, visionary clairvoyant. But now between him and the real foundations of the physical plane there opens out an abyss. Imagine for a moment that this cloth were the physical plane. The visionary clairvoyant is standing in front of it; he sees his vision. But behind the physical plane is the real spiritual world; the physical plane is Maya. The visionary clairvoyant does not strip away the physical plane; this can be done only by one who makes use of the means of thought. Then only do you penetrate behind the physical plane; only with thinking clairvoyance can you ever understand it. The physical plane is there, but you do not see the spiritual world, the real spiritual world. The abyss opens before you, and the physical plane remains as Maya. And the impossibility of penetrating through the physical plane rests upon the fact that the brain is not capable of eliminating itself. If you have learnt to think rightly, you do not directly use your brain in thinking. Thinking works on the brain, but the activity of thinking does not directly need the brain; it is nonsense to assert that the brain itself thinks.
About 35 years ago I was once walking along the street with a young student who was then well on the way to becoming an out-and-out materialist. He said “When a man thinks, the brain atoms are vibrating; every definite thought has a definite form”—and then he continued to speak of how it is really nonsense to presuppose anything like a soul which can think, for it is the brain which does the thinking.—I said to him: “Yes, but now tell me, why do you tell such fibs? If this is true you cannot say: I think! You must say: my brain thinks, And you must also say: My brain eats, my brain sees the sun! You would then be speaking the truth.” He would soon see then what nonsense he had been carrying about in his head.
So it is not the brain that thinks. It needs no very serious consideration, to get this point clear, unless one is a thorough-going modern materialist. Unless you are a ‘Monist’ in the modern sense of the word, you can easily be clear on this point. The activity of thinking is not primarily dependent on having the brain as its instrument. When thinking becomes pure, the brain is not involved. It only plays a part when a sense-picture is made. If you have a picture of a chalk circle in your mind, then this picture has been formed by the brain, but when you think of a pure circle apart from all sense-qualities, then the circle is itself the active element that gives form to the brain. Now when a man has visionary clairvoyance he remains in his etheric body and does not reach the physical brain. But the abyss can never be bridged by this method. What is there seen clairvoyantly is connected with what is behind the physical plane. He who scorns the path of thought develops powers which, so to speak, do not attain their object, do not really penetrate into the spiritual world. And the consequence is that there is a false relationship between what is continually being developed in his etheric body, and what he really is as man. The relationship is entirely false; his brain is not developed to the level of his clairvoyant faculties. The brain is crude, for the man has made no effort to ennoble it through thinking. It is crude, it has built up a barrier which it cannot penetrate and which hinders him from reaching spiritual reality in his visions. He goes away from reality, instead of coming nearer to it. And every possibility of making a judgment about the spiritual world is taken away. Such a man may certainly be able to see a great deal; but there is never any guarantee that what he sees will correspond with the reality. He alone is capable of judging who can distinguish between mere vision and reality. It is only the power of discrimination that can discriminate, and if this is lacking, mere vision can never be distinguished from reality. But this power of discrimination can be acquired only by effort on the physical plane. Thus one will be for ever hovering about without firm foundations if one scorns the activity of thinking—hard and troublesome as it is.
This is what we must have clearly in our minds. Then it will be impossible for conditions to arise which otherwise arise so easily and may recur again and again, when by developing visionary clairvoyance men build up a dam against the world of reality and live in their dreams—which comes to the same thing as losing one's bearings in the physical world, as being not quite in one's right mind. Mere visionary clairvoyance easily leads to this. One can acquire the power of thoughtful discrimination. by working in the only sphere where this can be developed, namely in the sphere of thinking, on the physical plane. If you despise the acquisition of this thoughtful discrimination, you will stray far from the path of truth. Discrimination is what we need, otherwise we shall bring about all the ills that are necessarily connected with what is called the Theosophical Movement. He who gives himself up to blind belief, who merely accepts without reasoned thought all the communications from the higher worlds on the authority of another, will be doing something that is pleasant and easy, but in itself is fraught with danger. Instead of working the things out for himself and reflecting upon them, he accepts the knowledge of another, he assimilates the things that another person has seen, and refuses to test by means of his own thought what has been communicated. This is the cause of the ills to which the Theosophical Movement is liable—but of course this should not frighten anyone from attaching themselves to it. It may happen that a person, who has blind belief of this kind loses his bearings altogether and can no longer discriminate between what is true and what is untrue. Nothing can breed untruthfulness as effectively as a certain kind of visionary clairvoyance which is not supported and controlled by thought. And on the other hand, such clairvoyance breeds another quality, namely, a certain haughtiness and superiority which can even lead to megalomania. This is all the more dangerous because it is often not noticed. There is very serious danger of coming to think oneself superior because one sees something that another person does not see. And usually there is no idea of how deeply embedded in the soul this self-importance that borders on megalomania can be. It conceals itself in a certain way, especially when the (clairvoyant swears by his own visions with absolute certainty and suffers no one to take exception to them. So we sometimes find people believing the most ridiculous rubbish, just because it has been communicated to them “from the astral plane”. They would never dream of believing such things if they had been told them as matters belonging to the physical plane; but if they are told them “from the astral plane” they believe them with the most slavish credulity. Whoever has freed himself from this habit will not be led astray by this or that swindle or humbug. But people will fall into the trap unless they develop within themselves the impulse to prove and test, instead of accepting and believing without effort or exertion. We must not make it easy for ourselves; we must consider it one of the most sacred tasks of man to reach a right conviction. If we think of it in this light, we shall spare no effort of real work, and we shall not merely listen to sensational communications from the spiritual world. Of communications from the spiritual world we have, so to speak, enough. It is necessary that we should have them, but it is also necessary to acquire the right attitude and the right kind of thinking to receive these things worthily.
This is what I wanted to say to you to-day. I did not want to say it merely as an admonition or a sermon. I wanted to show the whole basis and for this reason it may have been rather difficult to keep pace with it in your thought; but in the methods I use I always try to adhere to what may be rightly looked for in the Theosophical Society. Many people like pious exhortations. I dislike them! I try to present things in such a way that they can clothe themselves in true forms of thought. When things of the physical plane are expounded, as has been done to-day, it does of course often entail hard thinking; for such things are neither as sensational nor as attractive as communications from the higher worlds. They are nevertheless of extraordinary importance. And you will not undervalue their importance if you say to yourselves: If that is really to come to pass which ought to come to pass, namely, that in the course of ensuing incarnations a sufficiently large number of people have a memory of this present incarnation, then provision for this must be made beforehand. Develop, therefore, your power of judgment; then you are candidates for the memory, in your next incarnation, of the present one. See to it that you are able to follow the world with your thoughts. For however much you can see m a visionary way, it will give you no help in remembering back to the present incarnation. And it is the mission of Spiritual Science to prepare the way for what must needs come—namely, that there may be a sufficiently large number of people who out of their own knowledge can look back to this present incarnation. How many come to the point in this incarnation of accompanying their knowledge of Spiritual Science with clairvoyant powers depends on the karma of each individual. There are certainly many sitting here whose karma will not allow them to see the world clairvoyantly in this incarnation. But all those who acquire what is given in true Spiritual Science, clothed as it is in the forms of thought, will reap the fruits of it in the next incarnation; for in this one they will have laid the right foundation. A man may, so to speak, be a clairvoyant without knowing it; and one who studies Spiritual Science in the right way has the insight and can wait until his karma also allows him actually to behold the things for himself.
Über Das Rechte Verhältnis Zur Anthroposophie
Was oftmals gesagt wird in den verschiedenen Vorträgen über die in der Siebenzahl ablaufenden Zyklen, ist keine Redensart; es entspricht wirklich einem Gesetz des Daseins. Indem wir einen siebenjährigen Zyklus in dem Leben unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Bewegung nun vollendet haben, darf es gesagt werden, daß wir eigentlich einige Momente ein wenig Einkehr halten sollten in unser ganzes Streben, in unser ganzes Arbeiten. Dieses Arbeiten ist ja nur dann möglich, wenn die spirituelle Bewegung so abläuft, daß sie sozusagen in ihrer inneren Gesetzmäßigkeit etwas von den Gesetzen der großen Weltenordnung enthält. Die Weltenordnung läuft ab in Zyklen, die man nach der Siebenzahl rechnen kann. Wir zählen sieben planetarische Zustände, sieben Zustände innerhalb der planetarischen Welten und so weiter. Aber auch bei einer solchen Bewegung wie der unsrigen spielt die Siebenzahl eine gewisse Rolle, und es kehrt gewissermaßen das Streben nach sieben Jahren zu seinem Anfang zurück, indem es sich einverleibt hat in der Zwischenzeit dasjenige, was erarbeitet worden ist. Es kehrt das Streben auf einer höheren Stufe wiederum nach seinem Anfang zurück. So etwas ist nur dann zu erreichen möglich, wenn auch die tiefere, innere Gesetzmäßigkeit der Sache nicht außer acht gelassen wird.
Wenn Sie ein wenig zurückblicken, wie wir gearbeitet haben in diesen sieben Jahren, so werden Sie eines bemerken können: es gab wirklich eine gewisse Regelmäßigkeit in dieser Arbeit. Sie können natürlich diese Dinge, die jetzt gesagt werden, nicht auf den Tag hin nehmen, aber wenn Sie sie im wesentlichen nehmen, so werden Sie sehen, daß sie so sind. Wir haben in den ersten vier Jahren unserer Arbeit sozusagen die Grundanlagen unseres Arbeitens gemacht. In den ersten vier Jahren haben wir uns verschafft eine gewisse Erkenntnis vom Wesen des Menschen, eine gewisse Erkenntnis von den Wegen, die in die höheren Welten hinaufführen, und wir haben uns verschafft etwas über die großen kosmischen Zusammenhänge, über das, was man nennen kann die Prüfung der Ergebnisse der AkashaChronik in bezug auf die Weltengeheimnisse.
Diejenigen unserer Mitglieder, welche später eingetreten sind, haben ja immer nötig gehabt und werden es immer nötig haben, diese feste Grundlage unseres Strebens, die unerläßlich ist, sich nachher anzueignen. Denn es genügt keineswegs, daß man sich bloß das aneignet, was, um einen Fortschritt einer Bewegung in richtiger Weise möglich zu machen, in den letzten drei Jahren vorgekommen ist. Wenn Sie eine gewisse Rückschau halten, so werden Sie sehen, daß in den letzten drei Jahren in gewisser Beziehung ausgebaut worden sind selbst diejenigen Wahrheiten und Erkenntnisse, die Ihnen in den letzten Jahren, vielleicht etwas frappierend, entgegengetreten sind. Wenn Sie versuchen, den Zusammenhang herzustellen mit dem, was in den ersten vier Jahren unseres Arbeitens gepflegt worden ist, sozusagen in dem viergliedrigen Unterbau des Ganzen, so werden Sie sehen, daß auch das, was frappierend war, was große, umfassende Wahrheiten sind, einen intimen Zusammenhang hat mit dem, was in den ersten vier Jahren geschehen ist. Davon werden Sie sich überzeugen können, wenn Sie Einkehr in sich selber halten. Die jüngeren Mitglieder sollten es sich recht sehr ins Herz geschrieben sein lassen, daß sie durchaus nicht versäumen sollten, für einen gediegenen Grundbau bei sich zu sorgen. Es wird ja immer mehr und mehr, überall wo gearbeitet wird, dafür gesorgt, daß derjenige, der später eintritt, nachholen kann, was in den ersten Jahren hier erarbeitet worden ist. Ohne dieses Nachholen ist ein wirkliches Mitkommen eigentlich nicht möglich. Wir sollen das, was geisteswissenschaftliche Bewegung ist, durchaus im tiefsten Sinne ernst nehmen. Im Zusammenhange damit darf vielleicht heute über ein Thema gesprochen werden, gerade mit Bezug auf unseren wichtigen Zeitabschnitt, über ein Thema, das mehr die Gesinnung und die ganze spirituelle Vorstellungsart betrifft: Welches ist die richtige Art, in der sich der Anthroposoph zur Geisteswissenschaft selber stellen kann?
Was hiermit gesagt sein soll, wird uns noch viel klarer werden, wenn wir die Frage etwas anders stellen, wenn wir sie so stellen: Warum wird denn überhaupt heute so, wie es geschieht, Anthroposophie gelehrt? Warum werden Mitteilungen gegeben über die höheren Welten, Mitteilungen, die Ergebnisse der geistigen Forschung, des hellseherischen Bewußtseins sind? Könnte es vielleicht nicht so sein, daß in ganz anderer Weise vorgegangen würde, daß man vielleicht damit begänne, einem jeden gewisse Anweisungen zu geben, wie er seine eigenen, inneren, in der Seele schlummernden Fähigkeiten entwickeln kann, so daß er sozusagen durch diese Anweisungen empfangen würde die Möglichkeit, nach und nach selber hinaufzudringen in die geistigen Welten, auch bevor er irgend etwas, wie es heute geschieht, mitgeteilt erhält von dem, was Tatsachen in den höheren Welten sind? Man muß sagen, es ist in einer gewissen Weise früher die Gepflogenheit so gewesen; sie war so vor unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Bewegung im modernen Sinne des Wortes. Da hat man lange Zeiten hindurch gesagt: Es nützt ja eigentlich nicht viel, wenn irgend jemand hintritt vor die Welt und die Ergebnisse der geistigen Forschung mitteilt. - Und man hat sich so zurückhaltend wie möglich benommen in bezug auf solche Mitteilungen. Man hat eigentlich sich darauf beschränkt, den Menschen gewisse Regeln zu geben, wie sie die in ihrer Seele schlummernden Fähigkeiten entwickeln sollen, und hat dann, im Grunde genommen, sie nicht mehr wissen lassen als das, was sie sich so selber durch eigene Anschauung langsam in den höheren Welten erworben haben. Es könnte nun die Frage entstehen: Warum wird dieser Weg heute nicht eben ausschließlich eingeschlagen, sondern warum wird heute aus den Ergebnissen der Geistesforschung Anthroposophie mitgeteilt?
Das ist nicht aus irgendeines Menschen Vorliebe oder Willkür entsprungen, sondern das hat seine guten Gründe. Und wir werden besser verstehen, was wir gut verstehen sollten, wenn wir uns immer wiederum eines sagen: Was teilt eigentlich diese Geisteswissenschaft mit? Sie teilt mit Tatsachen, Wahrheiten aus dem Bereich der höheren, der übersinnlichen Welten; sie teilt mit dasjenige, was das hellseherische Bewußtsein in diesen höheren Welten erforschen kann.
Nun ist es ja richtig, daß derjenige, dem solche Mitteilungen gemacht werden und der nicht selbst hellseherisch ist, sich von den Tatsachen als solchen zunächst nicht durch unmittelbare Anschauung überzeugen kann. Es ist richtig, daß er die Mitteilungen hinnimmt, und daß er sie sozusagen durch den hellseherischen Augenschein nicht prüfen kann. Gewiß, das ist ganz richtig. Aber es wäre ganz falsch, zu glauben, daß der Mensch, der nicht hellseherisch ist, die heute mitgeteilten Erkenntnisse überhaupt nicht prüfen könnte, überhaupt nicht einsehen könnte. Das zu glauben, wäre ganz falsch und es wäre eine unrichtige Meinung, wenn man behaupten wollte, daß man bloß auf Treu und Glauben, auf bloße Autorität hin das aufnehmen müßte, was aus dem hellseherischen Bewußtsein heraus mitgeteilt wird. Es würde geradezu etwas im höchsten Grade Unvollkommenes in diesen Mitteilungen liegen, etwas Mangelhaftes, wenn diese Mitteilungen bloß auf Autorität, bloß auf Glauben Anspruch machen wollten.
Was mitgeteilt wird auf rechtmäßige Weise, das kann - und das ist ja oft gesagt worden - erforscht werden nur durch das hellseherische Bewußtsein. Ist es aber, und meinetwillen auch nur von einem einzigen, erforscht, ist es einmal geschaut und wird es mitgeteilt, dann kann es jeder einsehen durch seine unbefangene Vernunft, durch das, was ihm zugänglich ist auf dem physischen Plan. Und es darf wohl gesagt werden: Wenn auch nicht jeder von denen, die hier sitzen, immer die Möglichkeit hat, gleich alles im umfänglichsten Sinne zu prüfen, so könnte er sich doch wenigstens diese Möglichkeit verschaffen, wenn er Zeit und Fähigkeit - aber nur Fähigkeiten dieses physischen Planes - dazu hätte.
Nehmen wir selbst so schwierige Dinge, wie sie hier in den letzten Vorträgen berührt worden sind, von den Inkarnationen des Zarathustra, so schwierige Dinge also, die sich darauf bezogen, daß des Zarathustra astralischer Leib übergegangen ist in Hermes, daß des Zarathustra ätherischer Leib übergegangen ist in Moses, dann darf niemand behaupten, daß derjenige, der diese Dinge aus der Geistesforschung heraus kennt, bloß Anspruch machen würde auf den blinden Glauben. Nein, das ist durchaus nicht der Fall! Wenn jemand käme und sagte: Gut, ich habe gar nichts von einem Hellseher. Da behauptet einer diese Sachen von Zarathustra und seinen Inkarnationen. Ich will jetzt alles das, was dem Menschen auf dem physischen Plan zur Verfügung steht, aufgreifen, alles, was die Geschichte überliefert, alles, was in steinernen Dokumenten enthalten ist, alles, was in religiösen Urkunden enthalten ist, alles das will ich in der sorgfältigsten Weise prüfen. - Und ein solcher sagte: Nehmen wir an, daß richtig sei, was der da sagt, stimmt das mit den Tatsachen, die äußerlich konstatiert werden können? - Und dann würde er alles, was äußerlich konstatiert werden kann, durchforschen und würde sehen, daß, je genauer er vorgeht bei seinen Forschungen, er um so mehr die Tatsachen, die der Hellseher mitteilt, bestätigt fände.
Wenn das Wort Furcht überhaupt eine Bedeutung dabei hätte, so könnte man sagen, die geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung kann eventuell Furcht haben vor einer ungenauen Prüfung, aber vor denjenigen nicht, die alles nehmen wollen, was der physischen Forschung zur Verfügung steht. Diese werden sehen, daß, je genauer sie vorgehen bei ihren Forschungen, sie desto mehr die Tatsachen, die der Hellseher mitteilt, bestätigt finden werden. Für diejenigen Dinge aber, die nicht so ferne liegen und die nicht so schwierig sind, die sich auf Karma und Reinkarnation, auf das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt beziehen, da braucht jemand nur das, was das Leben bietet, unbefangen zu betrachten. Je genauer er das betrachtet, desto mehr wird er bestätigt finden, was der Hellseher mitteilt; das heißt, es gibt genugsam Möglichkeiten, sich zu überzeugen davon, daß das, was gewonnen wird aus den übersinnlichen Welten, sich bestätigt an der äußeren physischen Welt. Und das ist etwas, was nicht so leicht hingenommen werden soll, sondern etwas, was wir als eine unerläßliche Notwendigkeit betrachten sollen. Wir sollen zunächst die Tatsachen, die vielleicht nur wenige erforschen können, an dem Leben prüfen. Wir sollen gar nicht immerfort die Phrase wiederholen: Das muß man auf Treu und Glauben hinnehmen! — Nein, nehmt so wenig als möglich auf Treu und Glauben an, aber prüft, prüft, nur nicht befangen, sondern unbefangen! Das ist dasjenige, was man zunächst betonen kann.
Nun aber handelt es sich ja darum, daß eine solche Prüfung, wenn sie vorgenommen wird, in gewisser Beziehung anstrengend ist. Sie erfordert Denken, sie erfordert, daß man sozusagen arbeitet, daß man sich tatsächlich darauf einläßt, Bestätigungen in der physischen Welt zu finden für das, was aus der hellseherischen Forschung heraus gesagt wird. Und da kommen wir auf ein Kapitel, das sehr wohl einmal besprochen werden kann, welches unserer eigentlichen Frage erst entspricht, nämlich darauf: Ist es notwendig oder wenigstens gut für den heutigen Menschen, neben dem Streben, das ja berechtigt ist, selber hineinzudringen in die geistige Welt, ist es notwendig oder wenigstens gut, mit den gewöhnlichen Erkenntnismitteln und den gewöhnlichen Denkmethoden des physischen Planes sich eingehend und energisch zu beschäftigen? Mit andern Worten: Tut der Geistesschüler gut, jene Bequemlichkeit zu überwinden, die er ja heute reichlich mitbringt aus der nichtspirituellen Welt, tut er gut, jene Bequemlichkeit zu überwinden und ernsthaft seine Gedankenwelt auszubauen, sich wirklich der Mittel, mit denen man den Menschen auch vom physischen Plan aus erkennen kann, zu bemächtigen und ihrer sich zu bedienen? Tut er gut, vor allen Dingen recht viel zu lernen, namentlich zu lernen in bezug auf denkerische Art? Es ist sogar recht schwierig, ganz klar und präzis dem heutigen Bewußtsein beizubringen, was man darunter versteht.
Da kam es mir vor, daß jemand, der vorwärtskommen wollte auf anthroposophischem Felde, gleichzeitig aber sich schulen wollte, um die spirituellen Gedanken immer genauer zu denken, eine Lektüre von mir angewiesen haben wollte. Ich empfahl dem Betreffenden zu seiner Denktrainierung, damit er immer mehr imstande sein werde, die Gedanken, die er überliefert erhalte, sich in scharfen Konturen hineinzuzeichnen, er solle das Werk von Spinoza «Die Ethik» studieren. Es dauerte nur wenige Wochen, da schrieb mir die betreffende Persönlichkeit: Ja, er wisse eigentlich nicht, warum er das studieren solle; denn es sei verhältnismäßig ein dickes Buch und alles liefe darin doch nur darauf hinaus, das Dasein Gottes zu beweisen. Das habe er aber niemals bezweifelt und brauche deshalb nicht lange Gedankengänge durchzumachen, um das Dasein Gottes zu beweisen. — Sehen Sie, das ist so richtig ein Beispiel für jene Bequemlichkeit, mit der heute viele Menschen an die Geisteswissenschaft herankommen. Sie sind sozusagen schnell zufrieden, wenn sie sich einen Glauben erworben haben, und sie scheuen die Mühe, sich Stück für Stück jene Vorstellungen, die ja unbequem sind, zu erwerben, auszubauen. Dadurch kann aber niemals etwas anderes herauskommen als ein blinder Glaube, während Sie schon sehen werden, daß die Sache aufhört, blinder Glaube zu sein, wenn Sie wirklich Ihr Denken schulen und nicht bloß gierig danach streben, jene Kräfte auszubilden, die sozusagen zu einer elementaren Stufe der Hellsichtigkeit führen.
Gewiß soll heute nichts gesagt werden gegen das Streben, die verborgenen Kräfte in der Seele zu entwickeln. Das ist ein schönes und ein gutes Streben. Aber auf der andern Seite soll auch betont werden, daß damit parallelgehen muß, daß es notwendig ist, daneben die physischen Gedankenkräfte, diejenigen Erkenntnisfähigkeiten, die uns zunächst hier gegeben sind auf dem physischen Plan, diese wenn auch in unbequemer Weise zu schulen, damit wir imstande sind, uns scharfe Vorstellungen und scharfe Begriffe zu machen von dem, was uns mitgeteilt wird aus den höheren Welten. Man könnte schr leicht glauben, daß der geringste Grad des Hellschens besser sei als noch so viel Hören durch vernünftiges Begreifen von den Tatsachen der höheren Welten. Es könnte jemand sagen: Ich weiß gar nicht, warum ich in dieser Gesellschaft bin. Da werden immer Dinge der höheren Welten erzählt; das ist ganz schön, aber mir wäre es lieber, wenn ich auch nur ein klein, klein wenig sehen könnte durch hellsichtiges Schauen.
Ich kenne einen sehr gelehrten Theosophen, der seine inbrünstige Sehnsucht, auch einmal hinauszukommen über die bloße Gelehrsamkeit zum Sehen, damit ausgesprochen hat, daß er sagte: Wenn ich auch nur einmal in der Lage wäre, das Ende des Schwänzchens eines Elementarwesens zu sehen! - Gewiß, es ist das begreiflich. Man kann es durchaus verstehen, daß jemand so sagt. Dieser Theosoph würde ja niemals sagen, daß er die Erkenntnisse der spirituellen Wahrheiten dafür hingeben würde. Aber auch das kann vorkommen, daß einer sie hingeben würde, wenn er dafür auch nur ein wenig Hellsehen eintauschen könnte. Und dennoch, wenn jemand eine solche Empfindung hat, so ist sie ungeheuer irrtümlich, und zwar in jeder Beziehung irrtümlich. Denn wir leben in der Zeit, welche in der Entwickelung der Gesamtheit das Zeitalter des bewußten Denkens ist. Wie oft betont worden ist, bildete das altindische Zeitalter noch eine ganz andere Art des Bewußtseins aus, die an dämmerhaftes, dumpfes Hellsehen erinnert. Nach und nach erst haben sich die heutigen Fähigkeiten entwickelt und erst wir haben mit der eigentlichen Entwickelung der Bewußtseinsseele das menschliche Denken in den Kreis der Erdenentwickelung hereinbekommen. Deshalb muß es auch heute geschehen, daß die Geisteswissenschaft heruntergeholt wird aus der übersinnlichen Welt und daß sie appelliert an das vernünftige Denken des Menschen.
Wir müssen uns einmal den folgenden Unterschied klarmachen: Bei einem bloß visionären Hellsehen braucht jemand kein besonderer Denker zu sein. Sein Denken kann sehr primitiv sein und er kann doch verhältnismäßig weit sein in bezug auf das Sehen auf dem astralischen und, bis zu einem gewissen Grade sogar devachanischen Plane. Er kann also da ziemlich weit sein, er kann vieles sehen. Der andere mögliche Fall ist, daß jemand sehr, sehr viel weiß von spirituellen Wahrheiten und noch gar nichts sieht, überhaupt nicht in der Lage ist, irgend etwas, wie gesagt auch nur das Ende des Schwänzchens eines Elementarwesens zu sehen. Auch das kann der Fall sein. Nun fragen wir uns einmal: Wie verhalten sich eigentlich diese verschiedenen Fähigkeiten der menschlichen Seele zueinander?
Da müssen wir vor allen Dingen betonen, daß man nicht verwechseln darf: Etwas haben, und sich dessen, was man hat, bewußt sein. Das ist ungeheuer wichtig, daß man das ins Auge faßt. Sie werden diese Frage richtig verstehen, wenn wir sie etwas anders stellen. Sehen Sie, Sie alle waren einmal hellsehend in uralten Zeiten. Denn alle Menschen waren hellsehend, und zwar gab es Zeiten, in denen die Menschen zurückgesehen haben weit, weit in der Zeitenwende. Und nun können Sie fragen: Ja, warum erinnern wir uns nicht an unsere früheren Inkarnationen, wenn wir doch schon in der Zeitenwende rückwärtsschauen konnten?
Das müßte Ihnen ein Beweis sein für die eine Tatsache, daß es Ihnen gar nichts geholfen hat für diese Fähigkeit, zum Beispiel sich nun zurückzuerinnern, daß Sie früher in Ihre Inkarnationen zurückschauen konnten. Und Sie könnten die Frage aufwerfen: Nützt es uns also zunächst eigentlich etwas für eine folgende Inkarnation, wenn wir jetzt visionär hellsehend werden, für die Rückerinnerung? — Die eine Tatsache können Sie sich ja schon vor Augen halten: daß das alte Hellsehen nichts nützt für das Zurückschauen heute, denn das haben Sie alle gehabt. Warum erinnern sich heute so viele Menschen nicht an ihre vorhergehenden Inkarnationen? Die Frage ist außerordentlich wichtig. Es erinnern sich so viele nicht an ihre früheren Inkarnationen, obwohl sie in höherem oder geringerem Maße hellsichtig waren in früheren Zeiten, weil sie damals nicht ausgebildet hatten diejenigen Fähigkeiten, die gerade die Fähigkeiten des Selbstes, des Ichs sind. Denn nicht darum handelt es sich, daß man hellseherische Fähigkeiten ausgebildet hat, sondern daß man dasjenige, was gesehen werden soll, wirklich schon ausgebildet hat.
Wenn nun die Menschen früher noch so hellsichtig gewesen sind und nicht dafür gesorgt haben, gerade diejenigen Fähigkeiten auszubilden, welche die Fähigkeiten des Ichs sind, nämlich die Fähigkeit des Denkens, des Unterscheidungsvermögens, dasjenige, was die besondern Fähigkeiten des menschlichen Selbstes auf dieser Erde sind, so war ja das Ich nicht da in den vorhergehenden Inkarnationen. Es war die Selbstheit nicht da. Woran soll man sich dann erinnern? Man muß in der vorhergehenden Inkarnation dafür sorgen, daß ein in sich geschlossenes Ich da war. Darauf kommt es an! So daß also heute nur diejenigen Menschen sich an frühere Inkarnationen erinnern können, die in diesen früheren Inkarnationen gearbeitet haben mit den Mitteln des Denkens, der Logik, des Unterscheidungsvermögens. Diese können sich erinnern. Es kann also bei jemandem das Hellsehen noch so sehr ausgebildet werden: wenn er nicht in früheren Inkarnationen gearbeitet hat mit den Mitteln des Unterscheidungsvermögens, des logischen Denkens, dann kann er sich an eine frühere Inkarnation nicht erinnern. Damals hat er nicht hingesetzt die Marke, an die er sich erinnern soll. Da werden Sie schen, daß man eigentlich, wenn man Anthroposophie versteht, sich überlegen sollte, daß man nicht schnell genug herangehen kann, diese Fähigkeiten gerade des gründlichen Denkens sich zu erobern. Nun könnten Sie sagen: Wenn ich hellseherisch werde, dann werde ich mir diese Fähigkeit des logischen Denkens schon von selbst erobern. — Das ist nicht richtig. Warum haben die Götter überhaupt Menschen entstehen lassen? Aus dem Grunde, weil sie nur in Menschen Fähigkeiten entwickeln konnten, die sie sonst überhaupt nicht hätten entwickeln können: die Fähigkeit zu denken, in Gedanken sich etwas vorzustellen, so daß diese Gedanken an Unterscheidung gebunden sind. Diese Fähigkeit kann erst auf unserer Erde ausgebildet werden; sie war früher überhaupt nicht da, sie mußte erst dadurch kommen, daß eben Menschen entstanden sind.
Wenn wir einen Vergleich gebrauchen wollen, so können wir sagen: Nehmen wir an, Sie haben ein Samenkorn, einen Weizensamen etwa. Wenn Sie ihn noch so lange anschauen, da wird kein Weizen daraus. Sie müssen ihn in die Erde hineinlegen und ihn wachsen lassen, die Kräfte des Wachstums auf ihn wirken lassen. Das, was die göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten vor der Bildung des Menschen gehabt haben, läßt sich dem Weizensamen vergleichen. Sollte der in Form von Gedanken aufgehen, dann mußte er erst auf dem physischen Plan durch Menschen gepflegt werden. Es gibt keine andere Möglichkeit, Gedanken zu züchten von den höheren Welten herunter, als sie in Menscheninkarnationen aufgehen zu lassen. So daß dasjenige, was Menschen hier auf dem physischen Plane denken, ein Einzigartiges ist und zu dem hinzukommen muß, was in den höheren Welten möglich ist. Der Mensch war tatsächlich notwendig, sonst hätten ihn die Götter nicht entstehen lassen. Die Götter haben den Menschen entstehen lassen, um das, was sie gehabt haben, auch noch in der Form des Gedankens durch den Menschen zu erhalten. So also würde überhaupt das, was aus den höheren Welten herunterkommt, nie die Form des Gedankens bekommen, wenn der Mensch ihm nicht diese Form des Gedankens geben könnte. Und wer nicht denken will auf der Erde, der entzieht den Göttern das, worauf sie gerechnet haben, und kann also das, was eigentlich Menschenaufgabe und Menschenbestimmung ist auf der Erde, gar nicht erreichen. Er kann es nur erreichen in derjenigen Inkarnation, wo er sich darauf einläßt, wirklich denkerisch zu arbeiten. Wenn man sich das überlegt, so folgt alles andere daraus. Was Offenbarungen, wirkliche Tatsachen gibt über die geistige Welt, das kann in der mannigfaltigsten Weise in die Menschenseele einziehen. Gewiß ist es möglich und in zahlreichen Fällen heute wirklich so, daß die Menschen zu einem visionären Sehen kommen, ohne scharfe Denker zu sein — viel mehr Leute kommen zum Hellsehen, die keine scharfen Denker sind, als scharfe Denker -, aber es ist ein großer Unterschied zwischen den Erfahrungen in der geistigen Welt derjenigen, die scharfe Denker sind, und derjenigen, die keine scharfen Denker sind. Es ist ein Unterschied, den ich so ausdrücken kann: Was sich aus den höheren Welten offenbart, das prägt sich am allerbesten ein in diejenigen Formen des Vorstellens, die wir als Gedanken diesen höheren Welten entgegenbringen; das ist das beste Gefäß.
Wenn wir nun keine Denker sind, dann müssen sich die Offenbarungen andere Formen suchen, zum Beispiel die Form des Bildes, die Form des Sinnbildes. Das ist die häufigste Art, wie derjenige, der Nichtdenker ist, die Offenbarungen erhält. Und Sie können dann von solchen, die visionäre Hellseher sind, ohne daß sie zugleich Denker sind, hören, wie von ihnen in Sinnbildern die Offenbarungen erzählt werden. Diese sind ja ganz schön, aber wir müssen uns zu gleicher Zeit bewußt sein, daß das subjektive Erlebnis ein anderes ist, ob Sie als Denker Offenbarungen haben oder als Nichtdenker. Wenn Sie als Nichtdenker Offenbarungen haben, so ist das Sinnbild da; es steht da diese oder jene Figur. Das offenbart sich aus der geistigen Welt heraus. Sagen wir, Sie sehen eine Engelgestalt, dieses oder jenes Symbolum, das dieses oder jenes ausdrückt, meinetwillen ein Kreuz, eine Monstranz, einen Kelch - das ist da im übersinnlichen Felde, das sehen Sie als fertiges Bild. Sie sind sich klar: Das ist keine Wirklichkeit, aber es ist ein Bild.
In etwas anderer Weise werden schon für das subjektive Bewußtsein die Erfahrungen aus der geistigen Welt für den Denker erlebt, nicht ganz so wie bei dem Nichtdenker. Da stehen sie nicht sozusagen auf einmal gegeben da, wie aus der Pistole heraus geschossen; da haben Sie sie anders vor sich. Nehmen Sie, ich will sagen, einen nichtdenkenden visionären Hellseher und einen denkenden. Der nichtdenkende visionäre Hellseher und der denkende visionäre Hellseher würden beide dieselben Erfahrungen empfangen. Wollen wir einen bestimmten Fall setzen: Der nichtdenkende visionäre Hellseher sieht diese oder jene Erscheinung der geistigen Welt, der denkende visionäre Hellseher sieht sie noch nicht, sondern etwas später, und in dem Momente, wo er sie sieht, da war sie bereits erfaßt von seinem Denken. Da kann er sie schon unterscheiden, er kann schon wissen, ob sie Wahrheit oder Unwahrheit ist. Er sieht sie etwas später. Es tritt ihm aber, indem er sie etwas später sieht, die Erscheinung aus der geistigen Welt so entgegen, daß er sie gedankendurchdrungen hat und unterscheiden kann, ob sie Täuschung oder Wirklichkeit ist, so daß er sozusagen früher etwas hat, bevor er es sieht. Er hat es natürlich im selben Momente wie der nichtdenkende visionäre Hellseher, aber er sieht es etwas später. Dann aber, wenn er es sieht, dann ist die Erscheinung schon mit dem Urteil, mit dem Gedanken durchsetzt, und er kann genau wissen, ob sie ein Scheinbild ist, ob da seine eigenen Wünsche objektiviert sind, oder ob sie objektive Realität ist. Das ist der Unterschied im subjektiven Erlebnis. Der nichtdenkende visionäre Hellseher sieht die Erscheinung sogleich, der denkende etwas später. Dafür aber wird sie auch beim ersteren so bleiben, wie er sie sieht, er kann sie so beschreiben. Der Denker aber wird sie ganz einreihen können in das, was dann in der gewöhnlichen physischen Welt ist. Er wird sie in Beziehung bringen können zu dieser. Die physische Welt ist eben auch, wie jene Erscheinung, eine Offenbarung aus der geistigen Welt.
Daraus sehen Sie schon, daß Sie dadurch, daß Sie ausgerüstet mit dem Instrument des Gedankens an die geistige Welt herangehen, Sicherheit haben in der Beurteilung dessen, was Ihnen gegeben wird. Nun aber kommt noch hinzu: Man könnte über den Wert von Mitteilungen aus der geistigen Welt streiten, wenn man die entsprechenden Erscheinungen nicht selber gesehen hat. Setzen wir zu den zweien, die wir einander gegenübergestellt haben, einen dritten hinzu, der nun gar kein Hellseher ist, sondern dem nur mitgeteilt werden die Ergebnisse der geistigen Forschung, insofern sie auf dem Wege des scharfen Denkens im Verein mit dem visionären Sehen gewonnen werden. Er nimmt sie und begreift sie als vernünftig. Ja, es sind Tatsachen aus der geistigen Welt. Der visionäre, denkende Scher hat sie und ein jeder hat sie, der sie vernünftigerweise begriffen hat, wenn er sich dessen auch nicht bewußt ist. Sie brauchen lange nicht hellsichtig zu sein und haben dennoch den vollen Wert dessen, was Sie als Mitteilungen empfangen, in sich.
Es ist ein Unterschied zwischen dem, etwas zu haben, und sich dessen bewußt zu sein, was man hat. Man kann sich daran sehr leicht das Verhältnis eines solchen nicht sehenden Geistesschülers zum hellsichtigen klarmachen. Denken Sie, Sie hätten eine Erbschaft gemacht, hätten aber noch nichts davon erfahren. Wenn dies der Fall wäre, wenn Sie die Erbschaft gemacht hätten, Ihnen aber noch nichts bekannt wäre, so hat sie auch schon heute den richtigen Wert für Sie. Sie können es erst später erfahren, daß Sie heute diese Erbschaft gemacht haben, Sie besitzen sie aber trotzdem. So ist es auch mit demjenigen, der durch die Anthroposophie Tatsachen der geistigen Welt erfährt. Er hat sie, wenn er sie vernünftigerweise begriffen hat, er besitzt sie und kann nun abwarten die Zeit, wo er sich ihrer bewußt wird. Das ist aber eben etwas, was durchaus nicht gleichbedeutend ist mit dem Besitz der Tatsachen. Insbesondere zeigt sich das nach dem Tode. Was nützt eigentlich - wenn wir dieses triviale Wort anwenden wollen, um uns die Sache zu verdeutlichen —, was nützt dem Menschen mehr nach dem Toode: wenn er ohne Gedanken visionär irgend etwas sieht, oder wenn er rein spirituelle Mitteilungen, ohne visionär zu schauen, empfängt?
Da könnte man sehr leicht glauben, das visionäre Sehen sei eine bessere Vorbereitung für den Tod als das bloße Hören der Tatsachen aus der geistigen Welt. Und dennoch! Nach dem Tode nützt dem Menschen recht wenig, was er bloß visionär gesehen hat. Ist dagegen eine Tatsache da, fängt er sofort an, sich dessen bewußt zu werden, was er an Mitteilungen empfangen hat, wenn er diese vernünftigerweise begriffen hat. Gerade das hat den Wert nach dem Tode: was man verstanden hat, gleichgültig, ob es geschaut ist oder nicht. Und nehmen Sie den tiefsten Eingeweihten: durch sein Hellsehen kann er die ganze geistige Welt schauen, aber das erhöht seine Bedeutung nach dem Tode nicht, wenn er nicht in menschlichen Begriffen diese Tatsachen auszudrücken imstande ist. Nach dem Tode helfen ihm nur diejenigen Dinge, die er hier als Begriffe hat. Das sind die Samenkörner für das Leben nach dem Tode. Natürlich, wer visionärer Hellseher ist und Denker, der kann es nutzbringend machen, was er visionär sieht. Aber zwei nichtdenkerische Menschen, von denen der eine hellsichtig ist und der andere nur hört, was dieser sieht, sind nach dem Tode in genau derselben Lage; denn das, was wir mitbringen in das Leben nach dem Tode, das ist dasjenige, was wir uns hier erwerben mit Hilfe des scharfen Denkens. Das geht auf als ein Samen, nicht das, was wir herausholen aus den Welten, wo wir hineingehen. Wir bekommen das, was wir aus den höheren Welten empfangen, nicht als ein freies Geschenk, damit wir es dann bequemer haben, wenn wir den physischen Plan verlassen, sondern dazu, daß wir es hier in die Münze dieser Erde umsetzen. So viel wie wir in die Münze dieser Erde umgesetzt haben, so viel hilft uns nach dem Tode. Das ist das Wesentliche.
So ist es in bezug auf das Verhältnis nach dem Tode. Aber auch hier auf dem physischen Plan ist das Verhältnis ein anderes beim visionären Hellseher und bei dem denkenden visionären Hellseher. Gewiß ist es interessant und schön, hineinzusehen in die geistigen Welten; aber es ist trotzdem ein Unterschied, diese geistigen Welten bloß visionär zu sehen, abgesehen davon, daß man, ohne diese Dinge denkerisch zu durchschauen, niemals vor Täuschungen bewahrt bleibt. Es gibt kein anderes Mittel gegen Täuschungen, als das Geschaute erst klar zu denken. Aber selbst abgesehen davon: Nehmen wir an, es habe ein visionärer Hellseher dieses oder jenes geschaut, so wie er es schaut — das können Sie seinen Schilderungen entnehmen -, so ist es doch durchdrungen von Elementen des physischen Planes. Oder hat Ihnen irgendeiner einen Engel beschrieben, der nicht durchdrungen gewesen wäre von Elementen des physischen Planes? Er hat Flügel gehabt, Flügel haben aber die Vögel auch. Er hat einen menschlichen Oberleib gehabt, einen menschlichen Oberleib hat aber auch jeder Mensch auf dem physischen Plan. Gewiß, wie die Dinge zusammengesetzt sind, von denen der visionäre Hellseher erzählt, das ist nicht auf dem physischen Plan vorhanden; aber die Elemente dazu sind auf dem physischen Plan vorhanden. Die Bilder sind durchaus aus Elementen des physischen Planes zusammengesetzt. Das ist nicht unberechtigt. Aber Sie können daraus doch entnehmen, daß ein solches Bild einen Erdenrest hat. Was Sie da in Formen, in Bildern, die dem physischen Plan entnommen sind, an Ihren Schauungen haben, das gehört nicht der geistigen Welt an, das ist nur Versinnbildlichung der geistigen Welt mit Mitteln der physischen Welt. Ich habe das klar auseinandergesetzt in der «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß». Ich habe da auseinandergesetzt, daß das wirklich für das heutige Hellsehen bis zu dem Punkte gehen muß, daß es zwar zuerst zu seiner Vorentwickelung seine Bildhaftigkeit hat, daß es aber nicht stehenbleiben darf dabei, sondern vorrücken muß bis zu dem Punkte, wo auch der letzte Erdenrest von dem, was geschaut wird, abgeworfen wird. Dann ist allerdings eine gewisse Gefahr vorhanden für den Hellseher, wenn er alle Erdenreste abstreift. Wenn er da zum Beispiel den Engel sieht und alles Irdische abstreift, so ist die Gefahr vorhanden, daß er dann nichts mehr sieht. Wenn er das wegläßt, was hinaufgetragen worden ist an Sinnbildlichkeit, dann besteht die Gefahr, daß er nichts mehr sieht. Was einen dann bewahrt, die Sache ganz zu verlieren, wenn man wirklich in die geistige Welt kommt, das ist der Same, der aus dem Denken aufgehen kann. Die Gedanken geben dann die Substanz her, das, was da ist in der geistigen Welt, zu ergreifen. Dadurch erhalten wir die Fähigkeit, wirklich in der geistigen Welt zu leben, daß wir das ergreifen in unserer sinnlichen Welt, was nicht mehr von Elementen der Sinnlichkeit durchsetzt ist und doch hier auf dem physischen Plane ist. Das sind einzig und allein die Gedanken. Wir dürfen nichts mitbringen in die geistige Welt als lediglich die Gedanken; von einem Kreis zum Beispiel nichts von der Kreide, sondern lediglich die Gedanken von dem Kreise. Mit diesen können Sie aufsteigen in die geistigen Welten. Von dem Bilde dürfen Sie nichts mitbringen.
Jetzt kann ich den früher erwähnten subjektiven Vorgang noch genauer beschreiben. Nehmen wir noch einmal den Fall an, daß irgend etwas, sagen wir meinetwillen eine Monstranz, gesehen wird in dem geistigen Felde. Nun will ich die beiden Hellseher, den bloß visionären und den denkerischen, so charakterisieren, daß ich annehme, der eine sieht es hier, a, der andere, der denkerische Hellseher, erst hier, b.
a———b
Von jetzt ab ist es ihm erst bewußt. Er bekommt es aber dadurch zugleich mit den Gedanken und kann es mit Gedanken durchdringen. In dem Moment allerdings, wo der denkerische Hellseher das Gebilde durchsetzt mit Gedanken, da wird es undeutlich für den visionären Hellseher, da wird es ihm schwarz und undeutlich - hier, b, an dieser Stelle. Es tritt erst nach einiger Zeit wieder auf. Gerade wo der Gedanke sich mit dem Gebilde verbinden kann, da wird es undeutlich für den visionären Hellseher. Er ist eigentlich niemals imstande, den Gedanken damit zu verbinden. Deshalb hat er niemals das Erlebnis: Du bist mit deinem Ich dabeigewesen. — Dieses Erlebnis ist etwas, was dem bloß visionären Hellscher fehlt.
Das alles ist etwas, was sozusagen intimer auf die Sache eingeht und was ungeheuer wichtig ist zu bedenken, was einen darauf führen muß, daß man es wirklich nötig hat, sein Denken auszubilden, die Bequemlichkeit zu überwinden, die darin liegt, daß man sich eben nicht ein erkennendes Wissen aneignen will. Es ist tausendmal besser, die spirituellen Vorstellungen erst denkerisch erfaßt zu haben und dann, je nach seinem Karma später oder früher, selber hinaufsteigen zu können in die geistigen Welten, als zunächst zu schen und nicht denkerisch erfaßt zu haben, was mitgeteilt wird in der Bewegung, die man die anthroposophische nennt. Tausendmal besser ist es, Geisteswissenschaft zu kennen und noch nichts zu sehen, als etwas zu sehen und nicht die Möglichkeit zu haben, die Dinge auch denkerisch zu durchdringen, weil dadurch Unsicherheit in die Sache hineinkommt.
Sie können aber die Sache noch präziser zum Ausdruck bringen, indem Sie sagen: Es gibt in der Gegenwart scharfe Denker, die können vernünftigerweise die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung einsehen. Warum kommen manchmal gerade diese so schwer zum Hellsehen? — Verhältnismäßig leicht wird es gerade denen, die nicht scharfe Denker sind, zum visionären Hellsehen zu kommen, und sie werden dann leicht hochmütig gegenüber dem Denken, während es schwierig ist für die scharfen Denker, zur Hellsichtigkeit zu kommen. Da ist haarscharf die Klippe vorhanden, wo ein gewisser maskierter Hochmut sich geltend macht. Es gibt ja kaum etwas, was den Hochmut so sehr züchtet, wie ein nicht von Gedanken erhelltes Hellsehen, und es ist deshalb so besonders gefährlich, weil der Betreffende in der Regel gar nicht weiß, daß er hochmütig ist, sondern sich sogar für demütig hält. Er weiß gar nicht zu beurteilen, was für ein ungeheurer Hochmut dazugehört, die denkerische Arbeit der Menschen gering zu achten und auf gewisse Eingebungen den Hauptwert zu legen. Es steckt darin ein maskierter Hochmut, der ungeheuerlich ist.
Die Frage ist nun diese: Warum ist es — was ja die Erfahrung lehrt gerade manchem Denker so ungeheuer schwierig, es dahin zu bringen, nun auch hellsichtig zu werden? — Das hängt zusammen mit einer wichtigen Tatsache. Was man menschliche Unterscheidungskraft, Urteilskraft nennt, was der Denker gerade ausbildet, das logische Denken, das bewirkt nämlich eine ganz bestimmte Änderung des ganzen Gehirnbaues. Das physische Instrument wird umgeändert durch scharfes Denken. Die physische Forschung weiß zwar wenig davon, aber es ist so; es schaut ein physisches Gehirn anders aus, das ein Denker benützt hat, als eines, das einem Nichtdenker angehörte. Daß einer hellseherisch ist, ändert es nicht viel. Bei einem, der nicht denkt, finden Sie das Gehirn in sehr komplizierten Windungen, beim scharfen Denker dagegen verhältnismäßig einfach, ohne besondere Komplikationen. Gerade in der Vereinfachung der Gehirnwindungen drückt sich das Denken aus. Davon weiß die heutige Forschung nichts.
Scharfes Denken ist das, was überschauen kann, nicht, was sich im Analysieren betätigt. Daher die größere Einfachheit der Gehirnwindungen beim scharfen Denker. Wo die physische Forschung irgendwie nur sich herbeiläßt, bloß einmal das scharfe Denken, das für physische Verhältnisse gilt, zu prüfen, da zeigt sich sehr bald, daß die physische Forschung bestätigt, was die Geisteswissenschaft behauptet. Die Untersuchung des Gehirns von Mendelejew, dem die Wissenschaft die Aufstellung des periodischen Systems der Elemente verdankt, bewahrheitet, was die Geisteswissenschaft sagt: seine Gehirnwindungen waren einfacher. Bei ihm war in gewissen Grenzen ein umfassendes Denken da, und da ergab auch die physische Untersuchung durchaus die Wahrheit dessen, was ich gesagt habe. Das ist nicht von besonderem Wert, das sei nur nebenbei erwähnt. Also, wie gesagt, es ist eine Veränderung des Werkzeuges des Denkens da. Diese Veränderung muß die Tätigkeit des Denkens selber herbeirufen. Es wird ja keiner geboren mit all den Fähigkeiten, die er später hat, vielleicht mit den Anlagen dazu; aber die Fähigkeiten muß er erst ausbilden, so daß tatsächlich mit dem Gehirn während des Lebens eine Veränderung vorgeht. Es ist das Werkzeug des Denkens anders geworden nach dem denkerischen Leben, als es vorher gewesen war.
Die Sache ist nun diese, daß unser Ätherleib, den wir für das hellseherische Bewußtsein loskriegen müssen von unserem physischen Gehirn, durch diese denkerische Betätigung gekettet wird an das physische Gehirn. Diese Arbeit des Denkens kettet, verbindet den Ätherleib stark mit dem Gehirn. Hat einer durch sein Karma noch nicht die Kräfte, ihn wieder loszukriegen zur rechten Zeit, dann kann es sein, daß er in dieser Inkarnation nichts Besonderes auf hellseherischem Gebiete erreichen kann. Nehmen wir an, er habe das Karma, in einer früheren Inkarnation ein scharfer Denker gewesen zu sein. Dann wird das Denken jetzt nicht so stark den Ätherleib mit dem Gehirn engagieren, und er wird verhältnismäßig leicht den Ätherleib bald loskriegen und kann gerade dadurch, daß die denkerischen Elemente die besten Samen sind für das Aufsteigen in die höheren Welten, in feinster Weise die Geheimnisse der höheren Welten erforschen. Er muß natürlich erst wieder loskriegen den Ätherleib von dem Gehirn. Wenn der Ätherleib aber sich so verfangen hat im physischen Gehirn beim Hineinziselieren der denkerischen Tätigkeit, daß er erschöpft ist, dann kann ihn sein Karma vielleicht lange warten lassen, bis er ihn wieder loskriegt. Wenn er aber dann aufsteigt, dann ist er durchgeschritten durch den Punkt des logischen Denkens. Dann ist das unverloren, dann kann ihm niemand wegnehmen, was er sich errungen hat, und das ist ungeheuer wichtig, weil die Hellsichtigkeit sonst immer wieder verlorengehen kann. Ich mache noch einmal darauf aufmerksam, daß Sie alle hellsichtig waren in früheren Zeiten. Warum besitzen Sie die Fähigkeit des Hellsehens jetzt nicht mehr? Weil Sie dazumal nicht mit dem Erdendasein verknüpft und verbunden waren, weil Sie entrückt waren in die geistige Welt, weil Sie diese nicht heruntergeholt haben bis zu Ihren Fähigkeiten, weil das visionäre Hellsehen auf einer Entrücktheit beruhte.
Das ist, was wir ins Auge fassen müssen. Diese Feinheiten muß man sich in die Seele schreiben. Man muß sich klar sein darüber, daß eine wirkliche Geheimwissenschaft heute die Aufgabe hat, diejenigen Ergebnisse der geistigen Forschung mitzuteilen, die mit dem denkerischen Gehalt durchdrungen sind, so daß man immer die Ergebnisse der hellseherischen Forschung so einkleidet, daß der nicht hellseherische Mensch sie durch sein Denken begreifen kann. Dazu müssen sie aber erst mit dem Gedanken verbunden sein. Daher die Schwierigkeit alten Büchern gegenüber, in denen von Erscheinungen der höheren Welten die Rede ist. Wenn Sie solche alte Bücher hernehmen, so werden Sie überall - wenn Sie mit der Gepflogenheit der heutigen Geisteswissenschaft herantreten - einen Mangel empfinden. Es sind vielleicht großartige Mitteilungen, die Sie in diesen alten Büchern finden, aber es kann der heutige Mensch mit ihnen, wenn er nicht selber Hellscher ist und die Sache richtigstellen kann, nicht viel anfangen, während mit dem, was heute Geisteswissenschaft darbietet, jeder, der sich bemüht, etwas anfangen kann, weil er es durchdringen kann mit dem, was er auf dem physischen Plan an Gedankenelementen gewinnen kann. Denn mit denselben Begriffen wird das erfaßt, was in der geistigen Welt ist und was in der physischen Welt ist. Die heutige Naturwissenschaft redet von Entwickelung und die Geisteswissenschaft redet von Entwickelung. Haben Sie den Begriff der Entwickelung erfaßt, so können Sie verstehen, was in der Geisteswissenschaft mitgeteilt wird. Sie können sich von Karma einen Begriff verschaffen, weil Sie sich ein denkerisches Bild davon verschaffen können. Freilich, wenn Sie einfach sagen, wie dies manche Theosophen tun: Jede geistige Ursache hat eine geistige Wirkung und dies ist Karma -, dann haben Sie keinen Begriff von Karma. Bei einer Billardkugel können Sie auch das Gesetz von Ursache und Wirkung sehen, aber da haben Sie nicht den richtigen Vergleich mit Karma. Nehmen Sie dagegen einmal eine Kugel aus Eisen und werfen Sie diese in ein Gefäß mit Wasser. Wenn die Kugel kalt ist, so bleibt das Wasser, wie es ist. Wenn Sie aber die Kugel heiß machen und dann hineinwerfen, dann wird das Wasser warm. Infolge des Ereignisses, das mit der Kugel geschehen ist, wird das Wasser warm. Das läßt sich mit dem Karma vergleichen, wenn ein späteres Ereignis die Folge ist eines früheren Geschehnisses.
So also müssen wir uns durchaus klar sein darüber, daß jeder, der mit dem Gedanken durchdringt die Tatsachen der geistigen Welt, sie auch mitteilen kann in solcher Weise, daß derjenige, der die Gedanken hier auf dem physischen Plane gewonnen hat, dieselben Gedanken anwenden kann auf das, was mitgeteilt wird aus den geistigen Welten. Dann kann er das begreifen. Das soll sich jeder zu Gemüte führen. Jeder soll verstehen, daß es nicht darauf ankommt, Mitteilungen aus den höheren Welten zu bekommen, sondern es kommt darauf an, daß man sie bekommt auf eine Art, die unseren irdischen Verhältnissen entspricht. Jeder sollte darauf achtgeben, daß er die Mitteilungen aus den höheren Welten nicht anders bekommt. Freilich ist die Bequemlichkeit da, einfach zu glauben, was mitgeteilt wird. Das ist aber von großem Übel. Denn, nicht wahr, wenn jemand glauben will, so ist das ungefähr so, wie wenn er sich erzählen lassen will, daß es ein Licht gibt, während er doch das Licht braucht, um ein Zimmer zu beleuchten. Da muß er das Licht haben, da hilft der bloße Glaube nichts. So ist es wichtig, daß man zunächst die Form ergreift, die Form des gewissenhaften, gründlichen Nachdenkens, um durch diese Form zuerst zu empfangen die Mitteilungen aus der geistigen Welt. Erforscht werden können sie nur, wenn man die Fähigkeit des Hellsehens besitzt, aber begreifen kann sie jeder, wenn sie erforscht sind, der sie in richtiger Weise empfängt.
Wenn man so denkt, dann werden alle die Gefahren, die wirklich sonst verknüpft sind mit dem, was man anthroposophische Bewegung nennt, mehr oder weniger dadurch beseitigt sein. Die Gefahren treten aber sofort ein, wenn Leute hellscherische Fähigkeiten entwickeln und nicht darauf halten, zu gleicher Zeit ihr Denken und namentlich ihr Erkennen mit den Mitteln des Denkens zu bereichern. Diese Gier haben viele, nur ja etwas zu erhaschen aus der geistigen Welt und nicht sorgfältig wirklich erkennend vorzugehen mit dem, was auf dem physischen Plan erobert werden muß. Kein Gott kann die Welt in Gedanken erfassen, wenn er sich nicht auf dieser physischen Erde inkarniert. Er kann die Welt erfassen in anderer Form; aber um sie zu erfassen in dieser Form, da muß er sich auf dieser Erde inkarnieren. Das bedenkend, kann sich jeder klarmachen, daß es mit gewissen Gefahren verbunden ist, Fähigkeiten in sich zu entwickeln, die man dann nicht richtig verwendet. Wer ein gewisses visionäres Hellsehen entwickelt und es nicht richtig verwendet, indem er sich die Möglichkeit abschneidet, die Welt damit zu überzeugen, wer nur auf dem astralischen Plan bleibt und seine Erfahrungen nicht herunterbekommt auf den physischen Plan, der setzt sich der Gefahr aus, daß ein Abgrund sich auftut zwischen seinen Visionen und dem physischen Plan.
Nehmen wir an, jemand habe ganz bedeutende Visionen, die dem astralischen Plane angehören. Diese seien meinetwillen ganz Wirklichkeit - sie können es ja auch beim nichtdenkenden visionären Hellseher sein -, aber nun tut sich zwischen ihm und demjenigen, was dem physischen Plan zugrunde liegt, ein Abgrund auf. Denken Sie sich einmal, dieses Handtuch wäre der physische Plan. Nun stünde der visionäre Hellseher davor; er sieht seine Vision. Hinter dem physischen Plan ist aber die eigentliche geistige Welt. Der physische Plan ist Maja. Diesen physischen Plan, den schafft derjenige, der visionärer Hellseher ist, nicht weg; der verschwindet erst für den, der ihn mit den Mitteln des Gedankens fortschafft. Da erst dringen Sie hinter den physischen Plan, so daß Sie das erst mit dem denkerischen Hellsehen verstehen. Der physische Plan ist da, aber Sie sehen die geistige Welt, die wirkliche geistige Welt nicht. Da tut sich der Abgrund auf, da bleibt der physische Plan als Maja vorhanden. Und diese Unmöglichkeit, den physischen Plan zu durchdringen, beruht darauf, daß das Gehirn nicht dazu fähig ist, sich auszuschalten. Wenn Sie gelernt haben, richtig zu denken, so brauchen Sie zum Denken Ihr Gehirn nicht unmittelbar. Dasjenige, was Denken ist, das arbeitet am Gehirn, aber die denkerische Tätigkeit braucht das Gehirn nicht unmittelbar. Es ist Unsinn, wenn jemand behaupten wollte: Das Gehirn denkt. Ich ging einmal - es ist jetzt vielleicht fünfunddreißig Jahre her - mit einem jungen Manne, der damals studierte, auf der Straße, der damals auf dem besten Wege war, ganz Materialist zu werden. Der sagte: Nun ja, wenn er denke, da schwingen dadrinnen die Gehirnatome; jeder bestimmte Gedanke habe eine bestimmteForm, und er beschrieb, daß das eigentlich Unsinn wäre, so etwas wie eine Seele vorauszusetzen, die da denke. Denn da denke das Gehirn. - Ich sagte ihm: Ja, sage mir einmal, warum bist du denn eigentlich so verlogen? Wenn das so ist, dann kannst du doch nicht sagen: /ch denke. Du mußt dann sagen: Mein Gehirn denkt. Du mußt dann auch sagen: Mein Gehirn ißt, mein Gehirn sieht die Sonne. Das wäre dann die Wahrheit. - Dann würde er bald sehen, welchen Unsinn er mit sich herumträgt.
Also das Gehirn ist es nicht, was denkt. Das kann man sich, wie gesagt, durch recht triviale Überlegungen klarmachen - wenn man nicht gerade ein recht moderner Materialist ist. Die denkerische Tätigkeit ist zunächst gar nicht darauf angewiesen, das Gehirn sozusagen als ihr Instrument zu gebrauchen. Wo der Gedanke rein wird, da ist das Gehirn nicht beteiligt. Bloß bei der Versinnbildlichung ist es beteiligt.
Wenn Sie sich einen Kreidekreis vorstellen, so geschieht dies nur durch das Gehirn; wenn Sie sich aber einen reinen, sinnbildlichkeitsfreien Kreis denken, so ist der Kreis selber das Aktive, was das Gehirn erst formt. Dann aber, wenn der Mensch visionäres Hellsehen hat, so bleibt er in seinem Ätherleib und kommt gar nicht bis zum physischen Gehirn. Man kann das ganze Leben lang in visionärer Hellseherei leben. Dadurch wird das Gehirn nicht anders, dadurch wird der Ätherleib ausgearbeitet, aber nicht das Gehirn. Dadurch aber wiederum können Sie niemals diesen Abgrund durchdringen, niemals können Sie Maja wirklich durchdringen. Das können Sie nur, wenn Sie es mit den Gedanken durchdringen.
Wer verschmäht, denkerisch vorzugehen, der entwickelt Fähigkeiten, die sozusagen ihr Objekt nicht ergreifen, die nicht wirklich in die geistige Welt hineingreifen. Und die Folge ist, daß ein Mißverhältnis entsteht zwischen dem, was er in seinem Ätherleib fortwährend entwickelt, und dem, was er eigentlich als Mensch ist. Es entsteht ein vollständiges Mißverhältnis: es ist nicht angemessen sein Gehirn seinen hellseherischen Fähigkeiten. Das Gehirn ist grob, denn der Betreffende hat sich nicht Mühe gegeben, es durch Denken zu veredeln. Es bildet sich etwas, wodurch er nicht durch kann, was ihm ein Hindernis ist, mit seinen Visionen an die geistige Wirklichkeit heranzukommen. Er entfernt sich von der Wirklichkeit, statt sich ihr zu nähern. Dann ist jede Möglichkeit, zu entscheiden über die geistige Welt, ausgeschlossen. Ein solcher Mensch wird gewiß viel sehen können, aber niemals ist bei ihm eine Garantie vorhanden, daß das der Wirklichkeit entspricht. Entscheiden könnte nur derjenige, der unterscheiden kann zwischen bloßer Vision und Wirklichkeit. Unterscheiden kann eben nur das Unterscheidungsvermögen. Wenn man das nicht hat, kann man niemals unterscheiden eine bloße Vision von Wirklichkeit. Aber Unterscheidungsvermögen kann man sich nur erarbeiten durch Arbeiten auf dem physischen Plan. So schwebt man immer ohne Untergrund, wenn man die etwas mühsam zu erringende denkerische Arbeit verschmäht.
Das ist das, was man sich zu Gemüte führen muß. Dann können nicht die Dinge entstehen, die sonst so sehr leicht entstehen, die immer und immer wieder vorkommen können, daß Menschen dadurch, daß sie visionäres Hellsehen entwickeln, sich einen Damm aufrichten gegen die wirkliche Welt und dann in ihren Träumen leben. Das ist gleichbedeutend mit Sich-nicht-mehr-Auskennen in der physischen Welt, gleichbedeutend eben mit Nicht-vollständig-bei-seinenSinnen-Sein. Besonnenheit kann man sich erringen dadurch, daß man arbeitet da, wo diese Besonnenheit einzig und allein ausgebildet werden kann: durch das Denken des physischen Planes. Verschmäht man es, diese Besonnenheit sich anzueignen, so schwebt man in der Irre. Das ist, was wir uns aneignen müssen, sonst kommen all die Schäden, die notwendigerweise mit dem, was man die anthroposophische Bewegung nennt, verknüpft sein müssen. Wer nur blind glauben will, also alle Mitteilungen aus den höheren Welten auf die bloße Autorität eines andern hin ohne vernünftiges Denken annimmt, der tut etwas, was sehr bequem ist, aber es hat eine Gefahr in sich. Statt in sich die Sachen zu erarbeiten, statt aus sich heraus nachzudenken, nimmt man das Wissen eines andern, die Dinge, die ein anderer gesehen hat, in sich auf. Man verzichtet, denkerisch zu prüfen, was er mitteilt. Das erzeugt dasjenige, was durch die anthroposophische Bewegung an Schäden entstehen kann. Es darf sich natürlich dadurch niemand abschrecken lassen, sich ihr hinzugeben. Es kann vorkommen bei einem solch blindgläubigen Menschen, daß er sich verliert, daß er nicht mehr unterscheiden kann zwischen dem, was wahr ist und was Lüge ist.
Nichts kann so sehr die Lügenhaftigkeit züchten als ein gewisses bloß visionäres Hellsehen, das nicht am Gedanken sich aufrankt und kontrolliert wird. Und auf der andern Seite wird ein solches Hellsehen wiederum eine andere Eigenschaft noch züchten, nämlich eine gewisse Überhebung, einen gewissen Hochmut, der bis zum Größenwahn führen kann. Und er ist um so gefährlicher, weil er nicht bemerkt wird. Die Gefahr ist sehr groß, daß man sich deshalb für etwas Besseres hält, weil man diese oder jene Dinge sieht, die der andere nicht sieht. Und gewöhnlich weiß man dann gar nicht, wie tief das, was hart an Größenwahn grenzt, wie tief das eigentlich in der Seele sitzt. Es verbirgt sich in gewisser Weise und namentlich hinter dem, daß man mit unbedingter Sicherheit auf seine Visionen schwört und keine Einrede duldet, so daß man es erleben kann, daß die Leute das törichteste Zeug glauben, wenn es ihnen nur vom astralischen Plan aus gesagt wird. Es würde ihnen gar nicht einfallen, von einem Menschen des physischen Planes solche Dinge zu glauben, wenn er es ihnen sagte, aber sie glauben es mit sklavischer Gläubigkeit, wenn es ihnen vom astralischen Plan aus gesagt wird. Wer sich das abgewöhnt, der kann auch nicht auf jeden Schwindel und Humbug hereinfallen. Man fällt aber herein, wenn man nicht den Trieb in sich ausbildet, zu prüfen, und sobald man auf bequeme Weise sich eine Überzeugung verschaffen will. Man soll es sich nicht leicht machen. Man soll es in Betracht ziehen, daß es zu den heiligsten Angelegenheiten des Menschen gehört, sich eine Überzeugung zu verschaffen. Wenn man das in Betracht zieht, dann wird man keine Mühe scheuen, wirklich zu arbeiten, nicht bloß hinzuhorchen auf sensationelle Mitteilungen. An Mitteilungen aus der geistigen Welt heraus haben wir wirklich genug, sozusagen, aber es ist auch notwendig, daß man sich die richtige Gesinnung und die richtige Vorstellungsart aneignet, sich zu diesen Dingen entsprechend zu verhalten.
Das wollte ich heute einmal aussprechen. Ich wollte es nicht bloß ermahnend aussprechen, wie eine Predigt, sondern aussprechen mit allen Begründungen. Daher war es vielleicht an sich schon etwas schwerere Denkarbeit, da mitzudenken. Aber ich versuche ja immer, auch in meinen Methoden dasjenige einzuhalten, was man als das Richtige in der geisteswissenschaftlichen Bewegung verlangen kann. Viele wollen salbungsvolle Ermahnungen. Darauf verzichte ich. Ich versuche die Dinge so darzustellen, daß sie in wirkliche Gedankenformen sich kleiden können. Wenn man Dinge des physischen Planes erörtert, wie heute, dann ist das natürlich manchmal eine schwierige Denkarbeit, denn sie sind nicht so sensationell, auch nicht so angenehm wie Dinge der höheren Welten, aber doch ungeheuer wichtig. Sie werden die Wichtigkeit dieser Dinge nicht unterschätzen, wenn Sie sich sagen: Soll wirklich eintreten, was eintreten muß, daß nämlich in den nächsten Inkarnationen eine genügend große Anzahl von Menschen sich erinnert an die gegenwärtige Inkarnation, dann muß vorgesorgt werden. Bilden Sie also Ihre Urteilskraft aus, dann sind Sie Kandidaten des Sich-Erinnerns in der folgenden Inkarnation an die gegenwärtige. Sorgen Sie dafür, mit Gedanken die Welt verfolgen zu können. Denn, wenn Sie auch noch so viel sehen können in visionärer Art, so wird Ihnen das nichts helfen zu einer Rückerinnerung an die jetzige Inkarnation. Anthroposophie ist aber dazu da, jenes, was als Notwendigkeit eintreten muß, vorzubereiten: daß es eine genügend große Anzahl von Menschen gibt, die nun wirklich aus eigenem Wissen zurückschauen können auf diese Verkörperung.
Wie viele in dieser Inkarnation dazu kommen, das geisteswissenschaftliche Wissen zu begleiten mit hellseherischem Vermögen, das hängt ab von dem Karma des einzelnen. Viele sitzen gewiß hier, deren Karma so ist, daß sie in dieser Inkarnation nicht dazu kommen, hellseherisch die Welt zu durchschauen. Aber alle diejenigen, die sich aneignen das, was in der wirklichen Geisteswissenschaft so gegeben wird, daß es in die Formen des Denkens gekleidet wird, die werden in der nächsten Inkarnation die Früchte davon haben, denn sie haben sich angeeignet die Grundlagen dazu. Der Mensch kann sozusagen ein Hellseher sein, ohne daß er es weiß, und derjenige, der Geisteswissenschaft ordentlich studiert, ba? das Sehen und kann dann warten, bis ihm sein Karma erlaubt, die Dinge auch zu schauen.
On the Right Relationship to Anthroposophy
What is often said in the various lectures about the cycles that take place in the number seven is not just a figure of speech; it truly corresponds to a law of existence. Now that we have completed a seven-year cycle in the life of our spiritual scientific movement, it may be said that we should actually pause for a moment to reflect on our entire endeavor, on all our work. This work is only possible if the spiritual movement proceeds in such a way that, in its inner lawfulness, it contains something of the laws of the great world order. The world order proceeds in cycles that can be calculated according to the number seven. We count seven planetary states, seven states within the planetary worlds, and so on. But even in a movement such as ours, the number seven plays a certain role, and after seven years the striving returns, as it were, to its beginning, having incorporated in the meantime what has been worked out. The striving returns to its beginning on a higher level. Something like this can only be achieved if the deeper, inner law of the matter is not ignored.
If you look back a little at how we have worked during these seven years, you will notice one thing: there has really been a certain regularity in this work. Of course, you cannot take the things that are now being said literally, but if you take them in essence, you will see that they are true. In the first four years of our work, we laid the foundations for our work, so to speak. In the first four years, we gained a certain insight into the nature of the human being, a certain insight into the paths that lead up to the higher worlds, and we gained some knowledge of the great cosmic connections, of what can be called the testing of the results of the Akashic Records in relation to the secrets of the worlds.
Those of our members who joined later have always needed and will always need to acquire this firm foundation of our striving, which is indispensable for later work. For it is by no means sufficient to acquire only what has happened in the last three years in order to make the progress of a movement possible in the right way. If you look back, you will see that in the last three years, even those truths and insights that may have struck you as somewhat surprising in recent years have been developed in a certain way. If you try to establish a connection with what has been cultivated in the first four years of our work, so to speak in the fourfold foundation of the whole, you will see that even what was striking, what are great, comprehensive truths, has an intimate connection with what happened in the first four years. You will be able to convince yourself of this if you look within yourselves. The younger members should take it very much to heart that they should not fail to ensure that they have a solid foundation. Wherever work is being done, more and more care is being taken to ensure that those who join later can catch up on what has been worked out here in the first few years. Without this catching up, it is not really possible to keep up. We should take what the spiritual scientific movement is in the deepest sense very seriously. In connection with this, perhaps we can talk today about a topic that is particularly relevant to our important period, a topic that concerns more the attitude and the whole spiritual way of thinking: What is the right way for an anthroposophist to relate to spiritual science itself?
What is meant here will become much clearer if we ask the question in a slightly different way, if we ask it like this: Why is anthroposophy taught today in the way it is? Why are messages given about the higher worlds, messages that are the results of spiritual research and clairvoyant consciousness? Could it not perhaps be that a completely different approach would be taken, that one would perhaps begin by giving everyone certain instructions on how to develop their own inner abilities lying dormant in their souls, so that through these instructions they would, as it were, receive the opportunity to gradually ascend into the spiritual worlds themselves, even before they receive any information as happens today, about what are facts in the higher worlds? It must be said that in a certain sense this was the custom in the past; it was so before our spiritual scientific movement in the modern sense of the word. For a long time it was said: It is not really of much use if someone stands up before the world and communicates the results of spiritual research. And people behaved as cautiously as possible with regard to such communications. They actually limited themselves to giving people certain rules on how to develop the abilities slumbering in their souls, and then, basically, they did not let them know any more than what they had slowly acquired for themselves through their own observations in the higher worlds. The question may now arise: Why is this path not being followed exclusively today, but why is anthroposophy being communicated today from the results of spiritual research?
This has not arisen from any human preference or arbitrariness, but has its good reasons. And we will understand better what we should understand well if we keep asking ourselves: What does this spiritual science actually communicate? It communicates facts, truths from the higher, supersensible worlds; it communicates what clairvoyant consciousness can explore in these higher worlds.
Now it is true that those to whom such communications are made and who are not themselves clairvoyant cannot at first be convinced of the facts as such by direct observation. It is true that they accept the communications and that they cannot, so to speak, test them by clairvoyant observation. Certainly, that is quite true. But it would be completely wrong to believe that people who are not clairvoyant cannot verify the knowledge communicated today at all, or cannot understand it at all. It would be completely wrong to believe this, and it would be an incorrect opinion to claim that one must accept what is communicated from clairvoyant consciousness merely on faith, on mere authority. There would be something highly imperfect, something deficient, in these communications if they were based solely on authority or faith.
What is communicated in a legitimate manner can – and this has often been said – only be investigated through clairvoyant consciousness. But once it has been investigated, even if only by a single person, and once it has been seen and communicated, then everyone can understand it through their unbiased reason, through what is accessible to them on the physical plane. And it may well be said that even if not everyone sitting here always has the opportunity to examine everything in the most comprehensive sense, they could at least give themselves this opportunity if they had the time and ability—but only abilities on this physical plane.
Let us take even such difficult things as have been touched upon here in the last lectures, concerning the incarnations of Zarathustra, such difficult things as relate to the fact that Zarathustra's astral body passed into Hermes, that Zarathustra's etheric body passed into Moses. Then no one can claim that someone who knows these things from spiritual research would merely claim blind faith. No, that is certainly not the case! If someone came and said, “Well, I don't believe in clairvoyants. Someone claims these things about Zarathustra and his incarnations. I will now take up everything that is available to man on the physical plane, everything that history has handed down, everything that is contained in stone documents, everything that is contained in religious documents, and I will examine all of this in the most careful manner. And one of them said: Let us assume that what he says is true. Does it correspond to the facts that can be observed externally? And then he would investigate everything that could be observed externally and would see that the more precisely he proceeded in his investigations, the more he would find confirmation of the facts communicated by the clairvoyant.
If the word fear had any meaning at all, one could say that spiritual scientific research might possibly fear an inaccurate examination, but not those who want to take everything that physical research has to offer. They will see that the more precisely they proceed in their research, the more they will find confirmation of the facts communicated by the clairvoyant. But for those things that are not so distant and not so difficult, that relate to karma and reincarnation, to life between death and a new birth, one need only look impartially at what life offers. The more closely they examine it, the more they will find confirmation of what the clairvoyant communicates; that is, there are ample opportunities to convince oneself that what is gained from the supersensible worlds is confirmed in the external physical world. And this is something that should not be accepted lightly, but rather something that we should regard as an indispensable necessity. We should first test the facts, which perhaps only a few can investigate, in life. We should not constantly repeat the phrase: “You must accept this on faith!” No, accept as little as possible on faith, but test, test, only not with prejudice, but impartially! That is what can be emphasized first.
Now, however, the point is that such an examination, when undertaken, is in a certain sense strenuous. It requires thinking; it requires that one work, so to speak, that one actually engage in finding confirmations in the physical world for what is said on the basis of clairvoyant research. And this brings us to a chapter that is well worth discussing, which corresponds to our actual question, namely: Is it necessary or at least good for people today, alongside the legitimate aspiration to penetrate the spiritual world themselves, to engage thoroughly and energetically with the ordinary means of knowledge and the ordinary methods of thinking of the physical plane? In other words, is the spiritual student well advised to overcome the complacency that he brings with him in abundance from the non-spiritual world, is he well advised to overcome this complacency and seriously develop his world of ideas, to really master the means by which human beings can also be recognized from the physical plane, and to make use of them? Is it good for him, above all, to learn a great deal, especially in relation to thinking? It is actually quite difficult to teach today's consciousness clearly and precisely what is meant by this.
It occurred to me that someone who wanted to make progress in the anthroposophical field, but at the same time wanted to train himself to think spiritual thoughts more and more precisely, would want to read something I had written. I recommended that the person in question study Spinoza's Ethics in order to train his thinking so that he would become increasingly able to draw sharp contours around the thoughts he received. It took only a few weeks before the person in question wrote to me: Yes, he did not really know why he should study it, because it was a relatively thick book and everything in it boiled down to proving the existence of God. But he had never doubted that and therefore did not need to go through long trains of thought to prove the existence of God. You see, this is a perfect example of the complacency with which many people approach spiritual science today. They are quickly satisfied, so to speak, once they have acquired a belief, and they shy away from the effort of acquiring and developing, piece by piece, those ideas that are uncomfortable. But this can never result in anything other than blind faith, whereas you will see that it ceases to be blind faith when you really train your thinking and do not merely strive greedily to develop those powers that lead, so to speak, to an elementary stage of clairvoyance.
Certainly, nothing should be said today against the striving to develop the hidden powers in the soul. That is a beautiful and good striving. But on the other hand, it must also be emphasized that this must go hand in hand with the necessity of training the physical powers of thought, those powers of cognition which are initially given to us here on the physical plane, even if this is inconvenient, so that we are able to form clear ideas and concepts of what is communicated to us from the higher worlds. One might easily believe that the slightest degree of clairvoyance is better than even so much hearing through rational understanding of the facts of the higher worlds. Someone might say: I don't know why I am in this society. Things of the higher worlds are always being talked about; that is all very well, but I would prefer to be able to see even a tiny little bit through clairvoyant vision.
I know a very learned theosophist who expressed his fervent longing to go beyond mere scholarship to seeing by saying: If only I could see the end of the tail of an elemental being just once! - Certainly, that is understandable. One can well understand why someone would say that. This theosophist would never say that he would give up his knowledge of spiritual truths for that. But it could also happen that someone would give them up if he could exchange them for even a little clairvoyance. And yet, if someone has such a feeling, it is tremendously mistaken, and mistaken in every respect. For we live in a time which, in the development of the whole, is the age of conscious thinking. As has often been emphasized, the ancient Indian age still formed a completely different kind of consciousness, reminiscent of dim, dull clairvoyance. Only gradually have today's abilities developed, and only we, with the actual development of the conscious soul, have brought human thinking into the circle of earthly evolution. That is why it must happen today that spiritual science is brought down from the supersensible world and appeals to the rational thinking of human beings.
We must first clarify the following difference: In the case of mere visionary clairvoyance, a person does not need to be a particularly good thinker. Their thinking can be very primitive, and yet they can be relatively advanced in terms of seeing on the astral and, to a certain extent, even on the devachanic plane. They can therefore be quite advanced there and see many things. The other possible case is that someone knows a great deal about spiritual truths and yet sees nothing at all, is completely incapable of seeing anything, not even, as I said, the tip of an elemental being's tail. That can also be the case. Now let us ask ourselves: How do these different abilities of the human soul actually relate to one another?
First of all, we must emphasize that one must not confuse having something with being aware of what one has. It is extremely important to understand this. You will understand this question correctly if we put it a little differently. You see, you were all clairvoyant in ancient times. For all human beings were clairvoyant, and there were times when people looked back far, far into the past. And now you may ask: Yes, why don't we remember our previous incarnations if we were able to look back in time?
This should be proof to you of the fact that it did not help you at all to have this ability, for example, to now remember that you were once able to look back into your past incarnations. And you might ask the question: Does it actually help us in a subsequent incarnation if we now become clairvoyant, for the purpose of remembering? — You can already see one fact: that the old clairvoyance is of no use for looking back today, because you all had it. Why don't so many people today remember their previous incarnations? The question is extremely important. So many do not remember their previous incarnations, even though they were clairvoyant to a greater or lesser extent in earlier times, because they had not trained those abilities which are precisely the abilities of the self, of the ego. For it is not a matter of having trained clairvoyant abilities, but of having already trained what is to be seen.
If people in earlier times were clairvoyant and did not take care to develop precisely those abilities that are the abilities of the I, namely the ability to think, to discern, that which are the special abilities of the human self on this earth, then the I was not there in previous incarnations. The self was not there. What then is there to remember? In the previous incarnation, one must ensure that a self-contained ego was present. That is what matters! So today, only those people can remember previous incarnations who worked in these previous incarnations with the means of thinking, logic, and discernment. They can remember. So, no matter how highly developed someone's clairvoyance may be, if they have not worked in previous incarnations with the means of discernment and logical thinking, they cannot remember a previous incarnation. At that time, they did not set the mark that they are supposed to remember. You will see that if you understand anthroposophy, you should consider that you cannot approach these abilities, especially that of thorough thinking, quickly enough. Now you might say: if I become clairvoyant, then I will acquire this ability of logical thinking by myself. That is not correct. Why did the gods create human beings in the first place? For the reason that they could only develop abilities in human beings that they could not have developed anywhere else: the ability to think, to imagine something in thoughts, so that these thoughts are bound to differentiation. This ability can only be developed on our Earth; it did not exist at all before, it had to come about through the creation of human beings.
If we want to use a comparison, we can say: Let us suppose you have a seed, a wheat seed, for example. No matter how long you look at it, it will not turn into wheat. You must put it into the earth and let it grow, letting the forces of growth act upon it. What the divine-spiritual beings had before the formation of human beings can be compared to the wheat seed. If it were to sprout in the form of thoughts, it would first have to be nurtured on the physical plane by human beings. There is no other way to cultivate thoughts from the higher worlds than to let them sprout in human incarnations. Thus, what human beings think here on the physical plane is unique and must be added to what is possible in the higher worlds. Human beings were indeed necessary; otherwise, the gods would not have allowed them to come into being. The gods created human beings in order to preserve what they had in the form of thought through human beings. Thus, what comes down from the higher worlds would never take the form of thought if human beings were not able to give it this form of thought. And those who do not want to think on earth deprive the gods of what they have counted on and therefore cannot achieve what is actually the task and destiny of human beings on earth. They can only achieve it in an incarnation where they allow themselves to really work with their minds. If you think about it, everything else follows from this. What revelations, real facts about the spiritual world, can enter the human soul in the most diverse ways. It is certainly possible, and in many cases today it is actually true, that people come to a visionary way of seeing without being sharp thinkers — many more people who are not sharp thinkers come to clairvoyance than sharp thinkers — but there is a great difference between the experiences in the spiritual world of those who are sharp thinkers and those who are not. It is a difference that I can express as follows: What is revealed from the higher worlds is best imprinted in those forms of imagination that we offer to these higher worlds as thoughts; that is the best vessel.
If we are not thinkers, then the revelations must seek other forms, for example, the form of images or symbols. This is the most common way in which non-thinkers receive revelations. And you can then hear from those who are visionary clairvoyants, without being thinkers, how they recount the revelations in symbols. These are all very nice, but we must be aware at the same time that the subjective experience is different depending on whether you have revelations as a thinker or as a non-thinker. If you have revelations as a non-thinker, the symbol is there; this or that figure is standing there. This is revealed from the spiritual world. Let us say you see an angelic figure, this or that symbol expressing this or that, for example a cross, a monstrance, a chalice—this is there in the supersensible realm, and you see it as a finished image. You are clear that this is not reality, but it is an image.
In a slightly different way, the experiences from the spiritual world are already experienced by the thinker in subjective consciousness, not quite in the same way as by the non-thinker. They are not, so to speak, given there all at once, as if fired from a gun; you have them before you in a different way. Take, for example, a non-thinking visionary clairvoyant and a thinking one. The non-thinking visionary clairvoyant and the thinking visionary clairvoyant would both receive the same experiences. Let us take a specific case: the non-thinking visionary clairvoyant sees this or that appearance of the spiritual world, the thinking visionary clairvoyant does not see it yet, but only a little later, and at the moment when he sees it, it has already been grasped by his thinking. He can already distinguish it; he can already know whether it is true or false. He sees it a little later. But because he sees it a little later, the apparition from the spiritual world appears to him in such a way that he has thought it through and can distinguish whether it is illusion or reality, so that he has something, so to speak, before he sees it. He has it, of course, at the same moment as the non-thinking visionary clairvoyant, but he sees it a little later. But then, when he sees it, the apparition is already permeated with judgment, with thought, and he can know exactly whether it is an illusion, whether his own desires are objectified, or whether it is objective reality. That is the difference in subjective experience. The non-thinking visionary clairvoyant sees the phenomenon immediately, the thinking person a little later. But for the former, it will remain as he sees it; he can describe it as such. The thinker, however, will be able to classify it completely within what then exists in the ordinary physical world. He will be able to relate it to this world. The physical world is, like that phenomenon, a revelation from the spiritual world.
From this you can already see that by approaching the spiritual world equipped with the instrument of thought, you have certainty in your assessment of what is given to you. But there is more: one could argue about the value of messages from the spiritual world if one has not seen the corresponding phenomena oneself. Let us add a third person to the two we have contrasted, who is not a clairvoyant at all, but who is only told the results of spiritual research, insofar as they are obtained by means of sharp thinking in conjunction with visionary seeing. He accepts them and understands them as reasonable. Yes, they are facts from the spiritual world. The visionary, thinking mind has them, and everyone who has understood them reasonably has them, even if they are not aware of it. You do not need to be clairvoyant to have the full value of what you receive as messages within you.
There is a difference between having something and being aware of what you have. It is very easy to understand the relationship between such a blind spiritual student and a clairvoyant. Imagine that you have inherited something but have not yet found out about it. If this were the case, if you had inherited something but did not yet know about it, it would still have the right value for you today. You may only find out later that you inherited something today, but you still possess it. The same is true of someone who learns about the spiritual world through anthroposophy. Once they have understood them reasonably, they possess them and can now wait for the time when they become conscious of them. But this is something that is by no means equivalent to possessing the facts. This becomes particularly apparent after death. What use is it — if we want to use this trivial word to clarify the matter — what use is it to a person after death if they see something visionary without thinking, or if they receive purely spiritual messages without seeing anything visionary?
It would be very easy to believe that visionary seeing is better preparation for death than merely hearing facts from the spiritual world. And yet! After death, what a person has merely seen in visions is of little use to them. If, on the other hand, there is a fact, they immediately begin to become aware of what they have received in communications, once they have understood them reasonably. This is precisely what has value after death: what one has understood, regardless of whether one has seen it or not. Take the most deeply initiated person: through his clairvoyance, he can see the entire spiritual world, but this does not increase his significance after death if he is unable to express these facts in human terms. After death, only those things that he has here as concepts will help him. These are the seeds for life after death. Of course, those who are visionary clairvoyants and thinkers can make good use of what they see in their visions. But two non-thinking people, one of whom is clairvoyant and the other only hears what the first sees, are in exactly the same position after death; for what we bring with us into the life after death is what we acquire here with the help of sharp thinking. That is what germinates as a seed, not what we take out of the worlds we enter. We do not receive what we receive from the higher worlds as a free gift so that we may have a more comfortable life when we leave the physical plane, but so that we may convert it here into the currency of this earth. The amount we have converted into the currency of this earth is the amount that will help us after death. That is the essential point.
This is how it is with regard to the relationship after death. But even here on the physical plane, the relationship is different between the visionary clairvoyant and the thinking visionary clairvoyant. It is certainly interesting and beautiful to look into the spiritual worlds; but there is nevertheless a difference between merely seeing these spiritual worlds visionarily and thinking through these things, apart from the fact that without thinking through them one is never protected from deception. There is no other remedy against deception than to first think clearly about what one has seen. But even apart from that, let us suppose that a visionary clairvoyant has seen this or that as he sees it—you can gather that from his descriptions—it is still permeated with elements of the physical plane. Or has anyone ever described to you an angel that was not permeated with elements of the physical plane? He had wings, but birds also have wings. He had a human upper body, but every human being on the physical plane also has a human upper body. Certainly, the way the things described by the visionary clairvoyant are put together does not exist on the physical plane; but the elements for it do exist on the physical plane. The images are entirely composed of elements of the physical plane. That is not unjustified. But you can nevertheless conclude from this that such an image has an earthly remnant. What you see in your visions in forms and images taken from the physical plane does not belong to the spiritual world; it is only a symbolization of the spiritual world by means of the physical world. I have explained this clearly in “The Secret Science in Outline.” I explained there that this really must apply to present-day clairvoyance to the point that, although it initially has its pictorial nature in its preliminary development, it must not remain there, but must advance to the point where even the last earthly remnant of what is seen is cast off. Then, of course, there is a certain danger for the clairvoyant when he casts off all earthly remnants. If, for example, he sees the angel and strips away everything earthly, there is a danger that he will then see nothing more. If he leaves out what has been carried up in symbolism, there is a danger that he will see nothing more. What then preserves one from losing the whole thing when one really enters the spiritual world is the seed that can spring from thinking. Thoughts then provide the substance for grasping what is there in the spiritual world. This gives us the ability to truly live in the spiritual world, to grasp in our sensory world what is no longer permeated by elements of sensuality and yet is still here on the physical plane. These are solely and exclusively thoughts. We must bring nothing into the spiritual world except our thoughts; for example, nothing of the chalk from a circle, but only the thoughts of the circle. With these you can ascend into the spiritual worlds. You must bring nothing from the picture with you.
Now I can describe the subjective process I mentioned earlier in more detail. Let us assume once again that something, let us say a monstrance, is seen in the spiritual field. Now I will characterize the two clairvoyants, the purely visionary one and the thinking one, in such a way that I assume that one sees it here, a, and the other, the thinking clairvoyant, only here, b.
a———b
From now on, he is aware of it. But at the same time, he receives it with his thoughts and can penetrate it with his thoughts. However, at the moment when the thinking clairvoyant permeates the image with thoughts, it becomes unclear to the visionary clairvoyant; it becomes black and unclear to him—here, b, at this point. It only reappears after some time. Precisely where the thought can connect with the image, it becomes unclear to the visionary clairvoyant. He is actually never able to connect the thought with it. That is why he never has the experience: You were there with your ego. — This experience is something that the merely visionary clairvoyant lacks.
All of this is something that goes into the matter more intimately, so to speak, and is extremely important to consider, leading one to the realization that it is truly necessary to train one's thinking and overcome the comfort that lies in not wanting to acquire knowledge through understanding. It is a thousand times better to have first grasped spiritual ideas intellectually and then, depending on one's karma, to be able to ascend into the spiritual worlds sooner or later, than to believe at first and not have intellectually grasped what is communicated in the movement known as anthroposophy. It is a thousand times better to know spiritual science and see nothing than to see something and not have the opportunity to penetrate it with your mind, because this introduces uncertainty into the matter.
But you can express the matter even more precisely by saying: There are sharp thinkers in the present who can reasonably understand the spiritual scientific worldview. Why is it sometimes so difficult for these people to see clearly? — It is relatively easy for those who are not sharp thinkers to attain visionary clairvoyance, and they then easily become arrogant toward thinking, while it is difficult for sharp thinkers to attain clairvoyance. There is a very fine line where a certain masked arrogance asserts itself. There is hardly anything that breeds arrogance as much as clairvoyance that is not illuminated by thought, and it is therefore particularly dangerous because the person concerned is usually unaware that they are arrogant, but even considers themselves humble. They are completely unable to judge the tremendous arrogance involved in disregarding the intellectual work of others and placing the main value on certain inspirations. There is a masked arrogance in this that is monstrous.
The question is now this: Why is it—as experience teaches us, especially in the case of some thinkers—so incredibly difficult to become clear-sighted? This has to do with an important fact. What we call human discernment, judgment, what the thinker develops, namely logical thinking, brings about a very specific change in the entire structure of the brain. The physical instrument is transformed by sharp thinking. Physical research knows little about this, but it is true; a physical brain that has been used by a thinker looks different from one that belonged to a non-thinker. The fact that someone is clairvoyant does not change much. In someone who does not think, you will find the brain in very complicated convolutions, whereas in a sharp thinker it is relatively simple, without any particular complications. Thinking is expressed precisely in the simplification of the convolutions of the brain. Today's research knows nothing about this.
Sharp thinking is that which can see the big picture, not that which engages in analysis. Hence the greater simplicity of the convolutions of the brain in sharp thinkers. Where physical research somehow only deigns to examine sharp thinking that applies to physical conditions, it very soon becomes apparent that physical research confirms what spiritual science claims. The examination of the brain of Mendeleev, to whom science owes the establishment of the periodic table of elements, confirms what spiritual science says: his brain convolutions were simpler. He had, within certain limits, comprehensive thinking, and physical examination also confirmed the truth of what I have said. This is not of particular value, but is only mentioned in passing. So, as I said, there is a change in the tool of thinking. This change must be brought about by the activity of thinking itself. No one is born with all the abilities they will later have, perhaps with the predisposition for them, but they must first develop these abilities so that a change actually takes place in the brain during life. The tool of thinking has become different after a life of thinking than it was before.
The thing is that our etheric body, which we must free from our physical brain for clairvoyant consciousness, is chained to the physical brain through this thinking activity. This work of thinking chains and strongly connects the etheric body to the brain. If, through karma, one does not yet have the strength to free it at the right time, then it may be that in this incarnation one cannot achieve anything special in the clairvoyant realm. Let us assume that one has the karma of having been a sharp thinker in a previous incarnation. Then thinking will not engage the etheric body so strongly with the brain, and he will relatively easily get rid of the etheric body soon and, precisely because the thinking elements are the best seeds for ascending to the higher worlds, he will be able to explore the secrets of the higher worlds in the finest way. Of course, he must first free the etheric body from the brain. But if the etheric body has become so entangled in the physical brain during the engraving of the thinking activity that it is exhausted, then his karma may make him wait a long time before he can free it again. But when he then ascends, he has passed through the point of logical thinking. Then it is not lost, then no one can take away what he has achieved, and that is immensely important, because otherwise clairvoyance can always be lost again. I would like to point out once again that you were all clairvoyant in earlier times. Why do you no longer possess the ability of clairvoyance? Because you were not connected to earthly existence at that time, because you were transported into the spiritual world, because you did not bring it down to your abilities, because visionary clairvoyance was based on a state of detachment.
This is what we must bear in mind. These subtleties must be engraved in our souls. We must be clear that a true secret science today has the task of communicating those results of spiritual research that are imbued with intellectual content, so that the results of clairvoyant research are always presented in such a way that people who are not clairvoyant can understand them through their thinking. To do this, however, they must first be connected with the mind. Hence the difficulty with old books that speak of phenomena of the higher worlds. If you take such old books, you will find them lacking in every respect if you approach them with the habits of today's spiritual science. You may find magnificent communications in these old books, but unless you are clairvoyant yourself and can set things right, you cannot do much with them, whereas with what spiritual science offers today, anyone who makes an effort can do something with it because they can penetrate it with the thought elements they can gain on the physical plane. For the same concepts are used to grasp what is in the spiritual world and what is in the physical world. Modern science speaks of evolution, and spiritual science speaks of evolution. If you have grasped the concept of evolution, you can understand what is communicated in spiritual science. You can form a concept of karma because you can form a mental image of it. Of course, if you simply say, as some theosophists do, that every spiritual cause has a spiritual effect and this is karma, then you have no concept of karma. You can also see the law of cause and effect in a billiard ball, but there you do not have the right comparison with karma. Take an iron ball, for example, and throw it into a vessel of water. If the ball is cold, the water remains as it is. But if you heat the ball and then throw it in, the water becomes warm. As a result of what happened to the ball, the water becomes warm. This can be compared to karma, when a later event is the result of an earlier event.
So we must be quite clear that anyone who penetrates the facts of the spiritual world with their thoughts can also communicate them in such a way that those who have gained these thoughts here on the physical plane can apply them to what is communicated from the spiritual worlds. Then they can understand it. Everyone should take this to heart. Everyone should understand that it is not important to receive communications from the higher worlds, but that it is important to receive them in a way that corresponds to our earthly circumstances. Everyone should take care not to receive communications from the higher worlds in any other way. Of course, it is convenient to simply believe what is communicated. But that is very wrong. For if someone wants to believe, it is like wanting to be told that there is light when they need light to illuminate a room. They need to have the light; mere belief is of no use. So it is important to first adopt the form of conscientious, thorough reflection in order to receive the messages from the spiritual world through this form. They can only be investigated if one possesses the ability of clairvoyance, but once they have been investigated, they can be understood by anyone who receives them in the right way.
If one thinks in this way, then all the dangers that are otherwise really connected with what is called the anthroposophical movement will be more or less eliminated. However, the dangers arise immediately when people develop clairvoyant abilities and do not take care to enrich their thinking and, in particular, their knowledge with the means of thinking. Many people have this greed to catch something from the spiritual world and do not proceed carefully and truly with what must be conquered on the physical plane. No God can comprehend the world in thought unless He incarnates on this physical earth. He can comprehend the world in another form, but in order to comprehend it in this form, He must incarnate on this earth. Bearing this in mind, everyone can see that there are certain dangers involved in developing abilities that are then not used properly. Anyone who develops a certain visionary clairvoyance and does not use it properly, cutting themselves off from the possibility of convincing the world with it, anyone who remains only on the astral plane and does not bring their experiences down to the physical plane, exposes themselves to the danger that an abyss will open up between their visions and the physical plane.
Let us assume that someone has very significant visions that belong to the astral plane. Let us assume for the sake of argument that these are entirely real – they may well be in the case of a non-thinking visionary clairvoyant – but now an abyss opens up between him and what underlies the physical plane. Imagine that this towel is the physical plane. Now the visionary clairvoyant is standing in front of it; he sees his vision. But behind the physical plane is the actual spiritual world. The physical plane is Maya. The visionary clairvoyant cannot remove this physical plane; it only disappears for those who remove it by means of thought. Only then do you penetrate behind the physical plane, so that you can understand it with clairvoyance through thought. The physical plane is there, but you do not see the spiritual world, the real spiritual world. There the abyss opens up, there the physical plane remains as Maya. And this impossibility of penetrating the physical plane is based on the fact that the brain is not capable of switching itself off. Once you have learned to think correctly, you do not need your brain directly for thinking. That which is thinking works on the brain, but the activity of thinking does not need the brain directly. It is nonsense for someone to claim that the brain thinks. Once, perhaps thirty-five years ago, I was walking down the street with a young man who was studying at the time and was well on his way to becoming a complete materialist. He said: Well, when he thinks, the atoms in his brain vibrate; every specific thought has a specific form, and he described how it was actually nonsense to assume something like a soul that thinks. Because it is the brain that thinks. I said to him: Yes, tell me, why are you so dishonest? If that's the case, then you can't say, 'I think.' You have to say, 'My brain thinks.' You also have to say, 'My brain eats, my brain sees the sun.' That would be the truth. Then he would soon see what nonsense he was carrying around with him.
So it is not the brain that thinks. As I said, this can be made clear through quite trivial considerations—unless you are a very modern materialist. Intellectual activity does not initially depend on using the brain as its instrument, so to speak. Where thought becomes pure, the brain is not involved. It is only involved in the process of symbolization.
If you imagine a chalk circle, this happens only through the brain; but if you think of a pure circle, free of symbolism, then the circle itself is the active element that the brain first forms. But then, when a person has visionary clairvoyance, they remain in their etheric body and do not even reach the physical brain. One can live one's entire life in visionary clairvoyance. This does not change the brain; it develops the etheric body, but not the brain. However, this means that you can never penetrate this abyss; you can never truly penetrate Maya. You can only do this by penetrating it with your thoughts.
Those who spurn thinking develop abilities that do not grasp their object, so to speak, that do not really reach into the spiritual world. The result is a discrepancy between what they continually develop in their etheric body and what they actually are as human beings. A complete imbalance arises: his brain is not commensurate with his clairvoyant abilities. The brain is coarse because the person concerned has not made an effort to refine it through thinking. Something forms that prevents him from reaching spiritual reality with his visions. He distances himself from reality instead of approaching it. Then every possibility of deciding about the spiritual world is excluded. Such a person will certainly be able to see a lot, but there is never any guarantee that what he sees corresponds to reality. Only those who can distinguish between mere vision and reality can decide. Only the power of discernment can distinguish between the two. Without it, one can never distinguish a mere vision from reality. But the ability to distinguish can only be acquired through work on the physical plane. Thus, one always floats without a foundation if one spurns the somewhat laborious work of thinking.
This is what one must take to heart. Then things cannot arise that otherwise arise so easily, that can occur over and over again, so that people, by developing visionary clairvoyance, erect a dam against the real world and then live in their dreams. This is equivalent to no longer being familiar with the physical world, equivalent to not being completely in one's senses. Prudence can be achieved by working where this prudence can be developed solely: through thinking on the physical plane. If one refuses to acquire this prudence, one is led astray. This is what we must acquire, otherwise all the damage that is necessarily associated with what is called the anthroposophical movement will occur. Those who only want to believe blindly, that is, who accept all communications from the higher worlds on the mere authority of another without reasonable thinking, are doing something that is very convenient, but it carries a danger. Instead of working things out for themselves, instead of thinking things through for themselves, they take in the knowledge of another, the things that another has seen. They refrain from thinking critically about what he communicates. This creates the damage that can arise through the anthroposophical movement. Of course, no one should be deterred from devoting themselves to it. It can happen to such a blindly believing person that they lose themselves, that they can no longer distinguish between what is true and what is false.
Nothing can breed falsehood as much as a certain visionary clairvoyance that is not based on thought and controlled. On the other hand, such clairvoyance will in turn breed another characteristic, namely a certain arrogance, a certain pride that can lead to megalomania. And it is all the more dangerous because it goes unnoticed. There is a great danger that one will consider oneself superior because one sees things that others do not see. And usually one does not even realize how deep this thing, which borders on megalomania, actually sits in the soul. It hides itself in a certain way, namely behind the fact that one swears with absolute certainty to one's visions and does not tolerate any objections, so that one can experience that people believe the most foolish things if they are only told to them from the astral plane. It would never occur to them to believe such things from a person on the physical plane if he told them, but they believe it with slavish credulity when it is told to them from the astral plane. Those who break this habit will not fall for every hoax and humbug. But you will fall for them if you do not develop the urge to examine things and if you want to obtain a conviction in a convenient way. You should not make it easy for yourself. You should consider that it is one of the most sacred duties of human beings to obtain a conviction. If you take this into consideration, you will spare no effort to really work, not just listen to sensational reports. We really have enough reports from the spiritual world, so to speak, but it is also necessary to acquire the right attitude and the right way of thinking in order to behave appropriately in relation to these things.
That is what I wanted to say today. I did not want to say it merely as an admonition, like a sermon, but to express it with all the reasons behind it. That is why it was perhaps a little more difficult to follow my train of thought. But I always try to adhere to what can be considered correct in the spiritual scientific movement, including in my methods. Many people want unctuous admonitions. I refrain from doing that. I try to present things in such a way that they can take on real thought forms. When one discusses things on the physical plane, as we are doing today, this is of course sometimes difficult thinking, because they are not as sensational or as pleasant as things in the higher worlds, but they are nevertheless immensely important. You will not underestimate the importance of these things if you say to yourself: If what must happen is really to happen, namely that in the next incarnations a sufficiently large number of people remember the present incarnation, then precautions must be taken. So develop your power of judgment, and then you will be candidates for remembering the present incarnation in the next one. Make sure that you are able to follow the world with your thoughts. For even if you can see a great deal in a visionary way, this will not help you to remember the present incarnation. Anthroposophy, however, is there to prepare for what must happen out of necessity: that there will be a sufficiently large number of people who can now truly look back on this incarnation from their own knowledge.
How many in this incarnation will come to accompany spiritual scientific knowledge with clairvoyant abilities depends on the karma of the individual. Many are certainly sitting here whose karma is such that they will not be able to see through the world clairvoyantly in this incarnation. But all those who acquire what is given in true spiritual science, clothed in the forms of thinking, will reap the fruits of this in their next incarnation, for they will have acquired the foundations for it. A person can be clairvoyant, so to speak, without knowing it, and those who study spiritual science properly can build up their clairvoyance and then wait until their karma allows them to see things.