True Nature of the Second Coming
GA 118
Two lectures given to members of the Anthroposophical Society by Rudolf Steiner in Carlsruhe and Stuttgart. This translation is by D. S. Osmond and Charles Davy. There is a forward by Mildred Kirkcaldy.
This translation has been made from shorthand reports unrevised by the lecturer and published in German as part of the volume Das Ereignis der Christus-Erscheinung in der aetherischen Welt (No. 118 in the Bibliographical Survey 1961). English edition published by permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland. Translated by D. S. Osmond and Charles Davy
| Foreword by Mildred Kerkcaldy | ||
| I. | The Event of Christ's Appearance in the Etheric World | January 25, 1910 |
| Questions arising from the idea of reincarnation. The purpose of repeated earth-lives. New experiences are possible as the result of changes in the life of the earth itself. The opportunities afforded by each epoch of civilisation for the acquisition of knowledge must not be neglected. “What we learn to-day in Spiritual Science becomes part of our soul, and we bring it with us when we descend again into the next incarnation.” Fundamental changes in the life of the human soul since Atlantis. Man was obliged to exchange his dim clairvoyant consciousness of the spiritual world for the ego-consciousness that is now his, but in future time clairvoyance will function while ego-consciousness is maintained intact; this is possible to-day only for one who has trodden the path of Initiation. Krita Yuga (the Golden Age), Treta Yuga (the Silver Age), Dvapara Yuga (the Bronze Age), Kali Yuga (the Dark Age). Progressive loss of vision of the spiritual world. The proclamation of John the Baptist. Christ's descent reestablished a connection with the spiritual world that has been lost and men could now be brought safely through Kali Yuga. With the ending of Kali Yuga in the year 1899, new faculties of soul begin to emerge as natural gifts. Importance of period between 1930 and 1940. Faculty of perception in the etheric world will enable men to behold Christ in His etheric form. Paul's vision at Damascus. The event of Christ's appearance in the etheric world will be followed by other supremely important events. Those who prepared Christ's coming before the founding of Christianity — Abraham, Moses, Solomon — will be recognisable in a new form to men who have experienced the new Christ Event by means of faculties with which evolution itself will equip the human soul. Through the new Christ Event, the communion between souls who are incarnated here in the physical world and souls already in the spiritual world will become an increasingly conscious communion. Answers to questions asked in connection with the foregoing lecture | ||
| II. | The Second Coming of Christ in the Etheric World | March 06, 1910 |
| The connection between the past and the future in the evolution of humanity. During Kali Yuga (3101 B.C. until A.D. 1899) the consciousness of self develops. Before that time the spiritual was seen as a multiplicity of Beings. The possibility of recognising the One God behind the phenomena of Nature begins in the Abraham-epoch. Consciousness of the Divine pictures the God as being related to human ego-consciousness, as a World-Ego. In the Moses-epoch, the World-Ego is revealed not only as a mysterious guidance of the destinies of men but as the God of the Elements; the One God becomes the ruler of the phenomena and manifestations of Nature. In the Solomon-epoch, evolution reaches the point where the same Divine Being takes human form. Reflection of the Abraham-, Moses-, and Solomon-epochs in the Christian era. In the first millennium A.D. the Solomon wisdom leads to realisation of the significance of the Christ Event. In the second millennium, the spirit of Moses manifests in a new form on the Christian Mystics: the World-Ego, revealed to Moses from without, is now experienced in the inmost life of soul. At the present time we are approaching the third millennium when there will be a renewal of the Abraham-epoch, bringing a new kind of clairvoyance, a new spirituality. The event of Damascus casts its light in advance. The mysterious land of Shamballa in the past and future. | ||