The Mission of the Individual Folk Souls
GA 121
16 June 1910, Oslo
10. The Mission of individual Peoples and cultures in the Past, Present and Future. Solovieff
Before we enlarge upon what will emerge from any further elaboration of the significant image of the Twilight of the Gods, it will be well to establish a firm foundation from which to proceed. For we shall deal with the nature of the Germanic and Scandinavian Folk Soul, and from the results of our investigation describe it in greater detail. We shall discover how the whole spiritual life of Europe works in concert, how the activity of the various Folk Spirits has furthered the development of mankind in the remote past, in the present and will continue to do so in the future. Every single people, even isolated fragments of peoples, have their special contribution to make to this great collective task. You will realize from what has been said that, in certain respects, the task, the mission of educating the ‘I’ through the evolutionary stages of the human being, of shaping it and of gradually developing it, devolved upon the Christian and post Christian cultures of Europe in particular. In primitive times, as we have shown in the case of the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples, the ‘I’ was revealed clairvoyantly to man. According to tradition this ‘I’ was bestowed upon man by an Angelic Being, Donar or Thor, who stands midway between man and the Folk Soul. We have seen that the individual still felt himself to be ego-less, devoid of personality; he looked upon the ‘I’ as a gift from the spiritual world.
In the East, when the ‘I’ really awoke, it was not of course experienced in the same way. There man had already reached subjectively such a high degree of perfection that he did not feel the ‘I’ as something extraneous, but as his own property. At the time when man became ego-conscious in the East, Eastern culture was already so far advanced that it was capable of gradually developing that finely-spun speculation, logic and wisdom which is reflected in Eastern wisdom. The East, therefore, no longer experienced the whole process of receiving the ego as if it were bestowed by a higher spiritual world through the instrumentality of a divine-spiritual Being such as Thor. That was the experience of Europe; hence the European felt this gradual unfolding of the individual ‘I’ as the emergence out of the Group Soul. The Germanic-Scandinavian man still felt himself attached to a Group Soul, to be a member of a closely-knit unit or family, that he belonged to an integrated community. For this reason, nearly a hundred years after Christ, Tacitus could describe the Teutons of Central Europe as apparently belonging to separate tribes and yet as members of an organism, and belonging to the unity of the organism. Thus each individual still felt himself at that time to be a member of the tribal ‘I’. He felt his individual ‘I’ gradually emerging from the tribal ‘I’ and be recognized in the God Thor the bestower of the ‘I’, the God who really endowed him with his individual ‘I’. But at the same time he felt that this God was still united with the collective spirit of the tribe with that which lives in the Group Soul. To this Group Soul was given the name “Sif “. This is the name of the spouse of Thor. Sif is related linguistically to the word Sippe, kinship, although the relationship is veiled or concealed. Occultly, however, Sif signifies the Group Soul of the individual community from which the individual emerges. Sif is the Being who unites herself with the God of the individual ‘I’, with Thor, the bestower of the individual ‘I’. The individual perceives Sif and Thor as the Beings who endowed him with his ‘I’. It was in this way that Nordic man experienced them at a time when the peoples in other regions of Europe had already been given other tasks in preparing man's ego-development.
Each individual people had its appointed task; chief amongst them was that homogeneous group of peoples, that widely distributed folk community whom we know by the name of Celts. It was the responsibility of the ancient Celtic Folk Spirit, who, as we know from earlier lectures, was later given quite different tasks, to educate the still youthful ‘I’ of the peoples of Europe. To this end it was necessary that the Celts themselves should receive an education and instruction which was mediated directly from the higher world. Hence it was entirely appropriate that through their Initiates, the Druid priests, the Celts should transmit to other nations instruction received from higher worlds and which they could not have acquired of themselves.
The whole of European culture is a legacy of the European Mysteries. The progressive Folk Souls are always the leaders of the collective culture of mankind as it unfolds. But at the time when these European Folk Spirits enjoined upon men to act more on their own initiative it was necessary that the Mysteries should gradually withdraw. Hence with the withdrawal of the Celtic element there followed a gradual withdrawal of the Mysteries into more secret places. At the time of the ancient Celts the Mysteries established a much more direct relationship between the spiritual Beings and the people, because the ‘I’ was still attached to the group-soul-life and yet the Celtic element was to bring the gift of the ‘I’ to the other Germanic tribes. Thus in the period preceding the evolution proper of the Northern and Germanic peoples, the Mystery teachings could be given to European civilization only by the ancient Celtic Mysteries. These Mystery teachings allowed just so much to be revealed as was necessary in order to establish a basis for the whole culture of Europe. Now the most diverse Folk Souls and Folk Spirits were able to draw nourishment from this old culture by mingling with the widely diverse racial fragments, national communities and folk elements, and they brought the ‘I’ into ever new situations in order to nurture it, the ‘I’ which was struggling to free itself from its attachment to the group-soul.
After the old Greek culture had to a certain extent reached its high point in the fulfillment of its special mission, we see a totally different aspect of this same mission in the spirit of ancient Rome and its various stages of culture. We have already mentioned that the several post-Atlantean civilizations follow upon one another in strict sequence. If we wish to have an overall picture of the successive stages of post-Atlantean civilization we may summarize them as follows: the old Indian culture worked upon the human etheric body. Hence the remarkable wisdom and clairvoyant insight of the ancient Indian culture, because—after the development of special human capacities—it was a culture reflected in the human etheric body. We may envisage the ancient Indian Culture somewhat as follows:

Between the Atlantean epoch and the later post-Atlantean epoch the Indian Folk Spirit developed to the full his inner soul-forces without developing ego-consciousness. He then returned to his activity in the etheric body. The essential element in the ancient Indian culture is that the ancient Indian was able to return again to the etheric body with his highly developed, highly refined faculties of soul and within that body he developed those marvelously delicate forces the later reflection of which we can still see in the Vedas, and in a still more refined form in the Vedanta philosophy. This was only possible because the Indian Folk Soul had achieved a high degree of development before it was conscious of the ‘I’, and this again at a time when man could perceive by means of the forces of the etheric body.
The Persian Folk Soul had not developed so far; its organ of perception was limited to the sentient body or astral body. The Egypto-Babylonian-Chaldean culture was again different. Here the organ of perception was the Sentient Soul; and the characteristic of the Egypto-Chaldean culture was the ability to work in the Sentient Soul. The Graeco-Latin Folk Spirit was related to the Intellectual or Mind-Soul in which he was active. He himself was only able to work upon this Intellectual Soul because the Intellectual Soul, in its turn, had a kind of psychic counterpart in the etheric body. But the form of cosmogony that now emerged in Greece was, to some extent, less real, less clear-cut; it had less the stamp of reality. Whilst the form of cognition in the ancient Indian culture was directly related to the activity of the etheric body, the Greek culture presented a blurred, pale, lifeless image of reality; as I have already said, it was like the memory of what these people had once experienced, like a memory reflected in their etheric body.
In the other peoples who followed the Greeks we are chiefly concerned with the use of the physical body for the progressive development of the Spiritual Soul (or Consciousness-Soul). Hence the Greek culture was a culture that we can only understand from within, if we realize that in this culture what is important in external experience is that which springs from the inner life of the Greeks. On the other hand, the peoples living more towards the West and the North had, under the guidance of their Folk Souls, to turn increasingly towards the external world, towards the phenomena of the physical plane, and to develop whatsoever has a part to play on that plane. This was the special task of the Northern and Germanic peoples which they alone could fulfil, because they still enjoyed the gift, the supremely important gift of the old clairvoyance which enabled them to see into the spiritual world and to incorporate the primeval spiritual experiences which were still vital in their souls into that which was to be established upon the physical plane.
There was one people who, at its later stage, no longer possessed this gift, who had not undergone such preliminary evolution and who had incarnated suddenly on the physical plane before the birth of the human ‘I’ and was only able therefore to attend to whatsoever furthered the development of this ‘I’ on the physical plane, to whatsoever was necessary for its well-being there under the guidance of its Folk Soul, its Archangel. This was the Roman people. Everything that the Roman people had to accomplish for the collective mission of Europe under the guidance of its Folk Spirit was directed to winning recognition for the ‘I’ of man. Hence the Roman people was able to develop human and social relationships. They were the founders of civil law and jurisprudence which are built up purely on the ‘I’. The relation of human ‘I’ to human ‘I’ was the great question in the mission of the Roman people. The Western peoples whose civilizations grew out of the Roman civilization already possessed more of that which, coming from the Sentient Soul, Intellectual or Mind-Soul and from the Spiritual or Consciousness-Soul itself, fructifies the ‘I’ in some way and projects it outward into the world. Therefore all the mingling of races which external history records and which is found in the Italian and Iberian peninsulas, in France and Great Britain today, was necessary in order to develop the ‘I’ on the physical plane in accordance with the different nuances of the Sentient Soul, the Intellectual Soul and the Spiritual Soul. Such was the great mission of those peoples who gradually developed in the most diverse ways in Western Europe.
All the individual shades of culture, all the particular missions of the peoples of Western Europe can finally be explained by the fact that in the area of the Italian and Iberian peninsulas was to be developed that which could be formed in the ‘I’ through the impulses of the Sentient Soul. If you study the individual folk characters in their positive and negative aspects you will find that the peoples of the Italian and Iberian peninsulas reflect a peculiar fusion of the ‘I’ with the Sentient Soul. You will be able to understand, however, the peculiar characteristics of those peoples who, until recent times, lived on the soil of France, if you study the growth and fusion of the Intellectual Soul with the ‘I’. The great worldwide achievements of a country such as Great Britain can be attributed to the fact that the impulse of the Spiritual Soul has penetrated into the human ‘I’. With the world mission of the British Empire is also associated parliamentary forms of government and the founding of constitutional rights. The union of the Spiritual Soul with the human ego had not yet been realized inwardly. If you recognize how this union between the Spiritual Soul and the ‘I’ that was oriented outwards originated, you will find that the great historical conquests of the inhabitants of that island proceed from this impulse. You will also find that the establishment of parliamentary forms of government at once becomes comprehensible if one realizes that, in consequence of this, an impulse of the Spiritual Soul was to find expression on the plane of world-history.
Thus cultural diversities were a necessity, for the individual peoples had to be guided through the many stages of ego development. If we had sufficient time to enlarge upon these matters we could find examples from history which show the ramifications of these basic forces and how they manifest in the most diverse ways. Thus the peculiar constitution of soul influenced the Western peoples who had not preserved the direct, original memory of the old clairvoyant insight into the spiritual world of former times. In the Germanic and Northern regions in later times, that which proceeded directly from a gradual, continuous evolution of the original clairvoyance with which the Sentient Soul had already been imbued, had to develop in a wholly different way. This accounts for that characteristic trait of inwardness which is only the after-effect of a clairvoyant insight experienced in a former age. The task of the Southern Germanic peoples lay primarily in the domain of the Spiritual Soul. The Graeco-Latin age had to develop the Intellectual Soul (or Mind-Soul). But not only this; it had also to include a wonderful development still working in from prehistoric times and imbued with clairvoyant insight. All this was then poured into the Spiritual Soul of the Central European and Scandinavian peoples and its after-effects lived on as an inner disposition of soul. It was the task of the Southern Germanic peoples to develop first of all what pertains to the inward preparation of the Spiritual Soul, imbuing it with spiritual substance of the old clairvoyance, transposed now on to the physical plane.
The philosophies of Central Europe represented by Fichte, Schelling and Hegel in the nineteenth century seem far removed from the sphere of mythology. Nevertheless they are simply the products of the highest sublimation of the old clairvoyant insight, of the cooperation of the divine-spiritual Beings within the heart of man. Otherwise it would not have been possible for a Hegel to have looked upon his ideas as realities; it would have been impossible for him to make the strange remark, so characteristic of the man, when, in answer to the question, “What is the abstract?” he replied: “The abstract is for instance an individual who fulfils his daily duties—the carpenter, for example.” What is concrete to the purely abstract theorist was therefore abstract to Hegel. What to the purely abstract theorist are mere thoughts, were to him great, mighty architects of the world. Hegel's philosophy is the final, the most highly sublimated expression of the Spiritual Soul and embodies in the form of pure concepts that which Nordic man still saw as sensible-super-sensible, divine spiritual powers associated with the ‘I’. The ‘I’ of Fichte's philosophy was simply the precipitation of what the God Thor had given to the human soul, only viewed from the standpoint of the Spiritual Soul and clothed seemingly in the barest of thoughts, the thought of “I am”, which is the starting-point of Fichte's philosophy. From the gift of the ‘I’ by the God Thor or Donar to the ancient Nordic peoples from the spiritual world, down to this philosophy, evolution follows a straight line. Thor had to prepare this development for the Spiritual Soul in order that this Soul might have the content appropriate for its task which is to turn towards the external world and to work within that world. But this philosophy is aware not only of the external world of crude empiric experience, but finds in the external world the content of the Spiritual Soul itself and regards nature simply as the idea in its other aspect. The mission of the Nordic Germanic peoples in Central Europe is to ensure that this impulse lives on.
Now since all evolution is a continuous process we must ask ourselves what form it takes. When we look back into ancient times we observe a remarkable phenomenon. We have already said that the first manifestations of ancient Indian culture were expressed through the etheric body after the spiritual forces of soul had been adequately developed. There are however other civilizations which have also preserved the old Atlantean culture and carried it over into the post-Atlantean epoch. Whilst, on the one hand, the ancient Indian was able to return to the etheric body with highly developed faculties of soul and out of the forces of this body created his great civilization and lofty spiritual life, we have, on the other hand, a culture which originated in Atlantis and continued to work on in the post-Atlantean epoch, a culture which owes its origin and development to its emphasis upon the other aspect of the consciousness of the etheric body. This is the Chinese culture. If you bear this connection in mind and remember that the Atlantean culture was directly related to what in our earlier lectures we called the “Great Spirit”; you will understand the peculiarities of Chinese culture. This culture was directly connected with the highest stages of world-evolution. But it still works into the bodies of men today and from an entirely different angle. It seems very likely, therefore, that these two civilizations, the two great polarities of the post-Atlantean epoch, will clash at some future time—the Indian which, within certain limits, is capable of development, and the Chinese that isolates itself and remains static, repeating what existed in the old Atlantean epoch. One literally receives an occult, scientific, poetic impression if one follows the evolution of the Chinese Empire, if one thinks of the Great Wall of China which sought to exclude completely everything which originated in primeval times and had been developed in the post-Atlantean epoch. Something like an occult, poetic feeling steals over one if one compares the Wall of China with what had once existed in former times. I can give only the barest indications about these matters. If you compare them with the existing findings of science you will find how extraordinary illuminating they are. Let us consider clairvoyantly the old continent of Atlantis which will be found where the Atlantic Ocean now lies, between Africa and Europe on the one side and America on the other. This continent was encircled by a warm stream which, strange as it may seem, was seen clairvoyantly to flow from the South through Baffin Bay towards the North of Greenland, encircling it. Then, turning eastward, it gradually cooled down. Long before the continents of Russia and Siberia had emerged, it flowed past the Ural mountains, changed course, skirted the Eastern Carpathians, debauched into the region now occupied by the Sahara and finally reached the Atlantic Ocean in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Biscay. Thus it followed a strictly delimited course. Only the last remaining traces of this stream are still extant. This stream is the Gulf Stream which at that time encircled the Atlantean continent. Now you will recall that in their psychic life the Greeks experienced a memory of the spiritual worlds. The picture of Oceanus which is a memory of that Atlantean epoch arose within them. Their picture of the world, their cosmogony, was very near the truth because it was derived from the old Atlantean epoch. The stream that flowed southward via Spitzbergen as a warm current and gradually cooled, etc. followed a strictly delimited course. This circumscribed course was unmistakably echoed in the Chinese culture, a culture circumscribed by the Great Wall and which had been brought over from Atlantis. The Atlantean civilization had as yet no history; hence the Chinese civilization also has preserved an element of the unhistorical. It preserves something of the pre Indian culture, something surviving from old Atlantis.
Let us now describe the further progress of the Germanic and Nordic Folk Spirit. What consequences will ensue when a Folk Spirit so directs his people that the Spirit Self in particular can develop? Let us remember that the etheric body was developed in the ancient Indian epoch, the sentient body in the Persian, the Sentient Soul in the Egypto-Chaldean, the Intellectual Soul (or Mind-Soul) in the Graeco-Latin, the Spiritual Soul (or Consciousness-Soul) in our present epoch which is not yet concluded. The next epoch will see the invasion of the Spiritual Soul by the Spirit Self, so that the Spirit Self shall irradiate the Spiritual Soul. This is the task of the sixth post-Atlantean civilization and must be prepared for gradually. This civilization which must be preeminently a receptive one, for it must reverently await the influx of the Spirit Self into the Spiritual Soul, is being prepared by the peoples of Western Asia and their outposts in Eastern Europe, the Slavonic peoples. The latter with their Folk Souls were the outposts of the coming sixth post-Atlantean epoch for the very good reason that future contingencies must to a certain extent be prepared beforehand, must already be anticipated in order to prepare the ground for future development. It is extremely interesting to study these outposts of a Folk Soul who is preparing himself for future epochs. This accounts for the peculiar character of the Slavonic peoples who are our immediate Eastern neighbours. In the eyes of the Western European their whole culture gives the impression of being in a preparatory stage and in a curious way, through the medium of their outposts, they present that which in spirit is wholly different from any other mythology. We should give a false impression of these Eastern outposts as a future’ civilization if we were to compare them with the culture of the Western European peoples who enjoy a continuous, unbroken tradition which is still rooted in, and has its source in the old clairvoyance. The peculiarity attaching to the souls of these Eastern European peoples is reflected in the whole attitude they have always shown when the question of their relations to the higher worlds arose. In comparison with our ‘mythology’ in Western Europe with its individual deities, their (i.e. the Slavonic peoples) relation to the higher worlds is totally different. What this Slavonic ‘mythology’ presents to us as the direct outpouring of the inner being of the people may be compared to the anthroposophical conception of successive planes or worlds through which we prepare ourselves to understand a higher spiritual culture. We find in the East, for example, the following conception: the West has been moulded by the influence of successive and related cultures. In the East we find, in the first place, a distinct consciousness of a world of the Cosmic Father. Everything that is creatively active in air and fire, in all the elements in and above the Earth, is embodied in the concept of the Heavenly Father, in one seemingly great, all-embracing idea which is at the same time an all-embracing feeling. Just as we think of the Devachanic world as fructifying our Earth, so this Divine world, the world of the Father, draws nigh from the East, fructifying that which is experienced as the Mother, the Spirit of the Earth. We have no other expression and can think of no other way of picturing the whole Spirit of the Earth than in the fertilization of Mother Earth. Instead of individual deities we have then two contrasting worlds. And confronting these two worlds as a third world is that which we feel to be the Blessed Child of these two worlds. This Blessed Child is not an individual being, not an emotional feeling, but something that is the creation of the Heavenly Father and the Earth Mother. The relation of Devachan to the Earth is perceived in this way from the spiritual world. The birth of new life, the coming of springtime, and that which grows and multiplies in the material body is felt as something wholly spiritual; and that which grows and multiplies in the soul is perceived as the world which at the same time is felt to be the Blessed Child of the Heavenly Father and the Earth Mother. Universal as these conceptions are, we find them among the outposts of the Slavonic peoples who have advanced westwards. In no Western European mythology is this conception so universal. In the West we find clearly defined deities; but they are not the same as those which we depict in our spiritual cosmogony; these are more nearly represented by the Heavenly Father, the Earth Mother and the Blessed Child of the East. In the conception of the Blessed Child there is again a world which permeates another world. It is a world that is envisaged as a separate world because it is associated with the physical sun and its light. The Slavonic element also recognizes this Being—though different, of course, in conception and feeling—which we have so often met with in Persian mythology; it recognizes the Sun Being who sheds his blessings upon the other three worlds, so that the destiny of man is woven into creation, into the Earth, through the fertilization of the Earth Mother by the Heavenly Father and through that which the Sun Spirit weaves into both these worlds. A fifth world is that which embraces everything spiritual. The Eastern European feels the spiritual world underlying all the forces of nature and all animate beings. We must think of this as a wholly different sentient response, as associated more perhaps with the phenomena, creations and beings of nature.
We must think of this Slavonic soul as being able to see entities in natural phenomena, to see not only the physical and sensory aspects, but also the astral and spiritual. Hence the Slavonic soul conceived of a vast number of Beings in this strange spiritual world which we can at best compare with the world of the Elves of Light. The spiritual world which is looked upon in Spiritual Science as the fifth world is approximately the world which dawns in the hearts and minds of the peoples of Eastern Europe. Whatever name we attach to it is of no importance; what is of importance are the subtle shades and gradations of feelings of the Slavonic peoples and that the concepts which characterize this fifth plane or spiritual world are to be found in Eastern Europe. In this frame of mind this world of Eastern Europe was preparing for that Spirit which is to pour the Spirit Self into man in anticipation of the epoch when the Spiritual Soul shall be uplifted to receive the Spirit Self in the sixth post Atlantean age which is to succeed our own. We meet with this in a unique manner not only in the creations of the Folk Souls who are as I have just described them, but we find it remarkably anticipated in the diverse manifestations of Eastern Europe and its culture.
It is most interesting to observe bow the Eastern European expresses his natural receptivity to pure Spirit by assimilating Western European culture with great devotion, thus looking forward prophetically to the time when he will be able to unite something even greater with his being. Hence also his limited interest in isolated aspects of this Western European culture. He absorbs what is offered him more in broad outlines, ignoring the details, because he is preparing himself to assimilate that which is to enter mankind as the Spirit Self. It is particularly interesting to see how, under this influence, it has been possible for Eastern Europe to develop a much more advanced conception of the Christ than Western Europe, except in those areas of the West where the conception of the Christ has been introduced by Spiritual Science. Amongst those who do not accept the teachings of Spiritual Science the most advanced conception of Christ is that of the Russian philosopher, Solovieff. His conception of Christ is such that it can only be understood by students of Spiritual Science because he lifts it to ever higher planes and reveals its infinite potentialities, showing that our understanding of Christ today is only a beginning, because the Christ Impulse has only been able to reveal to mankind a fraction of what it holds in store. But if we look at the conception of Christ as presented by Hegel, for example, we find that Hegel understood Him as only the most refined, the most sublimated Spiritual Soul could understand Him. But Solovieff's conception of Christ is very different. He fully recognizes the dual nature of this conception. He rejects the endless theological polemics which in reality rest upon deep misunderstandings, because ordinary conceptions are inadequate for an understanding of the dual nature of Christ, and because they fail to develop in us any realization that the two aspects, the Human and the Divine, must be clearly distinguished. The concept of Christ rests upon a clear realization of what took place when the Christ Spirit entered into the man Jesus of Nazareth who had already developed all the necessary attributes. We must first of all understand the two natures of Christ and the union of both at a higher stage. As long as we have not grasped this duality, we have not understood the Christ in all His fullness. Only that philosophical understanding can achieve this which foresees that man himself will participate in a culture in which his Spiritual Soul will be able to receive the Spirit Self, so that in the sixth epoch of civilization man will feel himself to be a duality in whom the higher nature will curb the lower.
Solovieff carries this duality into his conception of Christ and emphasizes that this conception can be meaningful only if one accepts the existence of a divine and human nature which can only be understood if one recognizes that their cooperation is a reality, that they form not an abstract, but an organic unity. Solovieff already recognizes that we must think of this Being as possessing two centres of will. If you accept the teachings of Spiritual Science concerning the true significance of the Christ Being in their original form which stemmed, not from an imaginary, but from a spiritually real Indian influence, you will then have to think of Christ as having developed in His three bodies the capacities of feeling, thinking and willing. It is a human feeling, thinking and willing into which the Divine feeling, thinking and willing descends. The European man will only assimilate this completely when he has risen to the sixth stage of civilization. This had been prophetically expressed in Solovieff's anticipatory conception of Christ which announces the dawn of a later civilization. This philosophy of Eastern Europe therefore reaches far beyond that of Hegel and Kant, and in the presence of this philosophy one suddenly senses the first stirrings of a later development. It is far in advance because this conception of Christ is felt to be a prophetic anticipation, the dawn of the sixth post-Atlantean civilization. Consequently the whole Christ Being, the whole significance of Christ occupies a central place in philosophy and thus becomes totally different from the Western European conceptions of it. The conception of Christ, in so far as it has been developed outside Spiritual Science and is conceived as a living substance, as a living spiritual entity which shall permeate all social life and social institutions—which is felt as a Personality in whose service man finds himself as ‘man endowed with Spirit Self’—this Christ-Personality is portrayed in a wonderfully concrete manner in Solovieff's various expositions of St. John's Gospel and its opening words. Only if we stand upon the ground of Spiritual Science can we comprehend Solovieff's profound interpretation of the sentence, “In the Beginning was the Word or Logos”, and how differently St. John's Gospel is understood by a philosophy which in a remarkable way anticipates the future.
If, on the one hand, Hegel's philosophy marks a high point, something that is born out of the Spiritual Soul as the highest philosophical achievement, this philosophy of Solovieff, on the other hand, provides the seed in the Spiritual Soul for the philosophy of the Spirit Self which will be incorporated in the sixth cultural epoch. There is perhaps no greater contrast than that eminently Christian conception of the State which hovers as a great ideal before Solovieff as a dream of the future, that Christian conception of the social State which takes everything implicit in that conception in order to present it as an offering to the in-streaming Spirit Self, in order to hold it up as an ideal of the future to be Christianized by the powers of the future—there is indeed no greater contrast than this idea of Solovieff's of a Christian community in which the Christ conception lies wholly in the future and the Divine State of St. Augustine who accepts, it is true, the Christ idea, but whose Divine State is simply the Roman State with Christ incorporated in the Roman idea of the State. What provides the knowledge for the emergent Christianity of the future is the decisive question. In Solovieff's State Christ is the blood which circulates in the body social, and the essential point is that the State is envisaged as a concrete personality so that it will act as a living spiritual entity, but at the same time will fulfil its mission with all the idiosyncrasies of a personality. No other philosophy is so deeply permeated by the Christ idea—the Christ idea which is anticipated in Spiritual Science at a higher level—and yet at the same time has remained so long in the germinal stage. Everything that we find in the East, from the make-up of the people to its philosophy, appears to us as something which contains only the germinal beginning of a future evolution and which, therefore, had also to submit to the special education of the Time Spirit of ancient Greece, the guiding Spirit of exoteric Christianity who was entrusted with the mission of becoming later on the Time Spirit for Europe. The make-up of this people whose task will be to develop the seed of the sixth culture-epoch had from the very beginning to be not only educated, but nursed and nurtured by that Time Spirit. And so we can literally say—and here Father concept and Mother concept lose their dual aspect—that the make-up of the Russian people which is destined to evolve gradually into the Folk Soul, was not only educated, but was nursed and nurtured by that which as we have seen, had been developed out of the old Greek Time Spirit and had then assumed externally another rank.
Thus the various missions are distributed between Western, Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. I wished to give you an indication of these various missions. On the basis of these indications I propose to add further observations and show what the Europe of the future will be like, a future that will ensure that we must form our ideals on the basis of such knowledge. I propose to show how, through this influence, the Germanic and Nordic Folk Spirit is gradually transformed into a Time Spirit.
Zehnter Vortrag
Bevor wir dasjenige entwickeln, was sich in Anknüpfung an das bedeutsame Bild der Götterdämmerung ergeben wird, wird es gut sein, wenn wir uns dafür eine Grundlage schaffen. Denn es wird sich darum handeln, das Wesen der germanisch-nordischen Volksseele aus den gewonnenen Resultaten heraus genauer zu schildern. Wir müssen sehen, wie in Europa das gesamte europäische Geistesleben zusammenwirkt, wie durch die Tätigkeit der verschiedenen Volksgeister ein Fortschritt der Menschheit bewirkt wird — aus uralten Zeiten heraus, durch unsere Gegenwart hindurch, in die Zukunft hinein. Jedes einzelne Volk, ja sogar alle einzelnen, kleineren Volkssplitter haben in diesem großen Gesamtgemälde ihre besondere Aufgabe, und aus dem, was gesagt worden ist, können Sie erkennen, daß, in gewisser Beziehung, gerade der vor- und nachchristlichen Kultur Europas die Aufgabe, die Mission zugefallen ist, das Ich durch die verschiedenen Stufen der menschlichen Wesenheit hindurch zu erziehen, es herauszubilden und nach und nach zu entwickeln. Es wurde ja in gewisser Beziehung dieses Ich in uralter Zeit noch aus der geistigen Welt heraus, wie wir dies am germanisch-nordischen Volke gezeigt haben, hellseherisch dem Menschen gezeigt. Es wurde gesagt, wie dieses Ich den Menschen verliehen wird von einem der Engelwesen, das sogar zwischen dem Menschen und der Volksseele mitten darinnen steht: von dem Donar oder Thor. Wir haben gesehen, daß sich der einzelne noch vorkam wie Ich-los, wie unpersönlich. Er sah das Ich wie eine Gabe an, die ihm aus der geistigen Welt geschenkt wurde.
In solcher Weise hat man natürlich im Orient, als das Ich überhaupt erwachte, das Ich nicht gefunden. Da war der Mensch schon subjektiv so weit entwickelt zu einer hohen Stufe menschlicher Vollkommenheit, daß er das Ich nicht als fremdes, sondern als eigenes empfand. Als der Mensch im Orient zum Ich erwachte, war die orientalische Kultur schon so weit, daß sie fähig war, eine so fein ausgesponnene Spekulation, Logik und Weisheit nach und nach zu entwickeln, wie wir sie in der orientalischen Weisheit vor uns sehen. Also den ganzen Prozeß des Empfangens des Ich wie aus einer höheren, geistigen Welt unter der Beihilfe einer solchen göttlich-geistigen Individualität wie der Thor es war, hat der Orientalismus nicht mehr mitgemacht. Ihn hat mitgemacht der Europäismus, und daher empfindet dieser Europäismus auch dieses allmähliche Hinaufsteigen zu dem individuellen Ich wie das Herauskommen aus einer Art von Gruppenseele. Der germanisch-nordische Mensch fühlte sich selbst noch wie mit einer Gruppenseele behaftet, wie zu einer ganzen Gemeinschaft gehörig, wie ein Glied in der großen Zusammengehörigkeit des Stammes. Nur so konnte es kommen, daß noch fast hundert Jahre, nachdem der christliche Impuls der Erde gegeben worden ist, Tacitus die Germanen Mitteleuropas so schildern konnte, daß sie immer als zu einzelnen Stämmen gehörig erscheinen, daß sie wie die Glieder eines Organismus sind und zu der Einheit des Organismus gehören. So fühlte sich der einzelne in jener Zeit noch wie ein Glied des StammesIch. Er fühlte das nach und nach Heraus-geboren-Werden des individuellen Ich aus dem Stammes-Ich, und er fühlte in dem Gotte Thor den Geber, den Verleiher des Ich, den Gott, der ihn eigentlich mit dem individuellen Ich begabte. Aber er fühlte diesen Gott noch verbunden mit dem gesamten Geiste des Stammes, mit dem, was in der Gruppenseele lebt. Für diese Gruppenseele findet sich nun der Ausdruck «Sif». Das ist der Name für die Gemahlin des Thor. Sif muß sprachlich verwandt sein mit dem Worte Sippe, Stammeszusammengehörigkeit und ist es auch in der Tat, wenn das auch maskiert und verborgen ist. Okkult bedeutet aber Sif die Gruppenseele der einzelnen Gemeinschaft, aus der herauswächst das einzelne Individuum. Sif ist diejenige Wesenheit, die sich verbindet mit dem Gotte des individuellen Ich, mit dem Geber des individuellen Ich, mit Thor. Sif und Thor empfindet der individuelle Mensch als die Wesenheiten, die ihm das Ich gaben. Die empfand der nordische Mensch noch so, als den Völkern in anderen Gegenden Europas bereits andere Aufgaben in der Erziehung des Menschen zum Ich hin zugeteilt waren.
Jedes einzelne Volk hat seine besondere Aufgabe. Da finden wir vor allen Dingen dasjenige Volk, diejenige Völkerzusammengehörigkeit, diejenige Volksgemeinsamkeit ausgebreitet, die wir unter dem Namen der Kelten kennen. Der Volksgeist der Kelten, von dem wir aus den vorangegangenen Darstellungen wissen, daß er später ganz andere Aufgaben bekommen hat, hatte die Aufgabe, das noch junge Ich der europäischen Bevölkerung heranzuziehen. Dazu aber mußte noch eine Erziehung, ein Unterricht der Kelten selbst vorhanden sein, der unmittelbar aus der höheren Welt vermittelt war. Daher ist es durchaus richtig, daß die Kelten durch ihre Eingeweihten, die Druiden-Priester, einen Unterricht aus höheren Welten erhielten, den sie aus eigener Kraft nicht hätten empfangen können, und den sie an die übrigen Völker dann weiterzugeben hatten.
Die gesamte europäische Kultur ist eine Gabe der europäischen Mysterien. Die fortschreitenden Volksseelen sind immer die Lenker der Gesamtkultur der Menschheit in ihrem Fortschritt. Aber in der Zeit, in welcher diese Volksgeister Europas die Menschen dazu anleiten sollten, aus sich selber heraus zu arbeiten, aus sich selber heraus wirksam zu sein, war es notwendig, daß sich die Mysterien mehr zurückzogen. Daher trat mit dem Zurückziehen des keltischen Elementes auch eine Art Zurückziehung der Mysterien in viel geheimere Untergründe ein. Ein viel direkterer, unmittelbarer Verkehr der Geistwesen mit dem Volke durch die Mysterien war zur Zeit der alten Kelten vorhanden, weil das Ich noch gebunden war an die Gruppenhaftigkeit, und doch sollte das keltische Element der Verleiher des Ich für die übrige Bevölkerung sein. Wir können also sagen: In der Zeit, die vor der eigentlichen germanisch-nordischen Entwickelung liegt, konnte nur durch die alten keltischen Mysterien der europäischen Kultur die Mysterien-Erziehung gegeben werden. Diese MysterienErziehung hat gerade so viel an die Oberfläche kommen lassen, als notwendig war, um eine Grundlage für die gesamte Kultur Europas zu geben. Aus dieser alten Kultur haben sich nun durch Vermischung mit den verschiedensten Rassensplittern, Volksbestandteilen und Rassengemeinschaften die verschiedensten Volksseelen und Volksgeister befruchten können und haben immer das Ich in andere Lagen gebracht, um es zu erziehen, das Ich, das sich herauswühlte aus dem Untergrunde dessen, was unter dem Ich des Menschen liegt. Man kann sagen, daß, nachdem die alte griechische Kultur bis zu einem gewissen Grade ihren Höhepunkt erreicht hatte in der Ausbildung desjenigen, was sie eben als ihre besondere Mission hatte, eine ganz andere Seite dieser selben Mission im alten Römertum und seinen verschiedenen Kulturperioden zutage trat. Wir haben bereits erwähnt, wie in einer strengen Stufenfolge aufeinanderfolgen die einzelnen nachatlantischen Kulturen. Wenn wir uns einen Überblick verschaffen wollen über diese Stufenfolge der nachatlantischen Kulturen, so können wir sagen: Die alte indische Kultur arbeitete am menschlichen Atherleibe. Daher der hellsichtige, wunderbar weisheitsvolle Charakter der alten indischen Kultur, weil sie — nach Ausbildung der besonderen menschlichen Fähigkeiten — eine im menschlichen Ätherleibe reflektierte Kultur ist, so daß wir die alte indische Kultur etwa in der folgenden Weise fassen können.

Von der atlantischen bis zur späteren nachatlantischen Zeit hat der indische Volksgeist die ganze Entwickelung der inneren Seelenkräfte durchgemacht, ohne daß sein Ich erwacht war. Er hat dann wieder den Weg zurück genommen bis zu seiner Arbeit im menschlichen Atherleibe. Das ist das Wesentliche der alten indischen Kultur, daß mit fertig ausgebildeten Seelenkräften, mit Seelenkräften, die im höchsten Grade verfeinert waren, der Inder wiederum hineingeht in den Atherleib, zurückgeht bis zum Ätherleib und in demselben jene wunderbar feinen Kräfte ausbildet, deren späteren Reflex wir in den Veden und in noch verfeinerterem Zustande in der Vedanta-Philosophie sehen. Das war alles nur möglich dadurch, daß sich die indische Volksseele bis zu einem hohen Grade entwickelt hatte, bevor das Ich angeschaut, wahrgenommen worden ist, und schon wieder zu einer Zeit, als der Mensch mit den Kräften des Ätherleibes selber sehen konnte. Die persische Volksseele war nicht so weit gekommen. Die war nur so weit gekommen, in dem Empfindungsleibe oder Astralleibe wahrzunehmen. Noch anders war es in der babylonisch-chaldäisch-ägyptischen Kultur. Da war es so, daß der Teil, den wir als die Empfindungsseele bezeichnen, wahrnehmen konnte. Wir müssen also diese ägyptisch-chaldäische Kultur als eine solche bezeichnen, welche in der Empfindungsseele arbeitet. Beim griechisch-lateinischen Volksgeiste war das so, daß er geleitet worden ist bis zur Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele; in dieser Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele arbeitete er. An der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele konnte er selbst nur dadurch arbeiten, daß diese Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele wiederum im Ätherleibe eine Art Ausprägung ihres Wesens hatte. Aber es ist dies gleichsam eine weniger reale, weniger anschauliche und der Wirklichkeit eingeprägte Form des Weltbildes, wie es jetzt im Griechentum herauskam. Während ein unmittelbares Arbeiten im Atherleibe bei der alten indischen Kultur da war, ist jetzt ein verwischtes, ein abgeschattetes, ein matteres Abbild der Wirklichkeit vorhanden, wie ich es charakterisiert habe dadurch, daß ich sagte: Es ist wie eine Erinnerung an das, was diese Völker einst erlebt hatten, wie eine Erinnerung, die zurückstrahlt auf ihren Atherleib (vgl. die schematische Abbildung).
Bei den anderen Völkern, die jetzt auf das griechische Volk folgten, haben wir es zu tun mit dem vorzugsweisen Gebrauche des physischen Leibes zur stufenweisen Ausbildung der Bewußtseinsseele. Daher war die griechische Kultur eine solche, die wir nur begreifen können, wenn wir sie aus dem Innern heraus zu begreifen vermögen; wenn wir uns klar sind, daß bei ihr als äußere Erfahrung wichtig ist, was aus dem Innern des Griechen heraussprudelt. Dagegen haben die Völker, die mehr nach Westen und Norden gelegen sind, die Aufgabe, unter Leitung ihrer Volksseelen den Blick in die Welt hinauszurichten und das in der Welt zu sehen, was auf dem physischen Plane zu sehen ist, auszubilden das, was auf dem physischen Plane eine Rolle spielen soll. Die germanisch-nordischen Völker hatten noch die besondere Aufgabe, daß sie das alles so ausbilden sollten, wie sie es ausbilden konnten, da sie noch die Gnade, die welthistorische Gnade genossen, im alten Hellsehen hineinzusehen in die geistige Welt und hineinzutragen die uralten Erfahrungen, die sie wie lebendig empfanden, in das, was auf dem physischen Plane eingerichtet werden sollte.
Ein Volk gab es, das in seiner späteren Zeit diese Gnade nicht mehr hatte, ein Volk, das keine solche Vorentwicklung zunächst durchgemacht hatte, das daher gleichsam wie mit einem Sprung vor die Geburt des menschlichen Ich auf dem physischen Plane gestellt wurde und daher nur unter Anleitung seiner Volksseele, seines Erzengels für alles das sorgen konnte, was dieses menschliche Ich auf dem physischen Plane förderte, was zur Wohlfahrt dieses menschlichen Ich auf dem physischen Plane notwendig war. Dies war das römische Volk. Alles, was das römische Volk unter Anleitung seines Volksgeistes für die gesamte Mission Europas zu leisten hatte, war dazu bestimmt, dem Ich des Menschen als solchem Geltung zu verschaffen. Daher konnte das römische Volk dasjenige ausbilden, was das Ich zwischen die anderen Iche hineinstellt. Es konnte die ganze Summe der Privatrechte begründen. Daher wurde es der Schöpfer der Jurisprudenz, die rein auf das Ich gebaut ist. Wie das Ich dem Ich gegenübersteht, das war die große Frage in der Mission des römischen Volkes. Die anderen Völker, die aus der Kultur des römischen Volkes herausgewachsen sind, hatten schon mehr von dem, was sozusagen aus der Empfindungsseele, aus der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele und aus der Bewußtseinsseele selbst heraus dieses Ich in irgendeiner Weise befruchtet, dieses Ich in die Welt hineintreibt. Dazu waren notwendig alle von der äußeren Geschichte aufgezählten Rassenvermischungen, die auf der italischen und pyrenäischen Halbinsel, im heutigen Frankreich und im heutigen Großbritannien zustande gekommen sind, um das Ich nach den verschiedenen Nuancen, nach der Empfindungsseele, nach der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele und nach der Bewußtseinsseele auszubilden auf dem physischen Plan. Das war die große Mission der Völker, die sich nach und nach im Westen Europas in der verschiedensten Weise ausgebildet haben.
Alle einzelnen Kulturnuancen und Missionen im Westen Europas finden zuletzt ihre Erklärung darin, daß in der Richtung nach der italischen und pyrenäischen Halbinsel hin dasjenige auszubilden war, was durch die Impulse der Empfindungsseele in das Ich hinein ausgebildet werden konnte. Studieren Sie die einzelnen Volkscharaktere nach ihren Licht- und Schattenseiten, da werden Sie finden, daß Sie bei den Völkern der italischen und pyrenäischen Halbinsel die eigentümliche Mischung des Ich mit der Empfindungsseele haben. Bei den Völkern aber, die auf Frankreichs Boden bis in die neueste Zeit herauf gelebt haben, werden Sie ihre Eigenart begreiflich finden, wenn Sie das Werden und die Vermischungen der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele mit dem Ich betrachten. Die großen, welthistorischen Erfolge aber, als deren Repräsentant wir Großbritannien betrachten können, sind darauf zurückzuführen, daß der Impuls der Bewußtseinsseele in das menschliche Ich hineingedrängt worden ist. Mit dem, was als welthistorische Mission aus den britischen Ländern hervorging, ist auch zusammenhängend das, was aus der Begründung der äußeren, staatsrechtlichen Form hervorging. Die Verbindung der Bewußtseinsseele mit dem Ich war noch nicht innerlich vorhanden. Wenn Sie aber durchschauen, wie diese Verbindung der Bewußtseinsseele mit dem nach außen getriebenen Ich zustande kam, so werden Sie finden, daß die großen welthistorischen Eroberungen der Bevölkerung jener Insel von diesem Impulse herrühren. Sie finden aber auch, daß das, was da geschieht an Begründungen der parlamentarischen Regierungsformen, sofort verständlich wird, wenn man weiß, daß damit ein Impuls der Bewußtseinsseele auf den Plan der Weltgeschichte hingestellt werden sollte.
Es waren also viele Nuancen notwendig, denn durch viele Stufen des Ich waren die einzelnen Völker zu führen. Wir würden wahre Geschichtsbilder finden, wenn wir Zeit genug hätten, diese Dinge weiter zu verfolgen, die uns zeigen, wie die Grundkräfte sich verzweigen und sich in der verschiedensten Weise auswirken. So wirkte die Seelenkonstitution bei den westlichen Völkern, die für sich selbst nicht die unmittelbare, elementare Erinnerung hatten an die hellseherisch erlebten Dinge der geistigen Welt von früher. Ganz anders mußte in der späteren Zeit im germanisch-nordischen Gebiet sich ausbilden dasjenige, was unmittelbar aus einer nach und nach erfolgten Entwickelung des schon in die Empfindungsseele hineingegossenen, ursprünglichen Hellsehens hervorging. Daher jener Zug der Innerlichkeit, der ja nur die Nachwirkung innerlicher, in der Vorzeit erfolgter hellseherischer Erfahrung ist. Die südlich-germanischen Völker hatten zunächst ihre Aufgabe auf dem Gebiet der Bewußtseinsseele. Die griechisch-lateinische Zeit hatte auszubilden die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Sie hatte aber nicht bloß den Impuls zu geben mit der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele, sie hatte hineinzuwirken mit einer wunderbaren, mit hellseherischer Erfahrung ausgestatteten vorzeitlichen Entwickelung. Das alles ergoß sich in die Bewußtseinsseelen der mitteleuropäisch-nordisch-germanischen Völker. Das wirkte bei diesen als Seelenanlage nach, und die südlicheren Teile der germanischen Menschheit hatten zunächst auszubilden das, was dazu gehört, um die Bewußtseinsseele innerlich vorzubereiten, innerlich mit dem auf den physischen Plan umgesetzten Bewußtseinsinhalt des alten Hellsehens zu erfüllen.
Scheinbar liegen weit ab von dem mythologischen Gebiet die Philosophien Mitteleuropas, diese Philosophien, welche Fichte, Schelling und Hegel noch im neunzehnten Jahrhundert vertraten. Dennoch sind sie nichts anderes, als das Resultat des sublimiertesten alten Hellsehens, des im Innern des Menschen eroberten Zusammenarbeitens mit göttlich-geistigen Mächten. Unmöglich hätte sonst ein Hegel in seinen Ideen Realitäten sehen können, unmöglich hätte ein Hegel den sonderbaren Ausspruch tun können, der ihn so sehr charakterisiert, indem er auf die Frage: «Was ist das Abstrakte?» antwortet: «Das Abstrakte ist zum Beispiel ein einzelner Mensch, der seine täglichen Verrichtungen tut, nehmen wir an: ein Zimmermann.» Dasjenige also, was für den Abstraktling etwas Konkretes ist, das war für Hegel etwas Abstraktes. Das, was für den Abstraktling nur Gedanken sind, das waren für ihn große, gewaltige Werkmeister der Welt. Die Ideenwelt Hegels ist der letzte sublimierteste Ausdruck der Bewusstseinsseele und enthält in reinen Begriffen das, was der nordische Mensch noch als sinnlich-übersinnliche, göttlich-geistige Mächte gesehen hat in Verbindung mit dem Ich. Und als bei Fichte das Ich zum Ausdruck kam, da war es nichts anderes als der Niederschlag dessen, was der Gott Thor der menschlichen Seele gegeben hat, von Fichte nur gesehen aus der Bewußtseinsseele, in dem scheinbar ärmsten Gedanken, dem Gedanken «Ich bin», von dem die Fichtesche Philosophie ausgeht. Eine gerade Entwickelungslinie geht von der Begabung des alten nordischen Volkes mit dem Ich ausströmend durch den Gott Thor oder Donar aus der Geistwelt bis in diese Philosophie. Dieser Gott hatte das alles vorzubereiten für die Bewußtseinsseele, damit sie einen ihr angemessenen Inhalt habe, denn sie ist darauf angewiesen, in die äußere Welt hineinzuschauen und innerhalb dieser Welt zu wirken. Aber diese Philosophie findet nicht bloß die äußere, grobsinnliche, materialistische Erfahrung, sondern sie findet den Inhalt der Bewußtsseinsseele selber in der äußeren Welt und sieht die Natur nur an als die Idee in ihrem Anderssein. Nehmen Sie diesen fortwirkenden Impuls, so haben Sie darin die Mission der germanisch-nordischen Völker in Mitteleuropa.
Nun müssen wir uns fragen, da alle Entwickelung einen Fortgang zu nehmen hat: Wie schreitet diese Evolution vorwärts? Wir können da Merkwürdiges sehen, wenn wir in ältere Zeiten zurückschauen. Wir haben gesagt: Im alten Indertum fand die erste Kultur im Ätherleibe statt, nachdem die entsprechende Ausbildung der geistigen Kräfte da war. Es gibt aber auch noch Kulturen, die sich die alte, atlantische Kultur bewahrt und sie hineingetragen haben in die Menschen der nachatlantischen Zeit. Während der Inder von dieser Seite aus an seinen Ätherleib herankommt und aus diesem heraus, mit den Kräften desselben, seine gewaltig große Kultur und sein großartiges Geistesleben schafft, haben wir von der anderen Seite eine Kultur, welche im Artlantiertum wurzelt und hineinarbeitet in die nachatlantische Zeit eine Kultur, welche gleichsam zu ihrer Begründung und Ausbildung die andere Seite des Atherleib-Bewußtseins herausarbeitet. Das ist die chinesische Kultur. Die Einzelheiten der chinesischen Kultur werden Sie begreifen, wenn Sie diesen Zusammenhang ins Auge fassen und sich erinnern, daß die atlantische Kultur ein unmittelbares Verhältnis hatte zu dem, was wir in unseren früheren Darstellungen den «Großen Geist» nannten, so daß also diese Kultur ein unmittelbares Verhältnis hatte zu den höchsten Stufen der Weltentwickelung. Aber diese Kultur wirkt noch hinein in moderne Menschenkörper, und zwar von einer ganz anderen Seite. Daher wird auch begreiflich erscheinen, daß gerade in diesen beiden Kulturen einmal zusammenstoßen werden die zwei großen Gegensätze der nachatlantischen Zeit: das Indertum, das in gewissen Grenzen entwickelungsfähig ist, und das Chinesentum, das sich abschließt und starr bleibt, das wiederholt, was in der alten atlantischen Zeit da war. Man bekommt förmlich den Eindruck von einer okkult-wissenschaftlich-poetischen Art, wenn man das Chinesenreich in seiner Entwickelung beobachtet, wenn man an die chinesische Mauer denkt, die nach allen Seiten hin dasjenige abschließen sollte, was aus den uralten Zeiten stammte und in der nachatlantischen Zeit sich entwickelt hatte. Ich sage jetzt, es beschleicht einen etwas wie eine poetisch-okkulte Empfindung, wenn man die chinesische Mauer vergleicht mit dem, was es einmal in früheren Zeiten gegeben hat. Ich kann diese Dinge nur andeuten. Sie werden finden, wenn Sie dies mit den heute schon vorhandenen wissenschaftlichen Ergebnissen vergleichen, wie außerordentlich aufschlußgebend diese Dinge sind. Betrachten wir hellseherisch den alten Kontinent der atlantischen Welt, den wir zu suchen haben da, wo jetzt der Atlantische Ozean ist, zwischen Afrika und Europa einerseits und Amerika anderseits. Dieser Kontinent war umschlossen von einer Art von warmem Strom, von einem Strom, bezüglich dessen das hellseherische Bewußtsein ergibt, daß er, so sonderbar es klingen mag, von Süden heraufging, durch die Baffins-Bai gegen das nördliche Grönland verlaufend und es umfassend, dann herüberfloß nach Osten, sich allmählich abkühlte, dann in der Zeit, in welcher Sibirien und Rußland noch lange nicht zur Erdoberfläche gehoben waren, in der Gegend des Ural hinunterfloß, sich umkehrte, die östlichen Karpathen berührte, in die Gegend hineinfloß, wo die heutige Sahara ist, und endlich beim Meerbusen von Biskaya dem Atlantischen Ozean zuging, so daß er ein ganz geschlossenes Stromgebiet hatte. Sie werden begreifen, daß dieser Strom nur noch in den allerletzten Resten vorhanden sein kann. Dieser Strom ist der Golfstrom, der einst den atlantischen Kontinent umflossen hat. — Und jetzt werden Sie auch begreifen, daß bei den Griechen das Seelenleben Erinnerung ist. Es tauchte in ihnen auf das Bild des Okeanos, der eine Erinnerung ist an jene atlantische Zeit. Ihr Weltbild ist nicht so unrichtig, weil es aus der alten atlantischen Zeit geschöpft ist. — Den Strom, der über Spitzbergen als warmer Strom herunterkam und nach und nach sich abkühlte usw., dieses geschlossene Stromgebiet haben sich die Chinesen förmlich wiedererschaffen in ihrer von der Mauer umschlossenen, aus der atlantischen Zeit herübergeretteten Kultur. Das Geschichtliche war in der atlantischen Kultur noch nicht vorhanden. Daher hat auch die chinesische Kultur etwas Ungeschichtliches behalten. Daher haben wir da etwas Vorindisches, etwas aus der Atlantis Stammendes.
Wenden wir uns jetzt zu der Schilderung im Weitergange des germanisch-nordischen Volksgeistes zu dem, was auf ihn folgt. Was wird das nächste sein, wenn ein Volksgeist sein Volk so leitet, daß das Geistselbst sich besonders entwickeln kann? Erinnern wir uns daran, daß der Atherleib in der indischen Kultur, der Empfindungsleib in der persischen Kultur, die Empfindungsseele in der ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur, die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele in der griechischlateinischen Kultur, die Bewußtseinsseele in unserer, noch nicht abgeschlossenen Kultur zur Entwickelung kommt. Nun folgt aber das Ergreifen des Geistselbst durch die Bewußtseinsseele, so daß hineinleuchtet das Geistselbst in die Bewußtseinsseele, was als Aufgabe der sechsten Kulturstufe nach und nach vorbereitet werden muß. Diese Kultur, die im eminentesten Sinne eine empfängliche Kultur sein muß, denn sie muß hingebungsvoll das Hereindringen des Geistselbst in die Bewußtseinsseele abwarten, wird vorbereitet durch die Völker Westasiens und die vorgeschobenen slawischen Völker Osteuropas. Die letzteren sind aus gutem Grunde mit ihren Volksseelen vorgeschoben, aus dem Grunde, weil alles, was in Zukunft kommen wird, in einer gewissen Weise seine Vorbereitung vorher erfahren muß, sich schon hineinschieben muß, um die Elemente für das Spätere abzugeben. Im höchsten Grade interessant ist es, diese vorgeschobenen Posten einer für die späteren Epochen sich vorbereitenden Volksseele zu studieren. Daher das Eigenartige der für uns zunächst östlich wohnenden slawischen Völker. Ihre ganze Kultur muter den Westeuropäer an als sich im Vorbereitungsstadium befindend, und in sonderbarer Weise schieben sie vor, durch die Medien ihrer vorgeschobenen Posten, dasjenige, was dem Geiste nach etwas ganz anderes ist, als irgendeine Mythologie. Es würde verkennen heißen dasjenige, was von Osten herüber vorgeschoben wird als zu erwartende Kultur, es würde diese Kultur verkennen heißen, wenn man sie vergleichen wollte mit dem, was die westeuropäischen Völker in sich haben, die einen geradlinig fortlaufenden Impuls, der noch im alten Hellsehen seine Wurzel und Quelle hat, besitzen. Das Eigenartige, wodurch sich die Seele dieser osteuropäischen Völker darlebt, das drückt sich in dem ganzen Verhältnis aus, das diese Völker immer offenbarten, wenn ihre Beziehungen zu den höheren Welten in Betracht kamen. Diese Beziehung ist, wenn wir sie mit dem vergleichen, was sich in unseren Mythologien, in Westeuropa, zeigt, mit den sonderbaren, bis ins Individuelle ausgearbeiteten Götterfiguren, etwas ganz anderes. Sie tritt uns so entgegen, daß wir das, was sie uns gibt als unmittelbaren Ausfluß des Volkswesens vergleichen können mit unsern verschiedenen Planen oder Welten, durch die wir uns vorbereiten zum Begreifen einer geistigen, höheren Kultur. Da finden wir zum Beispiel im Osten folgende Vorstellung: Empfangen hat der Westen aufeinanderfolgende, nebeneinanderliegende Welten. Wir haben da zunächst ein deutliches Bewußtsein von einer Welt des kosmischen Vaters. Alles dasjenige, was in Luft und Feuer, was überhaupt in den Elementen, die in und über der Erde sich finden, schöpferisch tätig ist, das tritt uns wie in einem großen, umfassenden Gesamtbegriffe, der zugleich Gesamtempfindung ist, entgegen als der Begriff des Himmelsvaters. So wie wir uns etwa die Welt des Devachan unsere Erde befruchtend denken, so tritt uns diese Himmelswelt, diese väterliche Welt, von Osten her entgegen, und sie befruchtet dasjenige, was als Mütterliches empfunden wird, den Geist der Erde. Wir haben keinen anderen Ausdruck und kein anderes Mittel, als den gesamten Geist der Erde unter dem Bilde des Befruchtetwerdens des mütterlichen Erdenwesens uns zu denken. Da stehen sich dann zwei Welten gegenüber, nicht einzelne, individuelle Götterfiguren. Und als eine dritte Welt steht jenen zwei Welten dasjenige gegenüber, was man als das Segenskind der beiden empfindet. Das ist nicht ein individuelles Wesen, nicht eine Empfindung der Seele, sondern etwas, was das Erzeugnis des Himmelsvaters und der Erdenmutter ist. So wird, aus der geistigen Welt heraus, das Verhältnis von Devachan zur Erde empfunden. Was da entsteht als der Segner, als der Frühling und als das, was da sprießt und sproßt im materiellen Leibe, das wird durchaus als Geistiges empfunden, und was da sproßt und sprießt in der Seele, das wird empfunden als die Welt, die zugleich empfunden wird als Segenskind vom Himmelsvater und der irdischen Mutter. So universell diese Vorstellungen auch sind, wir finden sie bei den vorgeschobenen slawischen Völkern, die nach Westen vorgedrungen sind. Als so universelle Empfindung finden wir das bei keiner westeuropäischen Mythologie. Da finden wir klar ausgearbeitete Göttergestalten, aber nicht dasjenige, was wir in unsern geistigen Planen darstellen; diese finden wir mehr in dem Himmelsvater, in der irdischen Mutter und dem Segenskinde des Ostens. In dem Segenskinde ist wieder eine Welt darinnen, die eine andere durchdringt. Das ist die Welt, welche allerdings schon individuell vorgestellt wird, weil sie an die physische Sonne mit ihrem Licht geknüpft ist, Dieses Wesen, das uns vielfach in der persischen Mythologie entgegengetreten ist, hat auch — allerdings in einer anders ausgebildeten Empfindungs- und Vorstellungsform — das slawische Element; es hat das Sonnenwesen, das seine Segnungen hineingießt in die anderen drei Welten, so daß das Schicksal des Menschen eingesponnen ist in die Schöpfung, in die gegebene Erde, durch die Befruchtung der Erdenmutter mit dem Himmelsvater und durch das, was hineinspinnt der Sonnengeist in diese beiden Welten. Eine fünfte Welt ist das, was alles Geistige umfaßt. Es empfindet das osteuropäische Element in allen Naturkräften und Geschöpfen die zugrunde liegende geistige Welt. Aber die müssen wir uns in einer ganz anderen Empfindungsnuance denken, vielleicht mehr mit den Naturwesen, Naturtatsachen und Naturschöpfungen verknüpft.
Wir müssen uns vorstellen, daß diese östliche Seele in der Lage ist, in einem Naturvorgange Wesen zu sehen, nicht bloß das AußerlichPhysisch-Sinnliche, sondern das Astral-Geistige. Daher die Vorstellungen einer ungeheuren Anzahl von Wesenheiten in dieser eigenartigen geistigen Welt, die sich höchstens vergleichen läßt mit der Welt der Lichtelfen. Die geistige Welt, welche von den geisteswissenschaftlichen Vorstellungen als die fünfte Welt angesehen wird, ist ungefähr die Welt, die da aufdämmert dem Volksgemüte des Ostens. Ob Sie sie mit diesem oder jenem Namen benennen, darauf kommt es nicht an, aber darauf kommt es an, daß die Empfindungen nuanciert und schattiert sind, daß die Vorstellungen, durch welche dieser fünfte Plan oder diese fünfte geistige Welt charakterisiert worden ist, sich in der Welt des Ostens findet. Mit dieser Empfindung arbeitete diese Welt des Ostens demjenigen Geiste vor, der das Geistselbst in die Menschen hineinbringen soll, für jene Epoche, wo aufsteigen soll die Bewußtseinsseele zum Geistselbst im sechsten nachatlantischen Kulturzeitraum, der unseren fünften ablösen wird. In einer höchst eigenartigen Weise tritt uns das nicht nur in den Schöpfungen der Volksseelen entgegen, die so sind, wie ich sie eben charakterisiert habe, sondern auch in einer wunderbar vorbereitenden Weise in den mancherlei anderen Äußerungen Osteuropas und seiner Kultur.
Es ist sehr merkwürdig und im höchsten Grade interessant, wie dieser Osteuropäer seine Anlage für Empfänglichkeit dem reinen Geiste gegenüber dadurch ausdrückt, daß er die westeuropäische Kultur mit großer Hingebung aufnahm, dadurch prophetisch andeutend, daß er noch Größeres mit seinem Wesen wird vereinigen können. Daher auch das geringe Interesse, das er den Einzelheiten dieser westeuropäischen Kultur entgegenbringt. Er nimmt das sich Darbietende mehr in großen Zügen und weniger in den Einzelheiten auf, weil er sich vorbereitet, dasjenige sich anzueignen, was als Geistselbst in die Menschheit hineintreten wird. Insbesondere interessant ist es zu sehen, wie unter diesem Einfluß im Osten ein viel fortgeschrittenerer ChristusBegriff hat zustande kommen können als in Westeuropa, soweit er dort nicht durch die Geisteswissenschaft zustande gekommen ist. Von allen ihr Fernstehenden hat den fortgeschrittensten Christus-Begriff der russische Philosoph Solowjow. Er hat einen solchen ChristusBegriff, daß er nur von Schülern der Geist-Erkenntnis verstanden werden kann, weil er ihn immer weiter hinaufentwickelt und in unendlicher Perspektive zeigt, so daß von ihm gezeigt wird, daß das, was heute die Menschen davon erkennen, nur der Anfang ist, weil der Christus-Impuls erst wenig der Menschheit offenbaren konnte von dem, was er in sich enthält. Aber wenn wir in bezug auf den Christus-Begriff hinschauen, wie er zum Beispiel bei Hegel gefaßt ist, so werden wir finden, daß man sagen kann: Hegel faßt ihn so, wie die feinste, die sublimierteste Bewußtseinsseele ihn fassen kann. Ganz anders aber tritt uns der Christus-Begriff bei Solowjow entgegen. Da wird die Zweigliedrigkeit im Christus-Begriffe klar, und es wird alles dasjenige abgelehnt, was in den verschiedensten theologischen Streitigkeiten zum Ausdruck gekommen ist und was im Grunde genommen auf tiefen Mißverständnissen beruht, weil gewöhnliche Begriffe nicht ausreichen, um den Christus-Begriff in seiner zweifachen Wesenheit verständlich zu machen, nicht ausreichen, um zu verstehen, daß das Menschliche und das Geistige darin genau unterschieden werden müssen. Gerade darauf beruht der ChristusBegriff, daß genau gefaßt wird, was geschah, als in den Menschen Jesus von Nazareth, der ausgebildet hatte alle erforderlichen Eigenschaften, der Christus hineinkam. Da hat man dann zwei Naturen darinnen, die zunächst erfaßt werden müssen, obwohl sie sich auf einer höheren Stufe wieder in eine Einheit zusammenfassen. So lange hat man den Christus nicht in seiner vollen Gestalt erfaßt, als man diese Zweigliedrigkeit nicht erfaßt hat. Dies kann aber nur dasjenige philosophische Erfassen, das vorausahnt, daß der Mensch selber in eine Kultur hineinkommen wird, wo seine Bewußtseinsseele in dem Zustand sein wird, daß das Geistselbst ihm zukommen kann, so daß der Mensch sich in dieser sechsten Kulturperiode als eine Zweiheit fühlen wird, bei der die höhere Natur die niedere in Zaum und Zügel halten wird. Diese Zweigliedrigkeit trägt Solowjow in seinen Christus-Begriff hinein und macht ausdrücklich geltend, daß der Christus-Begriff nur dann einen Sinn haben kann, wenn man eine göttliche und eine menschliche Natur annimmt, die nur dadurch, daß sie real zusammenwirken, daß sie nicht eine abstrakte, sondern eine organische Einheit sind, begriffen werden können. Solowjow erkennt bereits, daß in diesem Wesen zwei Willenszentren vorgestellt werden müssen. Wenn Sie die Solowjowschen Theorien von der wahren Bedeutung der ChristusWesenheit nehmen, wie sie durch das Vorhandensein des nicht bloß gedachten, sondern spirituell wirklichen indischen Einflusses entstanden, dann haben Sie da den Christus so, daß in ihm ausgebildet ist in den drei Leibern das Moment des Fühlens, das Moment des Denkens und das Moment des Wollens. Sie haben da ein menschliches Fühlen, Denken und Wollen, in das sich hineinsenkt das göttliche Fühlen, Denken und Wollen. Das wird die europäische Menschheit erst ganz verarbeiten, wenn sie zur sechsten Kulturstufe hinaufgestiegen sein wird. Prophetisch ist das in wunderbarer Weise zum Ausdruck gekommen in dem, was bei Solowjow als Christus-Begriff wie die Morgenröte einer späteren Kultur voranleuchtet. Daher geht diese Philosophie des östlichen Europa mit solchen Riesenschritten über das Hegeltum und den Kantianismus hinaus, und man fühlt, wenn man in die Atmosphäre dieser Philosophie kommt, plötzlich etwas wie einen Keim einer späteren Entfaltung. Das geht deshalb so weit, weil dieser Christus-Begriff als ein prophetisches Voranleuchten, als die Morgenröte der sechsten nachatlantischen Kultur empfunden wird. Dadurch wird das ganze Christus-Wesen und die ganze Bedeutung des Christus-Wesens für die Philosophie in den Mittelpunkt gerückt, und es wird dadurch zu etwas ganz anderem als dem, was die westeuropäischen Begriffe davon zu geben vermögen. Der ChristusBegriff, soweit er auf nicht geisteswissenschaftlichem Gebiete ausgearbeitet ist und begriffen wird als lebendige Substanz, die hineinarbeiten soll wie eine geistige Persönlichkeit in alles staatliche und soziale Wesen, — der empfunden wird wie eine Persönlichkeit, in deren Dienerschaft sich der Mensch als «Mensch mit dem Geistselbst» befindet, diese Christus-Persönlichkeit wird in einer wunderbar plastischen Weise ausgearbeitet in den verschiedenen Auseinandersetzungen, die Solowjow gibt über das Johannes-Evangelium und seine Eingangsworte. Wiederum nur auf geisteswissenschaftlichem Felde kann sich ein Verständnis für das finden, wie bei Solowjow tief erfaßt wird der Satz: «Im Urbeginne war das Wort oder der Logos», wie anders das Johannes-Evangelium gerade erfaßt wird durch eine Philosophie, bei der gefühlt werden kann, daß sie eine keimende Philosophie ist, daß sie in einer merkwürdigen Weise in die Zukunft hineinweist.
Wenn man auf der einen Seite sagen muß, daß Hegel auf philosophischem Gebiete eine reifste Frucht darstellt, etwas, was als reifste philosophische Frucht aus der Bewußtseinsseele herausgeboren ist, so ist auf der anderen Seite diese Philosophie Solowjows der Keim in der Bewußtseinsseele für die Philosophie des Geistselbst, das in der sechsten Kulturperiode eingegliedert wird. Es gibt vielleicht keinen größeren Gegensatz, als den im eminentesten Sinne christlichen Staatsbegriff, der als hohes Ideal dem Solowjow wie ein Traum der Zukunft vorschwebt, diesen christlichen Staats- und Volksbegriff, der alles, was da ist, nimmt, um es darzubringen dem herabströmenden Geistselbst, um es der Zukunft entgegenzuhalten, um es von den Gewalten der Zukunft durchchristen zu lassen — es gibt also keinen größeren Gegensatz, als diesen Begriff der im Solowjowschen Sinne gehaltenen christlichen Gemeinschaft, wobei der Christus-Begriff ein ganz zukünftiger ist, und den Begriff des Gottesstaates des heiligen Augustinus, der den Christus-Begriff zwar aufnimmt, aber den Staat so konstruiert, daß er der römische Staat ist, der den Christus aufnimmt in die Vorstellung vom Staate, die ihm der römische Staat gegeben hat. Das, worauf es ankommt, ist dasjenige, was das Wissen abgibt für das in die Zukunft hineinwachsende Christentum. Im Solowjowschen Staate ist der Christus das Blut, das alles soziale Zusammenleben durchrinnt. Und das Wesentliche ist, daß der Staat gedacht wird mit aller Konkretheit der Persönlichkeit, so daß er zwar als geistiges Wesen wirken, aber auch mit allen Charaktereigentümlichkeiten der Persönlichkeit seine Mission erfüllen wird. So sehr durchdrungen von dem Christus-Begriff, der uns vorleuchtet in der Geisteswissenschaft auf höheren Höhen, und dabei so sehr im Keime geblieben ist keine andere Philosophie. Alles, was wir im Osten finden, vom Volksgemüt angefangen bis hinauf zur Philosophie, das erscheint uns als etwas, das erst den Keim einer zukünftigen Entwickelung in sich trägt, und das deshalb auch die besondere Erziehung jenes Zeitgeistes sich hat angedeihen lassen müssen, den wir schon kennen, nachdem wir gesagt haben, daß der Zeitgeist des alten griechischen Volkes, als Impuls dem Christentum gegeben, mit der Mission versehen worden ist, der wirkende Zeitgeist für das spätere Europa zu werden. Demjenigen Volksgemüt, das die Keime für den sechsten Kulturzeitraum auszubilden haben wird, hat dieser Zeitgeist nicht allein Erzieher, sondern Pfleger sein müssen von der ersten Stufe des Daseins an. So können wir förmlich sagen — wobei Vater- und Mutterbegriff ihren getrennten Sinn verlieren —, daß das, was russisches Volksgemüt ist und sich allmählich zur Volksseele entwickeln soll, nicht nur erzogen, sondern ernährt, gesäugt worden ist von demjenigen, wovon wir gesehen haben, daß es aus dem alten griechischen Zeitgeist heraus gebildet worden ist und dann einen anderen Rang nach außen angenommen hat.
So verteilen sich die Missionen zwischen West-, Mittel- und NordEuropa und dem Osten Europas. Eine Andeutung von diesen Dingen wollte ich Ihnen geben. Wir werden auf der Grundlage dieser Andeutungen noch einige Betrachtungen anstellen und zeigen, wie sich die europäische Zukunft ausnehmen wird, die gelten lassen wird, daß wir unsere Ideale aus solchen Erkenntnissen heraus bilden müssen; wir werden zeigen, wie sich der germanisch-nordische Volksgeist durch diesen Einfluß nach und nach zu einem Zeitgeiste umwandelt.
Tenth Lecture
Before we develop what will emerge in connection with the significant image of the twilight of the gods, it would be good to lay a foundation for this. For it will be a matter of describing more precisely the nature of the Germanic-Nordic folk soul based on the results we have obtained. We must see how the entire European spiritual life interacts in Europe, how the activity of the various folk spirits brings about the progress of humanity — from ancient times, through our present, and into the future. Every single people, even all the individual, smaller fragments of peoples, have their special task in this great overall picture, and from what has been said you can see that, in a certain sense, it is precisely the pre-Christian and post-Christian culture of Europe that has been given the task, the mission, of educating the I through the various stages of human existence, of forming it and gradually developing it. In a certain sense, this ego was still shown to humans clairvoyantly in ancient times from the spiritual world, as we have shown in the case of the Germanic-Nordic peoples. It was said that this ego is given to humans by one of the angelic beings who stands between the human being and the soul of the people, in the middle: by Donar or Thor. We have seen that the individual still felt as if he had no ego, as if he were impersonal. He regarded the ego as a gift bestowed upon him from the spiritual world.
In this way, of course, when the ego first awakened in the East, it was not found. There, the human being had already developed subjectively to such a high degree of human perfection that he did not perceive the I as something foreign, but as his own. When the human being in the East awakened to the I, Oriental culture had already progressed so far that it was capable of gradually developing such finely spun speculation, logic, and wisdom as we see before us in Oriental wisdom. Thus, Orientalism did not participate in the entire process of receiving the ego as if from a higher, spiritual world with the help of such a divine-spiritual individuality as Thor was. Europeanism did participate in it, and therefore Europeanism also perceives this gradual ascent to the individual ego as emerging from a kind of group soul. The Germanic-Nordic human being still felt himself to be endowed with a group soul, as belonging to an entire community, as a member of the great unity of the tribe. Only in this way could it happen that, almost a hundred years after the Christian impulse had been given to the earth, Tacitus could describe the Germanic peoples of Central Europe as always belonging to individual tribes, as being like the members of an organism and belonging to the unity of that organism. In those days, the individual still felt like a member of the tribal ego. He felt the gradual emergence of the individual I from the tribal I, and he felt in the god Thor the giver, the bestower of the I, the god who actually endowed him with the individual I. But he still felt this god connected with the entire spirit of the tribe, with what lives in the group soul. The expression “Sif” is now used to describe this group soul. This is the name of Thor's wife. Sif must be linguistically related to the word “clan,” tribal affiliation, and indeed it is, even if this is masked and hidden. Occultly, however, Sif means the group soul of the individual community from which the individual grows. Sif is the entity that connects with the god of the individual ego, with the giver of the individual ego, with Thor. The individual human being perceives Sif and Thor as the entities that gave him the ego. The Norse people still perceived them in this way, even when the peoples in other parts of Europe had already been assigned other tasks in the education of the human being towards the ego.
Each individual people has its own special task. Here we find above all the people, the sense of belonging to a people, the commonality of a people that we know under the name of the Celts. The spirit of the Celts, which we know from previous descriptions to have been given completely different tasks later on, had the task of nurturing the still young ego of the European population. But for this to happen, there had to be an education, a teaching of the Celts themselves, which was imparted directly from the higher world. It is therefore entirely correct that the Celts received teaching from higher worlds through their initiates, the Druid priests, which they could not have received on their own and which they then had to pass on to the other peoples.
The entire European culture is a gift of the European mysteries. The advancing folk souls are always the guides of the overall culture of humanity in its progress. But in the time when these folk spirits of Europe were to lead people to work out of themselves, to be effective out of themselves, it was necessary for the mysteries to withdraw more. Therefore, with the withdrawal of the Celtic element, there was also a kind of withdrawal of the mysteries into much more secret underground circles. A much more direct, immediate communication between the spirit beings and the people through the mysteries existed in the time of the ancient Celts, because the ego was still bound to the group, and yet the Celtic element was to be the giver of the ego to the rest of the population. We can therefore say that in the period preceding the actual Germanic-Nordic development, it was only through the ancient Celtic mysteries that European culture could receive its mystery education. This mystery education brought to the surface just as much as was necessary to provide a foundation for the entire culture of Europe. From this ancient culture, through mixing with the most diverse racial fragments, ethnic groups, and racial communities, the most diverse national souls and national spirits were able to fertilize each other and always brought the ego into different situations in order to educate it, the ego that was digging its way out of the underground of what lies beneath the human ego. It can be said that after the ancient Greek culture had reached a certain peak in the development of what was its particular mission, a completely different side of this same mission came to light in ancient Rome and its various cultural periods. We have already mentioned how the individual post-Atlantean cultures follow one another in a strict sequence of stages. If we want to gain an overview of this sequence of stages of the post-Atlantean cultures, we can say that ancient Indian culture worked on the human etheric body. Hence the clairvoyant, wonderfully wise character of ancient Indian culture, because — after developing the special human abilities — it is a culture reflected in the human etheric body, so that we can summarize ancient Indian culture in the following way.

From the Atlantean to the later post-Atlantean period, the Indian national spirit underwent the entire development of the inner soul forces without its I being awakened. It then retraced its steps back to its work in the human etheric body. This is the essence of ancient Indian culture: with fully developed soul forces, with soul forces which were highly refined, the Indian once again entered the etheric body, went back to the etheric body, and developed those wonderfully fine forces in it, the later reflection of which we see in the Vedas and in an even more refined state in the Vedanta philosophy. This was only possible because the Indian national soul had developed to a high degree before the ego was perceived and at a time when human beings could still see with the forces of the etheric body. The Persian national soul had not progressed that far. It had only progressed to the point of perception in the sentient body or astral body. It was different in the Babylonian-Chaldean-Egyptian culture. There, the part we call the sentient soul was able to perceive. We must therefore describe this Egyptian-Chaldean culture as one that works in the sentient soul. In the Greek-Latin national spirit, it was guided to the intellectual or emotional soul, where it worked. It could only work on the intellectual or emotional soul because this intellectual or emotional soul in turn had a kind of expression of its nature in the etheric body. But this is, as it were, a less real, less vivid and less imprinted on reality form of the world picture, as it now emerged in Greek culture. Whereas in ancient Indian culture there was direct working in the etheric body, now there is a blurred, shadowed, duller image of reality, which I have characterized by saying that it is like a memory of what these peoples had once experienced, like a memory that shines back onto their etheric body (cf. the schematic illustration).
In the other peoples who followed the Greek people, we are dealing with the preferential use of the physical body for the gradual development of the consciousness soul. Therefore, Greek culture was one that we can only understand if we are able to understand it from within; if we are clear that what is important in it as external experience is what springs forth from within the Greek. In contrast, the peoples who are located more to the west and north have the task, under the guidance of their national souls, of directing their gaze out into the world and seeing what can be seen on the physical plane, developing what is to play a role on the physical plane. The Germanic-Nordic peoples still had the special task of developing all this as best they could, since they still enjoyed the blessing, the world-historical blessing, of being able to look into the spiritual world through ancient clairvoyance and to carry the ancient experiences, which they felt as living, into what was to be established on the physical plane.
There was a people who no longer had this grace in their later days, a people who had not undergone such a preliminary development, who were therefore placed on the physical plane, as it were, with a leap before the birth of the human ego, and who could therefore only provide for everything that promoted this human ego on the physical plane under the guidance of their national soul, their archangel. which was necessary for the welfare of this human ego on the physical plane. This was the Roman people. Everything that the Roman people had to accomplish under the guidance of their national spirit for the entire mission of Europe was destined to give validity to the ego of man as such. Therefore, the Roman people were able to develop that which the ego places between the other egos. They were able to establish the entire sum of private rights. Therefore, it became the creator of jurisprudence, which is built purely on the ego. How the ego stands in relation to the ego was the great question in the mission of the Roman people. The other peoples who grew out of the culture of the Roman people already had more of what, so to speak, fertilizes this ego in some way out of the sentient soul, out of the intellectual or emotional soul, and out of the conscious soul itself, driving this ego into the world. To this end, all the racial mixtures listed in external history, which came about on the Italian and Pyrenean peninsulas, in present-day France and Great Britain, were necessary in order to develop the I on the physical plane according to the various nuances, according to the soul of feeling, the soul of understanding or the soul of emotion, and the soul of consciousness. This was the great mission of the peoples who gradually developed in various ways in Western Europe.
All the individual cultural nuances and missions in Western Europe ultimately find their explanation in the fact that, in the direction of the Italian and Pyrenean peninsulas, it was necessary to develop what could be developed in the ego through the impulses of the sentient soul. Study the individual national characters according to their light and dark sides, and you will find that in the peoples of the Italian and Pyrenean peninsulas you have the peculiar mixture of the ego with the sentient soul. But in the peoples who have lived on French soil until the most recent times, you will understand their peculiarity if you consider the development and mixing of the intellectual or emotional soul with the ego. The great achievements in world history, of which we can consider Great Britain to be the representative, can be traced back to the fact that the impulse of the consciousness soul has been pushed into the human ego. What emerged from the British countries as a world-historical mission is also connected with what emerged from the establishment of the external, constitutional form. The connection between the consciousness soul and the ego did not yet exist internally. But if you see how this connection between the consciousness soul and the ego driven outward came about, you will find that the great world-historical conquests of the population of that island stem from this impulse. But you will also find that what happens there in terms of the reasons for parliamentary forms of government becomes immediately understandable when you know that an impulse from the consciousness soul was to be placed on the stage of world history.
Many nuances were therefore necessary, because the individual peoples had to be guided through many stages of the I. We would find true pictures of history if we had enough time to pursue these things further, which show us how the fundamental forces branch out and have the most diverse effects. This was the effect of the soul constitution on the Western peoples, who did not have immediate, elementary memory of the clairvoyantly experienced things of the spiritual world of earlier times. In later times, in the Germanic-Nordic region, something had to develop in a completely different way, something that arose directly from a gradual development of the original clairvoyance that had already been poured into the sentient soul. Hence that trait of inwardness, which is only the after-effect of inner clairvoyant experiences that took place in earlier times. The southern Germanic peoples initially had their task in the realm of the consciousness soul. The Greek-Latin period had to develop the intellectual or emotional soul. However, it did not merely have to provide the impulse with the intellectual or emotional soul; it had to work within it with a wonderful, prehistoric development equipped with clairvoyant experience. All this poured into the consciousness souls of the Central European-Nordic-Germanic peoples. This had a lasting effect on them as a soul disposition, and the southern parts of the Germanic race first had to develop what was necessary to prepare the consciousness soul inwardly, to fill it inwardly with the contents of the old clairvoyance that had been translated into the physical plane.
The philosophies of Central Europe, which Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel still represented in the nineteenth century, seem to be far removed from the realm of mythology. Nevertheless, they are nothing other than the result of the most sublimated ancient clairvoyance, of the cooperation with divine-spiritual powers conquered within the human being. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Hegel to see realities in his ideas, impossible for Hegel to make the strange statement that so characterizes him, when he answers the question, “What is the abstract?” with, “The abstract is, for example, a single human being performing his daily tasks, let us take a carpenter.” So what is concrete for the abstract thinker was abstract for Hegel. What for the abstract thinker are only thoughts were for him great, powerful masters of the world. Hegel's world of ideas is the ultimate, most sublime expression of the conscious soul and contains in pure concepts what the Nordic man still saw as sensual-supersensual, divine-spiritual powers in connection with the ego. And when the ego came to expression in Fichte, it was nothing other than the precipitation of what the god Thor had given to the human soul, seen by Fichte only from the consciousness soul, in the seemingly poorest thought, the thought “I am,” from which Fichte's philosophy proceeds. A straight line of development runs from the gift of the ego to the ancient Nordic peoples, flowing through the god Thor or Donar from the spirit world into this philosophy. This god had to prepare everything for the consciousness soul so that it would have a content appropriate to itself, for it is dependent on looking into the outer world and working within this world. But this philosophy does not merely find the external, grossly sensual, materialistic experience; it finds the content of the consciousness soul itself in the external world and regards nature only as the idea in its otherness. Take this continuing impulse, and you have in it the mission of the Germanic-Nordic peoples in Central Europe.
Now we must ask ourselves, since all development must continue, how does this evolution proceed? We can see something remarkable when we look back to earlier times. We have said that in ancient India, the first culture took place in the etheric body after the corresponding spiritual forces had been developed. But there are also cultures that have preserved the ancient Atlantean culture and carried it over into the post-Atlantean era. While the Indians approach their etheric body from this side and create their enormously great culture and magnificent spiritual life from it, using its forces, we have a culture on the other side that is rooted in the Atlantean era and works its way into the post-Atlantean era—a culture that, as it were, develops the other side of etheric body consciousness for its foundation and formation. This is the Chinese culture. You will understand the details of Chinese culture if you consider this connection and remember that the Atlantean culture had a direct relationship with what we called the “Great Spirit” in our earlier descriptions, so that this culture had a direct relationship with the highest stages of world evolution. But this culture still has an effect on modern human beings, albeit from a completely different angle. This explains why it is precisely in these two cultures that the two great opposites of the post-Atlantean era will clash: the Germanic element, which is capable of development within certain limits, and the Chinese element, which closes itself off and remains rigid, repeating what existed in the ancient Atlantean era. One gets the impression of something occult, scientific, and poetic when observing the development of the Chinese empire, when thinking of the Great Wall of China, which was intended to seal off on all sides that which originated in ancient times and developed in the post-Atlantean era. I would say that a somewhat poetic-occult feeling creeps up on you when you compare the Great Wall of China with what once existed in earlier times. I can only hint at these things. You will find, when you compare this with the scientific findings already available today, how extraordinarily revealing these things are. Let us take a clairvoyant look at the ancient continent of the Atlantean world, which we must seek where the Atlantic Ocean now lies, between Africa and Europe on the one hand and America on the other. This continent was surrounded by a kind of warm current, a current which, according to clairvoyant consciousness, rose from the south, ran through Baffin Bay towards northern Greenland, encompassing it, then flowed eastward, gradually cooling down, then, at a time when Siberia and Russia were still far from rising to the surface of the earth, flowed down into the region of the Urals, turned back, touched the eastern Carpathians, flowed into the region where the Sahara is today, and finally reached the Atlantic Ocean at the Bay of Biscay, so that it had a completely enclosed stream area. You will understand that this stream can now only exist in its very last remnants. This stream is the Gulf Stream that once flowed around the Atlantic continent. — And now you will also understand that for the Greeks, the life of the soul is memory. The image of Okeanos arose in them, which is a memory of that Atlantean time. Their worldview is not so incorrect because it is drawn from the ancient Atlantean time. The current that came down over Spitsbergen as a warm current and gradually cooled down, etc., this closed current area has been formally recreated by the Chinese in their culture, which is enclosed by walls and has been saved from the Atlantean time. History did not yet exist in the Atlantean culture. That is why Chinese culture has retained something ahistorical. That is why we find something pre-Indian there, something originating from Atlantis.
Let us now turn to the description of the Germanic-Nordic folk spirit as it develops further, to what follows it. What will be the next step when a folk spirit guides its people in such a way that the spirit itself can develop in a special way? Let us remember that the etheric body develops in Indian culture, the sentient body in Persian culture, the sentient soul in Egyptian-Chaldean culture, the intellectual or emotional soul in Greek-Latin culture, and the conscious soul in our culture, which is not yet complete. Now, however, the spirit itself is grasped by the consciousness soul, so that the spirit itself shines into the consciousness soul, which must be gradually prepared as the task of the sixth stage of culture. This culture, which must be a receptive culture in the most eminent sense, because it must wait devotedly for the spirit self to penetrate into the consciousness soul, is being prepared by the peoples of Western Asia and the advanced Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe. The latter are advanced with their national souls for good reason, because everything that will come in the future must in a certain sense undergo preparation beforehand, must already be pushed in, in order to provide the elements for what is to come later. It is extremely interesting to study these advanced positions of a national soul preparing itself for later epochs. Hence the peculiarity of the Slavic peoples living to the east of us. Their entire culture strikes Western Europeans as being in a preparatory stage, and in a strange way they advance, through the media of their advanced posts, something that is spiritually quite different from any mythology. It would be a mistake to regard what is being put forward from the East as the culture to be expected; it would be a mistake to compare it with what the Western European peoples have within themselves, which is a straightforward, continuous impulse that still has its roots and source in ancient clairvoyance. The peculiarity that animates the soul of these Eastern European peoples is expressed in the whole attitude that these peoples have always revealed when their relationship to the higher worlds came into consideration. When we compare this relationship with what is evident in our mythologies in Western Europe, with the strange figures of gods elaborated down to the individual, it is something completely different. It appears to us in such a way that we can compare what it gives us as a direct outflow of the national character with our various plans or worlds through which we prepare ourselves to comprehend a spiritual, higher culture. In the East, for example, we find the following idea: the West has received successive, juxtaposed worlds. We have, first of all, a clear awareness of a world of the cosmic Father. Everything that is creatively active in air and fire, everything that is found in the elements within and above the earth, appears to us as a great, comprehensive concept, which is at the same time a total feeling, as the concept of the Heavenly Father. Just as we think of the world of Devachan as fertilizing our earth, so this heavenly world, this fatherly world, comes toward us from the east and fertilizes that which is felt as motherly, the spirit of the earth. We have no other expression and no other means than to think of the entire spirit of the earth under the image of the fertilization of the maternal earth being. Then two worlds stand opposite each other, not individual, individual god figures. And as a third world, what is perceived as the blessed child of the two stands opposite those two worlds. This is not an individual being, not a feeling of the soul, but something that is the product of the heavenly father and the earthly mother. This is how the relationship between Devachan and the earth is perceived from the spiritual world. What emerges as the blessing, as spring, and as that which sprouts and blossoms in the material body is perceived as something spiritual, and what sprouts and blossoms in the soul is perceived as the world, which is simultaneously perceived as the blessed child of the heavenly father and the earthly mother. As universal as these ideas are, we find them among the advanced Slavic peoples who have advanced westward. We do not find such a universal perception in any Western European mythology. There we find clearly elaborated god figures, but not what we represent in our spiritual plans; these we find more in the heavenly father, the earthly mother, and the blessed child of the East. In the blessed child there is again a world within a world, one penetrating the other. This is the world which is already represented individually because it is linked to the physical sun with its light. This being, which we have encountered many times in Persian mythology, also has — albeit in a differently formed sense and imagination — the Slavic element; it has the sun being that pours its blessings into the other three worlds, so that the fate of human beings is woven into creation, into the given earth, through the fertilization of the earth mother by the sky father and through what the sun spirit weaves into these two worlds. A fifth world is that which encompasses everything spiritual. The Eastern European element perceives the underlying spiritual world in all natural forces and creatures. But we must think of this in a completely different nuance of perception, perhaps more closely linked to natural beings, natural facts, and natural creations.
We must imagine that this Eastern soul is able to see beings in a natural process, not just the external physical and sensual, but the astral and spiritual. Hence the ideas of an enormous number of beings in this peculiar spiritual world, which can at best be compared to the world of light elves. The spiritual world, which spiritual science regards as the fifth world, is roughly the world that dawns on the popular consciousness of the East. Whether you call it by this name or that name is not important, but what is important is that the feelings are nuanced and shaded, that the ideas by which this fifth plane or this fifth spiritual world has been characterized are found in the world of the East. With this feeling, the world of the East prepared the way for the spirit that is to bring the spirit itself into human beings for that epoch when the consciousness soul is to rise to the spirit itself in the sixth post-Atlantean cultural period, which will replace our fifth. In a highly peculiar way, this confronts us not only in the creations of the folk souls, which are as I have just characterized them, but also in a wonderfully preparatory way in the various other expressions of Eastern Europe and its culture.
It is very remarkable and highly interesting how this Eastern European expresses his predisposition for receptivity to the pure spirit by embracing Western European culture with great devotion, thereby prophetically hinting that he will be able to unite even greater things with his nature. Hence also the little interest he shows in the details of this Western European culture. He takes in what is presented to him more in broad strokes and less in details, because he is preparing himself to appropriate that which will enter into humanity as spirit itself. It is particularly interesting to see how, under this influence, a much more advanced concept of Christ has been able to develop in the East than in Western Europe, insofar as it has not been developed there through spiritual science. Of all those who are far removed from it, the Russian philosopher Soloviev has the most advanced concept of Christ. He has such a concept of Christ that it can only be understood by students of spiritual knowledge, because he develops it ever further and shows it in an infinite perspective, so that he shows that what people recognize of it today is only the beginning, because the Christ impulse has been able to reveal only a little of what it contains to humanity. But if we look at the concept of Christ as it is formulated, for example, by Hegel, we will find that one can say: Hegel understands it as the finest, most sublimated consciousness-soul can understand it. But the concept of Christ appears quite differently to us in Soloviev. There the twofold nature of the concept of Christ becomes clear, and everything that has been expressed in the most diverse theological disputes and is based on profound misunderstandings is rejected, because ordinary concepts are not sufficient to make the concept of Christ understandable in its twofold nature. are insufficient to understand that the human and the spiritual must be precisely distinguished in it. The concept of Christ is based precisely on a precise understanding of what happened when Christ entered the human being Jesus of Nazareth, who had developed all the necessary qualities. There are then two natures within him that must first be grasped, even though they are reunited on a higher level. As long as this duality is not grasped, Christ is not understood in his full form. However, this can only be understood philosophically by those who foresee that human beings themselves will enter a culture in which their consciousness soul will be in a state where the spirit self can come to them, so that in this sixth cultural period, human beings will feel themselves to be a duality in which the higher nature will keep the lower in check. Soloviev carries this duality into his concept of Christ and expressly asserts that the concept of Christ can only make sense if one assumes a divine and a human nature which can only be understood through their real interaction, through the fact that they are not an abstract but an organic unity. Soloviev already recognizes that two centers of will must be imagined in this being. If you take Soloviev's theories of the true meaning of the Christ-being, as they arose through the presence of the Indian influence, which was not merely imagined but spiritually real, then you have Christ in such a way that the moment of feeling, the moment of thinking, and the moment of willing are formed in him in the three bodies. You have human feeling, thinking, and willing, into which divine feeling, thinking, and willing sink. European humanity will only fully process this when it has ascended to the sixth stage of culture. This is prophetically expressed in a wonderful way in what shines forth in Soloviev's concept of Christ as the dawn of a later culture. That is why this philosophy of Eastern Europe takes such giant steps beyond Hegelianism and Kantianism, and when one enters the atmosphere of this philosophy, one suddenly senses something like the seed of a later development. This goes so far because this concept of Christ is perceived as a prophetic foreshadowing, as the dawn of the sixth post-Atlantean culture. This brings the whole Christ being and the whole significance of the Christ being for philosophy into focus, and it becomes something completely different from what Western European concepts are able to convey. The concept of Christ, insofar as it has been developed outside the field of spiritual science and is understood as a living substance that is to work its way into all state and social beings like a spiritual personality — that is perceived as a personality in whose service human beings find themselves as “human beings with a spiritual self” — this Christ personality is elaborated in a wonderfully vivid way in the various discussions that Soloviev gives on the Gospel of John and its opening words. Again, it is only in the field of spiritual science that an understanding can be found for how Solovyov deeply grasps the sentence: “In the beginning was the Word or the Logos,” how differently the Gospel of John is grasped by a philosophy in which one can feel that it is a germinating philosophy, that it points in a remarkable way to the future.
If, on the one hand, it must be said that Hegel represents the ripest fruit in the field of philosophy, something that has been born out of the consciousness soul as the ripest philosophical fruit, then, on the other hand, Soloviev's philosophy is the seed in the consciousness soul for the philosophy of the spirit itself, which will be incorporated into the sixth cultural period. There is perhaps no greater contrast than that between the eminently Christian concept of the state, which as a high ideal hovers before Soloviev like a dream of the future, and this Christian concept of the state and the people, which takes everything that exists in order to offer it to the descending spirit itself, to hold it up to the future, in order to let it be Christianized by the powers of the future—there is therefore no greater contrast than this concept of the Christian community in Solovyov's sense, in which the concept of Christ is entirely future-oriented, and the concept of the City of God of St. Augustine, which does indeed take up the concept of Christ, but constructs the state in such a way that it is the Roman state, which takes Christ into the conception of the state given to it by the Roman state. What matters is what knowledge provides for Christianity as it grows into the future. In Solovyov's state, Christ is the blood that flows through all social coexistence. And the essential thing is that the state is conceived with all the concreteness of personality, so that it acts as a spiritual being, but also fulfills its mission with all the characteristics of personality. No other philosophy has been so permeated by the concept of Christ, which shines before us in spiritual science at higher levels, and yet has remained so much in its infancy. Everything we find in the East, from the national character to philosophy, appears to us as something that carries within itself only the germ of a future development, and that is why it had to undergo the special education of that spirit of the times which we already know, having said that the spirit of the ancient Greek people, as an impulse given to Christianity, with the mission of becoming the effective spirit of the age for later Europe. This spirit of the age must have been not only the educator but also the nurturer of the national character that is to develop the seeds of the sixth cultural period, from the very first stage of its existence. So we can say formally—whereby the concepts of father and mother lose their separate meanings—that what is the Russian national spirit and is to gradually develop into the national soul has not only been educated but nourished and suckled by that which we have seen was formed out of the ancient Greek spirit of the times and then took on a different rank outwardly.
Thus the missions are distributed between Western, Central, and Northern Europe and Eastern Europe. I wanted to give you a hint of these things. On the basis of these hints, we will make a few more observations and show what the future of Europe will look like, which will make it clear that we must form our ideals from such insights; we will show how the Germanic-Nordic national spirit is gradually being transformed into a spirit of the times through this influence.