The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Second Lecture

[ 1 ] It was stated yesterday that those beings who are to be regarded as national spirits have reached a stage where, in their present existence, they work on their etheric or life body from the perspective of their individuality; in other words, they shape this etheric or life body from the innermost essence of their soul.

[ 2 ] Now, of course, each of you will be able to say to yourselves: It must certainly be acknowledged that the work on this etheric or life body cannot be seen directly with the external organs of perception, with physical eyes, but that this is, so to speak, a matter for clairvoyant consciousness. But if the activity of these beings—that is, these folk spirits—extends into human life, then there must be something to point to on the other side, something to cite that is in a certain way visible on the outside, a kind of imprint, a kind of reflection of the work of those folk spirits or archangelic beings. Moreover, these beings must, so to speak, also have a physical body. Their physicality must express itself in some form. And this physical form in which they express themselves, the work and activity of these beings, must also be indicated in some way in the world in which human beings exist, for after all, the human body must have something to do with the work of these spiritual beings.

[ 3 ] We will begin with the etheric or life body of these beings and with the work they perform within this etheric or life body. We must therefore first turn to the research of clairvoyant consciousness. Where, then, does clairvoyant research find something that can be described as such an etheric body of these archangelic beings, these Archangeloi, and how are we to understand this work? — You all know that the face, the surface of our Earth, varies from place to place, and that in the various regions of our Earth the conditions for the development of national characteristics and traits are present in the most diverse ways. Outward, materialistic consciousness will say that climate, plant life, perhaps the water of a particular country or region of our Earth, are decisive factors—along with many other things—for what manifests as national characteristics and traits. That material consciousness, the consciousness of the physical plane, speaks in this way is not surprising, for this consciousness of the physical plane knows only what can be seen with the eyes. For clairvoyant consciousness, however, the matter is quite different. Anyone who wanders through the various regions of our Earth with clairvoyant consciousness, anyone who sets foot on one or another part of our Earth with this consciousness, knows that the unique physical appearance of the vegetation and the unique configuration of the rocks do not encompass everything there is to know about that soil, about the landscape of any given region of the Earth. But when, for the materialistic consciousness, we speak only of an abstraction, when we speak of a peculiar aroma, indeed, of an aura of a particular region of our Earth, that is, in turn, understandable. For the clairvoyant consciousness, this peculiar spiritual cloud formation does indeed rise above every spot on our Earth, which must be described as the etheric aura of a particular region of the Earth. This etheric aura is different, quite different over the regions of Switzerland than over the regions of Italy, and again different over the regions of Norway, Denmark, or Germany. Just as every human being has their own etheric body, so too does a kind of etheric aura rise above every region of our Earth’s surface.

[ 4 ] This etheric aura, however, differs very significantly from other etheric auras—for example, from the etheric auras of human beings. When we observe a human being living their life, we find that the etheric aura of that person is bound to them for as long as they live—that is, from birth to death. It is, so to speak, connected to their physical body and actually changes only to the extent that the person undergoes development in life, as they ascend to higher levels in terms of intelligence, morality, and so on. But then we always see that this etheric aura of the human being changes, so to speak, from within, acquiring certain inclusions that shine and glow from within. It is different with those etheric auras that can be perceived over the various regions of the earth. Certainly, they have a certain basic tone over long periods of time, and they have something that remains over long periods of time. But there are also rapid changes taking place in these etheric auras, and these rapid changes are what distinguish these auras from human auras, which change slowly and gradually and, when they do change, undergo this change only from within. These auras over the various regions of the earth change, in fact, in the course of the development of humanity, whenever a people leaves its homeland and takes possession of another region of the earth. This is the peculiarity: that in fact the etheric aura over a particular region of the Earth does not depend solely on what, so to speak, rises from the ground, but rather on which people most recently established their residence in that region of the Earth.

[ 5 ] Thus, those who wish to trace the true course of humanity’s destiny on Earth seek to observe the interplay of precisely this aspect of the etheric auras of our earthly regions. The various etheric auras of Europe underwent profound changes during the period known as the Migration Period. From this you can already see that in this etheric aura over an earthly region there is something changeable that can indeed suddenly transform, and this transformation can, in a certain sense, even be brought about from outside. Thus, every such etheric aura is, in a certain sense, a confluence of that which originates from the soil and that which is, so to speak, carried into it by the migrations of peoples.

[ 6 ] When we consider this aura, we must be clear that, in a certain sense, the statement—which is so readily cited in spiritual science but is actually never truly understood, or at least never fully considered in its profound implications—has the broadest possible validity: the statement that everything physical consciousness sees out in the world is, after all, only maya or illusion. The statement is often uttered in the realm of theosophical worldview, but when considered in detail—so that it is truly brought to life—it is, in fact, rarely heeded. It is spoken of more as an abstract truth. But when one wishes to consider concrete circumstances, one forgets it and remains stuck in material consciousness. In truth, what mysteriously confronts us from that part of the earth inhabited by a people is the etheric aura of the respective earthly region. What meets the physical eye in the green vegetation of the earth, the peculiar configuration of the soil, and so on, is, in essence, merely Maya or external illusion; it is, as it were, a condensation of what is at work in the etheric aura. However, only that aspect of the external world is dependent on this etheric aura upon which the etheric aura—that is, a living, self-organizing principle—can exert influence. The archangels, who are the custodians of the spiritual laws, cannot intervene in the physical laws. Where, therefore, only the physical laws are at work and come into play—as in the case of mountain ranges, the curvature of the earth’s surface, and so on—where the factors that bring about great changes in a people depend on physical conditions, the influence of the archangels does not extend there; the archangels have not yet reached that stage in their development where they could intervene in physical conditions. Because they cannot do this, because they are dependent in this regard, they must wander over the earth at certain times; therefore, they incarnate in what the configuration of the earth represents, as it were, in the physical body—that is, in what is governed by physical laws. The etheric body of the people cannot yet enter there; it cannot yet extend itself into it in an organizing manner. That is why the soil is sought out, if it is to prove suitable, and from this union between the etheric body—which is now being worked through by spiritual-soul forces— and the physical piece of earth, there arises that which confronts us as the magical breath in the outward appearance of a folk culture—that which a person who is not a clairvoyant can merely feel in a country, but which a person who, with clairvoyant consciousness, sees through the land and the people, can perceive.

[ 7 ] But how does that which is, so to speak, the work of the archangel—the national spirit in the etheric body that rises above the earth—actually take effect? What is the work of the archangel, and how does he influence the human beings who move upon this earth and live within this cloud of the national spirit? He influences them in such a way that this force finds expression in three ways within the human being. It is the etheric aura of the people that works into human beings, permeates them, and weaves through them; indeed, this etheric aura works into the human being in such a way that a threefold aspect of the human being is affected by it. Through the intermingling of this threefold aspect, the distinctive character of a person who lives within this etheric aura of the people then arises. This etheric aura—what does it affect in the human being? It affects a threefold aspect of the temperaments. It affects the temperaments that are themselves immersed in the human emotional life, that work within the human etheric body—but not the so-called melancholic temperament. The etheric aura of the people affects the choleric, phlegmatic, and sanguine temperaments. In general, then, the power of the people’s etheric aura flows into these three temperaments. Now, these three temperaments can be mixed and interact in the most diverse ways within the individual human personality. You can imagine infinite variety there when the three forces interact, when one influences the other, overpowers it, and so on. This gives rise to the most diverse configurations, which we encounter in different ways, for example, in Russia, Norway, and Germany. This is what constitutes the national character of a people, which works into the temperaments. The difference that exists here among individual people is brought about solely by the degree of mixture. The national temperaments are thus mixed according to the influences of the national aura.

[ 8 ] Thus, the national spirits are at work across the earth. But they also have their own paths; for influencing the temperaments is not the essential aspect of their own affairs. They do so only because the forces in the world interact with one another. They do this first and foremost as their deliberate actions, as part of their mission. But in addition to this, the national spirits’ own affairs—those of their “I”—also come into play. These consist in their own progress in development, in their own journey across the earth, and in their incarnation in this or that region of the earth. But these are their own affairs. What they do in the temperaments of human beings is something they work on as a side activity; it is their profession. Of course, human beings also make progress through their work; it has a reciprocal effect on them. Therefore, human work also has a reciprocal effect on the national spirit. We will yet see what significance individual human beings have for the national spirit. That is important. The essential point, however, is that we can trace such a national spirit as it incarnates in the world, then lives for a time in the spiritual world, and subsequently incarnates elsewhere, and so on. When we observe these processes, we are always dealing only with the “I”-matters of these beings. So now imagine—so that you can picture this quite concretely—the human etheric body embedded in the national etheric body; then imagine the interaction between the human etheric body and the national etheric body, and imagine that the national etheric body is reflected in the national temperaments, reflected in the mixture of the temperaments of individual human beings; then you have the secret of how the national spirit confronts us in its own way within a people.

[ 9 ] Now that we have said this, we have essentially covered the most important work of the Archangels or National Spirits themselves. However, we would be far from having exhausted the peculiarities of a people if we were to consider only the kind of character that a human being possesses within that people. But the archangelic beings, who are the actual spirits of the tribes, have this task.

[ 10 ] But as you can easily imagine, a people possesses many other qualities as well. Where do these come from? If the archangel—the guiding spirit of the people—did not encounter other beings on the same soil and did not work together with them within this etheric body of the human being, then many of the characteristics of a people could not come into being at all. Human beings are a stage for the Archangels’ encounter with other beings who interact with the Archangels and, so to speak, work together with them. But something quite different arises from this collaboration. When the clairvoyant consciousness studies the peoples, it strangely finds mysterious beings besides the Archangelic beings already described, who are related to the Archangels in a certain respect, yet in another respect are completely different from them, above all in that they are capable of applying much greater powers than the national spirits themselves. The national spirit works in an extraordinarily subtle and intimate way upon the individual human soul through this weaving into the temperaments. But other beings are at work there in a much stronger, more powerful way. We must first clarify these other beings from our general knowledge of the hierarchies. There we will, so to speak, find the names for these other beings that clairvoyant consciousness observes. Imagine the hierarchies of spirits in the following way:

1. Humans,
2. Angels,
3. Archangels,
4. Primordial Beings or Spirits of Personality,
5. Powers or Spirits of Form.

[ 11 ] We would then move on to others, but we do not wish to consider them further today. If you now recall what we spoke of yesterday—and which you will also find discussed in detail in the messages from the *Akasha Chronicle* and in my book *The Secret Science*—you will say to yourselves: Of these beings, it is the archangels who passed through their human stage during the ancient Sun era. At that time, there were those beings whom we call spirits of form or powers, who are now two stages higher than the archangels, at the archangel stage; they were Archangeloi, beings such as the national spirits characterized today. That was their normal stage of development at that time.

[ 12 ] There is, however, a peculiar mystery in evolution: the law of the lagging behind of certain beings—the law that causes certain beings to remain behind at every stage, so that at the next stage they do not reach the normal level but actually retain the character they should have had at earlier stages. Now, throughout our human evolution, entities have always remained behind. Among these laggards are also such spirits of form, such powers, and they have remained behind in a very peculiar way, namely in such a way that, although they are spirits of form with regard to certain properties, and through certain qualities can do what today only the spirits of form—who bestowed the ‘I’ upon human beings on the Earth stage—can do; yet they cannot do this fully because they do not possess all the necessary qualities. They have remained at a stage where they do not pass through the Archangel stage on the Sun, but rather during their time on Earth, so that they are beings who now stand at the level of the national spirits, yet possess entirely different qualities. While the national spirits work intimately into human life because they stand two stages higher than humans—and are thus still related to humans—these powers, these spirits of form, are elevated four stages above the human stage. They therefore possess an immense number and magnitude of powers that would not be suited to influencing human beings so intimately. They would exert a more robust influence, but would have no other sphere of activity than that in which the normal national spirits, the archangels, stand.

[ 13 ] The difficulty lies in the fact that one must first learn to distinguish between things in the higher worlds. Those who believe they can get by in the higher worlds with just a few concepts are very much mistaken. The person who ascends into the higher worlds with superficial concepts will indeed find the archangels there. But one must distinguish whether these are beings who have now normally reached the archangelic level, or those who should have stood at this level during the Earth’s solar state. Thus, in the same realm as the spirits of the tribes or the archangels, other beings work together who, so to speak, stand in the hierarchy of the archangels, but who are endowed with entirely different, more robust qualities—qualities such as those possessed by the other spirits of form—and who can thereby deeply influence human nature. For what have these spirits of form made of human beings during their earthly existence? Consider that human beings would not be able to say “I” to themselves if the spirits of form had not shaped the brain into what the human being possesses today as such. Thus, such beings can work right down into the physical form, even though they stand only on the level of the archangels. They enter into a kind of competition with the national spirits on the terrain where the national spirits are active.

[ 14 ] The first thing they primarily bring about, as these spirits collide from one side and the others from the other, is language—something that could not arise without the entire structure and form of the human body. In the structure of the human being, you find the influence of these other national spirits, which are connected to the forces of nature and to human beings. So we must not simply attribute language to the same entities that work intimately into the national temperament and, as beings standing two steps above human beings, impose their configuration upon the people. The beings who bestow language possess great power; they are, in fact, forces; they act upon the Earth because they have remained on Earth, while their other companions act from the Sun into outer space. Before the coming of Christ Jesus, human beings worshipped the Yahweh or Jehovah being, and afterwards they worshipped the Christ being as one working from outer space. With regard to the spirits of language, we must say that in language it is precisely that which has remained on Earth that is loved by human beings. We must accustom ourselves to entirely different views. Human beings are accustomed to applying their own concepts to the entire universe. They are, of course, very much mistaken when they view the fact that these high beings lag behind in their development in much the same way as a schoolgirl who has to repeat a grade. They do not remain behind because they have not learned, but for reasons of great wisdom that reigns in the world. If certain beings had not renounced their normal further development and, instead of moving on with the Sun, had undergone their further development on Earth, what we call language could not have come into being on Earth. In a certain sense, human beings must love their language deeply, precisely because, so to speak, high beings have remained with them out of love, having renounced certain qualities so that humanity might develop in a way that corresponds to wisdom. Just as we must regard moving ahead as a kind of sacrifice, so too must we regard remaining behind in earlier epochs of development as a kind of sacrifice, and we must be absolutely clear that human beings could never have attained certain qualities if such sacrifices had not been made.

[ 15 ] Thus we see how, within the etheric body of the human being and within the etheric body of the national spirit in question, two kinds of beings exchange their work: the normally developed archangels and the spirits of form who have remained at the archangelic level, having renounced their own development in order to instill the national language into human beings during their earthly existence. They had to possess the power to transform the larynx and the entire speech apparatus in such a way that the result of these speech organs is a physical manifestation—namely, language itself. We must therefore regard as the result of this interaction precisely that which confronts us as the national character, the national temperament, in union with language. What a person is able to utter, through which they reveal themselves as a member of their people, what they let resound out into the air—that is what the spirits of form, allied with the national spirits, can bring about only because they have remained at the level of the national spirits with their great powers and forces. Thus, such a collaboration takes place within those realms, those spheres, where the national spirits are at work. A similar collaboration, however, also takes place in another sphere.

[ 16 ] Yesterday I pointed out that other forces—the primordial beginnings or the spirits of personality—are at work during earthly existence, representing what is called the Zeitgeist. These forces operate in such a way that they work into the physical body from their true self, from their soul organization, thereby setting the forces of the physical body in motion. We must therefore assume that when, at a certain time, something occurs as a result of the influence of the Zeitgeist—when something manifests itself within a Zeitgeist through which humanity makes progress—this corresponds to a working with physical forces within our earthly existence. You can see this very easily; you need only consider it to understand how truly physical conditions are necessary for this or that to arise within the spirit of the age. Or can you imagine that, under different conditions, Kepler or Copernicus or Pericles could have lived in a different time? These personalities emerge from very specific conditions of the time—from those conditions that are configured and organized at a specific point in time through the physical work of higher beings. It is indeed the physical conditions—though not physical conditions that we should imagine as material blocks, but rather as certain configurations within the physical fabric of our Earth. Sometimes this configuration emerges quite powerfully; sometimes, when the spirit of the age exerts its influence in some way, a very specific physical constellation must come into being. Just consider that once, when one had very precisely cut glass pieces, these were assembled by children playing in a glass-cutting workshop in such a way that one could observe the optical effect of a telescope, so that the inventor of the telescope merely needed to realize this law of the telescope.

[ 17 ] This is a historical fact. But just imagine what physical processes were necessary for all of this to take place! The lenses first had to be invented, ground, and assembled in the appropriate manner. You may well use the word “chance” here, but you can only apply it if you refrain from seeking to understand the lawfulness even in such events. These physical conditions bring together the Archai, the primal forces. The reflection of their work is what acts as a unifying force at a single point on Earth, what otherwise manifests in manifold ways as the spirit of the age. Consider what would not have come to pass in recent times with many physical things if this work of the Archai had not taken place within their physical bodies. Thus, it is indeed the work of the Archai that acts in this regard, in this direction.

[ 18 ] If these Archai operate in this way and direct the spirit of the age, we may ask ourselves once again: How do these spirits of the age actually intuit human progress? They intuit it through the way in which what happens in the physical world seems to inspire a person almost by chance. These are not merely legends, even if that is sometimes the case. I need only recall the swinging church lamp in the Cathedral of Pisa, where Galileo discovered the law of the pendulum from the lamp’s regular oscillations, and how Kepler and Newton were subsequently inspired to make their discoveries. One could recount hundreds and thousands of cases where physical events are brought together with human thought, from which one could see how the Archai or primal forces intuit what goes out into the world as ideas, as ideas of time, which then influence human beings in their development, which govern their progress and permeate it according to law. But in this realm as well, the beings who have normally become spirits of personality during our earthly existence work together with others who, having remained on the Moon, are not now spirits of form or forces as they would be on Earth, but only now begin to act as spirits of personality.

[ 19 ] Thus, those entities that did not renounce their existence at the solar stage but only at the lunar stage are now spirits of personality, though not with the qualities they would normally possess; that is, they do not intuit in the same way as normal spirits of personality, but rather as retarded spirits of form. They do not stimulate from the outside and leave it intimately up to the human being to observe what is brought about in the physical realm; rather, they stimulate from within, they configure within the brain, and give thought a certain direction. Thus, human thinking is stimulated from within during the various periods of time, so that each age has a specific mode of thinking. This is connected to the subtle configurations of thought, to inner constellations. There the retarded spirits of form, which possess the character of the spirits of personality, work within human beings and bring forth a certain way of thinking, a very specific form of concepts. This is what causes people, from epoch to epoch, not only to be guided in the sense of the intuiting spirits of personality—where they allow themselves to be inspired to do this or that—but to be driven forward as if by inner forces, so that thinking manifests itself physically from within, just as that which has remained on the other side as spirits of form manifests itself in language. Thus the mode of thinking expresses itself as a manifestation of the spirits of form, which in our time appear as spirits of personality. These are therefore not spirits of personality that act in an intimate way, leaving it up to the individual to do as he pleases, but rather seize him and drive him forward with impetuous force. Hence you can always discern these two types in those people who are inspired by the spirit of the age. In those who are inspired by the true spirits of the age—those operating at the normal level—you can, so to speak, see the true representatives of their time. We can regard them as people who had to come, and their activity as something that could not have happened any other way.

[ 20 ] But there are also other human beings in whom the spirits of personality—which are actually spirits of form—are at work. These are the other spirits we have referred to as the thinking spirits, which advanced to their present position during the lunar cycle. Human beings are now the stage on which all this interacts. This interaction manifests itself in that speech and thought enter into a reciprocal relationship; not only do the spirits at the same level interact, but the normal archangels, who govern the national character and national temperament, also enter into a reciprocal relationship with what has just been described, that is, not only with the spirits of form standing on the archangelic level, but also with those spirits of personality who are actually spirits of form that have remained behind.

[ 21 ] These two types are found in human nature and the human being. This relationship is of the utmost interest to study when one moves from one people to another with occult knowledge and occult insight. There one can see how the normal national spirits work, and how these normal national spirits then receive their commands from the spirits of the age; but also how these national spirits interact within the human being with the spirits of language and also with the spirits of thought, which influence human thoughts. There, within the human being, one finds not only normal archangels and abnormal archangels, but also the archangels in contrast to the abnormal spirits of the personality, which regulate the thought processes of a particular era from within. It is now of the utmost interest—I have said that conditions will be hinted at which you must meet with your spiritual understanding, conditions that must be clothed in ordinary words, because no language has yet been created in life that would make all this credible and understandable; one must express everything in words that convey the facts somewhat pictorially, yet correspond to a significant fact of human development—it is now of the utmost interest and importance to follow the development of humanity in recent times, it is important to know that at one time a mutual contract was actually concluded by one of the guiding spirits of the peoples—who is a normal archangel—with a spirit that works inwardly as the spirit of the powers of thought, that is, with an abnormal spirit of personality; and the serious, significant result of this contract becomes evident in a certain historical epoch. To make this contract particularly complete, a harmonious relationship was established with the corresponding abnormal archangel, who was the guiding spirit of language at that time, so that there is a point in human development where, so to speak, normal and abnormal archangels work together, and where, moreover, the mode of thinking brought about from within by an abnormal spirit of personality also exerts its influence. This covenant between these three parties is reflected in a particular people. This is the Indian people, the people who, in the first post-Atlantean epoch, initiated post-Atlantean culture. During this Indian culture, that constellation arose in which those three entities interacted most harmoniously. The result of this is everything we can describe as the historical role of this Indian people. Even in the times for which historical records already exist, the effects of what was agreed upon in that covenant continue to be felt. This was the reason why the ancient sacred language of the Indians exerted such a powerful influence and had those immense historical cultural effects, and why it was still able to exert such a powerful influence in the subsequent era. This power was brought about by the archangels who worked within the language. This power of the Sanskrit language is based precisely on the covenant of which I have just spoken. And in turn, the unique Indian philosophy rests upon this—a philosophy, as thinking that creates from within the human being, which has not yet been attained by any other people in the world; upon this rests the inner coherence of the thinking of Indian culture. In all other regions, we observe different conditions. In it alone did what has now been characterized come to light at that time. That is why it is so infinitely fascinating to follow these trains of thought, which have a special configuration because they arose not from the predominance of the normal archangel over the abnormal one, but as something that stands in harmony with that unity, because in fact every thought was absorbed by the national temperament and spun out with love into the particular — back when the Indian people existed as the first cultural flowering of the post-Atlantean era. And the language continued to have this effect fundamentally because no conflict arose there that would otherwise have arisen everywhere else, but because a cooperation took place between the Archangel of normal development and the Archangel of abnormal development, so that one can say that the language, poured forth from the purest temperament, is itself a product of that temperament. That is the secret of this first civilized people of the post-Atlantean era.

[ 22 ] But this is what must be considered in the case of all other peoples: namely, that a unique interplay arises among them between these three forces—between the normal national spirit or archangel, the abnormal archangel, and that which works inwardly within the abnormal spirit of the age (which does not act as a zeitgeist but works from within), and finally that which the true zeitgeist has imparted inwardly to the people. The true understanding of a people rests upon listening to these forces within, upon examining the part that each factor plays in the constitution of the people. That is why it has become difficult for people who do not take the occult forces of human development into account to actually define the word “people.” Try taking a look at the various books in which the concept of the people has been defined somewhere in the world, and you will see the wide range of definitions that exist and how much they differ from one another. They must differ from one another, because one person feels more of what comes from one side, from the normal archangels; another feels more of what stems from the abnormal archangel; and a third, in turn, feels what comes from the individual personalities of the people. Each person feels something different and incorporates it into their definition. This is precisely what has become clear to us through spiritual science: that these definitions need not always be wrong; they are simply always steeped in Maya, in illusion. From what a person says, one can see whether they are looking only at Maya and whether they are disregarding the various active forces. Therefore, one will naturally always arrive at a completely different concept when, from the spiritual-scientific standpoint, a people such as the Swiss—who live on the same land and speak three languages—is considered in contrast to peoples with a single language.

[ 23 ] We will have to discuss why peoples act more out of the spirit of personality—that is, why their very existence depends on the interaction of individual personalities. We will also find such peoples on Earth who derive their existence more from the abnormal spirit of personality. These spirits of personality do not work toward further development. You need only consider the character of the North American people, and you have a people that is currently based on this principle. Thus you will see that we will only understand world history—insofar as it is the history of peoples—when we trace normal and abnormal archangels, normal and abnormal spirits of personality, in their mutual hierarchy and their interaction, and simultaneously in the succession of peoples throughout the course of world history.