The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Eleventh Lecture

[ 1 ] As we begin these final reflections, I can honestly say that there is actually still quite, quite a lot to discuss, and that, strictly speaking, only a tiny fraction of what this rich subject entails has truly been covered in the course of this lecture series. However, I may well hope that this is not the last time we will gather here to discuss similar topics, and it must suffice that, regarding this very subject—which, in a certain respect, still presents some difficulties for further discussion at the present time—only hints have been offered as a starting point. A common thread running through the recent presentations was that within Germanic-Nordic mythology or the doctrine of the gods there is something that, in an imaginative form, connects wonderfully with everything we can extract in a cognitive form from the spiritual research of our present time. This is also one of the reasons why we may hope that that national spirit, that archangel, who extends his educational and guiding activity over this land here, will, with what he has developed as his endowments over the course of the centuries, permeate that which may be called modern philosophy and modern spiritual research, and that from there this modern spiritual research will achieve a fertilization in the folk sense.

[ 2 ] The deeper we delve into the details of Germanic-Norse mythology, the more we will see that the greatest occult truths are wonderfully expressed in the imagery of this mythology, as is truly the case in no other mythology. Some of you who have read my *Secret Science* or listened to other presentations I have given here may recall that at one point in the course of Earth’s evolution, a process took place that we can describe as the descent of those human souls who, in ancient times, before the old Lemurian period, ascended to the individual planets of our solar system—ascending to Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury for very special reasons—and that during the late Lemurian and the entire Atlantean era, these souls strove to unite with what the human body had gradually developed and cultivated in terms of faculties, which had become possible through the moon’s departure from our Earth. There they descended, these souls of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. This is a process that can still be found today in the Akashic Records. The fact that, during the course of the Atlantean era, the waters permeated the air of Atlantis in the form of mist was a condition connected at that time to the very descent of these souls, which were perceived through the ancient clairvoyance of the Atlantean era. Time and again, when new beings were born into bodies that were then still malleable, soft, pliable, and formable—when such beings descended, so to speak, from spiritual heights—this was regarded as the outward expression of souls descending from the spiritual environment, from the atmosphere, from planetary existence, to unite with the bodies emerging on Earth.

[ 3 ] The process by which, as it were, the earthly bodies open themselves to the fertilizing influence of that which shines down from the heights of heaven—this process has been preserved in the conception that has become embedded in Norse-Germanic mythology. Awareness of this persisted for so long that even Tacitus found it among the more southern Germanic peoples at the time he made the observations he described in his *Germania*. No one will understand the account Tacitus gives of the goddess Nerthus who does not know that this process once existed. The chariot of the goddess Nerthus is driven across the waters. Later, this was preserved as a ritual. In earlier times, it was an observance. This goddess offered what could be offered from human bodies to the human souls descending from the planetary spheres. This is the mysterious process underlying the Nerthus myth, and it has been preserved in all that has been handed down to us in the older sagas and legends that allude to the becoming of the physical human being. Njordr, who is inwardly related to the goddess Nerthus, is the male counterpart. He is meant to represent the ancient memory of the descent of the spiritual-soul human beings who had once ascended to planetary heights and who, during the Atlantean era, descended again to reunite with physical human bodies.

[ 4 ] In my short work *Blood Is a Very Special Fluid*, you can see what a significant role intermingling of peoples and connections between peoples have played at certain times. It is not only the intermingling of peoples and these connections—which found expression in the mixing of blood—but also the spiritual and psychological nurturing of the national spirits that have played a major role. The conception of that descent is preserved in its purest form in the foundation of the world of legends that formed in these Nordic regions in earlier times. In the Vanir sagas, you can therefore still find the oldest recollection of such things. In particular, here in the North, within the Finnish tradition, the memory of this connection between the spiritual-soul aspect—which descended from planetary heights—and that which emerged from the Earth body itself, and which the Nordic tradition knows as “Riesenheim,” remained alive. That which developed from the Earth body belongs to Riesenheim. Thus we understand that the Nordic-Germanic people always felt the impulse from this side, that they sensed how, within their soul—which had gradually formed—this ancient divine vision was at work, a vision that was still at home here when the mists of Atlantis still reached into this region in ancient times. The Nordic-Germanic people felt in their souls something of the origin of a god who descended directly from those divine-spiritual beings, those archangelic beings, who guided the union of the soul-spiritual with the earthly-physical. Freyr, the god, and Freya, his sister—who were once particularly beloved deities here in the North—were conceived and perceived in their origin as those angelic beings who poured into the human soul everything that this human soul needed to continue developing, directly on the physical plane, the ancient powers received through clairvoyant faculties. Within the physical-sensory world—the world limited to the external senses—Freyr was the continuator of all that had previously been perceived through clairvoyance. He was the living continuation of the powers perceived clairvoyantly. Therefore, he had to connect with what is present in the human body itself as physical instruments for these soul forces, which then carry into the physical plane what was perceived in ancient clairvoyance. This is reflected in Freyr’s marriage to Gerd, the giantess. She is drawn from the physical forces of becoming earthly. These images still reflect the descent of the divine-spiritual into the physical. It is wonderfully expressed in this figure of Freyr how he makes use of what enables human beings on the physical plane to live out what they have been trained to do through their previous clairvoyant perceptions. The horse at Freyr’s disposal is called Bluthuf, to indicate that blood is the essential element for developing his ego. A strange, wondrous ship is also at Freyr’s disposal. It can be spread out into the immeasurable, and folded up so that it fits into the smallest of boxes. What, then, is this wondrous ship? If Freyr is the power that carries the clairvoyant forces into the realms that manifest on the physical plane, then it must be that which is most characteristic of him: the alternation between waking by day and sleeping by night. And just as the human soul spreads out into the macrocosm during sleep until waking, so does the wonder-ship spread out and is then folded back into the folds of the brain, only to be housed during the day in the smallest of boxes—the human skull. You will find all of this in a wonderful way in this Norse-Germanic mythology, in these pictorial characters.

[ 5 ] Those of you who will examine these matters more closely will gradually come to realize that this is not mere fantasy, but that what has been implanted and instilled into the national soul, into the national spirit, through these images, truly originates from the schools of the initiates. Thus, an immense amount has remained in the guiding archangel, in the national spirit of the North, of what used to be education through clairvoyant perception—of what can become of a soul that, so to speak, in its development on the physical plane, joins a clairvoyant development.

[ 6 ] Even if outward appearances are different today, the Archangel of the Germanic North possesses this innate disposition, and with this disposition he is particularly well-suited to understand what modern spiritual science is, and to transform it in the way it must be transformed in accordance with the power of the people. That is why you will also understand when it is said that the best conditions exist precisely within the Germanic-Nordic nature for understanding what I could only hint at in the public lecture held here on the Re-revelation of the Christ. Spiritual research in our present time shows us that, now that the Kali Yuga has come to an end—having lasted five thousand years, roughly from 3100 B.C. to 1899—new abilities are developing within human beings. They will first come to light in a few individuals who are particularly suited to these abilities. For example, it will happen that, as a result of the natural evolution of their abilities, people will perceive something that is today proclaimed only through spiritual science, only through spiritual research. We are told that in the future, people in whom the organs of the etheric body are developed will appear in ever-greater numbers and will attain clairvoyance, a state that today can be attained only through training. And why will this be so? What will the etheric body mean to the perception of some people? There will be people who will have impressions, one of which I would like to describe roughly as follows. A person will do something in the outer world, and in doing so will feel compelled to notice something. A kind of dream-like image will appear before their eyes, which they will not understand at first. But if they have heard of karma, of the laws governing world events, they will gradually come to understand it, for what they have seen is the karmic counterpart of their deeds in the etheric world. Thus, the first elements of future abilities gradually take shape.

[ 7 ] Those who are inspired by spiritual science will gradually be able to experience—beginning in the middle of the twentieth century—a renewal of what Paul saw in his etheric clairvoyance as a coming mystery, as the mystery of the living Christ. It will be a new revelation of the Christ, a revelation such as must come when human capacities develop naturally to the point where the Christ can be seen by people in the world in which he has always been since the Mystery of Golgotha and in which he can also be found by the initiate. Humanity is growing into this world so that it may perceive from the physical plane what was otherwise seen only in the Mystery Schools, from higher planes. Nevertheless, the training of the Mystery Schools will not become superfluous. It still presents things in a different way than they appear to the untrained soul. But what is given through the training of the Mystery Schools will, through the transformation of the physical human body, reveal the Mystery of the living Christ in a new way—as it can be viewed in perspective from the physical plane, as it will be seen in the etheric world, first by individual human beings, but then by more and more people over the course of the next three thousand years. That which Paul saw as the living Christ, who has been to be found in the etheric world since the event of Golgotha, will be able to be beheld by more and more people.

[ 8 ] The revelations of the Christ will reach ever higher. This is the mystery of the Christ’s evolution. Since, at the time the Mystery of Golgotha was unfolding, people were to perceive everything from the physical plane, it was necessary that they be able to see the Christ on the physical plane as well, that they might receive news of him and bear witness to his activity on the physical plane. But humanity is destined for progress, for the development of higher powers, and anyone who believes that the revelations of Christ will repeat themselves in the same way as was necessary 1,900 years ago would know nothing of humanity’s progress. At that time, it took place on the physical plane because human powers were attuned to the physical plane. But human powers will develop, and as a result, Christ will be able to speak more and more to these elevated human powers over the course of the next 3,000 years.

[ 9 ] What I have just said is a truth that has long been communicated to a select few through the esoteric schools, and it is a truth that must be discovered today, particularly within the realm of spiritual science, because spiritual science is meant to be a preparatory school for what is to come. Humanity is now attuned to freedom, to the self-recognition of what is forming within it, and it could happen that those people who will be the first pioneers of the Christ-view will be denounced as fools for what they have to offer humanity, and humanity could sink even further into materialism than it already has, and trample underfoot what could become a most wonderful revelation for humanity. Everything that may happen in the future is, to a certain extent, placed in the will of humanity, so that people may also fail to grasp what is for their own salvation. It is of the utmost importance that spiritual science serves as a preparation for what the new Christ-revelation will be.

[ 10 ] Materialism can err in two ways here. The first, which is likely to arise from Western traditions, is that what the first pioneers of the new revelation of Christ will proclaim in the twentieth century, based on their own perspective, will be regarded as wild fantasy or utter folly. Materialism has taken hold in all circles today. It is not only at home in the West; it has also taken hold in the East, though it manifests itself there in a different form. It may be that Eastern materialism will lead people to misunderstand the higher aspect of a Christ-revelation on a higher plane, and that what has been said here so often and will be said again and again will come to pass: that materialistic thinking will translate the appearance of the Christ into a materialistic conception. It could be that in that time, under the influence of spiritual scientific truths, people might indeed speak of Christ revealing Himself, but at the same time believe that Christ will appear in a material body. The result would then be a differently colored materialism. It would merely be a continuation of what has been the case for centuries.

[ 11 ] People have repeatedly exploited this false materialism, to the extent that individuals have claimed to be the returned Christ. The last significant instance of such a false Christ occurred in the seventeenth century, when a man named Sabbatai Zevi from Smyrna presented himself as the returned Christ. He caused quite a stir. People made pilgrimages to him not only from the immediate vicinity, but also from Hungary, Poland, Germany, France, Italy, and North Africa. Everywhere, Sabbatai Zevi was seen as the physical incarnation of a Messiah. I do not wish to recount the human tragedy associated with the personality of Sabbatai Zevi. In the seventeenth century, however, this tragedy was not particularly great. At that time, human beings were not yet so much subject to free will; but through their insight—which was a spiritual perception—they could recognize what the truth is. The misfortune, however, would be great in the twentieth century if, under the pressure of materialism, the teaching that Christ will reveal himself were to undergo a materialistic interpretation, as though Christ could return in a physical body. In doing so, humanity would only prove that it has gained no perspective and no insight regarding the true progress of human development toward higher spiritual powers. False messiahs will certainly appear, and they will find as much support in the materialism of our time as Sabbatai Zevi did in the seventeenth century. It will be a test, a severe trial, for those spiritually prepared to discern where the truth lies—whether spiritual theories are truly imbued with a living spiritual feeling, or whether these spiritual theories merely harbor a hidden materialism. This will be the test of the further development of spiritual science: whether enough people will have been developed through this spiritual science to realize that they must see the Spirit within the Spirit, that they must look up into the etheric world, look up to a new revelation of the Christ; or whether they will remain on the physical plane and wish to see a revelation in the physical body that relates to the Christ. . Our movement will still have to pass this test. But we can say that nowhere is the ground better prepared for recognizing the truth in this very field than where Germanic-Nordic mythology sprang forth.

[ 12 ] What has been handed down to us as *Götterdämmerung* contains a significant vision of the future, and this brings me to a chapter whose starting point I have, so to speak, already hinted at. I have told you that within a national community that has only recently left behind its Hellenic past, a clairvoyant sense has also developed within the guiding national spirit, so that we may once again understand what is blossoming before us through clairvoyance. Now, when humanity is experiencing the new age with new human abilities precisely on the very soil where Germanic-Nordic mythology flourished, it must understand that what was once clairvoyance must take on a different form after humanity has passed through the development of the physical plane. For a time, that which spoke from the old clairvoyance has been silent; for a time, the world of Odin and Thor, of Baldur and Hödur, of Freyr and Freya, has stood behind humanity, hidden from the human gaze. But it will emerge again in a time when other forces have meanwhile worked upon the human soul. When this human soul, with the new clairvoyance that begins with etheric clairvoyance, looks into the new world, it will see that it cannot hold on to the old forms of the forces that educate the soul. If it could hold on to them, then all the counterforces would also emerge against the power that in ancient times was meant to educate the human powers to a certain height. Odin and Thor will stand before the gaze of humanity once more, but now in such a way that the human soul will have undergone a new development. Everything that constitutes the counterforces of Odin and Thor will appear to the human soul. Everything that has developed as a counterforce will become visible again in a mighty tableau. But the human soul would not progress, nor would it be able to defend itself against harm, if it were to submit only to the forces that were seen in the old clairvoyance. Thor once gave the human being the ego. The ego has educated itself on the physical plane, has developed out of what Loki, the Luciferic power, had left behind in the astral body, out of the Midgard Serpent. That which Thor was once able to give, and beyond which the human soul grows, is in conflict with that which comes from the Midgard Serpent. This confronts us in Norse mythology as Thor fighting the Midgard Serpent. They hold each other in balance, that is, they kill one another. Likewise, Odin battles the Fenris Wolf, though the latter destroys Odin. That which for a time constituted the power of the human soul—Freyr—must succumb to that which has been bestowed upon the ego, now developed on the physical plane, from the earth forces themselves. Freyr succumbs to the flaming sword of Surtur, who sprang from the earth.

[ 13 ] All these details presented in *Götterdämmerung* will correspond to what will be revealed to humanity in a new etheric vision that truly points toward the future. The Fenris Wolf will be left behind. Oh, in the fact that this Fenris Wolf is left behind in the battle against Odin lies a deep, deep truth. Nothing will be as dangerous to humanity in the near future as the tendency to cling to the old, undeveloped clairvoyance—not developed by new forces—which could tempt people to remain stuck with what the old, astral clairvoyance could offer in primeval times, namely soul-images such as the Fenriswolf. It would be yet another severe trial for that which must grow on the foundation of spiritual science if, for instance, a tendency were to arise on this very foundation toward all manner of unclarified, chaotic clairvoyance—a tendency not to value highly the clairvoyance illuminated by reason and science, but rather the old, chaotic form that lacks this quality.

[ 14 ] Such remnants of ancient clairvoyance, which could confuse people’s perceptions with all manner of chaotic images, would take terrible revenge. Such clairvoyance could not be countered with that which itself arose from ancient clairvoyant power, but only with that which has been developed during the Kali Yuga as a healthy force into a new form of clairvoyance. Not the power bestowed by the ancient archangel Odin, nor the old clairvoyant powers, can save us; something quite different must come. But this other thing is known to Germanic-Nordic mythology. It knows that it exists. It knows that the Aetheric Form lives on, into which is to be incarnated that which we are to see again as the etheric Christ-figure. And only this one will succeed in driving out that which, as unresolved clairvoyant power, will confuse humanity—unless Odin destroys the Fenris Wolf, which represents nothing other than the residual clairvoyant power. Widar, who has remained silent throughout this time, will overcome the Fenris Wolf. This is also what the Twilight of the Gods tells us.

[ 15 ] Whoever recognizes Widar’s significance and feels him in their soul will find that in the twentieth century, humanity can once again be given the ability to behold the Christ. Widar will stand before us once more—he who is common to us all in Northern and Central Europe. He was kept secret in the mysteries and secret schools as a god who would not receive his mission until the future. Even his image is spoken of only vaguely. This may stem from the fact that an image was found near Cologne of which one does not know whom it depicts, but which signifies nothing other than a portrait of Widar.

[ 16 ] Throughout the Kali Yuga, the powers have been acquired that are intended to enable the new humanity to perceive the new Christ revelation. Those who are called to interpret, from the signs of the times, what must come, know that the new spiritual research will restore the power of Vidar, who will drive from the minds of people all that might have a confusing effect as remnants of chaotic old clairvoyant powers, and who will awaken the newly developing clairvoyance in the human breast, in the human soul.

[ 17 ] Thus, as the wondrous figure of Widar shines forth from the twilight of the gods, we see that a hope for the future, so to speak, shines upon us from Germanic-Norse mythology. In feeling a kinship precisely with the figure of Widar, whom we now wish to grasp in his deeper essence, we hope that what must be the fundamental nerve and the living essence of all spiritual science will be able to emerge from those forces which the archangel of the Germanic-Norse world can bring to bear on modern historical development. Only a part of a larger whole has been accomplished for the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch in terms of human and spiritual development; another part still remains to be accomplished. Those from among the Nordic-Germanic peoples who feel within themselves that they possess an elemental, fresh national power will have the most to contribute to this achievement. But this will, so to speak, be placed within the souls of human beings. They will have to decide for themselves to work. In the twentieth century, one can err, because what is to be achieved must, in a certain sense, be left to human freedom; it must not be imposed by compulsion. Therefore, the point is to have a correct understanding of what is to come. So you see that when the knowledge of the Christ-being speaks from our present-day spiritual science, and when we build upon the true knowledge of this Christ-being—which we ourselves draw from the substance of the European peoples—and when we base our hopes for the future upon this, it is truly not based on any personal preference or any predisposition of temperament.

[ 18 ] It has sometimes been said that one can call whatever one likes that which can be described as the first being in human evolution. Never will anyone who recognizes the Christ Being insist that the name of the Christ must remain. But if we understand the Christ impulse in the right sense, we will not speak in such a way as to say: A being lives within human evolution, within the humanity of the West and the East, and it must be so that it corresponds to humanity’s sympathies for this or that truth. — That is not occult. What is occult is that the moment one recognizes that this being must be baptized in the name of the Buddha, this is done unreservedly, regardless of whether one finds it sympathetic or unsympathetic. It is not a matter of sympathy or antipathy, but of the truth of the facts.

[ 19 ] The moment the facts were to prove us wrong, we would be ready to act differently. The facts alone must be the deciding factor. We do not wish to introduce any Orientalism or Occidentalism into what we regard as the very lifeblood of our spiritual science, and if we were to discover in the Nordic-Germanic world of archangels that which can provide a fertile seed for true spiritual science, it will be something that is not given on this soil for a single people or a single tribe, but rather something given to all of humanity. That which is given to, or must be given to, all of humanity may indeed spring from this or that place, but it must be given to all of humanity. We make no distinction between East and West; we embrace with deep love that which we know as the overwhelmingly great aspect of the ancient culture of the holy Rishis in its true form; we embrace with love Persian culture, embrace with love what we know as the Egyptian-Chaldean and Greek-Latin cultures; we also embrace with the same objectivity what has grown from European soil. Only the necessity of the facts compels us to present the information as it is presented.

[ 20 ] By embracing everything from all of humanity—everything that every religion has to contribute to the cultural process of humanity—and incorporating it into what we recognize today as the common heritage of humanity, and by doing so more and more, we are acting precisely in accordance with the Christ principle. Since it is capable of further development, we must overcome what it had to endure in the first centuries and millennia, when the Christ Principle was in its most imperfect beginnings. We do not look to this past, nor do we allow ourselves to be instructed by it. We are not concerned with this tradition; our main concern is with what can be explored from the spiritual world. Therefore, we do not see the most important aspect of the Christ Principle in what was—no matter how often it is emphasized from tradition—but in what is to come. We do not rely so much on what has been historically handed down, but seek to know what is to come. This is the focus of the Christ impulse, which falls at the beginning of the Christian era, and we do not place much value on the external, historical aspects. Now that Christianity has gone through its teething troubles, it will continue to develop. It has also gone to foreign lands and sought to convert people to what was held in the individual Christian dogmas of an era. Before our soul, however, stands a Christianity of which we know that Christ was active in all ages, and that we will find Christ in all places where we go, that the Christ principle is the most scientific principle of the spirit. And if Buddhism only counts as Buddhists those who swear by Buddha, then Christianity will be that which swears by no prophet, because it is not under the influence of an ethnic religious founder, but recognizes the God of humanity.

[ 21 ] Anyone familiar with Christianity knows that this is a mystery that became visible on the physical plane at Golgotha. It is the perception of this mystery that guides us in the direction I have described. One can also know that spiritual life at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha was such that this mystery had to be experienced precisely as it was experienced by humanity at that time. We do not allow dogmas to be imposed upon us, not even the dogmas of the Christian past, and if a dogma were to be imposed upon us from one side or the other, then we would reject it in the spirit of the truly understood Christ-principle. No matter how many people may come and force the historical Christ into a denominational creed, or may falsely label what we perceive as the Christ of the future, we will not be deterred by this when they tell us: “Christ must be this way or that”—even if it is said by those who ought to understand who Christ is. Nor must the Christ-essence be suppressed or constrained by Eastern traditions, nor colored by the dogmas of Eastern dogmatism. Free and independent of every tradition and every authority, that which is to be said about this future evolution from the sources of occultism must step forward before humanity.

[ 22 ] It strikes me as wonderful how people can understand one another on this soil. Time and again these past few days, people from outside the North who have traveled here have told me how at ease they felt in the presence of the personalities of the Scandinavian North. Many have expressed this. This is proof of how we can understand one another—perhaps still unconsciously for some—in the deepest essence of spiritual knowledge; how we will understand one another, specifically, in what I already emphasized at the last “Theosophical Congress” in Budapest, and what I repeated during our own General Assembly in Berlin, where we had the great joy of seeing friends from the North among us as well. It would be detrimental to spiritual science if those who cannot yet look into the spiritual realm were forced to accept what is said on the basis of blind faith. I ask you—and I asked you in Berlin—not to accept on authority or faith anything I have ever said or will say. Even before a person reaches the clairvoyant stage, there is the possibility of verifying what is gained from clairvoyant observation. Whatever I have ever said about Zarathustra and Jesus of Nazareth, about Hermes and Moses, about Odin and Thor, about Christ Jesus himself—I do not ask you to believe it or to accept my words on authority. I ask you to wean yourselves from the principle of authority; for the principle of authority would become an evil for us.

[ 23 ] But I know for certain that if you begin to think with an unbiased sense of truth, if you say: “This is what we are told; let us examine the records available to us, the religious and mythological documents, let us examine what every branch of natural science tells us”—then you will see the truth of what has been said. Use everything at your disposal, and the more you can use, the better. I am unconcerned. You can examine everything said from the sources of Rosicrucianism by any means. Examine what I have said about Christ Jesus using materialistic criticism of the Gospels; examine what I have said about history using all the sources available to you; examine it as closely as possible with the means at your disposal for the outer, physical plane! I am convinced that the more closely you examine, the more you will find that what is said from the sources of the Rosicrucian mystery corresponds to the truth. I count on the fact that the messages issued from Rosicrucianism will not be believed but examined—not superficially, with the superficial methods of contemporary science, but ever more conscientiously and conscientiously. Take everything that the latest natural science, with its most modern methods, can offer you; take everything that historical or religious research has yielded—I am unconcerned. The more you examine, the more you will find that what has been said from this source is true. You should accept nothing on the basis of authority alone. The best students of spiritual knowledge are those who first receive what is said as an inspiration and then put it to the service of life in order to test it in practice. For even in life, at every stage of life, you will be able to test what is said from the sources of Rosicrucianism. Far from the spirit underlying this presentation is the idea of establishing a dogma and saying: This or that is such and such and must be believed. Test this against what you may already encounter in spiritually robust and healthy people, and you will find for yourselves the truth of what has been said as a prophetic hint at the future Christ-revelation. You need only open your eyes and examine things impartially. No demand is made for blind faith in authority. This is a kind of underlying attitude that should permeate all spiritual reception like a common thread.

[ 24 ] So, I would like to urge you: It is not truly theosophical to accept something as dogma simply because this or that person said so; it is truly theosophical to draw inspiration from spiritual science and to test what one has received in life. Then whatever might color a truly theosophical view from any quarter will fade away. Neither Eastern nor Western nuances should color our views. He who speaks in the Rosicrucian sense knows neither Orientalism nor Occidentalism; to him, both are equally appealing. He presents the truth solely from the inner nature of the facts. This is what we must take into account, especially at such a crucial moment when we have pointed to the national spirit that prevails in all the northern regions. In them lives the Germanic-Nordic-mythological spirit, even if it still lives beneath the surface today, and it is far more widespread in Europe than one might think. If a conflict among the northern peoples were to arise, it could not consist in one part of a people disputing with another over what is to be given, but rather in each people engaging in self-knowledge and asking itself: What is the best I can give? Then what leads to the overall progress and well-being of humanity will flow onto the common altar. The sources of what we can bring lie in the individual. The Germanic-Nordic Archangel will bring to the entire future culture of humanity precisely that for which he is predisposed by the innate qualities he has received, which we have roughly characterized. He is, however, particularly capable of bringing about that which could not yet be given in the first half of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch, but which can still unfold in the second half—namely, that which could be shown as a spiritual element, in a prophetic, embryonic form, in Slavic philosophy and folk sentiment. As long as this remains in the preparatory stage, the first half of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch must be traversed. Initially, only a finely sublimated spiritual vision could be achieved there in the form of philosophy. This must then be grasped and permeated by the forces of the people so that it may become a common heritage of humanity, so that it may become comprehensible across the vast terrain of our earthly life. Let us try to see if we can understand one another in this area; then this otherwise somewhat dangerous topic will not have borne evil fruit after all, if we perceive everything that has come together here from Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, and Central Europe as being of importance to all of humanity; if we feel that the great nations as well as the small ethnic groups have their mission and must contribute their part to the whole. At times, small ethnic groups, because they are meant to preserve old or new spiritual motives, have the most important contributions to make. Thus, even if we make this dangerous question the subject of our discussion, nothing else can come of it but the fundamental sense of a spiritual community among all those who are united under the banner of spiritual scientific thought and feeling and of spiritual scientific ideals.

[ 25 ] Only if we were still acting on the basis of our likes and dislikes, if we had only a vague grasp of the essence of the world movement, could misunderstandings arise from what has been said. But if we have grasped what reigns as spirit in these lectures, then even the things that have confronted us there can help us to form the firm resolve and the high ideal to contribute to the common goal—each from their own standpoint and on their own ground—what lies within our mission. We can best do this with what springs from within ourselves, from that to which we are predisposed. We serve all of humanity best when we develop what is particularly innate within us, so that we may incorporate it into all of humanity as an offering we bring to the advancing current of culture. We must learn to understand this. We must learn to understand that it would be unfortunate if spiritual science did not contribute to the development of human beings, angels, and archangels, but instead contributed to the replacement of one national mindset with another. Spiritual science is not there to help ensure that whatever religious creed prevails somewhere on Earth can conquer another region. If the West were ever to be conquered by the East, or vice versa, this would not at all correspond to the spirit of spiritual science. It is only in keeping with this spirit when we give our best, purely human efforts for the sake of all humanity. And when we live fully within ourselves, not for ourselves but for all people, that is true spiritual-scientific tolerance. These are words I felt compelled to add to our weighty topic.

[ 26 ] Through spiritual science—as we will come to realize more and more—all human fragmentation will cease. That is why now, of all times, is the right moment to get to know the national souls, because spiritual science is here to lead us not to set the national souls against one another in opposition, but to call them to harmonious cooperation. The better we understand this, the better students of spiritual knowledge we will become. This is where the presentations we have given should, for now, come to a close. After all, what we gather in terms of knowledge must ultimately find its expression in our perception, feeling, and thinking, and in our spiritual scientific ideal. The more we live this, the better students of spiritual knowledge we are. I have observed that some of those who have journeyed up to the North have gained the deepest impression, which was expressed in them by the words that came to their lips: “How glad I am to be here in the North!”

[ 27 ] And if we are to speak in the words of the silent Aesir god Widar: When higher powers within humanity are awakened in the future—which we will most certainly witness with our own eyes—then he will be the active, the dynamic friend of cooperation and shared diligence, in whose spirit we have all been united. In this spirit, let us part ways physically after a few days of being together, but let us always remain together in spirit in this sense. No matter where we come from as students of spiritual knowledge, from far or near, may we always come together in harmony, even if we should once ask ourselves, in the context of a topic, what the individualities of this or that region of the earth are. We know that these are but individual sacrificial flames that do not flare apart, but will merge into the mighty sacrificial fire that must merge for the good of humanity through the spiritual-scientific worldview that is so dear to our hearts and deeply rooted in our souls.