The Rudolf Steiner Archive

A Preface

Written in retrospect regarding these lectures delivered more than seven years ago

[ 1 ] In these lectures, which were given in Christiania in June 1910, I attempted to outline the psychology of the development of peoples. The basis for this examination was what I have presented regarding anthroposophically oriented spiritual science (in my books *Theosophy*, *Esoteric Science*, *The Riddle of Man*, *The Riddles of the Soul*, and others). I was able to build upon this foundation because my audience was familiar with the scientific perspective outlined in my books. However, in addition to this external reason for choosing this perspective, there is also an internal one. For a true psychology of national characters, the anthropological, ethnographic, and even historical approaches of conventional science cannot provide a sufficient foundation. One gets no further with what this science offers than one does with anatomy and physiology in gaining an understanding of the human soul life. Just as one must proceed from the body to the soul in the case of the individual human being if one wishes to understand his inner life, so too must one penetrate to the underlying spiritual-psychic realm of national characters if one seeks a true understanding of them. This soul-spiritual realm, however, is not merely a cooperation of individual human souls, but rather a soul-spiritual realm superior to them. To consider such a realm is entirely foreign to contemporary science. In its view, it is paradoxical to speak of national souls as real entities, just as one speaks of the real thinking, feeling, and willing of the individual human being. And it is just as paradoxical in this context to relate the development of peoples on Earth to the forces of the celestial bodies in outer space. But to no longer find this paradoxical, one need only recall that no one would look for the forces that align a magnetic needle in the north-south direction within the magnetic needle itself. One attributes them to the effect of Earth’s magnetism. He seeks the reasons for the needle’s direction in the cosmos. May we not, then, be permitted to seek the reasons for the development of national characters, migrations of peoples, and so on, outside the context of the peoples themselves, in the cosmos? Quite apart from the anthroposophical view, for which higher spiritual beings are a reality, something quite different comes into consideration for the content of these lectures. This content, however, is based on a higher spiritual reality of the development of peoples, and it seeks the forces that give direction to this development within such a reality. Yet the contemplation then descends to the facts that come to light in the life of peoples. And there it becomes evident that these facts become understandable through this foundation. Through this, one can gain insight into both the living conditions of individual peoples and their mutual relationships, whereas without such a foundation, true understanding in this field does not exist. One must either forgo a psychology of peoples, or one must seek a foundation for it in a spiritual reality.

[ 2 ] I have not hesitated to use the names for the higher spiritual beings that were common in the early Christian centuries. An Eastern scholar would choose different names. Yet even if one might consider the use of such names to be somewhat “unscientific” today, it seems to me right not to shy away from using them; firstly, this takes into account the Christian character of our Western culture; secondly, it makes understanding more likely than if entirely new names were chosen, or if Oriental terms were adopted, the true meaning of which can only be grasped by those who are spiritually immersed in the corresponding cultural context. It occurs to me, however, that anyone who wishes to penetrate these spiritual contexts will, provided they do not reject the matter as such, take no greater offense at names such as angels, archangels, thrones, etc., than they do in the physical sciences at terms such as positive and negative electricity, magnetism, polarized light, etc.

[ 3 ] Anyone who connects the content of these lectures with the painful trials facing human civilization today will find that what was said back then sheds some light on current events. If I were to give these lectures now, one might think that the current state of world affairs had prompted such reflections. For example, on page 3 of the first lecture it says: “It is... of the utmost importance... that, especially in our time, we speak in the most open-minded way about what we call the mission of the individual national souls of humanity..., because the coming destinies of humanity will, to a much greater degree than has been the case so far, bring people together in a common human mission. However, the individual members of a people will only be able to make their corresponding free, concrete contribution to this common mission if, above all, they have an understanding of their national character—an understanding of what might be called self-knowledge of the national character.” The times have now surely come in which the destinies of humanity themselves teach that there is truth in such a view.

[ 4 ] Perhaps the very topic of “national souls” is one that demonstrates how spiritual contemplation, which delves into the true supersensible essence of existence, simultaneously provides a genuinely practical outlook on life that sheds light even on the most specific questions of life. A view of life that relies solely on concepts valid for natural science when considering the development and nature of peoples cannot do this. This mechanistic-physical science has made great contributions in producing the mechanical, physical, and chemical means of culture; for the means of culture pertaining to humanity’s spiritual life, a science oriented toward the spiritual is required. Our time needs such a science.

Berlin, February 8, 1918.
Rudolf Steiner