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The Gospel of St. Matthew
GA 123

3 September 1910, Bern

Lecture III

Before coming to our main theme I want to make a brief addition to something that was said in the lecture yesterday. I spoke of the fact that really significant happenings in the evolution of humanity can be characterized by expressions derived front processes in the Cosmos. I also emphasized how impossible it is to speak intelligibly and adequately in the words of ordinary language about the great mysteries of existence.

The best way to characterize the deeply significant inter-action between Hermes and Moses, the two great pupils of Zarathustra, is to present it as a repetition, a re-enactment, of a cosmic process, viewed in the light of occult science.

In order to picture this cosmic process, let us again look back to the time when our Earth had separated from the Sun, when each with an independent centre was pursuing a further life of its own in the Cosmos. We can picture that in the far, far distant past, the substantiality of Earth +Sun formed a single whole, one great cosmic body which then divided into two. In saying this it must be remembered that other, parallel cosmic happenings—the splitting off of the other planets belonging to our solar system—are being left out of consideration here. For our immediate purpose the time sequence of these other severances need not be taken into account; it is enough to say that a separation once took place, as the result of which the Sun became an entity and the Earth another.

It must also be remembered that this separation took place in an age when the globe now called ‘Earth’ still contained within it the substantiality of the present Moon. Earth + Moon on the one side confronted Sun on the other. All the forces, both spiritual and physical, that had been at work before this separation, divided: the coarser elements, the coarser, cruder activities, remained with thc Earth, whereas the higher, spiritual-ethereal activities accompanied the Sun. We must picture to ourselves that for long ages Earth and Sun continued their evolution separately. To begin with, everything going forth from the Sun to the Earth was entirely different in character from the forces streaming from the Sun to-day. Earth-existence, Earth-life, was inward, enclosed, receiving little life from the Sun, little of what rayed down spiritually, taking physical expression, from the Sun.

In this first period of separation from the Sun, the Earth threatened to become barren, arid, mummified. And if the Moon had continued to remain in thc Earth the life that is present on our planet to-day would never have been possible. While the Moon was still contained in the Earth, the life pouring from the Sun could not be fully effective; this was only possible at a later time, when the Earth had separated from itself the substantiality of what is now Moon, and with it the spiritual Beings connected with the Moon.

But very much else is connected with the separation of the Moon from the Earth. It must be realised that everything we call life on our Earth to-day evolved by slow degrees, and Spiritual Science indicates the successive conditions or states of existence which made life possible. Previously there was the Old Saturn-existence, then the Old Sun-existence, then the Old Moon-existence, and finally our Earth-existence. The separation of the Sun and also the earlier union of Earth and Sun were therefore preceded by other, quite different evolutionary processes. And when the Earth began to exist in its present form, it was still united with the substance of all the planets that belong to our solar system and were not separated off until later—the process of separation and differentiation being brought about by forces previously operating during the three preceding evolutionary periods of Old Saturn, Old. Sun, Old Moon.

We know that during the Old Saturn-existence there was no matter, no substance, such as is present to-day; there were no solid bodies, no fluids, even no gaseous, vaporous or aeriform masses. Old Saturn was composed solely of warmth—differentiated warmth. We can therefore say: the body of ancient Saturn consisted of warmth only; everything evolved within the element of warmth. I need not emphasize here that one who ventures to make such a statement is fully aware of how impossible it is for modern physics to conceive of a body consisting solely of warmth; he is also aware that ‘warmth’ is for modern physics a state or condition only, not anything having the character of substance. However that may be, we are not concerned to-day with modern physics but only with the truth.1See Occult Science—an Outline, p. 21. From Rudolf Steiner's Preface to the first edition. (1909).

Evolution advanced from the warmth-body of Saturn to the next stage—the stage of Old Sun. There, as described in the book Occult Science, the warmth-body of Saturn densified. Some of the warmth remained, but the warmth-body densified, in part, to the gaseous, aeriform sate of Old Sun. The process was not only one of densification but also of rarefication—a development upwards, to light. Hence we can say: passing from the warmth-condition of Old Saturn to the stage of Old Sun, we have a cosmic body comprising air, warmth and light.

When the Old Sun-existence advanced to the stage of the Old Moon-existence which preceded that of our Earth, again there was densification and again rarefication. The fluid or watery condition was added to the gaseous, but a change also took place on the other side, in the direction as it wry or spiritualisation, etherealisation. During the Old Moon stage, not only was there light but also the sound-ether or chemical ether. What is here called sound-ether is not to be identified with what we call physical sound or tone. The latter is only a reflection of what is experienced by clairvoyant consciousness as the 'Harmony of the Spheres', as etheric sound or tone weaving as a living power through the Universe. In speaking of this ether and of this sound we are therefore speaking of something far more spiritual, far more ethereal than ordinary sound.

Densification to the solid state took place when Old Moon evolved to Earth. On Old Moon there were no solid bodies such as exist on Earth, where the solid condition came into existence for the first time. On the Earth, therefore, WC now have, on the one side, warmth, the gaseous and watery states, and solid bodies; and on the other side, light-ether, sound-ether, and then life-ether. Evolution on the Earth has reached this stage. Thus on the Earth there are seven elemental states or conditions, whereas on Old Saturn there was only the one state—that of warmth.

When our Earth emerged from the cosmic night at the beginning of its existence, when it was still united with the Sun and with the other planets, we must picture it living and weaving in these seven elemental conditions. But with the separation from the Sun something very remarkable took place.

Warmth and light are present for external life to-day since it is affected by the influences that stream from the Sun to the Earth and belong to the whole domain of sense-perception; but the sound-ether and the life-ether do not belong to this domain. The workings of the sound-ether manifest themselves only in chemical combinations and dissolutions, that is to say, in processes operating in material existence. What we call the working of the life-ether as it streams in from the Sun cannot be directly perceived by man in the sense that light is perceptible when through the senses he distinguishes light from darkness. The active workings or effects of life are perceived in living beings, but not the in-streaming life-ether itself. Hence science too is compelled to admit that life per se is a riddle.—

Thus the two highest kinds of etheric manifestation—the life-ether and the sound-ether—although they proceed from the Sun as extremely delicate emanations—are not directly manifest in Earth-existence. Although these emanations ray down from the Sun, they are hidden from ordinary perception. Yet in modern existence too, something corresponding to what lives in the sound-ether and life-ether is perceptible on the Earth in the inner nature of man. The direct influences and effects of the life-ether and the sound-ether (the harmony of the spheres) are not externally perceptible on the Earth, but what takes effect in the constitution of man is perceptible.

The easiest way in which I can explain this will be to re-mind you of the process of human evolution on Earth. In very ancient times and on into the Atlantean epoch, man was endowed with a faculty of clairvoyance enabling him to behold not only a material world as he does to-day but also the spiritual backgrounds of material existence. This was possible for man because in those ancient times there was an intermediate state between the waking consciousness that is ours to-day and what we call the sleeping state. In the waking state man perceived the things of the physical world of the senses; in the sleeping state to-day he neither perceives nor is aware of anything at all; he simply goes on living.—That at any rate is true of the great majority of people. If you were to investigate clairvoyantly man's life during sleep you would make startling discoveries—although only those people who look no deeper than the surface of things would be taken aback by them.

While man is asleep his astral body and Ego are outside his physical and etheric bodies. But it must not be imagined that astral body and Ego during sleep are like a misty cloud hovering in the vicinity of the physical body. What an inferior kind of astral clairvoyance sees in the form of a cloud and which we call the astral body, is only the very crudest beginning of what the human being reveals during sleep. If anyone were to regard this cloud-like formation near the physical and etheric bodies as the only phenomenon of importance he would simply be basing himself upon the lowest forms of astral clairvoyance. The truth is that during sleep man is a being of vast magnitude. At the moment of going to sleep, the inner forces in the astral body and in the Ego actually begin to expand over the whole solar system, to become part of it. From every direction man draws into his astral body and into his Ego forces which strengthen this life during sleep, and on waking he contracts into the narrower confines within his skin and pours into these what he has absorbed during the night from the whole solar system. That is why medieval occultists too called this spiritual body of man the ‘astral’ body, because it is united with the worlds of the stars and draws its forces from them. During sleep at night, then, man actually expands over the whole solar system.

What is it that permeates the astral body during sleep when it is outside the physical and etheric bodies? It is the weaving life of the harmonies of the spheres, forces that can otherwise operate only in thc sound-ether. Just as when a violin bow is drawn across the edge of a metal disc strewn with sand the vibrations pulsing through the air also pulsate through the sand and produce the well-known Chladni sound-figures, so do the harmonies of the spheres vibrate through the human being during sleep and bring order again into what has been cast into disorder during the day through his sense-perceptions. The weaving forces of the life-ether also permeate him during sleep, but he is entirely unaware of this inner life of his sheaths when he is separated from the physical and etheric bodies. In the normal state, man has the power of perception only when he again plunges down into the physical and etheric bodies, using the outer organs of the etheric body for thinking and those of the physical body for sense-perception.

But in ancient times there were intermediate states between waking life and sleep, states which can be induced to-day only by abnormal means and because of the dangers inseparable from such conditions, ought never to be induced. In Atlantean times, however, these faculties of perception that functioned normally in the intermediate states between waking and sleeping, enabled man to be transported into the domain of the forces living and weaving in the sound-ether and the life-ether. In other words: through clairvoyance in its old form, man was able in that distant past to be aware of what was being radiated to him by the Sun as the harmony of the spheres and the life that pulses through cosmic space—although the earthly effects of the sound-ether and the life-ether were perceptible only in living beings in the external world.

Such experiences gradually ceased to be possible; with the loss of the old clairvoyance the door closed against these perceptions and something different came into being, namely the inner power of cognition. Only then did man learn to reflect, to ponder, to cogitate. What we to-day call reflection about the things of the physical world, in other words an inner activity, began to develop only when the old clairvoyance was fading away. In the early epochs of Atlantis, man had no inner life such as he has to-day—an inner life of feelings, sentient experiences, thoughts and mental concepts, which actually constitute the creative impulse in culture and civilization. In the intermediate states between waking and sleeping his whole being was outpoured in a spiritual world and the material world of the senses seemed to be veiled in mist.

With the gradual disappearance of the old clairvoyance, external life increased in importance. A faint reflection of the harmony of the spheres and of the working of the life-ether was present in man's inner nature. But the reflection of the harmony of the spheres faded away to the same extent as man became inwardly aware of feelings and perceptions which mirrored the external world to him and constitute his inner life to-day. To the extent to which he felt himself an ‘I’, an Ego-being, his perception of the divine, all-pervading life-ether vanished from him. His condition had to be acquired at the cost of being deprived of certain aspects of external life. As an earthly being, man felt that the life he could no longer experience as streaming directly from the Sun was enclosed within him; and in his inner life to-day He has only a faint reflection of the sublime cosmic life, of the harmony of the spheres and the life-ether.

The development of man's faculty of cognition was also a kind of repetition of the Earth's own evolution. The Earth, when it separated from the Sun and became self-enclosed, would have hardened completely if all the substances left within it after the separation had been retained. The Sun's influence could not, to begin with, find entrance into the process of thc Earth's evolution and this state of things lasted until the Moon was separated from the Earth, together with all those substances and qualities that were making it impossible for the Earth to receive direct influences and forces from the Sun. Thus it was through having cast out the Moon that the Earth was able to receive the influences and forces of the now separated Sun. The Earth sent part of itself, the Moon, towards the Sun, in the opposite direction to that in which it had itself separated from the Sun, and the Moon then reflected back to the Earth the influences of the Sun, just as outwardly it reflects its light. The separation of the Moon from the Earth was an event of untold significance: the Earth had opened itself to the influences and forces of the Sun.

A cosmic event of this kind had necessarily to be re-enacted in the life of man as well. It was only when the Earth had long since opened itself to the workings of the Sun that the right point of time arrived for man to shut himself off from the direct influences of the Sun. The direct influences and forces of thc Sun were still active in the clairvoyance of Atlantean man. And just as there had come a time when the Earth began to harden, so too there came a time for man when he withdrew into his own inner nature, developed an inner life and could no longer receive the direct workings of the Sun. This process of the development of an inner life, when man could no longer be open to the Sun's influences and could receive only faint reflections within himself of the workings of the life-ether, the sound-ether, the harmonies of the spheres—this process lasted for long ages, right on into the post-Atlantean era.

In the earliest epochs of Atlantean evolution men had been directly aware of the Sun's influences. Then they shut them-selves off; and when these influences could no longer penetrate into them and their own inner life asserted itself strongly, it was only in the sacred Mysteries, through the practice of what may be called ‘Yoga’ that the spiritual powers of the pupils could be trained as it were to defy the normal conditions of Earth-existence and become directly aware of the workings of the Sun. Thus in the second half of the Atlantean epoch there were sanctuaries, appropriately called ‘Oracles’, where from among a humanity no longer able in a normal way to be aware of the direct workings of the sound-ether and the life-ether, pupils and dedicated disciples of the sacred wisdom were so trained that by first suppressing all perception through the senses, they could become aware of the manifestations of these higher ethers.

In places where genuine spiritual science was cultivated, this possibility actually remained in the post-Atlantean epoch—so persistently indeed that even external science, without understanding the meaning of it, has preserved a tradition originating in the School of Pythagoras to the effect that the harmonies of the spheres can become audible. But external science immediately turns anything of the nature of the harmony of the spheres into an abstraction—which of course it is not—and has no inkling of the reality. In the Pythagorean Schools the power to become aware of the harmony of the spheres was understood to be the re-opening of man's being to the sound-ether and to the divine life-ether.

It was Zarathustra or Zoroaster who had proclaimed with the greatest power and splendour that behind the Sun radiating its light and warmth to the Earth there is something which as the activity of the sound-ether and indeed of the life-ether is only feebly reflected in man's inner life. If we endeavour to translate his teaching into modern language, we can say that he taught his pupils as follows.—He said to them: When you look upwards to the Sun you are aware of the beneficial warmth and light streaming from it to the Earth; but if you develop higher organs, if you develop your faculty of spiritual perception, you can become aware of the Sun Being behind the physical Sun and its life; and then you become aware of the workings of the sound-ether and within these the essence of life!

Zarathustra spoke to his pupils of Ormuzd, or Ahura Mazdao, the great Sun Aura, as the spiritual reality behind the physical workings of the Sun. ‘Ahura Mazdao’ can therefore also be translated as the ‘Great Wisdom’ in contrast to the meagre wisdom evolved by men to-day. Man becomes aware of the Great Wisdom when he beholds the spiritual essence of the Sun, the great Sun Aura.

A poet, gazing back to the remote past in the evolution of humanity, was able to point in the following words to what the spiritual investigator knows to be a truth:

‘The sun-orb sings, in emulation,
'Mid brother-spheres, his ancient round:
His path predestined through Creation,
He ends with step of thunder-sound.’
(Faust: Prologue in Heaven. Tr. Bayard Taylor)

Disciples of aestheticism regard this simply as euphony and quote it as an outstanding example of poetic licence. They have no inkling that a poet of Goethe's calibre is describing actual realities when he writes: ‘The sun-orb sings his ancient round’—that is to say, in the way known to ancient humanity, and known even to-day to one who is initiated.

Zarathustra had imparted this mighty truth to his pupils, particularly to the two among them who can be said to have been his most intimate disciples and were incarnated later on as Hermes and Moses. But Zarathustra gave the instruction on what lies behind the radiant body of the Sun in two quite different forms. The instruction given to Hermes enabled him to receive the influence streaming directly from the Sun. Moses, on the other hand, was inspired in such a way that he preserved the secret of the Sun-wisdom as though in a memory.

If in the light of what is said in the book Occult Science we picture the Earth after its separation from the Sun, and then the departure of the Moon-forces from the Earth after which the Earth opened itself to the Sun, we find Venus and Mercury between Earth and Sun. Dividing the whole space between Sun and Earth into three, we can say: the Earth separated from the Sun and sent forth the Moon towards the Sun. Then Venus and Mercury separated off from the Sun and came towards the Earth. Venus and Mercury, therefore, move from the Sun towards the Earth; the Moon goes from the Earth towards the Sun.

Conditions in the evolution of humanity reflect conditions in the Cosmos. The Sun-wisdom contained in the revelations of Zarathustra had been transmitted by him on the one side to Hermes and on the other to Moses. In Hermes there lived the Sun-wisdom radiating from the astral body of Zarathustra that had been transmitted to him; the wisdom living in Moses was like a separate planet that had still to develop towards what radiated directly from the Sun. Just as the Earth, by relinquishing the Moon, opened itself to the influence of ,the Sun, so did the wisdom of Moses open itself to receive the Sun-wisdom radiating directly from Zarathustra. And these two forms of wisdom, the Earth-wisdom of Moses and the Sun-wisdom of Zarathustra as imparted to Hermes, came into con-tact in Egypt, where the teachings of Moses encountered those of Hermes. What Moses had received from Zarathustra in the far distant past, he wakened to life within his own being and transmitted it to his people. We have to conceive of this as a process analogous to the emergence of the Moon-substantiality from the Earth.

The wisdom transmitted by Moses to his people can also be called Jahve- or Jehovah-wisdom—the name which, if rightly understood, epitomises it. We can also understand why old traditions speak of Jahve or Jehovah as a Moon God. This is frequently stated but is comprehensible only when these profound connections arc known. Just as the Earth cast out the Moon, sending it towards the Sun, so too the path of the Earth-wisdom of Moses inevitably led towards Hermes who possessed the direct wisdom of Zarathustra in the astral body that had been bequeathed. The wisdom of Moses, having made contact with Hermes, had then itself to evolve, and we have already described how its development continued until the age of David, when in David himself, the royal warrior and psalmist of the Hebrew people, Hermetic or Mercury-wisdom arose in a new form. We have also heard how the wisdom of Moses made still closer contact with the Sun-wisdom during the time of the Babylonian captivity, when Zarathustra himself, then bearing the name of Zarathas or Nazarathos, was the teacher of the Hebraic Initiates during the captivity. In the wisdom of Moses, therefore, we see a re-enactment of the cosmic process of the separation of Earth from Sun and of subsequent happenings on the Earth.

The wise men among the ancient Hebrews and all who were aware of these connections were filled with deepest reverence. They felt as though direct revelations were being vouchsafed to them from cosmic spaces and cosmic existence. And a personality such as Moses seemed to them to be a messenger of the cosmic Powers themselves. This they felt—and We too must feel something of the kind if we desire genuinely to understand ancient times. Otherwise, all our learning is no more than empty abstraction.

It was essential that what had streamed from Zarathustra and had been transmitted to posterity through Hermes and Moses should also evolve to a higher stage and appear again in a different, more advanced form. To this end it was necessary that Zarathustra himself, the Individuality who had previously bequeathed only the astral body and the etheric body, should be able to appear on the Earth in a physical body, in order that this too might be offered up. Here we have a beautiful illustration of progress. In his life in the very distant past, Zarathustra had given the impulse to post-Atlantean evolution in ancient Iranian culture. Then he bequeathed his astral body in order to inaugurate a. new form of culture through Hermes, and he bequeathed his etheric body to Moses. He had thus bequeathed two of his sheaths. Opportunity had now to be afforded him to offer up his physical body as well, for the great mystery of the evolution of humanity demanded the offering of the three bodies by one single individual. The third act still ahead of Zarathustra was the offering of the physical body, and this required very special measures of preparation. I have already indicated how the particular kind of life lived by the Hebrew people throughout the generations made possible the preparation of the physical body that could eventually be offered up by Zarathustra as his third great act. This preparation demanded that what elsewhere had been direct, outwardly oriented spiritual perception—the astral vision which in the Turanians had become decadent—should be trans-formed into an inner activity.

This is the secret of the Hebrew people. Whereas in the Turanians the forces inherited from ancient times produced organs of external clairvoyance, in the Hebrew people these forces turned inwards, organising the inner constitution of the body. Hence the Hebrews were the people destined to feel and to experience inwardly what during the Atlantean age men had seen outspread behind the single physical objects. Jahve or Jehovah—the name consciously uttered and proclaimed by the Hebrew people—was the ‘Great Spirit’ revealed to ancient clairvoyance behind all things and beings and now concentrated into a unity. And it is also indicated that in a very special way the progenitor of the ancient Hebrews had been endowed with this inner organic constitution.

Let me again repeat that the pictorial accounts of ancient happenings contained in sagas and legends are nearer to the truth than the picture of evolution pieced together by modern anthropological research from evidence provided by excavations and fragments of monuments. In most eases the old legends are corroborated by spiritual-scientific investigation. I say ‘in most cases’ and not ‘in all’ because I have not investigated every one of them; but it is very probable that the above holds good for all genuinely ancient legends. Thus when we enquire into the origin of the Hebrew people, we are led back, not to what modern anthropologists surmise, but to an actual progenitor named in the Bible. Abraham or Abram is a living figure and what the Talmud legend says of this original ancestor is true.

According to the story, the father of Abraham is a captain in the service of that legendary but nevertheless real personality called ‘Nimrod’ in the Bible (Genesis X, 8-9). It is announced to Nimrod by those who understand the signs of the times as revealed in dreams that many kings and rulers will be overthrown by his captain's son. Nimrod is seized with fear and orders that the child be killed. Such is the legend, and its truth is confirmed by occult investigation. Abraham's father resorts to subterfuge and presents another man's child to Nimrod. His own child, Abraham, is reared in a cave.—Abraham is the first in whom the forces formerly operating as the faculties of external clairvoyance turned inwards to become the powers that were to lead to inner consciousness of the Divine. This complete reversal of forces is indicated in the legend by saying that by thc grace of God the child was able to suck milk from the fingers of his own right hand during the three years he lived in the cave. This process of self-nourishment, in other words the penetration of the forces formerly used for the old clairvoyance into the inner constitution of man, is illustrated in a wonderful way in Abraham, the progenitor of thc Hebrew people.—If their real foundations are understood, legends of this kind are so convincing that we realise why old narratives could only convey in pictures what lay behind their contents. But these pictures were able to evoke feelings—even if not actual consciousness—of the great truths. And that sufficed in those ancient times. Abraham, then, was the first man in whom the faculties of divine wisdom, divine vision, were reflected inwardly in an entirely human form, as thought of the Divine. In actual fact, and as occult investigation will always insist, the physical constitution of Abram, or Abraham as he was called later on, was entirely different from that of everyone living around him. The organic constitution of other human beings was not such as would have enabled them to unfold inner activity of thinking through a special instrument. Thinking was possible for them when they were free of the body, when forces were activated in the etheric body; but they had not yet developed the instrument for thinking in the physical body itself. Abraham was actually the first in whom the physical instrument for thinking had been elaborated in the real sense. Hence—although this must not be taken too literally—he is not incorrectly called the inventor of arithmetic, the science dependent primarily upon the instrument of the physical body. Arithmetic is something that in its form, and because of its intrinsic certainty, comes near to clairvoyant knowledge, but it is essentially dependent upon a bodily organ.

Thus there is a deep and intimate connection between a faculty in which external forces had hitherto been used for clairvoyance and one which now made use of an inner organ for the activity of thinking. This is indicated when Abraham is spoken of as the inventor of arithmetic. He is therefore to be regarded as the first personality into whom was implanted the physical organ of thinking, the organ through which man, by means of physical thinking, could rise to actual thought of the Divine, whereas formerly it was only through clairvoyant vision that he could have any knowledge of God and of the Divine. All such knowledge in ancient times was the outcome of clairvoyance. To rise to the Divine through thought required a physical instrument and Abraham was the first into whom it was implanted. And as here it was a matter, of a physical organ, the whole relation of this thought or concept of the Divine to the objective world and to the subjective being of man was different from what it had formerly been, when a physical instrument was not involved.

The thought of the Divine had formerly been grasped through the wisdom preserved in the Mystery Schools and could be conveyed to one who had developed to the stage of being able to have perceptions in the etheric body, free from the organs of the physical body. But the only means for the transmission of a physical instrument to another human being is physical heredity. Thus if what was of salient importance for Abraham, namely the physical organ, was to be preserved on the Earth, it had to be transmitted from generation to generation through heredity. It is therefore understandable that the element of racial heredity, the transmission of this physical attribute through the blood flowing down the generations, was of very great importance in the Hebrew people.

But a physical attribute that appeared for the first time in Abraham, resulting from the crystallization and shaping of a physical organ for comprehension of the Divine—such an attribute had to be established. Transmitted by heredity from generation to generation, it penetrated ever more deeply into the nature and constitution of man and took firmer and firmer hold there as the effect of heredity grew progressively stronger. Hence we can say: it was necessary that what had been imparted to Abraham in order that the mission of the Hebrew people might be fulfilled, should reach greater perfection in the course of being transmitted from generation to generation through heredity. And in thc case of a physical organ this was the only possible means.

If the Individuality we have come to know as Zarathustra was to be provided with as perfect a physical body as possible—that is to say, a body containing an organ capable of grasping, in a human physical body, the thought or concept of the Divine—the physical instrument once implanted in Abraham had to be brought to the highest attainable degree of perfection; it had to be inwardly consolidated through heredity and to develop in such a way that a body suitable for Zarathustra might be produced, with all the qualities needed by him in his physical body. But a physical body that was to be of use to Zarathustra could not have developed to greater perfection by itself, separated from the rest of man's constitution; all the three sheaths, physical, etheric and astral, had gradually to be perfected through what physical heredity flowing down the successive generations was able to impart to them.

There is a certain law in evolution of which we have often heard in connection with the development of the individual human being. A particular period of this process is from birth until the sixth or seventh year of life, during which the main development is that of the physical body. The period of the development of the etheric body is from the sixth or seventh year until the fourteenth or fifteenth. The period of the development of the astral body is from then until the twenty-first or twenty-second year. Such is the law, based on the number seven, governing the development of the individual human being. The development of the outer sheaths of humanity in general through the generations is governed by a similar law and the deeper aspects of this process have still to be considered.

Whereas in the course of every seven years the individual completes a stage of development, until his seventh year that of the physical body, which becomes more and more perfect during this period—so the whole structure of the physical body of mankind in general, developing as it can do through the generations, reaches a certain completion after seven generations. But heredity works in such a way that the qualities transmitted do not pass from one human being to his nearest descendant in the immediately following generation; the salient qualities and attributes cannot be transmitted directly from father to son, from mother to daughter, but only from father to grandson—thus to the second generation, then the fourth, and so on. The number seven is basic in the process of heredity through the generations; but as every other generation is skipped, we have, in reality, to do with the number fourteen.

The special physical constitution established in Abraham could reach the peak of its development after fourteen generations. But for this process to take effect in the etheric body and the astral body as well, the development which in the case of the individual proceeds during the period from the seventh to the fourteenth year would have to continue through a further seven, or in reality, fourteen generations, and then through a still further period of seven (or fourteen) generations, starting from the fourteenth year in the case of the individual human being. In other words : the physical constitution established in Abraham, the racial progenitor, had to develop through three times seven or rather three times fourteen generations; the development had then taken place in all the three sheaths—physical body, etheric body and astral body. Thus the process of heredity through three times fourteen generations, i.e. through forty-two generations, made it possible for a man to receive in the physical body, etheric body and astral body in a state of perfected development, what had been imparted to Abraham in its first rudiments.

Thus after three times fourteen generations, beginning with Abraham, we find a human body impregnated with what had been present in Abraham in its earliest rudiments. Only a body of this kind was suitable for Zarathustra in his incarnation. This is also made clear by the writer of the Gospel of St. Matthew. In the table of generations, fourteen generations are expressly enumerated from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian captivity, and fourteen from the captivity to Jesus Christ. Through these three times fourteen generations—in the sequence of which one is always skipped—the complete development has been achieved of what was imparted to Abraham for the mission of the Hebrew people. This was now fully impressed into the principles of human nature and thence could arise the body needed by Zarathustra for his incarnation in the epoch when a completely new impulse was to be brought to mankind through him.

The wisdom underlying the beginning of the Gospel of St. Matthew is indeed profound. It is essential, however, to understand what is indicated by these three times fourteen generations. In the body that it was possible for Joseph to provide for Jesus of Nazareth there was contained the essence of what had been present, in its rudiments, in Abraham; this had streamed into the whole Hebrew people and could then be concentrated in a single instrument, in the sheath used by Zarathustra by whom the incarnation of Christ was to be made possible.

Dritter Vortrag

Bevor wir heute zu unserem Thema übergehen, möchte ich eine kleine Ergänzung geben zu dem gestern Gesagten. Ich machte darauf aufmerksam, wie in den Vorgängen der Menschheitsentwickelung, namentlich in den großen bedeutungsvollen Vorgängen unseres Daseins, etwas zu sehen ist, was sich charakteristisch ausdrücken läßt durch eine Sprache, die hergenommen ist von den Vorgängen im Kosmos. Ich erwähnte, wie unmöglich es ist, klar, deutlich und auch eingehend dasjenige, was in bezug auf die großen Geheimnisse zu sagen ist, in gewöhnliche Worte zu kleiden.

Wenn wir jenen bedeutungsvollen Vorgang charakterisieren wollen, den wir nennen können die Wechselwirkung zwischen den zwei groBen Schülern des Zarathustra, zwischen Hermes oder Thoth und Moses, so können wir dies am besten dadurch tun, daß wir ihn darstellen als die Wiederholung eines großen kosmischen Vorganges, wobei wir diesen letzteren allerdings so auffassen müssen, daß er uns im Sinne der okkulten Weisheit, im Sinne der Geheimwissenschaft erscheint. Blikken wir, um diesen kosmischen Vorgang zunächst vor uns zu haben, wiederholentlich zurück auf jene Zeit, da sich unsere Erde von ihrer Sonne getrennt hat, wo beide also sozusagen mit einem selbständigen Zentrum ein eigenes Leben im Kosmos weiterführten. Wir können uns diesen Vorgang so vorstellen, daß wir uns die gesamte Substantialität der Erde und der Sonne in urferner Vergangenheit als ein Ganzes denken, gleichsam als einen großen Weltenleib, und daß sich diese beiden in urferner Vergangenheit trennten. Allerdings muß dabei immer im Auge behalten werden, daß wir dabei andere kosmische Vorgänge unberücksichtigt lassen, die der Trennung von Sonne und Erde parallel gingen, als die Abspaltung der anderen Planeten unseres Sonnensystems. Für unsere Zwecke können wir die Zeitverhältnisse dieser anderen Trennungen zunächst unberücksichtigt lassen und können sagen: Es fand also einmal eine Trennung in der Weise statt, daß die Sonne das eine Zentrum bildete und die Erde das andere.

Wenn wir nun diesen Zeitpunkt der Erden-Sonnentrennung ins Auge fassen, müssen wir zunächst auch berücksichtigen, daß wir hierbei auf Zeiten zurückblicken, in denen dasjenige, was jetzt als «Erde» bezeichnet ist, noch die Substantialität unseres heutigen Mondes in sich, in ihrem eigenen Schoße hatte, so daß da gleichsam Erde + Mond und Sonne einander gegenüberstehen. Alles, was vor dieser Trennung an geistigen, physischen Kräften vorhanden war, spaltete sich in der Weise, daß gleichsam das gröbere Element, die gröberen, dichteren Wirksamkeiten mit der Erde gingen, während die feineren, höheren, geistig-ätherischen Wirksamkeiten mit der Sonne gingen. Nun müssen wir uns vorstellen, daß eine längere Zeit hindurch Erde und Sonne voneinander getrennt ihre Lebensentwickelung durchmachten, daß zunächst alles, was von der Sonne ausging zur Erde hin, ganz anderer Natur war als etwa jene Wirkungen, welche heute von der Sonne auf die Erde herunter sich tätig erweisen. Da haben wir zuerst eine Art Erdendasein, ein Erdenleben, das sich sozusagen erweist als ein inneres, verschlossenes Erdenleben, welches wenig annimmt von dem Sonnenleben, von dem, was da geistig und in seinem Ausdruck physisch von der Sonne auf die Erde herunterstrahlt.

In dieser ersten Zeit der Sonnen-Erdentrennung war es ja so, daß die Erde gewissermaßen einer Vertrocknung, einer Verdorrung, einer Mumifizierung entgegenging. Und wenn es so geblieben wäre, daß die Erde den Mond in ihrem Schoß behalten hätte, so wäre das Leben, das heute auf der Erde besteht, niemals möglich geworden. Während die Erde noch den Mond in sich hatte, konnte das Sonnenleben sich nicht in vollem Maße wirksam erweisen; das konnte es erst später, nachdem die Erde dasjenige, was heute Mond ist, von sich abgesondert hatte, und gerade so die geistigen Wesenheiten, die mit dem Mond verbunden sind, aus sich heraussonderte, wie auch die Substantialität des Mondes von der Erde abgesondert worden ist.

Nun ist aber mit dieser Trennung des Mondes von der Erde noch etwas anderes verbunden. Wir müssen uns ja klar sein, daß alles, was wir heute das Leben auf unserer Erde nennen, sich langsam und allmählich entwickelt hat. Und wir geben in der Geisteswissenschaft auch die aufeinanderfolgenden Zustände an, wie sie sich herangebildet und entfaltet haben, welche das Erdenleben möglich machten. Da haben wir zuerst das alte Saturndasein, dann das alte Sonnendasein, das alte Mondendasein und zuletzt erst unser Erdendasein. Also demjenigen, was wir als Sonnentrennung oder auch als vorhergehendes Zusammensein der Erde mit der Sonne bezeichnen, dem gingen andere Entwickelungsprozesse voran von ganz anderer Natur, nämlich das Saturn-, Sonnen-, Mondendasein, aus dem sich dann erst unser Erdendasein entwickelte. Und als die Erde in der jetzigen Gestalt beginnt, da ist sie noch verbunden mit der Substanz aller Planeten, die zu unserem Sonnensystem gehören und die sich erst später herausdifferenzieren. Diese Herausdifferenzierung ist ein Ergebnis von Kräften, die während des Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondendaseins gewirkt haben.

Nun wissen wir, daß während des Saturndaseins nicht eine solche Konfiguration der Materie, des Stoffes vorhanden war, wie es heute der Fall ist. Feste Körper, flüssige oder wässerige Körper, sogar gasförmige, dampfförmige oder luftförmige Körper waren auf dem alten Saturn noch nicht vorhanden. Er war lediglich in seinem ganzen Gefüge etwas, was nur in Wärme vorhanden war. Eine bloße Wärmedifferenzierung, eine bloße Wärmestruktur war auf diesem alten Saturn vorhanden. Wir können daher sagen: Der alte Saturn hatte nur einen Wärmeleib, und alles, was sich auf ihm entwickelte, entwickelte sich in dem Element der Wärme. Ich brauche hier nicht zu wiederholen, daß derjenige, der so etwas sagt, ganz genau weiß, wie unmöglich es für die heutige Physik ist, sich einen solchen bloß aus Wärme bestehenden Leib zu denken, wie ja überhaupt «Wärme» für die heutige Physik nur ein Zustand, aber nicht etwas Substantielles ist. Aber es geht uns hier nicht die heutige Physik etwas an, sondern allein das, was die Wahrheit ist.

Nun geht die Entwickelung vorwärts von dem Wärmeleib des Saturn zu dem späteren alten Sonnenzustand. Da verdichtet sich gewissermaßen, wie es in der «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß» dargestellt ist, der Wärmeleib des Saturn. Ein Teil der Wärme bleibt natürlich vorhanden; aber es verdichtet sich der Wärmeleib zum Teil zum gasigen, luftförmigen Zustand der Sonne. Aber damit ist nicht nur eine Verdichtung verknüpft, sondern auch eine Verdünnung; es findet dabei auch statt eine Hinaufentwickelung zum Licht. Wir können daher sagen: Wenn wir hinüberschreiten von dem Wärmezustand des alten Saturn zum Sonnenzustand, so kommen wir da zu einem Weltenkörper, der in sich hat Luft, Wärme und Licht.

Und wenn wir dann von der Sonne weiterschreiten zu dem alten Mondenzustand, der unserem Erdenzustand vorangegangen ist, so finden wir, daß wiederum eine Verdichtung eintritt; wir finden jetzt nicht nur einen gasigen oder luftförmigen Zustand, sondern daneben auch einen wässerigen Zustand. Aber nach der anderen Seite, gleichsam nach der Vergeistigung, nach der Ätherisierung hin, ist auch eine Veränderung eingetreten. Wir sehen, daß nicht nur Licht vorhanden ist während des Mondenzustandes, sondern auch dasjenige, was man Klangäther nennt, der identisch ist mit dem heutigen chemischen Äther. Was hier als Klangäther bezeichnet wird, ist nicht dasselbe, was wir physisch als Klang oder Ton bezeichnen. Dieses letztere ist nur ein Abglanz dessen, was das hellscherische Vermögen als die Harmonie der Sphären, als ätherischen Ton empfindet, der durch die Welt webt und lebt. Wir sprechen daher von etwas viel Geistigerem, von etwas viel Ätherischerem, wenn wir von diesem Äther und diesem Klange selbst sprechen.

Dann kommen wir von dem alten Mondendasein zu dem Erdenzustand. Da findet die Verdichtung zum Festen statt. Solche festen Körper, wie sie auf der Erde sind, gab es auf dem alten Mond nicht. Das ist erst ein Zustand, der sich auf der Erde gebildet hat. So haben wir jetzt auf der Erde Wärme, Gasförmiges oder Luftförmiges, Wässeriges oder Flüssiges und feste Körper, und auf der anderen Seite haben wir Lichtäther, Klangäther und dann Lebensäther. Das ist dasjenige, wozu es die Entwickelung auf der Erde gebracht hat. Wir haben auf der Erde also sieben Zustände elementarischer Natur, wie wir auf dem alten Saturn nur einen einzigen, einen mittleren, den Wärmezustand haben. Daher haben wir uns unsere Erde, als sie sich im Beginne ihres jetzigen Daseins aus dem kosmischen Dunkel heraushebt, wo sie noch mit der Sonne und auch mit den anderen Planeten vereinigt war, vorzustellen als in diesen sieben elementarischen Zuständen webend und lebend. Mit der Sonnentrennung aber geschieht etwas sehr Merkwürdiges.

Für das heutige äußere Leben, wie es sich darstellt unter den Wirkungsweisen, die von der Sonne zur Erde hereinstrahlen, findet sich zwar Wärme und Licht, aber unter diese Wirkungsweisen, die der wahrnehmbaren Sinneswelt angehören und in das ganze Gebiet der sinnlichen Wahrnehmungen fallen, gehören nicht die Äußerungen, die Offenbarungen des Klangäthers und des Lebensäthers. Aus diesem Grunde ist es auch, daß dasjenige, was wir die Wirkungen des Klangäthers nennen, sich nur in den chemischen Zusammensetzungen und Zersetzungen, also in den gegenseitigen Verhältnissen des materiellen Daseins äußert. Und was wir die Wirkung des Lebensäthers nennen, so wie er von der Sonne hereinstrahlt, kann nicht direkt wahrgenommen werden vom Menschen in ähnlicher Weise, wie das Licht dem Menschen unmittelbar wahrnehmbar wird, indem er mit der sinnlichen Wahrnehmung Helligkeit und Dunkelheit unterscheidet. Es wird das Leben wahrgenommen in seinen Wirkungen in den lebenden Wesenheiten, nicht aber wird der einstrahlende Lebensäther direkt wahrgenommen. Daher ist auch die Wissenschaft gedrängt zu sagen, das Leben als solches sei ihr ein Rätsel. - So finden wir, daß die zwei obersten Arten der ätherischen Offenbarungen, Lebensäther und Klangäther, ob sie zwar von der Sonne ausgehen und zu dem Feinsten gehören, was von der Sonne ausgeht, doch nicht für das Erdenwerden unmittelbar offenbar werden. Da haben wir etwas, was, obwohl es von der Sonne herniederstrahlt, dem gewöhnlichen Wahrnehmen verborgen ist. Für alles, was im Klangäther und Lebensäther lebt, wird auf der Erde, auch für die heutigen Verhältnisse, sozusagen etwas menschliches Inneres wahrnehmbar. Nicht die unmittelbaren Wirkungen des Lebens und der Sphärenharmonie werden auf der Erde wahrnehmbar, wohl aber wird wahrnehmbar das, was in der ganzen Konstitution des Menschen wirkt.

Nun werde ich Ihnen das am leichtesten dadurch charakterisieren können, daß ich Sie noch einmal verweise auf die Entwickelung, welche der Mensch auf der Erde genommen hat. Wir wissen, daß in alten Zeiten bis in die atlantische Zeit hinein der Mensch begabt war mit einem unmittelbaren Hellsehen, durch das er mit seinem Wahrnehmungsvermögen nicht nur eine Sinnenwelt schaute wie heute, sondern durch das er die geistigen Hintergründe des sinnlichen Daseins schauen konnte. Wodurch konnte er das? Das war dadurch möglich, daß für die Menschen in jener alten Zeit ein Zwischenzustand vorhanden war, ein Zustand zwischen dem, was wir als unser heutiges Wachbewußtsein vom Aufwachen bis zum Einschlafen haben, und demjenigen, was wir den Schlafzustand nennen. Im Wachzustande nimmt der Mensch die physisch-sinnlichen Dinge wahr; im Schlafzustande nimmt er - oder die Mehrzahl der Menschen - zunächst heute gar nichts wahr, da lebt er nur. Würden Sie freilich hellseherisch dieses Leben des Menschen während des Schlafzustandes untersuchen, so würden Sie sonderbare Entdeckungen machen, sonderbar aber nur für den Menschen, der die Welt äußerlich betrachtet.

Während des Schlafzustandes ist der astralische Leib und das Ich des Menschen, das wissen wir, außerhalb seines physischen Leibes und Ätherleibes. Nun habe ich wiederholt darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß man sich nicht vorstellen soll, daß der astralische Leib und das Ich, die in der Nacht außerhalb des physischen und Ätherleibes sind, etwa nur wie eine Nebelwolke, wie man gewöhnlich sagt, ganz in der Nähe des physischen Leibes schweben. Was man als eine solche Nebelwolke zum Beispiel in dem Zustand eines niederen astralischen Hellsehens ansehen kann, und was wir den astralischen Leib nennen, das ist nur der gröbste Anfang dessen, was der Mensch während des Schlafzustandes darstellt. Und wenn man diese Wolke in der Nähe des physischen und Ätherleibes als das einzige ansehen wollte, würde man damit nur beweisen, daß man von den niedersten Formen des astralischen Hellsehens ausgeht. Was der Mensch in Wirklichkeit während des Schlafes ist, das ist weit ausgedehnt. In der Tat beginnen die Innenkräfte im astralischen Leibe und im Ich im Augenblicke des Einschlafens sich auszudehnen über das ganze Sonnensystem, sie werden ein Teil des ganzen Sonnensystems. Von überall her saugt der Mensch in seinen astralischen Leib und in sein Ich die Kräfte zur Stärkung dieses Lebens ein, wenn er im Schlafzustande ist, um sich dann beim Aufwachen wieder zusammenzuziehen in die engeren Grenzen seiner Haut und in diese das hineinzufügen, was er in der Nacht herausgesogen hat aus dem Gesamtumfange des Sonnensystems. Deshalb nannten auch die mittelalterlichen Okkultisten diesen geistigen Leib des Menschen den «astralischen» Leib, weil er verbunden ist mit den Sternenwelten und aus ihnen seine Kräfte saugt. So können wir sagen: Der Mensch ist tatsächlich während des Nachtschlafens ausgedehnt über das ganze Sonnensystem.

Was durchdringt nun während des Schlafes unseren astralischen Leib? Wenn wir außerhalb unseres physischen Leibes sind in derNacht, dann ist unser astralischer Leib durchlebt und durchwebt von den Sphärenharmonien, von dem, was sonst sich nur im Äther, im Klangäther verbreiten kann. Wie etwa auf einer Metallplatte, die mit einem gewissen Staub bestreut worden ist, die Schwingungen, die die Luft durchpulsen, wenn man die Platte mit einem Violinbogen streicht, auch innerhalb dieses Staubes fortpulsieren und die bekannten Chladnischen Klangfiguren erzeugen, so durchzittern und durchpulsen den Menschen während der Nacht die Sphärenharmonien und bringen wieder in Ordnung, was der Mensch während des Tages mit den äuBeren Sinneswahrnehmungen in Unordnung gebracht hat. Und was den Lebensäther durchwebt und durchlebt, das durchpulst uns auch während des Schlafzustandes, nur hat der Mensch keine Wahrnehmung für dieses innerliche Leben seiner Hüllen, wenn er vom physischen und Ätherleibe getrennt ist. Im normalen Zustande besitzt der Mensch nur ein Wahrnehmen, wenn er wieder untertaucht in den physischen Leib und Ätherleib und die äußeren Organe des Ätherleibes zum Denken und die äußeren Organe des physischen Leibes zum sinnlichen Wahrnehmen benutzt.

Aber in den alten Zeiten gab es eben Zwischenzustände zwischen Wachen und Schlafen, die heute nur auf abnorme Weise herbeigeführt werden können und im gewöhnlichen Leben wegen der damit verbundenen Gefahr auch gar nicht herbeigeführt werden sollen. In den atlantischen Zeiten aber waren diese Wahrnehmungsfähigkeiten normalerweise entwickelt, es waren Zwischenzustände zwischen Wachen und Schlafen. Dadurch konnte sich der Mensch in dasjenige hineinversetzen, was lebte und webte in der Sphärenharmonie und in dem Lebensäther. Mit anderen Worten: Der Mensch konnte in den alten Zeiten — wenn auch in den Erdenwirkungen die Sphärenharmonie und das Leben sich nur in den äußeren Liebewesen zeigen — durch das alte Hellsehen wahrnehmen, was ihm die Sonne zustrahlte als Sphärenharmonie und als das den Raum durchpulsende Leben.

Diese Möglichkeit hörte nach und nach auf. Es schloß sich das Tor gegenüber diesen Wahrnehmungen, als der Mensch die alte Hellsichtigkeit verlor. Und damit trat dann allmählich etwas anderes ein: die innere Kraft des Wissens, die innere Kraft des Erkennens. Erst dadurch lernte der Mensch innerlich nachsinnen, innerlich nachdenken. Alles, was wir heute im wachen Leben unser Nachdenken über die Dinge der physischen Weltnennen und soweiter, also unser eigentliches Innenleben, das entwickelte sich erst mit dem Schwinden deralten Hellsichtigkeit. Ein solches Innenleben, wie es der Mensch heute hat, das in den Gefühlen, Empfindungen, Gedanken und Vorstellungen verläuft und das im Grunde das Schöpferische unserer Kultur ausmacht, hatte der Mensch in den ersten atlantischen Zeiten noch nicht. Er lebte in den Zwischenzuständen zwischen Wachen und Schlafen ausgegossen in eine geistige Welt, und die Sinnenwelt nahm er wie in einem Nebel wahr, jedenfalls war sie dem Verständnis, den inneren Spiegelbildern des äußeren Lebens vollständig entrückt. - Das äußere Leben steigt also auf, während das alte Hellsehen allmählich verschwindet.

So können wir sagen: Es entwickelte sich in unserem Inneren etwas, was ein schwacher Abglanz dessen ist, was wir die Sphärenharmonie nennen und die Wirkung des Lebensäthers. Aber in demselben Maße, wie sich der Mensch innerlich erfüllt fühlte mit Empfindungen, mit Wahrnehmungen, die ihm die äußere Welt wiederholten und die sein heutiges Innenleben ausbildeten, in demselben Maße schwand für ihn die Sphärenmusik. Und in demselben Maße, wie sich der Mensch fühlte als eineIch-Wesenheit, schwand für ihn hin dieWahrnehmung des die Welt durchpulsenden göttlichen Lebensäthers. Der Mensch mußte sich den jetzigen Zustand dadurch erkaufen, daß er gewisse Seiten des äußeren Lebens verlor. So fühlte der Mensch als Erdenwesen in sich abgeschlossen das Leben, das er als direkt von der Sonne ausstrahlend nicht mehr wahrnehmen konnte; und nur einen schwachen Abglanz hat er von dem gewaltigen kosmischen Leben, von Sphärenklang und Lebensäther, heute in seinem Innenleben. ‚Auch für das menschliche Erkennen entwickelte sich wie eine Wiederholung das, was sich für die Erde selbst entwickelt hat. Die Erde wäre, als sie sich von der Sonne abgetrennt hatte, in sich verschlossen worden, wäre verhärtet worden, wenn sie weiter verbunden geblieben wäre mit all den Substantialitäten, mit denen sie sich von der Sonne getrennt hatte. Die Sonne konnte mit ihren Wirkungen zunächst nicht in das Erdenwerden eingreifen, und das dauerte so lange, bis die Trennung des Mondes von der Erde eintrat. Deshalb haben wir in dem, was die Erde als Mond aus sich herauswarf, eine Abstoßung all derjenigen Substantialitäten zu erblicken, welche es der Erde unmöglich machten, die direkten Sonnenwirkungen zu empfangen. Und indem sie den Mond aus sich heraussetzte, öffnete sie dadurch ihr Sein und ihr Wesen erst so recht den Einflüssen, den Wirkungen der von ihr getrennten Sonne, kam gleichsam der Sonne entgegen. Entgegen jener Richtung, in der sich die Erde selbst von der Sonne getrennt hatte, schickte sie einen Teil ihres eigenen Wesens, den Mond, der dann die Wirkung des Sonnenwesens der Erde reflektiert wiedergab, wie er äußerlich das Licht wiedergibt. In der Abspaltung des Mondes von der Erde liegt also etwas höchst Bedeutungsvolles vor: das Sich-Öffnen der Erde gegenüber den Sonnenwirkungen.

Was so kosmisch geschah, das mußte auch eintreten - sich wiederholend - für das Menschenleben. Die Erde hatte sich längst geöffnet dem Sonnenwirken, da war erst der richtige Zeitpunkt gekommen, wo sich der Mensch abschließen mußte den unmittelbaren Sonnenwirkungen. Die unmittelbaren Sonnenwirkungen waren für die atlantischen Menschen noch vorhanden in ihrem Hellsehen; da empfingen die Atlantier das, was von der Sonne hereinstrahlte. Und wie für die Erde eine Zeit eintrat, wo sie anfing sich zu verhärten, so trat für den Menschen eine Zeit ein, wo er sich zurückzog, ein Innenleben entwikkelte und sich nicht der Sonnenwirkung mehr öffnen konnte. Und dieser Prozeß der Heranbildung eines Innenlebens, wo sich der Mensch nicht der Sonne öffnen konnte und nur in sich selber das entwickeln konnte, was ein schwacher Abglanz war der Wirkungen des Lebensäthers, des Klangäthers, der Sphärenharmonie, diese Zeit dauerte lange bis in die nachatlantische Zeit hinein.

So gab es also in den ersten Zeiten der atlantischen Entwickelung ein unmittelbares Wahrnehmen der Sonnenwirkungen. Dann verschlossen sich die Menschen diesen Wirkungen. Und als dieselben nicht mehr in den Menschen hereindringen konnten, während das menschliche Innenleben dafür immer mehr und mehr aufblühte, da waren es nur die heiligen Mysterien, welche ihre Bekenner so zur Entwickelung der geistigen Kräfte brachten, daß der Mensch sozusagen entgegen den normalen Erdverhältnissen, durch das, was man mit Joga bezeichnen kann, die Sonnenwirkungen unmittelbar wahrnehmen konnte. Daher entwickelten sich in der zweiten Hälfte der atlantischen Zeit die mit Recht Orakel genannten Stätten innerhalb des atlantischen Landes, wo innerhalb einer Menschheit, die normalerweise nicht mehr die direkten Wirkungen des Klangäthers und des Lebensäthers wahrnehmen konnte, solche Schüler und Bekenner der heiligen Weisheit ausgebildet wurden, die dadurch, daß sie das bloße sinnliche Wahrnehmen zunächst unterdrückten, die Offenbarungen des Klangäthers und des Lebensäthers wahrnehmen konnten. Und diese Möglichkeit blieb erhalten für die wirklichen Stätten der Geheimwissenschaft in der nachatlantischen Zeit. Es ist ja so stark geblieben, daß selbst die äußere Wissenschaft, ob sie es zwar nicht versteht, noch eine Überlieferung aus der Schule des Pythagoras bewahrt hat, die dahin geht, daß man die Sphärenharmonien hören kann. Nur verwandelt die äußere Wissenschaft so etwas wie die Sphärenharmonie gleich in ein Abstraktum — was sie aber nicht war - und denkt nur nicht das, was sie ist. Denn in Wirklichkeit verstand man in den Pythagoreerschulen unter der Fähigkeit der Wahrnehmung der Sphärenharmonie das reale Sich-wieder-Öffnen der menschlichen Wesenheit dem Klangäther, der Sphärenharmonie, und dem realen göttlichen Lebensäther.

Nun war gerade derjenige, der am gewaltigsten, am großartigsten darauf hinwies, daß hinter der Wirksamkeit der Sonne, wie sie auf die Erde hereinstrahlt mit ihrem Licht und ihrer Wärme, noch etwas anderes ist, etwas, das Klangeswirksamkeit, ja Lebenswirksamkeit ist, die sich im menschlichen Innenleben eben nur in einem schwachen Abglanz geltend machen, Zarathustra oder Zoroaster. Und wenn wir seine Lehre in eine Sprache übersetzen wollen, die von unseren heutigen Worten genommen ist, so können wir sagen, er hat seine Schüler folgendes gelehrt: Wenn ihr hinaufschaut zur Sonne, so nehmt ihr die wohltätige Wärme wahr und das wohltätige Licht, das der Erde zustrahlt; wenn ihr aber höhere Organe entwickelt, wenn ihr geistiges Wahrnehmen entwickelt, so könnt ihr das Sonnenwesen wahrnehmen, das hinter dem physischen Sonnenleben ist; und dann nehmt ihr wahr Klangeswirkungen und in den Klangeswirkungen Lebenssinn! - Was so als Geistiges hinter den physischen Sonnenwirkungen als Nächstes wahrzunehmen war, das bezeichnete Zarathustra für seine Schüler als Ormuzd, als Ahura Mazdao, als die Große Aura der Sonne. Wir werden es daher begreiflich finden, daß man in der Übersetzung das Wort Ahura Mazdao auch die «große Weisheit» nennen kann, im Gegensatz zu dem, was der Mensch heute in sich als die kleine Weisheit entwickelt. Die große Weisheit ist die, welche er wahrnimmt, wenn er die Geistigkeit der Sonne, die große Sonnenaura wahrnimmt.

So konnte ein Dichter, auf alte Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung blickend, hinweisen auf dasjenige, was für den Geistesforscher eine Wahrheit ist, und sagen:

«Die Sonne tönt nach alter Weise
In Brudersphären Wettgesang,
Und ihre vorgeschriebne Reise
Vollendet sie mit Donnergang.»

Ästhetlinge werden das natürlich für etwas Gesuchtes halten. Sie haben es so gern, wenn man sagt, es sei dichterische Freiheit, wenn Goethe die Sonne tönen läßt. Sie ahnen nicht, was ein Dichter im Sinne Goethes ist, der nur Realitäten schildert, wenn er sagt: «Die Sonne tönt nach alter Weise», das heißt nach der Weise, wie sie die alte Menschheit gekannt hat. Denn so tönt sie auch heute noch für den, der eingeweiht ist.

Darauf hatte Zarathustra seine Schüler hingewiesen. Er hatte natürlich unter seinen Schülern besonders die zwei auf diese gewaltige Tatsache hingewiesen, die wir als seine intimsten Schüler bezeichnen konnten, die dann in ihren Wiederverkörperungen als Hermes und Moses erschienen sind. Aber auf zwei ganz verschiedene Arten hat er sie hingewiesen auf das, was hinter dem lichthaften Sonnenleib ist. Er hat den Hermes so darauf hingewiesen, daß dieser in dem verblieb, was unmittelbar von der Sonne herkommt. Und er hat den Moses so inspiriert, daß er wie in einer Erinnerung behielt, was das Geheimnis der Sonnenweisheit ist.

Wenn wir nun im Sinne der «Geheimwissenschaft» uns vorstellen die Erde nach der ’Trennung von der Sonne, das Hinausgehen der Mondenkräfte von der Erde, und dieses alles nach dem Sich-Öffnen der Erde gegen die Sonne, so haben wir in Venus und Merkur dasjenige, was mitten drinnen steht zwischen Erde und Sonne. Und wenn wir nun den ganzen Zwischenraum zwischen Sonne und Erde einteilen in drei Mittelglieder, so können wir sagen: Die Erde hat sich von der Sonne herausgetrennt; sie selber hat der Sonne entgegengeschickt den Mond. Es haben sich dann abgespalten von der Sonne und sind der Erde entgegengekommen Venus und Merkur. So daß wir also in Venus und Merkur etwas zu sehen haben, was von der Sonne herankommt an die Erde und in dem Mond etwas, was der Sonne entgegengeht.

Wie sich die kosmischen Verhältnisse gestalten, so gestalten sich, wie in einer Spiegelung, auch die Verhältnisse in der Menschheitsentwickelung. Wenn wir die Offenbarungen des Zarathustra als Sonnenweisheitannehmen, die er auf der einen Seite dem Hermes, auf der anderen dem Moses vermittelte, so war dasjenige, was in Hermes lebte, weil er ja den astralischen Leib des Zarathustra in sich hatte, das von Zarathustra Ausstrahlende der Sonnenweisheit; und was in Moses lebte, war sozusagen abgeschlossen wie ein abgeschlossener Weisheitsplanet, der sich erst entgegenentwickeln mußte dem, was direkt von der Sonne ausstrahlte. Wie also die Erdenwirksamkeit durch das Abgeben des Mondes sich öffnete der Sonnenwirksamkeit, so öffnete sich die Moses-Weisheit der direkt von Zarathustra ausstrahlenden Weisheit, der Sonnenweisheit. Und diese beiden, die Erdenweisheit des Moses und die Sonnenweisheit des Zarathustra in Hermes, trafen zusammen in Ägypten, wo das Mosestum mit dem Hermestum zusammentrifft. So daß wir dasjenige, was Moses aus sich selbst herausentwickelte, was er, wie aus der Entfernung von Zarathustra aufnehmend, in sich selber erweckte, ausstrahlte und seinem Volke überlieferte, analog aufzufassen haben dem Ausschleudern der von der Erde.

Was Moses so als Weisheit für sein Volk ausstrahlte, das können wir auch nennen nach dem Namen, der die Moses-Weisheit zusammenfaßt, die Jahve- oder Jehovaweisheit. Denn wenn wir den Namen Jahve oder Jehova in richtiger Weise verstehen, ist er wie ein Resume der gesamten Moses-Weisheit. Wenn wir aber das so auffassen, wird uns auch verständlich, warum die alten Traditionen Jahve oder Jehova eine Mondgottheit nennen. Diese Tatsache werden Sie in vielen Mitteilungen finden, aber den Grund dafür können Sie erst einsehen, wenn Sie diese tiefen Zusammenhänge auf sich wirken lassen. Wie die Erde das, was sie als Mond in sich enthielt, heraussetzte und der Sonne entgegenschickte, so mußte auch die Erdenweisheit des Moses dem Hermes entgegengehen, der ja die unmittelbare Weisheit des Zarathustra besaß in dem von Zarathustra hingeopferten Astralleibe, und dann sich selber entwickeln. Wir haben schon charakterisiert, wie nach dieser Begegnung mit Hermes das Mosestum sich entwickelte bis in das davidische Zeitalter, und wie ein anderes, ein neues Hermestum oder Merkurtum erscheint in David, dem königlichen Krieger und göttlichen Sänger des hebräischen Volkes. Und wir haben gesehen, wie das Mosestum näher kommt dem Sonnenelement, als es sich neuerdings berührt während der babylonischenGefangenschaft mit der ausstrahlendenSonnenweisheit, weil Zarathustra unter dem Namen Zarathas oder Nazarathos selber derLehrer der hebräischen Eingeweihten während der babylonischen Gefangenschaft war. So sehen wir in der Moses-Weisheit etwas, was den ganzen kosmischen Gang der Erdentrennung von der Sonne und das, was mit der Erde hinterher geschehen ist, wiederholt.

Solche Zusammenhänge erschienen als etwas, was die alten Weisen des hebräischen Volkes und alle die, welche sie fühlten, mit tiefster Ehrfurcht erfüllte. Sie fühlten etwas wie unmittelbare Offenbarungen, die ihnen aus den Weltenräumen und dem Weltensein selber entgegenstrahlten. Und eine solche Persönlichkeit wie die des Moses erschien ihnen wie ein Sendbote der kosmischen Mächte selber. Sie fühlten es. Und so etwas müssen wir nachfühlen, wenn wir wirklich die alten Zeiten verstehen wollen, sonst bleibt alles Verstehen nur eine leere Abstraktion.

Nun handelt es sich darum, daß dasjenige, was so von Zarathustra ausgestrahlt ist und sich durch Hermes und Moses auf die Nachwelt ergossen hat, sich in einer entsprechenden Weise auch so fortentwikkeln konnte, daß es auf höherer Stufe wiedererscheinen konnte in einer anderen Form, in einer höheren Ausbildungsform. Dazu war notwendig, daß Zarathustra selber, die Individualität, die vorher nur hingeopfert hatte den astralischen Leib und den Ätherleib, in einem physischen Leibe auf der Erde erscheinen konnte, um auch diesen hinzuopfern. Das ist ein Stufengang, ein schöner Stufengang. Erst lebte in uralten Zeiten Zarathustra auf seine Art und gab den Impuls der nachatlantischen Entwickelung in der urpersischen, in der iranischen Kultur. Dann gab er seinen astralischen Leib ab, um eine nächste Kultur in Szene zu setzen durch Hermes, und er gab seinen Ätherleib ab an Moses. So hatte er zwei seiner Hüllen hingeopfert. Nun mußte er auch noch Gelegenheit erhalten, seinen physischen Leib hinzuopfern. Denn das erforderte das große Geheimnis der Entwickelung der Menschheit, daß von einem Wesen die drei Leiber hingeopfert werden konnten. Für Hermes hatte Zarathustra hingeopfert seinen astralischen Leib, für Moses seinen Ätherleib. Das dritte, was ihm noch bevorstand, war die Hinopferung des physischen Leibes. Dazu bedurfte es besonderer Veranstaltungen, dazu mußte der physische Leib des Zarathustra erst in besonderer Weise zubereitet sein. Und wir haben gestern schon darauf hingedeutet, wie durch das eigentümliche Leben beim hebräischen Volke durch Generationen hindurch jener physische Leib zubereitet wurde, der dann von Zarathustra hingeopfert werden konnte als sein drittes großes Opfer. Dazu war notwendig, daß in dem hebräischen Volke alles, was sonst direkte äußere geistige Wahrnehmung, was astralisches Schauen war, was bei den turanischen Völkern in Dekadenz gekommen war, innerliche Wirksamkeit wurde.

Das ist das Geheimnis des hebräischen Volkes. Während bei den turanischen Völkern die Kräfte, welche Erbstücke aus alter Zeit waren, der Zubereitung äußerer Hellseherorgane dienten, strahlten sie beim hebräischen Volke nach innen und organisierten die innere Leiblichkeit, so daß das hebräische Volk ausersehen war, im Inneren zu fühlen und zu empfinden, was sonst geschaut worden war während der atlantischen Zeit, ausgebreitet über den Sinnesraum hinter den einzelnen sinnlichen Dingen. Jahve oder Jehova, wie ihn bewußt ausspricht das hebräische Volk, ist der in einem Punkt zusammengefaßte «Große Geist», der hinter allen Dingen und Wesenheiten dem uralten Hellsehen erschien. Auch das wird uns angedeutet, daß der Stammvater dieses althebräischen Volkes in einer ganz besonderen Art und Weise, eben als Stammvater, diese innere Organisation erhalten hat.

Ich bemerke an dieser Stelle etwas, was ich auch schon öfter bemerkt habe: daß Sagen und Legenden, die in bildhafter Weise von den Tatsachen erzählen, die sich in alten Zeiten zugetragen haben, wahrer und zutreffender sind als die heutige anthropologische Forschung, die aus den heutigen Ausgrabungen und einzelnen Denkmalsfetzen ein Bild des Weltenwerdens zusammensetzt. Die alten Legenden werden in den meisten Fällen bewahrheitet von dem, was wir die geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung nennen. Ich sage «in den meisten» und nicht «in allen», weil ich es nicht untersucht habe, obwohl es sehr wahrscheinlich überall da, wo es wirkliche alte Legenden sind, der Fall ist. So führt uns auch das hebräische Volk, wenn wir seinem Ursprung nachgehen, nicht auf das zurück, was heute eine anthropologische Forschung vermutet, sondern es führt uns wirklich zurück auf einen Stammvater, von dem uns die Bibel erzählt. Das ist eine wirkliche Gestalt, dieser Abraham oder Abram, und es ist durchaus wahr, was die talmudische Legende von diesem Stammvater erzählt.

In dieser Legende wird uns der Vater des Abraham geschildert als ein Feldherr jener sagenhaften, aber wiederum wirklichen Persönlichkeit, die in der Bibel als «Nimrod» bezeichnet wird. Und auf Grund eines Traumerlebnisses wird der Sohn seines Feldherrn dem Nimrod angekündigt von denen, die die Zeichen der Zeit verstehen, als eine Wesenheit, die viele Könige und Herrscher entthronen werde. Nimrod fürchtet sich davor und befiehlt, daß der Sohn seines Feldherrn getötet werde. Das erzählt die Legende; das bestätigt uns die okkulte Forschung. Der Vater des Abraham ergreift eine Ausflucht und zeigt ein fremdes Kind dem Nimrod vor. Das eigene Kind aber, Abraham, wird in einer Höhle auferzogen. Und die Tatsache, daß wirklich Abraham der erste ist, der durch jene Kräfte, die sonst für die äuBeren hellseherischen Fähigkeiten Verwendung fanden, jetzt im Inneren jene organisatorische Kraft entwickelt, die zum inneren Gottesbewußtsein führen soll, diese Umkehrung der ganzen Kraftsumme wird angedeutet in der Legende dadurch, daß das Kind während der drei Jahre, wo es in der Höhle auferzogen wird, Milch saugt durch Gottes Gnade aus seinem eigenen Finger der rechten Hand. Das Durch-sich-selber-Genährtwerden, das Hineingehen der Kräfte, welche früher die alte Hellsichtigkeit bewirkt haben, in die innere Organisation des Menschen, das wird uns in dem Stammvater des hebräischen Volkes, in Abraham, in wunderbarer Weise charakterisiert. Solche Legenden wirken, wenn man ihren eigentlichen Grund erfährt, mit einer solchen Kraft auf uns, daß wir uns sagen: Wir begreifen es, daß die alten Mitteiler dasjenige, was hinter den Legenden steht, nicht anders sagen konnten als in Bildern. Aber diese Bilder waren geeignet, wenn auch nicht das Bewußtsein, so doch die Gefühle für die großen Tatsachen hervorzurufen. Und das genügte für die alten Zeiten.

So ist Abraham derjenige, der zuerst den inneren Abglanz der göttlichen Weisheit, des göttlichen Schauens, in so recht menschlicher Weise als menschliches Denken über das Göttliche entwickelt. Abram oder Abraham, wie er später genannt wurde, hatte tatsächlich, was die okkulte Forschung immer zu betonen hat, eine andere physische Organisation als alles, was sonst an Menschen um ihn herum lebte. Die Menschen ringsherum waren damals in ihrer Organisation nicht so, daß sie inneres Denken durch ein besonderes Werkzeug hätten ausbilden können. Sie konnten Denken ausbilden, wenn sie leibfrei wurden, wenn sie sozusagen in ihrem Ätherleib Kräfte entwickelten; wenn sie aber im physischen Leibe darinnen steckten, hatten sie noch nicht ausgebildet das Werkzeug des Denkens. Abraham ist in der Tat der erste, der in vorzüglicher Weise das physische Werkzeug des Denkens ausgebildet hatte. Daher wird er nicht mit Unrecht — auch das ist natürlich wieder mit dem nötigen granum salis zu verstehen - als der Erfinder der Arithmetik bezeichnet, der in vorzüglicher Weise auf das Instrument des physischen Leibes angewiesenen Gedankenwissenschaft. Arithmetik ist etwas, was in seiner Form, wegen seiner inneren Gewißheit, nahe herantritt an das, was hellscherisch gewußt werden kann. Aber es ist die Arithmetik angewiesen auf ein leibliches Organ.

So haben wir hier einen tiefinneren Zusammenhang zwischen dem, was äußere Kräfte bisher zum Hellsehen benutzten, und dem, was jetzt ein inneres Organ benutzt zum Denken. Das ist darin angedeutet, daß man Abraham als den Erfinder der Arithmetik kennzeichnet. Wir haben daher in Abraham diejenige Persönlichkeit zu sehen, welche zuerst eingepflanzt erhalten hat das physische Organ des Denkens, jenes Organ, durch das der Mensch mit seinem physischen Denken sich erheben konnte zu dem Gedanken an einen Gott. Früher konnte der Mensch von Gott und göttlichem Dasein nur etwas wissen durch hellseherische Beobachtung. Alles, was aus alter Zeit stammte an Wissen über Gott und göttliches Dasein, das entstammte hellseherischer Beobachtung. Mit dem Gedanken sich zu erheben zum Göttlichen, dazu brauchte es eines physischen Werkzeuges; das ist dem Abraham zuerst eingepflanzt gewesen. Und da es sich hier um ein physisches Organ handelt, so war auch das ganze Verhältnis zur objektiven Welt und zur subjektiven Wesenheit des Menschen dieses Gottesgedankens, der durch ein physisches Werkzeug erfaßt wurde, ein anderes als früher.

Früher hatte man in den Geheimschulen in der göttlichen Weisheit den Gottesgedanken erfaßt, und man konnte ihn überliefern an denjenigen, der dies auch konnte, wenn er dahin gebracht wurde, daß er Wahrnehmungen haben konnte im Ätherleib, frei von den Organen des physischen Leibes. Soll aber das, was physisches Werkzeug ist, auf einen anderen übergehen, so gibt es nur ein Mittel: die Vererbung in der physischen Organisation. Was also für Abraham das Wichtigste, das Wesentlichste war, das physische Organ, das mußte, sollte es sich auf der Erde erhalten, in physischer Vererbung von Generation zu Generation fortgepflanzt werden, weil es eben ein physisches Organ war. So begreifen wir es, daß die Vererbung im Volke, sozusagen das Herunterrinnen dieser physischen Veranlagung durch das Blut der Generationen, ein so Wichtiges ist im hebräischen Volk.

Was aber bei Abraham zuerst physische Veranlagung war, nämlich Ausmeißelung, Auskristallisierung eines physischen Organs für das Erfassen des Göttlichen, das mußte sich erst einleben. Indem es sich vererbte von Generation zu Generation, drang es immer tiefer in die menschliche Wesenheit ein und erfaßte dieselbe immer tiefer, je tiefer es sich vererbte. Wir können daher sagen: Was Abraham empfangen hatte zur Mission des hebräischen Volkes, das mußte sich vervollkommnen, das mußte, indem es von Mensch zu Mensch durch die Vererbung überging, in der Fortentwickelung vollkommener werden. Es konnte aber das, was ein physisches Organ war, nur durch die Vererbung immer vollkommener werden.

Sollte nun diejenige Wesenheit, die wir als die Individualität des Zarathustra zunächst kennengelernt haben, einen möglichst vollkommenen physischen Leib haben, das heißt einen physischen Leib, der auch diejenigen Organe hatte, die ein Werkzeug sein konnten zum Erfassen des Gottesgedankens im physischen Menschenleibe, dann mußte auf die höchste Höhe gebracht werden, was als physisches Werkzeug dem Abraham eingepflanzt worden war. Es mußte innerlich sich befestigen, mußte sich vererben und so sich entwickeln, daß daraus ein richtiger Leib für den Zarathustra werden konnte mit all den Eigenschaften, die Zarathustra brauchte in seinem physischen Leibe. Wenn aber der physische Leib eines Menschen in dieser Weise vollkommen werden soll, wenn er so brauchbar werden soll, wie er für Zarathustra brauchbar sein sollte, dann durfte nicht bloß der physische Leib des Menschen vollkommener werden. Es ist natürlich unmöglich, daß für sich allein, herausgerissen aus dem gesamten Menschen, nur der physische Leib des Menschen vollkommen werde. Es mußten alle drei Hüllen nach und nach sich vervollkommnen durch physische Vererbung. Was also dem physischen Menschen, dem ätherischen und dem astralischen Menschen auf dem Wege durch die physische Vererbung gegeben werden kann, das mußte ihm gegeben werden in den aufeinanderfolgenden Generationen.

Nun besteht ein gewisses Gesetz innerhalb der Entwickelung. Dieses Gesetz kennen wir für die Entwickelung des einzelnen Menschen und haben es auch schon öfter charakterisiert. Wir haben gezeigt, wie beim Menschen ein besonderes Stück seiner Entwickelung die Zeit ausmacht von der Geburt bis zum sechsten, siebenten Jahre: In diese Zeit fällt hinein die Entwickelung des physischen Leibes. Die Entwikkelung des Ätherleibes fällt in die Zeit vom sechsten, siebenten Jahre bis zum vierzehnten, fünfzehnten. Von da ab bis zum einundzwanzigsten, zweiundzwanzigsten Jahre haben wir dann die Entwickelung des astralischen Leibes. Das ist sozusagen die Gesetzmäßigkeit, die durch die Siebenzahl bezeichnet wird, für die Entwickelung des einzelnen Menschen. Eine ähnliche Gesetzmäßigkeit besteht für die Entwickelung der Menschheit der äußeren Hüllen durch die Generationen hindurch, und wir werden auf die tieferen Gesetze dieses Vorganges noch hinzuweisen haben. Während der einzelne Mensch im Verlaufe von je sieben Jahren eine Entwickelungsstufe durchmacht, bis zum siebenten Jahre seinen physischen Leib entwickelt, der während dieser Zeit immer vollkommener und vollkommener wird, so wird das ganze Gefüge des physischen Leibes, wie es sich durch die Generationen hindurch vervollkommnen kann, durch sieben Generationen hindurch zu einer gewissen Vollkommenheit gebracht. Aber die Vererbung geschieht nicht so, daß sie von einem Menschen auf den nächsten Nachkommen übergeht, nicht direkt von der einen auf die nächste Generation. Es können die Eigenschaften, auf die es ankommt, nicht unmittelbar vom Vater auf den Sohn, von der Mutter auf die Tochter übergehen, sondern nur vom Vater auf den Enkel, also auf die zweite Generation, dann auf die vierte Generation und so weiter. Also es kann sich die Vererbung nicht unmittelbar ausleben. Wir müßten es bei den Generationen zu tun haben mit einer Vererbung in der Siebenzahl; aber da die Vererbung immer ein Glied überspringt, haben wir es in Wirklichkeit zu tun mit einer Vierzehnzahl.

Was in Abraham veranlagt war als physische Leiblichkeit, das konnte auf seiner Höhe angelangt sein nach vierzehn Generationen. Sollten aber auch der Ätherleib und der astralische Leib davon ergriffen werden, so mußte jene Entwickelung, die für den einzelnen Menschen weitergeht vom siebenten bis zum vierzehnten Jahre, durch weitere sieben beziehungsweise vierzehn Generationen hindurchgehen. Und was für den Menschen eine Entwickelung durch die nächsten sieben Jahre vom vierzehnten ab - ist, das mußte wieder durch vierzehn Generationen hindurchgehen. Das heißt also: Was bei dem Stammvater Abraham veranlagt war als physischeOrganisation,das mußte sich ausleben durch dreimal sieben beziehungsweise dreimal vierzehn Generationen; dann war es so, daß es ergriffen hatte den physischen Leib, den Ätherleib und den astralischen Leib. Durch dreimal vierzehn Generationen, das heißt durch zweiundvierzig Generationen, ist es einem Menschen durch die Vererbung in der Generationenreihe möglich, daß er dasjenige vollkommen im physischen Leibe, Ätherleibe und astralischen Leibe ausgebildet erhält, was Abraham in der ersten Anlage erhalten hat.

Gehen wir also von Abraham durch dreimal vierzehn Generationen hinunter, so haben wir einen Menschenleib, der in sich ganz durchdrungen, imprägniert ist mit dem, was in der ersten Anlage bei Abraham vorhanden war. Dies erst konnte der Leib sein, den Zarathustra für seine Verkörperung brauchen konnte. Das erzählt uns auch der Schreiber des Matthäus-Evangeliums. Und in der Generationentafel, die er gibt, deutet er noch ausdrücklich darauf hin, daß er vierzehn Glieder aufzählt von Abraham bis auf David, vierzehn von David bis zur babylonischen Gefangenschaft, und vierzehn von der babylonischen Gefangenschaft bis auf Christus. Durch diese dreimal vierzehn Glieder - wobei immer eines übersprungen ist - ist in gewisser Weise ganz zur Ausbildung gelangt, was bei Abraham für die Mission des hebräischen Volkes veranlagt war. Da ist es ganz in die Gliedrigkeit des Menschen eingeprägt. Da heraus konnte der Leib genommen werden, den Zarathustra brauchte, um zur Verkörperung zu kommen in der Zeit, als er ein ganz Neues der Menschheit eröffnen sollte.

So sehen wir, daß aus einer ganz besonderen Tiefe heraus der Beginn des Matthäus-Evangeliums geschöpft ist. Solche Dinge müssen wir aber erst verstehen. Wir müssen verstehen: Was uns mit diesen dreimal vierzehn Generationen gesagt ist, soll uns darauf hindeuten, wie in dem, was vererbt werden konnte von dem Joseph auf den Jesus von Nazareth, die Essenz dessen lebte, was in der ersten Anlage bei Abraham vorhanden war, was dann ausstrahlte in das ganze hebräische Volk und sich dann sammeln konnte in dem einen Instrument, in der einen Hülle, die die Hülle war für Zarathustra, in dem sich verkörpern konnte der Christus.

Third Lecture

Before we move on to today's topic, I would like to add a little to what I said yesterday. I pointed out how, in the processes of human development, especially in the great and significant events of our existence, something can be seen that can be expressed characteristically by a language taken from the processes in the cosmos. I mentioned how impossible it is to express clearly, distinctly, and thoroughly in ordinary words what needs to be said about the great mysteries.

If we want to characterize that significant process which we can call the interaction between the two great disciples of Zarathustra, between Hermes or Thoth and Moses, we can best do so by representing it as the repetition of a great cosmic process, whereby we must, of course, understand the latter in the sense of occult wisdom, in the sense of secret science. In order to have this cosmic process before us, let us look back repeatedly to the time when our Earth separated from its Sun, when both continued their own life in the cosmos with, so to speak, an independent center. We can imagine this process by thinking of the entire substance of the Earth and the Sun in the distant past as a whole, as a great world body, so to speak, and that these two separated in the distant past. However, we must always bear in mind that we are disregarding other cosmic processes that occurred parallel to the separation of the sun and the earth, such as the separation of the other planets in our solar system. For our purposes, we can disregard the time relationships of these other separations for the moment and say: A separation took place in such a way that the sun formed one center and the earth the other.

If we now consider this moment of the separation of the Earth and the Sun, we must first take into account that we are looking back to times when what we now call “Earth” still contained within itself, in its own womb, the substance of our present Moon, so that Earth + Moon and Sun were, as it were, facing each other. Everything that existed as spiritual and physical forces before this separation split in such a way that the coarser element, the coarser, denser forces, went with the Earth, while the finer, higher, spiritual-etheric forces went with the Sun. Now we must imagine that for a long time the Earth and the Sun underwent their life development separately from each other, that at first everything that emanated from the Sun toward the Earth was of a completely different nature than, for example, the effects that the Sun exerts on the Earth today. We have, then, a kind of earthly existence, an earthly life that proves to be, so to speak, an inner, closed earthly life that takes little from the life of the sun, from what shines down from the sun onto the earth in a spiritual and, in its expression, physical form.

In this first period of the separation of the sun and the earth, the earth was, so to speak, heading toward drying up, withering away, mummification. And if it had remained so, with the earth keeping the moon in its bosom, the life that exists on earth today would never have become possible. While the Earth still had the Moon within itself, the life of the Sun could not be fully effective; this was only possible later, after the Earth had separated from itself what is now the Moon, and in doing so separated from itself the spiritual beings connected with the Moon, just as the substantiality of the Moon was separated from the Earth.

But there is something else connected with this separation of the moon from the earth. We must be clear that everything we call life on our Earth today has developed slowly and gradually. And in spiritual science, we also describe the successive states as they formed and unfolded, which made life on Earth possible. First, we have the old Saturn existence, then the old Sun existence, the old Moon existence, and finally our Earth existence. So what we call the separation of the Sun, or the previous union of the Earth with the Sun, was preceded by other developmental processes of a completely different nature, namely the Saturn, Sun, and Moon existences, from which our Earth existence then developed. And when the Earth begins in its present form, it is still connected to the substance of all the planets that belong to our solar system and that only later differentiate themselves. This differentiation is the result of forces that were at work during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon existences.

Now we know that during the Saturn existence, there was no such configuration of matter, of substance, as is the case today. Solid bodies, liquid or watery bodies, even gaseous, vaporous, or airy bodies did not yet exist on the old Saturn. It was merely something that existed in its entire structure as heat. A mere differentiation of heat, a mere heat structure existed on this old Saturn. We can therefore say that the old Saturn had only a body of heat, and everything that developed on it developed in the element of heat. I need not repeat here that anyone who says such a thing knows very well how impossible it is for modern physics to conceive of a body consisting solely of heat, since “heat” is, for modern physics, merely a state and not something substantial. But we are not concerned here with modern physics, but only with what is true.

Now the development proceeds from the heat body of Saturn to the later old solar state. Here, as described in “The Secret Science in Outline,” the heat body of Saturn becomes denser, so to speak. Part of the heat naturally remains, but the heat body partly condenses into the gaseous, air-like state of the sun. But this is not only connected with a condensation, but also with a rarefaction; at the same time, an upward development toward light takes place. We can therefore say that when we pass from the heat state of the old Saturn to the sun state, we come to a world body that contains air, heat, and light.

And when we then proceed from the sun to the old lunar state that preceded our earth state, we find that condensation occurs again; we now find not only a gaseous or airy state, but also a watery state. But on the other side, as it were, toward spiritualization, toward etherization, a change has also taken place. We see that not only is light present during the lunar state, but also what is called sound ether, which is identical with today's chemical ether. What is called sound ether here is not the same as what we physically call sound or tone. The latter is only a reflection of what the clairvoyant faculty perceives as the harmony of the spheres, as an ethereal sound that weaves and lives through the world. We therefore speak of something much more spiritual, of something much more ethereal, when we speak of this ether and this sound itself.

Then we come from the old lunar existence to the earth state. There the condensation into solid matter takes place. Such solid bodies as they are on Earth did not exist on the old Moon. This is only a state that has formed on Earth. So now we have on Earth heat, gaseous or airy substances, watery or liquid substances, and solid bodies, and on the other hand we have light ether, sound ether, and then life ether. This is what development on Earth has brought about. So on Earth we have seven states of an elementary nature, whereas on ancient Saturn we had only one, a middle state, the state of heat. Therefore, we must imagine our Earth, when it emerged from the cosmic darkness at the beginning of its present existence, when it was still united with the Sun and also with the other planets, as weaving and living in these seven elemental states. But with the separation of the Sun, something very remarkable happens.

For today's external life, as it appears under the influences radiating from the sun to the earth, there is indeed warmth and light, but these influences, which belong to the perceptible sensory world and fall within the entire realm of sensory perception, do not include the manifestations, the revelations of the sound ether and the life ether. This is also why what we call the effects of the sound ether are only expressed in chemical compositions and decompositions, that is, in the mutual relationships of material existence. And what we call the effect of the life ether, as it radiates from the sun, cannot be directly perceived by humans in the same way that light is immediately perceptible to humans through their sensory perception of light and darkness. Life is perceived in its effects in living beings, but the radiating life ether is not directly perceived. Therefore, science is compelled to say that life as such is a mystery to it. Thus we find that the two highest types of etheric manifestations, the life ether and the sound ether, although they emanate from the sun and belong to the most subtle of the sun's emanations, are not immediately apparent in the process of becoming earth. Here we have something which, although it radiates down from the sun, is hidden from ordinary perception. For everything that lives in the sound ether and life ether, something human, so to speak, becomes perceptible on earth, even under present conditions. It is not the immediate effects of life and the harmony of the spheres that are perceptible on earth, but rather that which is at work in the entire constitution of the human being.

Now I can characterize this most easily by referring you once again to the development that human beings have undergone on earth. We know that in ancient times, up until the Atlantean epoch, human beings were gifted with direct clairvoyance, through which they not only saw a sensory world with their faculties of perception, as we do today, but through which they could see the spiritual background of sensory existence. How were they able to do this? This was possible because in those ancient times there was an intermediate state for human beings, a state between what we now call our waking consciousness from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep, and what we call the state of sleep. In the waking state, human beings perceive physical, sensory things; in the sleeping state, they—or at least the majority of them—do not perceive anything at first, they merely exist. If you were to investigate this life of human beings during the state of sleep with clairvoyance, you would make strange discoveries, but strange only to people who view the world from the outside.

During the state of sleep, the astral body and the ego of human beings are, as we know, outside their physical body and etheric body. Now, I have repeatedly pointed out that one should not imagine that the astral body and the I, which are outside the physical and etheric bodies at night, float around like a cloud of mist, as is commonly said, very close to the physical body. What can be regarded as such a cloud of mist, for example, in the state of lower astral clairvoyance, and what we call the astral body, is only the grossest beginning of what the human being represents during the state of sleep. And if one wanted to regard this cloud near the physical and etheric bodies as the only thing that exists, one would only prove that one is starting from the lowest forms of astral clairvoyance. What the human being really is during sleep is far more extensive. In fact, at the moment of falling asleep, the inner forces in the astral body and in the I begin to expand throughout the entire solar system, becoming part of the entire solar system. From everywhere, the human being sucks into his astral body and into his ego the forces to strengthen this life when he is in the state of sleep, in order then, upon awakening, to contract again within the narrower limits of his skin and to insert into it what he has sucked out during the night from the entire sphere of the solar system. This is why medieval occultists called this spiritual body of the human being the “astral” body, because it is connected to the star worlds and draws its forces from them. So we can say that during nighttime sleep, the human being is actually extended throughout the entire solar system.

What penetrates our astral body during sleep? When we are outside our physical body at night, our astral body is permeated and interwoven with the harmonies of the spheres, with that which can otherwise only spread in the ether, in the sound ether. Just as on a metal plate sprinkled with a certain dust, the vibrations that pulse through the air when the plate is stroked with a violin bow also continue to pulse within this dust and produce the familiar Chladni sound figures, so the harmonies of the spheres vibrate and pulse through the human being during the night and restore order to what humans have brought into disorder during the day with their external sensory perceptions. And what weaves through and lives through the life ether also pulsates through us during sleep, only humans have no perception of this inner life of their shells when they are separated from their physical and etheric bodies. In the normal state, humans only have perception when they submerge themselves again into the physical body and etheric body and use the outer organs of the etheric body for thinking and the outer organs of the physical body for sensory perception.

But in ancient times there were intermediate states between waking and sleeping, which today can only be brought about in an abnormal way and, because of the danger involved, should not be brought about at all in ordinary life. In Atlantean times, however, these powers of perception were normally developed; there were intermediate states between waking and sleeping. This enabled human beings to put themselves into what lived and wove in the harmony of the spheres and in the life ether. In other words, in ancient times — even though the harmony of the spheres and life were only visible in the outer beings of love through the effects of the earth — human beings were able to perceive through ancient clairvoyance what the sun radiated to them as the harmony of the spheres and as the life pulsating through space.

This ability gradually ceased. The door to these perceptions closed when humans lost their ancient clairvoyance. And with that, something else gradually came into being: the inner power of knowledge, the inner power of recognition. Only through this did humans learn to reflect inwardly, to think inwardly. Everything we call our thinking about the things of the physical world in our waking life today, and so on, that is, our actual inner life, developed only with the disappearance of the old clairvoyance. Human beings did not yet have the kind of inner life that we have today, which runs through feelings, sensations, thoughts, and ideas and which basically constitutes the creative element of our culture. They lived in the intermediate states between waking and sleeping, poured into a spiritual world, and perceived the sensory world as if in a fog; in any case, it was completely removed from their understanding, from the inner mirror images of outer life. So outer life rises as the old clairvoyance gradually disappears.

We can therefore say that something developed within us that is a faint reflection of what we call the harmony of the spheres and the effect of the life ether. But to the same extent that human beings felt inwardly fulfilled with sensations and perceptions that were repeated to them by the outer world and shaped their present inner life, to the same extent the music of the spheres faded away for them. And to the same extent that human beings felt themselves to be ego beings, their perception of the divine life ether pulsating through the world faded away. Human beings had to pay for their present state by losing certain aspects of their outer life. Thus, as an earthly being, man felt within himself the life that he could no longer perceive as radiating directly from the sun; and today he has only a faint reflection of the mighty cosmic life, of the sound of the spheres and the life ether, in his inner life. 'What developed for the earth itself also developed as a kind of repetition for human cognition. When the Earth separated from the Sun, it would have become closed in on itself, would have hardened, if it had remained connected to all the substantialities with which it had separated itself from the Sun. The Sun could not initially intervene in the becoming of the Earth with its effects, and this lasted until the separation of the Moon from the Earth occurred. Therefore, in what the Earth cast out of itself as the moon, we see a repulsion of all those substantialities that made it impossible for the Earth to receive the direct effects of the Sun. And by casting the moon out of itself, it opened its being and its essence to the influences and effects of the Sun from which it had separated, coming, as it were, toward the Sun. Contrary to the direction in which the Earth had separated itself from the Sun, it sent out a part of its own being, the Moon, which then reflected back the effect of the Sun's being on the Earth, just as it reflects back light externally. There is therefore something highly significant in the separation of the Moon from the Earth: the opening of the Earth to the effects of the Sun.

What happened cosmically had to happen again, repeatedly, in human life. The Earth had long since opened itself to the sun's influence, and then the right moment came when human beings had to close themselves off from the sun's direct influence. The direct influence of the sun was still present for the people of Atlantis in their clairvoyance; they received what radiated from the sun. And just as a time came when the earth began to harden, so a time came when human beings withdrew, developed an inner life, and could no longer open themselves to the sun's influence. And this process of developing an inner life, in which human beings could not open themselves to the sun and could only develop within themselves what was a faint reflection of the effects of the life ether, the sound ether, the harmony of the spheres, lasted a long time, well into the post-Atlantean era.

Thus, in the early stages of Atlantic development, there was a direct perception of the effects of the sun. Then human beings closed themselves off from these effects. And when these could no longer penetrate into human beings, while their inner life flourished more and more, it was only the sacred mysteries that led their followers to develop their spiritual powers in such a way that human beings could, so to speak, perceive the effects of the sun directly, contrary to normal earthly conditions, through what can be called yoga. Therefore, in the second half of the Atlantean epoch, places rightly called oracles developed within the Atlantean land, where, within a humanity that could no longer perceive the direct effects of the sound ether and the life ether, such disciples and followers of sacred wisdom were trained who, by first suppressing mere sensory perception, were able to perceive the revelations of the sound ether and the life ether. And this possibility remained for the real sites of secret science in the post-Atlantean period. It has remained so strong that even external science, although it does not understand it, has preserved a tradition from the school of Pythagoras which says that one can hear the harmonies of the spheres. Only external science transforms something like the harmony of the spheres into an abstraction — which it was not — and does not think of it as what it is. For in reality, the Pythagorean schools understood the ability to perceive the harmony of the spheres as the real reopening of the human being to the sound ether, the harmony of the spheres, and the real divine life ether.

Now it was precisely those who pointed out most powerfully and magnificently that behind the activity of the sun, as it shines down on the earth with its light and warmth, there is something else, something that is sound activity, indeed life activity, which in human inner life can only assert itself in a faint reflection, Zarathustra or Zoroaster. And if we want to translate his teaching into a language taken from our words today, we can say that he taught his disciples the following: When you look up at the sun, you perceive its beneficial warmth and the beneficial light that shines upon the earth; but when you develop higher organs, when you develop spiritual perception, you can perceive the sun being that is behind the physical life of the sun; and then you perceive sound effects and, in the sound effects, the meaning of life! What was next to be perceived as spiritual behind the physical effects of the sun, Zarathustra described to his disciples as Ormuzd, as Ahura Mazdao, as the Great Aura of the Sun. We will therefore find it understandable that in translation the word Ahura Mazdao can also be called the “great wisdom,” in contrast to what human beings today develop within themselves as the little wisdom. The great wisdom is that which they perceive when they perceive the spirituality of the sun, the great solar aura.

Thus, looking back to ancient times in human development, a poet could point to what is a truth for the spiritual researcher and say:

“The sun sounds in the ancient way
In brotherly spheres, singing in competition,
And its prescribed journey
It completes with a thunderous roar.”

Aesthetes will naturally consider this to be something contrived. They like to say that it is poetic license when Goethe lets the sun sound. They have no idea what a poet is in Goethe's sense, who only describes realities when he says: “The sun sounds in the old way,” that is, in the way that ancient humanity knew it. For that is how it still sounds today to those who are initiated.

Zarathustra had pointed this out to his disciples. Among his disciples, he had of course pointed out this tremendous fact in particular to the two whom we might call his most intimate disciples, who then appeared in their reincarnations as Hermes and Moses. But he pointed them in two very different ways to what lies behind the light body of the sun. He pointed Hermes to this in such a way that he remained in what comes directly from the sun. And he inspired Moses in such a way that he retained, as if in a memory, what is the secret of solar wisdom.

If we now imagine, in the sense of the “Secret Science,” the Earth after its separation from the Sun, the departure of the lunar forces from the Earth, and all this after the opening of the Earth toward the Sun, then we have in Venus and Mercury that which stands in the middle between the Earth and the Sun. And if we now divide the entire space between the Sun and the Earth into three middle members, we can say: The Earth separated itself from the Sun; it sent the Moon toward the Sun. Venus and Mercury then split off from the Sun and came toward the Earth. Thus, in Venus and Mercury we see something coming from the Sun toward the Earth, and in the Moon something going toward the Sun.

Just as the cosmic relationships are structured, so too are the relationships in human evolution, as if in a mirror image. If we accept the revelations of Zarathustra as solar wisdom, which he imparted on the one hand to Hermes and on the other to Moses, then what lived in Hermes, because he had the astral body of Zarathustra within him, was the sun wisdom radiating from Zarathustra; and what lived in Moses was, so to speak, enclosed like a completed planet of wisdom, which first had to develop in opposition to what radiated directly from the sun. Just as the earth's activity opened itself to the sun's activity through the moon's departure, so the wisdom of Moses opened itself to the wisdom radiating directly from Zarathustra, the wisdom of the sun. And these two, the earth wisdom of Moses and the sun wisdom of Zarathustra in Hermes, came together in Egypt, where Moses meets Hermes. So that we must understand what Moses developed out of himself, what he awakened in himself as if receiving it from a distance from Zarathustra, radiated and handed down to his people, analogously to the ejection of the moon from the earth.

What Moses radiated as wisdom for his people, we can also call by the name that sums up the wisdom of Moses, the wisdom of Yahweh or Jehovah. For if we understand the name Yahweh or Jehovah correctly, it is like a summary of the entire wisdom of Moses. But if we understand this, it also becomes clear why the ancient traditions call Yahweh or Jehovah a moon deity. You will find this fact in many communications, but you will only be able to understand the reason for it when you allow these deep connections to sink in. Just as the earth brought forth what it contained as the moon and sent it to the sun, so too did the earthly wisdom of Moses have to go to Hermes, who possessed the direct wisdom of Zarathustra in the astral body sacrificed by Zarathustra, and then develop itself. We have already characterized how, after this encounter with Hermes, Mosaic law developed into the Davidic age, and how another, new Hermeticism or Mercurianism appears in David, the royal warrior and divine singer of the Hebrew people. And we have seen how Mosaic law comes closer to the sun element when it recently came into contact with the radiant wisdom of the sun during the Babylonian captivity, because Zarathustra himself, under the name Zarathas or Nazarathos, was the teacher of the Hebrew initiates during the Babylonian captivity. Thus, we see in the wisdom of Moses something that repeats the entire cosmic process of the separation of the Earth from the Sun and what happened to the Earth afterwards.

Such connections appeared as something that filled the ancient sages of the Hebrew people and all those who felt them with the deepest reverence. They felt something like direct revelations shining toward them from the world spaces and from the world being itself. And a personality such as that of Moses appeared to them as a messenger of the cosmic powers themselves. They felt it. And we must feel something like this if we really want to understand the ancient times, otherwise all understanding remains an empty abstraction.

Now it is a matter of the fact that what was radiated in this way by Zarathustra and poured out upon posterity through Hermes and Moses was able to develop in a corresponding manner so that it could reappear at a higher level in a different form, in a higher form of development. For this it was necessary that Zarathustra himself, the individuality that had previously only sacrificed the astral body and the etheric body, could appear in a physical body on earth in order to sacrifice this too. This is a step by step process, a beautiful step by step process. First, in ancient times, Zarathustra lived in his own way and gave the impulse for post-Atlantean development in the ancient Persian, Iranian culture. Then he gave up his astral body in order to bring about the next culture through Hermes, and he gave up his etheric body to Moses. Thus he had sacrificed two of his bodies. Now he also had to be given the opportunity to sacrifice his physical body. For the great mystery of human development required that the three bodies of one being be sacrificed. Zarathustra sacrificed his astral body for Hermes and his etheric body for Moses. The third thing that still lay before him was the sacrifice of his physical body. This required special arrangements; the physical body of Zarathustra first had to be prepared in a special way. And yesterday we already pointed out how, through the peculiar life of the Hebrew people over generations, that physical body was prepared which could then be sacrificed by Zarathustra as his third great sacrifice. For this it was necessary that everything in the Hebrew people that was otherwise direct external spiritual perception, astral vision, which had fallen into decadence among the Turanian peoples, became inner activity.

This is the secret of the Hebrew people. While among the Turanian peoples the forces that were heirlooms from ancient times served to prepare external clairvoyant organs, they radiated inwardly in the Hebrew people and organized their inner physicality, so that the Hebrew people were destined to feel and sense inwardly what had otherwise been seen during the Atlantean epoch, spread out over the sense space behind the individual sense objects. Yahweh or Jehovah, as the Hebrew people consciously pronounce him, is the “Great Spirit” summarized in one point, who appeared behind all things and beings in ancient clairvoyance. It is also hinted to us that the progenitor of this ancient Hebrew people received this inner organization in a very special way, precisely as the progenitor.

At this point, I would like to note something that I have often noticed before: that legends and myths, which tell in a pictorial way about events that took place in ancient times, are truer and more accurate than today's anthropological research, which pieces together a picture of the world's origins from modern excavations and individual fragments of monuments. In most cases, the old legends are confirmed by what we call spiritual scientific research. I say “in most” and not “in all” because I have not investigated it, although it is very likely to be the case wherever there are real old legends. Thus, when we trace the origins of the Hebrew people, we are not led back to what anthropological research today supposes, but rather to a patriarch of whom the Bible tells us. This Abraham or Abram is a real figure, and what the Talmudic legend tells us about this patriarch is entirely true.

In this legend, Abraham's father is described as a military commander of that legendary but real personality who is referred to in the Bible as “Nimrod.” And because of a dream, Nimrod is told by those who understand the signs of the times that his military commander's son will be an entity who will dethrone many kings and rulers. Nimrod fears this and orders that his general's son be killed. This is what the legend tells us, and this is confirmed by occult research. Abraham's father resorts to a ruse and presents a foreign child to Nimrod. His own child, however, Abraham, is raised in a cave. And the fact that Abraham is truly the first to develop, through those forces that were otherwise used for external clairvoyant abilities, the inner organizational power that is to lead to inner God-consciousness, this reversal of the entire sum of power is indicated in the legend by the fact that during the three years he is raised in the cave, sucks milk from his own right finger through God's grace. Being nourished through oneself, the forces that previously caused the old clairvoyance entering into the inner organization of the human being, is wonderfully characterized in the progenitor of the Hebrew people, in Abraham. When we learn their true meaning, such legends have such an effect on us that we say to ourselves: We understand that the ancient storytellers could not express what lies behind the legends in any other way than in images. But these images were suitable for evoking, if not the consciousness, then at least the feelings for the great facts. And that was enough for the ancient times.

Thus Abraham is the one who first developed the inner reflection of divine wisdom, of divine vision, in such a truly human way as human thinking about the divine. Abram, or Abraham, as he was later called, actually had, as occult research always emphasizes, a different physical organization than all the other people living around him. The people around him at that time were not organized in such a way that they could develop inner thinking through a special tool. They could develop thinking when they became disembodied, when they developed forces in their etheric body, so to speak; but when they were stuck in their physical body, they had not yet developed the tool of thinking. Abraham is indeed the first who developed the physical tool of thinking in an excellent way. Therefore, he is not wrongly called the inventor of arithmetic, which is, of course, to be understood with the necessary grain of salt, as the science of thinking that is excellently suited to the instrument of the physical body. Arithmetic is something which, in its form, because of its inner certainty, comes close to what can be known clairvoyantly. But arithmetic is dependent on a physical organ.

So here we have a deeper connection between what external forces have hitherto used for clairvoyance and what an inner organ now uses for thinking. This is indicated by the fact that Abraham is regarded as the inventor of arithmetic. We must therefore see in Abraham the personality who first received the physical organ of thinking, the organ through which human beings, with their physical thinking, were able to rise to the idea of a God. In earlier times, human beings could only know something about God and divine existence through clairvoyant observation. All knowledge of God and divine existence that came from ancient times originated from clairvoyant observation. In order to raise themselves up to the divine, they needed a physical tool; this was first implanted in Abraham. And since this was a physical organ, the whole relationship to the objective world and to the subjective essence of man was different than before for this idea of God, which was grasped through a physical tool.

In earlier times, the divine wisdom had been grasped in the secret schools, and it could be handed down to those who were also capable of it, when they had been brought to the point where they could have perceptions in the etheric body, free from the organs of the physical body. But if what is a physical instrument is to pass on to another, there is only one means: inheritance in the physical organization. What was therefore most important, most essential for Abraham, the physical organ, had to be preserved on earth, propagated in physical inheritance from generation to generation, because it was a physical organ. Thus we understand that heredity in the people, so to speak, the passing down of this physical predisposition through the blood of generations, is so important in the Hebrew people.

But what was at first a physical predisposition in Abraham, namely the chiseling out, the crystallization of a physical organ for grasping the divine, first had to become established. As it was passed down from generation to generation, it penetrated ever more deeply into the human being and grasped it ever more deeply, the deeper it was passed down. We can therefore say that what Abraham received for the mission of the Hebrew people had to be perfected; it had to become more perfect in its further development as it was passed on from person to person through heredity. But what was a physical organ could only become more perfect through heredity.

If the entity that we have come to know as the individuality of Zarathustra was to have a physical body that was as perfect as possible, that is, a physical body that also had those organs that could be instruments for grasping the idea of God in the physical human body, then what had been implanted in Abraham as a physical instrument had to be brought to the highest level. It had to become firmly established within, had to be inherited and develop in such a way that it could become a proper body for Zarathustra with all the qualities that Zarathustra needed in his physical body. But if the physical body of a human being is to become perfect in this way, if it is to become as useful as it should be for Zarathustra, then it is not enough for the physical body of the human being to become more perfect. It is, of course, impossible for the physical body of the human being to become perfect on its own, torn out of the whole human being. All three sheaths had to become more perfect little by little through physical inheritance. So whatever could be given to the physical human being, the etheric and astral human beings, through physical inheritance had to be given to them in successive generations.

Now there is a certain law within evolution. We know this law for the evolution of the individual human being and have already characterized it several times. We have shown how, in the human being, a special part of his development is made up of the time from birth to the sixth or seventh year: this is the time when the physical body develops. The development of the etheric body takes place from the sixth or seventh year to the fourteenth or fifteenth year. From then until the age of twenty-one or twenty-two, we have the development of the astral body. This is, so to speak, the law of development of the individual human being, designated by the number seven. A similar law applies to the development of humanity's outer shells through the generations, and we will have to point out the deeper laws of this process later on. While the individual human being goes through a stage of development every seven years, developing his physical body until the age of seven, which becomes more and more perfect during this time, the entire structure of the physical body, as it can be perfected through the generations, is brought to a certain perfection through seven generations. But heredity does not occur in such a way that it passes from one human being to the next descendant, not directly from one generation to the next. The characteristics that matter cannot be passed on directly from father to son, from mother to daughter, but only from father to grandson, that is, to the second generation, then to the fourth generation, and so on. Thus, heredity cannot be lived out directly. We would have to deal with inheritance in groups of seven in the generations; but since inheritance always skips a link, we are actually dealing with a group of fourteen.

What was inherent in Abraham as physical corporeality could reach its peak after fourteen generations. But if the etheric body and the astral body were also affected by this, then the development that continues for the individual human being from the seventh to the fourteenth year had to pass through another seven or fourteen generations. And what is a development for the human being through the next seven years from the age of fourteen had to pass through fourteen generations again. This means that what was inherent in the physical organization of the progenitor Abraham had to live out through three times seven or three times fourteen generations; then it had taken hold of the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body. Through three times fourteen generations, that is, through forty-two generations, it is possible for a human being, through inheritance in the line of generations, to develop fully in the physical body, etheric body, and astral body what Abraham received in the first stage.

If we go down from Abraham through three times fourteen generations, we have a human body that is completely permeated, impregnated with what was present in Abraham in the first stage. Only this could be the body that Zarathustra needed for his incarnation. This is also told to us by the writer of the Gospel of Matthew. And in the table of generations that he gives, he expressly points out that he lists fourteen members from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian captivity, and fourteen from the Babylonian captivity to Christ. Through these three times fourteen members—with one always being skipped—what was predisposed in Abraham for the mission of the Hebrew people was, in a certain sense, fully developed. There it is completely imprinted in the limbs of the human being. From this, the body that Zarathustra needed to become incarnate at the time when he was to open up something entirely new for humanity could be taken.

Thus we see that the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew is drawn from a very special depth. But we must first understand such things. We must understand what is being told to us by these three times fourteen generations. is meant to indicate to us how, in what could be inherited from Joseph to Jesus of Nazareth, the essence of what was present in the first form in Abraham lived on, which then radiated out into the entire Hebrew people and was able to gather in the one instrument, in the one shell that was the shell for Zarathustra, in which Christ could incarnate.