The Gospel of Matthew
GA 123
2 September 1910, Bern
Lecture II
The secrets of space and time. The Moses and Hermes Wisdom. Comparison of the Turanians and the Hebrews.1In a footnote to this lecture the reader is recommended to study these early lectures in conjunction with the author's lectures on St. Luke, in order to understand the events in the life of Christ Jesus.
In the opening lines of the Gospel of Matthew emphasis is laid on the descent of the physical nature of the Jesus of this Gospel from Abraham. The fact of most importance to the spiritual scientist is that by inheritance throughout thrice fourteen generations this individual bore within him an extract of the whole race of Abraham. He is the same individual who is spoken of as Zoroaster or Zarathustra.
In the last lecture we described the external conditions in which Zarathustra worked. Something must now be said of the opinions and ideas that obtained in his immediate circle.
In that district where in very far-off ages Zarathustra worked, conceptions and ideas flourished that, in their broad outlines, were of profound importance. It needs but a few extracts from what since earliest times has been regarded as the teaching of the first Zarathustra to show how deeply these affected the thought of the whole post-Atlantean period. Even external history relates how the teaching of Zarathustra proceeded from two principles, which we describe as the principle of Ormuzd, the beneficent Being of Light, and Ahriman, the dark Being of Evil. At the same time historical descriptions of this religious system trace the origin of these two principles back to a single common principle Zeruane Akarene. It is customary to translate Zeruane Akarene as ‘Uncreated Time.’ It may, therefore, be said that the teaching of Zarathustra leads back to an original principle, in which we have to recognize quiescent Time, Time flowing on in its universal course. The very meaning of the word shows us that it is unnecessary to question further as to the origin of this Time, this revolution of Time.
True, the external abstract thinking of man will hardly ever refrain from inquiring again and again after the cause of this cause, forever driving his conceptions back, forever seeking the primal cause. But the spiritual scientist realizes through deep meditation that questionings about the beginnings of things must cease somewhere. To continue them beyond a certain point is merely to play with thinking, as is shown clearly in Occult Science. It is stated there that when wheel tracks are seen on a road it may well be asked whence they came. The answer will probably be that they were caused by the wheels of a carriage. A query as to the reason for the wheels on the carriage may produce the information that they were needed to enable it to travel along the road. A further inquiry as to the cause of this may bring the reply that someone wished to travel along the road. Ultimately we arrive at the resolve of the man which led him to travel along the road. Here it is advisable to stop, for further inquiries would inevitably lead to losing one's way in a maze of questions.
It is the same as regards great universal questions—a halt must be made somewhere; made at what lies at the fountain of the teaching of Zarathustra; at Time, calm, onflowing Time. Then, according to Zarathustra, there proceeded from Time, Ormuzd, the principle of Light, and Ahriman, the evil principle of Darkness. The profound meaning underlying this Iranian or old Persian idea is that the wickedness in the world, all that in its physical form is described as darkness, was not originally wicked, dark and evil. In the same way the wolf was originally good, but when left to itself it degenerated so that Ahrimanic forces could be active in it. To the Iranians or Persians evil came to pass through something that at one time—a time suited to it—was good, retaining its form on into a later age with which it was out of harmony. To them, all that was black and evil arose through a form which was good in one age, continuing on into a later age, instead of adapting itself to change. Through the clashing of such forms of being with the more advanced ones of a later time, the struggle between good and evil arose. Evil is therefore not absolute evil, but misplaced good, something that was good in an earlier time. There, where earlier conditions did not as yet come into collision with later conditions, enduring Time rolled on, Time that was undifferentiated, not yet separated into individual moments.
Such is the very important point of view expressed in Zarathustrianism; and this should be recognized as the fundamental principle of the teaching of Zarathustra among the earliest post-Atlantean peoples, and must be associated with the facts given in the first lecture. The people influenced by him had, above all, insight into the necessity for the birth of this duality from out the uniform stream of Time, and for the coming of opposition, which opposition would only be overcome in the course of time. We see the necessity that the new should arise and the old remain behind; that in the balance between the old and the new, the goal of the universe, and especially the goal of the Earth, will gradually be attained. It is this point of view that lies at the root of all that higher development which has sprung from Zarathustrianism.
The impression made by the influence of Zarathustra on subsequent ages was strong and deep. It was possible through the fact, that having reached the highest summit of initiation attainable at that time, he had also trained two pupils. These pupils I have spoken of before. To one he taught everything connected with the mystery of Space as it is spread around us, and therewith the mystery of all things contemporaneous. To the other he imparted the mystery of the flight of Time, the mystery of development and of evolution. I have also already indicated that at a definite point of time of such a discipleship as existed between these two great disciples and Zarathustra, something quite especial enters: the teacher can sacrifice part of his own being to his disciples. And Zarathustra, as he was in his Zarathustra-age, gave up to his pupils something of his own being, he sacrificed his own etheric and astral bodies. His individuality, his own inmost being, he retained for future incarnations; but his remarkable astral ‘garment,’ in which he had lived as Zarathustra in the earliest post-Atlantean periods, which had attained such a degree of perfection, and was so permeated by his whole being that instead of dispersing like that of an ordinary man, it remained intact—he gave this to another. The depth and power of the individuality of this great Initiate made this possible, and this is why the astral body of Zarathustra persisted. Similarly his etheric body remained also intact.
According to occult investigation, one of these pupils, the one who had received knowledge concerning the mystery of Space, of all that fills space contemporaneously, reincarnated as that personality known to history as Thoth, or Hermes of the Egyptians. Hermes had not only to establish in himself what he had received from Zarathustra in an earlier incarnation, but he had to establish it more firmly; this he was able to do in the Holy Mysteries, because he had received into himself the astral sheath of the great Initiate. Permeated by the teaching of Zarathustra, and filled by his astral nature, the individuality of this pupil was born again as Hermes, the inaugurator of the civilization of Egypt. We have, therefore, a direct member or principle of the being of Zarathustra in the Egyptian Hermes. With this principle, and with what he had brought with him of the teaching of Zarathustra, Hermes was able to give the impulse for all that was best and of greatest moment in Egyptian civilization. Naturally, a suitable race was necessary in order that the work of the messenger of Zarathustra might be effective. A race promising a fruitful soil for the development of this work could only be found among those Atlantean wanderers who had taken the more southern way and had settled in East Africa and had retained much of their old clairvoyance. The essential soul-nature of this race was quick to receive the wisdom of Hermes, and in this way Egyptian civilization arose. It was a very special type of civilization. You must try to realize how all that is included in the mysteries of contemporaneous things, of that which exists side by side in space, was contained in the wisdom of Hermes—all this had been entrusted to him as a precious gift from Zarathustra, so that in his own being Hermes possessed the most important teachings that Zarathustra had to impart.
It has often been stated that the most characteristic teaching of Zarathustra referred to the external sunlight and the external physical light-body of the Sun as the outer sheath of an exalted Spiritual Being. What was confided to Hermes was the mystery of that which as Being, underlies all Nature, all space and everything contemporaneous, yet which advances ever in time from epoch to epoch, and reveals itself in certain epochs Hermes knew what comes from the Sun, and what through the Sun continues to develop. This knowledge he implanted in the souls of the Egyptians, who retained a memory of the Atlantean Sun-Mysteries, and were, therefore, specially adapted to receive his teachings. All this, within the advancing line of evolution, was in the soul of Hermes, as well as in all those souls ripe to absorb his wisdom.
The mission of the second of Zarathustra's pupils was very different. Upon him had been bestowed the secrets of the passing of Time. He had to experience within himself the conflict between the old and the new, how in evolution something was active as opposition, as polarity. As already stated this pupil had also received part of the being of Zarathustra; on reincarnating he could therefore receive the sacrifice of Zarathustra.
Thus, while the individuality of Zarathustra remained intact, his sheaths were separated from him, they endured and were not dispersed for they were held together by such a mighty individual. This second pupil—to whom was imparted the wisdom concerning Time in contradistinction to that concerning Space—received at a specific moment of his reincarnated existence the etheric body of Zarathustra, which had been sacrificed in the same way s his astral body. This reborn pupil was none other than Moses. Moses received in quite early childhood the fully preserved etheric body of Zarathustra.
Our religious documents which are really founded on occultism contain all this, though in a veiled form. In them we find suggestions of the secrets revealed through occult investigation. As Moses was the reincarnated pupil of Zarathustra and had received his etheric body, something quite unusual had to take place in him. This is recorded in the Scriptures. Before he could receive the ordinary impressions from his surroundings like another human being, before he could descend with his individuality so as to receive impressions from the external world, there had to percolate into his being that which he was to receive as a marvellous inheritance from Zarathustra. This fact is expressed in the symbolic legend which relates that Moses was placed in a casket and lowered to the river. This should be accepted as indicating a remarkable initiation.
Initiation consists in a man being withdrawn from the world for a certain time, during which he slowly absorbs what has been given to him. While thus withdrawn, Moses was able to be united at the right moment with the etheric body of Zarathustra that had been preserved for this purpose. The wonderful wisdom concerning Time, the gift of Zarathustra in an earlier period, was then able to blossom within him; he gave this wisdom to his people in a series of pictures fitted to their understanding. Hence from Moses we have those mighty pictures of Genesis, those imaginations dealing with the wisdom of Time, of the ages as they succeed one another, received from Zarathustra. This was a re-born knowledge—a re-born wisdom—received by him, and was firmly established in his inner nature since he had received the etheric sheath of Zarathustra himself.
An initiate is not only needed as inaugurator of a new civilization for the advancement of the human race, but he must have a suitable medium in which to work, a race fitted to receive the germ of this new civilization. To understand the folk-soul, the folk-germ in which what had been received by Moses from Zarathustra was to be planted, it would be well to consider more exactly the peculiar wisdom of Moses.
In a former incarnation, Moses as Zarathustra's pupil had received the wisdom concerning Time, and that secret which we referred to as the ‘opposition between the earlier and the later’ that arises in every age. If the wisdom of Moses was to enter human evolution it had to be established as a polarity to that other wisdom, already in existence, the wisdom of Hermes. And this took place.
Hermes had received direct Sun-wisdom from Zarathustra: that is to say, through his astral body he had gained knowledge of the Being dwelling mysteriously within the outer physical sheath of Light—the body of the sun. With Moses it was otherwise. Moses, whose wisdom was connected with the denser etheric body, received the Sun-wisdom less directly. His was not that wisdom which looks up to the Sun asking: “Does not everything come forth from the Being of the Sun?”; but he was the recipient of a contrasting knowledge, the wisdom that understood earthly things, things that had become dense and fixed, and appeared old, though not degenerate—Earth-wisdom in contrast to direct Sun-wisdom. Earth-wisdom was indirect Sun-wisdom. It derived its life from the Sun, yet was of the Earth. Moses declared the mystery of the Earth's origin, of the formation of the solid Earth after the withdrawal of the Sun, and told how man evolved on it. This is revealed to our inward, not our outward, vision; and now we see how and why the teaching of Hermes presents such a vivid contrast to that of Moses.
There are certain people to-day who consider all such problems on the principle that in the night all cows are grey. They can only see resemblances, and are enchanted when, for instance, some likeness between the Hermetic and Mosaic teachings is discovered; here they find a trinity, there a trinity, there a quaternary, and here a quaternary. This leads nowhere. It is like someone training a botanist by pointing out the likeness between a rose and a carnation, but omitting the differences. Through Spiritual Science we learn in what way both beings and forms of knowledge differ. The wisdom of Moses was quite different from that of Hermes, even though both proceeded from Zarathustra. As unity divides and manifests itself in various ways, so Zarathustra imparted to his two pupils revelations of a very different kind.
When we are steeped in the influences streaming from the wisdom of Hermes, we become aware of all that fills the world with Light, of the origin of the world, and how this was affected by the Light; but we do not learn from him how, in all development, the earlier influences the later; how this brings about strife between past and present, and the opposition of Light to Darkness. Earthly wisdom, the wisdom concerning the development of the Earth and of man after the separation from the Sun, is nowhere to be found in the teaching of Hermes. But it was the special mission of Moses to make the development of the Earth, after its separation from the Sun, comprehensible to man. Hermes brought us Sun-wisdom; Moses Earth-wisdom. Moses, with his Zarathustrian inheritance, taught of the dawn of earthly existence and of the earthly evolution of man. He starts from the things of earth, but these earthly things, though separated from the sun, still contained, if weakened, something of the nature of the sun. Therefore the Earth-wisdom of Moses had to encounter the Sun-wisdom of Hermes in concrete existence. These two streams of wisdom had to meet. This is shown most wonderfully in the initiation of Moses in Egypt, where he came in contact with the Hermes-wisdom. In the birth of Moses in Egypt, in the sojourning of his people there, in the conflict between them and the Egyptians, who were the people of Hermes, is seen the reflection in external life of the clashing of the Earth-wisdom with the Sun-wisdom. Both had originated with Zarathustra, and though they followed entirely different courses of evolution they had to work together and to coincide.
There is a certain kind of knowledge, one closely connected with the profound secrets of human and earthly existence, which in accordance with the methods of the Mysteries, is always expressed in a special way. This was referred to in Munich in the lectures on the Biblical Secrets of Creation. There it was shown how unusually difficult it is to speak in ordinary language of such mighty truths, truths comprising not only the deepest mysteries of man but of the universe. We are often hampered by words, for they have their precise meaning determined by long usage; and when endeavouring to express the mighty facts revealed inwardly to the soul, we often find ourselves in conflict with the feeble instrument of speech which is really in a certain respect so extraordinarily inadequate.
The greatest triviality of the newer culture in general that has been uttered in the course of the nineteenth century, is that every truth can be expressed simply, and that the mode of expression is the criterion of whether someone possesses this truth or not. Such a statement only shows that those who use it are not in possession of absolute truth, but only of those truths which, in the course of centuries, have been communicated in words, the form of which they only alter a little. For such people words suffice: they are quite unaware of the great struggle which must sometimes be carried on with words. This struggle becomes apparent whenever the soul strives to express what is grand and exalted. I spoke in Munich of how in the Rosicrucian Mystery Drama, The Portal of Initiation, at the end of the scene in the room provided for meditation, there was for me a very great difficulty with language. What the Hierophant had to say to the pupil could only be expressed in a most restricted way through the feeble instrument of speech.
Within the Holy Mysteries, however, the most profound secrets had to be expressed. There the inadequacy of speech to call up the images of reality was felt most strongly. Hence the age-long effort in the Mysteries to find other means to express the inner experiences of the soul. These feeble means of expression—words—have for centuries been reserved for external intercourse, but the pictures and images seen when men turned their gaze towards the heavenly spaces have proved far more suitable. The constellations, the rising of a star at a certain time, the occultation of a certain star by another at a definite time—such pictures were used to express experiences within the human soul.
Let us suppose that someone desired to say that a great event was to take place at a certain time, because at that particular moment a human soul would be sufficiently ripe to receive a great experience and to pass this on to his people; or that some nation, or a large part of mankind, having reached a certain high stage of ripeness, a certain individuality could appear among them, coming perhaps from a quite other direction. In such a case the climax of development of the individual would coincide with the highest point of development of the folk-soul. No words are sufficiently exalted to convey the full meaning of such an event. Therefore it was expressed in this wise: The coincidence of the climax of power of an individual, with the climax of power of a folk-soul, is as when the sun is in the constellation of Leo and thence sends us its light. The constellation of the Lion is here chosen to represent, in a pictorial way, something that had to be expressed as taking place with utmost power in human evolution. What could be seen thus outwardly in cosmic space was used as a means of expressing something taking place in humanity. Certain expressions found in human history have arisen in this way; they are taken from the movements of the heavenly bodies, and are the method used to denote spiritual facts.
When it is stated, for example, that the sun is in the sign of Leo, or that through some event in the heavens, such as an eclipse of the sun by a certain constellation, a fact in human evolution is symbolically expressed, it may very well happen that people reverse this and suppose, in a trivial way, that all the events relating to mankind's history were myths clothed in the motions of the stars; whereas the truth is that incidents in the life of humanity were expressed by means of images taken from the constellations.
This connection with the cosmos ought to fill us with certain feelings of reverence towards all we are told concerning the great events of human evolution, when we find these expressed in images taken from cosmic existence. But there is, nevertheless, an intimate connection between the existence of the whole cosmos and the life of man this is, that events taking place on earth are a reflection of cosmic events. Thus the meeting of the Sun-wisdom of Hermes with the Earth-wisdom of Moses in Egypt is, in a certain way, a reflection of cosmic activities. Picture to yourselves that certain forces streaming from the sun to the earth meet others streaming from the earth into cosmic space. It is not a matter of indifference where these two forces meet; but according as the meeting be near or far, the result of the outgoing and incoming forces is different.
Now the contact of the wisdom of Hermes with that of Moses was pictured in the Mysteries of ancient Egypt as representing something that, according also to Spiritual Science, had previously taken place in the cosmos. We know that early in evolution the sun separated from the earth, leaving the moon for a period within the earth. Later a part of this globe separate from the earth, and remained as the present moon. Thus the earth sent a portion of itself; as moon, into universal space, towards the sun. We may think of the remarkable occurrence of the meeting of the Earth-wisdom of Moses with the Sun-wisdom of Hermes as comparable with this streaming forth of the Earth-forces towards the sun. One might say: The wisdom of Moses, in its further course, after separating from the Sun-wisdom of Zarathustra, developed as the wisdom of the earth and of men in such a way that it drew again towards the sun, absorbing and filling itself with direct solar wisdom. The earth was destined to receive direct Sun-wisdom only to a certain extent, then to develop further alone and independently. The wisdom of Moses, therefore, only remained in Egypt until it had absorbed sufficient for its needs. Then came the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, in order that the Sun-wisdom taken up by the Earth-wisdom might be assimilated and brought to greater self-dependence.
The wisdom of Moses was two-fold. One part was developed under the sheltering wing of the Hermes-wisdom which it continually absorbed from every side, then, after the exodus from Egypt, it separated from this development, continued further within itself, and later passed through three stages. Towards what should this wisdom evolve? What is its task? Its ultimate task was to find its way back from the earth to the sun. It had become earthly wisdom. Moses was born with all he inherited from Zarathustra, as a wise man of earth. He was to find the way back, and he sought it in three stages, the first being that in which he absorbed the wisdom of Hermes. These stages are again best expressed in the images drawn from cosmic events. When what takes place upon the earth streams back in space from the earth towards the sun, it first encounters what is of the nature of Mercury (in ordinary astronomy the Mercury of astronomy is the Venus of Occult Science), then that of Venus, and ultimately that which is of the nature of the sun. The soul of Moses had to develop his Zarathustrian inheritance in inner experiences in such a way that he might return and find once more what appertained to the Sun. In order to do this he had to attain a certain degree of development. The wisdom Moses had implanted in western culture had to develop according to the way he gave it to his people. The wisdom he had gained from Hermes and which came to him like the direct rays of the sun, he had to develop anew, and reflect it back again in a changed form, after he had absorbed some part of it.
Now we are told that Hermes, who was later called ‘Mercury,’ brought to his people science and art, that is, external knowledge and art, in a form suitable to them. But it was in a different and almost opposite way that the wisdom of Moses attained to the Hermes-Mercury standpoint. Moses had himself to develop the wisdom of Hermes further. This is shown in the progress of the Hebrew people up to the age and reign of David. David, who is presented to us as the royal singer of Psalms and holy prophet, who as a man of God worked both as warrior and harpist, is the Hermes, or Mercury, of the Hebrew people. That stream of the Hebrew folk had now so far evolved that it had developed an independent form of Hermetic or Mercury wisdom. At the time of David the wisdom received from Hermes had reached the Mercury sphere, or Mercury stage, on its return journey. It then continued to the region of Venus. This came to pass for the Hebrews when the Moses-wisdom, or rather that version of it which had endured as his wisdom for hundreds of years, had to unite with an entirely different element, with a stream issuing from another direction.
Just as that which streams back in space from the earth towards the sun encounters Venus, so the wisdom of Moses encountered an Asiatic wisdom that came from another direction during the Babylonian Captivity. The Moses-wisdom came in touch with the weakened form of another wisdom in the Mysteries of Babylon and Chaldea. Like a wanderer who, having acquired knowledge of the earth, leaves it for the Mercury sphere, and thence passes on to Venus desirous of experiencing the sunlight as it is felt there, so the Moses-wisdom, having received the direct Sun-wisdom from the holy teachings of Zarathustra, passed over in a weakened form to the mystery schools of Chaldea and Babylon. The wisdom of Moses experienced this weakening during the Babylonian captivity, where it united with all that had penetrated into the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates. Here something else happened.
In the sanctuaries which the wise men among the Hebrews were obliged to frequent during their captivity, the wisdom of Moses was directly impregnated with the qualities of the Sun-wisdom. For at this time Zarathustra was himself incarnated and taught in the mystery schools of the Tigris and Euphrates, and was known to the learned among the Hebrews. He who had relinquished part of his wisdom so that he might receive it back again, was himself teaching at this time. He had frequently reincarnated, and in this incarnation in which he was known as Zarathos or Nazarathos, he taught the captive Jews in Babylon.
Thus in the course of its further progress, the wisdom of Moses came in touch with what Zarathustra had himself become after he had withdrawn from the more distant Mystery Sanctuaries and had entered those of Asia Minor. Here he became the teacher of the initiate Chaldean disciples, as well as teacher of the Hebrews. They now received a fructification of their Mosaic wisdom by a stream they were now fitter to encounter, because what had once been given to their ancestor Moses by Zarathustra came to them now directly from himself, in his incarnation as Zarathos or Nazarathos. This was the destiny through which Mosaic wisdom passed. Originally it sprang from Zarathustra, but was then transplanted into an alien land. It was as if a Sun-being with bandaged eyes had been brought down to earth, and now, on its backward journey, had to seek all it had lost. Such a wanderer was Moses, the pupil of Zarathustra. His destiny had placed him within Egyptian civilization, so that all the wisdom given him at one time by Zarathustra might be quickened and illuminated in his inner being. He was cut off, as it were, from the sun on the fields of earth, where unaware of the source of his illumination he moved unconsciously towards what once was sun. In Egypt he was attracted towards the wisdom of Hermes, which brought to him direct Zarathustra-wisdom, not an indirect reflection like his own. After absorbing sufficiently of this, the wisdom of Moses continued its development in a more direct way. Having founded an Hermetic wisdom at the time of David, and a science and art of its own, it turned again towards the sun from which it had originally come forth, though in a way that had at first to appear veiled.
In the ancient Babylonian schools of learning where, among others, Zarathustra taught Pythagoras, his teaching was restricted by the type of physical body of the period. If Zarathustra was to give full expression to his Sun-nature through a form suited to those times, as he was able to do in that earlier incarnation when he had passed it on to Moses and Hermes, he would require a bodily instrument fitted to the new age. Restricted by a body such as could be produced in ancient Babylonia, he was only able to convey such wisdom as he passed on to Pythagoras, to the learned Hebrews and wise men of Chaldea and Babylon, who in the sixth century before Christ, were ready and able to hear it. In respect of this teaching it was exactly as if the sunlight were first taken up by Venus and prevented from shining directly on the earth; as if his teaching could not shine with its original splendour but only in a weakened form. Before the Sun-wisdom of Zarathustra could shine forth once more in its pristine power, a body suited to him must first be provided, and in a very special way. This will now be described.
In the first lecture, we told of the three folk-souls of Asia, the Indian in the South, the Iranian, and the Turanian to the North, and we described the connection of these with the Atlantean migrations into Asia. Where the northern stream which came from Atlantis met the southern stream which passed through Africa, an extraordinary mixture of races occurred. From this admixture a race developed from which later the Hebrew people sprang.
Something unusual occurred in the development of these ancestors of the Hebrews. The lower astral-etheric clairvoyance which had become so decadent among certain races because it was the last phase of external perception, had in those people who developed into the Hebrew race, turned inwards and manifested as an organizing force. That which we have described as being externally decadent, as having remained behind in certain races as a last phase of declining clairvoyance, and as being permeated somewhat by the Ahrimanic element, had progressed among the Hebrews in the right direction by becoming an actively organizing force within the human body. Through this, bodies became more perfect. What among the Turanians was decadent worked constructively and progressively in the Hebrews. Within the physical nature of the Hebrews, as propagated from generation to generation in the close bond of blood relationship, all those forces were active which had accomplished their mission in developing external sight. These were no longer required to provide external sight, so could enter on another sphere of action, thus passing into their right element. That which had given to the Atlantean the power to gaze spiritually into space and into spiritual realms, that had run wild in the Turanians, appearing as a last relic of clairvoyance—all this force worked inwardly in the little Hebrew nation. What in the Atlantean had been spiritual and divine, worked inwardly in the Hebrew race to form certain organs. It worked constructively in the body and could therefore flash forth in the blood of this people as and inward divine consciousness. With the Hebrew people it was if all the Atlantean had seen when directing his clairvoyant vision into space was turned inwards, as if it constructed inwardly an organ of consciousness which was the Jahve-consciousness—the consciousness of God within him. This people felt the God Who filled all space to be united with their blood, felt they were filled, impregnated with Him, and that He lived in the pulsation of their blood.
As in the last lecture we contrasted the Iranians and the Turanians we have now considered the Turanians and the Hebrews, and have seen that what in its further progress and in its essence had become decadent in the Turanians, pulsated later in the blood of the Hebrew people. All that the Atlantean had seen, lived on in the Hebrew as an inward feeling, and could be comprised in a single word: Jahve or Jehovah. The consciousness of God lived throughout the generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concentrated as into a single point, invisible but inwardly felt. The God Who had revealed Himself to the Atlantean clairvoyance behind all living things was now the God dwelling in the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and led the generations of their race from destiny to destiny. The outward had thus become inward it was experienced, no longer seen; it was no longer described by different names, but by one single name ‘I am the I am!’ It had taken on an entirely different form. Whereas for the Atlantean this was found where he was not—in the external world—it was now found by man in the centre of his own being; in his ego; he was conscious of it in the blood that coursed through the generations. The mighty God of the Universe had now become the God of the Hebrews; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and flowed through the generations as the blood of the race.
It was in this way that the race was founded whose special inner mission for humanity we shall consider in the next lecture. We have thus far only been able to indicate the very earliest stage of the composition of the blood of this people, in which was concentrated everything that in the age of ancient Atlantis, humanity had allowed to be impressed upon it from without. We shall see later what mysteries were fulfilled in that which had here its beginning, and shall learn to recognize the peculiar nature of that people from which Zarathustra could take his body to become the being we call Jesus of Nazareth.
Zweiter Vortrag
Es wird notwendig sein, daß in den Anfangsvorträgen dieses Zyklus einiges von dem wieder vorkommt, was schon bei der Beleuchtung des Lukas-Evangeliums gesagt worden ist. Gewisse Tatsachen im Leben des Christus Jesus sind ja nur zu verstehen, wenn man diese beiden Evangelien ein wenig miteinander vergleicht.
Was in erster Linie von Bedeutung ist zum inneren Verständnis des Matthäus-Evangeliums, das ist, daß jene Individualität, von der uns dieses Evangelium zunächst erzählt, in bezug auf ihre Leiblichkeit herstammt von Abraham und durch die Vererbung durch dreimal vierzehn Generationen hindurch sozusagen einen Extrakt des gesamten Volkstumes der Abrahamiten, der Hebräer, in sich trägt und daß diese Individualität für den Geisteswissenschafter dieselbe ist, welche wir als die des Zoroaster oder Zarathustra ansprechen. Wir haben gestern gleichsam die äußerliche Umgebung dargestellt, in welche jener Zoroaster oder Zarathustra hineinwirkte. Es wird notwendig sein, auch noch einiges von den Weltanschauungen und Ideen zu erwähnen, welche die Kreise Zarathustras beherrschten. Man muß nämlich sagen, daß auf jenem Gebiete, innerhalb dessen in uralten Zeiten Zoroaster oder Zarathustra gewirkt hat, eine Weltanschauung aufblühte, die in ihren großen Zügen tief Bedeutsames enthält. Man braucht nur einige Sätze auszusprechen von dem, was ja immerhin als die Lehre des ältesten Zarathustra angesehen werden darf, um auf tiefe Grundlagen der ganzen nachatlantischen Weltanschauung hinzuweisen.
Auch schon äußerlich in der Geschichte wird uns gesagt, daß jene Lehre, innerhalb welcher auch Zarathustra wirkte, ausgehe von zwei Prinzipien, welche wir bezeichnen als das Prinzip des Ormuzd, des guten, lichtvollen Wesens, und als das Prinzip des Ahriman, des finsteren, des bösen Wesens. Aber es wird zu gleicher Zeit auch schon in der äußeren Darstellung dieses religiösen Systems betont, daß diese beiden Prinzipien - Ormuzd oder Ahura Mazdao und Ahriman - doch wieder zurückgehen auf ein gemeinschaftliches Prinzip: Zeruane Akarene.
Was ist dieses einheitliche, gleichsam Urprinzip, aus dem die beiden anderen, sich in der Welt bekämpfenden Prinzipien herstammen? Man übersetzt Zeruane Akarene gewöhnlich mit den Worten «die unerschaffene Zeit». Man kann also sagen: Es führt die ZarathustraLehre zuletzt zurück auf das Urprinzip, in dem wir zu sehen haben die ruhige, im Weltenlaufe dahinfließende Zeit. Dabei liegt es allerdings schon in jener Wortbedeutung, daß man nicht wiederum fragen kann nach dem Ursprunge dieser Zeit, dieses Zeitenumlaufes. - Es ist wichtig, daß man sich insbesondere einmal diese Idee deutlich zum Bewußtsein bringt: daß man von irgend etwas im Weltenzusammenhange sprechen kann, ohne innerlich berechtigt zu sein, zum Beispiel nach den Ursachen eines solchen ersten Prinzips wieder zu fragen. Das äußerliche abstrakte Denken der Menschen wird es sich ja kaum jemals nehmen lassen, wenn auf irgendeine Ursache hingewiesen wird, immer wieder und wieder zu fragen nach der Ursache dieser Ursache, und so gleichsam die Begriffe in alle Ewigkeit nach rückwärts herumzudrehen. Man müßte sich einmal, wenn man wirklich feststehen wollte auf dem Boden der Geisteswissenschaft, durch gründliche Meditation klarmachen, daß die Frage nach dem Ursprung, nach der Ursache, irgendwo haltmachen muß, irgendwo aufhören muß, und daß, wenn man von einem gewissen Punkte aus weiter nach den Ursachen fragt, man ein bloßes Spiel des Denkens treibt.
Ich habe in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß» auf diese erkenntnistheoretische Tatsache hingewiesen. Ich habe gesagt: Man könnte wohl fragen, wenn man auf einer Straße Furchen sieht, woher die Furchen kommen. Man kann antworten: Von den Rädern eines Wagens. Man kann weiter fragen, wo sich die Räder an dem Wagen befinden? Man kann fragen, warum die Furchen von dem Wagen gezogen worden sind? und kann als Antwort erhalten: Weil er über die Straße gefahren ist. Man kann weiter fragen: Warum er über die Straße gefahren ist? und mag als Antwort bekommen: Weil er einen Menschen über die Straße fahren sollte. - Man kommt aber bei diesem Fragen zuletzt zu den Entschlüssen, welche jenen Menschen dazu geführt haben, den Wagen zu benutzen. Und wenn man dann nicht dabei stillsteht, daß der Mensch diese Absicht gehabt hat, wenn man weiter fragt nach den Ursachen dieser Absicht, dann verfehlt man das eigentlich Inhaltvolle und bleibt in einem Fragespiel stecken.
So ist es auch bei den großen Weltanschauungsfragen. Irgendwo muß haltgemacht werden. Haltgemacht werden muß nach dem, was den Lehren des Zarathustrismus zugrunde liegt, bei der Zeit, die im ruhigen Laufe dahinfließt. Nun teilt der Zarathustrismus die Zeit selbst wieder in zwei Prinzipien, oder besser gesagt, er läßt aus ihr zwei Prinzipien hervorgehen: ein gutes, ein Lichtprinzip, das ich Ihnen gestern ziemlich konkret charakterisieren konnte als das Ormuzdprinzip, und ein böses, ein Finsternisprinzip, das Ahrimanprinzip. Es liegt dieser urpersischen Auffassung wirklich ein ungeheuer tief Bedeutungsvolles zugrunde, nämlich das, daß alles Böse, alles Üble in der Welt, alles, was in seinem physischen Bilde als das Dunkle, als das Finstere bezeichnet werden muß, nicht ursprünglich ein Böses, ein Finsteres, ein Übles ist. Gerade darauf machte ich aufmerksam, daß das urpersische Denken zum Beispiel den Wolf, der in einer gewissen Weise etwas Wildes, etwas Schlimmes darstellt, etwas, woran das Ahrimanprinzip arbeitet, so ansieht, daß er sich herunterentwickelt hat, als er sich selbst überlassen blieb und das Ahrimanprinzip in ihm wirksam sein konnte, daß also in diesem Sinne der Wolf ursprünglich heruntergeglitten ist von einem Wesen, dem wir das Gute nicht absprechen dürfen. Das liegt nach urpersischer, nach urarischer Auffassung allem Werden zugrunde: daß Schlimmes, Übles, Böses dadurch entsteht, daß etwas, was in einem früheren Zeitpunkt in seiner damaligen Gestalt ein Gutes war, diese Gestalt in einen späteren Zeitraum hinein bewahrt hat, daß dieses also, statt sich zu ändern, statt fortzuschreiten, die Gestalt sich bewahrt hat, welche einem früheren Zeitpunkt angemessen war. Alles Schlimme, alles Finstere und Böse leitet die urpersische Anschauung einfach davon ab, daß die Gestalt eines Wesens, welche in einem früheren Zeitpunkt eine gute war, in eine spätere Zeit hinein so geblieben ist, anstatt sich entsprechend zu verändern. Und aus dem Zusammenstoß einer solchen, aus einem früheren Zeitraum hereingetragenen Wesensform in eine spätere Zeit mit demjenigen, was fortgeschritten ist, daraus entsteht der Kampf des Guten mit dem Bösen. So ist der Streit zwischen Gut und Böse nach urpersischer Auffassung kein anderer als der Streit zwischen dem, was seine richtige Gestalt in der Gegenwart hat, und dem, was seine alte Gestalt in die Gegenwart hineinträgt. Es ist also das Böse nicht ein absolutes Böses, sondern nur ein versetztes Gutes, etwas, das gut war in einer früheren Zeit. So erscheint das Böse, welches sich in die Gegenwart hineinstellt, als ein Geschehnis, das eine frühere Zeit hereinbewahrt in die Gegenwart. Da, wo das Frühere und das Spätere noch nicht miteinander in Kampf treten, fließt noch die ungeschiedene, nicht in ihre einzelnen Momente real auseinandergetretene Zeit dahin.
Das ist eine tief bedeutsame Anschauung, die wir hier auf dem Grund der ersten nachatlantischen Volkstümer im Zarathustrismus finden. Und diese Anschauung, die wir eigentlich auch als das Grundprinzip des Zarathustrismus ansehen können, schließt in sich, wenn sie in der richtigen Art betrachtet wird, gerade dasjenige, was wir gestern von einer gewissen Seite her charakterisieren konnten, und was wir so stark hervortreten sehen gerade bei jenen Völkern, welche sich anlehnten an die Lehren des Zarathustra. Wir sehen überall bei diesen Völkerschaften Einsicht in die Notwendigkeit, daß diese zwei, gleichsam aus dem gleichförmigen Strom der Zeit herausgewachsenen Momente sich einander gegenübertreten in der Zeit selbst und erst im Laufe der Zeit überwunden werden. Wir sehen die Notwendigkeit, daß das Junge entstehe und daß das Alte erhalten bleibe, und daß im Ausgleich des Alten mit dem Jungen das Weltenziel, insbesondere das Erdenziel nach und nach erreicht werde. So, wie wir sie jetzt charakterisiert haben, liegt aber diese Anschauungsweise auch zugrunde aller Höherentwickelung, wie sie auftrat innerhalb dessen, was aus dem Zarathustrismus herstammt. Nachdem der Zarathustrismus in den gestern charakterisierten Zeiten sich seinen Utsitz in jenen Gegenden hat anweisen lassen, wirkte er überall, wo er auftrat. Und wir werden gleich sehen, wie unermeßlich stark er auf alle Folgezeit wirkte. Er wirkte in der Weise, daß er den Gegensatz des Alten und des Jungen hineinträufeln ließ in alles, was er wirkte. Und er wirkte tief.
Zarathustra konnte so tief auf alle Folgezeit wirken, weil er in der Zeit, wo er aufgestiegen war zu der höchsten der Initiationen, die zu seiner Zeit zu erreichen war, zwei Schüler sich herangezogen hatte. Ich habe sie schon erwähnt. Den einen lehrte er alles, was sich bezieht auf die Geheimnisse des Raumes, der sich um uns herum sinnlich ausbreitet, also alles, was die Geheimnisse des Gleichzeitigen sind; dann lehrte er den anderen Schüler alles, was die Geheimnisse der dahinfließenden Zeit sind, dieGeheimnisse der Evolution, derEntwickelung. Auch darauf habe ich schon hingewiesen, daß in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt einer solchen Schülerschaft, wie sie bestand bei diesen beiden großen Schülern gegenüber dem Zarathustra, etwas ganz Besonderes eintritt: daß der Lehrer hinopfern kann etwas von seiner eigenen Wesenheit für seine Schüler. Und Zarathustra, wie er war in seiner Zarathustra-Zeit, hat aus seiner eigenen Wesenheit für seine beiden Schüler hingeopfert seinen eigenen Astralleib und seinen eigenen Ätherleib. Die Individualität des Zarathustra, seine innerste Wesenheit, blieb ja in sich geschlossen erhalten zu immer wiederkehrenden Inkarnationen. ‚Aber, was gleichsam das astralische Kleid war des Zarathustra, der astralische Leib, in dem er als Zarathustra in uralten Zeiten der nachatlantischen Entwickelung gelebt hat, dieses astralische Kleid war so vollkommen, so durchdrungen von der ganzen Wesenheit des Zarathustra, daß es nicht zerstob wie andere astralische Kleider der Menschen, sondern in sich geschlossen blieb. Im Weltenwerden können solche durch die Tiefe der Individualität, die sie getragen hat, in sich zusammengeschlossene menschliche Hüllen erhalten bleiben. Und der astralische Leib des Zarathustra blieb erhalten. Und der eine der Schüler, der von Zarathustra erhalten hatte die Raumeslehre und die Geheimnisse alles dessen, was gleichzeitig unseren Sinnestaum durchdringt, dieser Schüler wurde wiedergeboren in jener Persönlichkeit, welche in der Geschichte genannt wird Thoth oder Hermes der Ägypter. Dieser wiederinkarnierte Schüler des Zarathustra, der dazu ausersehen war — so lehrt die okkulte Forschung -, jener ägyptische Hermes oder 'Thoth zu werden, er sollte nicht nur in sich alles befestigen, was er in einer früheren Inkarnation von Zarathustra überkommen hatte, sondern er sollte es noch dadurch zur Festigkeit bringen, daß ihm in jener Art, wie es durch die heiligen Mysterien möglich ist, einverleibt wurde, eingegossen, einfiltriert wurde der erhalten gebliebene astralische Leib des Zarathustra selber. So wurde die Individualität dieses ZarathustraSchülers wiedergeboren als der Inaugurator der ägyptischen Kultur, und einverleibt wurde diesem Hermes oder Thoth der astralische Leib des Zarathustra selbst. Wir haben also direkt ein Glied der ZarathustraWesenheit in dem ägyptischen Hermes. Und mit diesem Glied und mit dem, was er sich mitgebracht hatte von seiner Schülerschaft des Zarathustra, wirkte Hermes alles, was wir an Großem und Bedeutungsvollem in der ägyptischen Kultur haben.
Damit so etwas geschehen konnte, was durch diesen Missionar, durch diesen Sendboten Zarathustras geschah, mußte natürlich ein Volkstum in entsprechender Weise vorhanden sein. Nur bei diesen Völkerschaften, wo Menschen waren, die auf dem mehr südlichen Wege aus den atlantischen Gegenden herübergezogen waren und sich im Osten Afrikas niedergelassen hatten und die sich vieles von ihrer atlantischen Art des Hellsehens bewahrt hatten, nur dort konnte fruchtbaren Boden finden, was Hermes, der Schüler Zarathustras, einpflanzen konnte. Da stieß zusammen das Wesen der Seele in der ägyptischen Bevölkerung mit dem, was Hermes geben konnte, und dadurch bildete sich die ägyptische Kultur aus.
Das war nun eine ganz besondere Art von Kultur. Denken Sie nur einmal an alles, was als die Geheimnisse des gleichzeitig im Raume Bestehenden dem Hermes als ein teures Gut von seinem Lehrer Zarathustra übergeben worden war. Dadurch hatte Hermes in seiner Wesenheit gerade das Allerwichtigste, was Zarathustra beherrschte. Wir haben öfter darauf hingewiesen, daß es zum Charakteristischsten der Zarathustra-Lehre gehörte, daß Zarathustra seine Leute hinwies nach dem Sonnenleib, nach dem äußeren Licht und dem äußeren physischen Lichtkörper der Sonne und ihnen zeigte, wie dieser Sonnenkörper nur die äußere Hülle einer hohen geistigen Wesenheit ist. Also, was durch die Räume als Wesenheit zugrunde liegt der ganzen Natur, was gleichzeitig ist, aber durch die Zeit immer fortschreitet von Epoche zu Epoche und sich in einer bestimmten Epoche immer neu zeigt, dies hatte Zarathustra in bezug auf seine Geheimnisse dem Hermes anvertraut. Was von der Sonne ausgeht und sich von der Sonne weiterentwickelt, das beherrschte Hermes. Das konnte er legen in die Seelen derer, die herübergekommen waren aus der atlantischen Bevölkerung, weil diese Seelen wie durch natürliche Gaben selbst einst hineingeschen hatten in die Sonnengeheimnisse und sich in derErinnerung etwas davon bewahrt hatten. Es war ja alles in fortschreitender Linie inEntwickelung.Sowohl die Seelen derer, welche dieHermes-Weisheit empfangen sollten, haben sich in fortschreitender Art entwickelt, wie auch Hermes selber. Anders war es bei dem zweiten Schüler des Zarathustra. Er hatte diejenigen Geheimnisse empfangen, welche sich auf den Zeitlauf beziehen, und er mußte daher mitempfangen, was wie die Stauung des Alten und des Jungen, wie etwas Gegensätzliches, polarisch Wirkendes in der Evolution darinnen steht. Aber auch für diesen Schüler hatte Zarathustra einen Teil seiner eigenen Wesenheit hingeopfert, so daß auch dieser zweite Schüler bei der Wiedergeburt empfangen konnte das Opfer des Zarathustra. Während also die Individualität des Zarathustra erhalten blieb, wurden die Hüllen von ihm getrennt; sie blieben aber, weil sie von einer so mächtigen Individualität zusammengehalten waren, intakt und zerstoben nicht. Dieser zweite Schüler, welcher die Zeitenweisheit - im Gegensatz zur Raumesweisheit - erhalten hatte, empfing zu einer bestimmten Zeit seiner Wiederverkörperung den Ätherleib des Zarathustra, welchen Zarathustra ebenso hingeopfert hatte wie seinen astralischen Leib. Kein anderer ist dieser wiedergeborene Zarathustra-Schüler als Moses. Moses erhält einverleibt in ganz früher Kindheit den erhalten gebliebenen Ätherleib des Zarathustra. In einer geheimnisvollen Weise ist in den religiösen Urkunden, die wirklich auf Okkultismus gebaut sind, alles enthalten, was uns auf solche Geheimnisse, wie sie uns die okkulte Forschung lehrt, hinweisen kann. Wenn Moses der wiederinkarnierte Schüler des Zarathustra war und einverleibt erhalten sollte den erhalten gebliebenen Ätherleib des Zarathustra, dann mußte mit ihm etwas ganz Besonderes geschehen. Bevor er die entsprechenden Eindrücke aus der Umgebung wie ein anderer Mensch erhalten sollte, bevor in seine Individualität herabsteigen konnten die Eindrücke der Außenwelt, mußte in seine Wesenheit hineinfiltriert werden, was er als ein Wunder-Erbstück von Zarathustra erhalten sollte. Das wird erzählt in jener Symbolik: daß er in ein Kästchen gelegt und in den Fluß versenkt worden ist, was sich wie eine merkwürdige Initiation ausnimmt. Eine Initiation besteht ja darin, daß ein Mensch abgeschlossen bleibt für eine bestimmte Zeit von der AuBenwelt, und während dessen dasjenige, was er erhalten soll, in sich hineinfiltriert erhält. Damals also, als Moses so abgeschlossen war, konnte ihm in einem bestimmten Moment der aufbewahrte Ätherleib des Zarathustra einverleibt werden. Da konnte in ihm aufblühen jene wunderbare Zeitenweisheit, die ihm einst Zarathustra früher vermittelt hatte, mit der er jetzt begabt wurde, und die er herausbringen konnte, indem er in Bildern, die wieder für sein Volk geeignet waren, darstellte die Weisheit der Zeit hintereinander. Daher können uns bei Moses die großen Bilder der Genesis entgegentreten als äußere Imaginationen der Zeitenweisheit, die von Zarathustra herstammte. Sie waren das wiedergeborene Wissen, die wiedergeborene Weisheit, die er von Zarathustra empfangen hatte. Das war nun in seinem Inneren dadurch befestigt, daß er die Ätherhülle des Zarathustra selber empfangen hatte.
Aber nicht nur das eine ist bei einem solchen, für die Entwickelung der Menschheit so bedeutungsvollen Vorgang notwendig, daß ein Initiierter als Inaugurator da ist für eine Kulturbewegung, sondern das andere ist auch notwendig, daß dasjenige, was eine solche große Individualität als Kulturkeim zu versenken hat, in den entsprechenden, das heißt passenden Volkskeim hineinversenkt werden kann. Und wenn wir den Volkskeim, den Volksgrund betrachten wollen, in welchen Moses hineinversenken konnte, was ihm von Zarathustra übertragen worden war, da ist es gut, daß wir uns mit einer gewissen Eigenart der Moses-Weisheit selbst befassen.
Moses war also in einer früheren Inkarnation Schüler Zarathustras. Er hat damals die Zeitenweisheit erhalten und jenes Geheimnis, welches wir dadurch angedeutet haben, daß in allen Zeiten ein Früheres mit einem Späteren zusammenstößt und dadurch eine Gegensätzlichkeit entsteht. Sollte sich Moses mit dieser Weisheit hineinstellen in die Menschheitsentwickelung, dann mußte er selbst sich mit der andersgearteten Weisheit, als es die Hermes-Weisheit war, wie ein Gegensatz hineinstellen in die Entwickelung. Das geschah. Wir können sagen: Hermes hat von Zarathustra die direkte Weisheit empfangen, sozusagen die Sonnenweisheit, das heißt das Wissen von dem, was geheimnisvoll wesenhaft lebt in der äußeren physischen Hülle des Lichtes und des Sonnenleibes, dasjenige also, was einen direkten Weg geht. Anders Moses. Moses hatte diejenige Weisheit erhalten, die der Mensch mehr in dem dichteren Ätherleib bewahrt, nicht in dem astralischen Leib. Er hatte diejenige Weisheit erhalten, die nicht nur hinaufschaut zur Sonne und fragt, was alles fließt von dem Sonnenwesen aus, sondern die auch das begreift, was sich dem Sonnenlicht, der Sonnenglut entgegenstellt; was in sich verarbeitet, obwohl es sich nicht davon verschlechtern läßt, dasjenige, was erdenhaft, was dicht geworden ist, was sich aus der Erde heraushebt als das Altgewordene, als das Verfestigte: Erdenweisheit also, die in der Sonnenweisheit zwar lebt, die aber doch Erdenweisheit ist. Die Geheimnisse vom Erdenwerden, von der Art und Weise, wie sich der Mensch auf der Erde entwickelt und die Erdensubstantialität evolviert hat, als sich die Sonne von der Erde getrennt hat, das hatte Moses erhalten. Das macht es aber gerade aus, wenn wir jetzt die Sache nicht äußerlich, sondern innerlich betrachten, warum uns in den Hermes-Lehren etwas wie der krasse Gegensatz zu der Moses-Weisheit entgegentritt.
Es gibt nun allerdings gewisse Anschauungen in der Gegenwart, die bei der Betrachtung solcher Dinge nach dem Prinzip vorgehen: In der Nacht sind alle Kühe grau! Die sehen dann überall nur das gleiche und sind sehr entzückt, wenn sie zum Beispiel im Hermestum das gleiche wie im Mosestum finden: hier einmal eine Dreiheit, da eine Dreiheit, dort eine Vierheit und hier eine Vierheit. Damit ist aber nicht viel getan. Denn das wäre ungefähr ebenso, wie wenn jemand einen anderen zum Botaniker erziehen wollte und ihn nicht die Unterschiede lehrte, wodurch sich zum Beispiel die Rose von der Nelke unterscheidet, sondern nur auf dasjenige hinweisen würde, was bei beiden gleich ist. Damit kommen wir nicht durch. Wir müssen wissen, wodurch sich die Wesenheiten unterscheiden und auch die Weisheiten. Und so müssen wir auch wissen, daß die Moses-Weisheit eine ganz andere war als die Hermes-Weisheit. Beide gingen zwar von Zarathustra aus; aber wie gerade sich auch die Einheit trennt und in verschiedener Weise manifestiert, so gab auch Zarathustra zweien seiner Schüler so verschiedenartige Offenbarungen.
Wenn wir die Hermes-Weisheit auf uns wirken lassen, finden wir alles, was uns die Welt lichtvoll macht, was uns zeigt, wie der Weltenursprung ist und wie das Licht hineinwirkt. Aber wir finden in der Hermes-Weisheit nicht die Begriffe, die uns zugleich zeigen, wie in allem Werden ein Früheres in ein Späteres hineinwirkt, wie dadurch die Vergangenheit mit der Gegenwart in Streit kommt und wie Finsternis sich dem Licht entgegenstellt. Erdenweisheit, die uns begreiflich macht, wie sich die Erde nach der Trennung von der Sonne entwickelt hat mit dem Menschen, das ist im Grunde genommen in der HermesWeisheit gar nicht enthalten. Das aber sollte insbesondere die Mission der Moses-Weisheit sein: die Erde nach ihrer Trennung von der Sonne in ihrem Werden dem Menschen begreiflich zu machen. Erdenweisheit ist das, was Moses zu bringen hatte, Sonnenweisheit, was Hermes zu bringen hatte, In Moses also, indem er sich erinnert an alles, was er von Zarathustra erhalten hat, leuchtet auf das Erdenwerden, die Erdenevolution des Menschen. Er geht gleichsam vom Irdischen aus. Aber dieses Irdische ist ja von der Sonne getrennt, es enthält in einer gewissen Weise abschattiert das Sonnenhafte. Das Irdische kommt ihm entgegen und begegnet sich mit dem Sonnenhaften. Daher mußte sich die Erdenweisheit des Moses mit der Sonnenweisheit des Hermes in der Tat auch im konkreten Dasein begegnen. Diese beiden Richtungen mußten aufeinanderstoßen. Das wird uns in seiner Tatsächlichkeit ganz wunderbar in dem Zusammenstoß desMoses und seiner Initiation mit der Hermes-Weisheit auch äußerlich dargestellt. In dem Geborenwerden in Ägypten, in dem Hingezogensein seines Volkes nach Ägypten, in dem Zusammenstoßen des Moses-Volkes mit dem ägyptischen Hermes-Volk liegt der äußerliche Abglanz des Zusammenstoßes von Sonnenweisheit mit Erdenweisheit, wie sie beide von Zarathustra herstammen, wie sie sich aber beide in ganz verschiedenen Evolutionsströmen über die Erde ergießen, wie sie zusammenwirken müssen und zusammenfallen.
Nun drückt sich eine gewisse Weisheit, die im Zusammenhang steht mit den Methoden der Mysterien, immer in einer ganz besonderen Art aus über die tiefsten Geheimnisse des menschlichen und auch des sonstigen Geschehens. Ich habe schon in München bei den Vorträgen über die «Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte» darauf hingewiesen, wie es gegenüber diesen großen Wahrheiten, welche nicht nur den Menschen in seinen tiefsten Geheimnissen, sondern auch die Weltentatsachen überhaupt umfassen, wie es in bezug auf diese Geheimnisse außerordentlich schwierig ist, in irgendeiner gangbaten, äußeren Sprache solche Dinge auszudrücken. Unsere Worte sind wirklich für uns oft Fesseln, denn sie haben ihren prägnanten Sinn, der ihnen seit langen Zeiten zubereitet ist. Und wenn wir mit den großen Weistümern, die sich uns in unserer Seele enthüllen, an die Sprache herantreten und in Worte gießen wollen, was sich uns innerlich enthüllt, dann entsteht ein Kampf gegen dieses so schwache Instrument der Sprache, das wirklich in gewisser Beziehung ungeheuer unzulänglich ist.
Die größte Trivialität, welche wohl im Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts und der neueren Kultur überhaupt gesagt worden ist, die aber unzählige Male wiederholt wurde im Zeitalter des Löschpapiers, das ist die: daß eine jede wirkliche Wahrheit in einfacher Weise sich ausdrücken lassen müsse, und daß die Sprache mit ihren Ausdrucksformen geradezu ein Maßstab dafür wäre, ob jemand irgendeine Wahrheit besäße oder nicht. Aber dieser Satz ist nur ein Ausdruck dafür, daß diejenigen, die ihn aussprechen, nicht im Besitze der eigentlichen Wahrheit sind, sondern nur im Besitze derjenigen Wahrheiten, die ihnen durch die Sprache im Laufe der Jahrhunderte übermittelt sind, und die sie nur ein wenig anders gestalten. Für solche Leute reicht die Sprache dann aus, und sie fühlen nicht den Kampf, den man manchmal mit der Sprache führen muß. Dieser Kampf tritt uns aber da, wo etwas Großes und Gewaltiges zu sagen ist, nur allzu stark vor die Seele.
Ich habe schon in München darauf hingewiesen, wie in dem Rosenkreuzermysterium «Die Pforte der Einweihung» das Ende der ersten Szene im «Meditationszimmer» einen harten Kampf mit der Sprache abgegeben hat. Was darin von dem Hierophanten zum Schüler gesagt werden sollte, das ist etwas, was nur zum allergeringsten Maße in das schwache Instrument der Sprache hineingegossen werden konnte.
Nun wurden aber in den heiligen Mysterien gerade die tiefsten Geheimnisse zum Ausdruck gebracht. Daher empfand man in den Mysterien zu allen Zeiten, ein wie schwaches Instrument die Sprache ist, und wie ungeeignet sie ist, Bilder herzugeben für das, was man eigentlich sagen will. Daher der Drang aller Zeiten in den Mysterien nach Ausdrucksmitteln für dasjenige, was die Seele innerlich erlebte. Und als die schwächsten erwiesen sich jene Ausdrucksmittel, welche derMensch für den äußeren Gebrauch, für den äußeren Umgang jahrhundertelang bewahrt. Dagegen erwiesen sich als geeignet die Bilder, die sich ergaben, wenn man den Blick hinausrichtete in die Raumesweiten: die Sternenbilder, das Aufgehen eines bestimmten Sternes in einem gewissen Zeitpunkt, die Bedeckung eines Sternes durch einen anderen in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt. Kurz, die Bilder, die sich auf diese Weise ergaben, konnte man gut brauchen, um das auszudrücken, was in einer bestimmten Weise sich in der Menschenseele vollzieht. Ich will das kurz charakterisieren.
Nehmen wir an, in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt sollte ein großes Ereignis dadurch geschehen, daß eine Menschenseele in diesem Zeitpunkt reif wurde, etwas Großes zu erleben und dies den Völkern zu überbringen, oder man wollte ausdrücken, daß das betreffende Volk selbst oder ein ganzer Teil der Menschheit einen besonderen Reifezustand erlangt hatte und in der Evolution zu einer bestimmten Stufe hinaufgestiegen war, und zeigen, wie sich hineinstellte in dieses Volk eine Individualität, vielleicht von einer ganz anderen Seite her. Da fiel also zusammen der Höhepunkt der Entwickelung dieser Individualität mit dem Höhepunkt der Entwickelung der Volksseele, und dieses Zusammenfallen wollte man ausdrücken in seiner Einzigartigkeit. Alles, was man in solchem Falle mit der Sprache sagen konnte, wirkte nicht großartig genug, um die Bedeutung eines solchen Ereignisses in unser Gefühl hineinzugießen. Daher drückte man es in dieser Weise aus: Das Zusammenfallen der höchsten Stärke einer einzelnen Individualität mit der höchsten Stärke einer einzelnen Volksseele ist so, wie wenn die Sonne steht im Sternbild des Löwen und uns von dort ihr Licht zustrahlt. Da wurde das Bild des Löwen genommen, um in einem bildhaften Ausdruck darzustellen, was angedeutet werden sollte in seiner Stärke in der Menschheitsevolution. Was sich so äußerlich darbot im Weltenraum, das wurde zum Ausdrucksmittel für dasjenige, was in der Menschheit vor sich geht. Von dorther rührten die Ausdrücke, die gebraucht wurden in der Menschheitsgeschichte und die hergenommen sind von dem Lauf der Gestirne. Das waren Ausdrucksmittel für die geistigen Tatsachen in der Menschheit.
Wenn von so etwas gesprochen wird, daß zum Beispiel die Sonne im Zeichen des Löwen steht, und daß durch ein Himmelsereignis, wie das Sich-Decken der Sonne mit einem bestimmten Sternbild, symbolisch ausgedrückt wird ein Ereignis in der Menschheitsentwickelung, dann kann es wohl sein, daß die Triviallinge so etwas umkehren und meinen, daß alle auf die Menschheitsgeschichte sich beziehenden Ereignisse früher mythisch gehüllt worden wären in Vorgänge, die von den Sternen hergenommen sind, während man in Wahrheit dasjenige, was in der Menschheit vor sich ging, dadurch ausdrückte, daß man die Bilder hernahm von der Konstellation der Gestirne. In Wahrheit ist das Richtige immer umgekehrt von dem, was die Triviallinge lieben.
Dieser Zusammenhang mit dem Kosmos ist etwas, was uns mit einer gewissen Ehrfurcht erfüllen sollte gegenüber allem, was uns gesagt wird über die großen Ereignisse der Menschheitsevolution, und was ausgedrückt wird in den Bildern, die hergenommen sind von dem kosmischen Dasein. Aber es besteht doch ein geheimer Zusammenhang zwischen dem ganzen kosmischen Dasein und demjenigen, was sich im Menschendasein vollzieht. Es ist das, was auf der Erde sich vollzieht, ein Spiegelbild dessen, was im Kosmos geschieht.
So ist auch das Entgegenschreiten der Sonnenweisheit des Hermes und der Erdenweisheit des Moses, wie es in Ägypten zum Ausdruck kommt, in gewisser Beziehung ein Abbild, ein Spiegelbild von Wirkungsweisen im Kosmos draußen. Denken Sie sich gewisse Wirkungen von der Sonne ausstrahlend zur Erde und andere Wirkungen von der Erde zurückstrahlend in den Weltenraum, so wird es nicht einerlei sein, wo sich diese beiden Wirkungen im Raum begegnen; sondern je nachdem sie sich näher oder ferner begegnen, wird auch die Wirkung des Zusammenttreffens der ausgesendeten und zurückgesendeten Strahlen eine verschiedene sein. Nun stellte man das Zusammenstoßen der Hermes-Weisheit mit der Moses-Weisheit im alten Ägypten in den Mysterien in der Weise dar, daß es sich vergleichen ließ mit etwas, was im Grunde genommen im Kosmos auch schon dagewesen ist nach unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Kosmologie. Wir wissen, daß ursprünglich eine Trennung von Sonne und Erde stattgefunden hat, daß dann die Erde noch eine Zeitlang mit dem Monde verbunden war, und daß dann ein Teil von der Erde sich hinausbewegte in den Raum und sie als unser heutiger Mond wieder verlassen hat. Da hat also die Erde einen Teil von sich als Mond wieder zurückgeschickt in den Weltenraum, der Sonne zu. Wie ein solches «Herausstrahlen» der Erde gegen die Sonne zu, war auch der eigentümliche Vorgang, als sich dieErdenweisheit des Moses im Ägyptertum begegnete mit der Sonnenweisheit des Hermes.
Es war die Moses-Weisheit in ihrern weiteren Verlaufe etwas, von dem man sagen kann, sie entwickelte sich als die Wissenschaft der Erde und des Menschen - eben als Erdenweisheit - nach der Trennung von der Sonnenweisheit weiter, aber in der Weise, daß sie der Sonne entgegenwuchs und aufnahm, was von der Sonne als direkte Weisheit kam und mit dem sie sich jetzt durchdrang. Aber nur bis zu einem gewissen Grade sollte sie sich mit der direkten Sonnenweisheit durchdringen; dann sollte sie allein weiterschreiten und sich selbständig entwickeln. Daher bleibt die Moses-Weisheit nur so lange in Ägypten, bis sie genugsam aufnehmen konnte, was sie brauchte; dann erfolgte der «Auszug der Moseskinder aus Ägypten», damit dasjenige, was als Sonnenweisheit von der Erdenweisheit aufgenommen worden ist, verdaut und jetzt selbständig weitergebracht wird.
Wir haben also innerhalb der Moses-Weisheit zwei Glieder zu unterscheiden: ein Glied, wo sich die Moses-Weisheit im Schoße der Hermes-Weisheit entwickelt, gleichsam von allen Seiten von ihr umgeben ist und immerfort die Hermes-Weisheit aufnimmt; dann trennt sie sich von ihr und entwickelt sich abgesondert von ihr nach dem Auszug aus Ägypten, entwickelt in ihrem eigenen Schoß die HermesWeisheit weiter und erreicht bei dieser Weiterentwickelung drei Etappen. Wohin soll sich die Moses-Weisheit entwickeln? Was ist ihre Aufgabe? - Ihre Aufgabe soll sein, daß sie den Weg wieder zurückfindet zur Sonne. Sie ist Erdenweisheit geworden. Moses wird geboren mit dem, was ihm Zarathustra gegeben hat als Erdenweiser. Er soll den Weg wieder zurückfinden. Und er sucht ihn zurück auf seinen verschiedenen Etappen, indem er sich imprägniert in der ersten Etappe mit der Hermes-Weisheit; dann entwickelt er sich weiter. Was er auf diesem Wege durchmacht, läßt sich wieder am besten darstellen in Bildern kosmischer Vorgänge. Wenn das, was auf der Erde geschieht, wieder zurückstrahlt in den Raum, dann begegnet es auf dem Wege zur Sonne zuerst dem Merkur. Wir wissen ja, daß dasjenige, was in der gewöhnlichen Astronomie Venus ist, nach der okkulten Terminologie Merkur genannt wird, und ebenso ist das, was gewöhnlich Merkur genannt wird, im okkulten Sinne Venus. Man trifft also, wenn man von der Erde ausgeht der Sonne zu, zunächst das Merkurartige, dann auf dem weiteren Wege das Venusartige und dann das Sonnenhafte. Daher sollte Moses in inneren Seelenvorgängen das von Zarathustra Ererbte so entwickeln, daß es beim Rückzug wieder das Sonnenhafte finden konnte. Es mußte sich also bis zu einem bestimmten Grade heranentwickeln. Was er als Weisheit gepflanzt hat in die weltliche Kultur, das mußte sich so entwickeln, wie es seinem Volke gegeben war. Daher war sein Weg so, daß er dasjenige, was Hermes direkt brachte, wie in Radienstrahlen von der Sonne, auf dem Rückweg neu entwickelte, umgekehrt, nachdem er zunächst etwas von der Hermes-Weisheit aufgenommen hatte.
Nun wird uns gesagt, daß Hermes, der später Merkur, Thoth, genannt wurde, seinem Volke Kunst und Wissenschaft gebracht hat, äußeres Weltwissen, äußere weltliche Kunst, in der Art, wie es sein Volk brauchen konnte. In anderer Art, gleichsam entgegengesetzt, sollte bis zu diesem Hermes-Merkur-Standpunkt Moses selber weiterdringen, die Hermes-Weisheit rückläufig selber ausbilden. Das ist dargestellt in dem Fortgang des hebräischen Volkes bis zu dem Punkte des Zeitalters und der Regierung des David, der uns entgegentritt als der königliche Psalmensänger, als göttlicher Prophet, der als Gottesmann wirkte wie als Schwertträger und auch als 'Träger des Musikinstrumentes. David, der Hermes, der Merkurius des hebräischen Volkes, so wird er uns geschildert. So weit hat es jetzt jener Strom des hebräischen Volkstumes gebracht, daß er ein selbständiges Hermestum oder Merkurtum hervorbrachte. Die aufgenommene HermesWeisheit war also im davidischen Zeitalter bis in die Region des Merkur gelangt.
Weiterschreiten sollte die Weisheit des Moses auf der rückläufigen Bahn bis zu dem Punkte, wo die Venusregion ist, wenn man so sagen darf. Die Venusregion kam für den Hebräismus in jener Zeit, als die Moses-Weisheit, das heißt das, was durch Jahrhunderte als diese Moses-Weisheit heruntergeströmt war, sich verbinden mußte mit einem ganz anderen Element, mit einer Weisheitsrichtung, die gleichsam von der anderen Seite hergestrahlt war. So wie das, was von der Erde zurückstrahlt in den Raum, auf dem Weg zur Sonne in einem Punkt die Venus trifft, so traf die Moses-Weisheit zusammen mit dem, was auf der anderen Seite von Asien herübergestrahlt war, in der babylonischen Gefangenschaft. Was sich wie in abgeschwächter Form kundgab in den Mysterien Babylons und Chaldäas, mit dem traf die Weisheit des hebräischen Volkes in ihrer besonderen Entwickelung zusammen in der babylonischen Gefangenschaft. Wie wenn ein Wanderer, der ausgegangen wäre von der Erde und gewußt hätte, was auf der Erde ist, die Region des Merkur durchdrungen hätte und gekommen wäre in die Region der Venus, um auf der Venus das auf sie fallende Sonnenlicht zu empfangen, so empfing die Moses-Weisheit dasjenige, was direkt ausgegangen war aus den Heiligtümern des Zarathustrismus und sich in abgeschwächter Gestalt fortgepflanzt hatte in den Mysterien und Weistümern der Chaldäer und Babylonier. Das empfing die Moses-Weisheit jetzt während der babylonischen Gefangenschaft. Da verband sich die Moses-Weisheit mit dem, was bis in die Gebiete des Euphrat und Tigris hinübergedrungen war.
Da geschah abermals ein anderes. In der Tat war Moses zusammengetroffen mit dem, was einst von der Sonne ausgegangen war. Moses, nicht er selbst, aber das, was er seinem Volke mit seiner Weisheit hinterlassen hatte, floß zusammen in den Stätten, welche die Weisheit der Hebräer betreten mußte während der babylonischen Gefangenschaft, es floß zusammen direkt mit dem Sonnenhaften dieser Weisheit. Denn dort lehrte während dieser Zeit in den Mysterienstätten am Euphrat und Tigris, mit denen damals die hebräischen Weisen bekannt wurden, der wiederinkarnierte Zarathustra. Ungefähr zur Zeit der babylonischen Gefangenschaft war Zarathustra selber inkarniert, und dort lehrte er, der einen Teil seiner Weisheit abgegeben hatte, um einen Teil davon wiederzubekommen. Er selber inkarnierte sich ja immer wieder, und wurde so, in seiner Inkarnation als Zarathas oder Nazarathos, der Lehrer der in die babylonische Gefangenschaft hinabgeführten Juden, die mit den Heiligtümern dieser Gegenden bekannt wurden.
So kam die Moses-Weisheit in ihrem Fortfließen, in ihrem Fortströmen zusammen mit dem, was Zarathustra selbst hat werden können, nachdem er von den weiter abgelegenen Mysterienstätten hingezogen war in die Stätten Vorderasiens. Denn dort wurde er der Lehrer der initiierten Schüler Chaldäas, sowohl einzelner eingeweihter Lehrer als auch der Lehrer derjenigen, die jetzt empfingen die Befruchtung ihrer Moses-Weisheit mit jenem Strome, der ihnen dadurch entgegenkommen konnte, daß sie das, was Zarathustra einst ihrem Ahnherrn, dem Moses, gelehrt hatte, jetzt wiederempfangen konnten von Zarathustra selbst in seiner Inkarnation als Zarathas oder Nazarathos. Diese Schicksale hatte die Moses-Weisheit durchgemacht. Sie hatte in der Tat ihren Ursprung bei Zarathustra; sie war versetzt worden in ein fremdes Gebiet. Es war, wie wenn ein Sonnenwesen mit verbundenen Augen herabgetragen wurde auf die Erde und nun im Rückmarsch alles wieder suchen mußte, was es verloren hatte.
So war Moses der Schüler Zarathustras. Er fand sich in seinem Dasein in der ägyptischen Kultur so, daß alles, was ihm Zarathustra einst gegeben hatte, aufgeleuchtet war in seinem Inneren. Aber es war so, wie wenn er nicht gewußt hätte, woher es ihm, abgesondert auf dem Erdeninselfelde aufleuchtete. Und entgegen ging er demjenigen, was einstmals Sonne war. Entgegen ging er innerhalb Ägyptens der Hermes-Weisheit, die auf direkte Weise brachte, was Zarathustra-Weisheit war, nicht auf dem reflektierten Wege wie Moses. Und nachdem er genügend davon aufgenommen hatte, entwickelte sich der Strom der Moses-Weisheit in direkter Weise weiter. Und indem er im davidischen Zeitalter ein direktes Hermestum, eine eigene Wissenschaft und Kunst begründete, ging er der Sonne entgegen, von der er ausgegangen war in einer Gestalt, in der er sich zuerst verhüllt zeigen mußte.
In den altbabylonischen Lehrstätten, wo er auch der Lehrer des Pythagoras war, da konnte Zarathustra nur so lehren, wie es überhaupt möglich ist zu lehren in einem bestimmten Körper, da man angewiesen ist auf die Werkzeuge dieses betreffenden Körpers. Sollte Zarathustra die volle Sonnenhaftigkeit, die er einstmals zum Ausdruck gebracht hatte und übertragen hatte an Hermes und Moses, in einer neuen Gestalt zum Ausdrucke bringen, welche dem Fortschritte der Zeit angemessen war, dann mußte er eine körperliche Hülle haben, die ein würdiges Instrument war, die dem fortgeschrittenen Zeitalter angemessen war. Nur in einer Gestalt, die bedingt war durch einen Körper, wie er im alten Babylon hervorgebracht war, konnte Zarathustra alles dasjenige wieder hervorbringen, was er übertragen konnte auf Pythagoras, auf die hebräischen Gelehrten und auf die chaldäischen und babylonischen Weisen, die damals im 6. vorchristlichen Jahrhundert imstande waren, ihn zu hören. Es war mit dem, was Zarathustra lehren konnte, wirklich so, wie wenn das Sonnenlicht erst aufgefangen würde von der Venus und nicht direkt auf die Erde kommen könnte; es war, wie wenn die Zarathustra-Weisheit nicht in ureigener Gestalt, sondern erst in abgeschwächter Gestalt sich zeigen konnte. Denn damit die Zarathustra-Weisheit in ureigener Gestalt wirksam sein konnte, dazu mußte sich Zarathustra erst umgeben mit einem geeigneten Körper. Dieser geeignete Körper konnte nur zustande kommen auf eine ganz eigene Weise, die man etwa in folgender Art charakterisieren könnte,
Wir haben gestern gesagt, daß es drei verschiedene Volksseelenarten in Asien gab: die indische im Süden, die iranische und die nordasiatisch-turanische. Wir haben darauf hingewiesen, daß diese drei Seelenarten dadurch entstanden sind, daß der nördliche Strom der atlantischen Bevölkerung nach Asien sich hinüberbewegt hat und dort ausgestrahlt ist. Ein anderer Strom ging aber durch Afrika hindurch und sandte seine letzten Ausläufer bis in das turanische Element hinüber. Und wo der nördliche Strom, der von der Atlantis nach Asien zog, und die andere Strömung, die sich von der Atlantis durch Afrika ausbreitete, zusammenstießen, da entstand eine eigentümliche Mischung, da bildete sich ein Volkstum heraus, aus dem das spätere Hebräertum entstanden ist. Mit diesem Volkstum geschah etwas ganz Besonderes. Alles das, wovon wir gesagt haben, daß es wie ein astralisch-ätherisches Hellsehen in der Dekadenz zurückgeblieben war bei gewissen Völkerschaften und in dieser Gestalt ein Schlimmes geworden war, indem es als äußerliches Hellsehen wie in einer letzten Phase auftrat, das alles schlug sich innerhalb derjenigen Leute, die zum hebräischen Volke wurden, nach innen. Es nahm eine ganz andere Richtung an. Statt daß es in äußerer Wirkung als die Reste des alten atlantischen Hellsehens sich in einem niederen astralischen Hellsehen zeigte, trat es bei diesem Volke so auf, daß es im Inneren des Leibes organisierend wirkte. Was äußerlich etwas Dekadentes war, was deshalb, weil es konservativ geblieben war, ein dekadentes Element des Hellsehens, etwas mit ahrimanischem Element Durchzogenes geworden war, das war in richtiger Weise fortgeschritten, indem es eine im Inneren des Menschen wirksame Kraft geworden war, die im Inneren des Menschen organisierte. Es lebte sich beim hebräischen Volke nicht aus in einem zurückgebliebenen Hellsehertum, sondern es organisierte die Leiblichkeit um und machte sie dadurch in bewußter Weise vollkommener. Alles, was im Turaniertum dekadent war, das wirkte fortschaffend und umgestaltend beim hebräischen Volke.
Deshalb dürfen wir sagen: In der Leiblichkeit des hebräischen Volkes, die sich durch die Vererbung in der Blutsverwandtschaft fortgepflanzt hatte von Generation zu Generation, wirkte alles, was als äußere Anschauung seine Zeit erfüllt hatte, was nicht mehr äußere Anschauung sein sollte, was auf einen anderen Schauplatz treten sollte, um in seinem rechten Element zu sein. Was den Atlantiern die Kraft gegeben hatte, geistig hineinzuschauen in den Raum und in geistige Gebiete, was verwildert war bei den Turaniern als hellseherischer Rest, das alles wirkte bei diesem kleinen hebräischen Volke so, daß es nach innen schlug. Alles, was beim Atlantiertum göttlich-geistig war, wirkte beim hebräischen Volke im Inneren, bildete Organe, wirkte leibgestaltend und konnte daher aufblitzen innerhalb des Blutes des hebräischen Volkes als das göttliche Bewußtsein im Inneren. Es war beim hebräischen Volke so, wie wenn alles, was der Atlantier gesehen hat, wenn er den hellseherischen Blick in alle Richtungen des Raumes schickte, wie wenn das aufgetreten wäre, ganz nach innen geschlagen, im Innersten als Organbewußtsein des hebräischen Volkes, als das Jahve- oder Jehova-Bewußtsein, als das Gottesbewußtsein im Inneren. Mit seinem Blute vereinigt fand dieses Volk den Gott, der ausgebreitet war im Raum, fand sich durchdrungen, imprägniert mit dem Gott, der im Raum ausgebreitet war, und es wußte, daß dieser Gott in seinem Inneren, in der Pulsation seines Blutes lebt.
Indem wir also auf der einen Seite Iraniertum und Turaniertum entgegengestellt sehen, wie wir es gestern charakterisiert haben, und indem wir nun Turaniertum und Hebräertum einander gegenüberstellen, sehen wir dasjenige, was bei den Turaniern dekadent ist, in seinem Fortschritt und in seinem Elemente, wie es später sein mußte, im Blut des hebräischen Volkes pulsieren. So, daß es innerlich gefühlt wird, lebt alles das auf, was der Atlantier gesehen hat. Und in einem einzigen Worte schließt es sich zusammen, in dem Worte Jahve oder Jehova. Wie in einem einzigen Punkt, wie in ein einziges Zentrum des Gottesbewußtseins zusammengedrängt, lebt durch die Generationen Abrahams, Isaaks, Jakobs und so weiter heruntergehend, im Blute der Generationen, unsichtbar, aber innerlich gefühlt, der Gott, der hinter allen Wesen sich gezeigt hat für das atlantische Hellsehen, der jetzt der Gott im Blute Abrahams, Isaaks und Jakobs war und diese Generationen führte von Schicksal zu Schicksal. Es war auf diese Weise das Äußere innerlich geworden; es wurde erlebt, nicht mehr geschaut, und es wurde nicht mehr mit einzelnen verschiedenen Namen bezeichnet, sondern mit einem Einzelnamen, mit dem: «Ich bin der Ich-bin!» Es hatte eine ganz andere Gestalt angenommen. Während es der Mensch in der atlantischen Zeit überall fand, wo er nicht war — draußen in der Welt -, fand es der Mensch jetzt da, wo er sein Zentrum hatte, in seinem Ich, und fühlte es in dem Blute, das durch die Generationen rinnt. Es ist der große Gott der Welt jetzt geworden jener Gott des hebräischen Volkes, der Gott Abrahams, Isaaks und Jakobs, der im Blute durch die Generationen rinnt.
So wird jenes Volkstum begründet, das wir in seiner eigentümlichen inneren Mission für die Menschheitsevolution morgen betrachten werden. Wir haben heute nur andeuten können den allerersten Punkt der Blutsbeschaffenheit dieses Volkes, wo zusammengedrängt ist im Inneren alles, was einst der Mensch in der atlantischen Zeit von außen hat auf sich eindringen lassen. Wir werden sehen, welche Geheimnisse sich in dem vollziehen, was damit nur angeschlagen ist, und wir werden die eigentümliche Natur jenes Volkes kennenlernen, aus welchem Zarathustra seinen Körper nehmen konnte zu dem Wesen, das wir als den Jesus von Nazareth bezeichnen.
Second Lecture
It will be necessary in the initial lectures of this cycle to repeat some of what has already been said in the examination of the Gospel of Luke. Certain facts in the life of Christ Jesus can only be understood if one compares these two Gospels a little.
What is of primary importance for the inner understanding of the Gospel of Matthew is that the individuality of which this Gospel first tells us originates, in terms of its physicality, from Abraham and, through inheritance through three times fourteen generations, carries within itself, so to speak, an extract of the entire people of the Abrahamites, the Hebrews and that this individuality is the same for the spiritual scientist as that which we refer to as that of Zoroaster or Zarathustra. Yesterday we described, as it were, the external environment in which Zoroaster or Zarathustra worked. It will be necessary to mention a few things about the worldviews and ideas that dominated the circles of Zarathustra. For it must be said that in the region where Zoroaster or Zarathustra worked in ancient times, a worldview flourished that contained profound significance in its broad outlines. One need only utter a few sentences from what may be regarded as the teachings of the oldest Zarathustra to point to the deep foundations of the entire post-Atlantean worldview.
Even outwardly in history, we are told that the teaching within which Zarathustra also worked is based on two principles, which we call the principle of Ormuzd, the good, light-filled being, and the principle of Ahriman, the dark, evil being. But at the same time, the external presentation of this religious system emphasizes that these two principles—Ormuzd or Ahura Mazdao and Ahriman—can be traced back to a common principle: Zeruane Akarene.
What is this unified, quasi-primordial principle from which the two other principles, which fight each other in the world, originate? Zeruane Akarene is usually translated as “uncreated time.” One can therefore say that the teachings of Zarathustra ultimately trace back to the primordial principle, in which we must see the calm time flowing through the course of the world. However, it is already inherent in the meaning of the word that one cannot ask again about the origin of this time, this cycle of time. It is important to be particularly aware of this idea: that one can speak of something in the context of the world without being internally justified in asking, for example, about the causes of such a first principle. The external abstract thinking of human beings will hardly ever allow itself, when some cause is pointed out, to refrain from asking again and again about the cause of this cause, and thus, as it were, to turn the concepts backwards for all eternity. If one really wanted to stand firmly on the ground of spiritual science, one would have to make it clear to oneself through thorough meditation that the question of origin, of cause, must come to a halt somewhere, must stop somewhere, and that if one continues to ask about causes beyond a certain point, one is merely playing a game of thought.
I pointed out this epistemological fact in my “Outline of Secret Science.” I said: One might well ask, when one sees ruts on a road, where the ruts come from. One can answer: From the wheels of a car. One can ask further, where are the wheels on the car? One can ask why the ruts were made by the car, and one may receive the answer: because it drove over the road. One can ask further: why did it drive over the road? And one may receive the answer: because it was supposed to drive a person across the road. But with these questions, one ultimately arrives at the decisions that led those people to use the car. And if you don't stop there, if you keep asking about the reasons behind this intention, then you miss the real point and get stuck in a game of questions.
The same is true of the great questions of worldview. You have to stop somewhere. According to the teachings of Zarathustrianism, you have to stop at the time that flows quietly by. Now, Zarathustrianism divides time itself into two principles, or rather, it allows two principles to emerge from it: a good principle, a principle of light, which I was able to characterize quite concretely yesterday as the Ormuzd principle, and an evil principle, a principle of darkness, the Ahriman principle. There is something tremendously profound underlying this ancient Persian view, namely that all evil, all bad in the world, everything that must be described in its physical form as dark or gloomy, is not originally evil, dark or bad. I pointed out that ancient Persian thinking, for example, regarded the wolf, which in a certain sense represents something wild, something bad, something in which the Ahriman principle is at work, as having degenerated when it was left to its own devices and the Ahriman principle was able to take effect in it, so that in this sense the wolf originally descended from a being in which we cannot deny the good. According to the ancient Persian, ancient Aryan view, this is the basis of all becoming: that bad, evil, and wicked things arise because something that was good in its former form at an earlier time has retained this form into a later period, so that instead of changing, instead of progressing, it has retained the form that was appropriate to an earlier time. The ancient Persian view simply derives everything bad, everything dark and evil from the fact that the form of a being, which was good at an earlier point in time, has remained the same in a later period instead of changing accordingly. And from the clash of such a form of being, carried over from an earlier period into a later time, with that which has progressed, there arises the struggle of good with evil. Thus, according to the ancient Persian view, the struggle between good and evil is none other than the struggle between that which has its proper form in the present and that which carries its old form into the present. Evil is therefore not an absolute evil, but only a displaced good, something that was good in an earlier time. Thus, the evil that enters the present appears as an event that preserves an earlier time in the present. Where the earlier and the later have not yet entered into conflict with each other, time still flows undivided, not broken up into its individual moments.
This is a deeply significant view that we find here at the root of the first post-Atlantic peoples in Zarathustrianism. And this view, which we can actually regard as the basic principle of Zarathustrianism, when considered in the right way, includes precisely what we were able to characterize yesterday from a certain point of view, and what we see so strongly in those peoples who leaned toward the teachings of Zarathustra. We see everywhere among these peoples an understanding of the necessity that these two moments, which have grown out of the uniform stream of time, as it were, should confront each other in time itself and only be overcome in the course of time. We see the necessity that the young should arise and that the old should be preserved, and that in the balance between the old and the young, the goal of the world, especially the goal of the earth, should gradually be achieved. As we have now characterized it, this view also underlies all higher development as it occurred within what originated from Zarathustrianism. After Zarathustrianism had established itself in those regions in the times characterized yesterday, it had an effect wherever it appeared. And we will soon see how immeasurably strong its influence was on all subsequent ages. It worked in such a way that it instilled the contrast between the old and the young into everything it touched. And it worked deeply.
Zarathustra was able to have such a profound effect on all subsequent ages because, at the time when he had risen to the highest initiation that could be attained in his time, he had taken two disciples. I have already mentioned them. To one he taught everything relating to the mysteries of the space that spreads out around us in a way we can sense, that is, everything that is the mystery of simultaneity; then he taught the other disciple everything that is the mystery of time flowing by, the mysteries of evolution, of development. I have also already pointed out that at a certain point in time in such a discipleship as existed between these two great disciples and Zarathustra, something very special occurs: that the teacher can sacrifice something of his own being for his disciples. And Zarathustra, as he was in his Zarathustra period, sacrificed his own astral body and his own etheric body from his own being for his two disciples. The individuality of Zarathustra, his innermost being, remained intact within himself, undergoing repeated incarnations. But what was, as it were, the astral garment of Zarathustra, the astral body in which he lived as Zarathustra in ancient times of post-Atlantean development, this astral garment was so perfect, so permeated by the whole being of Zarathustra, that it did not disintegrate like other astral garments of human beings, but remained closed in on itself. In the becoming of worlds, such human shells, bound together by the depth of the individuality that carried them, can remain intact. And the astral body of Zarathustra remained intact. And one of the disciples who had received from Zarathustra the teaching about space and the secrets of everything that simultaneously permeates our sensory consciousness, this disciple was reborn in that personality who is called Thoth or Hermes of Egypt in history. This reincarnated disciple of Zarathustra, who was chosen—as occult research teaches—to become the Egyptian Hermes or Thoth, was not only to consolidate within himself everything he had inherited from a previous incarnation of Zarathustra, but he was also to bring it to firmness by having the preserved astral body of Zarathustra himself incorporated, infused, and filtered into him in the manner made possible by the sacred mysteries. was incorporated, poured into, and filtered into him. Thus, the individuality of this disciple of Zarathustra was reborn as the inaugurator of Egyptian culture, and the astral body of Zarathustra himself was incorporated into this Hermes or Thoth. So we have a direct link to the Zarathustra being in the Egyptian Hermes. And with this link and with what he had brought with him from his discipleship with Zarathustra, Hermes brought about everything that is great and significant in Egyptian culture.
In order for something like this to happen, through this missionary, through this messenger of Zarathustra, there had to be a corresponding culture. Only among these peoples, where there were people who had migrated from the Atlantic regions via the more southern route and settled in East Africa, and who had retained much of their Atlantic clairvoyance, could what Hermes, the disciple of Zarathustra, planted find fertile ground. There, the essence of the soul in the Egyptian population came into contact with what Hermes could give, and this gave rise to Egyptian culture.
This was now a very special kind of culture. Just think of everything that had been handed over to Hermes as a precious gift from his teacher Zarathustra as the secrets of simultaneous existence in space. Through this, Hermes possessed in his being the most important thing that Zarathustra had mastered. We have often pointed out that one of the most characteristic features of Zarathustra's teaching was that he directed his followers to the sun's body, to the outer light and the outer physical light body of the sun, and showed them how this sun body is only the outer shell of a high spiritual being. So, what lies at the foundation of all nature as an entity through space, what is simultaneous but always progresses through time from epoch to epoch and always reveals itself anew in a particular epoch, this Zarathustra entrusted to Hermes in relation to his secrets. Hermes mastered that which emanates from the sun and develops further from the sun. He was able to place this in the souls of those who had come over from the Atlantean population, because these souls, as if by natural gifts, had once poured themselves into the secrets of the sun and preserved something of them in their memory. Everything was in a progressive line of development. Both the souls of those who were to receive the wisdom of Hermes developed in a progressive manner, as did Hermes himself. It was different with Zarathustra's second disciple. He had received those secrets that relate to the passage of time, and he therefore had to receive what stands in evolution as the accumulation of the old and the young, as something contradictory, polar in its effect. But Zarathustra had also sacrificed part of his own being for this disciple, so that this second disciple could also receive Zarathustra's sacrifice at the time of his rebirth. Thus, while Zarathustra's individuality remained intact, his outer shells were separated from him; but because they were held together by such a powerful individuality, they remained intact and did not disintegrate. This second disciple, who had received the wisdom of time—in contrast to the wisdom of space—received at a certain time of his reincarnation the etheric body of Zarathustra, which Zarathustra had sacrificed just as he had sacrificed his astral body. This reborn disciple of Zarathustra is none other than Moses. Moses received the preserved etheric body of Zarathustra in his early childhood. In a mysterious way, the religious documents that are truly based on occultism contain everything that can point us to such secrets as occult research teaches us. If Moses was the reincarnated disciple of Zarathustra and was to receive the preserved etheric body of Zarathustra, then something very special had to happen to him. Before he could receive the corresponding impressions from his surroundings like any other human being, before the impressions of the outside world could descend into his individuality, what he was to receive as a miraculous heirloom from Zarathustra had to be filtered into his being. This is recounted in the symbolism of his being placed in a box and sunk into the river, which appears to be a strange initiation. An initiation consists in a person being shut off from the outside world for a certain period of time, during which what he is to receive filters into him. So at that time, when Moses was thus isolated, the preserved etheric body of Zarathustra could be incorporated into him at a certain moment. Then the wonderful wisdom of the times that Zarathustra had once imparted to him could blossom within him, and he was now able to bring it forth by depicting the wisdom of the times in images that were once again suitable for his people. That is why we encounter the great images of Genesis in Moses as external imaginations of the wisdom of the ages that originated with Zarathustra. They were the reborn knowledge, the reborn wisdom that he had received from Zarathustra. This was now firmly established within him because he had received the etheric body of Zarathustra himself.
But not only is it necessary in such a process, which is so significant for the development of humanity, that an initiate be present as the initiator of a cultural movement, but it is also necessary that what such a great individuality has to sink into as a cultural germ can be sunk into the corresponding, that is, suitable, folk germ. And if we want to consider the seed of the people, the foundation of the people, into which Moses was able to plant what had been transmitted to him by Zarathustra, it is good to examine a certain peculiarity of Moses' wisdom itself.
Moses was therefore a disciple of Zarathustra in a previous incarnation. At that time, he received the wisdom of the times and that secret which we have indicated by saying that in all ages something earlier collides with something later, thereby creating a contrast. If Moses was to place himself with this wisdom into the development of humanity, then he himself had to place himself into the development as a contrast with a wisdom that was different from the wisdom of Hermes. That is what happened. We can say that Hermes received direct wisdom from Zarathustra, the wisdom of the sun, so to speak, that is, the knowledge of what mysteriously lives in the outer physical shell of light and the sun's body, that which follows a direct path. Moses was different. Moses had received the wisdom that human beings preserve more in the denser etheric body, not in the astral body. He had received the wisdom that not only looks up to the sun and asks what flows from the sun being, but also understands what opposes the sunlight, the sun's heat; what is processed within itself, even though it does not allow itself to be corrupted by it, that which is earthly, that which has become dense, that which rises out of the earth as that which has grown old, as that which has solidified: earthly wisdom, therefore, which lives in solar wisdom, but which is nevertheless earthly wisdom. The secrets of becoming earthly, of the way in which human beings develop on earth and of how earthly substance evolved when the sun separated from the earth, were given to Moses. But this is precisely what makes it so important, when we now consider the matter not externally but internally, why we encounter something in the teachings of Hermes that is in stark contrast to the wisdom of Moses.
Now, there are certain views in the present day that approach such things according to the principle: At night, all cows are gray! They see only the same thing everywhere and are very delighted when, for example, they find the same thing in Hermeticism as in Moses' teachings: here a trinity, there a trinity, there a quaternity, and here a quaternity. But that does not accomplish much. For it would be much the same as if someone wanted to train another person to be a botanist and did not teach them the differences between, for example, a rose and a carnation, but only pointed out what is the same in both. That won't get us anywhere. We need to know how the beings differ and also how their wisdom differs. And so we also need to know that the wisdom of Moses was completely different from the wisdom of Hermes. Both originated with Zarathustra, but just as unity divides and manifests itself in different ways, Zarathustra also gave two of his disciples such different revelations.
When we allow the wisdom of Hermes to work upon us, we find everything that makes the world luminous, that shows us how the world originated and how light works within it. But we do not find in the wisdom of Hermes the concepts that show us at the same time how in all becoming the earlier influences the later, how the past thus comes into conflict with the present, and how darkness opposes light. Earth wisdom, which makes us understand how the earth developed after its separation from the sun with human beings, is basically not contained in the wisdom of Hermes at all. But this should be the mission of the wisdom of Moses in particular: to make the earth understandable to human beings in its becoming after its separation from the sun. Earth wisdom is what Moses had to bring, sun wisdom what Hermes had to bring. In Moses, therefore, as he remembers everything he received from Zarathustra, the becoming of the earth, the earthly evolution of man, shines forth. He proceeds, as it were, from the earthly. But this earthly is separated from the sun; in a certain sense, it contains the sun in shadow. The earthly comes toward him and encounters the solar. Therefore, the earthly wisdom of Moses had to encounter the solar wisdom of Hermes in concrete existence. These two directions had to collide. This is wonderfully illustrated in its reality in the collision of Moses and his initiation with the wisdom of Hermes, which is also depicted externally. In Moses' birth in Egypt, in his people's migration to Egypt, in the clash between Moses' people and the Egyptian Hermes people, we see the outward reflection of the clash between solar wisdom and earthly wisdom, both of which originate from Zarathustra, but how they both pour over the earth in completely different evolutionary streams, how they must interact and coincide.
Now, a certain wisdom, which is connected with the methods of the mysteries, always expresses itself in a very special way about the deepest secrets of human and other events. I have already pointed out in Munich, in the lectures on the “Secrets of the Biblical Creation Story,” how, in relation to these great truths, which encompass not only human beings in their deepest mysteries but also the facts of the world in general, it is extremely difficult to express such things in any conventional, external language. Our words are often truly shackles for us, for they have their concise meaning, which has been prepared for them since time immemorial. And when we approach language with the great mysteries that reveal themselves to us in our souls and want to pour into words what is revealed to us inwardly, then a struggle arises against this weak instrument of language, which is truly, in a certain sense, enormously inadequate.
The greatest triviality that was probably ever said in the course of the 19th century and in modern culture in general, but which has been repeated countless times in the age of blotting paper, is this: that every real truth must be expressible in a simple way, and that language, with its forms of expression, is the very yardstick by which to measure whether someone possesses any truth or not. But this statement is only an expression of the fact that those who utter it are not in possession of the actual truth, but only of those truths that have been handed down to them through language over the centuries, and which they shape only slightly differently. For such people, language is sufficient, and they do not feel the struggle that one sometimes has to wage with language. But this struggle becomes all too apparent to us when something great and powerful needs to be said.
I have already pointed out in Munich how, in the Rosicrucian mystery play “The Gate of Initiation,” the end of the first scene in the “Meditation Room” was a hard struggle with language. What the hierophant was supposed to say to the disciple is something that could only be poured into the weak instrument of language to the very smallest degree.
But in the sacred mysteries, it was precisely the deepest secrets that were expressed. Therefore, in the mysteries of all times, people felt how weak a tool language is and how unsuitable it is for conveying images of what one actually wants to say. Hence the urge in the mysteries of all times to find means of expression for what the soul experienced inwardly. And the means of expression that humans had preserved for centuries for external use and external interaction proved to be the weakest. On the other hand, the images that arose when one looked out into the vastness of space proved to be suitable: the constellations, the rising of a certain star at a certain time, the covering of one star by another at a certain time. In short, the images that arose in this way were well suited to expressing what takes place in a certain way in the human soul. I will characterize this briefly.
Let us assume that at a certain point in time, a great event was to take place because a human soul had matured at that moment to experience something great and to convey this to the peoples, or one wanted to express that the people in question themselves or a whole part of humanity had attained a special state of maturity and had risen to a certain stage in evolution, and show how an individuality, perhaps from a completely different side, came to be part of this people. So the climax of the development of this individuality coincided with the climax of the development of the soul of the people, and people wanted to express this coincidence in its uniqueness. Everything that could be said in such a case with language did not seem grand enough to convey the significance of such an event to our feelings. Therefore, it was expressed in this way: The coincidence of the highest strength of a single individuality with the highest strength of a single national soul is like when the sun stands in the constellation of Leo and shines its light upon us from there. The image of the lion was taken to represent in a pictorial expression what was to be indicated in its strength in human evolution. What presented itself externally in the universe became a means of expression for what was happening in humanity. From there came the expressions that were used in human history and that are taken from the course of the stars. These were means of expression for the spiritual facts in humanity.
When we speak of something like the sun standing in the sign of Leo, and that a celestial event, such as the sun being covered by a certain constellation, symbolically expresses an event in human evolution, then it may well be that trivial minds reverse this and think that all events relating to human history were once shrouded in myth, in processes taken from the stars, whereas in reality what was happening in humanity was expressed by taking images from the constellations of the stars. In truth, the right thing is always the opposite of what trivial people love.
This connection with the cosmos is something that should fill us with a certain reverence for everything we are told about the great events of human evolution and for what is expressed in the images taken from cosmic existence. But there is a secret connection between the whole of cosmic existence and what takes place in human existence. What takes place on earth is a reflection of what happens in the cosmos.
Thus, the opposition between the solar wisdom of Hermes and the earthly wisdom of Moses, as expressed in Egypt, is in a certain sense a reflection, a mirror image of the workings of the cosmos outside. If you imagine certain effects radiating from the sun to the earth and other effects radiating back from the earth into space, it will not be the same where these two effects meet in space; but depending on whether they meet closer or further apart, the effect of the meeting of the emitted and returned rays will also be different. Now, the collision of the wisdom of Hermes with the wisdom of Moses in ancient Egypt was represented in the mysteries in such a way that it could be compared with something that, according to our spiritual scientific cosmology, had already existed in the cosmos. We know that originally there was a separation of the sun and the earth, that the earth was then connected to the moon for a while, and that then a part of the earth moved out into space and left it again as our present moon. So the Earth sent a part of itself back into space as the moon, toward the sun. This “radiation” of the Earth toward the sun was also the peculiar process that took place when the Earth wisdom of Moses encountered the sun wisdom of Hermes in Egypt.
In its further course, the wisdom of Moses was something that can be said to have developed as the science of the Earth and of man—as Earth wisdom—after its separation from the wisdom of the Sun, but in such a way that it grew toward the Sun and absorbed what came from the Sun as direct wisdom and with which it now permeated itself. But it was only to be permeated by direct solar wisdom to a certain degree; then it was to go on alone and develop independently. Therefore, the wisdom of Moses remained in Egypt only until it had absorbed enough of what it needed; then the “exodus of the children of Moses from Egypt” took place, so that what had been absorbed as solar wisdom from earthly wisdom could be digested and now carried forward independently.
We must therefore distinguish between two stages within the wisdom of Moses: one link where the wisdom of Moses develops in the womb of the wisdom of Hermes, surrounded on all sides by it, as it were, and constantly absorbing the wisdom of Hermes; then it separates from it and develops separately after the exodus from Egypt, further developing the wisdom of Hermes in its own womb and reaching three stages in this further development. Where should the wisdom of Moses develop? What is its task? Its task is to find its way back to the sun. It has become earthly wisdom. Moses is born with what Zarathustra gave him as an earthly sage. He is to find his way back again. And he seeks it back at its various stages, imbibing the wisdom of Hermes in the first stage; then he develops further. What he goes through on this path can best be illustrated again in images of cosmic processes. When what happens on earth radiates back into space, it first encounters Mercury on its way to the sun. We know that what is called Venus in ordinary astronomy is called Mercury in occult terminology, and likewise, what is usually called Mercury is Venus in the occult sense. So, starting from the earth and heading toward the sun, we first encounter the Mercury-like, then further along the way the Venus-like, and then the sun-like. That is why Moses had to develop what he inherited from Zarathustra in inner soul processes in such a way that it could find the sun-like again during its retreat. It therefore had to develop to a certain degree. What he planted as wisdom in worldly culture had to develop in the way that was given to his people. Therefore, his path was such that he redeveloped what Hermes had brought directly, as in rays from the sun, on his way back, after he had first absorbed something of the wisdom of Hermes.
Now we are told that Hermes, who was later called Mercury, Thoth, brought art and science to his people, external world knowledge, external worldly art, in the way that his people could use it. In another way, as it were opposite, Moses himself was to advance to this Hermes-Mercury standpoint, developing the Hermes wisdom himself in a retrograde manner. This is depicted in the progress of the Hebrew people up to the point in time and the reign of David, who appears to us as the royal psalmist, as a divine prophet who acted as a man of God, as a sword bearer, and also as a bearer of musical instruments. David, the Hermes, the Mercury of the Hebrew people, is how he is described to us. The stream of Hebrew folk life had now progressed so far that it produced an independent Hermeticism or Mercurianism. The Hermetic wisdom that had been absorbed had thus reached the region of Mercury in the Davidic age.
The wisdom of Moses was to continue on its retrograde path to the point where the Venus region is, if one may say so. The Venus region came for Hebraism at that time when the wisdom of Moses, that is, what had flowed down through the centuries as this wisdom of Moses, had to connect with a completely different element, with a direction of wisdom that had, as it were, radiated from the other side. Just as what radiates back from the earth into space meets Venus at a point on its way to the sun, so the wisdom of Moses met what had radiated over from the other side of Asia during the Babylonian captivity. What manifested itself in a weakened form in the mysteries of Babylon and Chaldea met with the wisdom of the Hebrew people in its particular development during the Babylonian captivity. Just as a traveler who had set out from the earth and knew what was on the earth, had penetrated the region of Mercury and come to the region of Venus in order to receive the sunlight falling on Venus, so the wisdom of Moses received that which had come directly from the sanctuaries of Zarathustrianism and had propagated itself in a weakened form in the mysteries and teachings of the Chaldeans and Babylonians. This is what the wisdom of Moses now received during the Babylonian captivity. There, the wisdom of Moses connected with what had spread to the regions of the Euphrates and Tigris.
But then something else happened. Moses actually encountered what had once emanated from the sun. Not Moses himself, but what he had left his people with his wisdom flowed together in the places which the wisdom of the Hebrews had to enter during the Babylonian captivity; it flowed together directly with the solar element of this wisdom. For during this time, the reincarnated Zarathustra taught in the mystery centers on the Euphrates and Tigris, where the Hebrew sages became acquainted with him. Zarathustra himself was incarnated at about the time of the Babylonian captivity, and there he taught, having given away part of his wisdom in order to regain part of it. He himself incarnated again and again, and thus, in his incarnation as Zarathas or Nazarathos, he became the teacher of the Jews who were led into Babylonian captivity and became acquainted with the sanctuaries of those regions.
Thus, the wisdom of Moses came together in its flow, in its stream, with what Zarathustra himself had become after he had been drawn from the more remote mystery centers to the places of the Near East. For there he became the teacher of the initiated disciples of Chaldea, both of individual initiated teachers and of those who now received the fertilization of their Moses wisdom with that stream that could come to meet them because they could now receive again from Zarathustra himself in his incarnation as Zarathas or Nazarathos what Zarathustra had once taught their forefather, Moses. Such were the destinies that the wisdom of Moses had undergone. It had indeed originated with Zarathustra; it had been transferred to a foreign territory. It was as if a solar being had been carried down to earth with its eyes blindfolded and now, on its way back, had to search for everything it had lost.
Thus Moses was the disciple of Zarathustra. He found himself in his existence in Egyptian culture in such a way that everything Zarathustra had once given him was illuminated within him. But it was as if he did not know where it came from, shining upon him, isolated on the island of Earth. And he went against what had once been the sun. Within Egypt, he went against the wisdom of Hermes, which brought forth directly what was the wisdom of Zarathustra, not in the reflective way of Moses. And after he had absorbed enough of it, the stream of Moses' wisdom developed further in a direct way. And by founding a direct Hermeticism, a science and art of his own, in the Davidic age, he went toward the sun from which he had started, in a form in which he first had to show himself veiled.
In the ancient Babylonian schools, where he was also the teacher of Pythagoras, Zarathustra could only teach as it is possible to teach in a particular body, since one is dependent on the tools of that particular body. If Zarathustra was to express the full sun-like nature that he had once expressed and transmitted to Hermes and Moses in a new form appropriate to the progress of time, then he had to have a physical shell that was a worthy instrument, appropriate to the advanced age. Only in a form conditioned by a body such as had been produced in ancient Babylon could Zarathustra bring forth again all that he could impart to Pythagoras, to the Hebrew scholars, and to the Chaldean and Babylonian sages who were able to hear him at that time in the 6th century BC. What Zarathustra was able to teach was really like sunlight being first captured by Venus and not being able to reach the earth directly; it was as if the wisdom of Zarathustra could not reveal itself in its original form, but only in a weakened form. For the wisdom of Zarathustra to be effective in its original form, Zarathustra first had to surround himself with a suitable body. This suitable body could only come into being in a very special way, which could be characterized as follows
Yesterday we said that there were three different types of national souls in Asia: the Indian in the south, the Iranian, and the North Asian-Turanian. We pointed out that these three types of souls arose when the northern stream of the Atlantic population moved to Asia and spread out there. However, another stream passed through Africa and sent its last offshoots over to the Turanian element. And where the northern stream, which moved from Atlantis to Asia, and the other stream, which spread from Atlantis through Africa, collided, a peculiar mixture arose, and a people emerged from which the later Hebrew culture developed. Something very special happened to this people. Everything we have said about astral-etheric clairvoyance remaining in a state of decadence among certain peoples and becoming something terrible in this form, appearing as external clairvoyance in a final phase, all this was turned inward among those people who became the Hebrew people. It took a completely different direction. Instead of manifesting itself outwardly as the remnants of the old Atlantean clairvoyance in a lower astral clairvoyance, it appeared in this people in such a way that it had an organizing effect within the body. What was outwardly somewhat decadent, what had become a decadent element of clairvoyance because it had remained conservative, something permeated with an Ahrimanic element, had progressed in the right way by becoming a force effective within the human being, organizing within the human being. Among the Hebrew people, it did not live out in a backward clairvoyance, but reorganized the physical body and thereby made it consciously more perfect. Everything that was decadent in the Turanian element had a transforming and reshaping effect on the Hebrew people.
Therefore, we can say that in the physicality of the Hebrew people, which had been passed down from generation to generation through blood relations, everything that had fulfilled its time as external perception, that was no longer to be external perception, that was to enter another arena in order to be in its proper element, was at work. What had given the Atlanteans the power to look spiritually into space and into spiritual realms, what had become wild in the Turanians as a remnant of clairvoyance, all this worked in this small Hebrew people in such a way that it turned inward. Everything that was divine and spiritual in the Atlanteans worked inwardly in the Hebrew people, forming organs, shaping the body, and thus able to flash forth within the blood of the Hebrew people as the divine consciousness within. It was as if everything that the Atlantean saw when he sent his clairvoyant gaze in all directions of space had occurred within the Hebrew people, turned inward, in their innermost being as organ consciousness, as the Yahweh or Jehovah consciousness, as the consciousness of God within. United with its blood, this people found the God who was spread out in space, found itself permeated, impregnated with the God who was spread out in space, and knew that this God lives within it, in the pulsation of its blood.
So, when we see Iranianism and Turanism opposed to each other, as we characterized them yesterday, and when we now contrast Turanism and Hebraism, we see what is decadent in the Turanians, in its progress and in its elements, pulsating in the blood of the Hebrew people, as it must have been later. So that it is felt inwardly, everything that the Atlantean saw comes to life. And it is summed up in a single word, the word Yahweh or Jehovah. As if compressed into a single point, into a single center of God-consciousness, the God who revealed himself to Atlantean clairvoyance behind all beings lives on through the generations of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on, invisible but felt inwardly in the blood of the generations. who was now the God in the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and led these generations from destiny to destiny. In this way, the external became internal; it was experienced, no longer seen, and it was no longer designated by individual different names, but by a single name, by the name: “I am who I am!” It had taken on a completely different form. Whereas in the Atlantean era, human beings found it everywhere they were not — out in the world — they now found it where they had their center, in their I, and felt it in the blood flowing through the generations. The great God of the world has now become the God of the Hebrew people, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, flowing through the blood through the generations.
This is how that culture was founded, which we will consider tomorrow in its unique inner mission for human evolution. Today we have only been able to hint at the very first point of the blood constitution of this people, where everything that humans once allowed to penetrate them from outside in the Atlantean epoch is now concentrated within. We will see what secrets are at work in what has only been touched upon, and we will come to know the peculiar nature of that people from whom Zarathustra was able to take his body to become the being we call Jesus of Nazareth.