The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Tenth Lecture

[ 1 ] In the past few hours, we have discussed how the significance of Christ Jesus for human evolution lay in the gradual endowment of the powers of the human ego with those abilities that, in the ancient mysteries, a person could only attain through a kind of suppression of the ego. And if we wish to bring this matter clearly before our souls once more, we can say: In all the ancient initiations, the possibility existed of ascending into the spiritual world, into what we have characterized as the realms of the heavens. But due to all the peculiarities and characteristics of ancient, pre-Christian human development, it was not possible to ascend into the realms of the heavens in such a way that the ego—the actual human ego-being—would remain in the same state in which it exists in relation to the physical-sensory plane. Let us therefore distinguish between these two states of the human soul: One is the state that the average person today experiences from waking until falling asleep, in which they perceive the objects of the physical-sensory plane with their ego. And then we have that other state of the soul in which this ego is subdued, where there is no clear awareness of such an ego. And within this state of the soul, in the ancient mysteries, the human being was lifted up into the realms of the heavens. These realms of the heavens were to be brought down—first in the sense of the preparatory preaching of John the Baptist and then in the sense of the preaching of Christ Jesus himself—so that humanity might receive an impulse toward a further evolution, through which the experiences of the higher worlds could be lived while maintaining the ordinary ego-power. Therefore, it was only natural that the reporters of the Christ Jesus event should, so to speak, present to us all the procedures, all the various processes that were carried out in the ancient mysteries with the initiate, while at the same time hinting to us: in all of this there is a new nuance, the nuance that it is not the second of the two characterized states of the soul that is at issue here, but rather the one in which the ego is present.

[ 2 ] And yesterday we characterized the nine beatitudes as the beginning of the so-called Sermon on the Mount from this perspective. We could continue further with what is found in the current version of the Gospel of Matthew, as it has been translated—albeit somewhat unclearly—from Aramaic into Greek. But even if one takes the unclear version of the Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew, one can still sense, even in the continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, how it clearly points everywhere to what human beings used to be able to experience by subduing the ego. So that, just as he could say in the past: “If I subdue my ego and enter the spiritual world with a subdued ego, I will grasp this or that fundamental truth”—he will learn to grasp this in the future in the presence of his ego. Of course, one truly understands such a matter only when one goes into the details to which I have already alluded, namely the use of old names and old terms. Old terms were not chosen in the same way that names or terms are chosen in our time, but they were always chosen with an awareness of the essence of the matter. And this is clearly evident in the terms of the Sermon on the Mount, that Christ Jesus felt himself to be the bringer of ego-consciousness on a higher level than it had been before, which can experience the realms of heaven within itself. Therefore, he presents the contrast to the souls of his disciples: In earlier times, it was also said that this or that was revealed to you from the realms of heaven. But from now on you will experience this yourselves, when you let your I speak, in what your I says to you. Hence the recurring repetition: “I say to you!” because Christ Jesus felt himself to be the representative of that human soul that expresses itself in the words: “I say it; I am fully present with my I-consciousness.” What is written in the continuation of the Sermon on the Mount as the expression: “I tell you!” must not be taken lightly. This is the repetition of a reference to that new impulse which has been introduced into human evolution through Christ Jesus. Therefore, read the further course of the Sermon on the Mount in this way, and you will feel that he wanted to say: Until now you were not permitted to appeal to your I; but now, through what I have commanded you, you can gradually appropriate the realms of heaven through the power of the inner self, through the I’s own power. — The entire spirit of the Sermon on the Mount is permeated by the new impulse of human individuality. And likewise the following section, where the transition is then made to the so-called healings.

[ 3 ] As is well known, these healings are the subject of incredibly extensive discussions. And what constitutes a very special topic of discussion, as you all know, is the question of miracles. The most frequently emphasized point is that these are supposed to be accounts of miracles. But let us take a closer look at this question of miracles. Yesterday I already drew your attention to one thing. I pointed out that modern people in fact completely underestimate the changes, the metamorphoses, that have taken place within the human being in the course of evolution. If you were to compare—not in a rough, but in a more subtle sense—a physical body from the time when Jesus Christ lived, or even earlier, with a physical body of today, a very considerable difference would emerge, a difference that cannot, however, be determined by anatomical means, but certainly can be through occult research. And you would find: the physical body has become denser, has contracted more; it was still softer in the time of Jesus Christ. And specifically, the nature of perception was such that human beings still possessed, to a certain degree, an awareness of certain forces at work within the body—forces that shape every body—which they no longer perceive today; so that the muscles—though only visible to a more subtle eye—were clearly and much more strongly defined. This was lost slowly and gradually. Petty-mindedness in art history points to old drawings where, for example, particularly pronounced muscle lines are depicted, and regards this as an exaggeration and as the clumsiness of the old draftsmen, because one does not know that such a thing stems from actual observation, which was correct for ancient times but would be incorrect for the present day. But we shall pay less attention to that and emphasize instead what was associated with these very different types of human bodies.

[ 4 ] At that time, the power of the soul, the power of the spirit, had a much greater, so to speak, more immediate influence on the human body than it did later, when the body had become denser and the soul had consequently lost power over it. Therefore, it was possible to a much greater extent at that time to heal from the soul. The soul had much greater power, so that when the body had fallen into disorder, it could permeate the body with the healing forces drawn from the spiritual world in order to restore it to harmony and order of its own accord. This power of the soul over the body has gradually diminished. Such is the course of ongoing development. Therefore, healing processes in ancient times were to a far greater extent spiritual healing processes than they were later on. And those who were regarded as doctors were not physical doctors in the modern sense, but for the most part healers in the sense that they acted upon the body indirectly through the soul. They purified the soul and imbued it with healthy feelings, impulses, and powers of will through the spiritual-soul influences they were able to exert, whether in the ordinary state of physical perception, in so-called temple sleep, or the like—which, for that time, was nothing other than a kind of inducing a person into a clairvoyant state.

[ 5 ] If one takes into account the cultural conditions of that time, it must certainly be pointed out that those who were spiritually strong and could draw upon what they themselves had absorbed were able, to a considerable degree, to influence people’s souls—and thereby their bodies as well. This is why such people, who were in some way imbued with spirit and were known to radiate healing powers into their surroundings, were also referred to as “healers.” And strictly speaking, one should regard not only therapists but also the Essenes as healers in a certain sense. Yes, we must go further: In a certain dialect of the Near East, in which those from whom Christianity emerged particularly expressed themselves, the translation of what we would call a “spiritual healer” is the word Jesus. Jesus basically means “spiritual physician.” That is a fairly accurate translation, especially when one considers the emotional connotations. And with that, you could at the same time shed light on everything that such a name evoked in a time when names still carried emotional weight. But let us, so to speak, immerse ourselves in the cultural conditions of that era.

[ 6 ] A person speaking in the spirit of that time would have said: There are people who have access to the Mysteries, who, through a certain sacrifice of their ego-consciousness within the Mysteries, can connect with certain spiritual-soul forces that then radiate out into their surroundings, thereby becoming healers for those around them. Suppose such a person had become a disciple of Christ Jesus; he would have said: We have now experienced something very remarkable. Whereas in the past only those who, by subduing their ego-consciousness, had absorbed the spiritual forces in the Mysteries could become spiritual healers, we have now experienced one who became so without the Mysteries’ procedures, while maintaining the ego. —It was not the fact that spiritual healings took place at all that was remarkable. That the chapters of the Gospel of Matthew tell of a spiritual healer would not have seemed particularly wondrous to such a person. He would have said: What is so wondrous about such people healing spiritually? That is a matter of course! — And the listing of such healings would not have been a special miracle for that time. But what is significant is that the writer of the Gospel of Matthew tells us: There is one who has brought a new power of being into humanity, who, out of the impulse of his I—from which healing was previously impossible—performed healings by drawing upon that very power, with the help of which healing was previously impossible. - So the Gospels tell of something quite different from what is commonly believed. Numerous proofs, including historical ones, could be provided to show that what spiritual science establishes from occult sources is correct. We will cite just one as proof.

[ 7 ] If what has just been said is true, then people in antiquity must indeed have believed that, under certain conditions, the blind could be healed through spiritual influence. It has rightly been pointed out that there are ancient depictions illustrating this very idea. John M. Robertson, mentioned in the previous lecture, also points out that there is a depiction in Rome of Aesculapius standing before two blind men, and he naturally concluded from this that a healing was being indicated, and that this was then adopted by the Gospel writers and incorporated into the Gospel narratives. What is essential here, however, is not that spiritual healings are something miraculous, but rather that the painter intended to convey: Aesculapius is one of the initiates who, through the subduing of ego-consciousness in the mysteries, attained spiritual healing powers. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew, however, wanted to say: Healings were not achieved in this way through Christ, but what lived as a unique impulse in Christ is to be attained gradually by all of humanity, so that the ego, with its own power, can gradually attain it. - People cannot yet attain it today, because it is to take root in humanity at a later time. But what was accomplished with Christ at the beginning of our era will take root, and people will gradually become capable of expressing it. It will happen gradually. This is what the author of the Gospel of Matthew intended to portray through his accounts of miraculous healings.

[ 8 ] So, speaking from an occult perspective, I can say: The author of the Gospel of Matthew did not intend to describe “miracles” at all, but rather something entirely natural, something self-evident. He merely wanted to describe that it took place in a new way. This is how things appear when they are presented with true scientific rigor. Thus, the deepest misunderstanding has taken hold precisely with regard to the Gospels.

[ 9 ] How, then, must the narrative proceed if it is to be accurate? We have seen that what took place in the life of Christ Jesus through what is called the temptation was a descent into all those processes that a human being experiences when descending into the physical and etheric bodies. We have seen that the power flowing from the physical and etheric bodies became capable of working in the way expressed in the Sermon on the Mount and also in the subsequent healings. The next step was that the power of this Christ Jesus also worked in the same way that the power of an initiate in the Mysteries had otherwise worked—that is, in such a way that he drew disciples to himself. And again, Christ Jesus naturally had to draw the disciples to himself in his own special way.

[ 10 ] If one wishes to understand the Gospel of Matthew from this point onward—where the later sections follow the Sermon on the Mount and the healings—it is necessary to draw upon some of the knowledge of occult facts that we have acquired over the years. This includes the fact that when a person is to be led upward through initiation along the path to the higher worlds, they arrive at a kind of imaginative contemplation, a contemplation that lives in imaginations. Those who were around Christ Jesus had to acquire not only the ability to listen to what is given in such a majestic proclamation, in such a manifestation as the Sermon on the Mount, they had to not only participate in the healings brought about by Christ Jesus himself, but the mighty power working within Christ Jesus had to gradually pass on to his closest friends and disciples. This, too, is depicted. First, it is shown how, after the temptation, the Christ Jesus is able to present the old teachings with a new nuance and to bring about the old healings through a new impulse. But then it is shown how he works upon his disciples in a new way, how the power that he embodied to the highest degree works upon his disciples and their surroundings. How is this shown? In such a way that what he represents must appear to the unreceptive person as something that is also expressed in words. But on the receptive ones, whom he himself had chosen and guided, it worked differently. There it worked in such a way that it gave them the imaginations, that it aroused the next higher stage of knowledge. What emanated from Christ Jesus could thus work in two ways: on outsiders in such a way that they heard his words and received a kind of theory through his words; on the others, who had witnessed his power and whom he had chosen because he could transfer his power to them due to their special karma, his power worked in such a way that it drew imaginations from their souls—insights that, in a certain sense, point upward to the higher worlds. This is expressed in the saying, “Those on the outside hear only parables”—that is, figurative expressions for what happens in the spiritual world—“but you understand what the parables mean; you understand the language that leads you up into the higher worlds” (Matt. 13:11). Nor should this be taken lightly, but rather understood in the sense of guiding the disciples upward into the higher worlds.

[ 11 ] And now let us delve deeply into how the disciples might have been guided upward into the higher worlds. However, to understand what I am about to say, it requires not only listening but also a measure of goodwill, combined with the spiritual-scientific insights you have already gained. For I wish to guide you as clearly as possible to what the Gospel of Matthew actually means in the following descriptions.

[ 12 ] Here we recall once again that initiation has two aspects. One is where the human being descends into the physical body and the etheric body, where he thus comes to know his own inner self, where he is led into the forces that are creative within the human being himself. And the other aspect of initiation is where the human being is led out into the spiritual world, where he pours himself out into the macrocosm. Now you know that, in terms of reality—not in terms of consciousness—this is a process that takes place every time one falls asleep: the human being draws his astral body and the I out of the physical body and etheric body and pours them out into the world of the stars, so that he then draws forces from the entire world of the stars; hence the name “astral body.” What a human being can achieve through this kind of initiation, when they have withdrawn their astral body and ego from the physical and etheric bodies, is not merely a conscious survey of what exists on our Earth, but rather a flowing out into the cosmos, a familiarization with the world of the stars, and an absorption of the forces that flow to us from the world of the stars. But this, which for us must be regarded as something that a human being gradually acquires through an outflow into the cosmos, was already present there after the baptism of John, in accordance with the special nature of the Christ Being. And it was not only present in that state, which resembled a state of sleep, but it was present even when he was not asleep, when he was in his physical and etheric bodies; then he was able to connect his being with the forces of the starry world and to carry the forces of the starry world into this physical world.

[ 13 ] What Christ Jesus accomplished can therefore also be described as follows: Through the attraction of the physical and etheric bodies specially prepared for him, and through his entire being, he drew into himself the power of the sun, the moon, the starry world, and the cosmos as a whole that belongs to our Earth. And when he worked, what otherwise flows through human beings from the cosmos as healing, life-strengthening energy—when they are in a state of sleep outside their physical and etheric bodies—now worked through his mediation. The forces through which Christ Jesus worked were forces that streamed down from the cosmos through the attraction of his body, radiated out through his body, and poured out upon his disciples. This was the beginning for the disciples, that through their receptivity they could feel, truly feel: Yes, this Christ Jesus before us is a being through whom the forces of the cosmos come to us like spiritual nourishment; there they pour out upon us.

[ 14 ] The disciples themselves, however, were in a dual state of consciousness, because they were not yet fully developed human beings, but were just beginning to ascend toward a higher level of development through Christ; they themselves were always in a dual state of consciousness, which can be compared to a person’s waking and sleeping. Therefore, one can say of the disciples: Since they were alternately in a state of sleeping and waking, and thus had the opportunity to allow the magical power of Christ to act upon them in both states, they were able to let it act upon them during the day when he appeared before them, but his power also worked during sleep when they were out of their physical and etheric bodies. Whereas ordinarily human beings are unconsciously immersed in the world of the stars and know nothing of it, the Christ-force was present with them; there they beheld it. It was this force of which they knew: It gives us nourishment from the worlds of the stars.

[ 15 ] “But this dual state of consciousness among the disciples had yet another aspect. We must, so to speak, consider in every human being—and thus also in a disciple of Jesus—what the person is at first, and what they carry within themselves as a potential for their future in subsequent incarnations. For within all of you is already present that which, for example, in a future cultural epoch will view the environment in a completely different way when it emerges in a new incarnation. And if what is already within you were to become clairvoyant, it would initially, as a kind of first clairvoyant impression, see the very near future. What happens in the near future would be among the first clairvoyant experiences, if these are pure, genuine, and true. — This was especially true for the disciples. In normal waking consciousness, the power of Christ flowed into them; then they could say: When we are awake, the power of Christ flows into us just as it must, because we are now in our normal waking consciousness. — What was it like for them in the state of sleep? Because they were disciples of Jesus and the Christ-power had worked upon them, they became clairvoyant at certain times during sleep. But they did not see what was happening at that moment; rather, they saw what people would come to share in the future. They plunged, as it were, into the sea of astral vision and foresaw what was to happen in the future.

[ 16 ] Thus, there were two states for the disciples. One in which they could say to themselves: This is our daily state. In this daily state of ours, Christ brings us the forces of the cosmic worlds from the cosmic expanses and imparts them to us as spiritual nourishment. He brings them down to us because he is the power of the sun, everything we have described in the sense of Zoroastrianism as adopted in Christianity. He conveys the forces that the sun can send from the seven constellations of the day. From there comes the nourishment for the day. - As for the night state, the disciples could say to themselves: Here we perceive how, through the Christ-force, so to speak, the night sun—the sun that is invisible during the night and passes through the other five constellations—sends the heavenly food into our souls.

[ 17 ] Thus, in their imaginative clairvoyance, the disciples were able to sense: We are connected to the Christ force, to the power of the sun. It sends us what is “right” for the people of the present age—that is, for the people of the fourth cultural epoch. And in the other state of consciousness, the Christ-force sends us what it can send us as the night sun, as the power of the five night constellations. But this now applies to the period following that time, that is, to the fifth cultural epoch. — That is what the disciples experienced. How could one express it? In the next lesson, we will discuss some terms in a few words; for now, let us merely mention the following.

[ 18 ] A large group of people was referred to as a “thousand” according to the old terminology, and when one wished to be more specific, a number was added that was derived from the most important characteristic. For example, the people of the fourth cultural epoch were called the “fourth thousand,” and those who were already living in the style of the fifth cultural epoch were called the “fifth thousand.” These are simply technical terms. That is why the disciples could say: During the waking state, we perceive what the Christ-force sends us from the forces of the sun through the seven constellations of the day, so that we then receive the nourishment intended for the people of the fourth cultural epoch, for the fourth thousand. And in our nocturnal, imaginative, clairvoyant state, we perceive through the five constellations of the night what applies to the near future, to the fifth millennium. - Thus, the people of the fourth epoch—the fourth millennium—are nourished from heaven by the seven heavenly loaves, through the seven constellations of the day; and the people of the fifth epoch—the fifth millennium—are nourished by the five heavenly loaves, through the five constellations of the night. In this, the separation is always indicated where the constellations of the day touch the constellations of the night: the Pisces.

[ 19 ] A mystery is touched upon here. It points to an important mystical process: the magical communion between Christ and the disciples. Christ makes it clear to them that he is not speaking of the old leaven of the Pharisees, but is imparting to them, from the solar forces of the cosmos, a heavenly food that he brings down, even though nothing is available except, on one occasion, the seven loaves of the day—the seven constellations of the day—and, on another, the five loaves of the night—the five constellations of the night. In between, there are always the fish, which form the dividing line; indeed, two fish are even mentioned once, to make it particularly clear (Matt. 14:13–21 and 15:32–38).

[ 20 ] Who, upon looking so deeply into these depths of the Gospel of Matthew, could still doubt that this is truly the proclamation that goes back to Zarathustra and must go back to him, because he was the one who first pointed to the Spirit of the Sun, and who was also one of the first missionaries to make the magical power of the Sun descending to Earth comprehensible to those who were receptive to it! But what do the light-footed interpreters of the Bible do? They find in the Gospel of Matthew, on one occasion, a feeding of four thousand with seven loaves, and on another occasion, a feeding of five thousand with five loaves, and they regard the second as a mere repetition, saying: The careless scribe of the document, as often happens when copying, has copied it carelessly. He therefore describes in one instance a feeding of four thousand with seven loaves, and in another a feeding of five thousand with five loaves; that can happen when one copies carelessly!—I have no doubt that such things can occur when books are produced in modern times. But the Gospels did not come into being in this way at all. If a story appears twice in them, there is a profound reason for it, which I have just indicated. But precisely because the Gospel of Matthew describes events from these depths according to the teachings prepared by the great Essene teacher Jeshu ben Pandira a century before the appearance of the Christ-Sun, so that this Christ-Sun might later be understood, we must also seek out these depths in the Gospel of Matthew if we truly wish to understand it. — But let us continue.

[ 21 ] Christ had first radiated from himself to the disciples the power of imaginative, astral vision—that which he was able to bring forth from astral vision. This is also quite clearly implied. One might say: Let anyone who has eyes to read, read! — just as people used to say in the days when not everything was written down: Let anyone who has ears to hear, hear! — Let anyone who has eyes to read, read the Gospels! Is it indicated anywhere that this power of the Christ-Sun appeared to the disciples in one way by day and in another by night? Yes, it is clearly indicated to us. Read in the Gospel of Matthew how it is recounted at a key point:

[ 22 ] During a fourth night watch—that is, between three and six in the morning—the disciples, who were asleep, saw something walking on the lake that they at first took for a ghost, that is, the nocturnal power of the sun, which shines back through Christ (Matt. 14:25–26). The exact time is even implied here, for it is only at a specific hour that they can be made aware that this cosmic power can flow to them through the mediation of a being such as Christ. That Christ Jesus walks in Palestine, and that in this walking of this one personality and individuality there was a means through which solar power works into our earth—this is indicated by the fact that everywhere reference is made to the state of the sun, to its relationship to the constellations, to the manna from heaven. This cosmic nature, this working-in of cosmic forces through the Christ—that is what is expounded upon everywhere. And further.

[ 23 ] Christ Jesus was to initiate his disciples—that is, those who were particularly suited for it—in a very special way, so that they could not only see the spiritual world imaginatively, as it were in astral images, but so that they themselves could see, and indeed hear—what we have often discussed as the ascent into Devachan—what is taking place in the spiritual worlds. So that they could now seek out this personality, whom they saw as Christ Jesus on the physical plane, in the spiritual worlds through their spiritual reaching upward. They were to become clairvoyant even in realms higher than the astral plane. Not everyone could do this. Only those who were most receptive to the power that could radiate from the Christ were able to do so, and these were the three disciples Peter, James, and John, as described in the Gospel of Matthew. Therefore, it tells us (Matt. 17:11–13) how Christ takes these three disciples—who were most open to his influence—to a place where he can lead them beyond the astral plane into the devachanic realm, where they could behold the spiritual archetypes: first of their own Christ Jesus himself, and—so that they might see the circumstances in which he stood there—also of those who were initially related to Christ Jesus: the ancient herald Elijah, who, having been reincarnated, was the forerunner of Christ Jesus as John the Baptist; so that they could see Elijah—the scene took place after John’s beheading, when John had already been taken up into the spiritual worlds—but that they could also behold the spiritual forerunner, Moses. This could only happen once the three most chosen disciples were led up to spiritual, not merely astral, vision. And that they actually ascended into the Devachan is attested to in the Gospel of Matthew by the following: They did not merely behold Christ with his solar power—it is specifically stated: “And his face shone like the sun”—but it is also mentioned that they became aware of how the three were conversing. So this is an ascent into the Devachan; they heard how the three were conversing. Everything is thus accurately rendered, just as the characteristics of the spiritual world are presented to us through spiritual scientific research. Nowhere is there a contradiction between what we have learned and what must result when it is described accurately in relation to Christ: the leading of the disciples by Christ himself, first into the astral realm, then into the Devachanic realm, into the realm of the spirit.

[ 24 ] Thus, in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ Jesus is clearly portrayed as the vessel, as the bearer of that power which Zarathustra once proclaimed to be the bearer of the sun’s power. And it is faithfully portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew that this power of the sun, the spirit of the sun—Ahura Mazda or Ormuzd—of whom Zarathustra could only say that he lived in the sun, lived on earth through the mediation of Jesus of Nazareth and became so connected with this earth that, through his unique life in a physical body, etheric and astral bodies, became an impulse for the Earth’s development and will gradually become integrated into this Earthly development. In other words: The I-ness was once present on Earth in a personality to such an extent that human beings will gradually, through their subsequent incarnations, appropriate the powers of this I-ness by participating in the Christ or by taking in the Christ-essence in the sense of Paul. And as human beings pass through the remainder of Earth’s time from incarnation to incarnation, those who wish to permeate their souls with the power of the personality that stood there at that time will ascend to ever higher heights. At that time, those who were chosen for this purpose could see the Christ with their physical eyes in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. At some point in the course of Earth’s evolution, it had to happen for all of humanity that the Christ, who had previously been visible only as the Spirit of the Sun, could descend and thus unite with the forces of the Earth.

[ 25 ] And man is the being in whom the fullness of the surging solar power was meant to dwell, a power that was once to descend and take up residence in a physical body. But with this, the time has begun when the solar power will pour forth. Little by little, it will flow more and more into human beings who live from incarnation to incarnation, and little by little, as far as the earthly body permits, they will become permeated with the Christ-force. Of course, not every physical body, just as it was only that particular body which, in the manner described, was prepared in a complex way by the two Jesus figures with regard to its structure and then raised by Zarathustra to a certain highest level, so that Christ might indeed once live out his fullness. Once!

[ 26 ] Those who are open to it will become imbued with the Christ-force, first inwardly, and then increasingly outwardly as well. Thus, the future will not only comprehend the essence of Christ, but will also become imbued with it. And for many of you, I have already described how this participation in Christ will unfold for the development of humanity on Earth. I have even been able to describe in *The Rosicrucian Mystery*—through the visionary presence of Theodora, who is conceived as a personality who has developed the power within herself to look into the near future—how we are moving toward a period where, indeed in a not-too-distant future, first a few people, and then more and more, will be able to see—not merely through spiritual training, but through that degree of earthly development which humanity will have attained—the form of Christ, though now in the etheric world, not in the physical world; and then, in an even more distant future, in yet another form. Once he was to be seen in physical form, because the people who were on the physical plane had to experience him that way. But the Christ impulse would not have accomplished its effect if it did not continue to work in such a way that it can develop further.

[ 27 ] We are moving toward a time—and this must be accepted as a statement—when the higher powers within human beings will be able to behold the Christ. And this will happen before the end of the 20th century: a small number of people will truly be “Theodores,” that is, those whose spiritually opened eyes will have the same experience that Paul had on the road to Damascus—an experience he was able to have because he was a “premature birth,” a child born before his time (1 Cor. 15:8). A number of people will, even before the end of the 20th century, relive the Christ experience as Paul had it before Damascus (Acts 9:1–22) and will need no Gospels or documents, just as Paul needed nothing to know of the Christ. Through their inner experience, they will know the truth about the Christ who will appear from the ethereal clouds.

[ 28 ] This is a kind of return of the Christ in an etheric form, through which he reveals himself as he had previously revealed himself to Paul. It is our task to emphasize in particular that it is in the nature of the Christ event that the one who once lived in a physical body as Christ Jesus at the beginning of our era will appear in an etheric garment—as he did to Paul before Damascus—before the end of our age. And as human beings rise to ever higher capacities, they will come to know the full richness of the nature of Christ. But there would be no progress if Christ were to appear a second time in a physical body; for then he would have appeared in vain the first time. Then his first appearance would not have brought about the development of higher powers in human beings. This is the result of the Christ event: that higher powers develop within the human being, and that he can be perceived with these new powers where he works from the spiritual world. And it is our task, when we understand the historical struggle of the present, to point to this event—to point to it in our time just as the Essene teacher Jeshu ben Pandira previously pointed to the Christ, who was to emerge as the Lion from the tribe of David, thereby also pointing to the power of the sun, to the constellation of the Lion. And if humanity—I say this only by way of suggestion—were fortunate enough today that that Jeshu ben Pandira, who was inspired back then by the great Bodhisattva who will one day be the Maitreya Buddha, were to incarnate again in our time, he would regard it as his most important task to point to the etheric Christ who appears in the etheric clouds, and he would emphasize that the Christ event once took place in the physical body.

[ 29 ] Suppose that figure of Jesus, who was stoned to death in Palestine as the son of Pandira about one hundred and five years before the Christ event, were to point to the Christ appearance in a reincarnation in our time; then he would point to the Christ who cannot appear in the physical realm, but who must appear there in an ethereal garment, just as he appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. And it is precisely by this that one would be able to recognize the reincarnated Jeshu ben Pandira. On the other hand, however, the essential point is that the new Essene movement, so to speak, would be understood; that we have to learn from the one who will one day be Maitreya Buddha how the Christ will appear for our age; and that we must be eminently careful not to form a false judgment of that Essene movement that may be re-emerging in our age.

[ 30 ] One thing can be cited as a sure sign that might, so to speak, distinguish this supposedly resurrected Jeshu ben Pandira in our time; it must be stated as a sure sign that he will not claim to be the Christ. Anyone who might appear in our time and speak in any way of having within them the same power that lived in Jesus of Nazareth would be recognized by this claim as a false incarnation of that forerunner who lived a hundred years before Christ. This claim would be the surest sign that he is not the one, and that a false forerunner would be appearing in him if he were to place himself in any relationship to Christ himself. But the danger that can arise in this area is immense. For in our time, humanity vacillates between two extremes. On the one hand, it is emphasized so strongly how little humanity in our time is inclined to recognize the spiritual forces at work among people. It has already become a truism, one that even the newspapers repeatedly point out, that our generation lacks the gift and the power to recognize when an original spiritual force manifests itself in any way. That is one of the vices of our age. It is true that the greatest reincarnation could be taking place in our time, and our age could be so dull as to let it pass by without giving it a second thought! And the other vice is no less present, though it is a vice our age shares with many others: just as spiritual individuals are underestimated to the point of not being recognized, so too, on the other hand, there exists among people the most vivid need to idolize, to elevate them somehow to a special height in the clouds. Look today at the communities everywhere that have their own special messiahs, and see how the need to idolize is present everywhere there. This, however, is also what has shown itself again and again over the centuries.

[ 31 ] Maimonides tells of such a false Christ who appeared in France around 1087, who had numerous followers at the time, but was later sentenced to death by the secular authorities. The same Maimonides goes on to recount [1172] that fifty-five years earlier [1117], someone appeared in Cordoba, Spain, who claimed to be the Christ. He further recounts how, about forty-five years earlier—that is, around 1127—a false Messiah appeared in Fez, Morocco, who pointed to an even greater one. Finally, it is reported from the year 1174 how someone appeared in Persia who, though he did not call himself the Christ, did point to the Christ. And the most striking appearance is the one I have already mentioned: the appearance of Sabbatai Zevi in 1666 in Smyrna.

[ 32 ] In this figure, who claimed to be a reincarnation of Christ, one can study the very nature of a false messiah and its effect on the surrounding community in the greatest detail. Thus, news spread from Smyrna at that time that a new Christ had appeared in the person of Sabbatai Zevi. And you must not think that the movement at that time was a minor one. From all parts of Europe—from France, Spain, and Italy; from Poland, Hungary, and southern Russia; from North Africa and the heart of Asia—people flocked to Smyrna to meet the new Christ, Sabbatai Zevi. It was a truly massive global movement. And if someone had told the people who saw a new Christ in Sabbatai Zevi back then—before he betrayed himself, before his tricks were uncovered—that he was not the real Christ, that person would have been poorly received; they would have gone against the dogma of an enormous number of people. — That is the other vice, a vice that perhaps does not manifest itself in Christian regions, but is evident daily in other regions. There is a need to have Messiahs appear in earthly form. In Christian countries, these things usually take place in smaller circles; but even there, Christs can be found.

[ 33 ] The point is that, through spiritual scientific knowledge, through spiritual scientific enlightenment, and through a precise understanding of the factual material provided by occultism, a person should not fall into either of these errors. And if one understands the teachings given in this sense, one will keep oneself aloof from both errors. And then one will begin to penetrate the deepest historical reality of the present: that if we delve deeper into spiritual life, we may be granted a kind of renewal of Essene teaching, which at that time, through the mouth of Jeshu ben Pandira, first foreshadowed the Christ event as a physical one. And if the Essene teaching is to be renewed in our time, if we wish to live not in the spirit of a tradition of an ancient Bodhisattva, but in the sense of the living spirit of a new Bodhisattva, then we must likewise allow ourselves to be inspired by the Bodhisattva who will one day become the Maitreya Buddha. And this Bodhisattva inspires us by drawing our attention to this: The time is drawing near when the Christ, in a new form, in an etheric body, will be a blessing for those people who, through a new Essene wisdom, develop the new powers in the time when the return of the Christ in etheric form will approach humanity in a life-giving way. We wish to speak entirely in the spirit of the inspiring Bodhisattva who is to become the Maitreya Buddha. We know then that we are not speaking of the Christ in the sense of any religious creed, as he is to become perceptible once more on the physical plane, and we do not shy away from saying: We would be indifferent if we had to say something else, because we recognize it as truth. Nor do we have a preference for any particular Eastern religious teaching; rather, we live only for the truth. We express it using the formulas we have come to know through the inspiration of the Bodhisattva himself regarding what the future manifestation of the Christ will be.