The Rudolf Steiner Archive

17. The Threefold Call from the Spiritual World

Notes from a lecture given at the inauguration of the Heidenheim branch

[ 1 ] We have gathered here today to celebrate the inauguration of the Heidenheim branch. Friends from various regions have come to this celebration to show their support for our local friends.

[ 2 ] Over the years, a group of people has come together here in this city, united by an inner calling that has brought them together to engage in spiritual work based on spiritual science.

[ 3 ] Everything in life has an effect. If a person succumbs to an error or a lie—even if they are not consciously aware of it in their ordinary consciousness—it is nevertheless present in the subconscious, where it acts as a destructive force not only for the individual but for the development of the entire world. Likewise, when a person connects with the forces of truth, this continues to act as a life-giving force for the development of the entire world and humanity.

[ 4 ] There are three key points in our seven cultural epochs that are crucial to the further development of humanity, namely:

[ 5 ] The first call that resounded to mankind with a thunderous voice from Mount Sinai, as the commandments of Jehovah!

[ 6 ] The second call in the wilderness by John the Baptist, when he spoke to those who would listen: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”!

[ 7 ] The third call, my dear friends, is the one proclaimed from the spiritual worlds as a new revelation through spiritual science or theosophy!

[ 8 ] At the moment of conception, when the soul descends from the spiritual realms into this world governed by physical laws, the child is a reminder and a symbol of the moment of the first thunderous call from Sinai in the laws.

[ 9 ] And when, in the early years of life, the child experiences the moment when it begins to use language but does not yet give it any thought—learning language without yet employing its dormant intellectual faculties—this is, for the individual human being, the time of the second call to humanity sounded by John the Baptist, the crier in the wilderness.

[ 10 ] When, in a later period of its life, the child begins to understand language through the use and development of its powers of thought, this is the reflection of the third call resounding to humanity through spiritual science: the new revelation for understanding what is recorded in the Gospels as the Gospel of the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 11 ] Spiritual science brings to humanity, as a new revelation from the spiritual worlds, an understanding of what was announced by the second call of John and recorded in Scripture following the Mystery of Golgotha. Through spiritual science, the third call of our seven cultural epochs, humanity is led to an understanding of what Christ Jesus said: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the earth cycle.”

[ 12 ] Just as only a small number of people heard the second call back then, so too in our time only a small number will be able to hear the third call. But, my dear friends, should the call pass by without being heard, the development of humanity could not take place in the manner intended by the high spiritual beings.

[ 13 ] Looking back, we can regard it as an infinite blessing that there were people at that time who heard the second call, and we owe a debt of gratitude to these souls for enabling the development of humanity to continue. Whoever understands how to read the signs of the times knows what it means to hear the third call of the living new revelation or to let it pass by unheard. There was a time when it was said that there are only two paths for human beings: if they do good, they will attain eternal bliss after death; if they do evil, they must be cast into eternal damnation. — Spiritual science proclaims something different. My dear friends, we know that the human being is a complex being, consisting of a physical body, an etheric or life body, an astral body, and an I. When the human being begins to believe in a spiritual world and imbues themselves with the power of faith, this power of faith is a power of the astral body. Thus, the astral body is the “body of faith.”

[ 14 ] Through faith within the body of faith, human beings strive upward toward the forces of love. These are the forces of the etheric or life body. Thus, the etheric or life body is the “body of love.” If human beings could not penetrate into the spiritual worlds through the powers of faith, their powers of imagination and thought would become increasingly barren, empty, and ossified. Human beings would be unable to rise to any power of love. What would human beings be without love? — They would become isolated; little by little, they would lose all connection with their fellow human beings and fellow creatures of nature. Human beings must be able to develop love; this alone gives them true life force, as they renounce egoism and develop true, unselfish love in the love body or etheric body.

[ 15 ] When we look out into nature, we come to recognize the truth of the reincarnation of the individual soul. Look out there. How would you feel as the plant world withers away in the fall, if you had to think: Everything is dead; it will never sprout, germinate, or bloom again! — It is often said: We do not know what tomorrow will bring. Yes, but is that really the case? If we perform our work today with zeal and the most sacred sense of duty, do we really know nothing of the coming morning? We know that tomorrow the sun will begin its course again and conclude it in the evening. We know that the order of the world continues. Indeed, how would a person feel if they never knew whether the sun would shine again the next day, whether the forces of day and night, rain and sunshine, or the regular rhythm of the stars would cease tomorrow or take a different form each day? A person would have to go to work without courage or strength if they did not know that they would resume it the following day and continue working on what they had begun.

[ 16 ] Just as spring follows winter and the dormant seed within the plant is reawakened, so too will the soul, upon leaving the physical body, revive the seed that remains behind and resume its life on the physical plane anew, continuing it for its own development and that of humanity. Thus the forces of hope are formed from the forces of love. The physical body is the “body of hope.” What would a human being be without hope for the coming morning, for the completion of the work they have begun, without hope for a reunion with those they have loved in life? Thus, the new revelation of the Christ message—theosophy or spiritual science—may proclaim the doctrine of reincarnation despite the enlightened science and scholarship that is spreading throughout the world and seeks to deny the supersensible realms. Even if we are then ridiculed and pitied for still being so superstitious, observing the processes in nature can serve as proof to us of what spiritual science proclaims.

[ 17 ] If the third call were to pass unheard, my dear friends, the evolution of humanity would not be able to proceed, and the people who would later look back on this time, when our call was ignored, would have to hold us responsible. But just as we look with gratitude upon the human souls who heard the John’s Call back then, so will future generations look with gratitude upon the souls who heard today’s third call, so that humanity may be led forward.

[ 18 ] Just as the few early Christians had to hold their devotional gatherings among their dead in the Roman catacombs, while above in the arena the powerful figures of the time indulged in debauchery and had these early Christians thrown to wild beasts or turned into human torches, yet just as these powerful figures were suddenly swept away, so today we must gather in rooms made available to us by our friends, or in rooms that are spiritual catacombs. But today’s dominant materialism, too, will be swept away, and spiritual science will be allowed to lead humanity forward when the third call is heard. Who can say whether one or another among us here did not hear that call of John back then? We have all heard this second call in one way or another and must hear the third, in order to give humanity the opportunity to be led onward.

[ 19 ] In order that the teachings of the new revelation of Christ may be heard in this city, the spiritual powers have brought together a number of people through an inner urge of the heart. Those exalted spiritual individuals who are called to issue this call to humanity through their messengers are the leaders of humanity.