The Rudolf Steiner Archive

10. The Christ Impulse as Real Life II

[ 1 ] The Christ impulse that entered human evolution was of such far-reaching power that its ripples continue to affect future epochs. In the fourth cultural epoch, it manifested itself through Christ’s incarnation in a physical human body. And now we are moving toward an age in which the impulse will manifest itself in such a way that people will perceive Christ as an etheric figure on the astral plane.

[ 2 ] Yesterday we heard that in even later ages it will become perceptible in even higher forms in the aesthetic and moral spheres. But when we speak in this way of the Christ impulse, we are truly dealing with ideas toward which the Christian churches, in particular, will be most resistant. In order to gradually make the Christ impulse understandable, important events have been and remain necessary within the progressive development of humanity. After all, what has been lacking up to now is precisely the ability of people to gain an understanding of it. And anyone who takes a look at recent theologies will see how helpless the opponents of Christianity are on the one hand, but also how helpless those are who believe they stand on the ground of Christianity. The Western theosophical movement should have become the modern spiritual movement that, drawing from the right and true sources, awakens an understanding of Christianity. It encountered the fiercest resistance in this endeavor.

[ 3 ] We must form a conception of the sources of Christianity itself. Of course, due to lack of time, not all of these sources can be mentioned here. Today, we shall focus only on those that have become accessible to humanity since the thirteenth century. Since the thirteenth century, the spiritual movement associated with the name Christian Rosenkreutz has been woven into the spiritual life of humanity. For what is associated with this name to have entered the spiritual movement of modern times at all, a very specific spiritual event had become necessary in the thirteenth century. At that time, when the spiritual world was completely closed off to human perception, a significant council of twelve wise men came together. This council, divided as it were into various departments, gathered together all that could be gathered at that time in terms of spiritual insight into the interconnections of the world. Seven of these twelve had, through certain occult processes, received—as it were—what had come over from Atlantis as the wisdom of humanity from the holy Rishis. Four of these wise men had, through the corresponding occult processes, united within themselves that which pertained to the sacred mysteries of the Indians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Greco-Latin era. And what the fifth post-Atlantean epoch had been able to produce up to that point was the wisdom of the Twelfth. The entire scope of spiritual life was open to these twelve.

[ 4 ] At that time, it was known that an individual who had lived through the Mystery of Golgotha had to be reborn as a child. Through various incarnations, this individual had developed the deepest fervor, devotion, and love. The council of the twelve wise men took this child into their care shortly after its birth. Cut off from the exoteric outside world, it stood solely under their influence; they were its educators, including in matters of physical care. The child developed in a very peculiar way, so that even what it carried within itself as high spirituality from many incarnations was expressed in its outer physicality. Though weak and sickly, his body became wonderfully transparent. He grew up and unfolded into that peculiarity where a luminous, shining spirit dwelt within a transparent body. Through the processes of an immensely wise upbringing, that which could come from the pre- and post-Atlantean times via the twelve wise men was instilled into his soul. Through the deeper soul forces, not through the intellect, all the treasures of wisdom were united in the soul of this child. Then a very special state came over this child. At a very specific time, it stopped eating; it appeared as if all external life activities had been paralyzed, and it radiated back to the men all the wisdom received from the child. Each received back what he had given, but in a transformed form. Then the twelve men felt: Now, at last, we have received the twelve religions and worldviews as a coherent unity! And from that time on, what we call Rosicrucian Christianity lived within the twelve men.

[ 5 ] The child lived only a short time longer. In the outer world, we call this individuality Christian Rosenkreutz. It was not given this name until the fourteenth century. In the fourteenth century, this individuality returned and lived to be over a hundred years old. Even when it was not incarnated in the flesh, it worked through the etheric body, always with the aim that, through its influence, true Christianity should continue to develop, that it should become the synthesis of all great worldviews and religions. And right up to our own time, he has been working—either as a human being or from his etheric body—illuminating that which flowed into the West as the foundation of the synthesis of the great religions. Today, his influence is growing ever greater. Many whom we would not expect are chosen ones of this Christian Rosenkreutz. We can already cite a sign today through which Christian Rosenkreutz selects his followers everywhere. Many people can discover this sign in the course of their lives. It can manifest itself in a thousand different ways, but these various forms all trace back to a single type, which we can characterize with the following description.

[ 6 ] For example, the selection could be made in the following way. Let’s assume there is someone who is undertaking something. He strives for the success of this undertaking and sets out to reach his goal. And as he rushes out into the world—he may be a very materialistic person—he suddenly hears a voice: Stop what you are doing! And he will realize: That was not a physical voice. But let us suppose he stepped back, refrained from the undertaking—and now he can realize: If he had rushed toward his goal, he would most certainly have met his death.

[ 7 ] These two elements are necessary for one to clearly recognize: first, that what warned you came from the spiritual world, and second, that death would have ensued if you had actually carried out the plan. It thus becomes clear to the future student: You have actually been saved, and that through a warning from a world in which you do not yet exist. In truth, given the conditions of this earthly world in which you live, you have already died, and you must regard your continued life as a gift bestowed upon you from the spiritual world; life has been given to you. - And when the person in question comes to realize all this, they will resolve to work within a spiritual movement. Once this resolution is made, the election has taken place. Thus Christian Rosenkreutz begins to gather his followers, and many would come to such an inner realization if they paid sufficient attention.

[ 8 ] Those who can be said to have been connected to Christian Rosenkreutz in this way, or who are now becoming so, are the ones in whom a deeper understanding of esoteric Christianity was first to arise. From this spiritual current, which ties in with Christian Rosenkreutz, comes the most powerful aid for making the Christ impulse comprehensible in our present time. This was already initiated much earlier: a century before the Mystery of Golgotha by Jeshu ben Pandira, whose main mission was to prepare the way for the Christ. He had a disciple, Mathai, whose name was later transferred to his successor, who lived at the time of Jesus of Nazareth. The most important thing that this Jeshu ben Pandira did was to prepare the Gospel of Matthew. What relates to this is taken from an initiation ritual of ancient times. The text is written in such a way that the content was taken from ancient mysteries, such as what related to the temptation and other matters. All these processes occurring within human development were also meant to unfold on the physical plane. This was then sketched out by his disciple.

[ 9 ] Jeshu ben Pandira was not spared the terrible fate he had foretold; he was stoned and then hung on a cross. For some believers, this book of records was preserved—albeit deeply hidden. What happened to it later becomes clear to us best when we consider what Jerome, the great Church Father, himself recounted about it: He had received the Gospel of Matthew from a Christian sect. At that time, there was a small circle in which the book was kept secret, and through special circumstances it came into Jerome’s possession. He was commissioned by his bishop to translate it. He recounts this himself. But he also said at the same time that it was written in such a way that it was not meant to reach outsiders. He nevertheless wanted to translate it in such a way that what was veiled within it would remain veiled. Furthermore, he says that he did not understand it either. — What came into being in this way was written in such a manner that one person could express it one way, another another way, in profane language. It has also come down to posterity in this manner. The situation is therefore such that the world does not actually possess the Gospels yet. It is thus certainly justified that the Gospels are being reinterpreted today from a theosophical perspective, drawing upon the Akashic Records, because it is there alone that their original form can be found.

[ 10 ] We must realize that Christianity, in its true form, must first be rescued from the rubble. Just how necessary this is is shown, among other things, by the fact that in 1873, for example, a census was taken in France of those who could still be said to belong to Catholicism in their hearts. One-third were found; two-thirds were no longer connected to it. And these were certainly not people who had no need for religion at all. We live in such a way that religious longings for Christ are waning, but the true sources of Christianity must be rediscovered. And toward this goal, we see the spiritual current emanating from Jeshu ben Pandira converging with that which, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, takes up the thread of Christian Rosenkreutz.

[ 11 ] It is also important to know that one of the peculiarities of the Bodhisattva’s incarnations is that he cannot be recognized during his youth. Between the ages of thirty and thirty-three, a tremendous transformation takes place, turning this personality into a completely different one. For example, a Moses- or Abraham-like individuality may take possession of such a Bodhisattva personality during this time.

[ 12 ] About three thousand years from now, this Bodhisattva will be elevated to the status of Maitreya Buddha. And he will then work from the spiritual world in such a way that it flows into the hearts of people like magical morality. Thus the current of the Maitreya Buddha works together with the Western current that ties in with Christian Rosenkreutz.