The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Third Lecture

[ 1 ] What must first occupy us is the relationship between general religious consciousness and that knowledge, that insight, which human beings can gain regarding the higher worlds in general—and, particularly relevant to our topic, that insight into the relationship of Christ Jesus to these higher worlds, which can be attained through higher clairvoyant powers. For it is clear to all of you that, for the vast majority of people, the development of Christianity has so far been such that these people could not arrive at the mysteries of Christian events through their own clairvoyant insight. Or, to put it another way: It must be acknowledged that Christianity has found its way into countless human hearts, and to a certain degree has also been recognized in its essence by countless souls, without these hearts and souls having been able to look up to the higher worlds in order to gain, from the knowledge of the higher worlds, a clairvoyant insight into what actually took place for the development of humanity through the Mystery of Golgotha and all that is connected with it. We must therefore make a clear distinction between the inclination of religions and the intellectual inclination of those who know nothing of supersensible research toward Christ, and that which can only be known either through clairvoyant consciousness itself or by receiving, for whatever reason, the communication of clairvoyant researchers regarding the mysteries of Christianity.

[ 2 ] Now you will all admit that, in the centuries that have passed since the Mystery of Golgotha, people of all levels of spiritual development have, in a deep and intimate way, found themselves drawn to the mysteries of Christianity. And from what has been said in the various lectures, especially in recent times, you will have gained the impression that this is, in essence, a completely natural fact; for it is only in the twentieth century — as has been emphasized time and again — will a renewal of the Christ event take place in a certain sense, as a higher development of the general human powers of cognition begins, thereby making it possible for more and more people, even without special clairvoyant preparation, to gain a direct insight into Christ Jesus over the course of the next three millennia. But that has not been the case until now. Until now, there have been, so to speak, only two—or perhaps we will reveal today—three sources of knowledge regarding the Christian mysteries for those people who did not artificially ascend to clairvoyant contemplation.

[ 3 ] One source was the Gospels and everything derived from the accounts in the Gospels or the subsequent ‘Tradition’. The other source of knowledge arose from the fact that there were always clairvoyant people who could look into the higher worlds and, through their own insight, conveyed the facts of the Christ event, and that people joined them, as it were, in response to an everlasting Gospel that could continually come into the world through these clairvoyant people. These seem, at first glance, to be the only two sources in the development of Christian humanity to date.

[ 4 ] And now, starting in the twentieth century, a new era is beginning. It is characterized by the fact that more and more people are experiencing an expansion and enhancement of their powers of insight—an expansion not brought about by meditation, concentration, or other exercises. More and more people will be able to renew for themselves—as we have often said—the Paul-experience before Damascus. Through this, an age will begin of which we can say: it provides a direct insight into the meaning and essence of Christ Jesus.

[ 5 ] Now, of course, the first question that will arise for you is: What, then, is actually the difference between what has always been possible for the clairvoyant consciousness, between the vision of Christ Jesus as described yesterday as a result of esoteric development, and what people will see in the next three millennia—beginning with our twentieth century—without this esoteric development?

[ 6 ] There is, however, a significant difference. And it would be wrong to believe that what the clairvoyant today perceives in the higher worlds through his clairvoyant development regarding the Christ Event, and what the clairvoyants have seen regarding this Christ Event since the Mystery of Golgotha, is exactly the same as what is to come as a vivid reality for an ever-increasing number of people. These are two entirely different things. And if we want an answer to the question of how these two things differ, we can only find it by first asking clairvoyant research: Why is it that, starting in the twentieth century, Christ Jesus will increasingly enter into the ordinary consciousness of human beings? — The reason is as follows.

[ 7 ] Just as an event took place on the physical plane in Palestine at the beginning of our era, in which the Christ played the most essential role—an event of significance for all humanity—so too will a significant event take place in the course of the twentieth century, toward the end of the twentieth century; though not in the physical world, but in the higher worlds, specifically in the world we initially refer to as the etheric world. And this event will have just as fundamental a significance for the development of humanity as the event in Palestine at the beginning of our era. Just as we must say: for Christ himself, the event of Golgotha had the significance that with this very event a God died, a God overcame death—we will speak later about how this is to be understood; this had not happened before, and afterwards it is a completed fact— so an event of profound significance will take place, one that does not occur on the physical plane, but in the etheric world. And through the fact that this event takes place, that an event takes place with Christ himself, the possibility is created for human beings to learn to see Christ, to behold him.

[ 8 ] What is this event?

[ 9 ] This event is nothing other than the transfer of a certain office in the cosmos—one responsible for human development in the twentieth century—to the Christ, in a manner more exalted than has been the case up to now. Indeed, occult and clairvoyant research teaches us that in our age the significant event is taking place whereby the Christ becomes the Lord of Karma for human development. And this is the beginning of what we also find hinted at in the Gospels with the words: He will come again to judge or bring about the crisis for the living and the dead. — However, in the sense of occult research, this event is not to be understood as a one-time occurrence taking place on the physical plane, but rather it is connected with the entire future development of humanity. And while Christianity and Christian development have thus far represented a kind of preparation, what is now significant is that Christ will become the Lord of Karma, that it will fall to him to determine in the future what our karmic account is, how our debits and credits in life relate to one another.

[ 10 ] What is now being said has been a common understanding within Western occultism for many centuries and is not denied by any occultist who is aware of these things. But it has been confirmed once again, particularly in recent times, through all the meticulous methods of occult research. And let us now form a more precise picture of what has just been said.

[ 11 ] If you ask all those who know the truth about these matters, you will find a fact confirmed everywhere; a fact which, however, can only be articulated now, so to speak, because our current stage of anthroposophical development has finally reached that point; for everything that can prepare our minds to accept such a fact first had to be gathered together. Nevertheless, you can find references to it even in occult literature if you care to look. But I am not concerned with the literature; I merely wish to draw upon the relevant facts.

[ 12 ] In describing certain circumstances—even when I was the one providing the description—it was necessary to portray the reality that comes into play when a person passes through the gate of “death.” Now there is a large number of people—and primarily those who have experienced Western cultural development (for these things are not the same for everyone)—who experience a very specific fact at the moment following the separation from the etheric body after death. We know that the human passage through the gate of death occurs in such a way that we separate from the physical body. At first, the human being remains connected to the etheric body for a time; but then, together with the astral body and the I, he also separates from the etheric body. We know that they carry an extract of their etheric body with them; but we also know that the etheric body generally takes other paths, though it is generally absorbed into the universal cosmic realm. Either it dissolves completely—which would only be the case under imperfect conditions—or it continues to exert its influence as a self-contained form of effects. — Once the human being has shed this etheric body, they pass into the region of Kamaloka, the period of purification in the soul world. But before this entry into the period of purification in the soul world, a very special experience takes place, which, as I said, has not been alluded to until now because the matter first had to ripen. But now these things will be fully grasped by all who are truly able to assess what we wish to consider here. There the human being experiences an encounter with a very specific being who presents him with his karmic account. And this individuality, who stood before humanity, so to speak, as a kind of bookkeeper of the karmic powers, was for a great number of people the figure of Moses. Hence the medieval formula, which originates from Rosicrucianism: Moses holds before the human being at the hour of death—this is not stated precisely, but that is of no consequence here—the register of sins and at the same time points to the strict law, so that the human being may recognize how he has deviated from the strict law according to which he should have conducted himself.

[ 13 ] In the course of our time—and this is the significant point—this office passes to Christ Jesus, and human beings will increasingly encounter Christ Jesus as their judge, as their karmic judge. This is the supersensory event. Just as the events in Palestine unfolded on the physical plane at the beginning of our era, so too is the transfer of the office of karmic judge to Christ Jesus taking place in our age in the next higher world. And it is this fact that has such an effect on the physical world, on the physical plane, that human beings will develop a sense of it along these lines: with everything they do, they create something for which they will be accountable to the Christ. And this feeling, which now arises in a completely natural way in the course of human development, will transform itself so that it permeates the soul with a light that gradually emanates from the human being himself, and this will illuminate the Christ-figure within the etheric world. And the more this feeling—which will have an even greater significance than the abstract conscience—develops, the more the etheric figure of Christ will become visible in the coming centuries. We will have to characterize this fact in greater detail in the coming days, and we will then see: we have thus introduced a completely new event, an event that works into the Christ-development of humanity.

[ 14 ] Let us now describe how the Christ evolution unfolded on the physical plane for the non-clairvoyant consciousness by asking ourselves: Might there not be a third path in addition to the two already described?

[ 15 ] Such a third way has always been present in the 'Tat for all Christian development, and indeed it had to be there. For the objective development of humanity was not guided by the opinions people held, but rather by objective facts. People have held many opinions about Christ Jesus over the centuries; otherwise, the councils, the church assemblies, and the theologians would not have had so much to argue about, and perhaps no other era has had as many different views of Christ among so many people at the same time as ours, But the facts are not determined by people’s views, but by what forces are actually present in the development of humanity. These facts could be recognized by a much larger number of people simply by considering, for example, what is handed down in the Gospels, if people had the patience and perseverance to view things truly impartially, if people were not hasty and biased in their objective consideration of the facts. But as it was, most people were intent on creating an image of Christ not based on the facts, but as they wished it to be, as they presented it as their ideal. And in a certain sense, it must be said, theosophists of all shades do the same today. For example, if it has become popular within theosophical literature to speak of higher-developed human individualities who have gained a certain lead in human evolution, this is a truth that no one who thinks concretely can dispute. The concept of the Master, the higher individuality, the very concept of the Adept must be acknowledged by concrete thinking. Only a way of thinking that does not believe in evolution would not acknowledge these concepts. When we now consider the concept of the Master or the Adept, we must say: this individuality is one that has passed through many incarnations and, through practice and a godly life, has attained something different from other human beings, so that it has gone ahead of humanity and acquired powers that the rest of humanity will only acquire in the future. It is now self-evident and should be so that the one who, through theosophical knowledge, gains such a view of such individualities, acquires a feeling of the highest reverence for the individuality of the Masters, the Adepts, and so on. And if we ascend from such a concept to a life as noble as that which the Buddha’s life appears to us, so that we acknowledge in the sense of theosophical knowledge: “The Buddha is to be regarded as the highest of adepts”—then we will be able to gain, for our intellect as well as for our heart and our feelings, a spiritual depth and a relationship to such an individuality.

[ 16 ] As the theosophist approaches the figure of Christ Jesus on the basis of such theosophical knowledge and perception, a certain need naturally arises within him—one cannot deny that, in a certain sense, it is entirely understandable that such a need should arise— a need that consists in linking his Christ Jesus to the same ideal concept he has formed of a Master, of an Adept, perhaps of our Buddha. And he may feel compelled to say: Jesus of Nazareth must likewise be conceived of as a great Adept! This prejudice would turn the understanding of the true Christian essence on its head. And it would be nothing but a prejudice, albeit an understandable one. For how could one who has attained the deepest, most intimate relationship with the Christ fail to place the bearer of the Christ-essence in the same category as the Master, the Adept, or the Buddha, for example? How could he not? This must seem entirely understandable to us. Perhaps it would appear to such a person as a denigration of Jesus of Nazareth if one did not do so. — This distracts one from basing one’s judgment on the facts, as they at least seep through in tradition.

[ 17 ] One thing everyone could recognize from the facts of tradition, if only they would consider what can be perceived through an unbiased examination of tradition—despite all the opinions of the councils and despite everything that individual people, such as the Church Fathers, Church Teachers, and so on, have written—namely, what seeps through the traditions: that Jesus of Nazareth, for example, cannot be called an adept. For anyone might ask: Where in tradition is there anything that allows the concept of the adept, as we have it in theosophical teaching, to be applied to Jesus of Nazareth? — One thing was emphasized especially in the early days of Christianity: that the one called Jesus of Nazareth was a human being like any other, a weak human being like any other. And those who come closest to the meaning of the one who came into the world are those who uphold the word: Jesus was a true human being! So there is actually nothing of the concept of an adept to be found in the tradition, if we examine it properly. And if you recall everything that has been said in the previous lectures about the development of Jesus of Nazareth—about the development of the one Jesus-child in whom Zarathustra lived until the age of twelve, and about the development of the other Jesus-child in whom Zarathustra then lived until the age of thirty—you will surely say to yourselves: here we are dealing with a special human being, with a human being toward whose being, so to speak, world history and world evolution made the greatest efforts simply by creating two human bodies and allowing the Zarathustra individuality to inhabit one human body until the age of twelve and the other from the age of twelve to thirty— but we will also say to ourselves: because these two Jesus figures were such significant individualities, the Jesus of Nazareth also stood high, though he did not ascend in the same way as an adept individuality that progresses continuously from incarnation to incarnation. Yet even setting that aside: in the thirtieth year, when the Christ Individuality enters the body of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth himself leaves this body, and from the moment of John’s baptism onward—if we are not now speaking of the Christ—we are dealing with a human being whom we must, in the truest sense of the word, describe as a mere human being, except that he is the bearer of the Christ. But we must distinguish between the bearer of the Christ—and the Christ himself within this bearer. In this body, which is the bearer of the Christ, there dwelt no human individuality that had attained a particularly high level of development, because it had been forsaken by the Zarathustra individuality. The development that Jesus of Nazareth exhibited, this stage of development, stemmed from the fact that the Zarathustra individuality dwelt within him. But this human nature, as we know, has been forsaken by the Zarathustra individuality. That is also why, as soon as the Christ Individuality took possession of it, this human nature sent forth everything that otherwise comes from human nature: the tempter. That is also why Christ was able to endure all despair and all sorrows, as they are described to us in the events on the Mount of Olives. Whoever fails to take into account that the Christ-being did not dwell in a human being who had attained a special level of adeptship, but in a simple human being who differed from others in that he was merely the human shell-organism left behind in which Zarathustra had lived—whoever does not take this into account cannot penetrate to a true understanding of the nature of the Christ. What the Christ-bearer was is a true human being, not an adept! But it is only by recognizing this that a little perspective will open up for us regarding the entire nature of the Golgotha and Palestine events in general. If we were to simply regard the Christ Jesus as a high adept, we would have to place him in the same category as other adept natures. We do not do that. There may perhaps be people who say to us: We do not do that because, from the outset and out of some prejudice, we want to place Christ Jesus above all other adepts as an even higher adept. Those who would say that do not know what we must proclaim as the results of occult research in our time.

[ 18 ] The point is not that this would deprive the other adepts of even the slightest thing. Within the worldview to which we belong, based on the occult findings of the present, we know just as well as others that there stood, as a contemporary of Christ Jesus, another significant individual of whom we say: he was a true adept. And it even becomes difficult for us, if we do not go into the precise facts, to distinguish this human being inwardly from Christ Jesus; for this contemporary of His really appears quite similar. When we hear, for example, that this contemporary of Christ Jesus is announced by a heavenly apparition before his birth, this reminds us of the announcement of Jesus in the Gospels. When we hear that this contemporary is not merely said to have descended from human seed, but to be a son of the gods, this again reminds us of the beginning of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. When we then hear that the birth of this individuality took the mother by surprise, so that she was overwhelmed, this reminds us of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and of the events in Bethlehem as recounted in the Gospels. When we then hear that this individuality grows up and surprises everyone around him with wise answers to the priests’ questions, this recalls the scene of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple. And when we are even told: this individual came to Rome, encountered there the funeral procession of a young girl, the procession was brought to a halt, and this individual raised the dead girl to life, this again reminds us of a resurrection in the Gospel of Luke. And countless miracles—if we are to speak of miracles—are told of this individual, who is a contemporary of Christ Jesus. Indeed, she is so similar to Christ Jesus that it is said of her that she appeared to people after her death, just as Christ Jesus appeared to the disciples after his death. And when all manner of reasons are put forward from the Christian side, either to speak lightly of this being or even to deny him as a historical figure, this is no less ingenious than what is put forward against the historicity of Christ Jesus himself. This individual is Apollonius of Tyana, and we speak of him as a truly great adept who was a contemporary of Christ Jesus.

[ 19 ] If we now ask ourselves: what is the key difference between the experience of Christ Jesus and the experience of Apollonius? we must first clarify what is essential to the experience of Apollonius.

[ 20 ] Apollonius of Tyana is an individuality who has undergone many incarnations, attained great powers, and reached a certain peak in the incarnation that took place at the beginning of our era. This individuality, which we can trace as it passes through many incarnations of antiquity, is present when it lives out its life in the body of Apollonius of Tyana, on its earthly stage. It is with this individuality that we are concerned. And because we know that a human individuality is involved in the building up of the human body—that this is not simply a duality, but that the human individuality works out the shape and form of this body—we must say: The body of this individuality was built up to a certain form in accordance with the nature of this individuality. We cannot say this with regard to Christ Jesus. Christ entered the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body in the thirtieth year of Jesus of Nazareth; He did not, therefore, build up this body from childhood. We are thus dealing here with a completely different relationship of the Christ individuality to the body than that of the Apollonius individuality to its body. When we turn our gaze in spirit toward the individuality of Apollonius of Tyana, we say to ourselves: It is a matter of this individuality, and this matter unfolds as the life of Apollonius of Tyana. And if we were to make a graphic representation, perhaps indicating such a life course through an external symbol, we could do so in the following way. Let the continuous individuality be indicated by the horizontal line; then we have at a a first incarnation, followed at 5 by a life between death and new birth, then at c a second incarnation, followed again by a life between death and new birth, then a third incarnation, and so on. That which runs through all these incarnations—the human individuality—stands, as it were, like the thread of human life, outside the realm of the sheaths, outside the sheath of the astral body, etheric body, and physical body—but also, between death and new birth, outside of what remains of the etheric and astral bodies; and thus the thread of life is forever separated from what the outer cosmos is.

[ 21 ] If we wish to characterize the essence of the life of Christ, we must approach it differently.

[ 22 ] Here we must say: this life of Christ, when we now look at the previous incarnations of Jesus of Nazareth, does indeed develop in a certain way. But if we trace the thread of life, we must say: In the thirtieth year of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the individuality leaves this body, so that from now on we have only the shell of the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body. But the forces that the individuality develops do not lie in the outer sheaths; rather, they lie in the thread of life of the I, which passes from incarnation to incarnation. Thus, for example, the forces that belonged to a Zarathustra individuality, which were in the body of Jesus of Nazareth for preparation, depart with the Zarathustra individuality. Therefore, we will say: What is now present as a sheath is a normal human organization, but it is not a human organization that—insofar as the individuality is concerned—could be called an adept’s organization, but rather it is a simple human being, a weak human being. And now the objective event occurs: whereas otherwise the thread of life simply continues as in a and c, it now takes a side path in e; but in return, through the baptism of John in the Jordan, the Christ-being enters into the threefold organization. This Christ-being lives from the baptism of John until the age of thirty-three, until the event of Golgotha, solely as the Christ-being, as we have often described. Whose affair, then, is the life of Christ Jesus from the age of thirty to thirty-three? It is not the concern of the individuality that has passed from incarnation to incarnation, but the concern of that individuality which has entered from the cosmos into the body of Jesus of Nazareth—the concern of an individuality, a being, that was never before connected to the Earth, which has come in from the universe and united itself with a human body. In this sense, the events that unfold between the thirtieth and thirty-third years of the life of Christ Jesus—that is, between the baptism by John and the Mystery of Golgotha—are the events of the God-Christ, not the events of a human being. Therefore, what is taking place here is not a matter of the Earth, but a matter of the supersensible world; for it had nothing to do with any human being. As a sign that it had nothing to do with any human being, the human being who had inhabited this body until the age of thirty has left this body.

[ 23 ] What is happening there is primarily connected to those events that took place before a life thread such as our human one was even drawn into a physical human body. We must go back to the ancient Lemurian era, to that age when human individualities, descending from the divine heights, incarnated into earthly bodies for the first time, to that event which is hinted at in the Old Testament as the temptation by the serpent. This event is of a very peculiar nature. All human beings suffered the consequences of this event as they incarnated. For had this event not occurred, the entire development of humanity on Earth would have been different, and human beings would have passed from incarnation to incarnation in a far more perfect state. But through this event, they became more deeply entangled in matter, which is allegorically referred to as the Fall. Yet it is the Fall that first called humanity to its present individuality; so that as humanity passes from incarnation to incarnation as an individuality, it is not responsible for the Fall. We know, however, that the Luciferic spirits are responsible for the Fall. Therefore, we must say: Before humanity became human in the earthly sense, the divine, the supersensible event had taken place, through which a deeper entanglement with matter was imposed upon humanity. Through this event, humanity did indeed attain the power of love and freedom, but something was thereby imposed upon them that they could not impose upon themselves through their own power. This entanglement with matter was not a human act, but a divine act that took place before human beings could participate in shaping their own destiny. This is something that the higher powers of ongoing evolution agreed upon with the Luciferic powers. We will have to examine all these events in greater detail later; for now, we wish only to present their main points to our souls.

[ 24 ] What had happened back then required a balancing act. The pre-human ‘fact’ that took place within humanity—the Fall—required a balancing act; something that, so to speak, was not a matter for humans, but rather a matter among the gods themselves. And we shall see that this matter had to take place as far below the material realm as the other matter, before humanity became entangled in the material realm, took place above it. The God had to plunge as deeply into the material realm as He had caused humanity to sink into it.

[ 25 ] If you allow this fact to sink in with all its gravity, you will understand that this incarnation of Christ in Jesus of Nazareth was a matter for Christ himself. And what was humanity called upon to do? First of all, to witness how God redeems the act of the Fall, how He creates its counter-act. To do this would not have been possible within the personality of an adept; for an adept’s personality has worked its way back up from the Fall into matter through its own efforts. This was only possible in a personality who was a truly human being, who as a human being did not tower above other people. She did tower above them before she turned thirty, but not after that. Through what happened there, a divine event in human development was thus communicated, just as it was at the beginning of human development in the Lemurian era. And human beings were participants in an event that took place among the gods; they were able to witness it because the gods had to make use of the physical plane to allow this event of theirs to unfold. That is why it is far better to say: Christ offered the atonement to the gods, which he could only offer in a physical human body—rather than using any other formulation. And for human beings, it is a matter of witnessing a divine affair.

[ 26 ] This marked a turning point for human nature. People simply sensed this in the course of their development. And with that, the third path opened up—one that was indeed possible alongside the two already mentioned. Deeply Christian individuals have often alluded to these three paths. From the long list that could be named, I wish to mention only two individuals who bore witness in a truly outstanding way to the fact that Christ—who, from the twentieth century onward, will be viewed through more highly developed human faculties—can be recognized, felt, and experienced through sensibilities that were not possible in the same form before the events at Golgotha.

[ 27 ] Take, for example, the mind that, throughout its spiritual development, can be regarded as a staunch opponent of what we have characterized as Jesuitism: Blaise Pascal, who stands out in the development of the spirit as a mind that has cast off all the evils that arose from the old churches, yet has also taken nothing on board from modern rationalism. Like all great minds, he too has, in essence, remained solitary with his thoughts. But what underlies his thoughts at the dawn of the modern era? If one delves into this, one can see from the writings he left behind—namely from his inspiring “Thoughts,” which are easily accessible to everyone since they were published in the Reclam Universal Library—what he felt about how humanity would have turned out had the Christ event not come into the world. In the secret of his soul, Pascal asked himself the question: What would have become of humanity if Christ had not intervened in human development? And he told himself: We can sense that humanity faces two dangers in its soul. One danger lies in humanity recognizing God as identical with its own being: the recognition of God in the recognition of humanity. Where does this lead? If it occurs only in such a way that humanity recognizes God Himself, it leads to pride, arrogance, and hubris; and humanity destroys its best powers because it hardens them in arrogance and pride. That would be a knowledge of God that would always have been possible, even if Christ had not come, if the Christ event had not acted as an impulse in all human hearts. People could always have known God, but they would have become proud through the awareness within their own hearts. Or there could have been people who closed themselves off from the knowledge of God, who did not want to know God. Their gaze now falls on something else: on human powerlessness, on human misery—and then human despair necessarily follows. That would have been the other danger, the danger of those who would have rejected the knowledge of God. These two paths, says Pascal, are the only ones possible: pride and arrogance—or despair. Then the Christ event entered human development and brought about the fact that every human being received a power that enables them not only to sense God, but that God who was equal to human beings, who lived with human beings. This is the only cure for pride, when one turns one’s gaze toward the God who bowed to the cross; when the soul looks upon Christ bowing under the cross. But this is also the only healer of all despair. For this humility is not one that weakens, but one that gives a strength that transcends all despair in a healing way. As the mediator between pride and despair, the Helper, the Savior, dawns in the human soul, in the sense of Pascal. But every person can feel this, even without clairvoyance. And this is the preparation for the Christ who, from the twentieth century onward, will be visible to all people, who will rise as the healer of pride and despair in every human heart—a Christ who simply could not be felt in the same way before.

[ 28 ] And the second witness I would like to call upon from the great ranks of people who feel this—which can be inherent in every Christian—is Vladimir Soloviev, whom I have already mentioned in various other contexts. Soloviev, too, points to two forces in human nature, between which the personal Christ is to stand as the mediator. He says: There are two things for which the human soul longs: for immortality and for wisdom or moral perfection. But neither of these is inherent in human nature from the outset. For human nature shares the characteristic of all natures, and nature does not lead to immortality, but to death. And in beautiful reflections, the great thinker of our time now explains, as external science also shows, how death spreads over everything. So when we look at external nature, it answers our inquiry: death is! But within us lives the longing for immortality. Why? Because the longing for perfection lives within us. And to see that the longing for perfection lives within us, all it takes is a glance into the human soul. Just as true, says Soloviev, as the red rose is imbued with the color red, so too is the human soul imbued with the longing for perfection. But a striving for perfection without a longing for immortality is the lie of existence, Soloviev maintains. For it would be nonsensical if the soul, like all natural existence, were to end with death. But all of nature answers us: death is! Therefore, the human soul is compelled to go beyond nature to seek the answer elsewhere, in the sense of the aforementioned philosopher. And he now says: Look to the natural scientists: what answer do they give you when they seek to teach the connection between the human soul and nature? A mechanical order of nature, they say, prevails, and man is embedded within it. And what do the philosophers answer you? An empty, abstract world of thought pervades all natural facts as the spiritual element that is to be recognized philosophically. Neither of these is an answer when a person becomes conscious and, from this consciousness, asks: What is perfection? — When he becomes aware that he must have a longing for perfection, for a life of truth, and when he asks for the power that can satisfy this longing, then the prospect of a realm opens up to him that at first stands there like a question, which must exist for the human soul like a riddle, without the realization of which the human soul can only regard itself as a lie: the realm of grace above nature. No philosophy, no natural science can connect the realm of grace with existence; for the forces of nature act mechanically, and the powers of thought have only a reality of thought. But what possesses a full reality capable of connecting the soul with immortality? It is the personal Christ active in the world. And only the living Christ, not the merely imagined one, can provide the answer. For the Christ who acts merely in the soul would leave the soul alone; for the soul cannot bring forth the realm of grace on its own. That which transcends nature, that which stands as a real fact just like nature itself: the personal, the historical Christ—it is he who gives not a mental answer, but a real answer.

[ 29 ] And now this philosopher arrives at the answer that is the most profound, the most insightful, that can be given at the end of the age that is drawing to a close, just before the gates open in the twentieth century to what has so often been hinted at to you: It will be a vision of Christ, which will have its starting point in the twentieth century.

[ 30 ] And sensing this fact, people called that state of consciousness—which Pascal and Soloviev described in their classic works—“faith.” Others have called it that as well. When it comes to the human soul, the concept of faith can lead to a peculiar conflict in two different directions. Trace the development of the concept of faith, and examine the criticism directed at it. Today, we have reached the point where it is said that faith must be guided by knowledge, and that any faith not grounded in knowledge must be rejected. Faith is to be, so to speak, set aside and replaced by knowledge. In the Middle Ages, the objects of the higher worlds were precisely presented as matters of faith, and faith was regarded as something legitimate. This is also the fundamental tenet of Protestantism: that faith is regarded as something legitimate alongside knowledge. Thus, faith is something that arises from the human soul, alongside which knowledge is placed, which is to be common to all. It is interesting to note how a philosopher whom many consider great—Kant—was unable to move beyond this concept of faith. For his concept of faith holds that what a person is to gain regarding such matters as God, immortality, and so on, must be illuminated from entirely different realms; but only through a moral faith, not through knowledge.

[ 31 ] The concept of faith reaches its highest expression precisely in the philosopher I have just mentioned to you, Soloviev, who appears as the most significant figure on the threshold of the new era, already pointing, so to speak, into the modern world. For Soloviev knows a faith entirely different from all previous concepts of faith. Where has the previous concept of faith led humanity? It has led humanity precisely to the atheistic-materialistic demand for mere knowledge of the external world—let us say in the Lutheran, Kantian, or nineteenth-century monist sense—to knowledge that insists on knowledge and regards faith as something the human soul has formed up to a certain point out of necessary weakness. This is where the concept of faith has ultimately ended up, because it has been regarded as merely subjective. Whereas in previous centuries faith was still demanded as a necessity, the nineteenth century attacked faith precisely because it stood in contrast to knowledge, which is supposed to originate from the human soul as something universally valid.

[ 32 ] And now there comes a philosopher who, in a certain sense, acknowledges the concept of faith in order to establish a relationship with Christ that was previously impossible; yet he now views the matter in such a way that he recognizes in this faith—insofar as it relates to Christ—an act of necessity, of inner duty. For Soloviev, the opposition is no longer “to believe or not to believe”; rather, for him, faith now becomes a necessity in and of itself. He believes we are obligated to believe in Christ, because otherwise we would negate ourselves and would have to call our existence a lie. Just as the crystalline form appears in a mineral substance, so does faith appear in the human soul as its very nature. Therefore, the soul must say: If I acknowledge the truth—and not the lie of myself—then I must realize faith within my own soul. I am bound to faith; but I cannot come to it except through my own free act. — And in this Soloviev sees, as it were, the distinctive feature of the Christ-act, that faith is at once a necessity and at once a morally free act. It is as if the soul is told: You have no other choice if you do not wish to annihilate yourself: you must acquire faith; but it must be your own free act! And just as Pascal does, this philosopher connects what the soul experiences—so as not to perceive itself as a lie—with the historical Christ Jesus, as he entered human development through the events in Palestine. That is why Soloviev says: If Christ had not entered into human development—as he must be conceived of as the historical Christ—and had not brought about the soul’s perception of both the innerly free act and the legal necessity of faith, then the human soul in the post-Christian era would be compelled to annihilate itself and not to say, “I am,” but rather to say, “I am not!” — That would have been, in the view of this philosopher, the development in the post-Christian era: that an inner consciousness of “I am not” would have permeated the human soul! At the moment when the soul rouses itself to the act of laying down its own being, it cannot help but trace itself back to the historical Christ Jesus.

[ 33 ] This represents progress on the path of faith, even for the outer, exoteric understanding of the Third Way. Through the Gospel accounts, those who do not themselves look into the spiritual world can come to recognize Christ. Through what clairvoyant consciousness has always been able to tell them, they can likewise come to recognize Christ. But there were actually three paths: that of self-knowledge as well, and that leads—as these cited witnesses can tell us from what they themselves have experienced with many thousands upon thousands of people—to the realization that human self-knowledge in the post-Christian era is impossible without placing Christ Jesus alongside humanity; that the soul must either deny itself, or, if it wishes to affirm itself, will affirm Christ Jesus along with itself.

[ 34 ] Why this wasn't the case in pre-Christian times—more on that in the coming days.