The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Second Lecture

[ 1 ] In this short series of lectures, we will discuss important matters of spiritual life—matters that touch upon this spiritual life in the broadest sense. We will speak of what underlies what is called initiation, and—after we have pointed to some of the mysteries and laws of this initiation—of the significance of what has radiated throughout the course of human development for the life of initiation and for the initiates. We will have to speak of everything that radiates out from this in relation to what can be summarized in the seemingly opposing mental images of eternity and the moment, spiritual light and the darkness of life. After we have, so to speak, considered human life from the perspective these mental images provide, we shall then return to the power of initiation and the power of the initiates. Thus, these reflections shall this time be limited to the principle of initiation.

[ 2 ] Eternity—we need only entertain a mental image, and we feel it; something resonates within us that is connected to the deepest longings of the human soul, to the highest goal that humanity can name among its aspirations. The moment—a word that constantly reminds us of the very moment in which we actually live, and of the necessity, in this moment in which we live, to seek out that which can give us a glimpse into the land of longing, into eternity. One need only recall that Goethe embedded the deepest mystery of his greatest poetry in his Faust in such a way that he has Faust say to the moment: “Stay a while! You are so beautiful!” and then has him confess: If this can become the soul’s disposition, if it is possible for the soul to identify with a confession, to say to the moment: “Stay a while! You are so beautiful!”, then the confession must immediately follow for Faust that he would be worthy to fall prey to the adversary of earthly humanity, Mephistopheles. What is connected with the feeling that wells up from the moment, Goethe has indeed made the very fundamental mystery of his greatest poetry. Thus it seems as if that in which we live, the moment, were quite the opposite of what we call eternity and for which the human soul must yearn again and again.

[ 3 ] Spiritual light—as much as we have engaged in theosophical reflections over the years, we have come to realize that the pursuit of spiritual light is based everywhere on the same fundamental aim: to lead humanity out of the darkness of life. And once again we can sense something from one of the greatest works of literature in human development, from Faust: how a poet, when he wishes to portray a great, all-encompassing soul, cannot help but also bring it out of the darkness of life. For what surrounds Faust at the beginning of the poem? In what is he completely entangled? In the darkness of life! And how often have we had to emphasize that this darkness of life has such great power and force over human beings that the light of the spirit, when it strikes them in an immature state, can affect them in such a way that it does not illuminate them, but rather blinds them and numbs them. Thus, the question cannot merely be: What is the path to the light of the spirit, and where is it to be found? but above all, the question must be: How must a person walk the path of the soul that can lead them correctly to the light of the spirit? — This merely outlines the themes that will occupy us in these lectures, and we are, after all, at such a stage in our theosophical work that we do not need to develop things from the very beginning, but can in many cases build upon what is already known.

[ 4 ] When the word “initiation,” which has become so intimately linked in our minds with the words ‘eternity’ and “spiritual light,” comes to us, all those great figures whom we know as the Initiates throughout the ages of human history come alive within our souls. And with them, these epochs of human history themselves are awakened in our soul—how they unfolded, how people lived within them, and how the light flowed from the places of initiation and from the Initiates to the people, in order to actually make possible what the impulses—the driving forces of human development—have been at all times. It would take us far too far afield to refer in detail, on the occasion of such a discussion, to what took place within the course of Earth’s development before that oft-discussed Atlantean catastrophe broke over the Earth, which completely altered the face of our planet. We already gain a sufficient and adequate mental image of what is at stake here when we consider the post-Atlantean epochs and recall the peculiar configuration of the human being, as it has manifested itself in such diverse ways in the course of time.

[ 5 ] Let us cast our gaze back to the dominant culture that emerged immediately after the face of the Earth was reshaped by the Atlantean catastrophe, and we have so often looked back with reverence upon what the great holy teachers of humanity brought forth in the first epoch of the post-Atlantean era at that very place on Earth where Indian culture later developed. We have pointed out how the soul can only look up from below to the noble spiritual teachings that came into the world at that time through human individuals who still bore within themselves all the inner greatness of those people who, in the Atlantean era, had a direct connection with the divine, with the spiritual worlds—a connection that was no longer possible in the later epochs of humanity. We have pointed out how the legacy of Atlantean wisdom—now accessible only to the occultist—lived on in its post-Atlantean form in the ancient holy teachers of the first post-Atlantean cultural period, and we have pointed out how what was lived back then—of which there are no records except in what we call the Akashic Records—appears sufficiently great and significant to human beings when its echoes shine forth to them in Indian or, indeed, in all Oriental literature. The height of morality, the height of spirituality contained in these writings as the echo of ancient spiritual teachings cannot even fully come to the consciousness of present-day humanity—insofar as we speak of external education. This is least of all the case in those countries that have been prepared for their present external culture by what Christianity, in its various forms, has been able to achieve over the course of the last few centuries. Thus the soul felt itself directed from below to above when it looked up to all that greatness—which today we can only glimpse—that has come to us merely as an echo of this ancient spirituality. If one views the matter in this way and is above all aware of what has often been mentioned here—that humanity will only again, in the seventh, the final epoch of the post-Atlantean era—we are now in the fifth — will be able to bring up from the darkness of life an understanding of what once lived at the starting point of the post-Atlantean era and provided the impulses for human development, and when one considers that humanity will have to mature until the final epoch in order to feel and experience within itself once more what was experienced and felt back then, then one also gains a sense and a feeling for how lofty the principle of initiation must have been, which provided the impulses for this ancient, sacred spiritual culture of humanity. And then we see how, in the course of the following epochs, humanity—striving for other spiritual treasures, for other treasures of earthly existence—descends, as it were, further and further, how it takes on other forms, yet how, depending on what the times demand, the great Initiates from the spiritual world give humanity what it needs for its culture as impulses for a particular epoch. We then see the Zarathustra culture emerge before our eyes, which is quite different, when we view it in its true light, from the culture of the holy Rishis; then the Egyptian-Chaldean culture; then what in Greece were the ancient sacred mysteries, of which we spoke yesterday in a quite different sense—we see the light of the spirit shining in everywhere into the darkness of life, as is necessary for the various times.

[ 6 ] Now that we have reached the end of our reflections, let us ask ourselves: What mental images can we form of an Initiate—it goes without saying that, especially at the beginning of this lecture series, only approximate concepts can be offered for such a comprehensive term; we will then be able to penetrate ever deeper and deeper into the essence of Initiation—it will first be necessary for us to bring together various elements of what we have already heard in the field of Theosophy. Let us make it clear that for complete initiation it is necessary that the human being, within his physical body, does not view the world in such a way that he perceives the world around him through his eyes and the other sense organs, or sees this world—or any world surrounding him—through his intellect, which is bound to the brain, and through what he might call his sense of orientation. That the human being does not form concepts of these worlds as is usually the case, but that he has come to be in a position, through what may be called “perceiving worlds outside his physical body,” to possess within his soul something that may be called a supersensible, a spiritual body, which has within itself such organs of perception—but of a higher kind—as the physical body has the eyes, the ears, and the other organs of perception and understanding. To see worlds without making use of the organs of the physical body—that is what can be given as a definition of the initiate that may not seem very meaningful at first glance but is accurate in its dryness. And the great initiates, who have given humanity significant cultural impulses in the course of time, have attained this independence from the sensory body and this use of a completely different body to the highest degree. I do not wish to speak much in abstractions; I would also like to cite concrete examples wherever possible. Therefore, today I would like to cite the following as an example of such a life outside the sensory body, within a higher organization belonging to the soul.

[ 7 ] When someone who has taken even a few steps on the path to initiation reflects on what they are actually experiencing within themselves and in themselves, they might say something like the following: One of the first things I experience within myself is that, in addition to my sensory, physical body, I possess a finer body—let us call it the etheric body—which we carry with us just as we carry the physical body in our earthly existence. Those taking the first steps toward initiation initially experience this by sensing within themselves that they perceive this inner sensation—just as they feel on another level what lives in their blood system, in their nervous system, or what arises from their muscular system. This inner feeling and experience is indeed present, and it can also be present for the etheric body. In particular, it is then useful for the person who is taking the first steps toward initiation to become acquainted with the specific difference—or, one might also say, the relationship—between sensing oneself and experiencing oneself in the elemental or etheric body and in the physical body. One thus experiences oneself in the elemental body in the same way that one knows one has one’s blood, one’s heartbeat, or one’s pulse within oneself. To make this clear to oneself, one can view this elemental body in relation to the physical body, to which one is, after all, more accustomed than to what one first attains on this spiritual journey. One can say to oneself: In the elemental body, you have a part that corresponds to the physical brain, to everything that constitutes your head. The head, the brain, has, as it were, crystallized out of the etheric body and is situated within it in such a way that one could compare it to a body of water and a piece of ice floating in it, if one were to compare the water to the etheric body and the ice to the physical body crystallized out of the etheric body. But one feels, one experiences, that there is an intimate connection between what one might call the etheric part of the head or the brain, and the physical head itself. One then knows how one creates one’s thoughts, how one forms one’s memory images within the etheric body, and how the physical brain is, as it were, merely a mirroring apparatus; yet one also knows how closely the brain is connected to the etheric body. One can experience this particularly when one has to engage quite intensely in efforts connected with the physical plane, with physical existence; when one has to think a great deal about things; that is, when one has to strain one’s physical body so that it brings up from the depths of life the images of memory in order to hold them together. In such a process, the etheric body is always involved from the outset, regardless of whether one is aware of it or not. But the physical brain is intimately connected with it, and when one tires the physical brain, one notices very, very clearly the fatigue of the brain in the corresponding etheric part. One then notices that in what one experiences as the elemental part of the brain, there is something like a block, like a foreign body, that one can no longer reach what one must reach, for the mobility in the physical brain is something that must go hand in hand with the mobility in the etheric body. One can then have the distinct feeling: Your etheric body does not tire either; it could go on forever, bringing together the thought-images and retrieving what you know; but in order to express it in the physical world, it must be reflected, and that is where the brain fails. — The elemental body does not tire. Precisely because it can be active all the time, it feels the brain’s fatigue all the more keenly. One notices, as it were, what the brain produces in terms of failing powers. And when it falls asleep and sinks into the dullness of fatigue, one can say to oneself: Now you must stop, otherwise you would make yourself ill. — One cannot wear out the etheric body. But by the roundabout means of imposing excessive demands on the brain, one can continue to tire it out even further and thus bring it into a life-failing, dead state. And a living organism cannot tolerate that something which is supposed to be in a normal relationship with it is partially dead, that it enters an abnormal state. So one must decide of one’s own free will: so that you do not kill off a part of your brain, which will then continue to devour itself, you must stop when you perceive your brain as a foreign body within yourself.

[ 8 ] This is what one experiences when one seeks the relationship between that part of the human elemental or etheric body which corresponds to the brain or the head, and the physical brain or physical head itself. There is an intimate connection. The outer sensory life actually proceeds in such a way that it is impossible to break the parallelism between the two to any great extent. One might say, when attempting to express this relationship: In our head, specifically in our brain, we have a quite faithful expression of the etheric forces; we have something that, in its outward appearance and in its outward functions, is truly a faithful reflection of the functions and processes in the corresponding part of the ether.

[ 9 ] The situation is different for other organs of the human elemental or etheric body and the corresponding physical-sensory organs. There, things are quite different. Let me give an example. Let us take the hands, for instance. Just as the head or the brain corresponds to an etheric part, an elemental part in the elemental body, so too do the hands correspond to elemental, etheric processes in the human etheric body. But there is a much greater difference between the external physical hands and their tasks and what actually underlies them in the corresponding elemental or etheric part than there is between the physical head and the corresponding part in the human elemental body. What the hands do takes place much more merely within the sensory world; it is much more merely a sensory activity, and what the corresponding elemental or etheric organs do finds its manifestation only to the very slightest degree in what is physically expressed in the hands. I must, as one often must to characterize the relevant facts, say things that appear grotesque and paradoxical to physical perception and to the verbal expression of physical observations, but which nevertheless fully correspond to the underlying reality and which anyone who knows anything about these matters will immediately perceive just as I must express it. The physical hands correspond to elemental parts. But apart from the fact that what corresponds to the elemental parts is expressed in the hands and in their movements, these etheric organs within the etheric body are true spiritual organs. A higher, far more intuitive, and spiritual activity is carried out in the organs expressed through the hands and their functions than through the etheric brain. Anyone who has made progress in this field will say: Yes, the brain, including the etheric one underlying it, is actually the clumsiest spiritual organ that a human being carries within themselves. For as soon as one engages in activity within the elemental part of the brain, one feels this foreign body of the brain relatively very soon. But those spiritual activities that are bound to the organs underlying the hands and find an imperfect expression in the hands and their functions serve a far higher, more spiritual form of cognition and observation; these organs already lead into supersensible worlds and can engage in perception and orientation within those supersensible worlds. If one were to express such a fact as a spiritual shudder, one must say—somewhat paradoxically, but accurately—that the human brain is the clumsiest organ for exploring the spiritual world, and the hands—what underlies them spiritually—are far more interesting, far more significant organs for the knowledge of this world, and above all, far more dexterous organs than the brain. On the path to initiation, one does not learn particularly much when one progresses from the use of the brain to the free use of the elemental brain. The difference is not particularly great between what one achieves through purified intuitive brain thinking and through regular spiritual work in the elemental spiritual counterpart of the brain. But the difference grows vast between what the hands accomplish in the world and what is to be accomplished with that elemental part which underlies the hands spiritually just as the etheric brain underlies the physical. And one does not need to train much on the path to initiation with regard to what corresponds to the brain, for that is not a particularly important organ. But what underlies the hands is connected—as you will find described in How Does One Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds?—with the activity of the lotus flower in the region of the heart, which then radiates its rays of power in such a way that they form the organization that, in an imperfect manner at the stage on which the human being stands as a physical human being, is present in the hands and their functions. When one rises to such a level and can form a mental image of the great difference that exists between the mere use of the physical hands and that which one acquires in relation to a supersensible world through the far more dexterous elemental organs underlying the hands than are the elemental organs of the brain, then one gains a vivid sense of what it means to immerse oneself in initiation, of the enrichment of the human being. One does not become significantly richer by feeling: ‘Your brain wants to radiate’ and sensing the etheric part of the brain. That is the case, but it is not the truly defining, significant experience. The significant experience begins with feeling that other parts are also expanding and creating a connection with the world. And while this may seem paradoxical, it is nevertheless true that one can say: The least suitable organ for spiritual research is the brain, for it is the least capable of being trained. In contrast, entirely different perspectives open up when one takes into account the other, seemingly subordinate organs.

[ 10 ] Thus, a complete transformation takes place in what a person experiences within themselves as they take the first steps toward the heights of initiation, and it is necessary to bring oneself to the realization that one grasps this as an inner transformation of the human personality, just as the principle of development in the world otherwise is, so that one thing passes into the other and one—even if it may not be entirely accurate to call the later, the more perfect, in contrast to the earlier. If, in the course of development, one realizes how one thing transforms into another, how the seed of a plant transforms and becomes leaves, blossoms, and fruit, then one can say to oneself: The human personality also finds what it is and what it can become through the means described in How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, which are the first steps toward what then leads up to the highest regions of initiation. It is good—and you will see that it is good—to evoke such a vivid mental image of how the people who are to be spiritual guides in the course of time transform themselves inwardly, how that which is initially latent in the human being and appears as imperfect as the hands are compared to the other organs is transformed—a process the human being does not notice outwardly; but inwardly, he becomes all the more significantly different. Just as there is something in the world that exists for someone who is blind and cannot see what one otherwise sees with the eyes—something that only comes into view when the eye is present—so the world of the spiritual exists around us. But we must offer it what we ourselves can offer, so that what is spiritually contained in the world may meet us.

[ 11 ] Within the various epochs of human history, what can be gained through immersing oneself in the spiritual worlds must now flow into the course of development as impulses. This has always been the foundation of what emanated from the mysteries and the places of initiation. One correctly conceives of the course of human development when, behind what is outwardly perceptible, one has in one's mental image the great Initiates as the actual driving forces and individualities. The connection between what these great Initiates have to do and what then happens outwardly in the world is often only comprehensible through Theosophy or Occultism. For external, purely historical, purely scholarly understanding, one actually sees only this: here runs the history of humanity, here runs the development of humanity. But one does not see the driving forces behind it. Thus, in external history, one follows a chain of phenomena in which one link follows another in outward succession. But the fact that at a certain point in the chain, influences from a completely different world come in—via the detour of initiation—is what we can take in through theosophical knowledge, for reasons that have already been discussed. Thus, theosophically, we perceive precisely the innermost aspect of the course of time—that which ultimately underlies the entire signature, the entire character of evolution. Thus we perceive the religions, the diversity of religious development, as an outflow from the Initiates; we perceive how the impulses, flowing out from the places of initiation and mystery, pass into the general life of humanity.

[ 12 ] Anyone who views the development of humanity in this way naturally—and this has always been the case in true occultism—does not arrive at any kind of preconceived preference for one religion over another. One of the very first requirements of initiation is to shed all those prejudices, all those preconceptions and pre-feelings that arise in the human soul as a result of its incarnation into a particular religious system or religious community. Self-education must carefully ensure that nothing remains in the soul that could give one religion preference over another. One must approach with complete impartiality the content of the various religions that, in the course of human development, have been introduced into the process of evolution through initiation as impulses. As soon as one has a preference for one form or another, something like an astral mist immediately forms, through which one cannot have a clear view. Anyone who, out of the affection that is indeed natural in ordinary life, harbors a prejudiced preference for one religion in their soul will certainly not be able to understand the other religions, for they will feel within themselves—even if they know nothing of it—the predominance of one aspect of the initiatory content and will not arrive at an unbiased understanding of the other aspect. Thus, for an occult perspective, it is entirely natural to approach all the various manifestations and impulses arising from the initiations with an open mind. Just as someone who observes a plant and prefers the flower to the root cannot form an objective judgment about the plant’s entire structure, so too can no one arrive at a correct judgment who cannot view religions with completely equal impartiality.

[ 13 ] In these lectures, we will discuss the demands that the human soul must place upon itself as it takes its first steps toward initiation. First, I wanted to give you a sense of how initiation relates to life, and specifically how the various places of initiation and initiatory impulses relate to the ongoing development of humanity, particularly in the post-Atlantean era.

[ 14 ] But now, as occult research undergoes this phase of human development, it experiences something most peculiar, which can only be properly understood and appreciated if such words are taken honestly and sincerely, just as they have just been spoken regarding the equivalence of religions. Once such words have become self-evident, one experiences something quite peculiar, which is to become ever clearer to us, especially in these lectures.

[ 15 ] Let us turn our gaze to the Initiates who have enlightened humanity throughout the ages. The human being, who initially dwells in the sensory world, can look upon the Initiates—when they are handed down to us as historical figures—and say to himself: These are the great figures of world history. Where it was important, history has ensured that as little as possible is known about these figures. Now it may seem paradoxical again to say: it is tremendously good that humanity knows so little, for example, about Homer, for in this way the outward splendor of scholarship cannot distort the image of Homer as much as it might with other personalities. In Goethe’s case, this will be the case only when he—which one can certainly long for—becomes as unknown a figure as Homer is today. The human soul can look out into the external world at these figures and then see what they have done in the external world. Then the human being can take the first steps toward initiation and proceed in such a way that he directs his gaze toward the great figures of initiation—a Buddha or a Zarathustra — and recall what Buddha or Zarathustra meant to him in the sensory world, what impression he received there of these individualities of humanity, and can then ask himself, if some of the light of the spirit has broken into him on the path to initiation: How does Buddha appear to me now, how does Zarathustra appear to me now? — He will then say to himself: Now I recognize more of Buddha, of Zarathustra; I know something that I could not yet know when I stood in the sensory world. — Then the human being can develop further, and the stage comes when he will understand even better what these phenomena are as spiritual beings. One will recognize a Buddha, a Zarathustra, more and more the more one lives oneself into the light of the spirit, until a certain limit is reached where this comes to an end. This is a mysterious phenomenon, but one need not go into it now. It suffices to say: when one moves toward the higher worlds, this process can come to an end. This is the case with all the Initiates we encounter in the course of world evolution. A spiritual knower who is not yet very far advanced can easily be deceived by these circumstances; that does not matter much. For it can happen that some human individuality, which in former times stood very high as a spiritual being, has later incarnated again and has seemingly descended from its former spiritual height. The true fact is simply that within the course of human development, there are tasks to be performed in which those who were once initiates are reincarnated as uninitiates in order to carry out deeds for which they are necessary due to the circumstances of the time, so that the initiation, which remains hidden for one or more incarnations, must work its way into a certain mode of activity. Thus, regarding such individuals as we encounter here and there in the course of their outer lives as they go about their own paths, deceptions can very easily arise, and one can form entirely false mental images of them. These, however, will have to be corrected little by little as progress is made. Therefore, it remains true that the relationship of the human being to the Initiates is generally such that he comes to know them more and more the further he himself ascends the steps that make the light of the spirit accessible to him. We find only one remarkable phenomenon in the succession of human epochs.

[ 16 ] As for what I just told you about the sometimes misleading reappearance of the Initiates—so that one might believe they have descended from their heights—I could cite examples of this, and you would likely be extremely astonished if I told you, for instance, in what way Dante reincarnated in the 19th century. But my task here is not to discuss further what was a result of my own research and what is established for me personally, but rather to present conclusively the things known to all who are well-versed in occultism, to set everything else aside, and to present nothing other than what is generally accepted wherever genuine occultism is practiced. However, another remarkable phenomenon presents itself to us, which can best be described as follows: We are confronted with an individuality regarding whom it makes no sense to speak of having been initiated in the same way as the other initiates; that although through this individual the principle of initiation stands objectively before us in the world—that it is there—it would be meaningless to speak of this individuality having been initiated on Earth in the same way as the other initiates in the course of human development. I have touched upon this fact many times. It takes a certain degree of misunderstanding to interpret this fact as stemming from a specifically Christian prejudice. It must be said—truly not out of any kind of Christian prejudice, but because it must be stated as an objective result of occult research. This one individuality, who was not initiated like the other Initiates, but regarding whom it would be completely meaningless to speak of having gone through initiation in the same way as the other Initiates—this individuality is none other than Christ Jesus! And just as little—let this be emphasized here once again, as before—as one can understand a balance who says that the balance should be hung at two points instead of one, since it is part of the nature of the balance that the beam rotates about a single point, just as little is a mechanic who would claim the scales should be suspended from two or more points—which no expert mechanic could say—just as little is one an expert occultist who would hold the view that our Earth’s development does not have just one point of support, one hypomochlion, one ‘fixed point.’ I said that this is an objective result of occult research that anyone can acknowledge, regardless of whether they are a Buddhist or a Muslim.

[ 17 ] Those who have taken certain steps in occult development come to know the Initiates, insofar as they are great personalities or have performed great deeds; they come to know them in the spiritual worlds as they ascend certain stages toward Initiation, and they come to know them even more deeply as they continue to ascend. Let us suppose, for example, that someone had no opportunity in their earthly life to become acquainted with the Buddha; let us imagine that they did not concern themselves with him. I know people who were deeply immersed in the whole of Western life, yet had not the faintest idea about the Buddha; of them one can say that within the physical world, within their physical existence, they did not concern themselves with the Buddha. Or let us take people who, during their earthly existence, did not concern themselves with the great figures of the Chinese religion, and let us now imagine that these people have entered the supersensible worlds through initiation, or—I know this of some—that they have entered them after physical death: there they can come to know, because they encounter them, the Buddha, Moses, and Zarathustra as spiritual beings and can acquire knowledge of them. There it is no obstacle to them, if they wish to acquire knowledge from these personalities, that they had no opportunity to do so on Earth. This is different with Christ, and I ask you to accept this as a purely occult fact. Suppose that someone here on Earth has not established a connection in any incarnation they have already experienced with the Christ-being. Then, when they perceive this in a non-physical world, it becomes an obstacle to finding Christ in the higher worlds; then Christ cannot appear to them in his pure form! It is part of the recognition, of the beholding of the Christ Being in the higher worlds, that one has prepared oneself for this on Earth! This is the occult difference in the relationship of the human being to the Christ and to the other Initiates. The Christ event is such that a specific aspect of it, in its most crucial phase, belongs precisely to the physical development of the Earth; it radiated into the physical development of the Earth and forms the point of balance for it.

[ 18 ] One might say: Let us suppose that the Earth were initially disregarded by those beings who live out their lives as human souls. It would have happened, through some turn of events in the course of the world, that the human souls would have said: We do not take the Earth into account; why should we incarnate down there? — Of course, this is an impossible scenario, but let us suppose it were so. — These human souls would then, insofar as what belongs to the Earth is spiritual, be able to experience it in the spiritual worlds as well, and what worked as noble, great principles in the initiates would be visible in the higher worlds. Now, if such a soul in the higher worlds were to pose the question—let us say to the course of the worlds: “Of all the beings who are there in the higher worlds, I want to get to know precisely, in terms of their actual world mission and their actual task, the one who is the Christ”—then the answer to such a human soul being would have to be: If you wish to get to know this one being, who is Christ for us, then you must incarnate on Earth; then you must participate in some way in the Mystery of Golgotha in order to establish a relationship with the Christ Being! For according to the laws of the world, the Christ Mystery had to unfold on Earth. The Earth is the stage where, according to the laws of the world, the Mystery of Golgotha had to take place, and where one must lay the actual foundation for understanding the Christ-being. And what one thus acquires on Earth for the understanding of the Christ is the preparation—and indeed to a far greater extent than anything else for which Earth serves as preparation—for all perception and recognition of this particular Being in the higher worlds. Hence it was the case that the manifestation of the principle of initiation in the Christ Being indeed presented itself in a completely different way than in the other Initiates. The latter sometimes experienced a supersensible world in the most profound way, imparting the impulses arising from it in the course of human development; but when they experienced and were present in the higher worlds, they were outside their physical bodies. Even though it does not take much for high initiates to step out of the physical body—even if only a small step was necessary to pass from the physical body directly into a wealth of spiritual realities—it remains true that this transition from the physical body to the higher bodies is necessary. In the case of Christ Jesus, we have the peculiar phenomenon that, according to the principle of initiation—according to what is otherwise required in the depiction of initiation—he knowingly—what we so-called “knowingly” in the human sense—basically, during the entire three years he lived on Earth, did not, in the sense of initiation, depart from the physical body, but always remained within it. And what he lived out and gave to the world during these three years, he gave through the physical body. Through the superphysical bodies, the other Initiates gave to humanity what they had to give. In Christ we have the one and only individuality who gave everything she did, everything she spoke, and everything that emanated from her into human development through the physical body and not indirectly through higher bodies.

[ 19 ] In popular consciousness, this manifests itself in the following way: we intuitively perceive Christ as something that even the most primitive consciousness can understand—as someone who possesses a body through which we speak when we are engaged in everyday life. Hence this intimate connection, this brotherly bond with the Christ Individuality, and this ability to understand the Christ Individuality without education, from the most primitive, most original human mind! Hence the necessity of working one’s way up to a higher understanding if one wishes to understand the other Initiates. It is therefore true what I have often emphasized over the past ten years: In Christ we have an Initiate whom the most primitive mind can understand, although someone who is advancing to a higher understanding will then understand him even better. What can be connected to a human body was present in Christ Jesus in a way that most spiritualized this human body, and it worked in a human body through Christ Jesus. In contrast, with the other Initiates, the case was that, while they had to give of their spiritual nature, they could not work fully within the physical body, but always had to step out of it and then proclaim again what had remained to them from the supersensible world; whereas with the Christ it was always the case that he had to live out everything through the physical body in the physical world.

[ 20 ] One must take such things into account if one wishes to understand the true state of affairs. Everything else is just beating around the bush, such as when people say that Christ stands higher or that the other Initiates stand higher. This hierarchy, which is of absolutely no importance, does not help one understand anything. What matters, however, is that one takes a look at the relationships between the beings. Depending on one’s taste, one person may consider one religious founder to be higher, while another may consider the other to be higher. That will not do much harm, for people are always subject to such weaknesses. But what matters is knowing what the real, actual difference is between the way Christ and the other Initiates stand in the world. Then one can calmly let people say: I consider one individuality to be higher than the other, according to how they have worked.

[ 21 ] But once one understands the distinction described, one also understands the difference in the impulses that have been brought into the world by the Initiates.