The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] We concluded yesterday’s discussion by pointing out the individual’s relationship to what might be called a description of the supersensible world—a description derived from research, observations, and the experiences of initiation. And attention was drawn to the fact that one might very easily come to the conclusion that the results of initiation could actually only hold value and significance for the soul life of those who have themselves taken the first steps toward initiation and are capable of penetrating into the experience and observation of the higher worlds through their own insight. It has often been emphasized that this is not the case, that one can indeed only gaze upon, observe, explore, and investigate what takes place in the higher worlds if one has transformed one’s own self, one’s own soul, in such a way that one can look into those other worlds, which, though quite different from our sensory existence, are nevertheless — as was mentioned yesterday — are connected in one way or another, but above all must be regarded as its foundation. As for the comprehension and understanding of these other worlds, however, it would be a mistaken judgment to claim that personal experience is a prerequisite for understanding, comprehending, or receiving what can be given by one who has taken the first or further steps toward initiation. Rather, it must be emphasized again and again that every person who simply opens themselves without prejudice to what is explored in the supersensible worlds by genuine spiritual researchers, who accepts their descriptions, experiences, and communications without prejudice, and who allows truly unbiased judgment and unbiased intellectual activity to prevail, can also comprehend everything that can be given to them. The situation is quite different when it comes to sensory perception. It is entirely justified to say that hardly anyone will be able to grasp from a description alone what the Sistine Madonna is or what a distant, foreign landscape is. If one has a vivid imagination, one will be able to form a mental image from such a description, but the statement remains valid that only the one who can come to see for themselves comprehends what is in sensory perception, so that for sensory perception, comprehension must follow seeing. This is by no means the case for the higher worlds. There, what the researchers explore can be brought forth from the higher worlds, can be cast into the forms and concepts of human ideas, and thus presented to the world. There, one may of course be bound by materialistic or other dogmas, or one may have no will at all for an unbiased devotion to what is being communicated; then one will not comprehend it. It may well be that one is not at all to blame for not being able to understand it, because one’s life and upbringing up to that point have not given one the opportunity to devote oneself to these things with an open mind. But anyone who is able to devote themselves to these things with an open mind, to hold together with an open mind everything that sound reason and sound judgment provide, will ultimately say to themselves: even if things seem so unbelievable at first, it is precisely sound, comprehensive, and all-encompassing thinking that leads to an understanding of them, even if one is not yet able to perceive the very slightest thing from the higher worlds.

[ 2 ] As I have been able to tell you in recent days, just as one who comes to see the spiritual world carries within himself the images of what he himself possesses within, and is indeed guided first by the images he already holds within, so it is with the comprehension of the things of the supersensible worlds: understanding precedes vision and is in no way influenced by vision, nor does it itself influence vision. Prior understanding need not in the least influence what then leads the human being to a completely unbiased, truthful vision. Prior comprehension, a grasping with all-round discernment—toward which, however, our time in the broadest circles has absolutely no inclination—will, on the other hand, prepare the soul, the mind, to be able to enter into seeing in the appropriate manner. Therefore, it must be said again and again: True occultism, true Spiritual Science, which is serious and honest, will never shy away from the demand that one grasp, that one understand impartially what is said. Let one seek to penetrate it with common sense, with the power of judgment that flows freely into all areas, and one will be able to do so. You will find much about these matters in the book A Path to Self-Knowledge, which contains material to supplement these lectures. But it should be mentioned in particular that a significant contribution can be made to the purification of the soul if, above all, those who seek the path to Spiritual Science out of the darkness of life strive to understand and grasp objectively what is available to every human being—if only they will—as sound judgment. This path of sound understanding, of rejecting all authority and all belief in authority, gains a special light when one delves into certain subtleties of occult observation.

[ 3 ] The overall meaning and spirit of these lectures has made it clear that the steps leading to initiation increasingly and increasingly for every human being is about becoming independent in their experience from that which their physical body can serve as a tool for, that they learn to experience in their higher bodies—in their elemental or etheric body, in their astral body, and also in what can be called their ego or mental body. This ability to perceive through one’s higher bodies is of particular importance in all the steps of initiation. However, it is necessary for the human being to take active steps to free themselves from the sensory-physical body, to consciously shed and cast off everything that binds them to the world in the way that this connection arises solely through the instrument of the physical body. Of course, this is not possible for everyone, especially in an age as materialistic as our own, particularly for those who today presume to form judgments about the mysteries of the world and its phenomena, and who, through today’s peculiar upbringing, are led to believe that one can already form a comprehensive judgment—not merely an aspiration—regarding worldly phenomena in the earliest years of youth. Why is so much harm being done in the world today by immature judgments born purely of passion and emotion? When one surveys the phenomena of the world, one sees that the printing press is flooded with the most immature things, born of nothing other than sympathies and antipathies. Why is that? One might ask: Were there not people in the past, too, who, from the darkness of their own lives, regarded the pure achievements of supersensible research with hatred and loathing, just as in our time? Were there not dark-minded people, such as today’s materialists, who employed every possible means inspired by hatred, ignorance, and darkness? Yes, there have always been such people. But they did not act in the way they do today. Why not? One must sometimes take such things to heart. There were people who hated the higher worlds and the uninhibited penetration into these worlds, precisely because such uninhibited penetration into the higher worlds sometimes brings to light facts that are quite unpleasant for people. But these people often could not read or write. Their level of education corresponded to their inability to read and write. Today, those who think this way are, by virtue of their education, able to read and write, and the general public lacks the discernment to truly understand what appears on the book market, nor is there much willingness to develop such discernment to recognize that the clarifying and discerning judgment of an occult-Spiritual Science movement must intervene in our time. People will have to learn many things that are difficult for them to learn. Simply from the facts that emerge from the supersensible world, people will have to learn many things.

[ 4 ] For example, one will have to learn that—even when one enters the higher worlds through certain partial training or preparation of one’s soul and other organisms—much may still remain behind with regard to that connection with the external world which comes about only indirectly through the physical-sensory body. Everything that, in a spiritual vision—once one has crossed the boundary so firmly drawn between sensory existence and spiritual existence—is left behind due to certain legitimate weaknesses of sensory existence, shrouds us in darkness and maya when we experience it during higher spiritual vision. Only those who ceaselessly consult within themselves—how to completely set aside, for those times when they must gaze spiritually, that which they must possess in sensory existence because they are beings of the sensory world, and how to ensure that nothing from what surrounds them in the sensory world intrudes upon their spiritual vision—only they can truly gaze upon the spiritual, supersensory world in a pure and maya-free manner.

[ 5 ] Let us consider a specific case, without implying anything in particular. Suppose someone who wishes to undergo the steps of initiation—or has already undergone them—has a personal relationship with another person based on immediate personal feelings and emotions. Let us assume that in such a relationship—between a spiritual seeker, someone about to be initiated, or someone who has already undergone certain steps of initiation—it would be the case that they have a specific personal relationship from one human being to another, a relationship based on affection, on the kind of affection that is formed in the realm of the senses, let us say on a trusting love that awakens in the sensory realm, that plays out from body to body—in the higher sense, not merely in the lower sense, I mean. Let us assume that such a thing were present and that such a spiritual seeker would now wish to explore something of the personality toward whom he has a personal affection formed in the sensory realm, and let us assume it were unable to strip away from itself everything that exists there of love for the personality in question, created within the realm of the senses, then it is almost entirely impossible to discover the truth regarding the supersensible being of such a personality. Oh, it is necessary to try at every turn—no matter how much one loves or how much personal affection one has in the sensory realm—to cast off everything for those times when one wishes to contemplate the supersensory existence. It is possible that one has such personal affection and does not cast it aside, that one likes the personality in question in the way it is in the sensory realm. Then, for example, when such a spiritual shudder arises regarding the past and future of this personality, mental images appear before one’s eyes that must be false under all circumstances; then a whole abundance of maya can arise. That is why anyone who takes seriously and responsibly what is to be given to the world in the field of spiritual wisdom cannot be too cautious, above all, about proclaiming to the world anything that takes place within the sphere of the family or one’s immediate acquaintances. One can safeguard oneself everywhere in such a way that, when occult findings are pointed out that relate to something concerning the investigator’s immediate personal sphere, these should appear highly dubious to the one who is to receive them.

[ 6 ] This is not something that should be said merely as an allusion to this or that fact, but rather because it is an objective fact for every occultist. However, there are matters connected with this that, one might say, extend into higher realms. This is connected to the fact that anyone who wishes to explore the supersensible worlds is ill-suited to forming a certain fundamental understanding of the right kind regarding religious questions if they are attached to a particular religious community through their prejudices and personal feelings, if they love one religious community more than another, or if they even make themselves a propagandist for a religious community. Anyone who is inclined toward personal propaganda cannot at the same time be an objective occultist! This is a statement that must also be made with the utmost clarity. There are conditions here that we may associate with the karma of Western culture—conditions that, in a certain way, do not make it too difficult for the Westerner, once he has become somewhat acquainted with the basic requirements of the supersensible life, to arrive at an objective judgment precisely regarding the significance of the greatest event in human evolution, which we call the Mystery of Golgotha. How, then, does so much darkness enter into religious life and its understanding? How does that enter which wants to have to do only with the moment and does not wish to rise to spiritual light and eternity, especially in religious life? This arises because everything that constitutes human egoism—and here I mean not merely the egoism of individuals, but also the egoism of tribes, races, and peoples—is intimately connected with that which pertains to religious life. From this perspective, I would like to draw your attention to a phenomenon, for it is essential that these matters be viewed with complete impartiality.

[ 7 ] What role does religious life play for an Oriental in relation to the founder of his religion, when he considers the context of his racial or national evolution? Consider whether an Oriental or any non-Western person can so easily think historically about the historical course in which he is placed without linking this historical life to Krishna, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, or the like? Everywhere we see, quite naturally, that what takes place in religious life is connected to what happens in secular, external life and flows through people’s minds. One cannot conceive of a Buddhist’s historiography, for example, without him placing the Buddha at its center. This is not meant as a criticism, but because it is true for these people who belong to such cultural developments. Now let us turn to the West and look not at dogmas but at facts. I will single out a renowned Western historian: Leopold von Ranke, who is known throughout the world for his objectivity, his calm assessment, and his very particular way of approaching things objectively. Ranke has written many chapters on historical development. Yet something very curious has come to light about Ranke. He confided to a friend that he had, after all, presented the course of history in such a way that he never took into account Christ and the facts directly connected to Christ! Ranke strove, through his objectivity, to write a history of the West without allowing Christ to play a role in it. And it caused him much anguish of conscience in his old age that he had to ask himself: Yes, if those deeds were to flow into the events—deeds for which no documents or records exist—is this history then true? — This is not to be cited here to debate whether it is true or false—for I consider it highly justified—but because it is one of the finest histories written by a recognized historian in the West who has written history in such a way that Christ has been left out, that Christ has not been included in the narrative. This is a fundamentally important, a significant fact! Where has Western culture led? Western development has led to a situation where one does not always look up to a being who would stand as a central figure of the entire story, if one were to build upon it. Science has not led to this! Why did this happen? Let us shed light on this fact from a different perspective.

[ 8 ] Where did the great founders of religions live—those who were the great Initiates and who gave their peoples what they needed, drawing from the very essence of their peoples? Is it conceivable, for example, that Hermes might have worked upon his epoch from the substance of a different people, or is it conceivable that Buddha might have worked in a manner other than from the racial characteristics into which he was placed, and into which he sent his powers? And now let us turn our gaze to the one whom we do not call an Initiate, but whom we know as the personality upon whom world Initiation, cosmic Initiation, has acted. Does he belong to any particular people? — He was born in an unknown corner of the world, far from the great empires. That is where the events took place. And since one may doubt the Gospels, like the other documents of the New Testament, as historical records, one can say: Of all these events, nothing is attested to by any historical document. And those who found their way to him as his disciples and students turned to him without distinction of tribe, race, gender, and so on. Such is the difference! Whereas previously the peoples turned to their racial initiates, here they turned to one who belongs to no people—indeed, who even accomplished his greatest cultural deeds among a people with whom he did not live. This is the great progress from the darkness of life to the light of the spirit, which one should not overlook if one is sincere about the evolution of humanity. These are matters that must certainly be taken into account, matters to which that science—which can be derived from the genuine observation of the supersensible worlds—must strongly draw attention.

[ 9 ] From some of what I have been able to tell you, you can see that it is essential to understand something of the judgment expressed by Johannes Thomasius’s doppelgänger—in The Guardian of the Threshold—: Thinking has a purifying power. But this purifying power of thought also works in such a way that it truly leads out of the darkness of life into the light of the spirit, that it truly leads from the moment to eternity. People are simply reluctant to acknowledge the purifying power of thought. For there is something peculiar about the occult nature of this thinking. A materialistic science believes that human beings think with their brains, so to speak. He does not think with his brain; that is simply a mistake. And when you come to understand the full meaning of what is said in the treatise “A Path to Self-Knowledge for Humanity,” you will also realize that the process of thinking, the activity of thinking, the connection and resolution of ideas, does not take place in the physical body, but in the etheric or elemental body. In truth, even a person living an ordinary life thinks with their elemental or etheric body; it is only that living an ordinary life means that a person cannot be aware of the activity taking place within them when they think—an activity that occurs solely in the etheric body. Essentially, a person thinks continuously, and the etheric body is constantly in motion, and this motion is what constitutes thinking. But what of all this reaches consciousness—what actually takes place in the etheric body? Only that which is reflected from it reaches consciousness. You must create a mental image of the relationship between the elemental body and the physical body in the following way.

[ 10 ] Suppose you were walking down this hall along this row of windows. Now imagine that mirrors were hanging on the walls everywhere between the windows. As you pass each mirror—say, three times—you see your face; where there is no mirror, you see nothing of your face. When you continue on to the next mirror, you see it again. There is another mirror that reflects the image of your face back to you. Your face is always present along the entire path, but you only see it when it is reflected. The etheric body is in a constant flow of thought. But when does this flow of thought become perception? When what is in the physical body—the brain—reflects what is taking place in the etheric body. What is otherwise always there and of which the human being is usually unaware is reflected by the brain, which must be understood as a mirroring apparatus. And in all cases where life is reflected, it becomes conscious. Therefore, the physical body must be present so that the etheric body, which actually thinks, can be aware of its own thinking. But it is not the brain that thinks, nor is it the physical body. Just as what appears in the mirror is not you, so too is what a person perceives in the brain not their thinking, for this thinking resides in the elemental or etheric body. And when a person wishes to take the first steps toward initiation, it is essentially as if you were to walk past the reflection everywhere and try to be within yourself—and then become able to sense what your form is like, so that you would then perceive yourself from within.

[ 11 ] This is the ascent from sensory existence to spiritual existence. Whereas human beings can normally perceive only what takes place within their reflective apparatus—what they see as the reflection in their brain—through initiation they come to experience and feel directly within the elemental body. But when they attain this inner experience and feeling, they come into contact, for example, with an entirely different world: the world of the essential. Then their being, their experience, and their feeling expand beyond the objective world. Yet what they then experience is a world of spiritual being—a world that, in terms of the scope of the experience, they can also experience within sensory existence. But only then can he ascend to grasp, within spiritual being, something of which the image exists only in the sensory image. And then he can understand that the impulses of the Initiates did not flow merely from earthly knowledge, but that the greatest impulses—the moral impulses and so on—come to the great Initiates and work with such tremendous power because they do not take what they have merely from the earth, but bring with them that which goes beyond the earth. For as soon as one goes beyond the earth, one also comes to that which is connected to earthly existence beyond the earth. And if, through initiation, one moves from earthly existence to cosmic existence, then one comes to the point where, when studying an Initiate such as Buddha from this perspective, one says: He has lived on earth in many incarnations as a Bodhisattva. And whoever has come to understand Buddhism in this regard is necessarily just as devout as a Buddhist and knows that in the personality of Gotama Buddha this individuality lived for the last time in a physical body, but in this incarnation became the “Buddha” and then ascended into the spiritual worlds for spiritual work, so that the spiritual gaze can be directed toward the transition of the Buddha-individuality from earthly existence to spiritual existence, to connections with spiritual existence. And if one now traces this individuality back, one does indeed see how the Bodhisattva passes through many incarnations, but one then arrives at an earlier time for which one can no longer say: We are dealing with an individuality that lives on Earth. For there one must trace it to an earlier place of abode, and the transformation of this unique individuality presents itself in such a way that it grows beyond earthly existence. We see the Buddha descending at a certain time from another planet in our solar system, where he had previously worked, see him working there and preparing for his earthly career. We then follow him as a Bodhisattva and finally as a Buddha throughout his earthly career up to the point where he has become a Buddha from a Bodhisattva, and we find that while his work during his earthly incarnations had indeed become intertwined with the Earth, he is growing into a great cosmic whole. We see him ascending to another planet in our solar system, to Mars, and undertaking a new mission there that follows on from what his earthly mission was. And it is wonderful to observe how a whole emerges in this way. First we see the Buddha active on another planet, then he comes to Earth, and one must say: This individuality of the Initiate Gotama Buddha was active on Earth for a while, but then, if one wishes to follow it further, one must ascend to another planet. Thus one obtains a continuous line. In the case of the Buddha, it is possible to say that he descended from another planet, and that after his work on Earth he ascended again to another planet, whose population makes little sense to Earth humanity, in order to continue his work there, because this continuation of his work makes perfect sense.

[ 12 ] Thus, one would find that many initiates bring into the world from the cosmos that which is connected to the cosmic realm on Earth itself, and one would thereby come to understand the cosmic transformation of the initiates. If one tries to get to the bottom of things everywhere, then one sees, for example, something that illuminates the darkness of life from a truly occult perspective.

[ 13 ] It is curious when the question is sometimes raised: Isn’t it unfair that a figure as unique as Christ brought something special into the world? And if that is the case—as some might say—then those who lived after Christ would have a distinct advantage over the rest of the world! Even Theosophists have raised this question! But the souls living in the time after Christ’s appearance are the very same as those who were there before, so there can be no question of injustice here. There is only one exception to note in this regard, and that seems to be the Buddha. He underwent an incarnation that took place in pre-Christian times, and thus did not in any way participate in what came to Earth through the event of Golgotha. If we now investigate where darkness arises for us, where we cannot understand how a soul could take leave of the Earth at a certain point in time without having experienced the Mystery of Golgotha on Earth—those who have heard my earlier lectures will know that the Buddha experienced it in other worlds, but here we are concerned with the earthly experience—if we hold all this before the eyes of the soul and investigate it, then it turns out that the Buddha was sent to the planet where he had worked in his pre-earthly planetary activity by the central individuality of the entire planetary system, by the central spirit, by what we call the Cosmic Christ. In ancient times, the Buddha had been sent out to work on another planet, and then—as a result of this work—to work on Earth. And while Earth is the planet that became the scene of the Mystery of Golgotha, Mars is the planet on which the Buddha had to accomplish a similar event following what he had to accomplish on Earth.

[ 14 ] These things seem far removed and appear to contradict the idea that one can understand, through common sense, what is derived from initiation. But if one were to take everything that history offers and grasp all the connections, one would see that the outward course of history provides confirmation of all this. And if someone says that there is no confirmation of these things in it, they are simply not applying sound judgment sufficiently. Indeed, many people do this in our time.

[ 15 ] With everything that has just been said in this series of lectures, I also wanted to evoke a mental image of this, and I wanted to show—through the dramas themselves—just how vastly different, powerful, and grand the worlds are that we enter when we pass through the gateway to the supersensible worlds, and I wanted to evoke a more comprehensive mental image of this than can be achieved through mere theories and dogmas. I did not want to merely portray and describe certain things through verbal characteristics, but I wanted to evoke a sense of what lies beyond the threshold, where the Guardian of the Threshold stands. When someone in our present age surveys spiritual life, what is said about the Keeper of the Threshold may perhaps strike a particular chord in their soul. The Keeper stands at the threshold because the human soul, still immersed in ordinary sensory existence, is not yet ripe to experience and perceive what takes place in the supersensible worlds. He stands there for protection. This is just as true as it is true that the human soul, living into the future, will have to experience more and more of the supersensible worlds. Why does the Guardian stand there? Because the human soul, if it were to take the step into the supersensible worlds while still immature—which can never happen on a proper occult path—would fall prey to infinite fear, endless terror, because human beings, out of their smallness, their immaturity, their love of and attachment to the sensory world, would not be able to bear all that is connected with entering the supersensible worlds. After all, we cannot even present to those who wish to advance what is demanded of our time! From the place from which we are still permitted to proclaim the supersensible truths, we had to point out how a supersensible event will occur with the supersensible body of the human being in the course of the twentieth century, in that human beings—as if through a natural event—will find the reappearing Christ. We were able to point this out. But this reappearing Christ will not travel by ship across the seas or by train, nor will he travel by hot-air balloon; rather, he will be recognized within the individual human being—in that which passes from human soul to human soul, and depending on the nature of the human souls themselves—through the means provided in the etheric realm. What we may say about how the appearance of the returning Christ will be pales in comparison to what will reach the human soul purely from the supersensible world. For people love to see with their physical eyes the Great One who is to come; they love to create a mental image of him traveling by airplane, of him traveling across the seas; they love to be able to grasp and hold with their senses the one who is to come. Why is that? Because it fills them with fear to truly come into contact with the supersensible worlds. To the occultist, even such things, as they happen, appear as masked fear and dread of the Truth. Let this be said without emotion, merely as a presentation of the objective. Then the occultist, who recognizes the guardian at the boundary between the sensory and the spiritual, will realize that those who stand outside in ordinary life cannot grasp that a start should even be made at stepping into the supersensible world. For, fundamentally speaking, they are all fearful personalities. Their timidity is unknown to them, but it masks itself to them as a particular kind of sense of truth, as a materialistic sense of truth. It appears as a certain hatred, a rage, an inflamed pettiness against the other, the supersensible worlds, in those who oppose the knowledge of the supersensible world and the supersensible beings. Thus it may come to pass that on one side stand those who wish to recognize the supersensible worlds, and on the other side those who want to know nothing of them, or who will say: objective science says nothing about the supersensible worlds, for they cannot be proven. And it is the same thing that will also prevent other people from going “to the Keeper of the Threshold,” namely the popular followers of science who say that they reject the supersensible worlds because they claim to have a sense of truth and personal scientific conviction. But it is fear that prevents them from approaching the Keeper of the Threshold, and the full force of this fear is masked in what today seeks to unfold as a struggle against the approach of that which is to come from the supersensible worlds as the light of the spirit in contrast to the darkness of life. This is a mental image held by those who know the Guardian at the Threshold of spiritual existence and who understand the significance of supersensible knowledge for the entire spiritual life of the present day.

[ 16 ] Why are you sitting here? Because a ray of spiritual light has entered your soul, telling you that supersensible knowledge must take hold of the human soul. And because what this ray of spiritual light says has become ever more vivid, the number of people attending and listening to our events is growing. If one allows the natural speech of the Spirit Light to the souls to have free rein, it will be able to shine into the souls. If one prevails over the opponents of supersensible knowledge out there, then perhaps the Spirit Light will have to dim for a while, will have to withdraw, by necessity—that is, it would have to be withdrawn, to use this foolish expression. Then the world will have to do without the connection between the darkness of life and the light of the spirit for a while. However, it is also necessary once again that those who are to know something of the light of the spirit learn something more: that they learn to look with truthfulness at that which is already offered here in the outer world from the spiritual world. Whoever today still allows themselves to be blinded by what is said for and against supersensible knowledge, whoever does not seek in their soul the firm impulse from the supersensible world—which can come only from the supersensible world itself—will not be able to find this impulse.

[ 17 ] I have said it often: what literature now exists—what, through the grace of the masters of wisdom and the harmony of feelings, has been permitted to be given in many literary works—essentially contains what may be said to have been graciously communicated to humanity. And even if from this moment on I could write and speak no more—even if one were to build upon what already exists, even if I myself could not be present—if one seeks the meaning behind it all, one will find what one needs. And with that—if I may now, at the conclusion of these lectures, speak of the connection between personal karma and the karma of this spiritual movement—the possibility is also given that, in a certain sense, what has come into the world—not as a “Steinerian movement,” for there is no such thing, but as objective occultism—can no longer be eradicated. No matter how much opposition may arise, it cannot lead to the eradication of occultism for the future, for what is there will remain. I see proof of this in the fact that our time needs a spiritual movement and that a period of time has been granted in which, through the grace of our spiritual guardians, this spiritual heritage has been able to be brought down into the sensory world. May the opponents surrender! Perhaps it is precisely through this opposition that what is necessary will be accomplished! And forgive the expression: quite a few who today willingly accept theosophical spiritual heritage, who are delighted by it—in the face of what they ought to see in the present, they remain inattentive; they still have their nightcaps on! Many do not commit themselves to the truth in distinguishing what the sole truth should be. Perhaps a little persecution, which can do no harm, will contribute to some who have pulled their nightcap not only over their heads but also over their eyes and ears, finally pulling it down from their heads. Perhaps that, too, will be necessary.

[ 18 ] But however things may turn out: now that we stand at the end of this cycle—where so many things have come upon us, have come upon us out of necessity, out of compulsion, things that are, in essence, repulsive—now, as we always do, let us remember that we have once again absorbed something of the spiritual life. Now we go our separate ways again, one here, the other there, but the light of the spirit, which we all strive for and seek within the darkness of life, allows us to be together wherever we may be physically separated. May the souls sitting here feel their togetherness in the afterlife, in the after-meditation on what was heard, or in relation to what has manifested as mutual love, in the afterlife. Physically we were together; physically we will not always be able to be together like this. Supernaturally we are together. Let us learn to be together in the spiritual realm, so that we may give convincing proof of the existence of the spiritual, the superphysical world! If we take such feelings with us after having been together for so long, then the souls will take with them what Theosophy can best give to humanity: the love that springs from spiritual truth itself. And even if one thing or another may happen between now and the occasion when we wish to be together again in this way: it can still happen under all circumstances that our physical togetherness will transform into true spiritual togetherness even when we are physically apart, so that the spiritual heritage may work, live, and flourish within us. After all, we have had people of the most diverse ways of thinking in our midst, but also those whose presence we always rejoice in, even when they bring opposing views into our midst. Yet it is not a matter of opinions or the contrast of opinions, but of an honest, sincere sense of truth, of, one might say, a commitment to truthfulness and honesty, to truthfulness and honesty already in our inner being. Do not regard my saying this as something that necessarily follows from the theme of our lecture series. What is necessary, however, is that we have been able to experience the search for truth in our time, indeed in our present, in various fields.

[ 19 ] And what I had less opportunity to address at the beginning of this lecture series, I will touch upon here at the end: my gratitude to those individuals who, above all, attended our unofficial events in their official capacities. I cannot name them all individually. You yourselves heard yesterday the kind invitation to the next congress of the European sections of the Theosophical Society from our dear General Secretary of the Scandinavian Section, and some of you may also have heard the words of the General Secretary of the Hungarian Section. To these individuals, whom we must particularly mention, greetings were already extended at the very first lecture, and those who had to remain unnamed should know that they have found the most sincere welcome in our hearts, and that we regard their presence here as confirmation that they do not yet hold the view that we are as bad as people are now beginning to portray us in the world. So however we may be together next year, however things may turn out, let us regard this year’s gathering as the seed of something that perhaps, through all that may come, cannot be taken from us. Whatever your souls themselves may perceive as an echo from your own free inner experience, whatever you may look back upon from these days in Munich—that is what I wish to appeal to at this moment, warmly greeting the individual soul of each friend as we take our leave and look forward to meeting again, in the sense that people who have come to love one another through understanding always find their way back to one another and must meet again at the right time.