The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Fifth Gospel I

[ 1 ] After a long hiatus, we have gathered once again in our Berlin working group and wish to begin what we can regard this winter as a sort of continuation of our spiritual science work, as we have practiced it over the years. There had indeed been a long break for Berlin; but this time, the break was filled not only with the usual events and the lecture series in Munich, but also with the laying of the foundation stone for our building in Dornach and with various tasks related to the start of construction on this building. And so, on this evening, when we are gathering here in this room for the first time in quite a while, I would like to begin by drawing your attention to what this Dornach building represents for us. It is to be hoped that with this building, what our anthroposophical view of the world aspires to be may also form an outward symbol of unity for all those hearts and souls who feel inwardly connected to the spiritual-scientific endeavor, as we cultivate it with this anthroposophical world-view movement.

[ 2 ] Essentially—as you will have gathered from various remarks made here over the past few years—everything in contemporary spiritual life points to how the people of our time unconsciously yearn for what a true spiritual worldview is meant to provide. And it is not only those souls who today, for example, positively express the need for such a worldview who are striving for it, but also numerous people who know nothing of such a worldview. Indeed, even those who want to know nothing of it, who perhaps even stand in opposition to it today, still strive unconsciously—one might say out of the needs of their hearts, which have not yet manifested themselves in conscious concepts and ideas, which perhaps even manifest themselves in opposing concepts and ideas— they strive, without knowing it themselves, for precisely what is to be given through our worldview.

[ 3 ] It was truly a very special feeling when we laid the cornerstone of this building in Dornach together with the few of our anthroposophical friends who—because circumstances demanded that everything be done quickly—happened to be nearby and able to attend. It was an uplifting feeling to sense that we were, in a sense, standing at the beginning of the construction that is to serve, so to speak, as our provisional outward symbol of our common striving.

[ 4 ] When one stood up there on the hill where our building is to be erected—and that is what happened at our opening ceremony—from which one can see far out over the surrounding mountains and plains of the country and let one’s gaze wander to much greater expanses, one could not help but recall, as it were, the cries of humanity in a broader world context for spiritual truths, for the proclamations of a spiritual worldview that can be offered within our spiritual movement. And one had to consider how, even more than what is spoken or felt, certain other symptomatic signs in our present time indicate that it is a spiritual necessity for such a spiritual worldview to take truly fruitful root in the soul life of humanity. That, then, was the primary feeling that inspired us as we laid the foundation stone upon which our building is to rise. And this building is also meant to express, through its forms, what we desire; so that those who will one day view the building from the outside or the inside, when it is finished, may perceive its forms as a kind of script in which is expressed and articulated that which we wish to see realized in the world.

[ 5 ] When one has to reflect on and try to understand such a line of reasoning, it is only natural to consider how karma operates not only in the life of the individual but also in the entire course of human development on Earth. In the individual human life, so to speak, small karma is at work; in the whole of Earth’s and humanity’s development, great karma is at work. And this is the great, uplifting thought that one may feel: Precisely because something like this happens on spiritual ground, one is in a certain sense—and this applies to all those striving for anthroposophy who are involved in the matter—the instrument, albeit a small one, yet the instrument of the Spirit who works through world karma and brings about its deeds. This feeling of being connected to the spirit of world karma—that is indeed the significant, great sensation, the feeling into which everything we can cultivate in our anthroposophical reflections should merge again and again. This feeling is what can give the soul peace when it needs peace, what can give the soul harmony when it needs harmony, but what can also give it strength, the ability to act, endurance, and energy when it needs strength, the ability to act, endurance, and energy.

[ 6 ] When spiritual concepts of the world flow into our souls in their truth, they become within us something like an inner, pulsating life that translates into power, that we can feel and sense, that is active within us both in the highest realms to which we can raise our thoughts, and in the smallest details of everyday life to which our work compels us; they become something we can always turn to when we need a source of strength, something we can look to again and again when we need comfort in life. True morality, true moral strength, will also spring forth for humanity only from this turning of the soul’s gaze toward true spirituality, toward genuine spiritual life.

[ 7 ] For we are currently situated within world karma in a different way than humanity was situated within world karma at the time when what we have often referred to as the center, the focal point of human development on Earth took place: the Mystery of Golgotha. And just as I have recently drawn attention elsewhere—particularly in connection with the current stage of our own spiritual-scientific development—to some very remarkable circumstances regarding the Mystery of Golgotha, so I would like to bring it before your hearts and souls today, as we meet again in this room after such a long time.

[ 8 ] The Mystery of Golgotha, the incarnation of the Christ impulse, came into the world. At what time did it come into the world? Through our spiritual deepening, we now know what flowed into a human body at that time to become part of the development of the Earth and of humanity. The preparatory studies we have undertaken, so to speak, have enabled us to grasp the significance of the Mystery of Golgotha to some extent. Future generations, as we have often emphasized, will understand it even more clearly. But what, one might ask, is the situation regarding the understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha precisely in the time in which it took place? The point is, after all, that we grasp this Mystery of Golgotha in its factual reality, that we understand what it is really about. Is it a matter of what was taught to humanity at that time? If that were the case, then perhaps those who say that most of the teachings of Christ Jesus had already existed in earlier times might claim a semblance of justification; although, as we know, that is not entirely true either. But that is not what matters in the first place; rather, it is about something entirely different, namely: what happened on Golgotha and in connection with it, what would have happened even if no human soul in the vast expanse of the earth had understood it. For it is not a matter of a fact being understood immediately, but of it happening. The significance of the Golgotha event does not rest primarily on what people have understood of it, but on what has thus happened for humanity, such that the current of this event has found expression in the spiritual realities of the world.

[ 9 ] When exactly did the Mystery of Golgotha take place? It truly occurred during a remarkable period. To grasp the remarkable nature of this era, let us consider post-Atlantean development. We have often pointed out that in this post-Atlantean era, humanity first developed during the so-called Proto-Indian cultural epoch. We have pointed out the loftiness and significance of the Proto-Indian culture; we have pointed out how very different the souls were in this epoch, how much more intimately open they were to spiritual life, and how this openness then diminished from epoch to epoch. We have also pointed out how, in the Proto-Persian era and the Egyptian-Chaldean era, humanity’s direct participation in the spiritual worlds diminished. For in the ancient Indian epoch, human beings had taken into their etheric bodies everything the world could impart to them, and they had experienced it in their etheric bodies; at least those who truly participated in that Indian cultural epoch in those ancient times experienced it. What is experienced there in the etheric body bears a high degree of the character of clairvoyance. In the Proto-Persian period, the soul was experienced in the sensory body; this was already experienced with a lesser degree of clairvoyance. In the Egyptian-Chaldean epoch, the soul was experienced in the feeling soul; there was already a lesser degree of clairvoyance present. Then came the fourth, the Greek-Latin cultural epoch: the Mystery of Golgotha fell within this period. It is the cultural epoch in which the human soul had already turned toward perception solely on the outer physical plane. The culture of the intellect, which relates to external things, begins. The soul develops the powers that relate to the outer world,

[ 10 ] In our present era, the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch, human experience has so far been limited to the observation of the external world and the experience of sensory impressions. But this fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch will have to lead back to a renewed, revitalized receptivity to spiritual life, for it must fully live out life in the conscious soul.

[ 11 ] If one were to ask, considering only the first four periods of post-Atlantean development, which of these periods was least suited to truly grasping the Mystery of Golgotha—the descent of the Christ—with spiritual understanding, one might say: Had—as indeed could not have happened according to world karma, but as one might hypothetically assume—the Mystery of Golgotha taken place, had the Christ descended into a human body during the time of the ancient Indian culture, there would have been countless souls present to understand this event; for they still possessed this spiritual understanding. Even in the ancient Persian, and indeed even in the Egyptian-Chaldean epoch, an understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha would still have come easily to the souls, had it been possible for it to unfold according to world karma at that time. In the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, the human soul was at a stage of development in which this understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha—this direct spiritual understanding—was precisely closed off to it by its state of development.

[ 12 ] We will have to speak often of the peculiar fact that, in the post-Atlantean era, the Mystery of Golgotha had to wait for a cultural epoch in which spiritual understanding of the event that was to take place had already faded, had already ceased to exist. The intellectual or emotional soul was in the process of developing particularly during the Greco-Roman period. It directed its gaze lovingly toward the outer world, as can be seen throughout Greek culture. The Mystery of Golgotha, which could only be grasped with the inner gaze, was essentially met by the entire contemporary culture in the same way as those women who came to the tomb of Christ Jesus seeking the body, but found the tomb open and the body no longer there, and who, when they asked where the Lord’s body had gone, had to hear the answer: “The one you seek is no longer here!”

[ 13 ] Just as they sought the Christ in the outer world, but the answer came to them: “The one you seek is no longer here!”—so, in essence, it was with the entire age regarding the understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. The people of the fourth post-Atlantean cultural epoch sought something that was not where they were looking. And they were still seeking even as this fourth post-Atlantean epoch came to an end—it ended with the 15th century—they were still seeking in the same way even then. For the Crusades appear to us as the transposition into the great—that is, merely the spatially great—of what had happened to the women at the tomb of Christ Jesus. At the time of the Crusades, a longing ran through numerous European minds: We must seek what is dear to us at the tomb of Christ Jesus! — And whole multitudes of people set out for the Orient to find in this way what they sought, because it corresponded so closely to their feelings. And how can one characterize what precisely those who had journeyed to the Orient on the Crusades felt? It was as if the whole Orient had answered them: “The one you seek is no longer here!” Does this not symbolically express, in a profound way, that throughout the entire fourth post-Atlantean epoch humanity had to seek on the outer, physical-sensory plane, but that Christ must be sought on the spiritual plane, even insofar as He is in the earthly world?

[ 14 ] Where was Christ when the women sought him at the tomb? He was in the spiritual realm, where he could appear to the apostles when they opened their hearts and souls to behold, through powers not merely sensory, the Christ who, for a time after the Mystery of Golgotha, walked about in his etheric body.

[ 15 ] Where, then, was Christ when the Crusaders were searching for him outwardly on the physical plane in the East? In the way that he can enter human souls as a reality, we see him entering the souls of the mystics of the West at the very same time that the Crusaders were searching for him in the East. There is this Christ-force, there is the Christ-impulse! While the Crusaders were heading east to seek the Christ in their own way, the living impulse of the Christ—as it was able to revive in Europe according to the conditions of the time—was reviving in the souls of a Johannes Tauler, a Meister Eckhart, and others who were able to receive it according to the conditions of that time; it was reviving in the spiritual realm. It had meanwhile moved over into Western culture and away from the place where it had been and where the answer had to be given to those who sought it: “The one you seek is no longer here!”

[ 16 ] The fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch is the time of the development of the ego; that is to say, it is actually dedicated to the soul of consciousness. But human beings pass through the soul of consciousness so that they may become fully conscious of their ego. We have, of course, spoken often of these spiritual-scientific truths. I am speaking about these truths with a very special feeling in this very hour.

[ 17 ] It is understandable that the proclamation of these views still provokes opposition upon opposition in the present day. But it remains significant for this sentiment I am referring to when, for example, one must say: Look, it has now become necessary for me to complete the second edition of my book *Worldviews and Lifestyles in the 19th Century*. Now, when it was first published, this book was a “century book,” a retrospective on the past century. A second edition, of course, cannot be the same, for it makes no sense to write a retrospective on the previous century in 1913. Thus, this book had to be extensively revised in its external form. Among other things, I also felt compelled to provide a lengthy introduction intended to offer an overview from the earliest Greek times right up to the 19th century. Thus, especially in recent times, I have been compelled to let the worldviews of Thales, of Pherecydes of Syros, and so on—precisely from a philosophical standpoint—pass before my eyes, right up to our own time. Here one is confronted not only with the spiritual, but with what constitutes historical tradition; and I have set myself the task of describing only that which relates to philosophical progress, while excluding all religious impulses. It was precisely in doing so that the truth of that remarkable turning point, which took place at the dawn of the Greco-Roman era, emerged with profound clarity—where the old pictorial conception of the world, which was still present in the Egyptian-Chaldean era, gave way to the conceptual conception of the world, and how this then developed from the 14th 15th centuries onward, the awareness of the ego impulse—not the ego impulse itself, which had already entered humanity earlier—developed.

[ 18 ] When one examines the individual philosophers for the truth of their teachings, it becomes tangible—historically tangible—just how true these things are. That is why I am speaking about these matters today from a completely different perspective than is possible in that book, and with a very special sense of feeling. But one can also observe in external history how self-consciousness, the sense of self, began to make its way into the human soul around the 15th century.

[ 19 ] This newer era since that time is therefore primarily intended to compel human beings to bring the energies and powers of their ego to the surface, to become more and more aware of their ego. Particularly conducive to this is the restriction of vision to mere external sensory phenomena—a restriction such as that demonstrated by modern scientific development. When human beings no longer find in their environment what appeared to them in powerful imaginings, in images, during the Egyptian-Chaldean period, or what played out in the Greek-Latin era in grand intellectual tableaux as with Plato and Aristotle and the thinkers associated with them, but when human beings—without the tableau of imaginings, without the tableau of thought as it was still perceived in Aristotle during the Greek-Latin era—is compelled to perceive within the scope of his perception only what the senses offer, then the ego, because it can only intuit the sole spiritual within itself, must grasp itself in its essence and seek the power of its self-consciousness. And all serious philosophers since the 15th century, when viewed at their core, are seen striving to construct a worldview that yields such a picture of the world that within it the human self, the self-conscious soul, is possible and can exist.

[ 20 ] The fourth post-Atlantean cultural epoch, which developed the intellectual or emotional soul, had, however—even though the concept of the Mystery of Golgotha lay far, very far from its understanding—something else that could bring this Mystery of Golgotha closer to it. We also call the intellectual soul the soul of feeling, because this soul is truly a duality; for in human nature during the period we call the fourth post-Atlantean, just as the intellect was active, so too were the soul of feeling, emotion, and sensation. Because the soul of feeling was also active, what was closed to the intellect could be felt by the heart, and that emotional understanding arose—which one might also call faith—for the Mystery of Golgotha; that is, the human soul had an inner feeling for the Christ impulse. People felt the Christ impulse dwelling within them; they felt inwardly, soulfully connected to the Christ impulse, even if they could not understand its meaning or its essence. Christ was there for them. But this presence had to fade away even further in the age of the ego-culture in which we now find ourselves; for the ego, precisely in order to fully grasp itself in its isolation, must shut itself off from everything that directly penetrates the soul as spiritual impulses. Thus we witness a very strange spectacle. With the advent of the new epoch, even as it announces itself, we see quite clearly how a new incomprehension is added to the old one—indeed, an incomprehension that goes even further than the old. Anyone who examines the facts of spiritual life must find it understandable that the fourth post-Atlantean cultural epoch could only receive the Christ impulse with the soul, but could not truly grasp it spiritually. Yet through what could be received, one knew that Christ is present, that he is active in human development. One felt it.

[ 21 ] With the new, fifth period, something entirely different began to emerge. Not only did people now develop a lack of understanding toward the Christ Being, but also a lack of understanding toward all things divine and spiritual in general. And what is the proof of this—one could find many proofs, but one speaks particularly clearly and distinctly for it—how did this lack of understanding advance, that is, that people could no longer immediately grasp not only the Christ principle, but also the divine-spiritual principle in general? In the 12th century, as a harbinger of the “I-culture,” Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, invents the so-called “proof of God”; that is, this man feels compelled to “prove” the divinity. What does one prove in such a way? That which one knows, or that which one does not know? If, for example, a theft has occurred in my garden, and I can observe the thief from the window as he commits the act of theft, then I have no need to prove that it was this person who stole. I seek to prove it only if I do not know him. The fact that one seeks to prove God is proof that one no longer knows him, no longer experiences him. For one does not prove what one experiences, but rather what one does not experience, that is what one proves. And then this lack of understanding actually went on and on, and today we stand at a strange point in this regard. It has also often been touched upon from this vantage point just how many endless misunderstandings have piled up over the last few centuries, especially in the last one, have piled up against the understanding of what the Mystery of Golgotha is, what Christ Jesus is, up to the present time, when even from a theological standpoint Christ Jesus has not only been belittled and reduced to an albeit outstanding human teacher, but, even from a theological standpoint, his very existence is completely denied.

[ 22 ] But all of this is, of course, connected to much, much deeper, characteristic features of our age. It is just that the fast-paced nature of our times is not really prepared to pay attention to what is particularly characteristic of our age; yet the facts speak a clear, all-too-clear language to those who are willing to observe.

[ 23 ] Let’s take a fact; I’m citing trivialities, but such trivialities are precisely symptoms. A highly peculiar essay appeared recently in a very well-known weekly magazine, one that is currently being cited frequently and spoken of with respect. It amounted to something strange, namely this: If one considers the worldviews that have emerged over the past few centuries, one is actually confronted with too many “concepts”; these concepts are too abstract. Translated into our language, this means: They are not comprehensible within the sensory world to which one wishes to confine oneself. Thus, this writer strangely finds that the philosopher Spinoza is difficult to understand, as he seeks to comprehend the world from a single concept, the concept of divine substance. This writer then makes a certain proposal for reforming the philosophical understanding of our time, which amounts to illustrating how a concept forms the apex at the top, and how the concepts then diverge and split apart; in short, he proposes to “illustrate” Spinoza’s conceptual edifice in the same way one often presents a diagram, so that one no longer needs to follow how the thoughts are represented in Spinoza’s mind, but can instead have them sensually before one’s eyes in a film. — Thus, perhaps, if such “ideals” are realized, people will soon go to the movie theaters to see and follow the cinematic—not recordings, but “translations”—of the structures of thought and ideas of great men!

[ 24 ] This is a significant symptom of where the human soul has ended up in our time, a symptom that must be mentioned for a very specific reason: Because people have failed to perceive what they should have perceived had such a symptom been viewed in a healthy manner: that a mocking laugh should have arisen at this folly, at the madness inherent in such a reform of philosophy! For the zeal that would be expressed in such a mocking laugh can surely be called a sacred necessity.

[ 25 ] This is a symptom—for it must indeed be regarded as a symptom—of how much our age needs spiritual deepening, but true spiritual deepening. For it is not merely spiritual deepening in general that is necessary, but that spiritual deepening which, if it is genuine, must lead to the truth; it is this that the souls of the present need. Our age, precisely where education and even the formation of a worldview ought to be at home, is all too inclined to be content with what leads far, far away from true spirituality. For our time is easily satisfied with appearances; but appearances, when they represent the current of thought to which they are here referred, lead in one way or another to inner untruth and insincerity. Here is another symptom.

[ 26 ] Today, one often hears praise for a worldview that has caused quite a stir: that of the philosopher Eucken. Not only did Eucken receive a world-famous prize, the Nobel Prize, for his worldview, but he is also praised as the one who dares to speak to people about the spirit again. But this praise does not arise because Eucken speaks so beautifully of the spirit, but because, when it comes to the spirit, people today are so easily satisfied with the very least—provided only that something about the spirit is preached to them—and because Eucken constantly, in countless variations, speaks of the proposition that can be read again and again in his books, only people do not realize that these are endless repetitions: It is not enough to grasp that the world is sensory, but rather man must grasp himself inwardly and thus—inwardly—unite himself with the Spirit. —Now we have it: Man must grasp himself inwardly and must unite himself inwardly with the Spirit! Time and again this sentence confronts one in Eucken’s books, and not just three or four times, but as many as five or six times: so this is a “spiritual” worldview! It is precisely such symptoms that are significant, because in them we see what can be considered “great” today among those who must count themselves among the best interpreters. But if only one could read! For when one opens Eucken’s latest book, “Can We Still Be Christians?”, one finds there a curious sentence that goes something like this: Today, humanity has moved beyond believing in demons in the same way that people believed in them directly in the age of Christ; today we need a different portrayal of Christ, one that no longer depicts demons and accepts them as truth. — It is very flattering for every person in today’s enlightened age that the great teacher Eucken tells them they have moved beyond believing in demons today. But if one reads on, one finds a curious sentence: “The contact between the divine and the human generates demonic powers.”

[ 27 ] I would like to ask whether really everyone who has read Eucken’s book has laughed at this Euckenian naivety—or rather, “wisdom”—that leads him to claim, on the one hand, that he has moved beyond belief in demons, while on the other hand speaking of something “demonic.” Of course, Eucken’s followers will say: The “demonic” is meant in a figurative sense; it is not meant to be taken so seriously. — But that is precisely the point: that people use words and ideas without taking them seriously. Yes, therein lies the deep inner insincerity! But part of a genuine spiritual-scientific worldview is becoming aware that one must take the words seriously and not speak of the “demonic” unless one intends to take the word seriously.

[ 28 ] Otherwise, people might repeatedly find themselves in the same situation as the chairman of an ideological association where I was scheduled to give a lecture. In the lecture, I pointed out that Adolf von Harnack’s book *The Essence of Christianity* states that it is not essential to know what happened on Golgotha; that can be left open; but one must not leave open the question of whether the belief in the mystery of Golgotha originated from that time, regardless of whether that belief refers to something real or not. The man in question—he was the chairman of a Berlin philosophical society and, of course, a Protestant—said to me: “I have read the book, but I did not find that in it; Harnack cannot have said that, for that would be a Catholic idea.” Catholics say, for example: Whatever lies behind the Holy Robe in Trier is not what matters; belief in it is what matters. — I then had to write down the page where the sentence appears. Perhaps it is the case for many people that they read a book but have failed to read precisely what is important, what is symptomatic.

[ 29 ] In this way, we have shed some light on our times. Here we discover a necessity that is particularly relevant to our era, emerging from the symptoms of the present: the necessity that true spiritual conscientiousness may develop in our age, that we may learn not to accept with indifference when the proponent of a spiritual worldview claims that we have moved beyond demons, only to subsequently use the word “demonic” in a peculiar sense. But when one considers that we live in the age of “newspaper culture,” one must not say that there is little hope that such a culture of conscientiousness could develop; rather, one must say that it is all the more necessary to do everything that could lead to such a culture of conscientiousness. This is, of course, being intensively prepared for by spiritual science; but one must open one’s eyes to see the symptoms of our time.

[ 30 ] I would like to point out one more fact. From the 1860s onward, Ernest Renan’s book *The Life of Jesus* made an immense impression. I mention this fact in particular to show the state of our understanding of the mystery of Golgotha in our time. When one reads Ernest Renan’s book, one says to oneself: Well, here is a man who writes in a beautiful style, a man who has wandered through all the sites of the Holy Land and is therefore able to convey the most beautiful local color; and here is a man who does not believe in the divinity of Christ, yet speaks with infinite reverence of the sublime figure of Jesus. But let us now examine the account more closely. Strangely enough, Ernest Renan describes the course of Jesus’ life in such a way that he actually shows that Jesus is like everyone else—some to a greater extent, some to a lesser—who has to represent some worldview before a greater or lesser number of people. And this is roughly how it goes for such a person: First, he steps forward with what he alone believes and presents it to the crowd; then people approach him; one has this need, another that; one understands the matter this way, another that way; one has this weakness, another that; and then the one who initially spoke from an inner truth ends up, so to speak, backing down. In short, Renan believes that some who have something significant to say reveal that, fundamentally, their followers have corrupted them. And he holds the view that even Jesus Christ was corrupted by his followers. Take, for example, the miracle of Lazarus. As it is presented, it implies that one must say: The whole thing would be something of a hoax, but it was useful for spreading the message; that is why Jesus allowed it to happen. And other things are portrayed in this way. But then, after it has been shown how the life of Jesus Christ gradually declines, a hymn follows at the end that can only be addressed to the Most High. — Now let us consider this inner untruth! In Renan’s book, the reality is a mixture of two things: something extraordinarily beautiful, a brilliant, in some parts sublime portrayal, is intermingled with a soap opera—but at the end, a tremendous hymn to the sublime image of Jesus. To whom is this hymn directed? To Jesus? It cannot really be directed to the Jesus whom Renan himself depicts, if one has a sound mind; for one would not utter such words of praise about the Christ Jesus whom Renan portrays. Thus, the whole thing is, after all, intrinsically untrue!

[ 31 ] What, then, was I actually trying to convey to you with these reflections? I would like to summarize it in a few words at the end. I wanted to suggest that the Mystery of Golgotha occurred in an era of human development in which humanity was not prepared to understand it, and that even in our own era, humanity is still not prepared for it.

[ 32 ] But his influence has been at work for two thousand years! This influence is present. How is it present? In such a way that it is independent of the understanding that humanity has shown toward it up to the present day. If Christ had been able to work within humanity only to the extent that he was “understood,” he would have been able to accomplish very little. But we will also see in future reflections that we are living in a period of development where it is precisely necessary to develop that understanding which has not existed until now. For we are living in a time when a certain necessity will arise to no longer seek the Christ where he is not, but where he truly is. For he will appear in the spiritual realm and not in the body, and those who seek him in the body will repeatedly receive the answer: He whom you seek in the body is not in the body! — We need a new understanding, which in many respects may even be a first understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. The time of non-understanding must give way to the time of first understanding. This is what I wanted to suggest with today’s reflections, and what we will continue in the next reflections.