The Destiny of Individuals and of Nations
GA 157
1 September 1914, Berlin
1. The Destiny of Individuals and of Nations
Dear friends, my heart is deeply moved now that I am able to be with you for a while in these serious times and talk to you. Our first thoughts, however, shall be for our dear friends who have often been here with us and have now been called to the front where such an intense battle is raging over the destiny of individuals and of nations. Let us stand for a moment and remember our friends loyally and in love at this hour, letting our thoughts go out to them, thoughts filled with strength, to let them gain in strength out there at the front.
Spirits of your souls, guardian guides,
On your wings let there be borne
The prayer of love from our souls
To those whom you guard here on earth.
Thus, united with your might,
A ray of help our prayer shall be
For the souls it seeks out there in love.
Let us call out to our friends that the Christ, of whom we have spoken so often, is with them in the field, ruling over them where the destinies of individuals and of nations are now being decided and giving them strength.
Dear friends, you know that the original intention had been for the building that is to be a watchtower for the life of the spirit in our present age—that is how we envisaged it—to be completed by the month of August this year.1See Rudolf Steiner, Der Baugedanke des Goetheanum (GA 290). In English as The Architectural Conception of the Goetheanum Rudolf Steiner Press (London) and Anthroposophic Press (New York) 1938. Karma decreed otherwise and we had to accept this karma with composure. For a time we had thought that, in these days in particular, words might be spoken in this building of that certainty of victory in the spiritual life of which we have become more and more convinced, thanks to spiritual science. But the building at Dornach stands, or at the time stood, uncompleted. The encompassing structures are there. The columns that are to bear the domes representing the cosmic spheres of the spirit are in position and joined up with the symbols of the canopy of heaven. The rest of the building still has to be completed.
In July a certain stage had been reached where I was able to feel that something I had aimed for would indeed be achieved: that this building was also to demonstrate how form and design can provide for really good hearing, a truly acoustic space. Hope then arose that this would come about, for when I spoke words at certain points to check how the whole enclosing structure would treat the sounds, the result gave us hope that the aim may be achieved and that the right sounds would be heard in the right places. It is our hope that the words consecrated to our school of thought may thus resound in that space.
The first sounds heard by our friends working at Dornach were echoes of the firing that went on in the immediate vicinity. Sounds of the first acts of war, part of the momentous events that have entered into our lives. Our building looks down on the field in Upper Alsace that lies on the other side of the border. Not only were the signals to be heard of the momentous events now taking place, but from a number of points on the building it was also possible to see the flashes of cannon-fire in Upper Alsace. The events happening there first of all announced themselves as an echo in our area. Meeting to discuss things in the midst of our work, the thought lived in our hearts that out of the dire events that have come into our lives the soil may be created for peace, where blessings may arise and come to flower for the development of mankind.
An event like the one we are now experiencing, dear friends, sometimes speaks to an individual person in symbols. Some of you may already have the first volume of my book, The Riddles of Philosophy. In this the intention was to show how mankind progressed in the search for the great universal riddles, to show how thought progressed in the hearts of men and of nations. The second volume has not yet come out as you know. It is, however, set up in print as far as sheet 13. On the last pages printed on this sheet the philosophy of Boutroux and Bergson is discussed, and then Preuss. So the last part printed before the present events began considers Preuss, the solitary in the evolution of German philosophy and science, who, I feel, had a much more profound grasp of what Bergson was after. This thinker, Preuss, was tremendously powerful in presenting the scientific view on the life of the spirit. Sheet 13 thus brought together the thoughts that have arisen in Western Europe and those that arose in the heart of Europe. The printed material stops in mid-sentence, symbolically splitting apart, as it were, the intellectual life of peoples between whom the great struggle has now started on the physical plane, a struggle that concerns us so deeply. During the first days of August I often had to look at the blank pages of the sheet that remained unprinted, for this, too, seemed to my mind a peculiar symbol.
Dear friends, this is not a time when secondary issues in the life of man are decided. Events may have come upon us quickly, but they are profound in their effect and have arisen from a necessity no less than the one out of which the destiny of Europe evolved in the past—from the great, hard struggles that came with the Barbarian invasions. What the protagonist of spiritual science needs in these times is confidence in the victory and unconquerable nature of spiritual life and a firm faith that the spirits who are guiding world events will resolve the issues in a way truly in the interest of mankind.
Anyone needing consolation today, because people grown close in spiritual science are now under fire on opposite sides, may look for such comfort in the words that are spoken for us in the Bhagavad Gita. These refer to past times in human evolution, to the point where an originally primitive form of human life gave way to another form in which those who had earlier lived as brothers among brothers and sisters among sisters were united according to the spiritual laws familiar to us. A transition had occurred to another kind of life for mankind, a widening out of life. And within that new order people knowing themselves to be brothers were at that time, too, facing one another in battle. Yet the spirit that is always there in the evolution of mankind does find the right words to pour confidence and faith and certainty into the souls that find themselves on opposite sides.
Today we are once again living in a time where people have come together from many different parts of the world through the spiritual movement we have made our own, and because of the feelings they have experienced, because of something that deeply unites them from the very depths of soul, they have come to call one another brothers and sisters. And once again they have to stand on opposite sides. The karma of mankind demands this. But, dear friends, whatever we have taken into our hearts and into our souls of this spiritual movement of ours must have given us the certainty that the spirit moving everywhere in the evolution of mankind will strengthen us in these stormy days and fill us with confidence. This means that we may have faith in our hearts that events will take the right course within world karma—that there has to be strife, that blood and more blood has to be shed, in order to achieve what he who guides the destinies of the world wants to achieve for mankind on this earth. It will again be the blood of sacrifice, the sacred blood of sacrifice. And those we love who are going to shed this blood of sacrifice shall be powerful helpers for mankind in the realms of the spirit, for the best and most sublime of goals. For there are many ways in which the cosmic spirits speak to us men. They speak to us in the way familiar to us when among ourselves, in the words taken from our spiritual studies and our understanding of the spirit. They also speak to us, however, through the grim signals and the thunder of war. Many a soul may feel instant regret that the cosmic guidance of man also needs to use this language, yet souls taken hold of by the spirit must be able to reflect that such language is necessary in the karma of the world. To understand the true meaning of this language in the individual case will be the task of later times. Then men will be able to look back and see what benefit it has brought them that their ancestors made a sacrifice of their bodies so that the transfigured soul would rise swiftly from the sacrifice brought in the field of war up into the realms of the spirit for the good of mankind. With this spark in our hearts of being deeply touched by the spirit, we can with new strength enter into all the cares, all the deep sorrows and troubles, and also into all the hopes, all the confidence, presented and revealed to our eyes by events of such great moment as we are experiencing at present.
Dear friends, on 26 July, following a lecture concerning the business of our building project, I was able to speak to our friends gathered there certain words that referred to the grave events that lay ahead.2See Rudolf Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil (GA 286). In English as Ways to a New Style in Architecture. Anthroposophical Publishing Co., London, and Anthroposophic Press (New York) 1927. Among those present on 26 July were friends who are now already at the front in the midst of those momentous events. Standing beside the building project at Dornach, a building that is to become a watchtower of the spirit, I was on that occasion able to call up in the hearts of our friends the words: May everything we have gained in our spiritual movement and through our spiritual outlook enable every single one of us, in what lies ahead, to stand in the place where destiny puts us in the world, full of strength and confidence.
There has been evidence that our spiritual movement is able to give strength, real strength, even in the times we live in now and in the solemn events that have come to us. And perhaps it is also part of the forging of such strength that those who hear the bullets whistle past out there, who have to live in the roar and thunder of war, can be aware of our thoughts being with them in steadfast love, nurturing in our hearts the thoughts that will help and strengthen them, and be aware also of the fellowship among us. What state would our movement be in if it were unable to remain strong in heart and soul at a time when such strength of heart and soul is severely tested in this world. Let us hope that the strength we ourselves have gained will at all times provide a firm bond between us and our dear friends out yonder. And let us hope that this strength will be such that it counts for something in the world of the spirit, that the spirit we sought to take into ourselves can count for something in the working of the world. Let us hope that the love we know to be part of our spiritual endeavour may prove particularly strong out there in the physical world where our friends have to make a holy sacrifice.
Dear friends, we shall see many things happen still in consequence of what is now beginning. We have on many occasions spoken of strength and composure—let us hope that these can now be achieved in our souls. We are not speaking of an easy-going composure, looking on events in an uninvolved way, but of an active composure, looking for ways and means—and in steadfastly looking for them in the spirit also finding them—to do the right thing in the right place.
Many times I had to ask myself this August if it was right to keep our friends at their building work in Dornach and whether the one or other of them should not be doing more important work elsewhere at this time. Yet it appears that it is a good thing, that it is connected with certain forces the spirit needs in these times that the building work does not stop. Work therefore continues steadfastly, even in these hard times. The building work shall actively continue in the thought that it is indeed to be a token of rightful understanding of the great deeds that are done in our day, a token of understanding that the power of the spirit also needs to be present in everything that is happening in our day. And we cherish the thought that all our friends who are continuing their allotted tasks at Dornach, because it appears to be their karma, will also be able to fill their place in everything important that arises out of the deeply stirring events in the midst of which we stand, each at his post, where his karma has placed him. Let us try, dear friends, and do everything that may emerge out of what the day presents to our souls, what the day leads us to observe, as our duty at the present time. Let us try and do our duty in every case, a duty we have to consider as one of selfless love for humanity, the duty to be prepared for sacrifice in a time when so many sacrifices have to be asked of man. Let us take part in the rite of sacrifice for the development of man—whichever way karma appears to mete it out to us—according to our strength. Let us help wherever we are able to help. Let us look for opportunities where we may be allowed to help, and let us hold on to the conviction to which we have attained—that the help offered by human beings, service given in love, provides the spirit with an effective tool.
When our friends in Dornach also wanted to know something about giving aid in an external way, about first-aid dressings, a number of lessons were arranged within the building, in case one of us was called upon one day by his karma to make use of such knowledge.3Rudolf Steiner had given a first aid course in Dornach from 13 to 16 August 1914. I also felt particularly concerned to speak to our friends the words that arise from spiritual insight, words arising in a soul as it gives loving aid, to allow practical spiritual love to pass from the hand applying the bandage, from the body of the helper—in a spiritual way—to the person who is receiving help. First of all I spoke of the healing powers present in the human organization as such, of the way the blood flowing from the wound also contains the living principle that has a healing effect on the wound. And then it was said that it is good if the heart is filled with the following words when healing is given to those in need of our aid:
Welling blood,
Work in your welling,
Restless muscle,
Stir germs of growth,
Tenderest care
From warmth of heart,
Be breath of healing.
I believe I can say that a soul filled with such intent will be able to lend healing powers to a hand reaching out to give help. And surely after all that has passed through our souls over the years we must carry the conviction that, being filled with the Christ spirit in our day, we shall be given the power to intervene in the right way wherever destiny demands, wherever destiny puts us. There will be many occasions in days to come when we shall be able to find out if we rightly have the Christ within us, the Christ who acts from our own hearts into the hearts of others, who will unite the suffering person, the person in pain, with ourselves to form a living unity. How often has it been said that as human souls advance into spiritual worlds they also grow able to join their own feelings to the pain that lives in another. And indeed, the one or the other of us will often be put in a position where the events of our time are causing pain. We shall then be able to see if we are strong enough to unite in the right kind of feeling with the pain of the other, if the pain living in the soul of the other can become pain felt in ourselves.
The potential is there for mankind to gradually reach a point where the pain living in another does not spare us, but lives on in us. It is for this purpose that the blood flowed on Golgotha. This is also why at this very time we are endeavouring to strengthen the attitude of heart and mind I have described. This may be achieved with words like the following, spoken as though entirely to oneself and as often as possible when our thoughts are full of the gravity of the present situation, and in the first place addressing the other person. The words are:
Whilst pain is felt by you alone and not by me.
Christ goes unrecognized
To do his work within the world.
For the spirit cannot grow strong
If it has power only to feel
The suffering your own body undergoes.
My friends, these are the days when every soul that has learned to look into the spiritual world needs to send imploring thoughts to the spirits it believes to be its guardians. These spirits may be asked to show us the right way into our age. And we shall know in our hearts what is right, shall be conscious of the right power in our souls, as we turn to the spirit that is to guide us through our incarnations on earth to what will be truly right for ourselves. You may ask how we are able to know that we are addressing the right spirit. We shall be able to be aware of this if we approach this spirit in a way that is in accord with the true Christ impulse.
For the spirit that guides us towards what is right—and we can be quite certain of this, dear friends—is allied with Christ, is in dialogue with Christ. This spirit is holding such a dialogue with the Christ in the spiritual world now—so that out of the purpose for which battles are fought and blood is shed the right thing may come for the good of mankind. It is in the spirit of Christ that we turn to the spirit who we hope will protect us. Then it will be the right spirit.
The nature of a spirit is, in the language of spiritual science, referred to as the ‘age’ of this spirit. The word is used in this way in the formula you will be hearing next. The term ‘age’ is more or less synonymous with the ‘nature’ of the spirit, for we have come to distinguish spirits on the basis of their age. We speak of Luciferic and Ahrimanic spirits in exactly this way, knowing that they are now at an age when it is not right for them to develop something that during the right epoch would be the proper thing for the evolving world. This is why we speak of the age of a spirit when we mean its essential nature. The formula is as follows:
Spirit of my space on earth,
Reveal the light of thine age
To the Christ-endowed soul,
That striving it may find
In harmony of spheres of peace
Thee ringing with praise and power
Of mind of man all given up to Christ.
We must try and let the things that have been able to take root in our souls as we worked to attain to the spirit come to fruition, let them come to such fruition that we can hope to be able to face our trials. Let us try and affirm the belief that love is the soul of our efforts to reach the spirit, at a time when love is so much needed—Love and again Love.
That, my friends, is what I so much wanted to speak to you about tonight. May the love that we have invoked so often take firm root in us. May we find a way of keeping faith with each other in these difficult times and keeping faith with all that is sacred and good in mankind. I promise you, my friends, to keep this in my heart and again and again to unite my thoughts with yours in the times that lie ahead. May it be granted—after the symbols we have experienced and which I spoke of initially this evening, when the sounds of war echoed through our building at Dornach and the fires of war were reflected in it—may it be granted that sooner or later it will be possible to speak the Word in this building, of confidence that the spirit shall win the victory, shall be unconquered, aware that the building from its eminence will then look down on a human race that has gone through severe trials and the bitter strife of this day to win from them something that is right, that is good, and is beautiful and true within human evolution. Let us hope that the days of strife may be such that in the days of peace to come it will be possible to look back with contentment on the sacrifices these times have demanded.
It is my hope that the words I have attempted to speak to you this evening may touch your hearts with the same depth from which I believe they have arisen. I hope they will mean something to you in times when many of us have so much to bear. It is my hope that they will also be to you what now fills with noble enthusiasm and the courage to fight all the hearts that are filled with noble enthusiasm and the courage to fight so that the spirits who know what is right shall feel content with what they see in those hearts. Let this be in our hearts and minds and we shall be able to do the right thing in the right place. The spiritual work we have tried to achieve for so many years now shall, and no doubt will, lend us the strength we need.
So it is goodbye, dear friends, with this in our minds and with these feelings arising in our hearts.
Erster Vortrag
Meine lieben Freunde, mit tief bewegtem Herzen ist es, daß ich in diesen ernsten Stunden eine Weile unter Euch sein darf und mit Euch sprechen darf. Unser erster Gedanke sei aber gerichtet an diejenigen lieben Freunde, die so oftmals mit uns hier vereint waren, und die jetzt gerufen sind auf das Feld, wo in einer so eindringlichen Weise gekämpft wird um Menschenschicksale, um Völkerschicksale. Und daß wir dieser Freunde in treuer Liebe in dieser Stunde gedenken und unsere Gedanken ihnen senden, unsere Gedanken, denen Kraft innewohnen möge, auf daß sie sich stärken können auf dem Plan, wo sie jetzt stehen — zum Zeichen dafür erheben wir uns für einen Augenblick von unsern Sitzen!
Geister eurer Seelen, wirkende Wächter,
Eure Schwingen mögen bringen
Unserer Seelen bittende Liebe
Eurer Hut vertrauten Erdenmenschen,
Daß, mit eurer Macht geeint,
Unsre Bitte helfend strahle
Den Seelen, die sie liebend sucht.
Und zurufen wollen wir unsern Freunden, daß der Christus, von dem so oft hier gesprochen worden ist, sie stärkend, über sie waltend auf dem Felde, wo jetzt Geschicke der Menschen und Geschicke der Völker sich entscheiden, bei ihnen sei!
Meine lieben Freunde, Ihr wißt, daß eine ursprüngliche Absicht bestand, den Bau, den wir als eine Warte für das geistige Leben der neueren Zeit errichten wollen, wie es unseren Seelen vorschwebt, im August dieses Jahres fertig zu haben. Das Karma hat es anders gewollt. Und wir mußten uns, gelassen selbstverständlich, in dieses Karma fügen. Wir dachten eine Weile, daß es gerade in dieser Zeit sein könnte, daß in diesem Bau Worte gesprochen werden dürften von jener Siegeszuversicht des geistigen Lebens, von der wir uns durch unsere Geisteswissenschaft immer mehr und mehr überzeugen konnten. Nun steht oder stand in dieser Zeit unser Bau in Dornach bei Basel nicht fertig da. Aber seine Umhüllung steht da. Die Säulen, die seine, die geistigen Himmelswelten repräsentierenden Kuppeln tragen sollten, sind an ihren Orten und sind verbunden mit diesen Symbolen des Himmelsdaches. Die Vollendung wartet noch auf sich. Im Juli war es, wo ich in einem bestimmten Stadium unseres Baues ahnen konnte, daß das eintreten werde, um was ich mich bemüht habe: daß dieser Bau auch sein sollte eine Probe dafür, daß man durch Form und Zusammenstellung ein wirklich gutes Hören, einen wirklich akustischen Raum erreichen könne. Hoffen, sage ich, durfte man das. Denn von den Stellen aus, wo ich durch Worte prüfen konnte, wie die ganze Umschalung den Ton behandelt, da klang es so, daß man hoffen kann, daß die Absicht erreicht werden wird, daß es auch an den richtigen Stellen richtig tönen werde. Daß die Worte, die unserer Gesinnung geweiht sind, also in diesem Raume tönen mögen, das ist unsere Hoffnung.
Die ersten Töne, die unsere in Dornach arbeitenden Freunde hörten, waren der Widerklang des Feuers, das in unserer unmittelbaren Nähe stattfand, das heraustönte aus den ersten Unternehmungen der ernsten Ereignisse, innerhalb deren wir jetzt leben. Denn unser Bau sieht hinunter auf dasjenige Feld im Oberelsaß, an dessen nach der Schweiz hin gerichteten angrenzenden Gefildungen er steht. Und es waren nicht nur die Signale der ernsten Ereignisse unserer Zeit zu hören, sondern zu sehen war auch von den verschiedenen Punkten unseres Baues aus das Feuer der Kanonen im Oberelsaß. Was dort geschah, das sprach zuerst als Echo in unseren Gegenden. In uns lebte, wenn wir uns inmitten der Arbeit zu unseren Besprechungen trafen, der Gedanke, daß aus den ernsten Ereignissen, innerhalb welcher wir leben, der Menschheit erstehen möge ein Friedensboden, auf dem erblühen kann Heil und Segen der Entwickelung der Menschheit.
Wie bricht, zuweilen zu dem einzelnen symbolisch sprechend, ein solches Ereignis herein, wie wir es jetzt erleben! Vielleicht ist in den Händen einiger von Euch, meine lieben Freunde, der erste Band meines Buches «Die Rätsel der Philosophie», in dem ich darstellen wollte den Entwickelungsgang der Menschheit im Suchen nach den großen Weltenrätseln, in dem ich darstellen wollte den Zug des Gedankens durch Menschen- und Völkerherzen. Der zweite Band ist, wie Ihr wißt, noch nicht erschienen; aber er ist im Drucke fertig bis in den dreizehnten Bogen hinein. Dieser dreizehnte Bogen behandelt auf den letzten Seiten, die noch gedruckt sind, die Philosophie Boutroux’ und Bergsons und geht dann über zu Preuß, um als Letztes, was noch gedruckt worden ist, bevor das große Ereignis begonnen hat, zu behandeln den — nach meinem Empfinden dasjenige, was der Philosoph Bergson will, unendlich tiefer ergreifenden — in der deutschen philosophisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Entwickelung stehenden Einsiedler Preuß. Mit wuchtiger Kraft findet man bei dieser Denkerpersönlichkeit Preuß dasjenige, was ein naturwissenschaftlich Denkender über das Geistesleben sagen konnte. So schloß sich zusammen in diesem dreizehnten Bogen dasjenige, was Gedanken behandeln sollte, die im Westen Europas und solche, die im Herzen Europas ersprossen sind. Mitten im Satze schließt mein Druck ab, gleichsam symbolisch spaltend das Geistesleben derjenigen Menschen, zwischen denen jetzt auf dem physischen Plan der schwere Kampf entbrannt ist, der uns so viel bewegt. Und in den ersten Augusttagen mußte ich oft die weißen Seiten des unbedruckt gebliebenen Bogens mir anschauen, denn auch das wirkte wie ein merkwürdiges Symbolum auf mein Gemüt.
Meine leben Freunde, wir stehen nicht in einer Zeit, in der untergeordnete Ereignisse des Menschenlebens entschieden werden. So schnell auch diese Ereignisse hereingebrochen sind: tief eingreifend sind sie und aus einer Notwendigkeit hervorgegangen, die gleich derjenigen ist, mit der sich einmal Europens Geschicke in den Zeiten der Völkerwanderung aus harten, schweren Kämpfen heraus entwickelt haben. Was in diesen Zeiten bei dem Bekenner der Geisteswissenschaft sein muß, das ist die Zuversicht in den Sieg und in die Sieghaftigkeit des geistigen Lebens und die Festigkeit in dem Glauben, daß die weltenlenkenden Geister die Dinge so entscheiden werden, wie es zum Heile der Menschheit notwendig ist.
Derjenige, der heute einen Trost braucht dafür, daß durch die Geisteswissenschaft eng befreundete Menschen im Feuer einander gegenüberstehen, der versuche sich diesen Trost zu holen aus den Worten, die uns klingen aus der Bhagavad Gita. Sie weisen uns in alte Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung, dahin, wo aus einem ursprünglichen primitiven Leben der Menschheit ein späteres Leben hervorgetreten ist, in welchem nach den geistigen Gesetzen, die wir ja kennen, vereint waren solche, die früher als Brüder mit Brüdern, Schwestern mit Schwestern gelebt haben. Der Übergang war geschehen zu einem andern Leben der Menschheit, zu einer Verbreiterung der Menschheit, so daß innerhalb jener Neuordnung der Menschheit kämpfend sich gegenüberstanden diejenigen, die sich Brüder wußten. Aber der Geist, der durch die Menschheitsentwickelung geht, findet die rechten Worte, um Zuversicht und Glauben und Sicherheit in die Seelen zu gießen, die sich also gegenüberstehen.
Wiederum erleben wir heute Zeiten, in denen sich aus verschiedensten Gegenden der Erde durch jene Geistesströmung, die wir die unsrige nennen, Menschen zusammengefunden haben, die durch ihre Empfindungen, durch das, was sie aus der Seele Tiefen heraus tief verbindet, sich Brüder, sich Schwestern nennen. Und wiederum müssen sie einander gegenüberstehen. Das Menschheitskarma will es so. Aber, meine lieben Freunde, die Gewißheit müssen wir gewonnen haben durch das, was wir von unserer geistigen Strömung in unsere Herzen und in unsere Seelen aufgenommen haben, daß der Geist, der durch die Menschheitsentwickelung wallt, uns in diesen Sturmeszeiten kräftige und mit Zuversicht erfülle, so daß wir den Glauben in uns tragen können, daß im Weltenkarma das Rechte geschehen werde, daß gekämpft werden muß, daß Blut über Blut fließen muß, damit erreicht werden könne, was der Welten-Schicksalslenker mit der Erdenmenschheit erreichen will. Auch ein Opferblut wird dieses sein, ein heiliges Opferblut! Und diejenigen unserer Lieben, die dieses Opferblut vergießen werden, sie werden in den geistigen Reichen starke Helfer der Menschheit werden nach den schönsten, nach den hehrsten Zielen. Denn auf viele Arten sprechen die Weltengeister zu uns Menschen. Sie sprechen zu uns auf die Art, wie wir es gewohnt sind innerhalb unserer Kreise durch die Worte, die entnommen sind unserer geistigen Forschung und unserer geistigen Gesinnung. Sie sprechen aber auch zu uns durch die ernsten Zeichen des Kriegesdonners. Und so sehr es mancher Seele naheliegen möchte, mit Bedauern darauf hinzublikken, daß auch diese Sprache in der Weltenlenkung der Menschheit geführt werden muß - geistergriffene Seelen müssen bedenken können, daß solche Sprache im Weltenkarma notwendig ist. Es ist die Sprache, deren richtigen Sinn zu verstehen für den einzelnen Fall erst den folgenden Zeiten auferlegt ist, die auf dasjenige zurückblikken können, was ihnen dadurch geworden ist, daß ihre Vorfahren ihren Leib zum Opfer gebracht haben, um aus diesem Opfer des Kriegsfeldes heraus die verklärte Seele zum Heile der Menschheit in die geistigen Sphären hinaufzuschwingen. Und mit diesem Funken geistiger Ergriffenheit im Herzen können wir uns gestärkt hineinstellen in alle die Sorgen, in alle die tiefen Bekümmernisse und Betrübnisse, aber auch in alle die Hoffnungen und in alle die Zuversichten, welche Ereignisse solch ernster Art, wie die gegenwärtigen, vor unsern äußeren Augen darstellen und offenbaren.
Meine lieben Freunde, am 26. Juli konnte ich in Dornach zu unseren dort versammelten Freunden, anschließend an einen Vortrag, der die Angelegenheiten unseres Baues betraf, die Worte sprechen, die hinwiesen auf die ernsten Zeiten, die uns bevorstehen. Unter den Zuhörern dieses 26. Juli waren auch diejenigen unserer damals dort befindlichen Freunde, die jetzt schon draußen stehen auf dem Felde der ernsten, der ernstesten Ereignisse. Damals durfte ich neben unserem Bau in Dornach, der eine Geisteswarte werden soll, unseren Freunden die Worte ins Herz rufen: Möge dasjenige, was wir uns durch unsere geistige Strömung und durch unsere geistige Gesinnung angeeignet haben, in jedem einzelnen von uns dahin wirken, daß er die Möglichkeit finde in dem, was jetzt kommen werde, kraftvoll, zuversichtlich an dem Orte in der Welt zu stehen, auf den ihn das Schicksal hinstellt.
Es waren Beweisstücke dafür da, daß unsere geistige Bewegung Kraft zu geben vermag, rechte Kraft auch in solchen Zeiten, in denen wir jetzt leben, und in solchen ernsten Ereignissen, in denen wir jetzt stehen. Und vielleicht gehört es auch zu dem Schmieden dieser Kraft, daß diejenigen, an denen draußen die Kugeln vorbeipfeifen, die im Sturmesgebraus des Kriegsdonners leben müssen, daß diese wissen dürfen, wie wir in treuer Liebe, und in uns hegend alle die Gedanken, die ihnen stärkend helten wollen, ihrer gedenken, uns mit ihnen zusammengehörig fühlen. Wie stünde es um unsere Bewegung, wenn sie nicht geeignet wäre, Seelenkräfte aufrechtzuerhalten dort, wo diese Seelenkräfte starken Prüfungen der Welt ausgesetzt sind! Möge uns die Kraft, die wir selber gewonnen haben, dauernd fest zusammenhalten mit den lieben Freunden, die draußen stehen, und möge diese Kraft so stark sein, daß sie in der geistigen Welt etwas ist, daß der Geist, den wir in uns aufzunehmen versuchten, im Weltenwirken selber etwas sein könne; und möge die Liebe, die wir vereint wissen mit unserem geistigen Streben, sich insbesondere dort stark erweisen, wo unsere Freunde draußen in der physischen Welt ein heiliges Opfer zu bringen haben!
Meine lieben Freunde, vieles wird uns noch vor Augen treten im Gefolge desjenigen, was jetzt begonnen hat. Wir aber haben es oft ausgesprochen, das Wort von der kraftvollen Gelassenheit. Möge es sich an unseren Seelen jetzt erfüllen. Nicht sei es das Wort von jener bequemen Gelassenheit, die den Dingen zusieht in Gleichgültigkeit, sondern es sei das Wort von jener tatkräftigen Gelassenheit, die Mittel und Wege sucht, und durch treues geistiges Suchen auch findet - um am rechten Orte das Rechte zu tun. Oftmals mußte ich mich in diesem August fragen, ob es recht sei, unsere Freunde an unserem Bau in Dornach zurückzuhalten, und ob nicht mancher an einem anderen Platz in dieser Zeit Bedeutungsvolleres leisten könne. Doch es scheint, daß es gut ist, daß es zusammenhängt mit gewissen Kräften, die der Geist in unseren Zeiten braucht, daß dieser Bau nicht stillesteht. So wird denn treulich an ihm auch in diesen schweren Zeiten fortgearbeitet. So soll er denn lebendig erhalten werden in dem Gedanken, daß er ja gerade ein Wahrzeichen sein soll für das richtige Verständnis der großen Taten, die in unserer Zeit geschehen, ein Wahrzeichen für das Verständnis, daß bei allem, was in unserer Zeit geschieht, auch des Geistes Kraft sein müsse. Und den Glauben hegen wir, daß alle die Freunde, die bei ihrer Pflicht in Dornach ausharren, weil dieses ihr Karma zu sein scheint, auch in alledem, was sich an Wichtigem ergeben wird aus den gewaltig bewegenden Ereignissen, in denen wir stehen, ihre Stelle werden ausfüllen können, jeder an dem Platze, an den ihn das Karma hinstellt. Versuchen wir es, meine lieben Freunde, so wie es uns erscheint nach dem, was der Tag an unsere Seelen heranbringt, was der Tag uns beobachten läßt als unsere etwaige Pflicht in dieser Zeit, versuchen wir das alles zu tun; versuchen wir jede Pflicht zu tun, die wir ansehen müssen als eine Pflicht selbstloser Menschenliebe, als eine Pflicht der Opferwilligkeit in der Zeit, wo von den Menschen so viele Opfer verlangt werden müssen. Beteiligen wir uns an dem Opferdienst der Menschheitsentwickelung nach der Art, wie es unseren Kräften vom Karma zugeteilt erscheint, helfen wir überall, wo wir helfen können. Suchen wir die Möglichkeiten auf, wo uns gestattet ist zu helfen, und vergessen wir nicht, daß wir die Überzeugung in uns aufgenommen haben, daß der Geist ein wirksames Werkzeug im menschlichen Helfen, in der menschlichen dienenden Liebe hat.
Als unsere Freunde in Dornach auch etwas zu verstehen verlangten von äußeren Hilfeleistungen, von ersten Verbänden, da wurde nicht nur in einer Reihe von Stunden Anleitung zu solchem Verbinden innerhalb unseres Baues zu geben versucht für den Fall, daß einstmals einen von uns sein Karma dazu rufen sollte, solche Kenntnis anzuwenden, sondern es lag mir am Herzen, unseren Freuden auch die Worte zu sagen, welche aus geistiger Anschauung heraus, in der helfenden liebenden Seele erfühlt, die werktätige geistige Liebe hinübertragen können aus der verbindenden Hand, aus dem helfenden Leibe — auf geistige Art - in denjenigen, dem geholfen werden soll. Wie in der menschlichen Organisation selber heilende Kräfte liegen, wie in dem Blute, das aus der Wunde fließt, zugleich dasjenige lebt, was heilend auf die Wunde wirkt, darauf wurde zuerst aufmerksam gemacht. Und dann wurde gesagt, daß es gut ist, das Herz beim Heilen gegenüber dem hilfebedürftgen Menschen zu erfüllen mit den Worten:
Quelle Blut,
Im Quellen wirke,
Regsamer Muskel
Rege die Keime,
Liebende Pflege
Wärmenden Herzens,
Sei heilender Hauch.
Ich glaube zu wissen, daß die Seele, die sich mit solcher Gesinnung erfüllt, der Hand, die helfen will, eine helfende Kraft zu geben in der Lage ist. Und wie sollten wir nicht nach allem, was durch die Jahre durch unsere Seelen gezogen ist, davon überzeugt sein, daß die Erfüllung mit dem Christus-Geist in dieser Zeit uns die Fähigkeit erteilen wird, in rechter Art dort einzugreifen, wo es das Schicksal fordert, wo uns das Schicksal hinstellt. Wie oft können wir Gelegenheit erhalten, in dem, was uns die nächsten Zeiten bringen können, zu erproben, ob wir von dem Christus in der richtigen Weise durchdrungen sind, der von unseren eigenen Herzen hinüberwirkt in die Herzen der anderen Menschen, der den leidenden, den schmerzertragenden Menschen in eine Einheit mit uns selber verwebt. Wie oft wurde davon gesprochen, daß es zur Entwikkelung der Menschenseelen in die geistigen Welten hinein gehöre, das eigene Gefühl verbinden zu können mit dem Schmerz, der in dem andern lebt. Und gerade an den Stellen, wo die Ereignisse unserer Zeit Schmerz wirken werden, da wird oftmals des einen oder des andern Platz von uns sein; da werden wir erproben können, ob wir stark genug sind, um das rechte Gefühl mit dem Schmerz des andern zu verbinden, ob der Schmerz, der drüben in der anderen Seele lebt, unser Schmerz, unser gefühlter Schmerz sein kann.
Daß es so sein kann, daß die Menschheit allmählich dazu kommen kann, daß der Schmerz, der in dem andern lebt, uns nicht selber meidet, sondern in uns fortwebt, dazu ist Christi Blut auf Golgatha geflossen. Darum suchen wir auch die Gesinnung, die hiermit angedeutet ist, gerade in diesen Zeiten in unseren Seelen zu verstärken. Das kann geschehen mit Worten wie diesen, die man ganz wie zu sich selber spricht, möglichst oft in den Gedanken, die uns verbinden mit dem Ernst dieser Zeit, indem man in der ersten Zeile sich an den Mitmenschen wendet. Die Worte lauten:
So lang du den Schmerz erfühlest,
Der mich meidet,
Ist Christus unerkannt
Im Weltenwesen wirkend.
Denn schwach nur bleibet der Geist,
Wenn er allein im eignen Leibe
Des Leidesfühlens mächtig ist.
Ja, meine lieben Freunde, jetzt sind die Zeiten, in denen eine jede Seele, die gelernt hat in die geistige Welt aufzuschauen, die bittenden Gedanken an die Geister richten muß, von denen sie sich geschützt glaubt, daß diese Geister helfen mögen, uns in der richtigen Weise in die Zeit hineinzuführen. Und empfinden werden wir das Rechte in unserem Herzen, die rechten Kräfte in unserer Seele, wenn wir uns zu dem Geiste wenden, der uns führen soll durch unsere Erdeninkarnationen hindurch zu unserm eigenen Rechten. Und wie können wir wissen, daß unsere Bitten sich an den rechten Geist wenden? Wir können es empfinden, wenn wir uns an diesen Geist so wenden, wie es im Sinne des wahren ChristusImpulses ist.
Denn der Geist, der uns zum Rechten führt - dessen können wir sicher sein, meine lieben Freunde -, er ist mit dem Christus verbunden. Er hält Zwiesprache mit dem Christus. Er hält solche Zwiesprache mit dem Christus in der geistigen Welt, daß aus dem, wofür jetzt gekämpft wird, wofür jetzt Blut vergossen wird, das Rechte zum Heil der Menschheit geschehe. Im Geiste des Christus wenden wir uns an den Geist, von dem wir beschützt sein wollen. Dann wird es der richtige Geist sein.
Was das Wesen eines Geistes ist, das nennt man in der Sprache der Geisteswissenschaft das Alter eines Geistes. Darum kommt dieses Wort in der Formel vor, von der jetzt Euch Mitteilung geschehen soll. Das Wort Alter bedeutet darin etwa dasselbe wie das Wesen des Geistes. Denn danach, wie die Geister alt sind, haben wir sie Ja unterscheiden gelernt. Wir sprechen von luziferischen und ahrimanischen Geistern gerade in diesem Sinne, daß wir wissen: sie entwickeln in einem ihnen unrecht zukommenden Alter das, was im richtigen Zeitalter das der Welt Angemessene in der Entwickelung ist. Daher sprechen wir von dem Alter eines Geistes, wenn wir von seiner Wesenheit sprechen. Die Formel, die jetzt mitgeteilt werden soll, heißt:
Du, meines Erdenraumes Geist,
Enthülle deines Alters Licht
Der Christ-begabten Seele,
Daß strebend sie finden kann
Im Chor der Friedenssphären
Dich, tönend von Lob und Macht
Des Christ-ergebenen Menschensinns.
Ja, versuchen wir fruchtbar zu machen dasjenige, was sich in unsere Seelen pflanzen konnte im Laufe unseres geistigen Strebens, versuchen wir, dieses so fruchtbar zu machen, daß wir erhoffen können, unseren Prüfungen gewachsen zu sein. Versuchen wir den Glauben, daß Liebe die Seele unseres geistigen Strebens ist, zu erweisen in einer Zeit, in welcher Liebe, Liebe, Liebe notwendig ist!
Meine lieben Freunde, das war es, was mir am Herzen lag, zu Euren Seelen gerade am heutigen Abend zu sprechen. Möge die Liebe, an die wir so oftmals appelliert haben, in uns kräftig Wurzel fassen. Mögen wir die Möglichkeit finden, in ernsten Zeiten treu zusammenzuhalten selber und zusammenzuhalten mit allen heiligen Gütern der Menschheit. Dieses, meine lieben Freunde, mit meinen Empfindungen zu verbinden und immer wieder und wieder auch meine Gedanken mit den Eurigen zu vereinigen in den nächsten Zeiten, das verspreche ich Euch. Und möge uns beschieden sein nach dem Erleben der Symbole, von denen in den Eingangsworten des heutigen Abends gesprochen worden ist, nachdem in unserem Dornacher Bau widergehallt hat der Ton des Krieges, widergeschienen hat der Lichtschein des Krieges, möge uns beschieden sein, dafß gesprochen werden dürfe in kürzerer oder längerer Zeit in diesem Bau das Wort von der Zuversicht in den Sieg und die Sieghaftigkeit des Geistes, gesprochen werden dürfe in dem Bewußtsein, daß dieser Bau von seiner erhöhten Stelle aus herabschaut auf eine Menschheit, welche durch die schweren Prüfungen und durch die schweren Kämpfe dieser Zeiten sich ein Rechtes, ein Gutes, ein Schönes, ein Wahres innerhalb der Menschheitsentwickelung erkämpft hat. Mögen die Tage des Kampfes so verlaufen, daß in den künftigen Tagen des Friedens mit Befriedigung auf die Opfer zurückgeschaut werden darf, welche diese Zeiten gefordert haben.
Hoffen möchte ich, daß diese Worte, die ich am heutigen Abend zu sprechen versuchte, Eure Seelen mit derjenigen Tiefe berühren, von der ich glaube, daß sie aus ihr entsprungen sind. Mögen sie Euch einiges sein in den Zeiten, in denen mancher von uns so viel zu ertragen hat. Mögen sie aber auch Euch dasjenige sein können, was alle die Herzen, die jetzt mit edler Begeisterung und mit frohem Kampfesmute erfüllt sind, so erfüllt mit dieser edlen Begeisterung und mit diesem Kampfesmute, daß die Geister, die da wissen, was das Rechte ist, in diese Herzen mit Befriedigung schauen werden. Erfüllen wir uns mit solchen Gesinnungen, und wir werden die Möglichkeit haben, am rechten Orte das Rechte zu tun. Das ist es, wozu uns unsere geistige Arbeit, die wir nun schon seit Jahren zu vollbringen versuchten, Kraft geben soll und Kraft geben möge.
Auf Wiedersehen, meine lieben Freunde, in dieser Gesinnung und aus diesen Empfindungen des Herzens heraus!
First Lecture
My dear friends, it is with deep emotion that I am able to be among you for a while in these solemn hours and to speak to you. But let our first thoughts go to those dear friends who were so often united with us here and who have now been called to the field where such fierce battles are being fought for human destinies and for the destinies of nations. And may we remember these friends in faithful love at this hour and send them our thoughts, thoughts that may give them strength so that they may be strengthened where they now stand—as a sign of this, let us rise from our seats for a moment!
Spirits of your souls, guardian angels,
May your wings carry
The pleading love of our souls
Your protection of the people of Earth whom you trust,
That, united with your power,
Our plea may shine helpfully
Upon the souls who seek it lovingly.
And let us call out to our friends that Christ, of whom so often spoken here, may be with them, strengthening them and ruling over them in the field where the destinies of men and nations are now being decided!
My dear friends, you know that it was our original intention to complete the building we wish to erect as a center for the spiritual life of the new age, as it is in our souls' vision, by August of this year. Karma has willed otherwise. And we had to submit ourselves, calmly and naturally, to this karma. For a while, we thought that it might be precisely at this time that words could be spoken in this building about the confidence in the victory of spiritual life, of which we have become more and more convinced through our spiritual science. Now, at this time, our building in Dornach near Basel is not finished. But its shell is standing. The pillars that are to support its domes, representing the spiritual worlds of heaven, are in place and connected with these symbols of the heavenly vault. Completion is still awaiting. It was in July, at a certain stage of our building, that I could sense that what I had been striving for would come to pass: that this building should also be a test of whether it is possible to achieve truly good hearing, a truly acoustic space, through form and composition. One could hope, I say. For from the places where I was able to test with words how the entire formwork treats the sound, it sounded so that one can hope that the intention will be achieved, that it will also sound right in the right places. That the words dedicated to our spirit may resound in this space is our hope.
The first sounds our friends working in Dornach heard were the echoes of the fire that was raging in our immediate vicinity, resounding from the first undertakings of the serious events in which we now live. For our building looks down on the field in Oberelsaß, on whose adjacent fields bordering Switzerland it stands. And it was not only the signals of the serious events of our time that could be heard, but the fire of the cannons in the Upper Alsace could also be seen from various points of our building. What happened there first echoed in our region. When we met in the midst of our work for our discussions, the thought lived within us that out of the serious events in which we live, a foundation of peace might arise for humanity, on which the salvation and blessing of human development might blossom.
How does such an event as we are now experiencing break in, sometimes symbolically speaking to the individual! Perhaps some of you, my dear friends, have in your hands the first volume of my book, The Riddles of Philosophy, in which I sought to describe the course of human development in its search for the great riddles of the world, in which I sought to describe the movement of thought through the hearts of individuals and peoples. The second volume, as you know, has not yet been published, but it is ready for printing up to the thirteenth sheet. This thirteenth sheet deals, in the last pages that are still to be printed, with the philosophy of Boutroux and Bergson, and then moves on to Preuß, in order to deal, as the last thing that was printed before the great event began, with the hermit Preuß, who, in my opinion, is infinitely more profound than the philosopher Bergson in the German philosophical and scientific development. With powerful force, one finds in this intellectual personality, Preuß, what a scientific thinker could say about spiritual life. Thus, in this thirteenth section, what was to be dealt with in terms of ideas that had sprung up in Western Europe and those that had sprung up in the heart of Europe came together. My printing ends in the middle of a sentence, symbolically dividing the spiritual life of those people among whom the serious struggle that moves us so much has now broken out on the physical plane. And in the first days of August, I often had to look at the white pages of the unprinted sheet, for that too had a strange symbolic effect on my mind.
My dear friends, we are not living in a time when minor events in human life are being decided. However quickly these events may have come about, they are profound and have arisen out of a necessity similar to that which once led to the development of Europe's destiny in the times of the migration of peoples, out of hard and difficult struggles. What is necessary in these times for those who profess spiritual science is confidence in the victory and triumph of spiritual life and firm belief that the spirits who guide the world will decide things as is necessary for the good of humanity.
Those who today need consolation for the fact that people who were close friends through spiritual science are now facing each other in the fire, should try to find this consolation in the words that ring out to us from the Bhagavad Gita. They point us back to ancient times in human evolution, when a later life emerged from the original primitive life of humanity, in which, according to the spiritual laws we know, those who had previously lived as brothers with brothers and sisters with sisters were united. The transition had taken place to a different life for humanity, to an expansion of humanity, so that within this new order of humanity, those who knew themselves to be brothers stood in opposition to one another. But the spirit that runs through human development finds the right words to instill confidence, faith, and security in the souls that stand in opposition to one another.
Once again, we are living in times when people from the most diverse regions of the earth have come together through the spiritual current that we call our own, and who, through their feelings, through what deeply connects them from the depths of their souls, call themselves brothers and sisters. And once again they must face each other. The karma of humanity wills it so. But, my dear friends, we must have gained the certainty through what we have taken into our hearts and souls from our spiritual stream that the spirit that is stirring through human evolution will strengthen us in these stormy times and fill us with confidence, so that we can carry the faith within us that what is right will happen in the world karma, that we must fight, that blood must flow over blood, so that what the world's destiny guides wants to achieve with the human race on Earth can be achieved. This will also be a sacrificial blood, a holy sacrificial blood! And those of our loved ones who will shed this sacrificial blood will become strong helpers of humanity in the spiritual realms, pursuing the most beautiful and noble goals. For the world spirits speak to us humans in many ways. They speak to us in the way we are accustomed to within our circles, through words taken from our spiritual research and our spiritual attitude. But they also speak to us through the serious signs of the thunder of war. And as much as it may be natural for some souls to look back with regret that this language must also be used in the world government of humanity, spiritually sensitive souls must be able to consider that such language is necessary in world karma. It is a language whose true meaning can only be understood in each individual case by future generations who can look back on what has become of them as a result of their ancestors sacrificing their bodies on the battlefield in order to lift their transfigured souls up into the spiritual spheres for the salvation of humanity. And with this spark of spiritual emotion in our hearts, we can stand strengthened in all the worries, in all the deep sorrows and afflictions, but also in all the hopes and in all the confidence which events of such a serious nature as the present ones present and reveal before our outer eyes.
My dear friends, on July 26, in Dornach, following a lecture concerning the affairs of our building, I was able to speak to our friends gathered there and point to the serious times that lie ahead. Among the listeners on July 26 were also those of our friends who were there at the time and who now already stand outside in the field of serious, most serious events. At that time, I was able to call the following words into the hearts of our friends next to our building in Dornach, which is to become a spiritual observatory: May that which we have acquired through our spiritual current and through our spiritual attitude work in each one of us so that we may find the possibility in what is now coming to stand powerfully and confidently in the place in the world where fate has placed us.
There was evidence that our spiritual movement is capable of giving strength, the right kind of strength, even in times such as those we are now living in and in the serious events we are now facing. And perhaps it is also part of forging this strength that those who have bullets whistling past them outside, who have to live in the stormy roar of war, may know that we remember them with faithful love, cherishing within us all the thoughts that will strengthen them, and that we feel ourselves to be united with them. What would become of our movement if it were not capable of sustaining the soul forces where these soul forces are exposed to severe trials in the world! May the strength we have gained ourselves hold us firmly together with our dear friends who are outside, and may this strength be so strong that it is something in the spiritual world, that the spirit we have tried to take into ourselves in the world's activity itself; and may the love that we know to be united with our spiritual striving prove especially strong where our friends outside in the physical world have a sacred sacrifice to make!
My dear friends, much will come before our eyes in the wake of what has now begun. But we have often spoken the words of powerful serenity. May they now be fulfilled in our souls. Let them not be words of that comfortable serenity which watches things with indifference, but words of that active serenity which seeks ways and means, and through faithful spiritual searching also finds them—in order to do the right thing in the right place. Often during this month of August I had to ask myself whether it was right to keep our friends at our building in Dornach, and whether some of them might not be able to do more meaningful work elsewhere at this time. But it seems that it is good that this building is not standing still, that it is connected with certain forces which the spirit needs in our times. So work on it continues faithfully even in these difficult times. In this way it will be kept alive in the thought that it is meant to be a symbol of the right understanding of the great deeds that are happening in our time, a symbol of the understanding that in everything that happens in our time, the power of the spirit must also be at work. And we cherish the belief that all the friends who persevere in their duty in Dornach because this seems to be their karma will also be able to fulfill their place in all that will emerge as important from the mighty events in which we find ourselves, each in the place where karma places him. Let us try, my dear friends, to do what seems necessary to us in light of what the day brings to our souls, what the day allows us to observe as our possible duty in this time. Let us try to do everything; let us try to fulfill every duty that we must regard as a duty of selfless love for humanity, as a duty of willingness to sacrifice in a time when so many sacrifices must be demanded of human beings. Let us participate in the sacrificial service of human evolution in the way that karma seems to assign to our abilities, let us help wherever we can. Let us seek out opportunities where we are allowed to help, and let us not forget that we have taken into ourselves the conviction that the spirit has an effective tool in human helping, in human serving love.
When our friends in Dornach also wanted to understand something about external assistance, about first aid, we not only tried to give instruction in such bandaging within our building for the case that one of us should one day be called upon by his karma to apply such knowledge, but it was also close to my heart to also tell our friends the words which, arising from spiritual insight and felt in the helping, loving soul, can convey active spiritual love from the connecting hand, from the helping body — in a spiritual way — to those who need help. Attention was first drawn to the fact that healing powers lie within the human organism itself, just as the blood that flows from a wound contains the very substance that heals the wound. And then it was said that it is good, when healing, to fill one's heart with the following words toward the person in need of help:
Source of blood,
Work in the source,
Active muscle,
Stir the germs,
Loving care,
Warming heart,
Be a healing breath.
I believe that the soul filled with such a disposition is capable of giving the helping hand a helping power. And how could we not be convinced, after all that has passed through our souls over the years, that being filled with the spirit of Christ at this time will give us the ability to intervene in the right way where fate demands it, where fate places us. How often will we have the opportunity, in what the coming times may bring, to test whether we are truly imbued with Christ, who works from our own hearts into the hearts of other people, who weaves those who suffer and endure pain into a unity with ourselves. How often has it been said that it is part of the development of human souls into the spiritual worlds to be able to connect one's own feelings with the pain that lives in others. And it is precisely in those places where the events of our time will cause pain that one or the other of us will often find ourselves; there we will be able to test whether we are strong enough to connect the right feeling with the pain of others, whether the pain that lives in the other soul can be our pain, our felt pain.
That it may be so, that humanity may gradually come to the point where the pain that lives in others does not avoid us, but continues to live in us, for this Christ's blood was shed on Golgotha. That is why we seek to strengthen the attitude indicated here in our souls, especially in these times. This can be done with words such as these, which one speaks to oneself as often as possible in thoughts that connect us with the seriousness of this time, addressing one's fellow human beings in the first line. The words are:
As long as you feel the pain
That shuns me,
Christ is unrecognized
Working in the world.
For the spirit remains weak
When it is alone in its own body
Is powerful in feeling suffering.
Yes, my dear friends, now is the time when every soul that has learned to look up to the spiritual world must direct its supplicating thoughts to the spirits from whom it believes itself to be protected, that these spirits may help us to enter this time in the right way. And we will feel what is right in our hearts, the right forces in our souls, when we turn to the spirit who is to guide us through our earthly incarnations to our own right. And how can we know that our requests are directed to the right spirit? We can feel it when we turn to this spirit in the spirit of the true Christ impulse.
For the spirit that leads us to what is right—of that we can be sure, my dear friends—is connected with Christ. It communicates with Christ. It communicates with Christ in the spiritual world in such a way that what is now being fought for, what blood is now being shed for, may be for the good of humanity. In the spirit of Christ, we turn to the spirit from whom we want to be protected. Then it will be the right spirit.
What the essence of a spirit is, is called the age of a spirit in the language of spiritual science. That is why this word appears in the formula that is now to be communicated to you. The word age means here something like the essence of the spirit. For we have learned to distinguish spirits according to their age. We speak of Luciferic and Ahrimanic spirits precisely in this sense, knowing that they develop in an age that is not right for them what is appropriate for the world in the right age. Therefore, we speak of the age of a spirit when we speak of its essence. The formula that is now to be communicated is:
You, spirit of my earthly realm,
Reveal the light of your age
To the soul gifted by Christ,
That it may strive to find
In the choir of the spheres of peace
You, resounding with praise and power
Of the Christ-devoted human mind.
Yes, let us try to make fruitful that which has been planted in our souls in the course of our spiritual striving, let us try to make it so fruitful that we can hope to be equal to our trials. Let us try to prove our belief that love is the soul of our spiritual striving at a time when love, love, love is necessary!
My dear friends, this is what was in my heart to say to your souls this evening. May the love to which we have so often appealed take strong root in us. May we find the opportunity to remain faithful to one another in times of trouble and to hold fast to all the sacred values of humanity. This, my dear friends, I promise you, to combine with my feelings and to unite my thoughts with yours again and again in the days to come. And may it be granted to us, after experiencing the symbols spoken of in the opening words of this evening, after the sound of war has echoed in our building in Dornach, after the glimmer of war has shone forth, may it be granted to us that in a shorter or longer time, the words of confidence in victory and the victoriousness of the spirit may be spoken in this building, spoken in the awareness that this building looks down from its elevated position upon a humanity which, through the severe trials and struggles of these times, has fought for what is right, good, beautiful, and true within the development of humanity. May the days of struggle pass in such a way that in the future days of peace we may look back with satisfaction on the sacrifices that these times have demanded.
I hope that these words I have tried to speak this evening will touch your souls with the depth from which I believe they sprang. May they be of some comfort to you in these times when so many of us have so much to endure. But may they also be what fills all hearts that are now filled with noble enthusiasm and joyful fighting spirit, so that the spirits who know what is right will look upon these hearts with satisfaction. Let us fill ourselves with such sentiments, and we will have the opportunity to do what is right in the right place. This is what our spiritual work, which we have been trying to accomplish for years now, should and may give us strength to do.
Farewell, my dear friends, with this sentiment and with these feelings in our hearts!