Donate books to help fund our work. Learn more→

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

The Destiny of Individuals and of Nations
GA 157

31 October 1914, Berlin

2. Nationalities and Nationalism in the Light of Spiritual Science

Dear friends, once again our thoughts must first of all be for those who are at the front, having to meet the challenge of our time with their bodies and their whole being. Let us therefore direct our thoughts to the spirits who are protecting the men who are 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.

And for those who have already passed through the gate of death in the course of these events, we say:

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.

And the spirit we have sought in our endeavours for so many years, the spirit who went through the Mystery of Golgotha, the Christ spirit, the spirit of courage, the spirit of strength, the spirit of unity, the spirit of peace—may he rule over everything you are asked to do these days.

More than at other times the serious purpose of our spiritual efforts must live in our souls during these days, these weeks—a seriousness which enables us to be aware how everything we aim for in our spiritual movement has to do with all that is truly human. We are aiming for something that addresses itself not just to human existence as it is for the moment, an existence that will pass with human physical body. We are speaking of laws, of forces in soul and spirit, that directly address the higher self in man, a higher self which is more than the self that may wither away with the body and its existence. We have frequently spoken of ‘Maya’ when referring to outward appearances, and it has often been stressed that outward appearances, the processes of physical life, become Maya because man does not properly penetrate them with his mind, his perceptive faculties. He therefore does not sense, does not perceive, what is really significant; the real essence of the things perceptible to the outer senses. Man uses his perceptive faculties to draw a veil, a tissue of deception, over the events of the physical world. This makes them become Maya.

There is one particular great truth that we should have in mind these days as we look for love and understanding, for a loving comprehension of what is happening all around us—an insight that, fundamentally speaking, is at the centre of everything we aim for in spiritual science. In our day this has to present itself to our souls with the full gravity and moral weight inherent in it. It is the realization—and this has by now become the simplest and most elementary fact in our spiritual life—that life on earth recurs. The fact that in the course of time our souls progress from body to body. The part of man that is eternal hastens from body to body through man's successive incarnations on earth. On the other hand, there is the part that has to do with human existence in a physical body, the part present on the physical plane that provides the configuration. the formation, the particular stamp to human existence in an outer physical body.

One particular thing that provides the outer stamp, determining the character of a person as it were, in so far as he is living in a physical body on the physical plane, is what may collectively be referred to as nationality. This is something we should never forget, especially today. If we turn the mind's eye to what we call man's higher self, the concept of nationality loses significance. For when we pass through the gate of death everything encompassed by the term ‘nationality’ is among the things we cast off. And if we do in all seriousness want to be what we think people with spiritual aims should be, it is proper to remember that in passing through successive incarnations the human being belongs not to one but to a number of different nationalities. The part of him that links him to a particular nationality is among the things that are cast off, have to be cast off, the moment we pass through the gate of death.

Truths that belong to the realm of the eternal do not have to be easily understood. Indeed, they may well be truths which at times go against our feelings—truths we achieve with difficulty particularly in difficult times, and also find difficult to achieve and retain in their full strength and clarity in difficult times such as these. A true anthroposophist must do this, and it will be exactly in this way that he arrives at a real understanding of the physical world around him. The basic elements for such understanding have already been presented in our anthroposophical work. You will find that the lecture cycle on folk souls' in a sense contains everything needed to gain insight into the way human beings, in so far as they are in the eternal realm, are connected with their nationalities. Those lectures were of course given in peacetime when souls are more ready and prepared to accept objective, unvarnished truths. Perhaps it will be difficult to take these truths as objectively today as they could be taken in those days. Yet this is the very way in which we can prepare our souls to develop the strength they need today, if even today we are able to take these truths objectively.

Let us bring before our mind's eye the picture of a warrior going through the gate of death on the field of battle. We need to understand that this is very much a special case, to go through the gate of death like this. We need to understand that entrance is made into a world that we are seeking with every fibre of our souls in spiritual science, so that it may bring clarity even into physical life. Let us remember that death means the entrance into that spiritual world and that it is not possible to take other life impulses directly into that world, for they would bear no fruit. The only life impulses we are able to take there are those that animate the efforts of our hearts and minds and in the final instance aim to join all peoples on the earth in brotherhood. Then a simple popular saying can be seen in a new way in the light of anthroposophy. It is the proverb which says ‘Death is the grand leveller’. It makes them all equal—Frenchmen. Englishmen, Germans and Russians. That is indeed true. Considering this in relation to what is going on all around us on the physical plane today, we shall indeed become aware of the solid ground that enables us to overcome Maya in this field and look to events for their essential meaning.

Consider it in relation to the feelings of antipathy and hatred that fill the hearts of the peoples of Europe at present. Consider it in relation to all the things peoples in the different regions of European soil feel about the others, expressing it in spoken and written words. And let us also see in our mind's eye all the antipathy coming to full fruition in our time.

How should we see these things with the eye of truth? Where in this field do we find something that will take us beyond Maya, beyond the great illusion? We do not get to know about each other on earth by an approach that considers everything that is generally human as something abstract. We get to know one another by getting in a position where we are able really to understand the peculiar qualities of the peoples who are spread out over the whole earth, to understand them in concrete terms, in what they are in particular. We do not get to know a person in this life by simply saying: He is a human being like myself and must have all the same qualities that I have. No, we have to forget about ourselves and really consider the qualities of the other person.

In the lecture cycle on the folk souls I showed how the different aspects of the soul within us—the sentient soul, the intellectual or mind soul, the spiritual soul, the ego and the spirit-self—are distributed among the nations of Europe and how every nation fundamentally represents a one-sided aspect. I also said that the different nationalities will have to work together, to become the soul of Europe as a whole, just as the different aspects of our own soul need to work together. Looking at the Italian and the Iberian peninsulas we find that the national element comes to expression in the sentient soul. In France, it comes to expression as intellectual or mind soul. Moving on to the British Isles we see it coming to expression as spiritual soul. In Central Europe the national element comes to expression as ego. When we finally look to the East of Europe, that is the region where it fully emerges as spirit-self—though that is not quite the right way of putting it, as we shall see later. What comes to expression there is something that lies in the national character. But the eternal in man goes beyond what is national and this is what human beings are looking for when entering more deeply into the spirit. Compared to this, the national element is a mere garment, an outer envelope, and the more a person is able to gain insight into this the higher he will ascend. In so far as man lives in the physical world, he does live in the outward trappings of what is national and this gives his body its configuration and, fundamentally speaking, also provides the configuration for certain qualities, character traits.

Today we see the members of different nations facing one another in dislike, in hatred. I am not at this point speaking about what is going on in the combat situation. I am speaking of what is going on in the feelings, the passions, of human souls. Here we have a soul. It needs to prepare for its reception into a spiritual world through which it will now have to pass between death and its next birth, a world that will guide it towards an incarnation that will belong to quite a different nationality from the one it is now leaving. This is a fact which shows very clearly, in the best and most powerful way, how man resists the higher self that is within him. Consider some real ‘nationalist’ today, someone with national feelings who directs his antipathy very particularly against the members of another nation and, indeed, may be ranting and raving against this other nation in his own country. What is the meaning of such ranting and raving, of such antipathy? It signifies a premonition—My next incarnation will be into this nationality! The higher self has already at subconscious level established links with the other nationality. This higher self is resisted by that part of us which on the physical plane. This is man raging against his own higher self. Wherever the ranting and raving is worst, wherever the hatred felt against other nationalities is greatest and where the most lies are told about them, someone seeing things not as Maya but in truth can perceive the true reason, which is that a great many members of the nation that rages most, is most cruel in its attitudes and lies the most, will have to assume that other nationality at their next incarnation.

That is the full seriousness of what we teach, the moral greatness that lies behind it. There is much in man—very much, infinitely much—that wants to resist having to recognize his higher self, the part of him that is eternal. This is what makes it so tremendously difficult to speak objectively at the present time. It certainly is a strange phenomenon that before this war started infinitely appreciative comments reached us from England, appreciative of the German character, German competence and particularly the intellectual life in Germany. I attempted to give examples of this in my last public lecture.5 It is possible to give many more examples, and this shall also be done. What was going on there?

From the occult point of view, there had been an instinctive feeling that an element was being striven for in Central Europe that had to do with regaining youth—I spoke of the Faust type of soul in that last public lecture—a search for the spiritual, preparing for the spiritual, something the whole of Europe would one day turn to, truly turn to. This is something people were instinctively aware of in times gone by. The desire has been to understand what is going on in Central Europe. Yet being wholly bound up with the national element, we shall only be able to relate to this in full understanding in the life between death and rebirth. Then it will be possible to relate to this and understand, and the way will be found to the teachers of Central Europe. It is embarrassing to speak of this now for it may appear like boasting in someone who comes from Central Europe. Yet the objective truths must be told. So there is an instinctive feeling for something that will be looked for in the life between death and rebirth: a uniting with souls that have striven for what is altogether human—with the Goethe soul, the Schiller soul, the Fichte soul. [Johann Gottlieb Fichte, 1762–1814, German idealist philosopher.] There has been some awareness of the fact that, having passed through the gate of death, we shall look above all for the Goethe soul, the Fichte soul, the Schiller soul and other souls that had their last incarnation in Central Europe. This fact had come to expression instinctively, and now once more, for the last time, infinitely passionate nationalistic feeling is rising against it. When we realize that the words so often heard now from the west and the north west are but covering up this feeling of resistance we shall have come to understand the truth, to replace Maya, misconception. We shall then understand how earth man, having eternal man within him, does not want what the eternal man within him wants; how the love he must feel in eternity is in the temporal world transformed into hatred.

We shall find that the best way of achieving love in understanding, and understanding in love, will be to get to know the characteristics of European peoples' using the means spiritual science is able to provide. We are allowed to do so in so far as we are always addressing the higher self in man. And all who want to share in our way of thought or feeling will recognize this higher self and therefore be able to listen to everything that has to be said with regard to the outer garb, knowing that we are speaking of the outer garb.

In a certain sense every nation has its specific mission.—In due course we shall be able to enter the building in Dornach and find that the sequence of columns, their capitals and the architraves above them, express in their forms what comes to expression in the impulses we discern in Europe. But I am not going to talk about this now for it is best to talk about it when we have the building before our eyes. That is what I did there a few days ago.6Rudolf Steiner, ‘Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und kiinstlerischer Umwandlungsimpulse’ (1914) Dornach 1937 (Proposed for GA 287).—If we consider the impression our soul may gain even without seeing the building, we note above all that the inhabitants of the southern peninsulas—Italy and Spain—are, in a way, bringing back in their modern mission the elements that in the past had appeared in the third post-Atlantean epoch, in Egypto-Chaldean civilization. As soon as we grasp this, we gain a true insight into the soul of an Italian or Spanish national. This can be traced down to specific details. It is possible to say that we find in reality what we have previously perceived in the spirit. What were the characteristic features of Egypto-Chaldean civilization? This is something we have spoken of many times. They had a feeling for the great, cosmic astrology. Stars and constellations were not seen the way we see them today. Instead, spiritual entities were perceived and the constellations were seen as their physical exterior. The spiritual was seen in everything. If this is to be repeated as the mission of a nation in the time after the Mystery of Golgotha it has to be repeated in such a way that it now is part of the inner soul—that the great cosmic tableau seen by the Egyptians and Chaldeans now presents itself as though born anew out of the soul. This is nowhere more evident than in Dante's Divina Comedia, a work representing the high point of culture on the Italian peninsula. [Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321.] Even in details, the elements of ancient Egypto-Chaldean culture emerge again as though born out of the soul, resurrected in the inner life.

The essence of Greek culture is today found in the French nation, down to the character of their leading personalities. Voltaire [1694–1778] for instance can be understood only if one compares him to a real Greek. And if you consider the form Corneille [1606–16841] and Racine [1639–1699] gave to their works you can see how they were wrestling with the Greek form. This is of great significance in the history of civilization. The struggle with outer form, with what Aristotle [384–322 BC] established with regard to form, lives on in Racine and Corneille. If we look to French culture to find again the culture of the intellectual or mind soul that set the tone in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, we should find what was best in that culture. With the intellectual or mind soul coming to grips with the world, we should find exactly what relates to this. The greatest poet therefore, beyond compare in that respect, will have to be one whose creative work arises out of the intellectual or mind soul. A nation achieves greatness where its incomparables are brought to the fore. And the French poet who is unsurpassable is Molière [1622-1673]. With him the French soul reached its true, characteristic height—there it is unsurpassable. An echo of this was still alive in Voltaire.

An element that repeats nothing of the past but belongs to the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, something that has come up new in this epoch as it were, is the British soul. The principal aim of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch is to develop the spiritual soul, to bring it out. The spiritual soul is particularly in evidence in the essential nature of the British folk soul. It is characteristic of the British soul that it faces events. Fourteen, fifteen years ago, when I was writing the first edition of my Riddles of Philosophy7Rudolf Steiner, Die Rätsel der Philosophie in ihrer Geschichte als Umriss dargestellt. (GA 18) Riddles of Philosophy. Tr. F. Koelin. Anthroposophic Press, 1973. I struggled to find a term to describe the British philosophers and it then became clear to me that they are onlookers in life. They face things the way the spiritual soul faces life as an onlooker. And the greatest creative spirit in the British soul, the man who stood there and faced the British character traits giving expression to all of them, down to the very depths of the soul, was Shakespeare. There the British soul is incomparable, in the onlooker mode.

Moving on to Central Europe we find ‘...what is forever evolving, and never actually is...’ as I have already described it in the public lecture. It is the ‘I’ as such, the innermost part of man. How does this relate to the elements of man's soul? It relates individually to the sentient soul, the intellectual or mind soul and the spiritual soul, developing links with all of them. Let us consider this in the case of Goethe. We note how he longed to go to Italy. And as it was in his case so all the best minds of Central Europe always longed for Italy, to achieve fertilization of the ego and let it conceive from the sentient soul. And the ego also exchanges forces with the intellectual or mind soul. Let us try and observe how that close bond between ego and intellectual or mind soul has really always been there through the centuries. Note how Frederick the Great [1712–1786], that most German of princes, really only spoke and wrote in French, how he had a special appreciation of French culture. This is evident, for instance, from his relationship with Voltaire. We can also note how the German philosopher Leibniz [1646–1716] wrote his works in French. That is exactly how the ego relates to the intellectual or mind soul. And when the ego is from the depths of the soul seeking the thing it strives for, something pushes up from the depths of the ego, from unfathomable depths of the ego: the spiritual soul tries to grasp it. This can be seen in the case of Goethe. I have often shown how he tried to grasp the way organisms evolve one from another. He established a whole system for organisms. That arose from the depths of the ego. But it is not immediately compreshensible. People need something that is easier to understand, they need things presented the way they arise from the spiritual soul. So they did not take up what Goethe had to offer but took up Darwin [1809–1882]. We still have not reached the point today where we are able to give recognition to Goethe's Theory of Colours.8‘Goethe's Theory of Colours’ in Goethes Naturwissenschaftliche Schrifien, hersg. und kommentiert von Rudolf Steiner ( GA 1c). Transposed into the spiritual soul in Newton's [1642–1727] work it became what is currently accepted as the science of physics.

These things indicate the way in which individual, in this case national, characters are facing one another. We rise above the outer Maya which holds men captive and come to the truth when we learn to look at things in the light of spiritual science. We come to a truth that will show us that just as individual soul forces are warring with each other in a human being so the soul forces incorporated in the folk souls are at war with each other. It is not by chance that now in our day—when the teaching I have just presented has emerged—war makes its appearance as the great teacher, telling mankind in such a bloody, such a terrible way the very thing we are also telling them in spiritual terms. It is not by chance that whilst we are able to discuss this here there rages outside what is probably one of the bloodiest struggles ever. Fundamentally speaking, it represents the same truths but we must first penetrate them in their Maya to understand them as they really are.

In speaking about these things we must for once remove from the words that are spoken every nuance of feeling, of sympathy or antipathy, and use words merely for characterization. Then we shall understand things rightly. For these are things contained within the self of man, in so far as it is wrapped in the national element. We can follow this through in detail. To begin with, to prepare for what we must come to understand, let me say the following.

Let us take a Central European living in the ego culture. In my public lecture I said that the Central European aspires to his god in such a way that he will be joined to him. He wants to be united with his god. With regard to the thinking process, we can make the I generally say: ‘Man thinks’. Yet the statement ‘Man thinks’ really says very little indeed. We need to learn to look more carefully with the aid of spiritual science. We must gradually learn not to speak thoughtlessly but instead put things in the right way. For people who do not really care about the reality of things it is, of course, all right the way one just says it, but it is right only to say: ‘the Central European or Scandinavian thinks’—with ‘thinking’ here considered an activity because it is the evolving of thought that matters. ‘The ensouled being thinks’—that is what matters in Central Europe and in the Nordic countries. Man is so bound up with thought that this thought is the product of the soul's own activity, that the soul's activity consists of nothing else but the soul being caught up in thought.

The same cannot be rightly said for the Frenchman. In that case we have to say: ‘He has thoughts’. For ‘thinking’ and ‘having thoughts’ are not the same—there is a subtle difference. My Riddles of Philosophy can help to make this clear. In Western Europe people have thoughts. Thoughts are something that comes; they are given just as sensory perceptions are given. That is how it is with thoughts. They enter into the soul, they are fully alive in it, people have them, even grow intoxicated with them, are delighted to have them. One accusation made against the Germans is that their thoughts show a certain coldness. That may well be. A German has to form them first in his individual soul. They need to be warmed through there and only stay warm for as long as they are part of the immediate activity.

So much in preparation. For, indeed, the expression of individual national characteristics will always be found to show something coming alive that has already been put forward in the principles of spiritual science, something you will find in my lectures on folk souls. Let us consider individual expressions of national character.

The Italian and the Spanish character is determined by the sentient soul. We can observe this in life down to the finer detail. Everywhere we come upon the sentient soul. (This does not, of course, refer to life in the higher self.) As soon as a native of those countries is wholly within his national element he is within the sentient soul. This is particularly attached to everything connected with home and sensitive to everything that is not home but, rather, ‘alien country’. If you try, for instance, to understand all that is part of the national element in Italy you will find that an Italian sees another person who is not Italian as a foreigner who lives abroad. All the struggles that took place in Italy during the 19th century had specifically to do with home territory. Here we have a recapitulation of Egypto-Chaldean culture.

Next let us consider the people of Western Europe, those living on French soil. (Remember, we need to rid ourselves of anything to do with sympathy and antipathy.) They are recapitulating Greek civilization. Their attitude to someone from another country will be like that of the Greeks—they will call him a barbarian. Greek civilization is recapitulated here. We can understand this even if the wildest feelings of antipathy are raging. There always is a nuance present of the way people in ancient Greece considered non-Greeks.

The English people have the specific mission to nurture the spiritual soul and this comes to full expression in materialism. Here we specially need to rid ourselves of all antipathy. The nurturing of materialism results in men being simply positioned next to each other in space. This is something that was not experienced in the past: awareness of the rival. The spiritual soul is conscious of another person as its rival in physical life.

What is the situation as regards the Central Europeans, including the Scandinavians? It would be most interesting to go into full detail of this another time. What does a German feel when face to face with another national, in the position where the Italian sees the foreigner, the Frenchman the barbarian and the Englishman his rival? One needs to find the pregnant phrase always for these things. A German faces his opponent—this may also be in a duel and may have nothing at all to do with any feeling of antipathy even—it is merely an matter of fighting for existence or for something connected with one's existence. The enemy need not be denigrated in the least. Again it is possible to observe this even in fine detail. This war in particular shows how the German national faces his enemy as though in a duel.

Let us now turn to the East. We have spoken of the sentient soul coming into its own on the two southern peninsulas, the intellectual or mind soul among the French, the spiritual soul in the British Isles. In Central Europe and up north in Scandinavia the national element comes into its own in the I, the ego. It shows differentiation between different regions but overall is experienced by what is called the ego soul. As I have said, it lives as spirit-self in the East. How do we characterize the spirit-self? It approaches man, comes down upon him. In the ego, man is striving. In the three soul aspects, man is also striving. The spirit-self on the other hand descends. It will one day descend upon the East as a true spirit-self. These things are true, as we have often said. But it needs preparation, preparation to the effect that the soul conceives, that it becomes well versed in its conceiving.

Surely the Russian people have done nothing else so far but conceived. We have had the works of Soloviev, the greatest Russian philosopher, translated within our movement.9Soloviev, Vladimir: Gesammelte Werke (Collected Works), tr. Harry Kohler, with an introduction by Rudolf Steiner; Stuttgart 1921. Also Gedichte von Wladimir Solovjeff tr. by Marie Steiner, 2nd edn (Dornach 1949). If we consider his works in depth we find that it is all Western European culture and philosophy. It is a little different because it has been born out of the Russian folk soul. What is it that is approaching in the Russian soul in contradistinction to western European culture? Italy and Spain are a recapitulation of the third post-Atlantean epoch, the French people a recapitulation of the culture of ancient Greece. The Briton shows the new element that has come in, something we very definitely acquire on the physical plane. In Central Europe it is the ego that has to emerge clearly. In Russia we have receptiveness, conception. First it was Byzantine Christianity that was received, descending like a cloud and then spreading. And western European culture was received even during the reign of Peter the Great [1672–1725]. At present, one would say, only the material basis for conception is there. What we do have there is a reflection of Western European culture, and the soul's work consists in preparing itself for conception, making itself receptive. The Russian folk-soul will only be in its right element when it realizes that Western European elements have to be received the same way as the ancient Germans, for instance, received the Christian faith, or the way the Germanic people took in Greek culture through Goethe. It will be a while yet. The physical element in the people of the East is reacting against the things that need to be taken in, and so the East is still resisting what will be coming towards it. The spirit-self has to descend.

The element coming across from the West is not the spirit-self—but the soul uses it, in a way, to prepare, to practise, receptiveness. And how does a Russian see another national? As someone who stands in opposition, someone descending upon his consciousness. And so the person who is a foreigner to the Italian, a barbarian to the Frenchman, a rival to the Briton and an opponent to the German is a heretic in Russia. That is why, fundamentally speaking, the Russians have only fought religious wars until now—all their wars have so far been religious wars. The aim was to liberate all nations or bring them to the Christian faith—the Balkan countries and so on. And even now Russian country people feel the other person to be ‘evil’ incarnate. They see the other person as a heretic and always believe they are fighting for the faith—even today! These things are true down into detail and we come to understand them if we are truly willing really to look into things. And so we may also ask what it is we see confronting us in the East of Europe.

The way he is in physical life, man is in a way unjust to his higher self. Someone living in the intellectual or mind soul, a person whose imagination is particularly well developed, will ‘have’ thoughts. The concept of how he should appear to himself, in so far as he is a particular national, presents itself before his higher self. He feels that it is his glory; a third self as it were, a national self which stands between him as a higher self and as a national person. He fights on the basis of this. After death he first of all has to be overcome this unless he has already overcome it beforehand through spiritual science. He must pass through something that first of all presents itself to his soul as the Inspiration of his own image of himself.

Someone living in the spiritual soul as a national will above all be inclined towards the things the spiritual soul has made its own in the physical world. This will be like a grievous memory in the world that lies between death and rebirth.

The Central European is a seeker. This is evident even from derogatory remarks made by his enemies who may say he is fit only to plough the fields and search among the clouds. However far he may have advanced, he is, even here, seeking the self in. spirit. In the efforts he makes during his progress on earth he will therefore, in a sense, try already get rid of whatever has to be got rid of when we go through the gate of death and enter the spiritual world.

Someone who has been in a Russian body during his last incarnation must first of all, on passing through the gate of death, assume the consciousness of an angelos, merge into the inner being of an angelos—unless he has gone through a different preparation with spiritual science—and share in all that comes down from the hierarchies above him.

All these are reasons why we may say that if we look to the West of Europe it seems natural that strife arises out of the very nature of men in so far as they are nationals, for the national element is connected with something that is an outer covering. It is quite natural for strife to arise. In the spiritual world anything that rightfully belongs there can spread without hindrance. But external means have to be used to assert the image one has of oneself. It needs to be able to spread in order to emerge. Anything looking for competition must of course be able to spread. It is perfectly understandable that strife comes from the people who represent the spiritual soul. If we are really seeking the I, the ego, in Central Europe, let us see if the qualities of the ego can already be brought to bear.

I have already stressed, for example, that the ego needs to be fanned to life again every morning. It is in an unaroused state when we enter into the sphere of sleep with it and needs to be fanned to life again every morning when we wake up. If I may refer to Austria—I heard it said even when I was young that Austria would one day fall apart when occasion arose. We knew different; it might have any amount of centrifugal force within it but it was held together from outside, it could not fall apart. Let us consider Germany. Does it show the ego character in its outer aspect, in its form? It is a fact of considerable import that for much of a century the Germans have pressed for unification. They did not achieve this from the inside. It took an external impulse, not from inside Germany but from outside, from the centre of France, to let the Germany of today come into being in accord with the ego character. We can only understand the world if we consider it in the light of spiritual science. Fundamentally speaking, the ego does not have the inclination to hit out; for the overweening forces from the physical plane would then go over into the spiritual sphere. This is something we could demonstrate over and over again in German history, in the history of Austria and the history of the Scandinavian peoples. The feeling is right, therefore, that a German, or a Central European, has to be made to come out in war. Fundamentally speaking, he is unable to start a war of his own accord. If he goes to war out of initiative, he does it the way the initiative does it in the ego, and there have of course been such wars in the interior. That is what we must feel the attitude of Central Europe to war to be.

And what emerges in the East for someone able to get a feeling for national character? For the Russian it is the most unnatural thing in the world to wage war. If he were to know himself he would feel it to be most unnatural for him to wage war. We of the West cannot become Tolstoyans, however well we understand all things Russian. But for the Russian it is unnatural to wage war. War has to be imposed on him, for it is totally against the national character. A Russian feels towards war the way he feels about religious war—it is something coming from outside. War cannot be made plausible to him for he would rather pray for what is to come to him. It is therefore quite natural to look for the motives that causes Russians to go to war not in the national character but in the motives imposed on them from outside. More than anywhere else we have to say in this case that it is not the people who make war—it is the people only in an external sense and seemingly—but rather whatever it is that they have to turn against most of all. In Russia war is always a 'Maya', illusion, in the worst sense. This is why we can state clearly and precisely what I posed as a question in my public lecture: Who could have prevented the war?—If we actually want to talk of the possibility of its being prevented.—For the French, war has been something natural since 1871 and it would not be natural to speak of their being able to prevent it. Anyone forced to fight his rivals naturally does not have the right to be indignant when neutrality has been breached in some place or other, and in this case the indignation needs to be reinterpreted into the national element. But it is natural for him to go to war. We cannot take that amiss. In that case war can no more be rejected than when, in interpreting the nature of living creatures, one has to find a different phrase out of the element of the spiritual soul than from the the standpoint of the ego and therefore speaks of the 'struggle for survival'. Goethe did not coin that phrase, because from the ego point of view it does not apply. But where it is a question of war being a falsehood, where it even has to be reinterpreted first into a religious war, there we have to say that it has risen externally and therefore could also have been prevented externally. Looking into all the depths one is able to look into—the war has indeed been a necessity but that is another thing—we have to say: It is true that Russia could have stayed an onlooker, and the war could have been prevented. If Russia had remained an onlooker the war could have been prevented. For here a war has been grafted onto a national character when basically it is something quite unnatural.

Such things, as we speak about them, come from the spiritual world. They arise from it. But it is always possible to verify them, to confirm them, in the outside world. Anything we arrive at out of the spiritual world finds confirmation in the outside world. We could say that it would be a natural gesture for the Russian national character to pray and wait for what is to come. It is very strange; even Russian intellectuals are waiting in expectancy—I have already referred to this—in the feeling that something belonging to the future has to come towards them. What will have to come for them still lies far ahead in the future and we have seen how there is refusal to accept what has to be taken up now. It is perhaps more than just an outer symbol that now, when battles are being fought on the Black Sea, the Russian still looks in that direction—to see an embodiment, as it were, of what he may expect in the spirit—pointing to the Hagia Sophia.10Santa Sophia. the Great Church of the Holy Wisdom, principal church of Constantinople, Built by Justinian in 532 –7, it was converted into a mosque when Constantinope fell to the Turks in 1453 (translator). Merezhkovsky [1865–1941] describes two visits he has made to the Hagia Sophia. He felt the Hagia Sophia to be the outer symbol, as it were, of something he did not know in his feelings but was expecting, and he called it the Christianity that is to come for the Russians. He would have seen it rightly if he had realized that it is a Christian faith that has gone through the Faust nature which will have to take hold of the Russian people. But that is something he does not yet know. He believes it is the Hagia Sophia which represents it. What is his attitude to the Christian faith? If we consider what Soloviev has to say on this, then I am able to say that he shows a certain understanding of it. For when problems were once again created for him by St Petersburg and the Holy Synod, he said: ‘Ah, that is how you fare when you have problems in getting them to understand what you want to say. The one side calls me a liberal Western European atheist, the other an orthodox believer, and others again even consider me a Jesuit.’ He concluded by saying: ‘Amazing what you can turn into when seen through the eyes of the Petersburg blackguards.’ These are not my words but those of a good Russian citizen, a Russian who shows us that it is not easy to rid oneself of feelings of sympathy or antipathy. But let us assume the Russian intellectual is left to himself. As I said, it is a world of expectancy, a natural mood of looking for what is to come, something not to be achieved with the sword and with cannon. That is why the Pan-Slavonic movement is such a lie. Left to himself, Merezhkovsky gave himself up to his feelings when face to face with the Hagia Sophia. He did however confuse it with the Christian faith of the Western European which has gone through the strivings of Faust. And how does he speak of it?

I have tried to find a succinct formulation for the feelings different nations may be seen to have towards war, saying that a Russian believes he is going to war for the sake of religion, an Englishman for competition, a Frenchman for the glory, an Italian or Spaniard for his homeland and a German to fight for existence. And we are therefore able to say that Italy wants to preserve the homeland; France conceives of its own idea of [glory] as the national ideal; the Englishman takes action and does business11The German verb handeln means both ‘to act, to take action’ and ‘to trade’ (Translator). the German aspires; the Russian prays—and that comes naturally. I am not speaking of external prayer, for it is a matter of the heart. What was it then Merezhkovsky said at the end of his book, which I mentioned the day before yesterday?12Dmitri Merezhkovsky, Der Antnarsch des Pöbels (Tr. H. Horschelmann) Munich & Leipzig 1907.

The Hagia Sophia—brilliant, sad and flooded with the amber-coloured light of ultimate mystery—lifted up my soul which had fallen and was frightened. I looked up into the dome that is like the vault of heaven, and I thought: There it stands, made by the hand of man, and in it men are coming close to the triune god on earth. This close approach has been made and more still of this shall come in time to be. Surely those who believe in the Son must come to the Father who is the world. And surely those must come to the Son who love the world, which the Father also loved so much that he gave his Son for it. For they offer their souls for him and for their friends; they have the Son because they have Love, only they do not know the name.

They do not have it as a whole. And he concluded:

And I felt impelled to pray for them all, in the temple that at this hour belongs to the heathen but is the only temple for the future, to pray that my people be given that true, conquering strength: pray for conscious belief in the triune god.

So there you have the prayer. There you have the anomaly of a fight that goes from East to West.

In making this attempt to gain inner understanding of what meets us here, in attempting to escape from Maya and enter into the truth, we can indeed say to ourselves that were are not pursuing an abstract anthroposophy that is afraid to see. For it would be fear of seeing the truth if we were to shrink from seeing national characters in their true foundations, because of our ‘First Principle.’13First Principle: When he established the Anthroposophical Society in 1912/1913, Rudolf Steiner formulated the First Principle as follows: ‘The Society provides for all people to work together in brotherhood who consider the basis of their work together in love to be a common spiritual element that is in all human souls, irrespective of differences of creed, nationality, class, sex, etc.’ We are exactly following that Principle if we approach man as he is and endeavour really to look into his soul. Then we are most of all addressing the immortal aspect of man and we shall then also find the part of him that goes beyond the national, that goes towards the eternal, and the fine feelings that turn to the eternal in man. And then we shall find a way of bringing about what after all has to be brought about. For do you think progress and the good of mankind will not suffer if the temper now prevailing among nations is to persist? Tempers which in any case are merely born out of Maya? From the point of view of the necessity which demands that men get to understand one another again, that there shall be a continuation of what in a certain sense had already been started, arising from Central Europe, it is essential that this atmosphere we live in—a spiritual atmosphere that is one of such dreadful tumult today—receives also other elements into it and not only those of tumult. We cannot help but sense, if we have entered into spiritual life, the tumult that exists in the spiritual atmosphere today. The more deeply one has entered, the more one will be sensitive to this. Profoundly disturbing things may arise out of the spiritual life. The occultist has been able to learn much, but never has so much been experienced that was so deeply disturbing and has such impact as in the last three months.

Many is the time I have stressed the occult truth that things presenting themselves one way in the physical world are the opposite by nature in the spiritual world. Some of our friends will also be able to recall how often I have said that war was hanging in the spiritual air and was really only being held off by something which is a spiritual impulse also in physical life—by fear. Force of fear held it back for as long as it was astral by nature. Fear stopped it from breaking out earlier. Externally speaking, the war started of course with the assassination in Sarajevo. That, too, has its significance. That is what is so disturbing in this affair. We are among ourselves here, and so it must also be possible to say these things. The individual personality who was murdered on that clay [Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria, assassinated on 28 June 1914] and went through the gate of death afterwards presented an appearance I had never before seen myself nor heard described by others. I have on several occasions described the appearance of souls as they pass through the gate of death. This soul however showed a peculiar feature. It was like a centre of crystallisation, with everything by nature of fear elements crystallizing around it, as it were, until war broke out. Afterwards it showed itself to be something quite different. Where before it had been a great cosmic force attracting all fear, it had then become something that was the opposite. The fear which had prevailed here on the physical plane had held everybody back. But once this soul had ascended to the spiritual plane it acted in the opposite way, bringing war.

It profoundly disturbs the soul to experience such things. And there are many such things that now exist within the heaving swell of the astral impulses that rise up into the spiritual world from the hearts and minds of men. And among ourselves I am able to say that I have never experienced anything like the things I experienced in these last months, something that stirred up the waves in human souls to such a dreadful extent. From this it is of course apparent what is going on in the spiritual atmosphere. And if that which has to be in the spiritual atmosphere is indeed to come about, thoughts must enter into that atmosphere that can only arise from souls that have grasped the spiritual world. Pleading with utmost passion, therefore, your souls are asked to conceive ideas, ideas we try to stimulate with reflections like those of today or of the last occasion. These are ideas arising from spiritual insight and only souls that have gone through spiritual science are able to send such thoughts up into the spiritual world. The souls will need such thoughts now whilst war is in progress, and even more so afterwards. For thoughts are reality!

The great wish is to send the most fervent prayer into the spiritual world that whatever arises out of this war and after it may originate not from human Maya but from the truth and from spiritual reality. The more you send such thoughts up into the spiritual world the more you are doing for what shall be the fruit of these worldwide struggles, and the more you are doing for what is needed for the whole evolution of mankind.

This prayer, then, shall be the culmination of all I intended to present to your souls with these thoughts. If the questions we have considered have truly entered into our souls, if our souls, as souls that have now lived in spiritual science, allow to stream up into the spiritual world that which brings peace to man. then our spiritual science has stood the test in these fateful times. It will have stood the test to the effect that our fighters out there have not in vain given full rein to their courage; that the blood of battle has not flowed in vain. Then the suffering of those who mourn, the sacrifices which have been made, will not have been in vain in the world. Then spirit fruit will grow out of these fateful days, all the more so to the extent human beings are able to send thoughts like those I have indicated up into the spiritual world.

I want to make it clear that the words I am about to speak form a sevenfold structure, making a kind of mantram. Please note that in the last but one line the words ‘Lenken Seelen’ should be taken to mean ‘wenn Seelen lenken’ (if souls turn).

This is what I wanted to put before you: that these events, which speak so much of reality, appear in the right light to us if we rise above Maya and to the true reality. Oh, the souls will be found that are able to see our present time in that way. Souls will be found if they are found also in the sense Krishna was teaching14In the Bhagavad Gita. See also lecture of 1 September 1914. with regard to warrior-souls. And if it should truly prove possible for souls that have gone through spiritual science to send thoughts to fructify the spirit up into the spiritual world in these difficult, fateful days, then the right fruit will develop out of all that is happening in those hard struggles and cruel sacrifices. And so I am able to let the things I wanted to put before your souls today culminate in what I would so much like to see as the state of consciousness, the innermost consciousness, of souls that have gone through spiritual science:

Out of courage shown in battle,
Out of the blood shed in war,
Out of the grief of those who are left,
Out of the people's deeds of sacrifice
Spirit fruits will come to grow
If souls with knowledge of the spirit
Turn their mind to spirit realms.

Zweiter Vortrag

Meine heben Freunde! Auch heute sollen unsere ersten Gedanken denjenigen gelten, die draußen im Felde stehen und mit ihrem Leibe und mit ihrem ganzen Sein für das einzutreten haben, was unsere Zeit von ihnen fordert. Wir richten daher die Gedanken an diejenigen geistigen Wesenheiten, welche diese draußen im Felde Stehenden in Schutz nehmen.

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 für diejenigen, die infolge dieser Ereignisse schon durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind, sprechen wir:

Geister eurer Seelen, wirkende Wächter,
Eure Schwingen mögen bringen
Unserer Seelen bittende Liebe
Eurer Hut vertrauten Sphärenmenschen,
Daß, mit eurer Macht geeint,
Unsre Bitte helfend strahle
Den Seelen, die sie liebend sucht.

Und der Geist, den wir seit vielen Jahren während unseres Strebens suchten, der Geist, der durch das Mysterium von Golgatha gegangen ist, der Christus-Geist, der Geist des Mutes, der Geist der Kraft, der Geist der Einigung, der Geist des Friedens — Er möge walten über all demjenigen, was Ihr in diesen Tagen zu verrichten habt!

Mehr als zu anderen Zeiten muß in diesen Tagen, in diesen Wochen schwerer Ereignisse der Ernst unseres geistigen Strebens unsere Seelen durchweben, der Ernst, aus dem heraus wir empfinden können, wie mit allem wahrhaft Menschlichen dasjenige zusammenhängt, was wir durch unsere geistige Strömung erstreben. Wir streben das an, was nicht allein zu dem vorübergehenden Sein des Menschen spricht, zu demjenigen Sein, welches hingeht mit des Menschen physischem Leibe; wir sprechen von Weistümern, wir sprechen von Seelen- und geistigen Kräften, welche sich unmittelbar an jenes höhere Selbst im Menschen richten, welches mehr ist als dasjenige, das hinwelken kann mit dem Leibe und seinem Dasein. Wir haben oftmals das Wort Maja gebraucht von den äußeren Erscheinungen, und wir haben es oft betont, daß die äußeren Erscheinungen, die Zusammenhänge des physischen Lebens dadurch eine Maja werden, daß? der Mensch sie eben mit seiner Erkenntnis, mit seinem Erkenntnisvermögen nicht richtig durchdringt, durchschaut und dadurch nicht empfindet, nicht vernimmt, was als das Bedeutungsvolle, als das eigentlich Wesenhafte aus den äußeren Erscheinungen zu uns spricht; sondern daß mit seinem Erkenntnisvermögen dieser Mensch selber einen Schleier, ein Gewebe der Täuschung über die äußeren Ereignisse hinzieht. Dadurch werden sie zur Maja.

Ein Weistum darf vor allem in diesen Tagen vor unsere Seele treten, weil wir ja verstehende Liebe, liebendes Verständnis desjenigen suchen, was um uns herum vorgeht, ein Weistum kann insbesondere vor unsere Seele treten, eine Erkenntnis, die ja im Grunde genommen im Mittelpunkte steht von alledem, was wir erkenntnismäßig erstreben. Aber sie muß eben in diesen Tagen vor unsere Seele treten mit all dem tiefen Ernst und der sittlichen Würde, die in ihr ist. Das ist die Erkenntnis — sie ist uns Ja schon zur einfachsten, elementarsten Erkenntnis des geistigen Lebens geworden von der Wiederkehr der Erdenleben, die Wahrheit, daß unsere Seele im Laufe der Zeiten von Leib zu Leib schreitet. Dem gegenüber, was da als das Ewige im Menschen von Leib zu Leib eilt in der Aufeinanderfolge der irdischen Inkarnationen des Menschen, steht das, was mit dem leiblich-physischen Dasein des Menschen zusammenhängt, steht das auf dem physischen Plan, was diesem äußeren physisch-leiblichen Dasein des Menschen die Konfiguration, die Formation, das Gepräge gibt. Und zu alledem, was dieses äußere Gepräge gibt, was gleichsam den Charakter des Menschen bedingt, insofern er in einem physischen Leibe auf dem physischen Plan lebt, gehört insbesondere dasjenige -— wir dürfen in keinem Augenblicke, besonders in dieser Zeit, das vergessen —, was man zusammenzufassen hat unter dem Ausdruck der Nationalität. Wenn wir den Seelenblick auf das richten, was wir als des Menschen höheres Selbst bezeichnen, da verliert der Ausdruck Nationahität seine Bedeutung. Denn zu alledem, was wir ablegen, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, gehört der ganze Umfang desjenigen, was sich befaßt mit dem Ausdruck der Nationalität. Und wenn wir im Ernste dasjenige sein wollen, als was wir uns als geistig strebende Menschen wissen wollen, so geziemt es sich für uns, daran zu denken, daß der Mensch, indem er durch seine aufeinanderfolgenden Inkarnationen geht, nicht einer, sondern verschiedenen Nationalitäten angehört, und daß das, was ihn mit der Nationalität verbindet, eben zu demjenigen gehört, was abgelegt wird, in dem Augenblicke abgelegt werden muß, da wir durch die Pforte des Todes gehen.

Wahrheiten, die in das Gebiet des Ewigen gehen, brauchen nicht leicht zu begreifen zu sein. Sie können schon solche sein, gegen die sich auch zu gewissen Zeiten das Gefühl sträuben mag; die man sich besonders in schwierigen Zeiten schwierig erringen und in diesen schwierigen Zeiten schwierig auch in ihrer vollen Stärke und Klarheit bewahren kann. Aber der wahre Anthroposoph muß das, und er wird gerade dadurch zum rechten Verständnisse dessen kommen, was ihn in der äußeren physischen Welt umgibt. Die Bausteine zu diesem Verständnisse sind ja bereits in unserem anthroposophischen Streben dargebracht worden. In dem Vortragszyklus über die Volksseelen finden Sie gewissermaßen alles das enthalten, was Verständnis geben kann über den Zusammenhang der Menschen, insofern diese Menschenwesen im Ewigen sind, mit ihren Nationalitäten. Diese Vorträge wurden allerdings inmitten des Friedens gehalten, wo die Seelen geeigneter und bereiter sind, um objektive, ungeschminkte Wahrheiten voll aufzunehmen. Vielleicht ist es schwierig, diese Wahrheiten heute in derselben objektiven Weise zu bewahren, wie sie damals hingenommen worden sind. Aber gerade dadurch werden wir unsere Seelen in der allerbesten Weise zu der Stärke bereiten, die sie heute brauchen, wenn wir auch heute diese Wahrheiten in der objektiven Weise hinnehmen können.

Stellen wir vor unser Seelenauge das Bild des auf dem Schlachtfelde durch die Pforte des Todes gehenden Kriegers. Begreifen wir, daß dies ein ganz besonderer Fall ist, durch die Pforte des Todes zu gehen. Begreifen wir, daß der Eintritt erfolgt in eine Welt, welche wir mit allen Fasern unseres seelischen Lebens durch die Geisteswissenschaft suchen, damit sie uns Klarheit hereinbringt auch in das physische Leben. Bedenken wir, daß durch den Tod der Eintritt in diese geistige Welt erfolgt, in die nicht unmittelbar andere Lebensimpulse mitgenommen werden können — weil sie nicht fruchtbar wären — als diejenigen, die unser geistiges Streben beleben und die doch zuletzt darauf ausgehen, 'ein brüderliches Band zu schlingen um alle Menschen des Erdenrundes. In einem höheren Lichte erscheint uns dann ein Volksausspruch, der einfach ist, wenn wir ihn mit anthroposophischer Weisheit beleuchten, der Volksausspruch: Der Tod macht alle gleich. Er macht sie alle gleich: Franzosen und Engländer und Deutsche und Russen. Das ist doch wahr. Und stellen wir dagegen dasjenige, was uns heute auf dem physischen Plan umgibt, so werden wir wohl den Grund empfinden, um auf diesem Felde über die Maja hinüberzukommen und in den Ereignissen ihr Wesenhaftes zu suchen. Stellen wir dem gegenüber, mit welchen Haß- und Antipathiegefühlen Europas Völker in dieser Stunde erfüllt sind. Stellen wir dem gegenüber alles das, was von den einzelnen Gebieten der europäischen Erde die einzelnen Völker gegeneinander empfinden und in dem, was sie reden und schreiben, zum Ausdruck bringen. Stellen wir auch einmal vor unser Seelenauge alles dasjenige hin, was da an Antipathien sich seelisch auslebt in unserer Zeit.

Wie sollen wir in der Wahrheit diese Dinge ansehen? Wo liegt auf diesem Gebiete das, was hinüberführt über die Maja, über die große Täuschung? Wir lernen auf der Erde einander nicht kennen, wenn wir uns so ansehen, daß wir in dem allgemein Menschlichen ein Abstraktes anschauen, sondern wir lernen uns nur dadurch kennen, daß wir in die Lage kommen, wirklich die Eigentümlichkeiten der Menschen, die über die Erde verbreitet sind, zu verstehen, in ihrer Konkretheit zu verstehen, in dem, was sie im einzelnen sind, wie man einen Menschen im Leben nicht dadurch kennenlernt, daß man einfach sagt: er ist ein Mensch wie ich, und er muß alle Eigenschaften haben wie ich auch, sondern daß man von sich absieht und auf seine, des anderen Eigenschaften eingeht.

Nun ist in dem Vortragszyklus über die Volksseelen gezeigt, wie das, was als Seelenglieder in uns vorhanden ist - Empfindungsseele, Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele, Bewußtseinsseele, Ich und Geistselbst — verteilt ist auf die europäischen Nationen; wie jede Nationalität im Grunde genommen eine Einseitigkeit repräsentiert. Und weiter ist dort ausgesprochen, daß so, wie die einzelnen Seelenglieder in uns selbst zusammenzuwirken haben, so haben in Wahrheit die einzelnen Nationalitäten zusammenzuwirken zu der gesamteuropäischen Seele. Wenn wir auf die italienische, auf die spanische Halbinsel hinblicken, so finden wir, daß dort das Nationale sich auslebt als Empfindungsseele. In Frankreich lebt es sich aus als Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Wenn wir auf die britischen Inseln gehen, so sehen wir, wie es sich als Bewußtseinsseele auslebt. In Mitteleuropa lebt sich das Nationale aus als Ich. Und wenn wir nach dem Osten hinüberblicken, so ist dies die Gegend, wo es sich auslebt — obwohl der Ausdruck nicht ganz richtig ist, wie wir nachher sehen werden - als Geistselbst. Was sich so auslebt, steht im Nationalen darinnen. Aber das, was im Menschen das Ewige ist, das geht über das Nationale hinaus, das sucht der Mensch, wenn er sich geistig vertieft. Dem gegenüber ist das Nationale nur ein Kleid, eine Hülle, und der Mensch erhebt sich um so höher, je mehr er sich zu dieser Einsicht durchringen kann. Insofern aber der Mensch in der physischen Welt lebt, lebt er eben in der nationalen Hülle, in dem, was seiner äußeren Leiblichkeit die Konfiguration gibt, was im Grunde genommen auch gewissen Eigenschaften, Charaktereigentümlichkeiten seiner Seele die Konfiguration gibt.

Und nun sehen wir in Abneigung, in Haß die Angehörigen der verschiedenen Nationalitäten gegeneinander. Ich spreche jetzt nicht von dem, was im Waffenkampfe vor sich geht. Ich spreche von dem, was in den Gefühlen, in den Leidenschaften der Menschenseelen vor sich geht. Da haben wir eine Seele: die hat sich darauf vorzubereiten, nun empfangen zu werden von einer geistigen Welt, durch welche sie nun zwischen dem Tode und der nächsten Geburt durchzugehen hat, und welche sie führen wird zu einer Inkarnation, die einer ganz anderen Nationalität angehören wird als der, welche sie verläßt. Gerade an dieser Tatsache sehen wir am besten, am klarsten, am stärksten, wie sich der Mensch gegen das sträubt, was sein eigenes höheres Selbst in ihm ist. Blicken wir heute auf irgendeinen «Nationalen», auf einen national Fühlenden, der insbesondere seine Antipathie gegen die Angehörigen einer anderen Nationalität wendet, vielleicht sogar in seinem Lande gegen diese andere Nationalität wütet: was bedeutet dieses Wüten, diese Antipathie? Es bedeutet das Vorgefühl: in dieser Nationalität wird meine nächste Verkörperung sein! Schon ist im Unterbewußten das höhere Selbst verbunden mit der anderen Nationalität. Gegen dieses höhere Selbst sträubt sich das, was auf dem physischen Plan eingesponnen ist in die Nationalitäten des physischen Planes. Das ist das Wüten der Menschen gegen ihr eigenes höheres Selbst. Und wo dieses Wüten am stärksten ist, wo am meisten gehaßt und gelogen wird über andere Nationalitäten, da ist für den, der die Sachen nicht mit Maja, sondern mit Wahrheit ansieht, der wahre Grund dafür der, daß bei den Angehörigen jener Nation, die gegen eine andere am meisten wütet, am grausamsten sich benimmt und am meisten lügt, die Tatsache vorliegt, daß ein großer Teil ihrer Angehörigen mit der nächsten Inkarnation überzugehen hat in jene andere Nationalität.

Das ist der Ernst unserer Lehre, das ist die sittliche Würde, die dahintersteckt. Vieles im Menschen sträubt sich gegen die Anerkennung seines höheren Selbstes, seines Ewigen; vieles, unendlich vieles. Daher ist es in der Gegenwart ungeheuer schwierig, objektiv zu reden. Es ist immerhin eine eigentümliche Erscheinung, eine ganz eigentümliche Erscheinung, daß, bevor dieser Krieg begonnen hat, unendlich anerkennende Stimmen von England herübergekommen sind gegenüber deutschem Charakter, deutscher Tüchtigkeit, namentlich aber gegenüber deutschem Geistesleben. Eine Probe dafür versuchte ich im letzten öffentlichen Vortrage zu geben. Diese Beispiele könnten ins Ungeheure vermehrt werden, und sie sollen auch noch vermehrt werden. Was war das?

Okkultistisch angesehen, war es das Gefühl dafür, daß tatsächlich in dem, was im letzten öffentlichen Vortrage gesagt worden ist über den faustischen Seelencharakter, der in Mitteleuropa angestrebt wird, etwas Sichverjüngendes liegt, etwas das Spirituelle Suchendes, etwas zum Spirituellen Vorbereitendes, etwas, zu dem sich ganz Europa hinwenden wird, wirklich hinwenden wird; das wurde in den Zeiten, welche den unsrigen vorangegangen sind, instinktiv erfühlt. Man wollte etwas verstehen von dem, was da in Mitteleuropa vorgeht. Man wird aber, da man im Nationalen steht, ganz verständnisvoll damit verbunden sein können erst im Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Da wird man verständnisvoll damit verbunden sein können; da wird man den Weg hinfinden zu den mitteleuropäischen Lehrern. Es ist sogar unangenehm, dies jetzt zu sagen, weil es von dem Angehörigen Mitteleuropas wie eine Renommisterei aussieht; aber man muß schon die objektiven Wahrheiten sagen. Was aber so instinktiv empfunden wird, was gesucht werden wird im Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt: Die Vereinigung mit Seelen, die so nach dem allgemein Menschlichen gestrebt haben, mit der Goethe-Seele, mit der Schiller-Seele, mit der Fichte-Seele was da empfunden wurde von der Tatsache, daß man, wenn man durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, aufsuchen wird vor allem die Goethe-Seele, die Fichte-Seele, die Schiller-Seele und andere Seelen, die in Mitteleuropa ihre letzte Inkarnation hatten -, gegen diese Tatsache, die sich so instinktiv ausgesprochen hat, sträubt sich noch ein letztes Mal unendliches nationales Leidenschaftliches. Wenn wir dieses Sträuben in die Worte gekleidet empfinden, die jetzt von Westen und Nordwesten so häufig zu uns herübertönen, so haben wir an die Stelle der Maja, der Täuschung, die verstandene Wirklichkeit gesetzt. Dann verstehen wir, wie der Erdenmensch, der in sich den ewigen Menschen hat, nicht will, was der ewige Mensch in ihm will; wie sich ihm die Liebe, die er im Ewigen empfinden muß, in Haß umwandelt im Zeitlichen.

Wir werden am besten zur verstehenden Liebe, zum liebevollen Verständnis kommen, wenn wir uns in dem Sinne, wie es unsere geistige Wissenschaft uns geben kann, über die Charaktere der europäischen Menschheit unterrichten. Wir dürfen das, denn wir sprechen ja stets zum höheren Selbst des Menschen. Und wer mit uns denken und fühlen will, der anerkennt dieses höhere Selbst und kann daher alles hören, was über die äußere Hülle gesprochen werden muß; denn er weiß, daf die Rede von der äußeren Hülle ist.

Es ist ja im gewissen Sinne jedem Volke eine bestimmte Mission auferlegt. Wir werden einmal, wenn wir den Bau in Dornach betreten, in der Aufeinanderfolge der Säulen, ihrer Kapitäle und der Architrave darüber, in den Formen ausgedrückt finden, was in den europäischen Impulsen zum Ausdruck kommt. Doch darüber will ich jetzt nicht sprechen, weil es gut ist, darüber zu sprechen, wenn man den Bau vor sich hat. Das habe ich vor einigen Tagen dort getan. Wenn wir aber das, was ohne dieses auf unsere Seele Eindruck machen kann, uns vor Augen halten, dann erkennen wir vor allen Dingen in den Bewohnern der südlichen Halbinseln — Italien und Spanien — Völker, die gewissermaßen in ihrer modernen Mission alles wiederkehren lassen, was in alten Zeiten während der dritten nachatlantischen Kulturperiode sich abgespielt hat, in der ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur. Sobald wir dies verstehen, blicken wir erst richtig in die Seele des italischen oder spanischen Nationalen. Das läßt sich bis in die Einzelheiten hinein verfolgen. So daß man sagen kann: was sich uns geistig darstelle, wir finden es in der Wirklichkeit. Und was ist denn das Charakteristische - wir haben es so oft besprochen — der ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur gewesen? Das war es, daß große, kosmische Astrologie empfunden wurde! Daß man Sterne und Sternbilder nicht in der Weise ansah, wie wir heute dieselben ansehen, sondern daß man geistige Wesen sah, welche in diesen Sternbildern ihre äußeren Verkörperungen hatten; daß man überall Geistiges ausgebreitet sah. Wenn sich das wiederholen soll als nationale Aufgabe in der Zeit nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha, so muß es sich so wiederholen, daß es seelisch verinnerlicht ist, daß ihm das große kosmische Tableau der Ägypter und Chaldäer wie aus der Seele neugeboren entgegentritt. Wo wäre das klarer der Fall als dort, wo die Kultur der italischen Halbinsel ihren Höhepunkt erreicht hat, in Dantes «Göttlicher Komödie»? Aber bis in die Einzelheiten ist es so, daß, wie aus der Seele herausgeboren, innerlich wiedererstanden das zutage tritt, was in der alten ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur vorhanden war.

Was in der griechischen Kultur das Wesentliche war, tritt im französischen Volke zutage, sogar bis in die Charaktere der führenden Persönlichkeiten. Voltaire zum Beispiel wird man nur verstehen, wenn man ihn mit einem wirklichen Griechen vergleicht. Und wenn man sich die Formen der Kunstwerke Corneilles, Racines ansieht, so wird man sehen, wie gerungen wird mit der griechischen Form. Das hat ja eine große kulturhistorische Bedeutung. Das Ringen mit der äußeren Form, mit dem, was Aristoteles über die Form erkundet hat, das lebt in Racine und Corneille fort. Und wenn wir das, was in der vierten nachatlantischen Kulturperiode tonangebend war als Kultur der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele, wiedersuchen in der französischen Kultur, dann müssen wir dort das finden, was sich in ihr als Größtes ausspricht, was sich, indem sich die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele hermacht über die Welt, damit gerade befassen kann. Der größte Dichter also, der nicht seinesgleichen finden kann in solcher Form, muß ein solcher sein, daß er aus der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele heraus gestaltet. Da erreicht ein Volk seine Größe, wo es seine Unvergleichlichen an die Oberfläche bringt. Wer ist in der französischen Dichtung der, der nicht übertroffen werden kann? Das ist Moliere! Da erreicht die französische Seele ihre eigentliche, charakterisierte Höhe; da kann sie nicht übertroffen werden. Ein Abglanz davon wirkt noch in Voltaire.

Was nun nicht eine Wiederholung von Altem ist, sondern hereingehört in den fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum, was gleichsam eine Neuschöpfung dieses Zeitraumes ist, das ist die britische Seele. Dieser fünfte nachatlantische Zeitraum strebt ja vorzugsweise nach der Entfaltung der Bewußtseinsseele; stellt diese heraus. Die Bewußtseinsseele ist besonders ausgeprägt in der britischen Volkseigentümlichkeit. Das Eigentümliche der britischen Seele ist dieses Stehen gegenüber den Ereignissen. Schon vor vierzehn, fünfzehn Jahren, als ich die erste Auflage der «Rätsel der Philosophie» schrieb, habe ich danach gerungen, einen Ausdruck zu finden für die britischen Philosophen; und damals ergab sich mir: Sie sind Zuschauer des Lebens; sie stellen sich hin, wie sich die Bewußtseinsseele als Zuschauer dem Leben gegenüber hinstellt. Und wer ist der größte Schöpfer der britischen Seele, der sich hinstellt und die britischen Charaktereigentümlichkeiten bis in die tiefste Seele hinein zum Ausdruck bringt? Das ist Shakespeare! Da ist die britische Seele unvergleichlich im Zuschauerzustande.

Gehen wir jetzt hinüber nach Mitteleuropa, so finden wir, «was immer wird und niemals ist», wie ich es schon im öffentlichen Vortrage charakterisiert habe: das eigentliche Ich, das Innerlichste des Menschen. Wie verhält es sich zu den Seelengliedern? Es bildet seine einzelnen Beziehungen zur Empfindungsseele, Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele und zur Bewußtseinsseele; es zieht die Fäden zu allen hin. Betrachten wir das gleich an Goethe! Wir sehen, wie er sich sehnt nach Italien. Und wie wir es bei ihm sehen, so haben sich die Besten Mitteleuropas immer gesehnt nach Italien, um das zu finden, was das Ich befruchtet und was es empfängt aus der Empfindungsseele heraus. Und mit der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele tauscht das Ich die Kräfte gegenseitig aus. Versuchen wir im Laufe der Jahrhunderte zu sehen, wie jenes enge Band, welches zwischen Ich und Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele besteht, tatsächlich auch da ist. Beachten wir, wie noch Friedrich der Große, der deutscheste Fürst, eigentlich nur französisch spricht und schreibt, wie er auch besonders die französische Kultur schätzt, was sich zum Beispiel in seinem Verhältnis zu Voltaire zeigt. Ebenso sehen wir, wie der deutsche Philosoph Leibniz seine Werke in der französischen Sprache schreibt. Das ist gerade so, wie es das Ich mit der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele macht. Und wenn das Ich aus den Tiefen der Seele heraus nach dem sucht, wonach es strebt, da drängt sich etwas aus den Tiefen des Ich, aus unergründlichen Tiefen des Ich herauf: die Bewußtseinsseele sucht es zu erfassen. Wir sehen es an Goethe. Ich habe oft auseinandergesetzt, daß er zu ergreifen sucht, wie die Organismen auseinander hervorgehen; eine große umfassende Lehre der Organismen stellt er auf. Das geht aus der Tiefe des Ich hervor. Doch das kann man nicht gleich verstehen; die Menschheit braucht einen leichteren Verstand; sie braucht die Dinge so, wie sie sich aus der Bewußstseinsseele ergeben. Sie nimmt nicht das, was Goethe gegeben hat, sondern sie nimmt dasselbe in der Übersetzung in die Bewußitseinsseele an, sie nimmt Darwin an. Heute sind wir noch nicht so weit, daß man Goethes «Farbenlehre» anerkennen kann, aber die Übersetzung derselben in die Bewußtseinsseele, die man bei Newton findet, gilt heute allgemein als physikalische Lehre.

Diese Dinge weisen uns hinein in die Art und Weise, wie sich die einzelnen, jetzt aber nationalen Charaktere gegenüberstehen, und wir erheben uns von der äußeren Maja, in welcher die Menschen befangen sind, zur Wahrheit, wenn wir die Dinge geisteswissenschaftlich betrachten lernen, zu jener Wahrheit, die uns zeigen kann, daß so, wie die einzelnen Seelenkräfte im Menschen Krieg führen, auch die einzelnen in den Volksseelen inkorporierten Seelenkräfte miteinander den Krieg führen. Und es ist kein Zufall, daß in unserer Zeit — wo das, was eben gesagt worden ist, als Lehre hervorgetreten ist — der große Lehrmeister, der Krieg auftritt, der auf so blutige, auf so furchtbare Weise zu den Menschen spricht, was wir auch geistig zu den Menschen sprechen. Es ist kein Zufall, daß, während wir dieses hier so besprechen dürfen, draufen vielleicht eines der blutigsten Ringen waltet, und daß es im Grunde genommen denselben Wahrheiten entspricht, die man nur durchdringen muß in der Maja, um sie in der Wirklichkeit zu verstehen.

Wir müssen einmal, um über diese Dinge zu sprechen, von den Worten hinwegfegen alle Empfindungsnuancen von Antipathie und Sympathie und sie nur als Charakteristika gebrauchen, dann werden wir die Sachen in der richtigen Weise verstehen. Denn es handelt sich um Dinge, die das Selbst des Menschen in sich trägt, insofern es eingehüllt ist in das Nationale. Das können wir nun bis in die Einzelheiten verfolgen. Ich will zunächst, um vorzubereiten zu dem, was wir verstehen sollen, eines sagen.

Nehmen wir den Angehörigen Mitteleuropas, der in der Ich-Kultur lebt. In dem öffentlichen Vortrage habe ich gesagt: der Bewohner Mitteleuropas strebt so nach seinem Gott, daß er mit dem Gotte verbunden ist; er will mit seinem Gott zusammensein. Wenn wir auf das Denken schauen, können wir den allgemeinen Satz aussprechen: der Mensch denkt. Aber mit dem allgemeinen Satze «der Mensch denkt» ist eigentlich ungemein wenig gesagt, ist recht wenig gesagt. Man muß gerade durch die Geisteswissenschaft lernen, genauer zu schauen. Man muß allmählich lernen, an die Stelle desjenigen, was so gedankenlos hingesprochen wird, das Richtige zu setzen. Für die, welche sich nicht besonders um die realen Verhältnisse kümmern, ist es ja richtig, was so hingesprochen wird. Aber richtig ist es, wenn man sagt: der Bewohner Mitteleuropas oder Skandinaviens denkt — «denkt» als Tätigkeit betrachtet, weil es auf die Entfaltung des Denkens ankommt. Daß das Seelenwesen denkt, darauf kommt es in Mitteleuropa bis in die nordischen Länder hinauf an. Das Verbundensein des Menschen mit dem Gedanken ist so, daß dieser Gedanke das ureigenste Täugkeitsprodukt der Seele ist, daß die Tätigkeit der Seele nichts anderes ist als das Sichverfangen der Seele im Gedanken.

Vom Franzosen in derselben Weise zu sprechen, ist nicht richtig. Da müssen wir sagen: er hat Gedanken. Denn «denken» und «Gedanken haben» ist im feineren Unterschiede nicht dasselbe. Zum Verständnis der Sache kann das helfen, was in den «Rätseln der Philosophie» ausgesprochen ist. Im Westen Europas hat man Gedanken; die Gedanken sind etwas, was kommt, was einem gegeben wird, wie einem auch die Sinnesempfindungen gegeben werden. So ist es auch mit den Gedanken: sie treten herein in die Seele, sie leben sich in ihr aus, man hat sie, man berauscht sich auch an ihnen, man ist beglückt, sie zu haben. Dem Deutschen wirft man sogar vor, daß seine Gedanken etwas Kaltes haben. Das kann vielleicht schon sein, weil er sie erst bilden muß in seiner individuellen Seele; sie müssen erst dort warm gemacht werden, und sie bleiben nur solange warm, als sie in der unmittelbaren Tätigkeit sind.

Das nur zur Vorbereitung. Denn in der Tat: in den einzelnen nationalen Äußerungen nehmen wir überall das Ausleben dessen wahr, was in den Prinzipien der Geisteswissenschaft gegeben ist, welche Sie in den Vorträgen über die Volksseelen finden. Nehmen wir einzelne Äußerungen der nationalen Charaktere.

Der italienische, der spanische Charakter ist bestimmt durch die Empfindungsseele. Bis in die Einzelheiten können wir das im Leben verfolgen. Wir finden überall — das bezieht sich natürlich nicht auf das Leben im höheren Selbst — die Empfindungsseele. Sobald sich der Mensch dieser Länder im Nationalen auslebt, lebt er sich aus in der Empfindungsseele. Diese ist insbesondere anhänglich an alles, was Heimat ist, und empfindet als einen Gegensatz dazu die Fremde. Suchen Sie nun zu verstehen, was zum Beispiel alles im italienischen Nationalen lebt, so werden Sie finden, daß der Italiener den anderen, der Nicht-Italiener ist, als den Fremden empfindet, der in der Fremde lebt. Und alle Kämpfe, welche im neunzehnten Jahrhundert in Italien geführt worden sind, wurden im ausgesprochensten Maße um die Heimat geführt. Das ist die Wiederholung der ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur.

Sehen wir jetzt auf den Bewohner Westeuropas, des französischen Gebietes. Wie gesagt, wir müssen dabei alles abstreifen, was Sympathien und Antipathien sind! Er wiederholt die griechische Kultur. Er wird daher den Auswärtigen auch so empfinden, wie ihn der Grieche empfunden hat: er nennt ihn Barbar. — Eine Wiederholung des Griechentums! — Man kann es verstehen, trotzdem es gegossen ist in die wütendsten Antipathiegefühle. Und es ist immer etwas von der Nuance dabei, wie man im alten Griechenland von der nichtgriechischen Menschheit gesprochen hat.

Dem englischen Volke ist besonders übertragen die Pflege der Bewußtseinsseele, die sich auslebt im Materialismus. Da muß man besonders alles abstreifen, was Antipathien sind. Die Pflege des Materialismus bringt hervor, was die Menschen einfach im Raume nebeneinander hinstellt. Darin zeigt sich etwas, was in den Zeiten vorher gar nicht in dieser Weise empfunden wurde: man empfindet den Konkurrenten. Die Bewußtseinsseele empfindet den anderen als Konkurrenten im physischen Dasein.

Wie ist es bei den Bewohnern Mitteleuropas, bis zu den Skandinaviern? Es würde zu anderen Zeiten ungemein verlockend sein, dies in seinen Einzelheiten durchzuführen. Was empfindet der Deutsche, wo er dem anderen gegenübersteht, da, wo der Italiener den Fremden, der Franzose den Barbaren, der Engländer den Konkurrenten empfindet? Man muß überall die prägnanten Worte dafür finden: der Deutsche hat den Feind, dem man gegenübersteht, zum Beispiel auch im Duell, wobei gar nichts damit verbunden zu sein braucht von irgendeiner Antipathie sogar, sondern wo man kämpft um die Existenz oder um etwas, was mit der Existenz zusammenhängt. Der Feind braucht nicht in der geringsten Weise herabgemindert zu sein. Es läßt sich dies wieder bis in die Einzelheiten verfolgen. Gerade dieser Krieg zeigt, daß der Deutsche dem Feind gegenübersteht wie im Duell.

Blicken wir nun nach Osten. Wir haben davon gesprochen, daß auf den südlichen zwei Halbinseln die Empfindungsseele sich auslebt, bei den Franzosen die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele, auf den britischen Inseln die Bewußtseinsseele; in Mitteleuropa bis hinauf nach Skandinavien lebt das Nationale sich aus im Ich, wobei es sich in den einzelnen Gebieten differenziert, aber im ganzen von dem, was man Ich-Seele nennt, empfunden wird. Als Geistselbst, sagte ich, lebt es sich aus im Osten. Was ist der Charakter des Geistselbst? Es kommt heran an den Menschen, senkt sich auf ihn herunter. Im Ich strebt man; in den drei Seelengliedern strebt man auch; das Geistselbst senkt sich herunter. Es wird schon einmal über den Osten als wirkliches Geistselbst sich heruntersenken. Die Dinge sind wahr, die wir oft betont haben. Aber dazu gehört Vorbereitung, Vorbereitung von der Art, daß die Seele empfängt, daß sie sich einarbeitet in dem Empfangen. Was hat denn das russische Volk bis jetzt im Grunde genommen anderes getan als empfangen? Wir haben innerhalb unserer Bewegung den größten russischen Philosophen, Solowjow, übersetzen lassen. Wenn wir uns in ihn hineinvertiefen — es ist alles westeuropäisches Geistesleben, westeuropäische Kultur. Es ist etwas anderes dadurch, daß es aus der russischen Volksseele herausgeboren ist. Aber was schwebt da, im Gegensatz zur westeuropäischen Kultur, im russischen Volke heran? Italien, Spanien ist die Wiederholung der dritten nachatlantuschen Kulturepoche, das französische Volk die Wiederholung der Kultur des alten Griechenland. Der Brite zeigt das, was neu hinzugekommen ist, aber was man ganz gewiß auf dem physischen Plan erwirbt. In Mitteleuropa ist es das Ich, das aus sich herausarbeiten muß. In Rußland haben wir das Empfangende. Empfangen worden ist zunächst das byzantinische Christentum, das sich wie eine Wolke niedergelassen hat und sich dann ausbreitete; und empfangen worden ist schon unter Peter dem Ersten die westeuropäische Kultur. Erst das Material, möchte man sagen, ist da zum Empfangen. Das, was da ist, ist Spiegelung des Westeuropäischen, und die Arbeit der Seele ist Vorbereitung zum Empfangen. Erst dann wird das Russentum in seinem rechten Elemente sein, wenn es so weit ist, daß es erkennt: es muß das, was in Westeuropa ist, empfangen werden, wie etwa die Germanen das Christentum empfangen haben, oder wie die Germanen in Goethe das Griechentum in sich aufgenommen haben. Das wird noch eine Weile dauern. Und weil sich gegen das, was der Mensch im Osten aufnehmen muß, sein Physisches sträubt, so sträubt sich noch der Osten gegen das, was zu ihm kommen muß. Das Geistselbst muß herunterkommen. Nun ist das, was da von dem Westen herüberkommt, zwar nicht das Geistselbst. Aber die Seele verhält sich so dazu, bereitet sich gleichsam schon vor, um zu empfangen. Als was sieht daher der Russe den anderen an? Als den, der «gegenübersteht», als den auf sein Bewußtsein Herabschwebenden. Daher ist der andere, der beim Italiener der Fremde, beim Franzosen der Barbar, beim Briten der Konkurrent, beim Deutschen der Feind ist, er ist dort der Ketzer. Daher hatte bis jetzt der Russe im Grunde genommen nur Religionskriege! Alle Kriege sind bisher nur Religionskriege gewesen. Alle Völker sollten befreit werden oder zum Christentum gebracht werden, die Balkanvölker und so weiter. Und jetzt auch empfindet der russische Bauer den anderen als das «Böse». Er empfindet den anderen als den Ketzer; er glaubt immer, Religionskriege zu führen. Jetzt auch! Diese Dinge gehen bis in die Einzelheiten hinein, und man lernt sie verstehen, wenn man den guten Willen dazu hat, wirklich in die Dinge hineinzuschauen. Und so können wir auch fragen: Wie erscheint uns nun das, was uns von Osten entgegentritt?

Der Mensch ist gewissermaßen, wie er im physischen Leben dasteht, ungerecht gegen sein eigenes höheres Selbst. Wer in der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele lebt, bei dem sich insbesondere die Phantasie ausbildet, der «hat» die Gedanken, dem stellt sich das, als was er sich selber vorkommen muß, insofern er ein Nationaler ist, hin vor sein höheres Selbst. Das empfindet er als seine Glorie, als das, was gleichsam ein drittes Selbst ist, ein nationales Selbst, das sich zwischen ihn, wie er als höheres Selbst ist und als nationaler Mensch, hineinstellt. Aus dem heraus kämpft er. Und nach dem Tode hat er zunächst dies zu überwinden, wenn er es nicht schon vorher durch die Geisteswissenschaft überwunden hat. Er muß durch das hindurch, was sich ihm zunächst vor die Seele stellt wie die Inspiration desjenigen, als was er sich selber vorstellt.

Und der, welcher als Nationaler in der Bewußtseinsseele lebt? Er hat vor allem den Hang zu dem, was sich die Bewußtseinsseele in der physischen Welt aneignet. Das steht da wie eine wehtuende Erinnerung in der Welt, die sich ausbreitet im Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt.

Der Bewohner Mitteleuropas sucht. Das tritt sogar zutage, wo er von den Gegnern abfällig besprochen wird, wenn gesagt wird, er sei nur dazu da, den Acker zu pflügen und in den Wolken zu suchen. Mag er immer wie weit gekommen sein: er sucht schon hier das geistige Selbst. Daher sucht er in gewissem Sinne schon in seinem Streben während der Erdenlaufbahn das hinwegzuschaffen, was immer hinweggeschafft werden muß, wenn man durch die Pforte des Todes eintritt in die geistige Welt.

Wer seine letzte Inkarnation in einem Russenleibe durchgemacht hat, hat zunächst, wenn er die Pforte des Todes durchschreitet, das Bewußtsein eines Angelos anzunehmen, wie in den Schoß eines Angelos einzugehen — wenn er sich nicht durch Geisteswissenschaft anders vorbereitet hat -, hat in das sich einzuleben, was von den nächsten Stufen der höheren Hierarchien herunterkommt.

Aus allen diesen Gründen können wir sagen: Schauen wir nach Westen, so finden wir es natürlich, daß aus dem Wesen der Menschen, sofern sie Nationale sind, Kampf entsteht, denn der Nationale ist dort verbunden mit dem, was eben die äußere Hülle ist. Es ist ganz natürlich, daß Kampf entsteht. In der geistigen Welt kann das, was in dieser berechtigt ist, sich ungehindert ausbreiten. Das, als was man sich selber in seiner Phantasie erscheint, muß sich durch äußere Mittel geltend machen. Das bedarf, um hervorzutreten, daß es sich ausbreiten kann. Was die Konkurrenz sucht, muß sich selbstverständlich ausbreiten wollen. Wir finden es nicht unverständlich, daß von den Vertretern der Bewußtseinsseele Kampf herüberkommt. Wenn wir wirklich in Mitteleuropa das Ich suchen, so wollen wir sehen, ob die Eigenschaften des Ich schon anwendbar sind. Ich habe zum Beispiel schon hervorgehoben, daß das Ich jeden Morgen von neuem angefacht werden muß. Wenn wir in die Schlafenssphäre mit dem Ich hineingehen, so ist es in derselben unangefacht; jeden Morgen beim Aufwachen muß es aufs neue angefacht werden. Wenn ich von Österreich sprechen darf: schon in meiner Jugend wurde davon gesprochen, daß Österreich einmal bei dieser oder jener Gelegenheit zerfallen werde. Wir haben etwas anderes gewußt: es mag in sich noch so viel Zentrifugalkraft haben, es wird von außen zusammengehalten, es konnte nicht auseinanderfallen. Sehen wir auf Deutschland. Hat es einen Ich-Charakter in seinem Äußeren, in seiner Form? Es ist doch eine weithin sprechende Tatsache, daß durch einen großen Teil des Jahrhunderts die Deutschen getrieben haben zur Einigung. Im Innern haben sie dieselbe nicht geschaffen. Durch einen äußeren Anstoß, ja sogar nicht einmal in Deutschland, sondern im Äußeren, mitten in Frankreich, ist das heutige Deutschland zustande gekommen, wie es dem Ich-Charakter entspricht. Man versteht die Welt nur, wenn man sie geisteswissenschaftlich versteht. Das Ich hat im Grunde genommen nicht die Tendenz, um sich zu schlagen; denn die überschüssigen Kräfte des physischen Planes gehen dann über in das Geistige. Dieses könnte ja an der deutschen Geschichte, an der Geschichte Österreichs, an der Geschichte der skandinavischen Völker immer und immer wieder nachgewiesen werden. Daher das Bewußtsein ein richtiges ist: der Deutsche oder der Bewohner Mitteleuropas muß zum Kriege erst sozusagen herausgeholt werden; er kann ihn im Grunde genommen nicht aus sich selbst heraus beginnen. Wenn er einen Krieg aus Initiative führt, dann macht er es so, wie die Initiative es im Ich macht, und diese Kriege sind ja auch genügend im Innern geführt worden. So muß man das empfinden, was das Verhältnis Mitteleuropas zum Kriege ist.

Aber was bildet sich für den, der Volkscharaktere empfinden kann, denn dann im Osten? Das ist überhaupt das Allerunnatürlichste, wenn der Russe Krieg führt. Und würde er sich selbst erkennen, so würde er es auch als das Allerunnatürlichste empfinden, Krieg zu führen. Wir im Westen, wenn wir auch alles Russische noch so gut verstehen, wir können keine Tolstoianer werden. Aber dem Russen ist es unnatürlich, Krieg zu führen. Ihm muß erst der Krieg aufgedrängt werden, denn er ist etwas für den tiefsten Volkscharakter Unnatürliches. Der Russe steht dem Krieg so gegenüber wie einem Religionskrieg, wie etwas, was von außen kommt. Man kann ihm den Krieg nicht plausibel machen; denn vielmehr möchte er erbeten, was an ihn herankommen soll. Daher ist es ganz selbstverständlich, daß man gar nicht im innersten russischen Volkscharakter die Motive zum Kriege sucht, sondern in dem, was ihm von außen als solche aufgedrängt wird. Und mehr als irgendwo anders muß in diesem Falle gesagt werden: dort ist es nicht das Volk, das den Krieg macht — das Volk ist es nur äußerlich und nur seinem Glauben nach -, aber es ist das, wogegen sich das Volk am meisten wenden muß. In Rußland ist ein Krieg immer im ärgsten Sinne eine Maja, eine Täuschung. Aus diesem Grunde ist es, daß man so klar und präzise sagen kann, was ich im öffentlichen Vortrage als Frage aufwarf: Wer hätte den Krieg verhindern können? — wenn man überhaupt davon sprechen will, daß er hätte verhindert werden können. Den Franzosen war der Krieg seit dem Jahre 1871 natürlich, und davon zu sprechen, daß sie ihn hätten verhindern können, wäre nicht natürlich. Wem ein Konkurrenzkampf aufgedrungen ist, der hat selbstverständlich kein Recht, darüber entrüstet zu sein, wenn irgendwo eine Neutralitätsverletzung stattgefunden hat, und man muß in diesem Falle die Entrüstung umdeuten in das nationale Element hinein; aber daß er den Krieg führt, ist selbstverständlich. Das kann ihm nicht verübelt werden. Da ist der Krieg ebensowenig von der Hand zu weisen, wie man, wenn man die Natur der Lebewesen interpretiert, aus dem Element der Bewußtseinsseele heraus ein anderes Wort finden muß als vom Ich-Standpunkte aus, und deshalb vom Kampf ums Dasein spricht. Goethe hat dieses Wort nicht geprägt, weil es vom Ich-Standpunkte aus nicht anwendbar ist. Aber wo es sich darum handelt, daß der Krieg eine Unwahrheit ist, daß er sogar erst uminterpretiert werden muß in einen Religionskrieg, da ist zu sagen, daß er, weil er äußerlich aufgetreten ist, auch äußerlich hätte verhindert werden können. Wenn man in alle Tiefen blickt, in die man blicken kann - es ist nun der Krieg selbstverständlich eine Notwendigkeit gewesen, aber das ist eine andere Sache —, so muß gesagt werden: Wahr ist es, Rußland hätte Zuschauer bleiben können, und der Krieg hätte verhindert werden können. Wäre es Zuschauer geblieben, so hätte der Krieg verhindert werden können. Denn hier ist der Krieg aufgepfropft auf einen Volkscharakter, wo er im Grunde genommen ganz unnatürlich ist.

Wenn man über solche Dinge spricht, dann hat man sie aus der geistigen Welt heraus, dann gehen sie daraus hervor; aber sie können immer bewahrheitet, bestätigt gefunden werden in der äußeren Welt, und was man aus dem Geistigen heraus findet, bestätigt sich in der äußeren Welt. Wir würden sagen: eine natürliche Geste wäre es für den russischen Nationalcharakter, betend zu warten auf das, was zu ihm kommen soll. Es ist sehr eigentümlich: die russischen Intellektuellen - ich habe darauf auch schon hingewiesen - erwarten auch, und sie empfinden auch, daß etwas Zukünftiges an sie herankommen muß. Nun ist zwar das noch sehr weit in der Zukunft, was an sie herankommen muß, und wir haben gesehen, wie abgelehnt wurde, was jetzt aufgenommen werden soll. Es ist vielleicht mehr als ein äußeres Symbolum, daß, während jetzt die Kämpfe im Schwarzen Meer vor sich gehen, der Russe noch immer dort hinuntersieht, um gleichsam auf eine Verkörperung dessen zu schauen, was er geistig erwarten soll, indem er hinweist auf die Hagia Sophia. Mereschkowski erzählt uns von zwei Reisen, die er zur Hagia Sophia gemacht hat. Er hat in der Hagia Sophia gleichsam ein äußeres Symbolum für das empfunden, was er in seinen Gefühlen nicht kennt, aber was er erwartet, und er hat es das an die Russen herankommende Christentum genannt. Er würde es aber richtig erkennen, wenn er wüßte, daß das durch die faustische Natur durchgegangene Christentum den Russen ergreifen muß. Das weiß er aber noch nicht. Er glaubt, es in der Hagia Sophia vor sich zu haben. Wie steht er dem Christentum gegenüber? Wenn wir auf das blikken, worüber Solowjow spricht, so ist das etwas, worüber ich sagen kann, daß er ein gewisses Verständnis dafür hat. Denn als ihm wieder einmal von Petersburg und dem Heiligen Synod Schwierigkeiten gemacht worden sind, da meinte er: Ja, so geht es einem schon einmal, wenn man schwierig durchdringt mit dem, was man sagen will. Die einen klagen mich an als einen liberalen westeuropäischen Atheisten, die andern als einen Orthodoxen, und wieder andere schauen mich gar an als einen Jesuiten. -— Und er schließt damit, daß er sagt: Ja, was kann man noch alles werden, wenn man beurteilt wird von den Petersburger Halunken! — Das sind nicht meine Worte, sondern die Worte eines guten Russen, eines Russen, an dem man sehen kann, wie es nicht leicht ist, die Gefühle der Sympathie oder Antipathie so ohne weiteres abzustreifen. Aber nehmen wir an, der russische Intellektuelle überläßt sich sich selbst. Wir haben gesagt: es ist die Welt erwartungsvoller Stimmung, die natürlich ist für das, was kommen soll, und das nicht mit Schwertern und Kanonen zu erkämpfen ist. Deshalb ist der Panslawismus so verlogen. Wenn er sich sich selbst überläßt, dann überläfßt sich Mereschkowski dem, was er empfand, als er der Hagia Sophia gegenüberstand. Er hat es nur verwechselt mit dem westeuropäischen Christentum, das durch das faustische Streben durchgegangen ist. Aber wie spricht er davon?

Ich habe versucht, das was man bei den einzelnen Völkern gegenüber dem Kriege empfinden kann, auf die prägnante Formel zu bringen, und habe gesagt: Der Russe glaubt Krieg zu führen um die Religion, der Engländer um die Konkurrenz, der Franzose um die Glorie, der Italiener und Spanier um die Heimat, der Deutsche führt den Kampf um die Existenz. Und wir werden nun sagen können: Italien will die Heimat bewahren; Frankreich empfängt seine eigene [Glorie-]Vorstellung als das nationale Ideal; der Engländer handelt; der Deutsche strebt; der Russe betet — und das ist natürlich. Ich meine nicht das äußere Gebet, sondern die Herzensstimmung. Was sagt denn Mereschkowski am Schlusse des Buches, das ich vorgestern angeführt habe? «Die Hagia Sophia — hell, traurig und durchflutet von bernsteinklarem Lichte des letzten Geheimnisses — hob meine gefallene, erschreckte Seele. Ich blickte auf zum Gewölbe, das dem Himmelsdome gleicht, und dachte: da steht sie, von Menschenhand erschaffen, sie — die Annäherung der Menschen an den dreieinigen Gott auf Erden. Diese Annäherung hat bestanden, und mehr noch wird dereinst kommen. Wie sollten, die an den Sohn glauben, nicht zum Vater kommen, der die Welt bedeutet? Wie sollten die nicht zum Sohne kommen, die die Welt lieben, welche auch der Vater also liebte, daß er seinen Sohn für sie hingab? Denn sie geben ihre Seele hin für ihn und für ihre Freunde; sie haben den Sohn, weil sie die Liebe haben, nur den Namen kennen sie nicht.» Den ganzen Zusammenhang haben sie nicht! Und dann schließt er: «Und es trieb mich, für sie alle zu beten, in diesem zur Stunde heidnischen, aber einzigen Tempel der Zukunft zu beten um die Verleihung jener wahren, sieghaften Kraft an mein Volk: um den bewußten Glauben an den dreieinigen Gott.» Nun, da haben Sie das Gebet! Da haben Sie die ganze Unnatur eines Kampfes, der von Ost nach West geht!

Wenn wir so versuchen, zum inneren Verständnisse desjenigen. zu kommen, was uns jetzt entgegentritt, wenn wir versuchen, aus der Maja herauszukommen und in die Wahrheit hineinzukommen, dann dürfen wir uns auch sagen, daß wir nicht eine abstrakte Anthroposophie treiben, die sich fürchtet vor dem Erkennen. Denn es hieße Furcht haben vor dem Erkennen, wenn man wegen unseres ersten Grundsatzes davor zurückbeben würde, die Volkscharaktere in ihren wahren Grundlagen zu erkennen. Gerade dann befolgen wir ihn, wenn wir uns dem Menschen nähern, wie er ist, und wirklich in seine Seele blicken wollen. Und dann sprechen wir am meisten zu dem Unvergänglichen des Menschen, und dann finden wir auch das, was über das Nationale hinausgeht, was zu dem Ewigen hingeht, und finden die Gefühle und Empfindungen, die sich an das Ewige im Menschen richten können. Und dann finden wir die Möglichkeit, dasjenige herbeizuführen, was doch herbeigeführt werden muß. Denn denken Sie, Menschenheil und Menschenfortschritt leiden nicht, wenn die Stimmungen, die jetzt die europäischen Völker durchdringen, bleiben sollten? Stimmungen, die ja außerdem nur aus der Maja herausgeboren sind! Von dem Gesichtspunkt der Notwendigkeit, die darin besteht, daß sich die Menschen wieder verstehen lernen, daß eine Fortsetzung desjenigen da ist, was im gewissen Sinne von Mitteleuropa aus schon angebahnt war, ist es erforderlich, daß diese Atmosphäre, in der wir leben — diese geistige Atmosphäre, die heute so furchtbar tumultuarisiert ist —, auch noch andere Einschläge habe als die tumultuarischen. Wie könnten wir es nicht empfinden, wenn wir im geistigen Leben darinnenstehen, wie tumultuarisch heute die geistige Atmosphäre ist! Je tiefer man darinnensteht, desto mehr muß man das empfinden. Wahrhaftig Erschütterndes könnte sich erschließen aus dem geistigen Leben heraus. Der Okkultist konnte vieles erfahren. Aber so vieles, so Erschütterndes, so Eindringliches war nicht zu erfahren wie in den letzten drei Monaten.

Wie oft habe ich die okkultistische Wahrheit betont, daß Dinge, die in der physischen Welt so sind, in der geistigen den entgegengesetzten Charakter zeigen. Einige unserer Freunde werden sich auch erinnern, wie oft ich davon gesprochen habe, daß der Krieg in der geistigen Luft hänge und eigentlich nur durch etwas zurückgehalten werde, was auch im physischen Leben einen geistigen Impuls bedeutet: die Furcht. Die Furchtkräfte haben ihn zurückgehalten, solange er astralisch war. Furcht hat ihn zurückgehalten, daß er nicht früher zum Ausbruch kam. Nun, äußerlich geht ja der Krieg von dem Attentat von Sarajewo aus. Das hat ja auch seine bedeutungsvolle Seite. Das ist das Erschütternde an der Sache. Und da wir ja hier unter uns zusammen sind, muß es auch möglich sein, solche Dinge auszusprechen. Die Individualität, welche damals hingemordet worden ist und dann durch die Pforte des Todes ging, zeigte nachher einen Anblick, wie ich ihn vorher weder selber gesehen, noch ihn von anderen habe schildern hören. Ich habe verschiedentlich geschildert, wie Seelen aussehen, wenn sie durch die Pforte des Todes gehen. Diese Seele aber zeigte etwas Merkwürdiges. Sie war wie ein Kristallisationszentrum, um das sich bis zum Ausbruch des Krieges alles wie herumkristallisierte, was Furchtelemente waren. Nachher zeigte sie sich als etwas ganz anderes. War sie vorher eine große kosmische Kraft, die alle Furcht anzog, so ist sie jetzt etwas Entgegengesetztes. Die Furcht, die hier auf dem physischen Plan gewaltet hatte, hielt alle zurück. Nachdem aber dann diese Seele in den geistigen Plan hinaufgekommen war, wirkte sie in entgegengesetzter Weise und brachte den Krieg.

Diese Dinge zu erleben, das erschüttert die Seele. Und so gibt es viele Dinge, die jetzt darinnenstehen in dem Auf- und Abwogen jener astralischen Impulse, die aus den Gemütern der Menschen in die geistige Welt hinaufziehen. Und Ihnen darf ich es sagen: ein Gleiches wie in den letzten Monaten habe ich vorher nicht erlebt; etwas, was die Seelen in so furchtbare Wogen gebracht hat. Daraus aber ist auch zu entnehmen, was dort in der geistigen Atmosphäre spielt. Und es müssen, wenn das kommen soll, was in der geistigen Atmosphäre kommen muß, in dieselbe Gedanken hinein, die nur von Seelen kommen können, welche die geistige Welt begriffen haben. So intensiv und so inbrünstig man nur bitten kann, werden daher Ihre Seelen gebeten, Gedanken zu fassen, die wir anzuregen versuchen durch Betrachtungen wie die heutigen, oder die wir das letztemal gepflogen haben, die also in dieser Weise aus der geistigen Erkenntnis hervorgehen, und die nur Seelen, welche durch die Geisteswissenschaft hindurchgegangen sind, in die geistige Welt hinaufsenden können. Denn schon während des Krieges und nachher erst recht, werden die Seelen solche Gedanken brauchen. Denn die Gedanken sind Realitäten! Man möchte sein heißestes Gebet in die geistige Welt senden, daß das, was aus diesem Kriege und nach diesem hervorgehe, unter keinen anderen Auspizien hervorgehe als durch Gedanken, die nicht aus der menschlichen Maja, sondern aus der Wahrheit und der spirituellen Wirklichkeit herrühren. Je mehr Sie solche Gedanken in die geistige Welt hinaufsenden, desto mehr tun Sie für das, was aus diesen Weltenkämpfen hervorgehen soll, und desto mehr tun Sie für das, was für die ganze Evolution der Menschheit notwendig ist.

In dieses Gebet also möchte ich ausklingen lassen, was ich durch diese Betrachtung an Ihre Seelen heranbringen wollte. Und wenn das, was wir betrachtet haben, wirklich in unsere Seelen übergegangen ist, wenn unsere Seelen als Seelen, die jetzt in der Geisteswissenschaft gelebt haben, in die geistige Welt hinaufströmen lassen das die Menschen Befriedende, dann hat sich unsere Geisteswissenschaft in diesen schicksalschweren Zeiten bewährt! Dann hat sie sich so bewährt, daß unsere Kämpfer draußen ihren Mut nicht umsonst ausgelebt haben; daß das Blut der Schlachten nicht umsonst geflossen ist! Dann ist nicht umsonst in der Welt das Leid der Leidtragenden, dann waren nicht umsonst die Opfertaten, die gebracht worden sind. Dann wird Geistesfrucht erwachsen aus unseren schicksalschweren Tagen, wird erwachsen um so mehr, als die Menschen imstande sein werden, solche Gedanken, wie die angedeuteten, in die geistige Welt hinaufzusenden.

Ich bemerke ausdrücklich, daß die Worte, die ich jetzt sprechen werde, siebengliedrig sind und eine Art Mantram bilden, wobei zu beachten ist, daß in der vorletzten Zeile «Lenken Seelen» zu lesen ist: wenn Seelen lenken.

Darüber wollte ich sprechen, daß diese Ereignisse, die so von der Wirklichkeit sprechen, sich uns dadurch ins rechte Licht rükken, daß wir uns erheben von der Maja zur rechten Wirklichkeit. Oh, die Seelen werden sich finden, die also unsere Gegenwart anzüschauen verstehen werden. Die Seelen werden sich finden, wenn sie sich finden werden im Sinne der Lehren, welche Krishna gibt auch über kämpfende Seelen. Und wenn es wirklich möglich ist, daß sich in unserer harten, schicksalschweren Zeit bewährt, daß die Seelen, die durch Geisteswissenschaft gegangen sind, in der Lage sind, geistbefruchtende Gedanken in die geistige Welt hinaufzusenden, dann wird die rechte Frucht hervorgehen aus dem, was in so schweren Kämpfen und mit so harten Opfern geschieht. Daher kann ich, was ich zu Ihren Seelen heute sprechen wollte, ausklingen lassen in das, was ich so gern sehen würde als Bewußtsein, als innerstes Bewußtsein derjenigen Seelen, die durch Geisteswissenschaft gegangen sind:

Aus dem Mut der Kämpfer,
Aus dem Blut der Schlachten,
Aus dem Leid Verlassener,
Aus des Volkes Opfertaten
Wird erwachsen Geistesfrucht —
Lenken Seelen geistbewußt
Ihren Sinn ins Geisterreich.

Second Lecture

My dear friends! Today, too, our first thoughts should go to those who are out in the field, risking their lives and their very existence for what our times demand of them. We therefore direct our thoughts to those spiritual beings who protect those who are out there in the field.

Spirits of your souls, active guardians,
May your wings bring
The pleading love of our souls
To those earthly beings entrusted to your care,
That, united with your power,
Our plea may shine helpfully
Upon the souls that seek it lovingly.

And for those who, as a result of these events, have already passed through the gates of death, we say:

Spirits of your souls, active guardians,
May your wings bring
The pleading love of our souls
To the people of the spheres entrusted to your care,
That, united with your power,
Our plea may shine forth in help
To the souls who seek it lovingly.

And the spirit we have sought for many years during our striving, the spirit that has passed through the mystery of Golgotha, the Christ spirit, the spirit of courage, the spirit of strength, the spirit of unity, the spirit of peace—may it reign over all that you have to do in these days!

More than at other times, in these days and weeks of grave events, the seriousness of our spiritual striving must permeate our souls, the seriousness from which we can feel how everything that is truly human is connected with what we strive for through our spiritual stream. We strive for that which speaks not only to the temporary existence of human beings, to that existence which passes away with the physical body; we speak of mysteries, we speak of soul and spiritual forces which are directed directly to that higher self in human beings which is more than that which can wither away with the body and its existence. We have often used the word Maya to describe external appearances, and we have often emphasized that external appearances, the connections of physical life, become Maya because human beings do not penetrate them properly with their knowledge, with their faculty of cognition, and therefore do not perceive or hear what speaks to us from the outer appearances as meaningful, as the actual essence; but rather that with their faculty of cognition, human beings themselves draw a veil, a web of deception over the outer events. This is what makes them Maya.

A warning must come before our souls, especially in these days, because we are seeking understanding love, loving understanding of what is happening around us. A warning can come before our souls in particular, an insight that is, after all, at the center of everything we strive for in terms of knowledge. But it must come before our souls in these days with all the deep seriousness and moral dignity that is in it. This is the insight — it has already become for us the simplest, most elementary insight into spiritual life, into the return of earthly lives, the truth that our soul passes from body to body in the course of time. Opposite what rushes from body to body as the eternal in man in the succession of earthly incarnations of man stands what is connected with the physical existence of man, stands on the physical plane what gives this outer physical existence of man its configuration, its formation, its character. And to all that gives this external character, which determines, as it were, the character of the human being insofar as he lives in a physical body on the physical plane, belongs in particular that which we must never forget, especially at this time, and which can be summarized under the term nationality. When we turn our spiritual gaze to what we call the higher self of the human being, the term nationality loses its meaning. For everything we leave behind when we pass through the gate of death includes the entire scope of what is concerned with the expression of nationality. And if we seriously want to be what what we want to know ourselves to be as spiritually striving human beings, it is fitting for us to remember that, as he passes through his successive incarnations, man belongs not to one but to different nationalities, and that what connects him to his nationality belongs precisely to what is laid down, what must be laid down at the moment when we pass through the gate of death.

Truths that enter the realm of the eternal do not need to be easy to understand. They may even be truths that our feelings may resist at certain times, truths that are difficult to grasp, especially in difficult times, and difficult to preserve in their full strength and clarity during these difficult times. But the true anthroposophist must do this, and it is precisely through this that he will come to a true understanding of what surrounds him in the outer physical world. The building blocks for this understanding have already been provided in our anthroposophical striving. In the lecture cycle on the national soul, you will find, as it were, everything that can give understanding of the connection between human beings, insofar as these human beings are in the eternal, and their nationalities. These lectures were, however, given in the midst of peace, when souls are more suitable and ready to fully absorb objective, unvarnished truths. Perhaps it is difficult today to preserve these truths in the same objective way as they were accepted then. But it is precisely by doing so that we will prepare our souls in the very best way for the strength they need today, if we can accept these truths objectively today.

Let us place before our mind's eye the image of a warrior passing through the gates of death on the battlefield. Let us understand that passing through the gates of death is a very special case. Let us understand that this is an entrance into a world which we seek with every fiber of our soul through spiritual science, so that it may bring clarity into our physical life as well. Let us consider that death is the entrance into this spiritual world, into which no other life impulses can be taken immediately — because they would not be fruitful — except those that enliven our spiritual striving and which ultimately aim at 'forming a brotherly bond around all people on earth. In a higher light, a popular saying appears to us that is simple when we illuminate it with anthroposophical wisdom: Death makes everyone equal. It makes them all equal: French and English and German and Russian. That is true. And if we contrast this with what surrounds us today on the physical plane, we will probably feel the reason for overcoming the Maya in this field and seeking its essence in events. Let us contrast this with the feelings of hatred and antipathy that fill the peoples of Europe at this hour. Let us contrast this with all that the individual peoples of the various regions of Europe feel toward one another and express in what they say and write. Let us also place before the eye of our soul all that is being lived out in our time in the form of antipathy.

How are we to view these things in truth? Where in this realm lies that which leads beyond the Maya, beyond the great deception? We do not get to know one another on earth if we look at each other in such a way that we see something abstract in what is generally human. Rather, we only get to know one another by coming to understand the peculiarities of the people spread across the earth in their concreteness, in what they are in detail, just as one does not get to know a person in life by simply saying: “He is a human being like me, and he must have all the same characteristics as I do.” Rather, we must disregard ourselves and focus on the characteristics of the other person.

Now, in the lecture cycle on the souls of peoples, it has been shown how what is present in us as soul members — the sentient soul, the intellectual or emotional soul, the conscious soul, the ego, and the spirit self — is distributed among the European nations; how each nationality basically represents a one-sidedness. And it goes on to say that just as the individual soul members have to work together within ourselves, so in truth the individual nationalities have to work together to form the pan-European soul. When we look at the Italian and Spanish peninsulas, we find that the national character is expressed there as the soul of feeling. In France, it is expressed as the soul of understanding or emotion. When we go to the British Isles, we see how it lives out as the consciousness soul. In Central Europe, the national element lives out as the I. And when we look to the East, this is the region where it lives out — although the expression is not entirely correct, as we shall see later — as the spirit self. What lives out in this way is contained in the national element. But what is eternal in human beings goes beyond the national; this is what human beings seek when they deepen their spiritual awareness. In contrast, the national is only a garment, a shell, and the more human beings can bring themselves to this insight, the higher they rise. But insofar as man lives in the physical world, he lives in the national shell, in that which gives his outer physicality its configuration, which, in essence, also gives certain qualities and characteristics of his soul its configuration.

And now we see aversion and hatred between members of different nationalities. I am not talking about what happens in armed combat. I am talking about what goes on in the feelings, in the passions of human souls. There we have a soul: it has to prepare itself to be received by a spiritual world through which it must now pass between death and the next birth, and which will lead it to an incarnation that will belong to a completely different nationality than the one it is leaving. It is precisely in this fact that we see most clearly, most strongly, how human beings resist what is their own higher self. Let us look today at any “nationalist,” at someone with nationalist feelings who directs his antipathy particularly toward members of another nationality, perhaps even raging against this other nationality in his own country: what does this rage, this antipathy, mean? It means a premonition: my next incarnation will be in this nationality! Already, in the subconscious, the higher self is connected with the other nationality. What is woven into the nationalities of the physical plane resists this higher self. This is the rage of people against their own higher self. And where this rage is strongest, where there is the most hatred and lying about other nationalities, there is, for those who see things not through Maya but through truth, the true reason for this: that among the members of that nation who rage most against another, behave most cruelly, and lie the most, there is the fact that a large part of their members must pass over into that other nationality in their next incarnation.

This is the seriousness of our teaching, this is the moral dignity behind it. Much in man resists the recognition of his higher self, his eternal self; much, infinitely much. That is why it is so difficult to speak objectively at present. It is, after all, a peculiar phenomenon, a very peculiar phenomenon, that before this war began, there were countless voices of appreciation coming from England for the German character, German efficiency, but especially for German intellectual life. I attempted to give an example of this in my last public lecture. These examples could be multiplied beyond measure, and they will be multiplied. What was it?

From an occult point of view, it was the feeling that there is indeed something rejuvenating in what was said in the last public lecture about the Faustian soul character that is being sought in Central Europe, something that seeks the spiritual, something that prepares for the spiritual, something to which the whole of Europe will turn will truly turn to; this was instinctively felt in the times that preceded ours. People wanted to understand something of what was happening in Central Europe. But since we are rooted in the national, we will only be able to connect with it in a truly understanding way in the life between death and rebirth. Then we will be able to connect with it in an understanding way; then we will find the way to the teachers of Central Europe. It is even unpleasant to say this now, because it sounds like the boasting of someone who belongs to Central Europe; but one must speak the objective truth. But what is felt so instinctively, what will be sought in the life between death and rebirth: union with souls who have strived so much for the universal human, with the Goethe soul, with the Schiller soul, with the Fichte soul—what was felt there from the fact that, when one has passed through the gate of death, one will seek above all the Goethe soul, the soul of Fichte, the soul of Schiller, and other souls that had their last incarnation in Central Europe—against this fact, which has been expressed so instinctively, an infinite national passion rebels one last time. When we feel this resistance expressed in the words that now so often echo to us from the west and northwest, we have replaced Maja, the illusion, with understood reality. Then we understand how the earthly human being, who has the eternal human being within himself, does not want what the eternal human being wants in him; how the love he must feel in the eternal is transformed into hatred in the temporal.

We will best attain understanding love and loving understanding if we educate ourselves about the characters of the European people in the sense that our spiritual science can give us. We may do this because we are always speaking to the higher self of the human being. And anyone who wants to think and feel with us recognizes this higher self and can therefore hear everything that must be said about the outer shell, because they know that we are talking about the outer shell.

In a certain sense, every people has a specific mission. When we enter the building in Dornach, we will find expressed in the sequence of the columns, their capitals, and the architraves above them, in their forms, what is expressed in the European impulses. But I do not want to speak about that now, because it is good to speak about it when one has the building before one's eyes. I did that there a few days ago. But if we keep in mind what can make an impression on our soul without this, then we recognize above all in the inhabitants of the southern peninsulas—Italy and Spain—peoples who, in their modern mission, are in a sense bringing back everything that took place in ancient times during the third post-Atlantean cultural period, in the Egyptian-Chaldean culture. Once we understand this, we can truly look into the soul of the Italian or Spanish national character. This can be traced in detail, so that we can say: what appears to us spiritually, we find in reality. And what was the characteristic feature — we have discussed it so often — of the Egyptian-Chaldean culture? It was that great, cosmic astrology was felt! That people did not look at stars and constellations in the way we do today, but saw spiritual beings who had their outer embodiments in these constellations; that they saw the spiritual spread out everywhere. If this is to be repeated as a national task in the time after the Mystery of Golgotha, it must be repeated in such a way that it is internalized in the soul, that the great cosmic tableau of the Egyptians and Chaldeans emerges as if newly born from the soul. Where could this be clearer than where the culture of the Italian peninsula reached its peak, in Dante's Divine Comedy? But down to the smallest details, what was present in the ancient Egyptian-Chaldean culture emerges as if born from the soul, internally resurrected.

What was essential in Greek culture comes to light in the French people, even in the characters of their leading figures. Voltaire, for example, can only be understood if one compares him with a real Greek. And if one looks at the forms of the works of art by Corneille and Racine, one sees how they struggle with the Greek form. This has great cultural and historical significance. The struggle with external form, with what Aristotle explored about form, lives on in Racine and Corneille. And if we look for what was dominant in the fourth post-Atlantean cultural period as the culture of the intellectual or emotional soul in French culture, then we must find there what expresses itself as the greatest thing in it, what, in the intellectual or emotional soul's striving to master the world, can deal with it. The greatest poet, therefore, who has no equal in this form, must be one who creates out of the intellectual or emotional soul. A people achieves greatness when it brings its incomparable individuals to the surface. Who in French poetry is unsurpassable? It is Molière! Here the French soul reaches its true, characteristic height; here it cannot be surpassed. A reflection of this still shines through in Voltaire.

What is not a repetition of the old, but belongs to the fifth post-Atlantean period, what is, as it were, a new creation of this period, is the British soul. This fifth post-Atlantean period strives primarily for the development of the consciousness soul; it brings it to the fore. The consciousness soul is particularly pronounced in the British national character. The distinctive feature of the British soul is this stance toward events. Even fourteen or fifteen years ago, when I wrote the first edition of The Riddles of Philosophy, I struggled to find an expression for British philosophers; and then it dawned on me: they are spectators of life; they stand there, just as the consciousness soul stands as a spectator facing life. And who is the greatest creator of the British soul, who stands there and expresses the British character traits to the depths of his soul? It is Shakespeare! There, the British soul is incomparable in its state of spectatorship.

If we now turn to Central Europe, we find “whatever becomes and never is,” as I have already characterized it in a public lecture: the actual self, the innermost part of the human being. How does this relate to the members of the soul? It forms its individual relationships to the sentient soul, the intellectual or emotional soul, and the conscious soul; it pulls the strings to all of them. Let us consider this in Goethe! We see how he longs for Italy. And as we see in him, the best people of Central Europe have always longed for Italy in order to find what fertilizes the I and what it receives from the feeling soul. And with the intellectual or emotional soul, the ego exchanges forces. Let us try to see, over the course of the centuries, how this close bond between the ego and the intellectual or emotional soul actually exists. Let us note how even Frederick the Great, the most German of princes, actually spoke and wrote only French, how he particularly valued French culture, as can be seen, for example, in his relationship with Voltaire. We also see how the German philosopher Leibniz wrote his works in French. This is exactly what the ego does with the intellectual or emotional soul. And when the ego searches from the depths of the soul for what it strives for, something emerges from the depths of the ego, from the unfathomable depths of the ego: the conscious soul seeks to grasp it. We see this in Goethe. I have often explained that he seeks to grasp how organisms emerge from one another; he establishes a great and comprehensive doctrine of organisms. This emerges from the depths of the ego. But this cannot be understood immediately; humanity needs a simpler intellect; it needs things as they arise from the consciousness soul. It does not accept what Goethe gave, but accepts the same thing translated into the conscious soul; it accepts Darwin. Today we are not yet at the point where we can recognize Goethe's “Theory of Colors,” but its translation into the conscious soul, which can be found in Newton, is generally accepted today as a physical theory.

These things point us to the way in which the individual, but now national, characters stand in relation to one another, and we rise from the outer Maya in which human beings are caught up, to the truth, when we learn to view things spiritually, to that truth which can show us that just as the individual soul forces wage war within the human being, so too do the individual soul forces incorporated in the souls of peoples wage war with one another. And it is no coincidence that in our time — when what has just been said has emerged as a teaching — the great teacher appears, war, which speaks to human beings in such a bloody, terrible way, just as we speak to them spiritually. It is no coincidence that, while we are able to discuss this here, one of the bloodiest struggles is perhaps raging above us, and that it basically corresponds to the same truths that one must penetrate in the Maya in order to understand them in reality.

In order to talk about these things, we must sweep away all nuances of antipathy and sympathy from our words and use them only as characteristics, then we will understand things in the right way. For these are things that the human self carries within itself, insofar as it is enveloped in the national. We can now follow this in detail. To prepare for what we are about to understand, I would like to say one thing first.

Let us take the inhabitants of Central Europe, who live in an ego culture. In my public lecture, I said that the inhabitants of Central Europe strive so much for their God that they are connected to God; they want to be with their God. If we look at thinking, we can express the general statement: man thinks. But the general statement “man thinks” actually says very little, very little indeed. It is precisely through spiritual science that we must learn to look more closely. We must gradually learn to replace what is said so thoughtlessly with what is correct. For those who are not particularly concerned with real conditions, what is said is correct. But it is correct to say that the inhabitants of Central Europe or Scandinavia think — “think” considered as an activity, because what matters is the unfolding of thinking. That the soul thinks is what matters in Central Europe, right up to the Nordic countries. The connection between human beings and thought is such that this thought is the very product of the soul's capacity, that the activity of the soul is nothing other than the soul becoming caught up in thought.

It is not correct to speak of the French in the same way. We must say: he has thoughts. For “thinking” and “having thoughts” are not the same thing in the finer sense. What is said in “The Riddles of Philosophy” may help to understand this. In Western Europe, people have thoughts; thoughts are something that come, that are given to them, just as sensory perceptions are given to them. So it is with thoughts: they enter the soul, they live out their lives there, one has them, one is intoxicated by them, one is happy to have them. Germans are even accused of having cold thoughts. That may well be because they first have to form them in their individual souls; they first have to be warmed up there, and they remain warm only as long as they are in immediate activity.

This is just by way of preparation. For in fact, in the individual national expressions we perceive everywhere the living out of what is given in the principles of spiritual science, which you will find in the lectures on the national souls. Let us take individual expressions of national characters.

The Italian and Spanish characters are determined by the soul of feeling. We can trace this in life down to the smallest details. We find the soul of feeling everywhere — this does not, of course, refer to life in the higher self. As soon as people from these countries live out their national character, they live out their soul of feeling. This is particularly attached to everything that is home, and feels a contrast to everything that is foreign. If you now try to understand what, for example, lives in the Italian national character, you will find that Italians perceive non-Italians as foreigners living in a foreign country. And all the struggles that took place in Italy in the nineteenth century were fought to the utmost for the homeland. This is a repetition of the Egyptian-Chaldean culture.

Let us now look at the inhabitants of Western Europe, the French region. As I said, we must strip away all sympathies and antipathies! They repeat Greek culture. They will therefore feel the same way about foreigners as the Greeks did: they call them barbarians. — A repetition of Greek culture! — One can understand this, even though it is cast in the most furious feelings of antipathy. And there is always a nuance to it, as in ancient Greece when they spoke of non-Greek humanity.

The English people are particularly given to cultivating the conscious soul, which expresses itself in materialism. Here, one must strip away everything that is antipathy. The cultivation of materialism brings forth what people simply place next to each other in space. This reveals something that was not felt in this way in previous times: one feels one's competitors. The consciousness soul perceives others as competitors in physical existence.

How is it with the inhabitants of Central Europe, up to the Scandinavians? At other times, it would be extremely tempting to examine this in detail. What does the German feel when he stands face to face with another, where the Italian feels the stranger, the Frenchman the barbarian, the Englishman the competitor? One must find concise words for this everywhere: the German has an enemy whom he faces, for example in a duel, whereby this need not be connected with any antipathy whatsoever, but rather where one fights for one's existence or for something connected with existence. The enemy need not be belittled in the slightest. This can be traced back to the details. This war in particular shows that the German faces the enemy as in a duel.

Let us now look to the East. We have spoken of the fact that on the two southern peninsulas the sentient soul lives out its life, in the French the intellectual or emotional soul, and in the British Isles the conscious soul; in Central Europe up to Scandinavia, the national spirit lives out its life in the ego, differentiating itself in the individual regions but being felt as a whole by what we call the ego soul. As the spirit self, I said, it lives out its life in the East. What is the character of the spirit self? It approaches man and descends upon him. In the I, one strives; in the three soul members, one also strives; the spirit self descends. It will descend once more from the East as the real spirit self. The things we have often emphasized are true. But this requires preparation, preparation of the kind that enables the soul to receive, to work itself into the receiving. What has the Russian people done so far, basically, other than receive? Within our movement, we have had the greatest Russian philosopher, Soloviev, translated. When we delve into him, it is all Western European spiritual life, Western European culture. It is different because it is born out of the Russian national soul. But what is it that, in contrast to Western European culture, is emerging in the Russian people? Italy and Spain are the repetition of the third post-Atlantean cultural epoch, the French people are the repetition of the culture of ancient Greece. The British show what has been newly added, but what is certainly acquired on the physical plane. In Central Europe, it is the ego that must work itself out. In Russia, we have the receptive. What was first received was Byzantine Christianity, which settled like a cloud and then spread; and Western European culture was already received under Peter the First. One might say that only the material is there to be received. What is there is a reflection of Western Europe, and the work of the soul is preparation for receiving. Only then will Russianness be in its proper element, when it has reached the point where it recognizes that it must receive what is in Western Europe, just as the Germanic peoples received Christianity, or as the Germanic peoples in Goethe absorbed Greek culture. That will take some time. And because what the East must absorb is repugnant to its physical nature, the East still resists what must come to it. The spirit itself must come down. Now, what is coming over from the West is not the spirit itself. But the soul behaves in such a way that it is already preparing itself to receive it. How, then, does the Russian view the other? As someone who stands “opposite” him, as someone who descends upon his consciousness. That is why the other is the stranger to the Italian, the barbarian to the French, the competitor to the British, the enemy to the German, and the heretic to the Russian. That is why, up to now, the Russian has basically only fought religious wars! All wars up to now have been religious wars. All peoples were to be liberated or converted to Christianity, the Balkan peoples and so on. And now the Russian peasant also perceives the other as “evil.” He perceives the other as a heretic; he always believes he is waging religious wars. Now too! These things go into great detail, and you learn to understand them if you have the goodwill to really look into them. And so we can also ask: How does what we encounter from the East appear to us?

In a sense, human beings are unjust to their own higher selves in their physical lives. Those who live in the intellectual or emotional soul, in whom the imagination is particularly developed, “have” thoughts, and these thoughts, insofar as they are national beings, present themselves to their higher selves as what they must be. They perceive this as their glory, as a kind of third self, a national self that stands between them as their higher self and as a national being. They fight from this position. And after death, they must first overcome this if they have not already done so through spiritual science. He must pass through what initially stands before his soul like the inspiration of what he imagines himself to be.

And what about those who live as nationals in the consciousness soul? They are primarily inclined toward what the consciousness soul acquires in the physical world. This stands there like a painful memory in the world, spreading out in life between death and new birth.

The inhabitant of Central Europe is searching. This even becomes apparent when his opponents speak disparagingly of him, saying that he is only there to plow the fields and search in the clouds. No matter how far they may have come, they are already searching here for their spiritual self. Therefore, in a certain sense, they are already striving during their earthly career to remove what must be removed when one enters the spiritual world through the gate of death.

Those who have undergone their last incarnation in a Russian body must first, when they pass through the gate of death, assume the consciousness of an angel, as if entering the bosom of an angel — unless they have prepared themselves differently through spiritual science — and must settle into what comes down from the next stages of the higher hierarchies.

For all these reasons, we can say: When we look to the West, we find it natural that struggle arises from the nature of human beings, insofar as they are national, for the national is connected there with what is precisely the outer shell. It is quite natural that struggle arises. In the spiritual world, what is justified there can spread unhindered. What appears to us in our imagination must assert itself through external means. In order to emerge, it needs to be able to spread. What competition seeks must naturally want to spread. We do not find it incomprehensible that struggle comes from the representatives of the consciousness soul. If we really seek the ego in Central Europe, let us see whether the characteristics of the ego are already applicable. I have already pointed out, for example, that the ego must be rekindled every morning. When we enter the sphere of sleep with the I, it is unkindled there; every morning when we wake up, it must be kindled anew. If I may speak of Austria: even in my youth, people were saying that Austria would one day fall apart on this or that occasion. We knew something different: no matter how much centrifugal force it may have within itself, it is held together from outside and cannot fall apart. Let us look at Germany. Does it have an I-character in its outward appearance, in its form? It is a widely acknowledged fact that for a large part of the century, the Germans have been striving for unity. Internally, however, they have not achieved it. Through an external impetus, not even in Germany, but outside, in the middle of France, today's Germany has come into being in a way that corresponds to its ego character. One can only understand the world if one understands it through the humanities. The ego does not, in essence, have a tendency to fight for itself, because the excess forces of the physical plane then pass into the spiritual. This could be proven over and over again in German history, in the history of Austria, in the history of the Scandinavian peoples. Hence, the following awareness is correct: the German or the inhabitant of Central Europe must first be drawn into war, so to speak; he cannot, in essence, initiate it on his own. When they wage war on their own initiative, they do so as the initiative does in the ego, and these wars have indeed been waged sufficiently within. This is how one must perceive the relationship of Central Europe to war.

But what then forms in the mind of those who can perceive national characters? It is completely unnatural for Russians to wage war. And if they recognized this, they would also perceive it as completely unnatural to wage war. We in the West, even if we understand everything Russian so well, cannot become Tolstoyans. But it is unnatural for Russians to wage war. War must first be forced upon them, because it is something unnatural to the deepest national character. Russians view war as a religious war, as something that comes from outside. It is impossible to make war plausible to them; rather, they would prefer to ask for what is coming to them. It is therefore quite natural that one should not seek the motives for war in the innermost Russian national character, but in what is imposed on it from outside as such. And in this case, more than anywhere else, it must be said that it is not the people who wage war—the people are only outwardly and only in their beliefs—but it is that against which the people must turn most. In Russia, war is always, in the worst sense, a Maja, a deception. For this reason, it is possible to state so clearly and precisely what I raised as a question in my public lecture: Who could have prevented the war? — if one wants to speak at all of its having been preventable. For the French, war had been natural since 1871, and to say that they could have prevented it would not be natural. Those who are forced into a competitive struggle naturally have no right to be indignant when a violation of neutrality occurs somewhere, and in this case one must reinterpret the indignation in terms of the national element; but that they wage war is self-evident. They cannot be blamed for that. War cannot be dismissed any more than, when interpreting the nature of living beings, one must find a different word for the element of the conscious soul than from the standpoint of the ego, and therefore speak of the struggle for existence. Goethe did not coin this word because it is not applicable from the standpoint of the ego. But when it comes to the fact that war is a falsehood, that it must even first be reinterpreted as a religious war, it must be said that because it occurred externally, it could also have been prevented externally. If one looks into all the depths that can be seen—war was, of course, a necessity, but that is another matter—then it must be said: It is true that Russia could have remained a spectator, and the war could have been prevented. If it had remained a spectator, the war could have been prevented. For here the war is grafted onto a national character where it is basically completely unnatural.

When one speaks of such things, one has them from the spiritual world, they emerge from there; but they can always be verified, confirmed in the outer world, and what one finds in the spiritual world is confirmed in the outer world. We would say: it would be a natural gesture for the Russian national character to wait prayerfully for what is to come. It is very peculiar: Russian intellectuals—I have already pointed this out—also expect, and they also feel, that something future must come to them. Now, what must come to them is still very far in the future, and we have seen how what is now to be accepted has been rejected. It is perhaps more than an outward symbol that, while the fighting is going on in the Black Sea, the Russian still looks down there, as it were, to see an embodiment of what he should expect spiritually, pointing to the Hagia Sophia. Mereschkowski tells us of two trips he made to the Hagia Sophia. In Hagia Sophia, he perceived, as it were, an external symbol of what he does not know in his feelings, but what he expects, and he called it Christianity approaching the Russians. However, he would recognize it correctly if he knew that Christianity, which has passed through the Faustian nature, must seize the Russians. But he does not yet know this. He believes he has it before him in Hagia Sophia. How does he view Christianity? When we look at what Solovyov is talking about, I can say that he has a certain understanding of it. For when he was once again being given trouble by Petersburg and the Holy Synod, he said: Yes, that's how it is when you penetrate deeply with what you want to say. Some accuse me of being a liberal Western European atheist, others of being an Orthodox Christian, and still others regard me as a Jesuit. And he concludes by saying: Yes, what else can you become when you are judged by the Petersburg scoundrels! These are not my words, but the words of a good Russian, a Russian who shows how difficult it is to simply cast off feelings of sympathy or antipathy. But let us assume that the Russian intellectual abandons himself to his own devices. We have said that it is a world of expectant moods that is natural for what is to come, and that this cannot be achieved with swords and guns. That is why Pan-Slavism is so hypocritical. When he abandons himself, Merezhkovsky abandons himself to what he felt when he stood in front of Hagia Sophia. He has simply confused it with Western European Christianity, which has been through the Faustian struggle. But how does he talk about it?

I have tried to sum up what individual peoples feel about war in a concise formula, and I have said: Russians believe they are fighting for religion, the English for competition, the French for glory, the Italians and Spaniards for their homeland, and the Germans are fighting for their existence. And we can now say: Italy wants to preserve its homeland; France embraces its own idea of glory as its national ideal; the English act; the Germans strive; the Russians pray—and that is natural. I do not mean outward prayer, but the mood of the heart. What does Mereschkowski say at the end of the book I quoted the day before yesterday? “The Hagia Sophia—bright, sad, and flooded with the amber light of the last mystery—lifted my fallen, frightened soul. I looked up at the vault, which resembles the dome of heaven, and thought: there it stands, created by human hands, it—the approximation of human beings to the triune God on earth. This approach has existed, and more will come in the future. How could those who believe in the Son not come to the Father, who is the meaning of the world? How could those who love the world, which the Father also loved so much that he gave his Son for them, not come to the Son? For they give their souls for him and for their friends; they have the Son because they have love, but they do not know his name.” They do not have the whole context! And then he concludes: “And I was moved to pray for them all, in this temple, which is at present pagan but will be the only temple of the future, to pray for the bestowal of that true, victorious power upon my people: for the conscious faith in the triune God.” Well, there you have the prayer! There you have the whole unnaturalness of a struggle that goes from East to West!

If we try in this way to gain an inner understanding of what now confronts us, if we try to come out of the Maya and into the truth, then we can also say to ourselves that we are not pursuing an abstract anthroposophy that is afraid of knowledge. For it would be fear of knowledge if, because of our first principle, we shrank back from recognizing the true foundations of national characters. We follow this principle precisely when we approach human beings as they are and really want to look into their souls. And then we speak most to the imperishable part of the human being, and then we also find what goes beyond the national, what tends toward the eternal, and we find the feelings and sensations that can be directed toward the eternal in the human being. And then we find the possibility of bringing about what must be brought about. For do you think that human welfare and progress will not suffer if the moods that now pervade the European peoples were to remain? Moods that, moreover, are born only out of Maya! From the point of view of the necessity that people learn to understand each other again, that there is a continuation of what has already been initiated in a certain sense from Central Europe, it is necessary that this atmosphere in which we live — this spiritual atmosphere that is so terribly tumultuous today — also have other influences than the tumultuous ones. How could we not feel this when we are immersed in spiritual life and see how tumultuous the spiritual atmosphere is today! The deeper one stands in it, the more one must feel it. Truly shocking things could emerge from spiritual life. The occultist could experience many things. But so much, so shocking, so penetrating could not be experienced as in the last three months.

How often have I emphasized the occult truth that things that are one way in the physical world show the opposite character in the spiritual world. Some of our friends will also remember how often I have spoken of the war hanging in the spiritual air and actually being held back only by something that also represents a spiritual impulse in physical life: fear. The forces of fear held it back as long as it was astral. Fear prevented it from breaking out earlier. Now, outwardly, the war originated with the assassination in Sarajevo. That also has its significant side. That is the shocking thing about it. And since we are here together among ourselves, it must also be possible to speak such things. The individuality that was murdered at that time and then passed through the gate of death presented a sight that I had never seen before, nor heard described by others. I have described on various occasions what souls look like when they pass through the gates of death. But this soul showed something strange. It was like a crystallization center around which, until the outbreak of the war, everything that was fearful crystallized. Afterwards, it appeared as something completely different. Whereas before it had been a great cosmic force that attracted all fear, it was now something opposite. The fear that had reigned here on the physical plane held everyone back. But after this soul had ascended to the spiritual plane, it had the opposite effect and brought about the war.

Experiencing these things shakes the soul. And so there are many things now contained in the ebb and flow of those astral impulses that rise from the minds of human beings into the spiritual world. And I can tell you: I have never experienced anything like this before in recent months; something that has thrown souls into such terrible turmoil. But from this we can also deduce what is happening in the spiritual atmosphere. And if what must come in the spiritual atmosphere is to come, then thoughts must enter into it that can only come from souls who have understood the spiritual world. As intensely and fervently as one can pray, your souls are therefore asked to form thoughts which we try to inspire through reflections such as those of today, or those we practiced last time, which thus arise in this way from spiritual knowledge, and which only souls who have passed through spiritual science can send up into the spiritual world. For already during the war, and even more so afterwards, souls will need such thoughts. For thoughts are realities! One would like to send one's most fervent prayer to the spiritual world that what emerges from this war and after it may emerge under no other auspices than through thoughts that do not originate from human Maya, but from truth and spiritual reality. The more you send such thoughts up into the spiritual world, the more you do for what is to emerge from these world struggles, and the more you do for what is necessary for the entire evolution of humanity.

With this prayer, I would like to conclude what I wanted to bring to your souls through these reflections. And if what we have considered has truly passed into our souls, if our souls, as souls that have now lived in spiritual science, allow that which pacifies people to flow up into the spiritual world, then our spiritual science will have proven itself in these fateful times! Then it will have proven itself so that our fighters outside have not lived out their courage in vain; that the blood of the battles has not been shed in vain! Then the suffering of those who suffer in the world will not have been in vain, then the sacrifices that have been made will not have been in vain. Then spiritual fruit will grow out of our fateful days, and it will grow all the more because people will be able to send thoughts such as those I have indicated up into the spiritual world.

I expressly note that the words I am about to speak are sevenfold and form a kind of mantra, whereby it should be noted that in the penultimate line, “guiding souls” should be read as “when souls guide.”

I wanted to talk about the fact that these events, which speak so clearly of reality, are brought into the right light for us when we rise from Maya to true reality. Oh, the souls will find each other who are able to look at our present in this way. The souls will find each other when they find themselves in the sense of the teachings that Krishna also gives about struggling souls. And if it is really possible that in our hard, fateful time it will prove true that souls who have gone through spiritual science are able to send spiritually fertilizing thoughts up into the spiritual world, then the right fruit will come forth from what is happening in such difficult struggles and with such hard sacrifices. Therefore, I can conclude what I wanted to say to your souls today with what I would so much like to see as the consciousness, the innermost consciousness, of those souls who have gone through spiritual science:

From the courage of the fighters,
From the blood of battles,
From the suffering of the forsaken,
From the sacrifices of the people
The fruit of the spirit will grow —
Souls will guide
Their minds into the spiritual realm.