The Destiny of Individuals and of Nations
GA 157
19 January 1915, Berlin
5. The Nature of the Christ Impulse and the Michaelic Sprit Serving It—II
Once again, let us first of all direct our thoughts to those who are out there at the front, in the arena of present-day events, where they have to stand for what the time demands of them:
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 gone through the gate of death:
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.
May the spirit we have been seeking for so many gears in our movement, the spirit who has gone through the Mystery of Golgotha, be present above you, may it stream through you and strengthen you for your difficult task.
It seems that not everyone is quite clear about the verse I have just spoken, so I am told. Let me stress that the proper version reads: Spirit of your souls. The verse has been phrased in such a way that it can be used when many people want to speak for one person or one for many or, indeed, many for many—as in the present case. If it refers to just one person, the only change which has to be made is to say ‘Spirit of your soul’ and so forth. It appears that I made a slip of the tongue when I said the verse for the first time here some weeks ago, so that the view has arisen that the words ‘Spirits of your souls’ may not be quite correct. But they are correct as they stand. The first line is addressed to the spirits of the souls requiring protection, as it were and the ‘your’ refers to those to whom our thoughts are directed. In the second line on the other hand, the 'your' relates to the 'guardians'. Let me remark that such verses are always such by nature that there can be problems with the purely grammatical construction. But they are given from the spiritual world for the specific Purpose, and it is true that there are occasional problems with putting the words together for such verses.
Dear friends, it was for good reason and, spiritually, also very much in accord with the work that has to be done in the present time, that two days ago we turned our attention to events in the evolution of man that show how spiritual impulses—and particularly the spiritual Impulses linked with the Mystery of Golgotha, with the Christ impulse—are living impulses within the evolution of man. We have seen how they were active in the evolution of man even though men were unable to grasp the nature of the Christ impulse with their reason, with their intellect.
It was with this intention that reference was made among other historical events to Joan of Arc through whom this Christ impulse resolved a major issue in the 15th century through its servant, the Michaelic spirit, and for the good and advancement of mankind. The reason why it was particularly important to refer to this event was that in our day, too, it does hold true that everything destined to regulate events on the historical scale is ordered and regulated from the spiritual worlds. We need to be aware that the forces, the impulses, for what is to happen come to us from the spiritual worlds. In this respect the same holds true today as in the days of Joan of Arc. But the times are different. What would happen in a particular way in the days of Joan or Arc has to happen in a different way in our time and in times to come; it has to take a different course. For our time is one that is entirely different. Since the 15th and 16th century—and the Joan of Arc event did, of course, come in that period—mankind had been guided in quite a different way. It is this difference, and consequently the basic nature of our time, that we shall consider to some extent today.
Between going to sleep and waking up we are in a soul state where that which we really are is outside our physical and our ether bodies. Asleep, we live in our astral body and our ego. We need to have a very clear picture of this. That which we really are is then outside our physical and our ether bodies. Asleep, we live in our astral body and our ego. We need to have a very clear picture of this. That which we really are is then outside the body. We are, of course, bound to our body to an extraordinary degree between birth and death so that in terms of space we are not far away from our body when asleep. Our soul element is spread out in our surroundings, as it were; that is in everything that specifically makes up our environment.
Let us get a clear picture of how the environment has changed specifically over the last centuries—since the 15th and 16 centuries—at least for the great majority of the people whom we have to consider in relation to what fate has decreed for the present age. Just consider whether any of the machinery or the mechanical contrivances we use today also existed at the time when Joan of Arc did her work. We can certainly say that the world has changed completely since that time as far as mechanical things are concerned. Everything we experience in relation to machines has only come since then. There may be some observant people among you who have taken a ‘sleeper’ (train) to travel overnight. They may have had the strange experience of waking up—and this is the kind of occasion when one may wake up quite frequently—and finding that something was still rumbling on that was inherent in the machinery of the train all about them. Something can be perceived, as it were, when one is waking up but still in a dream state, of the croaking and squealing of the train or boat one happens to be on. This happens because the soul is not really in the body but in the area around the body and is placed among those mechanical contrivances.
Yet it is not only on such less usual occasions that we live among the hustle and bustle of the present age, and we can certainly say that the mechanized life has also spread to the countryside today. Fundamentally speaking, we are always within the mechanized life of the present age. When asleep, the soul merges into everything that is mechanism. Those are mechanisms, however, which we have constructed ourselves. A mechanism we have built is something quite different from nature outside us, for this has been constructed by the elemental spirits. When we are out in the woods, for instance, where everything has been built up by the spirits of nature, we are in an environment that is totally different from the environment of mechanical contrivances created by ourselves. What are we doing when we take things from nature and put them together to make the machines and appliances we use in our lives? We are in that case not merely putting together physical components, for in putting together physical components we always provide opportunity for a demonic Ahrimanic servant to unite with the machine. We do this with every machine, every mechanism, in everything of this kind that is part of modern civilization, providing a point of attachment for demonic elemental spirits of Ahrimanic nature. And living surrounded by machines we live together with these demonic Ahrimanic elementals. We allow them to enter into us; we allow not only the squealing and groaning of machines to enter into us but also an element that is eminently destructive for our spirit and our soul.
Please note—and I have often made a similar comment on similar occasions—what I am saying is not intended to be a criticism of our Ahrimanic age. It has to be like this, that we allow demons to stream into everything and allow ourselves to the surrounded by them. It is part of the evolution of mankind. We have to acknowledge the simple necessity for this and understand the real impulse of spiritual science. And so we shall not sing the praises of people who say it is necessary, as far as possible, to protect oneself from the demons and to shun civilization and that we should set up a colony as far away as possible in the wilderness to save us from having anything to do with these demonic Ahrimanic elementals. That has never been the tenor of my words. I have always said that we must entirely accept what comes to us out of the necessity of evolution, that we must not let ourselves be induced to flee from the world. We need to take heed, however, we need to understand, that conditions are such in our age that we are filling our environment more and more with beings of a demonic nature, that we are more and more involved with the principle that is mechanizing our civilization. An age such as this cans for something quite different than the age out of which Joan of Arc was called to do her work. In the time of Joan of Arc it was necessary for the impulse out of which she was to act to be born out of the gentlest, the most subtle powers of the human soul. Just consider: she was a shepherd girl living a very simple, natural life, with nature at her most idyllic. She was very young when her visions came to her, and through the Imaginations given to her she had a direct link with the spiritual world. Out of her inner being she was to bring forth everything that was to be the foundation from which she acted, she was to let it grow forth from her inner being. And not only this, but it was necessary for very special circumstances to be brought about so that through the most subtle powers inherent in the human soul her mission could be imprinted in her soul, in her very heart of hearts.
We know that everything in the world goes in cycles, that things happen in such a way that important events come up in definite cycles. If we take the year of Joan's birth, 1412, we can ask a specific question relating to this. We are able to say that the year this Maid of Orleans was born the sun would of course have been in a particular position, astronomical position, coinciding with one of the constellations in the zodiac. The progress of the sun from one sign of the zodiac to the next marks a major time interval. Passing right through the zodiac the sun will go through all twelve constellations; the time interval needed for the sun to progress from one constellation in the zodiac to the next is approximately 2,160 years, and this is important. Going back approximately 2,160 years from the birth of Joan of Arc we come to the founding of Rome.
In the days when Rome was founded anyone needing information on major issues concerning the city which was then coming into being would go to see the nymph Egeria. There it was possible to get information, from a seeress. But, as I said, that was one solar cycle earlier. And so the times are renewed and everything goes in cycles. Let us visualize it like this: at the time when Rome was founded the sun was at a certain point in the constellation of the Ram, Aries. It then progressed to the Fishes, Pisces, so that it had moved through one-twelfth of the zodiac. And thus the cycle which inevitably has to be there In the evolution of mankind takes us from the nymph Egeria to the inspired deed of Joan of Arc. In ancient Rome, however, it was a matter of pagan Inspiration, of pagan deeds. If we try to think of the same visionary element that operated at the time when Rome was founded also having to operate in a Christian age, acting from within, through the most tender powers inherent in man, what did have to come about? You can imagine that something had to come about which again, in some way or other, had to do with the subtlest powers of the Christian faith.
Most of you will remember my telling you of the variation we get in the course of the year in the forces that link us with the spiritual world. In summer, at St John's tide when the sun's rays are most Powerful externally, one might perhaps achieve an external ecstasy and, as in the old Celtic mysteries, lift oneself up into the spiritual world in some way, but certainly in ecstasy. Yet when the days are shortest, when the sun's rays are least powerful and the winter night the darkest, around Christmas therefore, the opportunity exists also to win through to the spiritual worlds in our innermost soul life. All who have known of the cycle of the year have always maintained, quite rightly, that those who have the gift for it are able to enter into the most intimate aspect of our connection with the spiritual worlds during the time from the 21st, the 23rd of December to about the 6th of January—during those days and particularly the nights. There are legends—the Legend of Olaf Asteson has been read to you here—which tell of people having their most profound Inspirations during those days.26See also Rudolf Steiner, ‘Welten-Neujahr—Das Traumlied von Olaf Asteson’, Dornach 31 December 1914, in Der Zusammenhang des Menschen mit der elementarischen Welt (GA 158). In English as extract ‘World New Year’ in Anthroposophical News Sheet 14: 1, 2. This, again, is connected with the celebration of Christmas at that time, of the birth of the spirit who went through the Mystery of Golgotha and is connected with the innermost powers in human soul development. So, if the Inspiration of pagan Rome of old was to be resurrected one sun cycle later, 2,160 years later, it had to come in through the aspect of man that is most utterly childlike. This means that the soul of Joan of Arc had to be taken hold of at the point where souls are taken hold of most profoundly, where they are weakest in relation to earthly things, and where the Christ impulse is not yet hampered by worldly impressions—the souls not yet having taken up the earthly element, so that the Christ impulse can be the only one to enter into the soul sphere. The most favourable timing for this would have been for the Maid of Orleans to have gone through the time of the Thirteen Nights in her mother's womb immediately before her birth, before she took her first breath. And, indeed, she did—for she was born on the 6th of January.
Here we perceive the more profound forces at work which enter into the physical world from the spiritual worlds. We see how they find the channels they need, deeply mysterious channels. There can be nothing more marvellous for someone with insight into such things, nothing more open to explanation through spiritual science, than this fact that the Maid of Orleans took her first breath on earth in the time around Christmas, on the 6th of January, with the days of Christmas immediately preceding her entry on to the physical plane. We see how the girl who was to go through death at the age of 19 was taken hold of at the point where the most subtle of human powers lie, and we are therefore looking into a time when it was necessary for the divine spiritual powers to find a channel through the inmost inwardness of the human soul. That, however, was the last time when such a thing was to be. It was the time when a particular order was brought into Europe through the Christ impulse, as I indicated to you the last time, and this happened in the wonderful way in which it did happen through Joan of Arc. Since then, however, times have changed. Today is not the time when divine spiritual powers approach the human soul in such intimate fashion.
What was the mission of Joan of Arc, really, if we consider something that was present throughout her whole life? She was taken hold of from within by the forces of the divine spiritual world. In her soul these forces encountered the Luciferic forces. These Luciferic forces were mighty and powerful at that time. Joan of Arc bore something within her that made her vanquish the Luciferic forces. She vanquished the Luciferic forces, that is entirely obvious to anyone who wants to see. We have briefly considered the miracle of her birth and seen that she went through an unconscious initiation, in a way, up to Epiphany, the day known as that of the manifestation of Christ. But we can also point to her death which occurred because all the Luciferic forces of her enemies joined together to bring about her death. Her misadventure in a battle was brought about through the jealousy of the men who were the official leaders, appointed to guide the battle. All the jealousy then came to the fore over the manifestations of spiritual forces and spiritual powers that were made through her. She was put on trial. The records of the trial still exist and anyone studying them can see—unless of course his mind is as closed as that of Anatole France—that this Maid of Orleans, having come into the physical world in a very special way, through the thirteen nights, also left it in such a way. For it says in the records, so that there is historical proof, that she said that she would indeed die but that after her death the English would meet with a much greater reverse than any they had known before, and that this would happen within the next seven years.
If we take this rightly, in its spiritual sense, it means nothing less than that the soul of Joan of Arc on going through the gate of death was prepared to continue contributing to the work of shaping events after her death, to share in the work whatever her form of existence. And she did so. What the spiritual powers have to bring about will be brought about whatever the external conditions may be. Joan's adversaries were able to bring about her death, to mount the strongest possible attack against her, as it were. They were not able to prevent her mission.
However, the forces of Joan of Arc were only able to work in the subtle way they did during her time. In everything she did the Luciferic forces were ranged against her. We are also having to deal with hostile forces in our time, but these are predominantly Ahrimanic forces, the Ahrimanic forces that have come up with the materialistic age. These are in evidence even in the outer form and fashion of the whole of our age if we turn our attention to the mechanisms, the mechanical element of the age; if we are aware that, fundamentally speaking, we are offering an abode to demons when we produce our mechanical contrivances, surrounding ourselves with a whole world of Ahrimanic demons. It is evident also from other things that Ahrimanic powers are at work everywhere in our age. We need only look back a few years and pay a little attention to the occult substrate to our life on earth and we can see Ahrimanic forces influencing all aspects of our physical life on earth. Not only the kind of demons we create in our machines influence our earth life but also other kinds of Ahrimanic forces. The occultist has to put into words something I have often put into words for one group of friends or another: that, fundamentally speaking, the sad and painful events now happening all over Europe and a large part of the globe have long been in preparation. War has been present for a long time, as it were, in the astral world but was held back by something that was also astral: by the fear everybody was feeling. Fear is an astral element; it was able to hold the war back, to prevent it; fear was able to stop war from breaking out for all that time.
For fear was abroad everywhere. Fear is altogether something that is most dreadfully widespread in the depths of our souls in the present age. A time came, however, when there was an external indication in time of something often referred to when the starting points of this war are discussed. This outer aspect is not the one that matters, however, it is merely a symbol. As I said on a previous occasion, the assassination of the Austrian Archduke occurred and there emerged the event, so terrible to the soul, that I have already referred to. I had never before known anything like this, not from personal experience nor through other occultists. We know what the soul goes through when it has undergone death. In the case of the soul that went through death at that time something very specific showed itself. All the elements of fear began to gather around it, as though around a focal point, and something of a cosmic power could now be perceived in it. We know already that anything that has a specific character on the physical plane will have the opposite character in the spiritual world. This also held true in the present case. An element that first had had a dispersive effect where war was concerned was now acting in the opposite way, as a spur, an incitement, to war. So we see that a metamorphosis, as it were, of the elements of fear, of the Ahrimanic elements, became mixed up with all the things that finally led to the sad and painful events of the present time. Ahrimanic elements are indeed at work everywhere in our time. We must not rebel against this, nor should we aim to protect ourselves against it. We have to see it as something that is necessary in our time, something that has to be present in our time. The question is: How do we find the right attitude to this? How do we find the one thing that will show us what should be our attitude now, in the present age, if we want to make it possible for divine spiritual forces and powers to enter into our actions?
Here I must refer to an event in the spiritual world that happened a few decades ago. I have mentioned this on a number of occasions, in all kinds of different contexts. It is an event that occurred behind the scenes of our existence, in the spiritual world, in or about November 1879.27See, above all, Rudolf Steiner's lectures on 18 and 20 May 1913 in Vorstufen zum Mysterium von Golgotha (GA 152). In English, Michaelmas—The Festivals and Their Meaning (London) Anthroposophical Publishing Co. 1957. Lecture of 18 May also as typescript translation Z 136, ‘The Michael Impulse and the Mystery of Golgotha’ in Rudolf Steiner Library, London. We know that there is a different regent of earth life for every epoch, as it were; one regent follows another. Until 1879 the spirit acting out of the spiritual world was the one we call the spirit Gabriel, if a name is to be used. From 1879 onwards it was the spirit we call Michael. It is Michael who directs events in our time. Anyone able to see into the spiritual worlds in conscious awareness will feel the spirit Michael to be the spirit who truly is the one to lead and govern in our time. Michael is in a way the most Powerful of the leading spirits of the age that follow one another. In a way, I said, he is the most powerful of these spirits. The others have been predominantly active in the spirit sphere. Michael had the strength to push the spirit right through into the physical world. He was the spirit who descended to earth ahead of the Christ, as it were, before the Mystery of Golgotha approached, and governed world affairs for four or five centuries at that time. Now in our time he is again the leading spirit on earth. We may make a comparison by saying that Michael is among the spirits belonging to the hierarchy of the Archangeloi as gold is among the metals. Whilst all other metals act predominantly on the ether body, gold also acts as a medicine for the physical body. In the same way all the other leading spirits act on the soul whilst it is Michael who at the same time is able to act on the physical intellect, on physical reason. Now that his age has come it is possible to act out of the spirit on the physical intellect, on physical reason. In the 15th century he was not the actual leader and therefore had to find a way in the case of Joan without making use of the human intellect, human understanding, human ability to form ideas; a way that was wholly an inner one, as it were, through the innermost powers of the human soul. The Christ influenced Joan of Arc through his Michaelic spirit, but he achieved what had to be done by any other means rather than the forces of the intellect and of reason.
Luciferic spirits are also present today. and these prefer to attack man from within. They want to generate all kinds of passions, but not the error of the intellect, the error of common reason that we have to struggle with in our present age. We therefore have to say that anything we wish to achieve in the spiritual sphere must be achieved in such a way that it is in accord with the forces that Michael, the leading spirit of the age, commands. We are in close alliance with Michael when we try to grasp what we have been attempting to grasp these last few days, when we try and grasp things as phenomena, to grasp what we call the German folk spirit. Two powers: Michael and the German folk spirit. These two are entirely in harmony, and it is their mission to bring the Christ impulse to expression specifically in our time, in accord with the character of our time. For it would be wrong for the people of our time to think that the same inward way of working that was appropriate to the 15th century could still be appropriate now that we are in the fifth post-Atlantean era. In the present age it is a matter above all of understanding that it is necessary to be chained to Ahriman, to Ahrimanic elements we ourselves create in our machines, and that it is necessary to recognize clearly how these things are connected. Otherwise we live in fear of many of the things that exist in the present age.
The question therefore arises: How do we offer resistance to this Ahrimanic element in our age, the way resistance was offered to the Luciferic element at the time of Joan of Arc? We offer resistance to the Ahrimanic element by taking exactly the path that has been so emphatically pointed out over and over again within our stream of spiritual science—the path towards a spiritualization of human culture, of man's ability to form ideas and concepts. This is why it has been stressed again and again that there is a way in which everything spiritual science can give us, even if to begin with it is largely presented to us from the spiritual world, can truly and wholly and utterly be grasped with the intellect, the reason man has been gifted with from the 16th century to this day. And if we say we do not understand, then that is only because we listen to the prejudices current in the materialism of our age. We must stop listening ever and again to the voice of present-day materialism, a voice that speaks loudly at times and then again in the faintest of whispers. Instead we must try and firmly focus our mind on such powers of understanding as we have. Then the things spiritual science produces for us will one day appear to be perfectly understandable, as something that can be understood just as well as some event or other in the outside world can be understood. We generate the great strength we need to offer resistance to the Ahrimanic forces by approaching the spirit not merely through the inmost powers of revelation and of faith, as in the case of Joan of Arc, but by trying to concentrate our powers of understanding most intensely on what spiritual science has to give. If we do this, the hour, the moment, will come when we have to say to ourselves: What comes to us out of spiritual science is the only thing that is rational and at the same time makes the world around us understandable, filling it with light. And when we are taken hold of in this way we are taken hold of by what the spirit has to give in our time so that we shall indeed be strong enough to face the Ahrimanic forces.
Someone with a disposition like that of Joan of Arc would not be able to achieve anything in our day and age. She would be an interesting personality and would be able to reveal many marvellous things through prophesy and in other ways. Such a person capable of making intimate revelations is capable of effectively countering Luciferic forces. Today, however, man has to resist Ahrimanic forces, has to make himself strong to cope with these forces, developing the strength required in the Michaelic age. Sun-like qualities are called for in the age of Michael, qualities we take into ourselves by spiritualizing the powers we have at our command between waking up and going to sleep: the powers of the intellect, of understanding, of insight. For these powers of understanding we possess will undergo a transformation in the soul if only we have sufficient patience. They are transformed to such effect that out of what emerges for us in spiritual science there arises the certainty that what we are grasping there is the direct expression of the thoughts of the spiritual world. So there can be no question today of withdrawing from the outside world which has Ahrimanic forces in it everywhere. No, it is necessary for us to stand in this world but at the same time also make ourselves strong to meet those Ahrimanic forces.
It is a matter therefore of finding the way towards understanding the spiritual world with the very same powers we also use to understand the outside world. That, of course, is the way—as we have said on these few occasions—that is inwardly bound up with the whole mission of the German people, and specifically with this mission as it has been from the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. This mission was in preparation during the preceding centuries. This is what is so remarkable—what has been going on in the intellectual life of Germany, through its poets, its artists and philosophers, is intimately bound up with the spiritual life. Here it really is a matter of boldly looking the facts in the face, without sympathy or antipathy, and seeing how they were first in preparation and gradually took shape. We have ourselves had the experience of simply having to stress one day that there is this necessity to be active in the life of the intellect and spirit as it continues to progress. Why should that be so?
Let us try and take a look at the theosophical movement we had external links with for a time, the theosophical movement in England. Try and build a bridge for yourselves between the general intellectual life in England, including the field of philosophy, and English theosophy. Externally they stand side by side, are two streams running side by side, and a bridge between the two is something we can only make in a very external way. Try on the other hand and consider the life of the mind and spirit that had its preparatory stages in the German mystics Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler, and then evolved further through Jakob Boehme and Angelus Silesius.28Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–c.1327).
Johannes Tauler (c.1300 –c.1361).
Jakob Boehme (1575 –1624).
Angelus Silesius (Johannes Scheffler) (1624–1677). Concerning the above mystics, see Rudolf Steiner: Die Mystik im Aufgange des neuzeitlichen Geisteslebens und ihr Verhältnis zur modernen Weltanschauung (GA 7). In English as Eleven European Mystics (tr. K. Zimmer) (New York) Rudolf Steiner Publications 1971. In Lessing21Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlecthtes (1780) paragraph 98:
‘Why should I not return as often as I am sent to gain new knowledge, new skills? Do I carry off so much at one go that it is not worth the effort to return?’ it brought acceptance of the idea of repeated earth lives, and in Goethe's Faust an out-and-out glorification of the ascent to the spiritual worlds.
There you have the straight route from the outer worlds to the spiritual world. If you then also include the stream that led from Goethe's Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Fair Lily29Rudolf Steiner: Goethes Geistesart in ihrer Offenbarung durch semen Faust und durch das Marchen von der Schlange und der Lille (GA 22). In English as The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethes World Conception (tr.O.D. Wannamaker) (New York & London) Anthroposophic Press and Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co. 1940. to the dramatization of the basic forces of initiation30Rudolf Steiner, ‘Die Pforte der Einweihung’ in Vier Mysteriendramen (GA 14). In English as ‘The Portal of Initiation’, in the Mystery Plays/Dramas tr. A. Bittleston/R. and H. Pusch. and take the two streams together, you will have the inner connection. There is an inner connection between that which finally makes its appearance as spiritual science and that which is striven for quite exoterically in the intellectual life of the physical world. The life of the mind and spirit which unfolds outside of spiritual science is of course striven for with the powers of the intellect, but it is compelled to move in the direction of what is found outside the body. I should like to put it like this: It is the mission of the German people that they cannot do anything else but let the river of all their endeavours finally enter into spiritual life. In spiritual terms that really means that the German people are called to unite inwardly with the element that comes into the world because Michael is the leader. Such a union is not achieved by passively, fatalistically, allowing oneself to be governed by the powers of destiny. It is achieved by recognizing the challenge of the time.
What I am trying to show has been revealed not only inwardly, in the evolution of German mysticism, but also outwardly in the whole way German life has developed within the context of European life. In the first of the last two public lectures I have given, ‘The Germanic Soul and the German Intellect’, I discussed the way the soul quality of the Germanic tribes flowed into the peoples of the West and the South, as it were, through those who became the outposts of those tribes, the Goths, Lombards, Vandals. The Germanic soul element was sacrificed on the altar of mankind. Later this was to repeat itself, though less obviously so. Consider first of all the most eastern part of Austria31Rudolf Steiner was referring to the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Transylvania (Siebenbuergen) is now part of one of the successor states—Rumania (translator). and the people known as the Transylvanian Saxons. They had emigrated from the Rhine, from the Siebengebirge (Seven Mountains), and there is external evidence to prove this. As time went on they lost their special characteristics. The soul substance gave itself up, to merge into that of the other nation, and little will be left of them one day except for some elements from their language; it was as folk substance that they flowed into the other nation. Now let us move on south to the Banat.32The Banat lies just south-west of Transylvania and north of the Danube, in Yugoslavia and Rumania (translator). Swabian immigrants settled there and the Magyar element overgrew the Swabian element. The same thing has happened in the Carpathian mountains in Hungary. To all appearances these immigrant elements have disappeared today. Yet they are still alive everywhere among the present-day population, sometimes emerging in tiny rivulets, like in the fascinating linguistic enclave of the people of Gottschee in Krain [Carniola]. And elsewhere as well. We see—and it would be possible to purse this a great deal further—how the Germanic soul-element has been sent out into the world, how it has an effect there. This happens out of an inner necessity. It happened like this in earlier ages and particularly also during the age of Gabriel. It happened throughout the age of Gabriel in that the blood—I would say the blood and the mixing of blood—was active, everything which, whilst connected with external circumstances in life, yet cannot be grasped externally, but again takes place at a more inward level.
Now the Michael age has come,the age when we must grasp how, through the whole past development of the life of the mind and intellect, the German spirit is able to take its place within the Sun force of Michael. That we simply have to realize. And it can be realized by giving recognition to spiritual science, by gradually—on the basis of what spiritual science is considering—getting an idea and an awareness of the spiritual powers that are at work, of the reality of spiritual powers. Then we shall gradually come to understand how senseless it is for people to say: ‘There are no spiritual forces, I cannot acknowledge them. And if I have a bar of iron in horseshoe form here, then it is just that, a bar of iron, and I see nothing but iron.’ But there may be magnetic forces within it. And in the same way something else, something quite different from magnetic forces, lies within the whole of the outside world. We come to recognize it if we really consider all that is presented to us as the characteristic form of things. That is the way to achieve the powers of mind needed in the age of Michael to resist the Ahrimanic powers, at a time when it is indeed our duty to withstand the Ahrimanic powers. Fundamentally speaking, everything the study of spiritual science has to offer is merely preparatory. One day an awakening of the soul will spring forth from the study of spiritual science, and the soul will know: Within you lives the spiritual world, from the Christ impulse down through Michael to the folk spirit which puts into effect what has to be put into effect.
I have said that the time of Joan of Arc was one when it was possible to act on the weakest, physically the weakest, powers of man. Our age is one where it is necessary to act on the strongest powers of man, to take hold of the will at a point where it is least inclined truly to unfold its powers. We can see it again and again: the thing people find most difficult to do is to unfold the will at the point where our earthly powers, the powers by which we form concepts, are made inwardly active. To bring ‘will-power’ to bear externally is something people still find relatively easy. But a different kind of ‘will-power’ is needed to guide our thoughts in such a way that they encompass the spiritual world. Spiritual science as such has to appeal to that strong will-power, for this must be there if spiritual science is truly to lead where it ought to lead in our Michaelic age. For we are not called to discuss the mechanical element in our age; we are not called to point out that this mechanical element in our age has laid hold of mankind; we are called to do something else.
Of course, if we squeeze the facts a little it will be possible for us to become a philosopher, to some degree even a great philosopher—this we admit without reserve. It is possible to look at the machines in our age and start to consider this very mechanistic aspect as the most pernicious of all things, ascribing it specifically to our enemies. And one then has the inclination, even if one may be considered a great philosopher, to hurl abuse like a market woman. One can then do the same as the philosopher Bergson33Henri Bergson (1859–1941). See ‘La Signification de la Guerre’ in Pages Actuelles 1914/15 Paris 1915. who only recently again managed to point out rather one sidedly—and many things tend to be perfectly correct if a one sided view is presented—how the mechanistic effect of the forces relates to the essential nature of the German people. But that is not the only thing we can point to—that German brainpower has achieved things in certain areas by applying mechanical principles—for something else may be pointed out as well. Nor is it necessary to hurl abuse like a market woman when discussing such matters, and instead we may say: Perhaps the very place where the intellect has the greatest powers to give form to the mechanistic and demonic element is also the place where these mechanistic and demonic powers can be overcome on the basis of our particular spiritual mission. Then however, a German may easily get himself misunderstood as he comes to see, in conjunction with the way the intellectual life has developed, that it is not his function to stop at the purely mechanical element that is of such great service to him also in the present day, with the challenges presented by the war. He must not stop at what is merely mechanism, for then he would merely create demons. No, he must develop powerful forces within him that can boldly face these demons. This means that we have to stand in the spiritual world, not blindly but in a way that arises from, and is guided by, conviction. If we set out to acknowledge that we are surrounding ourselves with a world of demons, a veritable hell, as we design and build machine after machine, we can of course understand why people speaking out of the materialistic spirit of the present age are saying over and over again that this scientific and materialistic age has taken us to the greatest height ever achieved by man. Of course we can understand this for it is in line with the materialistic thought of the present time, but we must know that with those machines we are introducing nothing but demons for mankind and we must know how to develop the right powers to resist these demons. We only gain the right attitude to the spiritual world by recognizing these demonic Ahrimanic forces, by knowing full well that they are present. For the harmful powers are harmful only when we remain unconscious of them, when we know nothing about them. Let me illustrate this by means of a comparison.
As you know, we hope after some time to have a building at Dornach near Basle where we can nurture our spiritual stream in suitable surroundings. It is not a question of erecting this building to escape the pressures of our time in some way or other, but rather of building it entirely out of the pressures of our time. It was necessary for instance to design a lighting system out of the most Ahrimanic forces of the present age, electric lighting, electric heating and so on. It is a matter of using the architectural form as such to render such potentially harmful things harmless. It could have been the case that anyone entering the building in the future would have been surrounded with everything the Ahrimanic culture of the present age leads to. The point, however, is not that it is present, but that people do not notice it. We are not suppose to notice it. To achieve this, a number of friends got together and they are erecting a separate building for this, giving it a special form, so that the demonic Ahrimanic forces are banished to this place. Anyone approaching the building, and also anyone entering it, will have it brought to their notice that the Ahrimanic forces are at work there. For as soon as we know this they are no longer harmful. The point is that the powers that have a bad effect on man cease to do so when we take a good look at the places where they are active, when we do not look at a machine thoughtlessly and say ‘a machine is simply a machine’ , but rather acknowledge that a machine is a place where a demonic Ahrimanic entity may be found.
If we take our stand in the world with knowledge in our souls we take the right stand in the Michaelic age. It means that we relate to the spiritual world in such a way that Michael, too, can be active within us; Michael with his present mission, as we have described it. The Point is that in every case we can either enter without thought into what exists in the mechanical contrivances men are producing at an unconscious level or we can see through life. If we see through it, if we become aware of the demonic elemental powers at work in the machines we produce, we shall find the way to the rightful givers of Inspiration who are true to the spirit. They are connected with the spirit who is to the other spirits concerned with guidance of man as gold is to the other metals—with Michael.
My aim today has been to show that the mission of our age is to seek the divine spiritual powers that will work for the good of mankind. It is different from the mission given to the human souls who lived at the time of Joan of Arc. At that time it was much more a question of holding back anything intellectual, holding back the Power of reasoning. Today, however, it is a question of cultivating everything to do with reason and intellect to attain to clairvoyance, for it is possible to cultivate it and attain to clairvoyance. Once there are people who cultivate the human soul in this way, the twilight period we are now living through will evolve into what it destined to evolve. Everything that evolves on the physical plane can only be the outer garment for the spiritual life that is to arise for mankind out of the Present time.
And it is true that those who are now sacrificing their powers in the years of their youth are prepared to send these powers down into our earthly existence. For these powers are never lost, they are indestructible- Now, however, they are destined to continue to act spiritually as they would have continued to act physically if the people concerned had not gone through the gate of death on the field of battle. They will continue to send their powers down to earth and into our time, so that we shall know what to do with these powers. These powers need to stream down into a human race that shall use them in such a way, during the time of peace that will follow the war, that spiritual life spreads more and more on earth. As the light of day always arises from the night, so a future filled with light will have to arise out of our present which so often seems like a dark night to us. This future will have to be filled not only with light but with everything the Michaelic age, which started in 1871, has to bring for mankind. Once there are souls capable of establishing as intimate a bond with the spiritual world as has been indicated today, we shall be able to hope that where the events of the present time are concerned, the thought expressed in the seven lines of the mantram will come to fruition. We may hope that it will all be fulfilled—if the first five lines are really and truly connected with the last two:
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.
Fünfter Vortrag
Unser Erstes sei wiederum, daß wir die Gedanken hinlenken zu denen, die draußen auf den Feldern der Ereignisse der heutigen Zeit stehen und für das einzutreten haben, was die Zeit von ihnen fordert:
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 die schon durch die Todespforte Gegangenen:
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 durch lange Jahre in unserer Bewegung suchen, der durch das Mysterium von Golgatha gegangen ist, er schwebe über euch, er ströme durch euch und stärke euch für eure schwere Aufgabe!
Es scheint in bezug auf den Spruch, der eben gesprochen worden ist, nicht überall Klarheit zu herrschen, wie mir mitgeteilt worden ist. Ich bemerke ausdrücklich, daß die rechte Lesung ist: «Geister eurer Seelen.» Der Spruch ist so eingerichtet, daß er sowohl gebraucht werden kann, wenn viele für einen, als auch, wenn einer für viele, oder viele für viele - wie wir es jetzt eben gemacht haben — den Spruch anwenden. Wenn er sich auf einen bezieht, ist dann nur das zu ändern, daß man sagt: «Geist deiner Seele, wirkender Wächter» und so weiter. Es scheint, daß ich mich das erstemal, als ich vor Wochen hier den Spruch gebraucht habe, versprochen habe, so daß die Meinung hat entstehen können, als ob die Worte «Geister eurer Seelen» nicht ganz richtig wären. Sie sind aber doch so richtig. Es ist die erste Zeile gleichsam eine Ansprache an die Geister der zu schützenden Seelen; und mit dem Worte «eurer» sind diejenigen gemeint, auf die man die Gedanken dabei hinrichtet, während man in der zweiten Zeile das «eure» auf die «Wächter» hinlenkt. Ich bemerke, daß solche Sprüche immer von dem Charakter sind, der manchmal dem rein grammatischen Bau Schwierigkeiten macht, daß sie aber eben aus der geistigen Welt heraus gegeben sind zu dem Ziele, dem sie dienen sollen, und es handelt sich darum, daß bei solchen Sprüchen zuweilen die Wortfügung etwas Schwierigkeiten macht.
Meine lieben Freunde, es war wohlerwogen und außerdem den Aufgaben unserer Zeit im spirituellen Sinne entsprechend, daß wir vorgestern den Blick auf Erscheinungen innerhalb der Menschheitsentwickelung wendeten, die uns zeigen, wie die spirituellen, die geistigen Impulse — namentlich diejenigen, die sich anknüpfen an das Mysterium von Golgatha, an den Christus-Impuls -, wie diese Impulse als lebendige in der Menschheitsentwickelung leben, wie sie in der Menschheitsentwickelung gelebt haben, auch ohne daß die Menschen mit ihrem Verstande, mit ihrer Vernunft dieses Wesen des Christus-Impulses einsehen konnten. Und es war der Sache entsprechend, hinzudeuten neben anderen Erscheinungen namentlich auf diejenige der Jungfrau von Orleans, durch welche dieser Christus-Impuls durch seinen dienenden michaelischen Geist in der Zeit des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts eine große Aufgabe gelöst hat zum Heile und zum Fortschritt der Menschheit. Es war aus dem Grunde ganz besonders notwendig, auf diese Tatsache hinzuweisen, weil es ja selbstverständlich auch für unsere Zeit gilt, daß alles, was die großen Zusammenhänge regeln soll, aus den spirituellen Welten heraus geordnet und geregelt wird, und daß wir uns bewußt sein müssen, daß uns die Kräfte, die Impulse zu dem, was geschehen soll, aus den spirituellen Welten kommen. Also in dieser Beziehung gilt heute dasselbe, was - wenn wir so sagen dürfen - zur Zeit der Jungfrau von Orleans gegolten hat. Aber die Zeiten sind verschieden. Und das, was zur Zeit der Jungfrau von Orleans in einer gewissen Weise hat geschehen können, das muß für unsere Zeit und für die folgenden Zeiten in einer andern Art sich vollziehen, muß anders verlaufen. Denn unsere Zeit ist seither eine ganz andere geworden. In ganz anderer Weise wird die Menschheit seit dem fünfzehnten, sechzehnten Jahrhundert, vor welchen ja das Ereignis der Jungfrau von Orleans hegt, geführt. Und auf diesen Unterschied und dadurch besonders auf den Grundcharakter unserer Zeit wollen wir heute einmal etwas hinweisen.
Wenn wir mit unserer Seele in dem Zustande zwischen Einschlafen und Aufwachen sind, so sind wir ja mit unserer eigentlichen Wesenheit außerhalb unseres physischen Leibes und unseres Ätherleibes. Wir leben dann, schlafend, in unserem astralischen Leibe und in unserem Ich. Wir müssen uns das ganz deutlich vorstellen, daß wir mit dem, was wir eigentlich sind, dann außerhalb unseres Leibes sind. Wir sind zunächst, weil wir ja zwischen Geburt und Tod in einer außerordentlichen Weise an unseren Leib gebunden sind, räumlich nicht sehr weit entfernt von unserem Leibe; wir sind gewissermaßen mit unserem Seelischen ausgebreitet in unserer Umgebung, aber in alledem, was eben die Eigentümlichkeit unserer Umgebung ist.
Nun machen wir uns einmal klar, wie — wenigstens für die weitaus größte Zahl derjenigen Menschen, die bei den Geschicken der Gegenwart in Betracht kommen — unsere Umgebung sich gerade seit den letzten Jahrhunderten, seit dem fünfzehnten, sechzehnten Jahrhundert verändert hat. Man braucht sich nur vorzustellen, was von den Maschinerien der Gegenwart, von den Mechanismen der Gegenwart zur Zeit, als die Jungfrau von Orleans wirkte, vorhanden war. Wir können geradezu sagen, seit jener Zeit hat sich in mechanischer Beziehung die Erde vollkommen verändert, denn alles, was wir an Maschinen erleben, ist erst nachher gekommen. Diejenigen von Ihnen, die einmal aufmerksam nachts in einem Schlafwagen gefahren sind, können eine merkwürdige Erfahrung gemacht haben, die Erfahrung, daß im Aufwachen — und man kann ja bei einer solchen Gelegenheit recht oft aufwachen - etwas nachrumpelt von dem, was ringsherum in der Maschinerie des Zuges ist, und daß gewissermaßen im traumhaften Aufwachen etwas vernommen werden kann von diesem Gekrächze und Gequietsche des Zuges oder des Dampftschiffes, wo man dann ist, wenn man aufwacht. Das kommt davon her, daß unsere Seele eigentlich nicht in unserem Leibe, sondern in der Umgebung des Leibes ist und hineinversetzt ist in diese Mechanismen.
Nun sind wir nicht nur bei so außerordentlichen Gelegenheiten in das ganze Getriebe unserer Zeit hineinversetzt, sondern man darf sagen: das maschinelle Leben erstreckt sich ja in der heutigen Zeit auch hinaus auf das Land, und wir sind im Grunde genommen immer in dieses maschinelle Leben der Zeit hineinversetzt. Unsere Seele im schlafenden Zustande geht auf in alles, was Mechanismen sind. Solche Mechanismen haben wir aber auferbaut. Ein Mechanismus, den wir auferbaut haben, ist aber etwas ganz anderes als die Natur draußen, die auferbaut ist von den Elementargeistern. Draußen, wenn wir zum Beispiel im Walde sind, wo alles aufgebaut ist von den Naturgeistern, da sind wir in einer ganz anderen Umgebung, als wenn wir in der Umgebung der Mechanismen sind, die wir auferbaut haben. Denn was tun wir, indem wir das, was wir der Natur entnehmen, mechanisch zusammenfügen für unser Leben zu Maschinen und Geräten? Da fügen wir nicht nur die Teile der Materie zusammen. Sondern dadurch, daß wir Teile der Materie zusammenfügen, geben wir jedesmal Gelegenheit, daß ein ahrimanisch-dämonischer Diener sich mit der Maschine vereinigt. Bei jeder Maschine, bei jedem Mechanismus, bei allem, was in dieser Beziehung zum heutigen Kulturleben gehört, vollziehen wir das, daf$ wir dämonischen Elementargeistern, den ahrimanischen Naturen angehörenden Dienern einen Ansatzpunkt geben. Und indem wir in dieser Umgebung der Maschinen leben, leben wir dann zusammen mit diesen dämonisch-ahrimanischen Elementargeistern. Wir durchdringen uns mit ihnen; wir durchdringen uns nicht nur mit dem Gequietsche und Geknarre der Mechanismen, sondern auch mit dem, was im eminentesten Sinne für unseren Geist, für unsere Seele etwas Zerstörendes hat.
Wohlgemerkt — ich habe bei ähnlichen Gelegenheiten oftmals eine ähnliche Bemerkung gemacht -, es soll das, was ich sage, nicht eine Kritik unseres ahrimanischen Zeitalters sein. Denn das muß so sein, daß wir überall Dämonen hineinströmen lassen und uns von ihnen umgeben lassen. Das liegt in der Entwickelung der Menschheit. Und weil wir es einfach als notwendig anerkennen müssen, deshalb werden wir, wenn wir den eigentlichen Impuls der Geisteswissenschaft verstehen, nun nicht etwa ein Lob anstimmen auf die, welche da sagen: Also muß man sich möglichst schützen vor den Dämonen und die Kultur fliehen, muß sich möglichst in der Einsamkeit eine Kolonie erbauen, so daß? man nichts mit diesen dämonisch-ahrimanischen Elementargeistern zu tun hat. Das ist nie der Tenor gewesen, den ich bei meinen Ausführungen angeschlagen habe, sondern ich habe immer gesagt, daß das, was die Notwendigkeit der Entwickelung über uns bringt, voll hingenommen werde, daß man sich nicht zur Flucht vor der Welt dadurch verleiten laßt. Aber ins Auge gefaßt, verstanden muß es werden, daß unser Zeitalter dazu angetan ist, daß wir unsere Umgebung immer mehr mit dämonischen Naturen durchdringen, daß wir immer mehr zu tun haben mit dem, was unsere Kultur mechanisiert. Ein solches Zeitalter erfordert etwas ganz anderes, als jenes Zeitalter erfordert hat, aus dem die Jungfrau von Orleans zu ihrer Wirksamkeit berufen worden ist. Dieses Zeitalter der Jungfrau von Orleans forderte, ich möchte sagen, daß aus den sanftesten, den subtilsten Kräften der Menschenseele herausgeboren wurde der Impuls, aus dem die Jungfrau von Orleans wirken sollte, aus den sanftesten Kräften der Seele. Man bedenke: ein Hirtenmädchen war sie, also umgeben von der einfachsten, idyllischsten Natur. Früh kam es über sie in Gesichten, so daß sie durch die Imaginationen, die ihr gegeben waren, den unmittelbaren Zusammenhang mit der geistigen Welt hatte. Alles sollte sie aus ihrem Innern herausbringen, aus ihrem Innern heraussprießßen lassen, was sie zur Grundlage ihres Wirkens haben sollte. Ja, nicht nur das, sondern die ganz besonderen Umstände mußten herbeigeführt werden, um in ihre Seele, in ihr intimstes Inneres hinein durch die zartesten Kräfte, welche die menschliche Seele hat, ihre Mission zu prägen.
Wir wissen ja, daß in der Welt alles zyklisch vor sich geht, daß sich die Dinge so abspielen, daß sich nach bestimmten Zyklen wichtige Ereignisse ergeben. Wenn wir das Geburtsjahr — 1412 der Jungfrau von Orleans nehmen, so können wir uns da eine bestimmte Frage stellen. Wir können sagen: das Geburtsjahr dieser Jungfrau von Orleans hat selbstverständlich die Sonne an einem bestimmten Ort — astronomischen Ort — gesehen, bedeckend eines der Sternbilder des Tierkreises. Ein wichtiger Zeitabschnitt verläuft nun, indem die Sonne von einem solchen Sternbilde zum nächsten weiterschreitet. Indem sie ganz im Tierkreis herumgeht, geht sie durch die zwölf Sternbilder; aber ein wichtiger Zeitraum von ungefähr 2160 Jahren verläuft, wenn die Sonne von einem Sternbilde des Tierkreises zum andern geht, also ein Sternbild weit vorrückt. Wenn wir nun von der Geburt der Jungfrau von Orleans ungefähr 2160 Jahre zurückgehen, so kommen wir zur Gründung Roms.
Wenn man zur Zeit der Gründung Roms über wichtige Angelegenheiten des eben sich begründenden Roms Aufschluß erhalten wollte, dann begab man sich zur Nymphe Egeria; da konnte man Aufschluß erlangen, von einer Seherin Aufschluß erlangen. Das war aber, wie gesagt, einen Sonnenzyklus zurück. So erneuern sich die Zeiten, und so beruht alles auf zyklischen Vorgängen. Also, wenn wir uns vorstellen: die Sonne stand an einem bestimmten Punkte des Sternbildes des Widders zur Zeit der Gründung Roms, sie schreitet dann fort, schreitet bis zu den Fischen hin, so daß sie damit ein Zwölftel des Tierkreises vorgeschritten ist, so kommen wir durch den Zyklus, der notwendig in der Entwickelung der Menschheit vor sich gehen muß, von der Nymphe Egeria zu der inspirierten Tat der Jungfrau von Orleans. Aber im alten Rom haben wir es zu tun mit heidnischer Inspiration, mit heidnischen Taten. Wenn wir uns vorstellen, daß dasselbe Seherische, das zur Zeit der Gründung Roms wirksam war, in einem christlichen Zeitalter wirken sollte, und von innen heraus durch die zartesten menschlichen Kräfte wirken sollte, was mußte dann geschehen? Sie können sich vorstellen, daß etwas geschehen mußte, was wieder mit den intimsten, mit den feinsten Kräften des Christentums irgendwie zusammenhängt.
Nun werden sich die meisten von Ihnen erinnern, daß ich öfter auseinandergesetzt habe, wie das Jahr in seinem Verlaufe verschieden ist in bezug auf die Kräfte, durch die man mit den geistigen Welten zusammenhängt. Im Sommer, zu Johanni, wenn die Sonnenstrahlen die größte äußere Kraft haben, dann kann man vielleicht durch äußere Ekstase, wie es in den alten keltischen Mysterien der Fall war, zu irgendeinem, eben auch ekstatischen Aufsteigen zur geistigen Welt kommen. Da aber, wo die Tage am kürzesten sind, wo die Sonnenstrahlen ihre geringste äußere Kraft haben und die Winternächte die finstersten sind, um die Weihnachtszeit also, da ist auch die Möglichkeit gegeben, im intimen Seelenleben sich zu den geistigen Welten durchzuringen. Daher haben alle die, welche von diesem Zyklus des Jahres etwas gewußt haben, immer mit Recht behauptet, daß man, wenn man dazu veranlagt ist, in den Tagen vom 21., 23. Dezember bis etwa zum 6. Januar - in diesen Tagen und insbesondere in diesen Nächten — das Intimste des Zusammenhanges mit den geistigen Welten erleben kann. Legenden gibt es — hier ist einmal die Legende von Olaf Åsteson aus Norwegen vorgelesen worden -, die zeigen, wie die Menschen in diesen Tagen ihre tiefste Inspiration gehabt haben. Das hängt wieder damit zusammen, daß um diese Zeit das Weihnachtsfest gefeiert wird, die Geburt des Geistes, der durch das Mysterium von Golgatha gegangen ist, der mit den intimsten Kräften der menschlichen Seelenentwickelung zusammenhängt. Sollte also die Inspiration des alten heidnischen Roms wieder auferstehen, einen Sonnenzyklus darnach, 2160 Jahre darnach, so mußte die Inspiration den Weg nehmen durch das Allerallerkindlichste des Menschen. Das heißt, es mußte die Seele der Jungfrau von Orleans da angepackt werden, wo die Seelen am tiefsten angepackt werden, wo sie gegenüber dem Irdischen am schwächsten sind, und wo der Christus-Impuls noch nicht durch irdische Eindrücke gehindert wird, weil die Seelen noch nicht das Irdische ergriffen haben, und er so allein in das Seelische hineindringen kann. Es wäre also die günstigste Zeit gewesen, wenn die Jungfrau von Orleans unmittelbar vor ihrer Geburt, bevor sie den ersten Atemzug getan hat, noch die Zeit der dreizehn Nächte im Leibe der Mutter durchgemacht hätte. Das hat sie! Denn sie ist am 6. Januar geboren.
Daran sehen wir, wie die tieferen Kräfte, die aus den geistigen Welten hereindringen in unsere physische Welt, wirken, wie sie sich die Wege suchen, die geheimnisvollsten Wege. Für den, der in solche Zusammenhänge hineinsieht, kann es nichts Wunderbareres und aus der Geisteswissenschaft heraus Erklärlicheres geben, als daß die Jungfrau von Orleans den ersten physischen Atemzug tut um die Weihnachtszeit, am 6. Januar, nach der Weihnachtszeit, die sie noch durchgemacht hat, bevor sie den physischen Plan betreten hat. So sehen wir, daß die, welche mit neunzehn Jahren durch den Tod gegangen ist, angefaßt wurde da, wo des Menschen zarteste Kräfte, des Menschen intimste Kräfte liegen, und daß wir damit in die Zeit blicken, in welcher es notwendig war, daß die göttlich-geistigen Kräfte sich einen Weg suchten durch die intimsten Intimitäten der menschlichen Seele. Das war aber eben die letzte Zeit, in der so etwas sein sollte. Es war die Zeit, in der durch den Christus-Impuls Europa geordnet worden ist, wie ich es das letztemal angedeutet habe, und in der es in jener wunderbaren Weise geschah, wie es eben durch die Jungfrau von Orleans geschehen ist. Aber es ist die Zeit eben seither anders geworden. Die Zeit ist heute nicht dazu da, daß in so intimer Weise die göttlich geistigen Kräfte an die menschliche Seele herantreten.
Was war eigentlich die Aufgabe der Jungfrau von Orleans, wenn wir eine Begleiterscheinung ins Auge fassen, eine Begleiterscheinung ihres ganzen Lebens? Von innen aus wurde sie angepackt mit den Kräften der göttlich-geistigen Welt. Was diese Kräfte in der Seele antrafen, waren die luziferischen Kräfte. Diese luziferischen Kräfte waren in der damaligen Zeit mächtig und stark. Durch das, was die Jungfrau von Orleans in sich trug, wurde sie die Besiegerin der luziferischen Kräfte. Sie wurde diese Besiegerin der luziferischen Kräfte für jeden, der sehen will, ganz sichtlich. Wir haben auf ihre wunderbare Geburt einen Blick geworfen und haben gesehen, wie sie gewissermaßen die unbewußte Initiation durchmachte bis zum Tage der Epiphanie, bis zum Tage der sogenannten Offenbarung Christi. Wir können aber auch auf ihren Tod hinweisen, der dadurch eingetreten ist, daß alle luziferischen Kräfte ihrer Feinde sich zusammengetan und diesen Tod herbeigeführt hatten. Ihr Unglück in einer Schlacht wurde herbeigeführt durch die Eifersucht derjenigen, die als offizielle Leiter diese Schlacht zu lenken hatten. Dann aber tat sich alles auf, was eifersüchtig war auf solche Offenbarungen geistiger Kräfte und geistiger Mächte, wie sie durch sie zur Erscheinung kamen. Man machte ihr den Prozeß. Die Prozeßakten sind vorhanden, und es kann jeder durch das Studium dieser Prozeßßakten — wenn er nicht gerade so vernagelt ist wie Anatole France — sehen, daß diese Jungfrau von Orleans, so wie sie auf eine wunderbare Weise, durch die dreizehn Nächte, in die physische Welt hereingekommen ist, auch aus ihr hinausging. Denn in den Prozeßakten steht es, es kann also historisch belegt werden, daß sie gesagt hat, daß sie zwar sterben werde, aber die Engländer werden nach ihrem Tode eine viel größere Schlappe erleiden, als sie vorher erlitten haben, und innerhalb der nächsten sieben Jahre werde es geschehen. -— Wenn wir solches im richtigen spirituellen Sinne verstehen, so bedeutet es nichts anderes, als daß die Seele der Jungfrau von Orleans, als sie durch die Pforte des Todes ging, ihre Bereitschaft erklärt hat, auch mitzuarbeiten an der weiteren Gestaltung der Ereignisse nach ihrem Tode, in jeder Form ihres Daseins daran mitzuarbeiten. Das hat sie getan! Was die geistigen Kräfte auszuführen haben, das geschieht, wie auch die äußeren Verhältnisse sich gestalten. Den physischen Tod herbeiführen, also sozusagen die stärkste Attacke ausführen, das konnten die Gegner der Jeanne d’Arc ihr gegenüber; ihre Mission verhindern konnten sie nicht. In jener feinen Art, in der die Kräfte der Jeanne d’Arc wirkten, konnten sie aber nur wirken in ihrer Zeit. In allem, was sie tat, hatte sie die luziferischen Kräfte gegen sich. Wir in unserer Zeit haben es auch mit gegnerischen Kräften zu tun, aber vorzugsweise mit ahrimanischen Kräften, mit jenen ahrimanischen Kräften, die durch das materialistische Zeitalter heraufgekommen sind und die sich schon im äußeren Gefüge unseres ganzen Zeitalters zeigen, wenn wir die Mechanismen, das Mechanische unseres Zeitalters ins Auge fassen, wenn wir bedenken, daß wir im Grunde genommen, indem wir unsere Mechanismen fabrizieren, Dämonen die Wohnstätte anweisen und uns mit einer ganzen ahrimanisch-dämonischen Welt umgeben. Aber wir sehen ja auch an anderen Dingen, wie in unserer Zeit ahrimanische Kräfte überall am Werke sind. Wir sehen, wenn wir zum Beispiel einige Jahre nur zurückschauen und ein wenig die okkulten Untergründe unseres Erdendaseins ins Auge fassen, daß hereinwirken in unser physisches Erdendasein überall ahrimanische Kräfte; nicht nur diejenigen, die von der Art sind wie jene Dämonen, die wir in unseren Maschinen erzeugen, sondern auch sonstige ahrimanische Kräfte wirken in unser Erdendasein herein. Und der Okkultist muß aussprechen, was ich ja oft vor diesem oder jenem Kreis unserer Freunde ausgesprochen habe, daß im Grunde genommen die schmerzlich traurigen Ereignisse, die jetzt durch Europa und einen großen Teil der Erde gehen, sich längst vorbereitet haben, daß in der astralen Welt sozusagen der Krieg längst da war, daß er aber zurückgehalten wurde wieder durch etwas Astrales, nämlich durch die Furcht, die alle Menschen hatten. Furcht ist ein astrales Element; das konnte den Krieg zurückhalten, konnte ihn verhindern; das konnte bewirken, daß er so lange ausblieb.
Denn Furcht war überall da! Furcht ist überhaupt etwas, was auf dem Grunde der Seelen unseres Zeitalters in der furchtbarsten Weise grassiert. Da kam aber eine Zeit, die zeitlich äußerlich andeutete etwas, wovon man oftmals spricht, wenn man von den Ausgangspunkten dieses Krieges spricht. Aber dieses Äußere ist nicht das Wichtigste, es ist nur ein Symbolum. Es kam - ich habe das hier schon einmal auseinandergesetzt — die Ermordung jenes österreichischen Erzherzoges, und da stellte sich jenes schon einmal erwähnte, furchtbar erschütternde Ereignis heraus. Ich habe es niemals früher erfahren, nicht auf direktem Wege, nicht durch andere Okkultisten. Wir wissen ja, was die Seele durchmacht, wenn sie durch den Tod gegangen ist. An dieser Seele, die damals durch den Tod gegangen ist, zeigte sich ganz besonders, daß sich um sie, wie um einen Mittelpunkt, alle Furchtelemente anfingen zu gruppieren, und nun hatte man in ihr etwas wie eine kosmische Macht vor sich. Nun wissen wir, daß etwas, was auf dem physischen Plan einen ganz bestimmten Charakter hat, den umgekehrten Charakter in der geistigen Welt hat. So war es auch in diesem Falle: was erst den Krieg zerstreuend gewirkt hatte, das wirkte jetzt als das Gegenteil, wirkte sozusagen anspornend, anfeuernd. So sehen wir, daß gewissermaßen eine Metamorphose der Furchtelemente, der ahrimanischen Elemente mit hineingemischt ist in alles, was nun doch schließlich die schmerzlich traurigen Ereignisse unserer Zeit herbeigeführt hat. Ahrimanisches wirkt eben durchaus überall in unserer Zeit. Nicht auflehnen können wir uns dagegen, nicht kritisieren können wir es, nicht davor schützen sollen wir uns wollen, sondern es als eine Norwendigkeit unserer Zeit ansehen, als etwas, was da sein muß in unserer Zeit. Es fragt sich nur: Wie finden wir demgegenüber die rechte Stellung? Wie finden wir dasjenige, was uns anweist, wie wir uns zu verhalten haben gerade in unserem Zeitalter, wenn wir den göttlich-geistigen Kräften und Mächten den Eingang in unsere Handlungen möglich machen wollen?
Da muß ich auf ein Ereignis der geistigen Welt hinweisen, das einige Jahrzehnte hinter uns liegt. Ich habe es öfter in den verschiedensten Zusammenhängen erwähnt: jenes Ereignis, das stattgefunden hat hinter den Kulissen unseres Daseins, in der geistigen Welt, im November ungefähr des Jahres 1879. Wir wissen ja, daß von Epoche zu Epoche immer gewissermaßen ein anderer Regent des Erdendaseins da ist; ein Regent löst den andern ab. Bis zum Jahre 1879 war aus den geistigen Welten heraus wirkend der Geist, den wir den Geist Gabriel nennen, um einen Namen zu haben. Seit dem Jahre 1879 war es jener Geist, den wir Michael nennen. Er ist derjenige, der die Zeitereignisse in unserer Zeit dirigiert; und wer bewußt in die geistigen Welten hineinzuschauen vermag, der empfindet den Geist Michael als den eigentlich dirigierenden, anführenden Geist unserer Zeit. Michael ist in einer gewissen Weise der stärkste der einander stets ablösenden führenden Geister der Zeiten. In einer gewissen Weise, sagte ich, ist er der stärkste dieser Geister. Die anderen waren vorzugsweise geistig im Geistigen wirksam. Michael hat die Stärke, den Geist durchzupressen bis in die physische Welt hinein. Er war derjenige Geist, der, bevor das Mysterium von Golgatha herangekommen ist, gleichsam dem Christus voranschreitend zur Erde hinunterstieg und damals — etwa durch vier bis fünf Jahrhunderte - die Führung der Erde hatte. Er ist wieder in unserer Zeit der führende Geist der Erde. Man möchte vergleichsweise sagen: Was das Gold unter den Metallen ist, das ist Michael unter den Geistern, die der Hierarchie der Archangelo: angehören. Wie alle anderen Metalle vorzugsweise auf den Ätherleib wirken, das Gold aber zugleich auf unseren physischen Leib wirkt als Arzneimittel, so wirken alle anderen führenden Geister in die Seele hinein, Michael dagegen ist der, welcher zugleich auf den physischen Verstand, auf die physische Vernunft wirken kann. Wenn sein Zeitalter gekommen ist, dann kann von dem Geist aus auf den physischen Verstand, auf. die physische Vernunft gewirkt werden. Er mußte sich, weil er im fünfzehnten Jahrhundert nicht der eigentliche führende Geist war, bei der Jungfrau von Orleans den Weg suchen ohne menschlichen Verstand, ohne menschliches Begreifen, ohne menschliches Vorstellungsvermögen, einen gewissermaßen ganz inneren Weg durch die intimsten menschlichen Seelenkräfte. Der Christus hat ja durch seinen michaelischen Geist auf die Jungfrau von Orleans gewirkt; aber durch alles andere konnte er eher wirken als durch die Verstandes- und Vernunftkräfte.
Luziferische Geister sind heute auch da, die den Menschen vorzugsweise von innen angreifen. Sie wollen alle möglichen Leidenschaften erzeugen, aber nicht den Irrtum des Verstandes, den Irrtum der Vernunft, mit dem wir in unserem heutigen Zeitalter so zu kämpfen haben. Wir müssen also sagen: Was wir erreichen wollen im Geistigen, das müssen wir erreichen angemessen den Kräften, die Michael, der führende Geist des Zeitalters, innehat. Und mit Michael im innigen Bunde steht das, was wir zu begreifen versuchen, wenn wir seine Erscheinung zu begreifen versuchen, wie wir es in den letzten Tagen gemacht haben; wenn wir nämlich das zu begreifen versuchen, was wir den deutschen Volksgeist nennen zwei Kräfte: Michael und der deutsche Volksgeist, die durchaus im Einklange sind, und denen es übertragen ist, den Christus-Impuls gerade in unserer Zeit zum Ausdruck zu bringen, wie es dem Charakter unseres Zeitalters entsprechend ist. Denn nicht kann unser Zeitalter irgendwie glauben, daf dieselbe intime Art des Wirkens, die für das fünfzehnte Jahrhundert richtig war, seit dem Heraufkommen des fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraumes auch noch richtig sein könnte. In unserem Zeitalter handelt es sich darum, daß wir vor allem begreifen die Notwendigkeit des Gekettetseins an Ahriman, an Ahrimanisches, das wir selber in unseren Mechanismen erzeugen, und die Notwendigkeit, diese Zusammenhänge richtig zu erkennen; denn sonst leben wir in Furcht vor vielem, was in unserem Zeitalter vorhanden ist.
Daher entsteht die Frage: Wodurch bieten wir diesem Ahrimanischen in unserem Zeitalter Widerstand, wie Widerstand geboten wurde dem Luziferischen in dem Zeitalter der Jungfrau von Orleans? Wir bieten dem Ahrimanischen dadurch Widerstand, daß wir gerade jenen Weg gehen, der immer wieder und wieder innerhalb unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Strömung betont wird: den Weg der Spiritualisierung der menschlichen Kultur, des menschlichen Begriffs- und Vorstellungsvermögens. Daher haben wir es immer wieder und wieder betont: Es gibt eine Möglichkeit, alles, was uns die Geisteswissenschaft bringt, wenn es auch zunächst und zumeist aus der geistigen Welt heraus gegeben ist, wirklich mit dem der Menschheit heute seit dem sechzehnten Jahrhundert zugeteilten Verstande, mit der Vernunft restlos zu begreifen. Und wenn wir sagen, wir begreifen es nicht, so ist das nur aus dem Grunde der Fall, weil wir hinhören auf die Vorurteile, die uns aus dem landläufigen Materialismus der Zeit geboten werden. Wer nicht immer wieder und wieder auf das hinhört, was zum Teil laut, zum Teil aber auch im feinsten leisen Flüstern aus dem Materialismus unserer Zeit heraustönt, sondern wer streng ins Auge zu fassen versucht, was wir in den Verstehenskräften haben, für den erscheint eines Tages das, was die Geisteswissenschaft hervorbringt, als etwas durchaus Begreifliches, als etwas, was ebenso begriffen werden kann, wie irgendein Ereignis der äußeren Welt begriffen werden kann. Aber nur dadurch erzeugen wir in uns die starke Kraft, die wir brauchen, um den ahrimanischen Kräften Widerstand zu leisten, daß wir jetzt nicht bloß durch die intimsten Offenbarungs- und Glaubenskräfte, wie bei der Jungfrau von Orleans, an den Geist herankommen, sondern daß wir versuchen, unsere Verstehenskraft in der intensivsten Weise auf das zu konzentrieren, was aus der Geisteswissenschaft kommt. Wenn wir das tun, dann kommt die Stunde, der Augenblick, wo wir uns sagen müssen: Was uns aus der Geisteswissenschaft entgegentritt, ist das einzig Vernünftige und zugleich das, was uns die Welt um uns herum begreiflich und lichtvoll macht. Und wenn wir also ergriffen werden, dann werden wir so ergriffen werden von dem, was der Geist uns in unserer Zeit gibt, daß wir wirklich stark genug sind gegenüber den ahrimanischen Kräften.
Eine Natur wie die Jungfrau von Orleans, in unsere heutige Zeit hineinversetzt, würde nichts vermögen. Sie würde eine interessante Persönlichkeit sein, würde manches Wunderbare prophetisch und sonstwie offenbaren können. Aber wie eine solche intime Offenbarungsnatur wirksam den luziferischen Kräften begegnen kann, so muß heute der Mensch den ahrimanischen Kräften Widerstand leisten, muß sich stark machen gegen diese Kräfte, so stark, wie es dem Zeitalter des Michael geziemt. Dem Zeitalter des Michael ziemt eben das Sonnenhafte, das, was wir in uns aufnehmen durch eine Spiritualisierung derjenigen Kräfte, die wir innehaben vom Aufwachen bis zum Einschlafen: der Kräfte unserer Vernunft, unseres Begreifens, unseres Verstehens. Denn diese unsere Kräfte des Begreifens und Verstehens, sie wandeln sich um in unserer Seele, wenn wir dazu nur Geduld genug haben. So wandeln sie sich um, daß aus dem, was sich uns entpuppt in der Geisteswissenschaft, die Gewißheit herausspringt: was wir da begreifen, das ist unmittelbar der Ausdruck der Gedanken der geistigen Welt. Also nicht um ein Zurückziehen von der ahrimanisch durchsetzten äußeren Welt kann es sich heute handeln, sondern um ein notwendiges Darinnenstehen in dieser Welt, aber zugleich um ein sich Starkmachen gegenüber diesen ahrimanischen Kräften.
Da handelt es sich dann darum, daß wir den Weg finden, um durch dasselbe Begreifen, durch welches wir die Außenwelt begreifen, auch die geistige Welt zu begreifen. Aber diesen Weg haben wir ja gerade in diesen Tagen angegeben als den Weg, der innerlich verbunden ist mit der ganzen Mission des deutschen Volkes, insbesondere mit dieser Mission seit dem Ende des achtzehnten und dem Beginn des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Aber in den vorhergehenden Jahrhunderten hat diese Mission sich vorbereitet. Das ist das Eigentümliche, daß dasjenige, was der deutsche Geist getrieben hat in seinen Dichtern, seinen Künstlern und Philosophen, innig verbunden ist mit dem spirituellen Leben. Es handelt sich da wirklich darum, ohne Sympathie und Antipathie den Tatsachen kühn ins Auge zu schauen, wie sie sich vorbereitet haben, wie sie sich nach und nach herausgestaltet haben. Wir selber haben es ja erleben können, wie wir eines Tages eben einfach diese Notwendigkeit betonen mußten, im kontinuierlichen Fortschritt des Geisteslebens zu wirken. Denn warum?
Versuchen wir einmal hinzublicken auf jene theosophische Bewegung, mit der wir äußerlich eine Zeitlang verbunden waren, auf die englische theosophische Bewegung. Versuchen Sie da einmal eine Brücke sich zu bauen zwischen dem, was sonst englisches Geistesleben ist, bis in die Philosophie herein, und demjenigen, was englische Theosophie ist: sie stehen äußerlich nebeneinander, sind zwei äußerlich nebeneinander laufende Strömungen, und eine Brücke zwischen beiden ist etwas, was auch nur in ganz äußerlicher Weise gezogen werden kann. Versuchen Sie dagegen das deutsche Geistesleben ins Auge zu fassen, wie es sich durch die deutschen Mystiker vorbereitet hat in Meister Eckhart und Johannes Tauler, und dann in Jacob Böhme und Angelus Silesius weiter sich entfaltet hat, wie es in Lessing zu der Anerkennung der Idee der wiederholten Erdenleben geführt hat, und wie es in Goethes «Faust» geradezu eine Glorifizierung des Hinaufsteigens in die geistigen Welten darstellt, da haben Sie den geraden Weg von den äußeren Welten aus in die geistige Welt. Und wenn Sie nun dazu nehmen, was von Goethes «Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie» geführt hat bis zur Dramatisierung der Grundkräfte der Einweihung, und beide Strömungen zusammenhalten, dann haben Sie darin den innerlichen Zusammenhang. Es ist ein innerlicher Zusammenhang zwischen dem, was zuletzt als Geisteswissenschaft erscheint, und dem, was ganz exoterisch in der physischen Welt als Geistesleben erstrebt wird. Denn selbstverständlich wird dieses Geistesleben, das außerhalb der Geisteswissenschaft entfaltet wird, mit den Kräften des Gehirns erstrebt, aber es drängt hin zu dem, was außerhalb des Leibes gefunden wird. Man möchte sagen: es ist die Mission des deutschen Volkes, daß es gar nicht anders kann als mit dem, was es erstrebt, zuletzt einzumünden in das spirituelle Leben. Das heißt aber nichts anderes, spirituell gesprochen, als daß das deutsche Volk dazu berufen ist, innerlich sich zu verbinden mit dem, was in die Welt kommt durch die Anführerschaft des Michael. Ein solches Sichverbinden wird nicht dadurch erreicht, daß man sich passiv, wie fatalistisch, den Schicksalsmächten überläßt, sondern daß man erkennt, welches die Aufgabe der Zeit ist.
Und nicht nur innerlich durch den Gang der deutschen Mystik, sondern auch äußerlich durch den ganzen Gang des deutschen Lebens in Verbindung mit dem europäischen Leben hat sich dasjenige gezeigt, was ich da sagen will. Ich habe es im ersten der beiden letzten öffentlichen Vorträge, «Die germanische Seele und der deutsche Geist», auseinandergesetzt, wie die germanische Seelenhaftigkeit gleichsam in den Vorposten der germanischen Völker - durch die Goten, Langobarden, Vandalen — hineingeströmt ist in die Völker des Westens, des Südens, wie da hingeopfert worden ist am Altare der Menschheit dasjenige, was germanische Seelenhaftigkeit ist. Aber das hat sich später wiederholt, nur weniger auffällig. Blicken wir zunächst hin nach dem äußersten Osten Österreichs, zu den sogenannten Siebenbürger Sachsen. Ausgewandert sind sie vom Rhein her, wo das Siebengebirge ist, das läßt sich auch äußerlich nachweisen. Nach und nach haben sie ihre Eigenart verloren. Die Seelensubstanz hat sich hingegeben, um in jenes andere Volkselement einzufließen, und einst wird von ihnen kaum etwas anderes vorhanden sein als einiges ihrer Sprache; aber als Volkssubstanz sind sie dort hineingeflossen. Gehen wir dann hinunter in das Banat: Schwaben sind es, die dort eingewandert sind; das Magyarische schlingt sich darüber. Ebenso ist es in den Gegenden des ungarischen Berglandes, der Karpaten. Alle diese Einwanderungen sind heute äußerlich fast verschwunden, aber überall in den heute dort vorhandenen Volksschichten darinnen lebend und dann manchmal wie Gerinnsel sich zeigend wie zum Beispiel in der wunderbaren Sprachinsel der Gottschee’er in Krain. Aber sonst auch. Wir sehen - wir könnten das viel weiter noch verfolgen —, wie dieses germanische Seelenhafte hinausgeschickt wird in die Welt, wie es wirkt. Das geschieht durch eine innere Notwendigkeit. Das geschah so durch die früheren Zeitalter, namentlich auch durch das Zeitalter des Gabriel. Und durch das Zeitalter des Gabriel geschah es in der Weise, daß mehr, ich möchte sagen, das Blut, Blut und Blutmischung wirkte und alles, was mehr mit den äußeren Verhältnissen des Lebens zusammenhängt, aber dennoch nicht äußerlich greifbar ist, sondern wieder intimer sich vollzieht.
Nun ist das Zeitalter des Michael gekommen, das Zeitalter, in dem begriffen werden muß, wie durch den ganzen Hergang des Geisteslebens der deutsche Geist sich in die Sonnenkraft des Michael stellen kann. Das muß eben eingesehen werden. Das kann aber nur dadurch eingesehen werden, daß man es durch die Anerkennung der spirituellen Wissenschaft einsieht, daß man allmählich durch die Betrachtungen der spirituellen Wissenschaft, der Geisteswissenschaft, die Ahnung und das Bewußtsein erhält von der Wirksamkeit geistiger Kräfte, von der Realität geistiger Kräfte. So daß man allmählich begreift, wie unsinnig es ist, wenn die Leute sagen: Es gibt keine geistigen Kräfte, ich kann sie nicht anerkennen; und wenn hier ein hufeisenförmiger Eisenstab ist, so ist das eben ein Stück Eisen, und ich sehe nichts als Eisen. — Es kann aber Magnetismus darinnen sein! So ist in der ganzen äußeren Welt noch etwas ganz anderes als Magnetismus darinnen. Die Anerkennung erwirbt man sich, indem man eingeht auf das, was über die eigentümliche Gestalt der Dinge geboten wird. Dadurch erwirbt man sich im Michael-Zeitalter diejenigen geistigen Kräfte, die notwendig sind, um den ahrimanischen Mächten zu widerstehen, wo es eben unsere Aufgabe ist, den ahrimanischen Mächten zu widerstehen. Denn im Grunde genommen ist alles, was wir im Studium der Geisteswissenschaft haben, nur Vorbereitung. Eines Tages springt aus dem Studium der Geisteswissenschaft das Erwachen der Seele hervor, durch das die Seele weiß: Es lebt in dir die geistige Welt, von dem Christus-Impuls herunter durch den Michael bis zum Volksgeist, der das auswirkt, was ausgewirkt werden soll.
Ich sagte, das Zeitalter der Jungfrau von Orleans war dazu geeignet, an die allerschwächsten, physisch allerschwächsten Kräfte des Menschen heranzudringen. Unser Zeitalter muß an die stärksten Kräfte des Menschen herandringen, muß den Willen dort ergreifen, wo dieser Wille am wenigsten geneigt ist, wirklich seine Kräfte zu entfalten. Wir sehen es ja immer wieder und wieder: den Willen dort entfalten, wo es darauf ankommt, diejenigen Kräfte, die unsere irdischen Kräfte sind, unsere Vorstellungskräfte sind, innerlich rege zu machen, das wird dem Menschen das Schwerste. Äußerlich den Willen anzuwenden, das wird ihm verhältnismäßig noch leicht. Aber es ist ein anderer Wille notwendig, wenn die Gedanken so gelenkt werden sollen, daß sie die geistige Welt umfassen. Dieser starke Wille ist es, an den die Geisteswissenschaft als solche appellieren muß, der da sein muß, wenn die Geisteswissenschaft wirklich in unserem michaelischen Zeitalter zu dem führen soll, wozu sie führen muß. Denn nicht dazu sind wir berufen, zu reden über das Mechanische unseres Zeitalters; nicht dazu sind wir berufen, darauf hinzuweisen, daß dieses Mechanische unseres Zeitalters die Menschen ergriffen hat; sondern zu etwas anderem sind wir berufen. Man kann ja allerdings, wenn man ein wenig die Tatsachen preßt, sogar ein bis zu einem gewissen Grade großer Philosoph sein, das sei rückhaltlos anerkannt, man kann auf den Mechanismus unseres Zeitalters hinblicken und dann anfangen, gerade in diesem Mechanismus, den man ganz besonders seinen äußeren Feinden zuschreibt, das Allerverderblichste zu sehen. Und hat man dann eine Anlage - wenn man auch als ein großer Philosoph gilt — zu schimpfen wie eine Hökerfrau, dann kann man es machen wie der Philosoph Bergson, der es jüngst erst wieder zuwege gebracht hat, in einseitiger Weise hinzudeuten — und, in einseitiger Weise vorgebracht, ist vieles oft ganz richtig - auf das Zusammenhängende der mechanischen Wirkung der Kräfte mit dem deutschen Volkswesen. Aber nicht nur darauf kann man hinweisen, daß deutscher Verstand schon in gewissen Gebieten in der Anwendung der mechanischen Kräfte durch den Verstand es zu etwas gebracht hat; man kann auch auf etwas anderes hinweisen. Man braucht aber nicht in dem Tone einer Hökerfrau zu schimpfen, wenn man über solche Zusammenhänge sprechen will, sondern man kann sagen: Vielleicht ist gerade dort, wo der Verstand am stärksten war, um das Mechanisch-Dämonische auszugestalten, auch zugleich der Ort, um diese mechanisch-dämonischen Kräfte zu überwinden durch die besondere spirituelle Mission. Dann aber kann sich der Deutsche leicht mißverstehen lassen, wenn er im Zusammenhange mit dem Hergange seines Geisteslebens versteht, daß er nicht etwa die Aufgabe hat, stehenzubleiben bei dem bloß Mechanischen, das ihm auch in der heutigen Zeit bei den Kriegsaufgaben so große Dienste leistet, nicht bloß stehenzubleiben bei den Mechanismen, weil er sonst bloß Dämonen schaffen würde, sondern daß er jene starken Kräfte im Innern zu entwickeln hat, welche sich diesen Dämonen kühn gegenüberstellen können. Dazu gehört aber nicht das blinde, sondern das durch Überzeugung geleitete Stehen in der geistigen Welt. Wenn wir darauf eingehen einzusehen, daß wir ja für alle Zukunft uns mit einer Dämonenwelt, mit einer wahren Hölle umgeben, indem wir Maschinen über Maschinen konstruieren, so können wir es zwar verstehen, wie die Menschen aus dem materialistischen Geist unserer Zeit heraus immer wieder und wieder sagen: dieses naturwissenschaftlich-materialistische Zeitalter hat uns auf die höchste Höhe gebracht, auf der die Menschheit bisher gestanden hat — wir können das zwar verstehen, denn das gehört sich so für den heutigen materiell denkenden Menschen, aber wir müssen wissen, daß wir durch unsere Maschinen in die Menschheit lauter Dämonen hineinbringen, und wir müssen außerdem wissen, wie wir diesen Dämonen gegenüber die richtigen Widerstände entwickeln können. Nur dadurch stellen wir uns in das richtige Verhältnis zur geistigen Welt, daß wir diese ahrimanisch-dämonischen Kräfte erkennen, daß wir bewußt wissen, daß sie da sind. Denn dadurch nur sind die schädlichen Mächte schädlich, daß wir unbewußt über sie bleiben, daß wir nichts von ihnen wissen. Ich möchte das durch einen Vergleich anschaulich machen.
Sie wissen, daß wir nach einiger Zeit, hoffentlich, wenn einiges gelingt, was bis jetzt noch nicht gelungen ist, in Dornach bei Basel einen Bau haben werden, wo wir in einer entsprechenden Umgebung unsere geistige Strömung werden pflegen können. Nun handelt es sich bei der Aufführung dieses Baues nicht darum, irgendwie die Notwendigkeit der Gegenwart zu fliehen, sondern ihn aufzuführen ganz aus den Notwendigkeiten der Gegenwart heraus. Da mußte zum Beispiel die Beleuchtung geschaffen werden aus den allerahrimanischesten Kräften der Gegenwart heraus, und diese sind: elektrische Beleuchtung, elektrische Beheizung und so weiter. Nun handelt es sich darum, durch die architektonische Form selber unschädlich zu machen, was dabei in Betracht kommt. Wäre man später einmal in den Bau hineingegangen, so hätte man um sich alles, was die ahrimanische Kultur der Gegenwart mit sich bringt. Aber nicht darauf kommt es an, daß es da ist, sondern daß man es nicht bemerkt. Man soll es eben nicht bemerken. Um das zu erreichen, haben sich einige Freunde gefunden, die dieses in einem abgesonderten Bau daneben aufführen, um ihm eine besondere Form zu geben, so daß die ahrimanisch-dämonischen Kräfte dahinein gebannt werden. Für jeden, der zu dem Bau kommen wird, auch für die, welche hineingehen, wird dadurch ins Bewußtsein heraufgehoben werden, daß dort die ahrimanischen Kräfte walten. Sobald man das aber weiß, sind sie nicht mehr schädlich. Denn es handelt sich darum, daß die dem Menschen abträglichen Kräfte ihre Abträglichkeit verlieren, wenn wir aufmerksam hinschauen auf die Orte, wo sie wirksam sind, wenn wir nicht gedankenlos hinschauen auf eine Maschine und sagen: eine Maschine ist halt eine Maschine, sondern eine Maschine ist ein Ort für ein dämonisch-ahrimanisches Wesen.
Wenn wir uns so in die Welt hineinstellen, daß das Wissen in unserer Seele ist, dann stellen wir uns richtig in das michaelische Zeitalter hinein. Das heißt aber: wir bringen uns in ein solches Verhältnis zur geistigen Welt, daß auch Michael in uns wirksam werden kann. Michael mit dem, was seine gegenwärtige Mission ist, wie wir sie charakterisiert haben. Überall handelt es sich darum, daß wir uns in das, was die Menschen unbewußt aufbauen als Mechanismen, heute entweder gedankenlos hineinstellen können oder daß wir es durchschauen können. Wenn wir es durchschauen, wenn wir gewahr werden, wie dämonisch-elementarische Kräfte in unseren Mechanismen walten, dann werden wir auch den Weg finden zu den geistig wahren, rechten Inspiratoren. Und diese stehen im Zusammenhange eben mit demjenigen Geist, der sich zu den übrigen Geistern der Menschheitsführung so verhält wie das Gold zu den Metallen, mit Michael.
So versuchte ich heute klarzumachen, daß unser Zeitalter eine andere Aufgabe hat, wenn es die göttlich-geistigen Kräfte sucht, welche zum Heile der Erdenmenschheit wirken sollen, als für diejenigen Menschenseelen bestand, die im Zeitalter der Jungfrau von Orleans lebten. Damals handelte es sich viel eher darum, alles Verstandesmäßige, alles Vernunftmäßige zurückzudrängen. Heute dagegen handelt es sich darum, alles Verstandes- und Vernunftmäßige bis zum Hellseherischen emporzukultivieren, denn es läßt sich bis zum Hellseherischen kultivieren. Wenn es solche Menschen geben wird, die also die Menschenseele pflegen werden, dann wird sich aus der Dämmerzeit, die wir jetzt durchmachen, das entwickeln, was sich entwickeln soll. Was sich äußerlich auf dem physischen Plan entwickelt, das kann doch nur das Kleid sein für das, was geistig für die Erdenmenschheit aus der jetzigen Zeit hervorgehen soll. Und wahr ist es, daß diejenigen, die in jungen Jahren ihre Kräfte jetzt hingeben, daß diese herunterschicken wollen diese Kräfte in unser Erdendasein. Denn diese Kräfte sind unverloren, sind unzerstörbar; nur sollen sie fortwirken in geistiger Weise, wie sie fortgewirkt hätten in physischer Weise, wenn die Betreffenden nicht durch die Pforte des Todes auf dem Kampfplatze gegangen wären. Aber heruntersenden werden sie ihre Kräfte auf die Erde in unsere Zeit weiter, damit wir etwas anzufangen wissen mit diesen Kräften. Herunterfließen werden müssen diese Kräfte in eine Menschheit, die in der Friedenszeit, die auf den Krieg folgen wird, diese Kräfte so anwenden wird, daß sich auf der Erde immer mehr und mehr das spirituelle Leben ausbreiten wird. Wie sich aus jeder Nacht das Licht des Tages entwickelt, so muß sich aus unserer uns oft wie eine Nacht erscheinenden Gegenwart eine lichtvolle Zukunft entwickeln; aber diese lichtvolle Zukunft wird durchdrungen sein müssen von dem, was das seit dem Jahre 1879 angebrochene michaelische Zeitalter der Menschheit zu bringen hat. Wenn es Seelen geben wird, die einen so innigen Bund mit der geistigen Welt zu schließen vermögen, wie es heute angedeutet ist, dann dürfen wir hoffen, daß mit Rücksicht auf die heutigen Zeitereignisse dasjenige sich erfüllt, was in dem siebenzeiligen Spruche zum Ausdruck gebracht ist; hoffen dürfen wir, daß das alles sich erfüllen wird, wenn seine ersten fünf Zeilen mit den beiden letzten in der Realität wirklich zusammenhängen:
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.
Fifth Lecture
Let us first turn our thoughts to those who stand outside in the fields of today's events and must stand up for what the times demand of them:
Spirits of your souls, active guardians,
May your wings bring
The pleading love of our souls
To the people of Earth whom you protect,
So that, united with your power,
Our plea may shine helpfully
Upon the souls who seek it lovingly.
And for those who have already passed through the gates of death:
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 helpfully
Upon the souls it lovingly seeks.
And the spirit that we have sought for many years in our movement, which has passed through the mystery of Golgotha, may it hover over you, flow through you, and strengthen you for your difficult task!
I have been informed that there seems to be some confusion regarding the saying that has just been spoken. I expressly note that the correct reading is: “Spirits of your souls.” The saying is constructed in such a way that it can be used when many are speaking for one, when one is speaking for many, or when many are speaking for many — as we have just done. If it refers to one person, then only the following needs to be changed: “Spirit of your soul, active guardian,” and so on. It seems that when I first used the saying here weeks ago, I made a mistake, which may have given rise to the opinion that the words “spirits of your souls” were not entirely correct. But they are correct. The first line is, as it were, an address to the spirits of the souls to be protected; and the word “your” refers to those to whom one directs one's thoughts, while in the second line the “your” refers to the “guardians.” I note that such sayings are always of a nature that sometimes causes difficulties in purely grammatical construction, but that they are given from the spiritual world for the purpose they are intended to serve, and that it is therefore necessary that the wording of such sayings sometimes causes some difficulty.
My dear friends, it was well considered and, moreover, in keeping with the tasks of our time in a spiritual sense, that the day before yesterday we turned our attention to phenomena within human evolution that show us how the spiritual impulses — especially those connected with the mystery of Golgotha, with the Christ impulse — how these impulses live as living forces in human evolution, how they have lived in human evolution, even without human beings being able to understand this nature of the Christ impulse with their intellect, with their reason. And it was appropriate to point out, among other phenomena, that of the Virgin of Orleans, through whom this Christ impulse, through its serving Michaelic spirit, solved a great task in the fifteenth century for the salvation and progress of humanity. It was particularly necessary to point out this fact because it is of course also true for our time that everything that is to regulate the great connections is ordered and regulated from the spiritual worlds, and that we must be aware that the forces, the impulses for what is to happen, come to us from the spiritual worlds. So in this respect, the same applies today as applied, if we may say so, at the time of the Virgin of Orleans. But the times are different. And what was able to happen in a certain way at the time of the Virgin of Orleans must take place in a different way for our time and for the times to come; it must proceed differently. For our time has since become quite different. Humanity has been guided in a completely different way since the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which preceded the event of the Virgin of Orleans. And today we would like to point out this difference and, in particular, the fundamental character of our time.
When we are with our soul in the state between falling asleep and waking up, we are, of course, with our actual being outside our physical body and our etheric body. We then live, asleep, in our astral body and in our I. We must imagine very clearly that we are then outside our body with what we actually are. At first, because we are bound to our body in an extraordinary way between birth and death, we are not very far away from our body; we are, so to speak, spread out with our soul in our surroundings, but in everything that is peculiar to our surroundings.
Now let us consider how — at least for the vast majority of people who are affected by the events of the present — our environment has changed since the last few centuries, since the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. One need only imagine what machinery and mechanisms existed at the time when the Virgin of Orleans was active. We can say that since that time, the earth has been completely transformed in mechanical terms, because everything we experience in terms of machines came later. Those of you who have ever traveled attentively in a sleeper car at night may have had a strange experience, the experience that when you wake up—and you wake up quite often on such occasions—there is a rumbling sound what is going on around you in the machinery of the train, and that, in a dreamlike state of waking, you can hear something of the creaking and squeaking of the train or steamboat you are in when you wake up. This comes from the fact that our soul is not actually in our body, but in the environment surrounding the body and is transported into these mechanisms.
Now, we are not only transported into the whole machinery of our time on such extraordinary occasions, but one can say that mechanical life in our time also extends to the countryside, and we are basically always transported into this mechanical life of the times. Our soul in its sleeping state merges with everything that is mechanism. But we have built up such mechanisms. A mechanism that we have built up is something completely different from nature outside, which is built up by elemental spirits. Outside, when we are in the forest, for example, where everything is built up by nature spirits, we are in a completely different environment than when we are in the environment of the mechanisms that we have built up. For what are we doing when we mechanically assemble what we take from nature into machines and devices for our lives? We are not just putting together pieces of matter. By putting pieces of matter together, we are giving an Ahrimanic-demonic servant the opportunity to unite with the machine. With every machine, with every mechanism, with everything that belongs to this aspect of modern cultural life, we are giving demonic elemental spirits, the servants of the Ahrimanic natures, a foothold. And by living in this environment of machines, we are living together with these demonic, Ahrimanic elemental spirits. We permeate ourselves with them; we permeate ourselves not only with the squeaking and creaking of the mechanisms, but also with what is most destructive to our spirit, to our soul.
Mind you — I have often made a similar remark on similar occasions — what I am saying is not meant to be a criticism of our Ahrimanic age. For it must be so that we allow demons to flow in everywhere and surround us. This lies in the development of humanity. And because we simply have to recognize this as necessary, we will not, if we understand the actual impulse of spiritual science, sing the praises of those who say: So we must protect ourselves as much as possible from the demons and flee culture, we must build a colony in solitude as much as possible, so that we have nothing to do with these demonic, Ahrimanic elemental spirits. That has never been the tenor of my remarks. Rather, I have always said that we must fully accept what the necessity of evolution brings upon us and not allow ourselves to be tempted to flee from the world. But it must be understood that our age is such that we are increasingly permeating our environment with demonic natures, that we are increasingly dealing with what mechanizes our culture. Such an age requires something quite different from what was required in the age from which the Maid of Orleans was called to her mission. The age of the Virgin of Orleans demanded, I would say, that the impulse from which the Virgin of Orleans was to work should be born out of the gentlest, most subtle forces of the human soul, out of the gentlest forces of the soul. Consider: she was a shepherdess, surrounded by the simplest, most idyllic nature. Early on, she began to have visions, so that through the imaginations given to her, she had a direct connection with the spiritual world. Everything that was to form the basis of her work was to come from within her, spring forth from her innermost being. Yes, not only that, but very special circumstances had to be brought about in order to impress her mission upon her soul, upon her innermost being, through the most delicate forces that the human soul possesses.
We know that everything in the world is cyclical, that things happen in such a way that important events occur according to certain cycles. If we take the year of birth — 1412 — of the Maid of Orleans, we can ask ourselves a certain question. We can say: the year of birth of this Maid of Orleans naturally saw the sun in a certain place — an astronomical place — covering one of the constellations of the zodiac. An important period now passes as the sun moves from one constellation to the next. As it moves around the entire zodiac, it passes through the twelve constellations; but an important period of approximately 2160 years elapses when the sun moves from one constellation of the zodiac to another, i.e., advances one constellation. If we now go back approximately 2160 years from the birth of the Virgin of Orleans, we arrive at the founding of Rome.
If, at the time of the founding of Rome, one wanted to obtain information about important matters concerning the newly founded city, one went to the nymph Egeria, where one could obtain information from a seeress. But that was, as I said, one solar cycle ago. Thus, times renew themselves, and everything is based on cyclical processes. So, if we imagine: the sun stood at a certain point in the constellation of Aries at the time of the founding of Rome, it then moves on, moves on to Pisces, so that it has advanced one twelfth of the zodiac, we come through the cycle that must necessarily take place in the development of humanity, from the nymph Egeria to the inspired deed of the Virgin of Orleans. But in ancient Rome we are dealing with pagan inspiration, with pagan deeds. If we imagine that the same visionary power that was effective at the time of the founding of Rome should work in a Christian age, and should work from within through the most delicate human forces, what would have to happen? You can imagine that something had to happen that was somehow connected with the most intimate, the most subtle forces of Christianity.
Now most of you will remember that I have often discussed how the year varies in the course of its passage in relation to the forces through which we are connected with the spiritual worlds. In summer, at St. John's, when the sun's rays have their greatest external power, it is perhaps possible, through external ecstasy, as was the case in the ancient Celtic mysteries, to achieve some kind of ecstatic ascent to the spiritual world. But where the days are shortest, where the sun's rays have their least external power and the winter nights are darkest, around Christmas time, there is also the possibility of reaching the spiritual worlds through one's intimate soul life. Therefore, all those who knew something about this cycle of the year have always rightly claimed that, if one is predisposed to it, one can experience the most intimate connection with the spiritual worlds during the days from December 21 to 23 and until about January 6—during these days and especially during these nights. There are legends — here is one read from Norway about Olaf Åsteson — that show how people found their deepest inspiration during these days. This is connected with the fact that Christmas is celebrated at this time, the birth of the spirit that passed through the mystery of Golgotha, which is connected with the most intimate forces of human soul development. So if the inspiration of ancient pagan Rome were to rise again, one solar cycle later, 2160 years later, the inspiration would have to take its path through the most childlike part of the human being. This means that the soul of the Virgin of Orleans had to be touched where souls are touched most deeply, where they are weakest in relation to the earthly, and where the Christ impulse is not yet hindered by earthly impressions, because souls have not yet grasped the earthly, and it can thus penetrate into the soul alone. It would therefore have been the most favorable time if the Virgin of Orleans, immediately before her birth, before she took her first breath, had still gone through the thirteen nights in her mother's womb. She did! For she was born on January 6.
Here we see how the deeper forces that penetrate from the spiritual worlds into our physical world work, how they seek their paths, the most mysterious paths. For those who see into such connections, there can be nothing more wonderful and, from the standpoint of spiritual science, more explainable than the fact that the Virgin of Orleans took her first physical breath around Christmas time, on January 6, after the Christmas season she had already gone through before entering the physical plane. So we see that she who passed through death at the age of nineteen was touched where the most delicate forces of the human being, the most intimate forces of the human being, lie, and that we are thus looking back to a time when it was necessary for the divine-spiritual forces to seek a path through the most intimate intimacies of the human soul. But that was precisely the last time that something like this was to happen. It was the time when Europe was being organized through the Christ impulse, as I indicated last time, and when it happened in that wonderful way, as it happened through the Virgin of Orleans. But since then, times have changed. Today is not the time for the divine spiritual forces to approach the human soul in such an intimate way.
What was actually the task of the Virgin of Orleans, if we consider an accompanying phenomenon, an accompanying phenomenon of her entire life? From within, she was seized by the forces of the divine spiritual world. What these forces encountered in the soul were the Luciferic forces. These Luciferic forces were powerful and strong at that time. Through what the Virgin of Orleans carried within herself, she became the conqueror of the Luciferic forces. She became this conqueror of the Luciferic forces for everyone who wants to see, quite visibly. We have looked at her miraculous birth and seen how she underwent, in a sense, the unconscious initiation until the day of the Epiphany, until the day of the so-called revelation of Christ. But we can also point to her death, which came about because all the Luciferic forces of her enemies joined together and brought about this death. Her misfortune in battle was brought about by the jealousy of those who were officially in charge of directing the battle. But then everything that was jealous of such revelations of spiritual forces and spiritual powers, as they came to light through her, came to light. She was put on trial. The trial records are available, and anyone who studies them—unless they are as narrow-minded as Anatole France—can see that this Virgin of Orleans, just as she had entered the physical world in a miraculous way through the thirteen nights, also left it in the same way. For it is written in the trial records, and can therefore be historically proven, that she said that although she would die, the English would suffer a much greater defeat after her death than they had suffered before, and that this would happen within the next seven years. If we understand this in the right spiritual sense, it means nothing other than that the soul of the Maid of Orleans, as she passed through the gates of death, declared her willingness to cooperate in the further shaping of events after her death, to cooperate in every form of her existence. She did this! What the spiritual forces have to carry out happens, just as the external circumstances take shape. The opponents of Joan of Arc were able to bring about her physical death, that is, to carry out the strongest attack, so to speak; but they could not prevent her mission. However, the forces of Joan of Arc could only work in their own time, in that subtle way. In everything she did, she had the Luciferic forces against her. We in our time also have to deal with opposing forces, but primarily with Ahrimanic forces, with those Ahrimanic forces that have arisen through the materialistic age and are already evident in the outer structure of our entire age when we consider the mechanisms the mechanical aspects of our age, when we consider that, in essence, by fabricating our mechanisms, we are providing a dwelling place for demons and surrounding ourselves with a whole Ahrimanic-demonic world. But we also see in other things how Ahrimanic forces are at work everywhere in our time. If we look back a few years, for example, and consider a little the occult foundations of our earthly existence, we see that Ahrimanic forces are at work everywhere in our physical earthly existence; not only those of the kind we create in our machines, but other Ahrimanic forces are also at work in our earthly existence. And the occultist must say what I have often said before this or that circle of our friends, that basically the painful and sad events now passing through Europe and a large part of the earth have been in preparation for a long time, that in the astral world, so to speak, the war has been there for a long time, but that it was held back again by something astral, namely by the fear that all people had. Fear is an astral element; it was able to hold back the war, to prevent it; it was able to cause it to be delayed for so long.
For fear was everywhere! Fear is something that is rampant in the depths of the souls of our age in the most terrible way. But then a time came when, outwardly, something happened that is often mentioned when people talk about the starting points of this war. But this outward appearance is not the most important thing; it is only a symbol. There came—I have already discussed this here—the assassination of that Austrian archduke, and then that terribly shocking event that I mentioned earlier took place. I had never experienced it before, not directly, not through other occultists. We know what the soul goes through when it has passed through death. In this soul that passed through death at that time, it was particularly evident that all elements of fear began to group around it, as around a center, and now one had before one something like a cosmic power. Now we know that something that has a very definite character on the physical plane has the opposite character in the spiritual world. This was also the case here: what had initially had a dispersing effect on the war now had the opposite effect, spurring people on, encouraging them, so to speak. We see, then, that a kind of metamorphosis of the elements of fear, the Ahrimanic elements, is mixed into everything that ultimately brought about the painful and sad events of our time. Ahrimanic forces are at work everywhere in our time. We cannot rebel against them, we cannot criticize them, we should not try to protect ourselves from them, but rather see them as a necessity of our time, as something that must be there in our time. The only question is: How do we find the right position in relation to them? How do we find what instructs us how to behave, especially in our age, if we want to enable the divine-spiritual forces and powers to enter into our actions?
Here I must refer to an event in the spiritual world that took place several decades ago. I have mentioned it often in various contexts: the event that took place behind the scenes of our existence, in the spiritual world, in November of the year 1879. We know that from epoch to epoch there is always, in a sense, a different ruler of earthly existence; one ruler replaces another. Until 1879, the spirit we call Gabriel, to give it a name, was working from the spiritual worlds. Since 1879, it has been the spirit we call Michael. He is the one who directs the events of our time; and those who are able to look consciously into the spiritual worlds perceive the spirit Michael as the actual directing, leading spirit of our time. Michael is, in a certain sense, the strongest of the leading spirits of the ages, who constantly succeed one another. In a certain sense, I said, he is the strongest of these spirits. The others were primarily active in the spiritual realm. Michael has the strength to push the spirit through into the physical world. He was the spirit who, before the mystery of Golgotha, descended to Earth, as it were, preceding Christ, and at that time — for about four to five centuries — had the leadership of the Earth. He is once again the leading spirit of the earth in our time. One might say, by way of comparison, that what gold is among metals, Michael is among the spirits belonging to the hierarchy of the archangels. Just as all other metals act primarily on the etheric body, but gold also acts on our physical body as a medicine, so all other leading spirits act on the soul, but Michael is the one who can also act on the physical mind, on physical reason. When his age has come, then the spirit can work on the physical mind, on physical reason. Because he was not the actual leading spirit in the fifteenth century, he had to seek his way to the Virgin of Orleans without human understanding, without human comprehension, without human imagination, in a sense entirely inwardly, through the most intimate human soul forces. Christ did indeed work through his Michaelic spirit on the Virgin of Orleans, but he could work through everything else rather than through the powers of the intellect and reason.
Luciferic spirits are also present today, attacking people primarily from within. They want to generate all kinds of passions, but not the error of the intellect, the error of reason, with which we are struggling so much in our present age. We must therefore say: What we want to achieve in the spiritual realm, we must achieve in accordance with the powers possessed by Michael, the leading spirit of the age. And in close union with Michael is what we are trying to understand when we try to comprehend his appearance, as we have done in recent days; namely, when we try to comprehend what we call the German national spirit—two forces: Michael and the German national spirit, which are in complete harmony and which have been entrusted with expressing the Christ impulse in our time, in accordance with the character of our age. For our age cannot somehow believe that the same intimate mode of activity that was right for the fifteenth century could still be right since the dawn of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. In our age, it is essential that we understand above all the necessity of being chained to Ahriman, to the Ahrimanic forces that we ourselves generate in our mechanisms, and the necessity of recognizing these connections correctly; for otherwise we live in fear of much that is present in our age.
This raises the question: How do we resist this Ahrimanic force in our age, just as resistance was offered to the Luciferic forces in the age of the Maid of Orleans? We resist the Ahrimanic by following the path that is emphasized again and again within our spiritual scientific movement: the path of spiritualizing human culture, human understanding, and human imagination. That is why we have emphasized again and again: there is a possibility to truly comprehend everything that spiritual science brings us, even if it is initially and mostly given from the spiritual world, with the intellect and reason that has been given to humanity since the sixteenth century. And when we say we do not understand it, it is only because we listen to the prejudices offered to us by the prevailing materialism of the age. Those who do not listen again and again to what resounds partly loudly and partly in the finest, quietest whispers from the materialism of our time, but who try to grasp strictly what we have in our powers of understanding, will one day see what spiritual science brings forth as something entirely comprehensible, as something that can be understood just as any event in the outer world can be understood. But it is only by not approaching the spirit through the most intimate powers of revelation and faith, as in the case of the Maid of Orleans, but by trying to concentrate our powers of understanding in the most intense way on what comes from spiritual science that we generate within ourselves the strong power we need to resist the Ahrimanic forces. When we do this, the hour will come, the moment when we must say to ourselves: What we encounter in spiritual science is the only thing that is reasonable and at the same time makes the world around us comprehensible and full of light. And when we are thus moved, we will be so moved by what the spirit gives us in our time that we will be truly strong enough to stand up to the Ahrimanic forces.
A nature like that of the Virgin of Orleans, transported into our time, would be powerless. She would be an interesting personality, capable of revealing many wonderful things prophetically and in other ways. But just as such an intimate, revelatory nature can effectively counter the Luciferic forces, so today human beings must resist the Ahrimanic forces, must make themselves strong against these forces, as strong as befits the Michaelic age. The Michaelic age is suited to the solar nature, to what we take in through a spiritualization of the forces we possess from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep: the forces of our reason, our comprehension, our understanding. For these powers of comprehension and understanding are transformed in our souls, if only we have enough patience. They are transformed in such a way that what emerges for us in spiritual science springs forth as certainty: what we comprehend there is the direct expression of the thoughts of the spiritual world. So today it cannot be a question of withdrawing from the Ahrimanic outer world, but of remaining within it, while at the same time strengthening ourselves against these Ahrimanic forces.
It is then a matter of finding the way to understand the spiritual world through the same understanding with which we understand the outer world. But we have just indicated this way in these days as the way that is inwardly connected with the entire mission of the German people, especially with this mission since the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. But this mission was prepared in the preceding centuries. What is peculiar is that what the German spirit has driven in its poets, artists, and philosophers is intimately connected with spiritual life. It is really a matter of looking boldly, without sympathy or antipathy, at the facts as they have been prepared, as they have gradually taken shape. We ourselves have been able to experience how, one day, we simply had to emphasize this necessity of working in the continuous progress of spiritual life. Why?
Let us try to look at the theosophical movement with which we were outwardly connected for a time, the English theosophical movement. Try to build a bridge between what is otherwise English spiritual life, including philosophy, and what is English theosophy: outwardly they stand side by side, they are two currents running side by side, and a bridge between them is something that can only be drawn in a very superficial way. Try, on the other hand, to contemplate German spiritual life as it was prepared by the German mystics in Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler, and then developed further in Jacob Böhme and Angelus Silesius, how it led in Lessing to the recognition of the idea of repeated earthly lives, and how in Goethe's Faust , which is virtually a glorification of the ascent into the spiritual worlds, you have the direct path from the outer worlds to the spiritual world. And if you now add to this what led from Goethe's “Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” to the dramatization of the fundamental forces of initiation, and hold both currents together, then you have the inner connection. There is an inner connection between what ultimately appears as spiritual science and what is sought entirely exoterically in the physical world as spiritual life. For it goes without saying that this spiritual life, which unfolds outside of spiritual science, is sought with the powers of the brain, but it pushes toward what is found outside the body. One might say that it is the mission of the German people that they cannot help but ultimately merge with spiritual life through what they strive for. Spiritually speaking, this means nothing other than that the German people are called upon to connect themselves inwardly with what comes into the world through the leadership of Michael. Such a connection is not achieved by passively, fatalistically surrendering oneself to the forces of fate, but by recognizing what the task of the times is.
And what I mean here has been demonstrated not only inwardly through the course of German mysticism, but also outwardly through the entire course of German life in connection with European life. In the first of my last two public lectures, “The Germanic Soul and the German Spirit,” I explained how Germanic soulfulness flowed, as it were, into the outposts of the Germanic peoples—through the Goths, Lombards, and Vandals—into the peoples of the West and the South, how that which is Germanic soulfulness was sacrificed on the altar of humanity. But this was repeated later, only less conspicuously. Let us first look to the far east of Austria, to the so-called Transylvanian Saxons. They emigrated from the Rhine, where the Seven Mountains are located, which can also be proven externally. Gradually they lost their distinctive character. The substance of their soul surrendered itself in order to flow into that other element of the people, and one day there will be little left of them except some of their language; but as a people they have flowed into that other element. Let us then go down to the Banat: it is Swabians who immigrated there; the Magyar element has intertwined itself with them. The same is true in the Hungarian mountain regions, the Carpathians. All these immigrations have now almost disappeared externally, but they live on everywhere in the ethnic groups that exist there today, sometimes appearing as clots, as for example in the wonderful linguistic island of the Gottschee'ers in Carniola. But elsewhere too. We see—and we could pursue this much further—how this Germanic soulfulness is sent out into the world, how it works. This happens through an inner necessity. This happened throughout earlier ages, especially during the age of Gabriel. And during the age of Gabriel, it happened in such a way that more, I would say, the blood, blood and mixture of blood, had an effect, and everything that is more connected with the external conditions of life, but is nevertheless not outwardly tangible, takes place again in a more intimate way.
Now the age of Michael has come, the age in which it must be understood how, through the entire course of spiritual life, the German spirit can place itself in the solar power of Michael. This must be understood. But it can only be understood by recognizing spiritual science, by gradually gaining an inkling and awareness of the effectiveness of spiritual forces, of the reality of spiritual forces, through the contemplation of spiritual science, of spiritual research. So that one gradually understands how absurd it is when people say: There are no spiritual forces, I cannot acknowledge them; and if there is a horseshoe-shaped iron rod here, it is just a piece of iron, and I see nothing but iron. — But there may be magnetism in it! So there is something else in the whole outer world besides magnetism. Recognition is gained by responding to what is offered about the peculiar form of things. In this way, in the Michael age, we acquire the spiritual forces that are necessary to resist the Ahrimanic forces, where it is precisely our task to resist the Ahrimanic forces. For basically, everything we have in the study of spiritual science is only preparation. One day, the awakening of the soul springs forth from the study of spiritual science, through which the soul knows: The spiritual world lives in you, from the Christ impulse down through Michael to the folk spirit, which brings about what is to be brought about.
I said that the age of the Maid of Orleans was suited to reaching the weakest, physically weakest forces of human beings. Our age must reach the strongest forces of human beings, must seize the will where it is least inclined to truly unfold its powers. We see it again and again: to unfold the will where it matters, to make active those forces that are our earthly forces, our powers of imagination, is the most difficult thing for human beings. To apply the will outwardly is relatively easy for them. But a different will is necessary if thoughts are to be directed in such a way that they encompass the spiritual world. It is this strong will that spiritual science as such must appeal to, which must be present if spiritual science is to lead us in our Michaelic age to what it must lead us to. For we are not called upon to talk about the mechanical nature of our age; we are not called upon to point out that this mechanical nature of our age has taken hold of people; we are called upon to do something else. Admittedly, if one squeezes the facts a little, one can even be a great philosopher to a certain extent, let us acknowledge that without reservation; one can look at the mechanism of our age and then begin to see in this very mechanism, which one attributes especially to its external enemies, the most destructive thing of all. And if one then has a tendency—even if one is considered a great philosopher—to rant like a market woman, one can do as the philosopher Bergson did recently, who once again managed to point out in a one-sided manner—and, when presented in a one-sided manner, many things are often quite correct—the connection between the mechanical effect of forces and the German national character. But it is not only possible to point out that German intellect has already achieved something in certain areas through the application of mechanical forces by the intellect; one can also point to something else. However, there is no need to rant like a market woman when discussing such connections; instead, one can say: Perhaps it is precisely where the intellect was strongest in shaping the mechanical-demonic that it is also the place to overcome these mechanical-demonic forces through a special spiritual mission. But then the German can easily be misunderstood when, in connection with the course of his spiritual life, he understands that he does not have the task of to remain with the merely mechanical, which serves them so well in the tasks of war even today, not merely to remain with the mechanisms, because otherwise they would only create demons, but that they have to develop those strong forces within themselves that can boldly confront these demons. This does not mean standing blindly in the spiritual world, but standing there guided by conviction. If we are willing to accept that we are surrounding ourselves with a world of demons, with a veritable hell, by constructing machine upon machine, then we can understand why people, out of the materialistic spirit of our time, say again and again: this scientific-materialistic age has brought us to the highest level humanity has ever reached — we can understand that, because it is fitting for today's materially minded people, but we must know that through our machines we are bringing pure demons into humanity, and we must also know how we can develop the right resistance to these demons. Only by recognizing these Ahrimanic, demonic forces, only by consciously knowing that they are there, can we place ourselves in the right relationship to the spiritual world. For it is only because we remain unconscious of them, because we know nothing about them, that these harmful forces are harmful. I would like to illustrate this with a comparison.
You know that after some time, hopefully when some things that have not yet been achieved are accomplished, we will have a building in Dornach near Basel where we will be able to cultivate our spiritual current in a suitable environment. Now, the point of constructing this building is not to escape the necessities of the present in any way, but to construct it entirely out of the necessities of the present. For example, the lighting had to be created out of the most Ahrimanic forces of the present, and these are: electric lighting, electric heating, and so on. Now it is a matter of rendering harmless through the architectural form itself whatever comes into consideration in this connection. If one were to enter the building later, one would find oneself surrounded by everything that the Ahrimanic culture of the present day brings with it. But it is not important that it is there, but that one does not notice it. One should not notice it. To achieve this, a group of friends have come together to build a separate structure next to it, giving it a special form so that the Ahrimanic-demonic forces are banished from it. For everyone who comes to the building, including those who enter it, the fact that the Ahrimanic forces are at work there will be brought to consciousness. But as soon as we know this, they are no longer harmful. For it is a matter of the forces that are harmful to human beings losing their harmfulness when we look attentively at the places where they are at work, when we do not look thoughtlessly at a machine and say: a machine is just a machine, but rather a machine is a place for a demonic-Ahrimanic being.
When we place ourselves in the world in such a way that the knowledge is in our soul, then we place ourselves correctly in the Michaelic age. But that means we bring ourselves into such a relationship with the spiritual world that Michael can also become effective in us. Michael with what his present mission is, as we have characterized it. Everywhere it is a question of whether we can either thoughtlessly place ourselves in what people unconsciously build up as mechanisms, or whether we can see through them. If we see through them, if we become aware of how demonic, elemental forces are at work in our mechanisms, then we will also find the way to the spiritually true, right inspirers. And these are connected with the spirit who relates to the other spirits guiding humanity as gold relates to metals, with Michael.
So today I have tried to make clear that our age has a different task in seeking the divine-spiritual forces that are to work for the salvation of the human race than was the case for those human souls who lived in the age of the Maid of Orleans. At that time, it was much more a matter of suppressing everything intellectual and rational. Today, on the other hand, it is a matter of cultivating everything intellectual and rational to the point of clairvoyance, for it can be cultivated to the point of clairvoyance. When there are people who will cultivate the human soul in this way, then what is to develop will develop out of the twilight period we are now going through. What develops outwardly on the physical plane can only be the garment for what is to emerge spiritually for the human race on Earth from the present time. And it is true that those who give up their powers in their youth now want to send these powers down into our earthly existence. For these forces are not lost, they are indestructible; they are only to continue working in a spiritual way, as they would have continued working in a physical way if those concerned had not passed through the gate of death on the battlefield. But they will send their strength down to Earth in our time so that we may know what to do with it. This strength must flow down into a humanity that, in the time of peace that will follow the war, will use it in such a way that spiritual life will spread more and more on Earth. Just as the light of day develops out of every night, so must a light-filled future develop out of our present, which often seems like night to us; but this light-filled future will have to be permeated by what the Michaelic age of humanity, which began in 1879, has to bring. If there will be souls who are able to form such a close bond with the spiritual world as is indicated today, then we may hope that, in view of the events of the present time, what is expressed in the seven-line saying will be fulfilled; we may hope that all this will be fulfilled if the first five lines are truly connected with the last two in reality:
From the courage of the fighters,
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the forsaken,
From the sacrifices of the people
The fruit of the spirit will grow —
Souls will consciously guide
Their minds into the realm of spirits.