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Christ In Relation To Lucifer and Ahriman
GA 159

18 May 1915, Linz

Translated by Peter Mollenhauer, Ph.D.

Introduction

The decision to construct the first Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland was made in May, 1913, when Rudolf Steiner visited the future building site. Construction began within a few weeks and the exterior of the building was completed in April, 1914. Work on the interior proceeded at a slower pace and lasted through World War I (1914-1918). In 1914, Rudolf Steiner had begun a scaled-down model of the Christ sculpture that was later to be installed in the Goetheanum.. As the work on the sculpture itself began, he frequently explained its significance in his lectures.

One of Rudolf Steiner's lecture tours, May 6 through May 18, 1915, took him to Vienna, Prague and Linz. In all three cities he stressed that the Christ figure in the sculptured group would have to be portrayed as a being in equipoise between the polar forces of Lucifer and Ahriman and that this being was symbol of, and model for, man's own existence here on earth. The Linz lecture, which is here translated, presents the group in a world-historical context and relates the significance of the Lucifer-Christ-Ahriman configuration to the events surrounding World War I. Steiner sees a parallel between Christ's central, but equalizing position and Central Europe's mission in World War I. He implies that Germany's and Austria's militarism and political intransigence alone did not lead to war against the world powers in the East (Russia) and the West (France, England and, since 1917, the United States). According to Steiner, World War I was the earthly expression of a struggle between luciferic forces in the East and ahrimanic forces in the West, and it was Central Europe's destiny to mediate between these forces.

The fundamental polarization of East and West that Rudolf Steiner saw emerging more than six decades ago is now a political reality. While most historians today concede that World War II was in part caused by the circumstances surrounding World War I, few would accept Rudolf Steiner's statement from his Linz lecture that World War I was “destined by the European karma” or, to state it more concretely, that it was unavoidable. If the war could not have been avoided, then the question of who was to blame or who caused it is, as Steiner says, irrelevant. Based on this position, Steiner suggests that only one question has relevancy: “Who could have prevented the war?” This question seems to contradict Steiner's statement that World War I was destined by the European karma. A quick glance at the historical record may help to clarify what Steiner meant.

In suggesting that the Russian government and possibly England, could have prevented the war, Steiner simply deals with possibilities outside the realm of what had to happen according to European karma. Russia's instigation of the two Peace Conferences in the Hague (1899 and 1907) was indeed self-serving and hypocritical, for it was Russia that, in 1914, mobilized its armed forces without considering British proposals for peace negotiations. Under these circumstances and considering the political immaturity of the German leadership, it was not surprising that the German Kaiser and his generals over-reacted to the Russian mobilization and interpreted it as a declaration of war. Kaiser Wilhelm II and Czar Nicholas II, who were cousins, frantically exchanged telegrams in which one beseeched the other to preserve the peace, but to no avail. The war machinery was already overheated by the forces of chauvinism and materialism so that even from this vantage point Steiner was correct in maintaining that war was unavoidable.

Regarding the possibility of preventing the war, a glance at the major Western powers involved in the controversy, and at Germany, reveals the following historical facts. France, for thirty years an ally of Russia, did nothing to prevent the war because she did not attempt to delay the hasty Russian mobilization. Her representatives said later that France regretted the Russian action, but there seems little doubt that France was more interested in presenting herself as the innocent victim of an attack. On the other hand, England's foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, could have prevented the war if he had taken earlier measures to discourage Germany's militarists from asserting themselves in their country, but in view of the English tradition and the English Constitution, this was probably not possible. Finally, the confusion in Germany itself was caused by a lack of understanding of who had legitimate authority to make decisions. Eventually, the political decisions were made by generals who managed to spread the belief that the fatherland was in peril and that Germany herself was not the attacker, but the attacked. Thus, theoretically, any one of these three powers could have prevented the war but that, as Rudolf Steiner points out in the lecture, is not the real issue.

Furthermore, the war did not emerge out of a French or Russian moral conviction that was responsive to German militarism. Rather, the goal of crushing German militarism emerged well after the war had begun. The war could be interpreted, in this sense, to be inevitable because it was not generated from a goal, but exploded and then developed its goals. In this war of attrition, materialism camouflaged itself with nationalistic sentiment and strove for absolute expression and triumph.

It is against such a background of perplexity and misguided fervor that Rudolf Steiner's message to Central Europeans must be read. In rejecting the question of who had caused the war, Steiner dismissed as equally irrelevant the question of who was to blame for materialism. Materialism was there, as was Ahriman. Steiner admonished the Central Europeans to counterbalance materialism by adopting a spiritual perception of life and by striving for an encounter with the Christ.

This profound spiritual responsibility that Steiner put on the Germans in 1915 was disregarded and the challenge passed by. After World War I it was not the Christ, but Adolf Hitler who, under the guise of “savior,” emerged as Germany's Nemesis and was thus catapulted into a central position. When Hitler was finally destroyed, Central Europe broke up into two parts, one of which disappeared behind the Iron Curtain, while the other aligned with the West.

As it stands today, Rudolf Steiner's call to instate the Christ in His central position has yet to be fully received and responded to not only by the people living in what is left of Central Europe, but also in the rest of the world.


Some day when the building in Dornach that is dedicated to the spiritual sciences is completed, it will contain, in a significant spot, a sculpture dominated by three figures. In the center of this group a figure will tower as if it were the manifestation of what I would call the most sublime human principle ever to unfold on earth. Hence, one will be able to experience this representation of the highest human principle in the evolution of the earth-the Christ, who in the course of this evolution lived three years in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. A special task in the portrayal of this Christ figure will be to make two ideas visible. Firstly, it will be important to show how the being that we are concerned with dwells in a human body. Secondly, it must also become apparent how this human body, in every facial expression and in every gesture reflects a magnificent degree of spiritual refinement, which descended with the Christ from cosmic and spiritual heights into this body in its thirtieth year. Then there will be the remaining two figures of the group, one to the left and the other to the right of the Christ figure, if that is the proper name for the figure that I have just sketched. This Christ figure is placed in such a way that it seems to be standing in front of a rock that towers noticeably at His left side, with its peak extending over His head. On top of the rock there will be another figure, winged but with his wings broken, who for this reason begins to fall into the abyss. One feature in the Christ figure that must be worked out with special artistic care is the manner in which he raises his left arm, for it is precisely this gesture that precipitates the breaking of the wings. It must not appear, however, as if the Christ Himself were breaking the wings of this being. Rather, the interaction of the two figures must be portrayed artistically to show how the Christ, by the very motion of raising his hand, is expressing his infinite compassion for this being. Yet this being cannot bear the energy flowing upward through arm and hand, an energy that is evidenced by indentations that the fingers of the extended hand seem to leave in the rock itself. When this being comes into proximity with the Christ being, he feels something that may be expressed in the words: I cannot bear the radiation of such purity upon me.

This feeling dominates so essentially as to break this upper beings wings and cause his imminent plunge into the abyss. To make this visible will be a particularly important artistic task and you will see how the meaning of this interaction could easily be misunderstood. Imagine, for example, an artistic portrayal of the Christ suggesting that merely by raising His hand He would radiate such power onto the being that his wings would be broken, forcing the plunge into the abyss. In that case it would be the Christ Himself who irradiated this being, as it were, with hatred, and thereby caused his descent. Such an impression must under no circumstances be conveyed. Rather, the being must be portrayed as having caused his own fall, for what is to be shown plunging downward, with broken wings, is Lucifer.

Now let us consider the other side of the group, toward the right of the Christ figure. There, the rock will have a ledge and, therefore, will be concave underneath. In this depression there will be another winged figure, who with his arm-like organs turns toward the ledge above. You have to visualize this as follows. To the right is the depression in the rock and in it stands this winged figure with wings entirely different from the figure on top of the rock. The wings of the figure on top of the rock resemble those of an eagle, whereas the figure in the depression has bat-like wings. This figure virtually buries himself in the cave, working in shackles, ever busy undermining the earthly realm.

The Christ figure in the middle has his right hand directed downward and the left one upward. Again, it will be an important artistic task not to show the Christ as wanting to shackle this figure; rather, he has infinite compassion for this being, which is Ahriman. Ahriman cannot bear this compassion and he writhes with pain from what the hand of the Christ exudes. This radiance from Christ's hand causes the golden veins down in the rock depression to wind around Ahriman's body like strong cords and shackle him. What is happening to Lucifer is his own doing; the same is true with Ahriman. This concept is going to take form as a sculpture that will be set up in a significant place in the new building. Above the sculptured group we will attempt to express the same motif through the medium of painting, but then the concept must be expressed differently. To summarize, the group of three figures: Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman will stand at the bottom as a sculpture, and above, the same motif will appear as a painting.

We are injecting this configuration of a relationship between Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman into our Dornach building because the science of the spirit reveals to us in a certain way that the next task regarding the comprehension of the Christ impulse will be to make man finally understand how the three forces of Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman are related in this world. To this day there has been much talk about Christianity and the Christ impulse, but man has not yet gained a clear understanding of what the Christ impulse has brought into the world as the result of the Mystery of Golgotha. Certainly, it is generally admitted that there is a Lucifer or an Ahriman, but in so doing, it is made to appear that from these two one must flee, as if one wished to say, “I want nothing to do with Lucifer and Ahriman!”—In yesterday's public lecture <1 “Die übersinnliche Erkenntnis und ihre stärkende Seelenkraft in unserer schicksalstragenden Zeit” (“Supersensible Perception and Its Strengthening Soul-force in Our Time of Destiny”). Corresponding remarks can be found in the Berlin lectures of April 16 and 23, 1915, published as: “Aus schicksalstragenden Zeit”, (“From a Time of Destiny”) Bibl.-No. 64 in the Gesamtausgabe (Complete Works [of Rudolf Steiner]), Dornach, 1959. I described the way in which the divine-spiritual forces can be found. If these forces did not want to have anything to do with Lucifer and Ahriman, either, the world could not exist. One does not gain the proper relationship to Lucifer and Ahriman by saying, “Lucifer, I flee from you! Ahriman, I flee from you!” Rather, everything that man has to strive for as a result of the Christ impulse must be seen as similar to the equilibrious state of a pendulum. In the center, the pendulum is in perfect balance, but it must oscillate to one side or the other. The same applies to man's development here on earth. Man must oscillate to the one side according to the luciferic principle and to the other according to the principle of Ahriman, but he must maintain his equilibrium through the cultivation of Paul's declaration, “Not I, but Christ in me.”

To understand the Christ in His quintessential activity we must conceive of Him as a reality, as a working force. That is to say, we must realize that what wove itself into our evolution here on earth through the Mystery of Golgotha was present as a fact. It is not important how well or how inadequately this fact has been understood by mankind up to this time; what is important is that it has been present, influencing human development on earth. Much could be said to explain exactly what man has not understood about the Christ impulse up to this time; the science of the spirit will have to contribute its share to bring about a full comprehension of how the Christ impulse has come from spiritual heights and influenced man's development on earth through the Mystery of Golgotha. In order to realize how the Christ has become a working force, let us visualize—as has been done elsewhere—two events in the annals of man's evolution that have influenced the development of the entire Western world.

You will remember an important event from history when Constantine, son of Constantius Chlorus, defeated Maxentius and thus introduced Christianity externally into the mainstream of Western civilization. Constantine had to fight that important battle against Maxentius so that he could establish Christianity in his western empire as the official religion. Had this battle not taken place as it did, the entire map of Europe would have been different. But this battle really was not decided by military skill, that is, not by the intellectual prowess available to people in those days, but by something entirely different. Maxentius consulted the so-called Sibylline Books, the prophetic oracles of Rome, which guided him into leading his army out of the assured safety of Rome's walls into the open field, in order to confront Constantine's army. Constantine, on the other hand, had a dream before the battle in which he was told, “If you approach Maxentius under the banner of the Mystery of Golgotha you will reach a great objective!” Indeed, Constantine carried the symbol of the Mystery of Golgotha—the cross—when he led his forces into battle, even though his army was three-fourths smaller than that of Maxentius. Enthused by the power emanating from the Mystery of Golgotha, Constantine won that historical battle resulting in the external introduction of Christianity to Europe. When we realize the extent to which people in those days understood the Christ impulse purely by intellectual means, it is not surprising to find that there ensued an endless theological quarrel. People argued whether or not Christ was consubstantial with the Lord in all eternity, and so on. Let us say this, that the degree of knowledge of the Christ impulse available to human beings in those days is not important, but rather the fact that the Christ impulse was present and that through his dream it guided Constantine to bring about what had to happen. What is important is the actuality of the Christ and His real and visibly active power. Only in the science of the spirit do we begin to understand what the Christ impulse is.

Another historical event was the struggle between France and England. It changed the map of Europe in such a way that we can say that if France had not been victorious over England, all conditions and relationships would have become different. But how did this victory happen? It happened because the Christ impulse has worked itself into the subconscious of the soul up to the present time, when it is increasingly becoming a conscious force. So we can see in the evolution of the Western spirit how the Christ impulse seeks out in the souls of men those conditions by which it can become effective in some individuals. Legends have preserved for us the manner in which the Christ impulse can assert itself within the Western spiritual tradition. In part, these legends refer generally to ancient pagan ages, but they take us back to those heathen times in which an understanding of Christianity was beginning to germinate.

If the soul does not consciously seek initiation as delineated in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment, but becomes saturated with the Christ impulse as if by way of natural initiation, then the most favorable period for this process is from December 25 to January 6. We can understand this clearly by realizing that for occult knowledge it is evident that the earth is not only what geologists describe. Geologists conceive the earth's components as being similar to the skeleton of man. Yet the spiritual also belongs to our earth whose aura has been permeated by Christ. During the day's twenty-four hours, this earth sleeps and is awake just as we are. We must familiarize ourselves with the fact that the state of wakefulness on earth occurs during the winter, and the state of sleep during the summer. The earth spirit is most awake in these twelve or thirteen days from Christmas to the Epiphany. In ancient ages when, as you know from the various presentations in my lecture series, human beings elevated themselves to a sort of dreamlike clairvoyance to reach a spiritual understanding of the world, in those ages the most favorable time for this process was summer. Thus, it is quite natural that whoever wants to elevate himself to spiritual heights by means of a more dreamlike clairvoyance will have an easier time of it during the summer, when the earth is asleep. Therefore, St. John's midsummer-day was in ancient ages the most propitious time to raise the soul to the spiritual level. The old way of spiritual interaction with the earth has been replaced by a more conscious elevation that can best be reached during the earth's wakefulness.

For this reason, legends inform us that unusually endowed people, who are particularly suited by their karmas, pass into an extraordinary state of consciousness that resembles sleep, but only on the surface. its inner quality is such that it can be inspired by those forces that elevate human beings to the domain we call the spirit world. A beautiful Norwegian legend2 “Welten-Neujahr. Das Traumlied von Olaf &Åsteson” (“Cosmic New Year. The Legend of Olaf &Åsteson's Dream”), Hanover lecture of January 1, 1912. Published as a separate edition in Dornach, 1958; Gesamtausgabe (Complete works), Bibl.-No 158. tells us that Olaf &Åsteson, in church on Christmas Eve, falls into a sleeplike state and when he awakens on January 6 is able to relate the experiences he had in this condition. This Norwegian legend does in fact describe the experiences that one perceives first as the soul world—and then as something that feels like the spirit world, but with everything being expressed as images, as imaginative forms.

This time of year has been most favorable in those epochs when human beings were not as advanced as they are in our time. Now it is no longer possible for the Christ impulse to penetrate the souls of men in this way, as if by natural initiation. Nowadays man must make a conscious effort and climb to initiation in a way similar to that achieved through the instructions given in my book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. We are living in an age when natural initiations are becoming increasingly rare and will eventually disappear. Yet one initiation that could still essentially be called a natural initiation took place when the Christ impulse worked itself into the soul of the simple country girl, The Maid of Orleans. It was she who caused the victory of the French over the English. Again, not the human mind nor the talents of military leaders were decisive factors in changing the map of Europe so magnificently, but rather the Christ impulse working itself into the subconscious of the Maid of Orleans and inspiring her to radiate its presence in all of history.

We would now have to examine whether something similar could have occurred in the Maid of Orleans by way of natural initiation and ask whether her soul was inspired in the nights from the 25th day of December to the 6th of January. From her biography it seems difficult to demonstrate that she was even once in a sleep-like state during the twelve or thirteen special days when the Christ impulse could have entered her soul, inspiring her to act as its human shell on the battle grounds of France. Yet, that is precisely what happened. There is a time when the karma of a particular individual can facilitate such a sleep-like state in a human being. During the last few days prior to a person's birth he lives in the mother's womb in a dreaming, sleep-like state. He has not yet perceived with his senses what is happening in the world outside. If by virtue of his karma a person were especially suited to receive the Christ impulse during these last few days in the womb, then these days could also be days of natural initiation. Strengthened by and saturated with the Christ impulse, such a person would have to be born on the sixth day of January. Joan of Arc was born on that day. It is her special mystery that she was born on the 6th day of January and had spent the time from Christmas to the day of Epiphany in a peculiar sleep-like state in the womb of her mother where she received her natural initiation. Now consider the profound connections beyond the external developments that we are accustomed to call history. As a rule, the external events that are reconstructed from historical documents are of the least significance. What is of decisive historical significance is the plain date in our calendar indicating that Joan of Arc was sent into this world on the 6th day of January. Thus, supernatural forces become active in the sentient world and we must read the occult signs that present this fact to us. They tell us that the Christ impulse had already streamed into the Maid of Orleans before her physical birth, as if by way of natural initiation.

I want to explain these facts in order to instill in your souls a feeling for the fact that the external preception must take into account unknown forces and connections beyond what we ordinarily call history. European history has been guided by the Christ impulse since the Mystery of Golgotha, whereas Asia retained a world view that is not vet fully sensitive to the Christ impulse. To be sure, Europeans have been led into considering the wisdom of India as something especially profound. Not only is it characteristic of Hindu thought, if not of all Asian religious perception, however, that its entire attention is directed to the time preceding the appearance of the Christ impulse, but also that the state of religious perception is preserved as it was in those days. If something remains behind in the evolutionary process it can be interpreted to have absorbed something luciferic, and for this reason Asian religious evolution is the carrier of a luciferic element. A glance at the religious development of Asia will inform us that it contains much of what mankind as a whole once possessed but was later forced to abandon. We must in part cleanse Western culture of the luciferic remnants and in part we must elevate them in such a way that the Christ impulse can enter.

Moving from Asia to the East of Europe, we notice how Russian orthodox Christianity has remained stationary at an earlier stage of Christian development, refusing to advance and thereby keeping something of the luciferic element. In short, we can detect a luciferic remnant in the East, which, I would say, a wise guiding force left behind for the evolution of mankind in general.

Looking to the West and especially to American culture, a different characteristic quality stands out. The characteristic feature of American culture is to explain everything from external appearance. This kind of perception can certainly lead to great and significant achievements, but still, externals are usually expected to provide answers to all questions. Suppose we in Europe, and especially in Central Europe, notice a person who earlier in his life did not yet have an opportunity to dedicate himself to Christ and to the spiritual cosmic forces. If some event in this person's life brought about his conversion, we want to know what had gone on in his soul. We are not interested in learning that there was a leap forward in his development because such a phenomenon could certainly be found everywhere. The most incorrect pronouncement made by the empirical sciences is that nature does not make any leaps.3 In this form the pronouncement was first made by Karl von Linné in his Philosophia Botanica, Stockholm, 1751, no. 77. Yet there is a tremendous leap from a green plant leaf to the red petal of a flower, and there is another significant leap from petal to the calyx. This pronouncement is therefore patently false; the truth of all development rests precisely on the fact that leaps occur everywhere. Hence, when a person who for some time was leading an external existence is suddenly induced by something to turn to spiritual things, we are not interested in the fact that it happened. What does interest us is the inner force and power that can bring about such a conversion. We will want to look into the soul of such a person and ascertain what has caused such a reversal. The inner workings of the soul will interest us.

How would the American proceed? He would do something quite peculiar. In America, conversions of this sort have been observed frequently. Well, the American would ask the people who have experienced conversions to write letters. He would then gather all these letters into a bundle and say, “I have received these letters from some two hundred people. Fourteen percent of all these souls experienced a conversion out of sudden fear of death or hell: five percent claimed altruistic motives; seventeen percent because they aspired to ethical ideals; fifteen percent had experienced pangs of conscience; ten percent acted in obedience to what they were taught; thirteen percent because they saw that others were converted and imitated them; nineteen percent because they were forced by a good whipping at the appropriate age, and so on.” In this fashion the most extreme souls are isolated, sorted and tallied and the result is claimed to be founded on “scientific data.” The findings are then compiled in books that are sent out and billed as “soul science.” For these people all other evidence is unsound, or as they claim, rests on subjective notions. There you have an example of the externalization of the innermost phenomena, and so it goes with many, many things in America. At a time that cries out for special spiritual deepening, the most external brand of spiritism is rampant in America! Everything there has to be tangible.

That is a materialistic interpretation of spiritual life. We could mention many other instances from which it would be possible to see how the culture of the West is seized by the ahrimanic principle, and what principle causes the pendulum to swing to the other side. In the East we are confronted by the luciferic and in the West by the ahrimanic principle. In Central Europe we have been assigned the immensely important task of finding the equilibrium between East and West. Therefore, the plastic group in our building in Dornach must represent what we consider the most significant spiritual task of our age, that is, finding the equilibrant relationship between Lucifer and Ahriman. Only then will it be recognized how the Christ impulse was meant to influence evolution on earth, when the Christ is not simply brought to preeminence, but is known in the proper way as exemplary force in balance with Lucifer and Ahriman.

The following may illustrate that no clear understanding has yet been reached concerning the relationship of man and of Christ to Lucifer and Ahriman. In a period, even the greatest phenomena are not always free from a one-sided attitude that may characterize the age. It is impossible to overestimate the significance of Michelangelo's magnificent painting The Last Judgment, which can be found in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Christ is portrayed in triumph, directing the good people to the one side and the wicked to the other. Let us look at this Christ figure. It does not possess the features we would like to emphasize in the Christ of our building in Dornach. Even though Lucifer towers above, it must be shown that the Christ raises His hand in compassion. Lucifer is not supposed to be toppled by the power of Christ, but plunges down by his own power because he is unable to bear the radiance of the Christ nearby, and the Christ looks up and raises his brow toward Lucifer. Similarly, Ahriman is not conquered by any hatred from Christ, but because he feels he cannot stand the forces emanating from Him. The Christ, however, towers in the middle as the One who is carrying the Parcival principle into the new age and who, not through His power but through His very being, induces others to overcome themselves, rather than being overcome by Him. In Michelangelo's painting, we see a Christ who uses His very power to send some to heaven and others to hell. In future, such an image will no longer be seen as the genuine Christ, but rather as a Christ having luciferic qualities. Of course, this observation does not detract from the greatness of the painting, in fact, we acknowledge it. We simply must admit, however, that Michelangelo was not yet capable of painting the genuine Christ because the development of the world had not yet advanced to such a point when this could be done. There has to be a clear understanding that we cannot turn our attention just to the Christ, but must set our sight on the threefold configuration: Christ, Lucifer, Ahriman. I can only hint at this, but spiritual science will eventually bring to light the full content of the mystery, Christ in relation to Lucifer and Ahriman.

Now consider the following. Looking eastward we can make out luciferic forces even in the eastern regions nearest to us, while in the West we see ahrimanic forces. As a matter of fact, in spiritual scientific consideration we must adopt a mode of perception by which neither objects nor nations, nor the spirit of nations, are observed with sympathy or antipathy, but rather in accordance with their characteristics. What is called the national mentality of a person steeped in the heritage of his people depends to a large degree on the activity of the physical body and the ether body. From the time of our falling asleep to the moment of our awakening we live with our spiritual-intellectual being as astral body and ego, and during this period we also live outside our habitual national identity. Only during the time from our awakening to the time when we fall asleep do we partake in our nationality, because then we are immersed in our physical body. For this reason man overcomes his sense of national identity little by little during his stay in kamaloka. There he strives toward a union with humanity as a whole in order to live most of the time between death and rebirth in the sphere of humanity as such. Among the characteristics discarded in kamaloka is one that specializes us as members of a nationality.

In this connection the various nationalities differ considerably from one another. Let us, for instance, compare a Frenchman with a Russian. It is a Frenchman's particular trait that he is especially persistent in holding onto, and dwelling in, what the collective soul of his people carries into his physical body and ether body during his life between birth and death. This can be seen in his definitive idea—not as an individual but as a Frenchman—of what it is to be French. Above all, he stresses the importance of being French and what that means to him. But this notion held by Frenchmen or by anyone else from a Romance culture about their nationality affects the ether body by clearly imprinting the idea of nationality on it. A few days after the Frenchman has passed through the gate of death he loses his ether body; it is then a closed entity that has a prolonged existence in the etheric world. The ether body is unable to dissolve for a long time because it is impregnated with, and held together by, the Frenchman's idea of nationality. Thus, if we look to the West we see the field of death filled with firmly defined ether bodies.

Now, if we take a closer look to the East, at Russian man, we recognize his peculiar trait; his soul, upon passing through the gate of death, carries an ether body that dissolves in a relatively short period of time. That is the difference between the West and the East. When the ether bodies of Western Europeans are separated after death, they tend to maintain a certain rigidity. What the Frenchman calls “Gloire” is impregnated in his ether body as a national Gloire. He is condemned for a long time after his death to turn his spiritual sight onto this ether body, and to look at himself (The Russian, however, looks little at himself after his death.) Through all this, Western European man is exposed to the ahrimanic influence because his ether body has been infected by materialistic thinking.

The speedy separation and the diffusion of the ether body is accompanied by a feeling of sensual pleasure, which is also present as a most peculiar ingredient of national sentiment. How is this expressed in the East (Central Europeans do not understand this just as they do not empathize with the East.) Consider Dostoevsky and even Tolstoy or those leading writers who are constantly speaking of “Russian man”; their jargon is an expression of an undefined sensual pleasure surging from their national sentiment. Even in Solowjow's philosophy, we find a vague and stifling quality that the Central European man cannot reconcile with the clarity and purity he seeks. This search for clarity and purity is related to what is active in Europe as spiritual power.

In Central Europe there exists another condition, an intermediate state and something I can now dwell on in greater detail than was possible in yesterday's lecture. I mentioned that something exists in Central Europe that could be called the inner disposition toward striving. As a Central European, Goethe could have written his Faust no differently in the eighteen-forties: he was always striving! This striving is innermost nature. It was in Central Europe where the mystics made their appearance—those mystics who were not satisfied with the mere knowledge of the divine-spiritual principle but wanted to experience it in their own souls. To experience the Christ event internally was their very endeavor. Now take Solowjow who proceeds above all from a historical premise that the Christ died for mankind. That is correct, but Solowjow is a soul who, similar to a cloud, perceives spiritual life as something outside himself. Somehow he thinks that everything is viewed as a completed event, while Central European man demands that everyone experience the Christ event again in himself. Solowjow stresses time and again that Christ has to die so that man can be human. Meister Eckhart, in contrast, would have responded like this: “You are seeing Christ in the same way in which one looks at something external.” The point is that we should not look only at historical events, but that we should experience the Christ within ourselves. We must discover something within ourselves that passes through stages similar to those experienced by Christ, at least spiritually, so that we can rediscover the Christ event within ourselves.

Now it will certainly seem strange and fantastic when mankind nowadays is told that in Central Europe the close association of the “I” with the Christ principle had put a stamp on the entire development of the area, to the effect that even the linguistic spirit of a people took up this association and equated “I” (Ich) and “CH” (Christ): I-CH conjoined became “Ich.” In pronouncing “Ich” in Central Europe one utters the name of Jesus Christ. That is how close the “I” wants to be to the Christ, longing for the most intimate closeness with Him. This living together, as one, with the spiritual world, which we in Central Europe must strive to attain in all intellectual fields, is not known in the West or in the East. Therefore, something in the twentieth century is necessary so that the Christ principle can gradually spread over the entire European continent. I have frequently emphasized in several lecture series4 Cf. especially “Die spirituellen Hintergründe der äusseren Welt—Der Sturz der Geister der Finsternis” (“The Spiritual Background of the External World—The Fall of the Spirits of Darkness”), 14 lectures, Dornach, September 29 to October 28, 1917. Gesamtausgabe (Complete works), Bibl.-No. 177, Dornach, 1965. that in November 1879 the spiritual being we call the Archangel Michael had reached a special stage of development. Michael had become, so to speak, the leading spirit who is now preparing the event that has to take place in the twentieth century. This is alluded to in my first mystery play5 “Die Pforte der Einweihung” (“The Portal of Initiation”), first scene. Gesamtausgabe (Complete works), Bibl.-No 14, Dornach, 1962. as the appearance of the etheric Christ on earth. It will come to pass that at first a few, and gradually more and more souls will know that the Christ is really here, is again on this earth, but as an ether body and not as a physical body.

Certain preparations are necessary. When some souls in the course of the twentieth century become clairvoyant to life in the etheric world—and that will happen—they would be disturbed by those ether bodies that are residual from Western Europe. The spiritual eye would perceive them first of all and would have a distorted vision of the Christ figure. For this reason Michael has to fight a battle in Europe. He has to contribute something to the diffusion of these rigid ether bodies from Western Europe. To accomplish this task, he must take the ether bodies from the East, which strive for diffusion, and join with them in a struggle against the West. The result of this is that since 1879 a violent struggle has been in preparation between Russian and Western European ether bodies and is now raging in the entire astral world. This furious battle between Russia and France is indeed going on in the astral world and is led by Michael; it corresponds to the war that is now being waged in Europe. We are often shaken by the knowledge that the events in the physical world take place as exact opposites to those occurring in the spiritual world, and that is precisely what is happening in this case. The alliance between France and Russia6 The alliance was negotiated in 1897 by President Faure of France and Czar Nicolas II of Russia. can be blamed on the seductive powers of Ahriman or, if you will, on the ahrimanic element, the twenty billion francs that France gave to Russia. This alliance is the physical expression of a struggle raging between French and Russian souls, a struggle that has an impact on Central Europe as it strives in its innermost soul for an encounter with the Christ. It is the karma of Europe that we in Central Europe must experience in an especially tragic way what the West and East must settle between themselves. The only possible interpretation of the external struggle between German and French elements is that the German element lies in the middle and serves as an anvil for both East and West. Germany, which is hammered by both sides in the conflict, is in reality the subject of their own controversy. That is the spiritual truth and quite different from what is happening in the physical world. Consider how different the spiritual truth is from what is happening in the physical world! This must strike contemporary man as grotesque, but it nevertheless is the truth, which must have a shocking effect on us.

There is yet another extraordinarily important matter worth mentioning. Surely history seems to be contradicted when we see that England, even though she has in the past always been allied with Turkey against Russia, now has to fight with Russia against Turkey. We can understand this contradiction only through occult observation. On the physical plane England and Russia are allies in the fight against the Turkish element, yet occult vision, perceiving this struggle from below through the physical plane and then onto the astral plane, sees that in the North it is Russia and in the Southeast it is Turkey that appear to be allied with England. This is due to the fact that the alliance between England and Russia is only of significance on the physical plane, but has no corresponding value in the spiritual world since it rests entirely on material interests. From below one sees that England and Russia are allied in the North only on the physical plane. In the Southeast, looking through the physical plane, one perceives on the astral plane a spiritual alliance between the English and the Turks while they are both fighting the Russians. Thus, on the physical plane, England is an ally to Russia and on the astral plane Russia is attacked by England. This is how we must see the events as they unfold in external reality inasmuch as they reveal themselves as external history. What is behind this history is something entirely different.

There will be a time when people will speak about the present events differently than they are doing now. You will have to admit, the entire war literature contains something rather unpleasant. True, some valid statements are made, but there are also many disagreeable ones. Above all, there is one thing that is disagreeable. There is much talk about how it is still too early to discuss the question of who has caused the war and so on. People delude themselves about the facts when they say that at a later date the documents in our archives will surely bring to light who is to blame for the war! In reference to the external events, however, the matter can be resolved fairly easily, provided one judges dispassionately. Chamberlain, in his War Essays7 Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Neue Kriegsaufsatze (New War Essays), Munich, 1915, p.36. is correct (even though he is in error about the details) when he says that it is possible to know the key issues of this war. All that is without a doubt accurate, but it leaves the proper question unasked. For example, there is but one question that can be answered unequivocally, if only it is properly posed, and this question is: Who could have prevented the war?—The constantly recurring question: Who is to blame for this war? and many other questions just are not appropriate. Who could have prevented the war? The answer to this question can be no other than that the Russian government could have prevented the war! Only in this fashion will it be possible to find the appropriate definition for the impulses that are at work in each situation. Of course, war had been desired by the East for decades, but had it not been for a certain relationship between England, Russia and France, it could not have broken out. Therefore, one might ascribe the greater blame to England. Yet all these conjectures do not take into consideration the underlying causes that made this World War a necessity. It is naive to believe that war could have been avoided. People these days talk as if it did not have to come about when it was, of course, destined by the European karma.

I wanted to allude to some of this by sketching the spiritual differences between East and West. It is not important that we look for external causes. All we have to know is that this war was a historic necessity. When that is understood the individual causes do not matter.

What is important is the proper attitude toward the various effects, for one effect can impress our souls in an especially significant way. It is remarkable and a characteristic phenomenon that a war like this one produces many unexpended ether bodies. Since this is the biggest war in man's conscious history, this phenomenon is present to a corresponding large degree. Ether bodies are produced that are not worn out. You see, the ether body that man carries with him can support him for a long period of time, until he reaches seventy, eighty or ninety years of age. But in a war human beings are sacrificed in the prime of their lives. You know that man, when he passes through the gate of death loses his ether body after a short period of time. A person dying in a war, however, loses his ether body when normally it could have supported his physical body for a long time, in many cases for decades. Those ether bodies entering the etheric world prematurely are preserved with all their powers. Consider now the countless number of unexpended ether bodies of those going through the gate of death at an early age. There is something distinctive about these ether bodies. I would like to illustrate this fact with an example that concerns our Movement, and after that I wish to explain how the ether bodies of the young soldiers who have gone through the gate of death will emerge in the etheric world in the near future.

This fall we witnessed in Dornach the death of little seven-year-old Theodor Faiss; his family belonged to the Anthroposophical Society and was employed not far from our building project. The father used to live in Stuttgart before moving to Dornach. He worked as a gardener in the vicinity of the building and lived there with his family. He himself had been drafted soon after the beginning of the war and at the time of the event I would like to relate, he was staying in a military hospital. Little seven-year-old Theodor was really a sunny child—a wonderful, lovely boy. Now, one day the following happened. We just had a lecture that I delivered in Dornach about the work that goes on in the building. After the lecture someone appeared and reported that little Theodor's mother had not seen him since late in the afternoon. It was ten o'clock at night and we could not help thinking that a terrible accident had happened. This afternoon a horse-driven furniture van had been in the vicinity of the so-called canteen; it was seen on a narrow street where it was forced to turn. To my knowledge, no van as huge had reached that spot in decades. Little Theodor had been in the canteen before the van had turned. He had been delayed there, otherwise he would have gone home earlier with the food that he had fetched from the canteen for supper. It so happened that he covered the short distance to his home in such a way that he reached the very spot where at that moment the van turned over and fell on him. Nobody had noticed the accident, not even the coachman because he was tending to his horses when the van turned over and did not know that the child was buried under it. When we were informed that the child was missing we tried to heave the vehicle up again. Friends fetched tools and alerted Swiss soldiers to help us with the task. Naturally the child had been dead since five-thirty in the afternoon. The van had crushed him immediately and he had died of suffocation.

This case can be used as an example of what I have often tried to explain by means of a comparison: causes are mistaken for effects, and vice versa. I have frequently used the following example. A person falls into the river and people hurry to the spot where it happened. When they find a rock, they conjecture that the victim had stumbled over it and this caused him to fall into the river and drown. Thus, they are sure that the man had died because he fell into the river. If one were to conduct an autopsy, however, it might turn out that he had suffered a heart attack and as a result, was already dead when he fell into the water, but he fell into the water because he had died. You will frequently encounter a similar confusion of cause and effect when life situations are assessed, and even more frequently in the general sciences.

The situation with little Theodor was that his karma had expired, so that it is actually possible to say, “He himself ordered the van to the place of the accident.” I have told you this externally tragic case in detail because we are here concerned with a child's ether body, which could have supported his life for decades. This ether body has passed into the spiritual world with all of its unexpended powers, but where is it? What is it doing? Since that day, anyone attuned to occult perception who is working artistically on the building in Dornach or is there simply to pursue his thoughts will know that the entire ether body of the child, with all its powers, is enlarged in the aura of the Dornach building. We must distinguish that the individuality is elsewhere; it goes its own way, but the ether body was separated after a few days and is now present in the building. I will never hesitate to assert that the powers needed for intuition are those of this ether body that was sacrificed for the building. The relationships behind ordinary life are often quite different from what we are able to suspect. This ether body has become one of the protective forces of the building. Something tremendously stupendous lies in such a relationship.

Now let us consider the vast amount of power that ascends to the spiritual world from the unexpended ether bodies of these who are now walling through the gate of death as a result of military events.

The way in which events are connected is different from what people can imagine; the karma in the world takes its course in a different way. It is the task of spiritual science to replace fantastic notions with spiritually true ideas. For example, we can hardly imagine something more fantastic and untrue, from a spiritual perspective, than what has taken place in the last few decades. Let us ask what has been accomplished by the (Hague) Peace Conference8 “The reference is to the Hague Peace Conference of 1899 and 1907, which were both initiated by Czar Nicholas II. which aimed at replacing war with law, or international law, as it was called. Since the Peace Conferences were held, wars have never been more terrible. During the last few decades this Peace Movement counted among its special patrons the very monarch who has waged the bloodiest and most cruel wars ever known in history. The launching of the Peace Conferences by the Russian Czar must therefore be considered the biggest farce in world history; it is also the most abominable. This must be labeled a luciferic seduction of the East; the details can be easily traced. No matter how one may view the situation, the human soul is shocked by the fact that in the beginning, when the war impulses made their way into Central Europe, the people there made few comments about the situation, even in places where they gathered for the purpose of discussion, such as the German Parliament in Berlin. Little was said, but the events spoke for themselves. In contrast, there was much talk in the East and West. The most shocking impressions come from the debates among various political parties in the St. Petersburg Duma. Representatives of these parties uttered, with great fervor, endless variations of absolutely meaningless phrases. It was terrifying to see the luciferic seduction at work. The fires raging in this war, however, are intended to warn and admonish the human race to be on guard.

From what is now happening, a few souls must come to a realization that we cannot go on like this; human evolution must take up the spiritual! Materialism is confronting its karma in this, the most terrible of all wars. In a certain sense, this war is the karma of materialism. The more this fact is realized by human beings, the more they will abandon their arguments about who is to blame for the war, and then they will have to realize that this war has been sent into world history to admonish man to turn to a spiritual perception of human life in its entirety.

Not only does materialism cause human souls to embrace materialism, it also perverts man's logic and dulls his feelings. We in Central Europe are still lacking a full understanding of what I have stated before. We in Central Europe must be most intimately engaged in the continued development of the Christ impulse. To do this we must, among other things, try to understand the minds that have already sown the seeds. Just one example. Goethe wrote a theory of color, which physicists regard as something—well—something that deserves no more than an indulgent smile, as if they wanted to say, “What did the poet know about colors? He was nothing but a dilettante.” Since the 1880's I have tried to gain acceptance for Goethe's theory of color in spite of the findings of modern physics.9 Rudolf Steiner was asked in 1882 to edit Goethe's scientific writings in Kürschner's Deutsche National-Literatur. Volume I was published in 1883; it contained writings on the formation and transformation of organisms. Rudolf Steiner's introductions and critical commentaries to the four volumes were published as a special edition, entitled: Rudolf Steiner, Goethes Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften (Goethe's Natural-Scientific Writings), Dornach, 1926. A German edition was published in Freiburg, 1949. Gesamtausgabe (Complete Works), Bibl.-No. 1. Cf. the correspondence between Karl Julius Schröer, Joseph Kürschner and Rudolf Steiner in Blätter für Anthroposophie,. 13 Jg. No. 2, February 1961. Why does nobody understand that? The answer is that Central Europe has been imbued with the materialistic principle that has come to us from the British folk soul. Newton, whom Goethe had to oppose, has been victorious over everything emanating from Goethe's spirit. Goethe also established a theory of evolution that demonstrates how human beings, simply by grasping spiritual laws, can progress from the state of greatest imperfection to one of greatest perfection. People found this too difficult to understand. When Darwin published his theory of evolution in a more comprehensible fashion, it was readily accepted. Darwin, a materialistic thinker who was inspired by the British folk soul has conquered Goethe, a man whose perceptions resulted from a most intimate dialogue with the German folk soul.

Ernst Haeckel's experiences were tragic. During his entire life he nourished himself intellectually by leaning on the ideas of Huxley and Darwin; his materialism is basically an English product10Ernst Haeckel: “I have always readily acknowledged the magnificent contributions of the small insular British empire to the enrichment of human civilization. These were possible because of its advantageous insular position and its geographic alliances. In addition I worked on Darwinism for the past fifty years and had many personal dealings with Darwin, Huxley, Lyell, John Murray and many other famous natural scientists in England and Scotland; these were pleasant and fruitful personal relationships.” Haeckel, Ewigkeit. Weltkriegsgedanken über Leben und Tod, Religion und Entwicklungslehre (Eternity, World War Reflections on Life and Death, Religion, and the Theory of Evolution), Berlin, 1915, p.65 and 114. Yet when the war broke out, Haeckel was enraged about what emerged from the British Isles. He was one of the first to return British medals, diplomas and honors; instead, he should have returned his brand of Darwinism and physics, which is tinged with English thought. This is what we have to realize if we are to understand how Central Europe can strive for an intimate harmony with the laws of the world.

The greatest damage is done when what is poured into a child's soul induces the child to develop merely materialistically later in life. This trend has been on the increase for several centuries. Ahriman has even inspired one of the great British writers to compose a work that is calculated to impress the child's soul materialistically. The intent is hardly noticeable because ordinarily, one does not see all this as preparatory to a materialistic orientation. The work I am talking about is Robinson Crusoe. The description of Robinson is so shrewd that once the mind has accepted the ideas in the Robinson tale, it cannot avoid thinking materialistically thereafter. Mankind has not yet recovered from the ill effects perpetrated by the inventors of Robinson tales; they existed before and exist now. Much more could be said. These statements are not made to say something derogatory about the people of the West who have to be what they are. Rather, I wish to point out how the people in Central Europe must discover the connections to great values that are just now germinating but will grow to determine future developments. In this regard, the significance of Austria is especially noteworthy. During the past few decades several men there aspired to profound accomplishments, for example, Hamerling11Robert Hamerling, 1830-1889. Cf. Rudolf Steiner, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Literatur 1886-1902 (Collected Essays on Literature, 1886-1902), Bibl.No. 20, Gesamtausgabe (Complete Works), Dornach, 1957; Mein Lebensgang (The Course of My Life), Bibl.-No. 28, Gesamtausgabe (Complete Works), Dornach, 1962; “Robert Hamerling, ein Dichter und ein Denker und ein Mensch” (“Robert Hamerling, the Poet, the Thinker and the Man”), Dornach, 1939. in the area of literature, Carneri12Bartholomäus Ritter von Carneri, 1821-1909. Cf. Rudolf Steiner, “Carneri, der Ethiker des Darwinismus” in Methodische Grundlagen der Anthroposophie 1884-1901 (“Carneri, the Moral Philosopher of Darwinism” in Methodological Foundations of Anthroposophy, 1884-1901), Bibl.-No. 30, Gesamtausgabe (Complete Works), Dornach, 1961: also “Vom Menschenrätsel” (“On the Riddle of Man”) and Mein Lebensgang (The Course of My Life). who set out to deepen Darwinism, by extending it to the moral realm, as well as Bruckner13Anton Bruckner, 1824-1896. and other artists from a variety of disciplines. What matters here is the concern of a people for these things.

Now let us consider the unexpended ether bodies that are still in existence. They were cast off by human beings who had learned, through a great event, how to sacrifice themselves for their people's spiritual commonalty, a commonalty no longer present for them, at least on the surface. If a spiritual scientist today asserts that there is a collective soul of people and that it exists as archangel and so forth, he will be ridiculed. What is called a people's collective soul by the materialists is nothing but the abstract sum of attributes that the people of a nation possess. The materialist considers the people as nothing but the sum of human beings who co-exist in the same geographic area and share a sense of commonalty with each other. We, on the other hand, speak of a people's spiritual commonalty in such a way that we know that the spirit of a people is present as a real being of the rank of an archangel. Even though somebody who sacrifices his life for his people is not fully conscious of the real spirit of his people, he nevertheless confirms by the manner in which he goes through death that he believes in a continuity of life alter this death. He believes that there is more to a people's spiritual commonalty than meets the eye, that is, it is related to, and co-exists with, the super-sensible world. All those going through death confirm in a more or less conscious way that there is a super-sensible world, and that realization is imprinted on their ether bodies. In a future time of peace, the unexpended ether bodies will be among people living on earth and will continually send the following sounds into the music of the spheres: there is more in the world than what mere physical eyes can perceive! This spiritual truth will ring forth as part of the music of the spheres through ether bodies that the dead have left behind. These are aside from what they are taking along as their individuality, which they retain during their lives between death and rebirth. We must listen to what lives and echoes from these ether bodies, because they were discarded by people who went through death and in so doing, affirmed the truth of the spiritual world. Mankind's greatest sin will be to ignore what the dead call out to us when their ether bodies speak. One's glance at the spiritual world will be infinitely enriched if one considers that those who have lost loved ones—fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters—may tell themselves that those who were sacrificed continue to live for humanity, as a reminder of what is yet to come!

If one were to rely only on what is taking place in the physical world, there would be little hope for the successful continuation of the spiritual movement through which a spiritual scientific world view is to be cultivated. Recently, a good and faithful colleague aged thirty or so died. My words to this soul that had gone through the gate of death requested that it should continue to work in our spiritual scientific field as faithfully and as courageously as it had done here on earth, utilizing all of its acquired knowledge. This colleague had worked diligently with us here on the physical plane; my message to him for his life between death and rebirth was that he should continue to work with us after death as he had done in life, for we are counting on these so-called dead as we are counting on the living. Our spiritual-scientific world view must be alive to such a degree that the gap between the so-called dead and the living can be overcome: we must feel the dead among us as if they were alive. We want not only theory, but life. Thus we wish to point out that when there is peace, there will be a living tie between those on earth and those who have gone through the gate of death. Man will be able to learn, and must learn, from the dead how they contribute to the great spiritual progress that must take hold on earth.

Sometimes life offers us an opportunity to see how human logic alone does not suffice. I would like to mention an example—not for personal reasons but because I want to characterize the way our Movement is viewed by the public. A few years ago an article was printed in a respected South German journal14Wincenty Lutoslawski, “Rudolf Steiner's sogenannte ‘Geheimwissenschaft’” in Hochland, 8.Jg., 1.Heft Oktober 1910, S.45-58. (“Rudolf Steiner's so-called ‘Occult Science’” in Hochland, VIII, 1, October 1910, p.45-58). Professor Karl Muth, editor of the journal, writes an editorial comment in No. 7 of the same year, in which he describes Lutoslawski as an “author who is eminent as a man and as a thinker.” Later, in Krisgshefte der Suddeutschen Monatshefte, Munich, February 1915, p.623-631, Muth refers to his correspondence with Lutoslawski and writes, among other things: “in addition to making several small contributions to Hochland, Lutoslawski also published in this journal three lead articles which aroused considerable attention among the readers: one article on the theosophy of Rudolf Steiner, another one on exercises to strengthen the will, and the third one on his conversion to the Catholic faith. His published notes contain peculiar biographical clues ... Where in Germany—except in an inane asylum—would there be a human being like this lector of philosophy from the University Geneva—a man who seems to be completely disoriented as he confronts the magnitude of our contemporary world-historical situation with complete blindness and a paucity of ideas! The relief which his overwrought brain received through his epistolary outpouring did not satisfy him; he now insists that his latest letter should come to the attention of the public as well.” by a famous contemporary philosopher about our spiritual science. This treatment of spiritual science was intended to impress the public purely because the essay was authored by a famous philosopher. The editor took great pride in the fact that he was able to present an article about spiritual science by such a famous man. Of course, everything was skewed and the facts about spiritual science were distorted. But what did it take for the editor to realize that the account about spiritual science that he had sponsored in his monthly journal was distorted? The war broke out and the author of the article sent several letters to the editor. These letters contained some of the most disgusting remarks about Central European culture that one could imagine. The professor had railed and sneered at it. The editor then printed these letters in his journal as examples of the stupidity of this kind of thinking, commenting that anyone who writes this way belongs in an insane asylum. We are confronted by a curious fact. A good editor needed such an experience in order to see that the author, whose article on spiritual science had severely damaged the public image of the Movement, belonged in an insane asylum. If the man belongs in an insane asylum now, however, then the same was true before, when he wrote the article on spiritual science!

So it goes in the world! To be a judge of what is going on, man must garner other supports than those ordinarily available to him. The spiritual scientist who can clearly demonstrate that truth finds its own way, is on firm ground. Spiritual science, however, must be active in the evolution of mankind so that what is necessary, happens. Early in history Emperor Constantine had to accomplish his mission so that the Christ impulse could bear on the subconscious from the spiritual world. Later, the Christ impulse became active in the Maid of Orleans; what had to happen did indeed take place. Today, the Christ impulse must continue to bear on man, but more on his consciousness. In the future, there must be souls who will know that up there in the spiritual world there are those who sacrificed themselves as individuals and who admonish us to emulate their own belief in the active force of the spiritual, which they attained in death. The forces in the unexpended ether bodies beckon to the future, as well: to understand their message is to admit it into one's soul. Below, however, there must be souls who will perceive this truth and prepare for it through the proper and active understanding of our spiritual science. Our spiritual science must cultivate souls on this earth who will be capable of sensing what the ether bodies of the dead up there will say to us in the future. These souls will know that in the beyond there are forces to admonish human beings who had to be left on earth. When spirit-conscious souls down here harken to the hidden sounds of the spiritual world, then all bloodshed, all sacrifices and all suffering, past and future, will bear fruit. I do hope that quite a few souls come together through spiritual science and perceive the voices from the spiritual world that are resounding especially because of this war. Summarizing the final words of today's reflection, I wish to say a few words to you that are merely an expression of my feeling for what I want to instill in your souls.

From the warrior's valor,
From the blood of battles,
From the pain of the bereaved.
From a people's sacrifice
Will the spirit fruit arise—
Will the souls embrace the spirit
Consciously, with inner eyes.

With such feelings in our hearts we forever want to imbue ourselves with the meaning of the rose cross so that we can perceive it in the proper way as the motto for our doing, weaving and feeling. Not the black cross alone. He who tears the roses from the black cross and has nothing left but the black cross, would fall into the clutches of Ahriman. The black cross in itself represents life when it strives to embrace inanimate matter. Also, if one were to separate the cross from the roses, keeping only the latter, one would nor find the proper thing. For the roses, separate from the cross, tend to elevate us to a life of selfish striving toward the spiritual, but not to a life in which we reveal the spirit in a material world. Not the cross alone, not the roses alone, but the roses on the cross, the cross carrying the roses: That is our proper symbol.

Christus Im Verhältnis Zu Luzifer Und Ahriman Die Dreifache Wesensgestaltung

Wenn einmal unser der Geisteswissenschaft gewidmeter Bau in Dornach fertiggestellt sein wird, so wird er an bedeutungsvoller Stelle eine plastische Gruppe enthalten, die drei Figuren hauptsächlich darbieten wird. In der Mitte dieser Gruppe wird eine Gestalt stehen, wie, ich möchte sagen, der Repräsentant des höchsten Menschlichen, das auf der Erde sich entfalten konnte. Daher wird man auch diese Gestalt des höchsten Menschlichen in der Erdenentwickelung empfinden können als den Christus, der in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth drei Jahre innerhalb der Erdenentwickelung gelebt hat. Es wird die besondere Aufgabe sein, diese Christus-Gestalt so auszugestalten, daß man auf der einen Seite wird sehen können, wie das Wesen, um das es sich handelt, in einem menschlichen Erdenleibe wohnt, wie aber doch dieser Erdenleib in jeder Miene, in allem, was an ihm ist, durchgeistigt ist von dem, was aus kosmischen, aus geistigen Höhen im dreißigsten Jahre des Lebens in diesen Erdenleib als der Christus eingezogen ist. Dann finden sich da zwei andere Figuren, die eine zur linken, die andere zur rechten Seite der Christus-Gestalt, wenn ich diese Gestalt, die ich eben mit ein paar Worten angedeutet habe, die Christus-Gestalt nennen kann. Diese Christus-Gestalt steht wie vor einem Felsen, der insbesondere da, wo die linke Seite des Christus ist, sich auftürmt, so daß sein Gipfel über dem Haupt der ChristusGestalt liegt. Da oben auf dem Felsen ist eine andere Gestalt, eine geflügelte Gestalt; aber die Flügel sind zerbrochen, und diese Gestalt fällt, weil sie die Flügel zerbrochen hat, in den Abgrund. Was künstlerisch besonders scharf wird herausgearbeitet werden müssen, das wird die Art sein, wie diese Christus-Gestalt den linken Arm erhebt. Denn durch diese Erhebung des linken Armes der Christus-Gestalt geschieht es, daß diese herabstürzende Wesenheit die Flügel zerbricht. Aber es darf das nicht so aussehen, als wenn etwa der Christus dieser Wesenheit die Flügel zerbräche, sondern das Ganze muß künstlerisch so gestaltet sein, daß, indem der Christus den Arm hinaufhebt, schon in der ganzen Handbewegung liegt, daß er eigentlich auch mit dieser Wesenheit nur unendliches Mitleid hat. Diese Wesenheit erträgt aber nicht das, was durch den Arm und die Hand hinaufströmt und was noch sichtbar sein wird, indem selbst im Felsen wie Einhöhlungen von den Fingern der hinaufgestreckten Hand sein werden. Was diese Wesenheit in sich selbst empfindet, da sie in die Nähe der Wesenheit kommt, die als die Christus-Wesenheit dasteht, das ist so, daß man es in die Worte kleiden möchte: Ich kann nicht ertragen, daß so Reines auf mich heraufstrahlt.

Das ist es, was in dieser Wesenheit lebt und was so wesentlich in dieser Wesenheit lebt, daß ihre Flügel zerbrochen werden und sie infolgedessen in den Abgrund stürzt. Es wird dieses eine besonders bedeutsame künstlerische Aufgabe sein. Und Sie merken, was da verfehlt werden könnte, wenn der Christus plastisch so dastehen würde und einfach durch Erheben der Hand eine solche Kraft ausgestrahlt würde, daß er dieser Wesenheit die Flügel zerbricht, wodurch sie in den Abgrund stürzt. Dann würde es der Christus sein, der wie mit Haß diese Wesenheit bestrahlen und sie zum Stürzen bringen würde. So darf das aber nicht dargestellt werden, sondern die Wesenheit selbst soll sich zum Stürzen bringen. Denn diese Wesenheit, die herabstürzend mit zerbrochenen Flügeln dargestellt wird, das ist Luzifer.

Und auf der andern Seite, gegen rechts von der Christus-Gestalt aus gelegen, wo der Felsen einen Vorsprung haben wird, da wird der Felsen ausgehöhlt sein. In dieser Aushöhlung ist auch eine Gestalt, die Flügel hat. Und diese Gestalt, die da Flügel hat, wendet sich mit den armähnlichen Organen nach der Felsenhöhlung oben. Sie müssen sich also vorstellen: rechts die Felsenhöhlung und in der Höhlung diese geflügelte Gestalt, die aber ganz anders geartete Flügel hat als die Gestalt oben am Felsen. Die Gestalt oben am Felsen hat mehr adlerartige Flügel, die Gestalt in der Felsenhöhlung aber fledermausartige Flügel. Die Gestalt in der Höhle klammert sich förmlich ein in die Höhle, man sieht sie in Fesseln, man sieht sie da unten arbeiten, das Erdreich auszuhöhlen.

Die Gestalt, die in der Mitte steht, die Christus-Gestalt, hat die rechte Hand heruntergerichtet. Während sie also die linke Hand nach oben richtet, ist die rechte Hand nach unten gerichtet. Wiederum wird es eine bedeutsame künstlerische Aufgabe sein, dies nicht so darzustellen, wie wenn der Christus diese Gestalt, die Ahriman ist, in Fesseln schlagen wollte, sondern der Christus hat selbst unendliches Mitleid für Ahriman. Ahriman aber kann das nicht ertragen, er windet sich in Schmerzen durch das, was durch die Hand des Christus ausstrahlt. Und was da ausstrahlt, das bewirkt, daß die Goldadern, die unten in der Felsenhöhlung sind, sich wie Schnüre um den Ahrimanleib winden und ihn fesseln. Ebenso wie das, was bei Luzifer geschieht, durch ihn selbst geschieht, so auch bei Ahriman. Wir werden dann versuchen, daß diese Auffassung, die durch ein bildhauerisches Kunstwerk an einer bedeutungsvollen Stelle im Bau stehen wird, darüber dasselbe Motiv in malerischer Auffassung haben wird, was dann ganz anders sein muß. So daß also unten diese Gruppe von drei Gestalten: Christus, Luzifer, Ahriman als plastische Gruppe dastehen wird und darüber dasselbe Motiv gemalt.

Wir stellen in unseren Dornacher Bau dieses Verhältnis zwischen Christus, Luzifer und Ahriman hinein, weil uns die Geisteswissenschaft in einer gewissen Weise wirklich zeigt, daß die nächste Aufgabe in bezug auf das Verständnis des Christus-Impulses darin besteht, daß der Mensch endlich wissen lernt, welches Verhältnis in der Welt zwischen diesen drei Mächten Christus, Luzifer und Ahriman besteht. Denn bis jetzt redet man zwar vielfach von Christentum und dem Christus-Impuls, aber was durch den Christus-Impuls eigentlich infolge des Mysteriums von Golgatha in die Welt gekommen ist, das ist den Menschen noch nicht zur völligen Klarheit gekommen. Man spricht ja wohl davon, daß es Luzifer gibt, daß es Ahriman gibt, aber indem man von Luzifer und Ahriman spricht, spricht man sehr häufig so, als wenn man sie fliehen müßte, als wenn man geradezu immer sagen müßte: Ich will nichts, gar nichts wissen von Luzifer und Ahriman!- Wenn die göttlich-geistigen Mächte, die auf die Weise, wie ich es gestern im öffentlichen Vortrag beschrieben habe, gefunden werden, auch nichts wissen wollten von Luzifer und Ahriman, so würde eben die Welt nicht bestehen können. Nicht dadurch, daß man sagt: Luzifer! ich fliehe ihn, Ahriman! ich fliehe ihn -, stellt man sich zu ihnen in das richtige Verhältnis, sondern dadurch, daß man das, was der Mensch infolge des Christus-Impulses anzustreben hat, betrachtet wie die Gleichgewichtslage eines Pendels. Der Pendel ist in der Mitte im Gleichgewicht, er muß aber nach der einen und der andern Seite ausschlagen. So ist es auch in der Erdenentwickelung des Menschen. Der Mensch muß auf der einen Seite ausschlagen nach dem luziferischen Prinzip, auf der andern Seite nach dem ahrimanischen Prinzip, aber er muß feststehen durch die Ausbildung desjenigen, was Paulus genannt hat: «Nicht ich, sondern der Christus in mir».

Den Christus in seiner Wirksamkeit müssen wir nämlich durchaus als eine Realität auffassen, als eine Wirklichkeit. Das heißt, wir müssen uns klar sein, daß das wirklich da war, was durch das Mysterium von Golgatha in unsere Erdenentwickelung hineingeflossen ist. Wie gut oder wie schlecht die Menschen das bis jetzt verstanden haben, darauf kommt es nicht an, sondern darauf, daß es da war, daß es gewirkt hat in der menschlichen Erdenentwickelung. Gar vieles könnte man sagen, was die Menschen bisher von dem Christus-Impuls nicht verstanden haben. Und ein Stückchen wird die Geisteswissenschaft hinzuzutragen haben zu der Erfassung desjenigen, was aus geistigen Höhen durch das Mysterium von Golgatha als der Christus-Impuls eingeflossen ist in die Erdenentwickelung. Um uns das zu vergegenwärtigen, wie der Christus gewirkt hat, wollen wir, wie das auch schon an andern Orten geschehen ist, zwei Momente der Erdenentwickelung der Menschheit uns einmal vor Augen führen, zwei Momente, die wichtig geworden sind in der ganzen abendländischen Entwickelung.

Sie werden aus der Geschichte wissen, welch wichtiger Moment es war, als Konstantin, der Sohn des Constantius Chlorus, den Maxentius besiegt hat und durch Konstantin äußerlich das Christentum in die abendländische Weiterentwickelung eingeführt worden ist. Daß das geschehen konnte, dazu mußte Konstantin jene wichtige Schlacht schlagen gegen Maxentius, durch welche Konstantin dann das Christentum in seinem abendländischen Reiche zur Staatsreligion gemacht hat. Die ganze Landkarte Europas wäre eine andere geworden, wenn dazumal diese Schlacht des Konstantin gegen Maxentius nicht stattgefunden hätte. Aber Feldherrenkunst, dasjenige, was die Menschen dazumal mit dem Verstand vermocht haben, das hat diese Schlacht wirklich nicht zur Entscheidung gebracht, sondern etwas ganz anderes. Maxentius hat nachschlagen lassen in den sogenannten Sibyllinischen Büchern, den prophetischen Büchern Roms, und da wurde er so geführt, daß er sein Heer, das gut bewahrt gewesen wäre in den Mauern Roms, hinausführte aus den Mauern Roms und es im freien Feld gestellt hat dem Heere des Konstantin. Konstantin aber hatte vor der Schlacht einen Traum, in dem ihm bedeutet wurde: Wenn du im Zeichen des Mysteriums von Golgatha dem Maxentius entgegenziehst, so wirst du ein großes Ziel erreichen. — Und vorantragend das Zeichen des Mysteriums von Golgatha, das Kreuz, ging Konstantin in die Schlacht mit einem um drei Viertel kleineren Heere, als es Maxentius hatte. Und begeistert von der Gewalt, die aus dem Mysterium von Golgatha kam, gewann Konstantin jene bedeutungsvolle Schlacht, durch die das Christentum äußerlich eingeführt worden ist in Europa. Wenn wir uns erinnern, was dazumal die Menschen mit dem Verstande von dem Christus-Impuls begriffen haben, finden wir ein endloses theologisches Gezänke. Die Menschen haben gestritten darüber, ob der Christus gleich ist von Ewigkeit her mit dem Vater und dergleichen mehr. Man muß sagen: Nicht darauf kommt es an, was die Menschen gewußt haben dazumal von dem Christus-Impuls, sondern darauf, daß er da war, der Christus-Impuls, daß er da war, daß er geleitet hat durch den Konstantin, durch einen Traum des Konstantin das, was geschehen sollte. Auf die Wirklichkeit des Christus, auf die reale, die wirkliche Gewalt des Christus kommt es an. Verstehen, was der Christus-Impuls ist, damit fangen wir erst in der Geisteswissenschaft an.

Ein anderer Moment war derjenige, als in dem Kampfe zwischen Frankreich und England Europa wiederum eine Gestaltung bekommen hat, vor der man sagen kann: Wäre dazumal Frankreich nicht sieghaft gewesen gegen England, so würden alle Verhältnisse anders geworden sein. Aber wie war das geschehen? - Der Christus-Impuls hat bis in unsere Zeit, wo er immer bewußter und bewußter werden muß, eben in das Unterbewußte der Seele hineingewirkt. Und da sehen wir denn in der abendländischen Geistesentwickelung, wie sich der Christus-Impuls in den Seelen der Menschen diejenigen Zustände aufsucht, durch die er bei einzelnen Menschen wirksam werden kann. Legenden haben uns aufbewahrt die Art, wie der Christus-Impuls in der abendländischen Geistesentwickelung sich geltend machen kann. Diese Legenden weisen zurück zum Teil in alte heidnische Zeiten, überall aber in solche Zeiten, in denen sich gerade im Heidentum Verständnis für das Christentum vorbereitete.

Wenn die Seele nicht in bewußter Art die Initiation anstrebt auf dem Wege, der vorgezeichnet ist in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?», sondern gleichsam auf natürliche Weise, wie durch eine Naturinitiation vom Christus-Impuls durchdrungen wurde, so ist die günstigste Zeit, in welcher dieser Christus-Impuls in die Seele hineininspirieren kann, die Zeit vom Weihnachtsabend bis zum Dreikönigstag, die Zeit vom 25. Dezember bis zum 6. Januar. Verstehen können wir das dadurch, daß wir uns klarmachen: für die okkultistische Erkenntnis wird es ganz eindeutig ersichtlich, daß unsere Erde nicht das allein ist, wovon die Geologen sprechen. Das, wovon die Geologen sprechen, das ist von der Erde soviel wie das Knochengerüst vom Menschen. Aber unsere Erde hat auch das Geistige, das dazugehört. Und eben in die Erdenaura ist der Christus hineingezogen. Und diese Erde schläft und wacht, wie wir in vierundzwanzig Stunden schlafen und wachen. Wir müssen uns damit bekanntmachen, daß der Schlafzustand der Erde während der Sommerzeit, der Wachzustand während der Winterzeit eintritt. Und am wachsten ist der Geist der Erde in diesen zwölf oder dreizehn Nächten von Weihnachten bis Dreikönigstag. In den alten Zeiten, in denen, wie Sie ja aus den mannigfaltigen Darstellungen in meinen Vortragszyklen wissen, die Menschen mehr in einer Art traumhaften Hellsehens sich zum geistigen Prinzip der Welt erhoben haben, war die günstigste Zeit die Sommerzeit. Ganz naturgemäß ist es, daß, wer in einem mehr traumhaften Hellsehen zum Geistigen sich erheben will, es leichter hat während der schlafenden Erdenzeit, zur Sommerzeit. Daher war es das Johannifest, das in den alten Zeiten am günstigsten war, um die Kraft der Seele hinaufzuheben zum Geistigen. An die Stelle der alten Art, wie das Geistige in die Erde hineinwirkt, ist die neue, mehr bewußte Art getreten; da ist nun die beste Zeit die Zeit, wenn die Erde wacht.

Daher sagen uns die Legenden, daß besonders begnadete Menschen, Menschen die durch ihr Karma besonders geeignet sind, um die Weihnachtszeit in einen besonderen Bewußtseinszustand kommen, der nur äußerlich ähnlich ist dem Schlaf, der aber innerlich so ist, daß inspirierend in ihn das hineinwirken kann, wodurch die Menschen erhoben wurden zu der Welt, die wir bezeichnen als das Geisterland. Da gibt es eine sehr schöne Legende, eine norwegische Legende von Olaf Åsteson, von dem uns erzählt wird, wie er am Weihnachtsabend zur Kirche geht, in schlafähnlichen Zustand fällt und wie er dann aufwacht am 6. Januar und erzählen kann, was er erlebt hat in diesem schlafähnlichen Zustand. Und wirklich erzählt uns diese norwegische Legende, wie Olaf Åsteson etwas durchlebt hat, was man zunächst wie die Seelenwelt empfindet, dann etwas, was man wie das Geisterland empfindet, nur eben alles in Bildern, in Imaginationen.

Diese Zeit ist die günstigste gewesen in denjenigen Epochen, in denen die Menschen noch nicht so vorgeschritten waren wie in unserer Zeit. Heute sind die Zeiten vorbei, in denen in dieser Weise wie durch eine Naturinitiation der Christus-Impuls in die Seelen hineinströmen kann. Heute müssen die Menschen ebenso bewußt, wie es vorgeschrieben ist in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten ?», sich hinaufranken zur Initiation. Wir leben in einer Zeit, in der Naturinitiationen immer seltener werden und endlich ganz verschwinden werden, so daß wir nicht mehr darauf zu rechnen haben. Aber eine — im wesentlichen — Naturinitiation zu nennende Initiation war noch die, durch welche der Christus-Impuls hineinwirkte in das Gemüt des einfachen Landmädchens, in die Jungfrau von Orleans durch die verursacht worden ist der Sieg der Franzosen über die Engländer, der die europäische Landkarte in so großartiger Weise umgestaltet hat. Wiederum nicht dasjenige, was der menschliche Verstand leisten konnte, war es, sondern das, was dazumal über alle Kunst der Heerführer hinausgehend die Jungfrau von Orleans leitete, und wodurch Europa eine neue Gestalt bekam - der Christus-Impuls, der in das Unbewußte einer einzelnen Persönlichkeit hineinarbeitete, aber so hineinarbeitete, daß dann von dieser Persönlichkeit ausstrahlte, was wirksam ist in der ganzen Geschichte.

Nun müßten wir daraufachten, ob etwas Ähnliches vorgegangen sein könnte als Naturinitiation bei der Jungfrau von Orleans, ob die Seele der Jungfrau von Orleans in den Nächten vom 25. Dezember bis zum 6. Januar inspiriert worden wäre. Im Lebensgange scheint so etwas nicht nachzuweisen zu sein, daß die Jungfrau von Orleans auch einmal in den zwölf oder dreizehn Tagen vom 25. Dezember bis 6. Januar in einem schlafähnlichen Zustande war, in welchem besonders der Christus-Impuls hätte in sie hineinwirken können, so daß sie dann als Mensch wie die Hülle nur des Christus-Impulses gewirkt hätte auf Frankreichs Schlachtfeldern. Und doch war es so. Es gibt nämlich eine Zeit, die, wenn das Karma der betreffenden Individualität das besonders möglich macht beim Menschen, wirklich von einem solchen schlafähnlichen Zustand ausgefüllt werden kann. Das ist die Zeit der letzten Tage, in denen der Mensch noch, bevor er das physische Erdenlicht schaut, im Leib der Mutter lebt. Da lebt der Mensch in einem traumhaften, schlafähnlichen Zustand. Er hat ja noch nicht durch die Sinne etwas gesehen, was äußerlich in der Welt sich zuträgt. Wäre ein Mensch durch sein Karma besonders geeignet, in diesen letzten Tagen, in welchen er im Leib der Mutter wohnt, aufzunehmen den ChristusImpuls, so würden diese Tage auch Tage der Naturinitiation sein. Dann würde ein solcher Mensch schon gekräftigt und gestärkt mit dem in ihm liegenden Christus-Impuls zum erstenmal das Auge aufschlagen nach der Initiation, das heißt in diesem Falle, nach der Geburt. Und ein solcher Mensch müßte am 6. Januar geboren sein. Die Jungfrau von Orleans ist am 6. Januar geboren. Das ist das Geheimnis der Jungfrau von Orleans, daß sie am 6. Januar geboren ist, daß sie die Zeit von Weihnachten bis zum Dreikönigstag in jenem eigentümlichen, schlafähnlichen Zustand im Leib der Mutter zugebracht und da ihre Naturinitiation aufgenommen hat. Nun bedenken Sie die tiefen Zusammenhänge, die hinter der äußeren Entwickelung stehen, die man gewöhnlich die Geschichte nennt. Was äußerlich in der Geschichte aus Dokumenten dargestellt wird, das ist in der Regel sogar das Unwichtigste. Das einfache Datum, das in unserem Kalender verzeichnet ist, daß die Jungfrau von Orleans am 6. Januar in die Welt hineingeschickt worden ist, das ist von maßgebender historischer Bedeutung. So wirken die Kräfte aus dem Übersinnlichen in das Sinnliche herein. Und wir müssen diese okkulte Schrift lesen, durch die sich für uns die Hineinwirkung des Übersinnlichen in das Sinnliche darstellt. Also das Hineinströmen des Christus-Impulses wie durch eine Naturinitiation, schon vor der physischen Geburt, war bei der Jungfrau von Orleans vorhanden.

Ich will diese Dinge auseinandersetzen, um in Ihren Seelen ein Gefühl davon hervorzurufen, wie hinter dem, was man gewöhnlich Geschichte nennt, für das äußere Anschauen unbekannte Mächte und Zusammenhänge wirksam sind. So leitet aber seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha der Christus-Impuls die Geschichte namentlich der europäischen Menschheit. Und im Orient, in Asien ist eine Weltauffassung zurückgeblieben, von der man sagen kann: Sie ist in ihren Empfindungen noch nicht bis zu dem Christus-Impuls herangekommen. Gewiß, der Europäer hat sich verführen lassen, das, was man als Indertum empfindet, ganz besonders tief zu nennen. Aber das ist das Charakteristische dieses Indertums — überhaupt der ganzen asiatischen Religionsempfindung -, daß es mit all seinem Fühlen vor dem Christus-Impuls steht, aber den Zustand bewahrt hat, der im religösen Empfinden der Erdenmenschheit da war vor dem Christus-Impuls. Zurückbleiben in der Entwickelung bedeutet immer, etwas Luziferisches in sich aufnehmen. Daher trägt die asiatische Religionsentwickelung in sich ein luziferisches Element. Und blicken wir hinüber zur asiatischen Religionsentwickelung, so müssen wir gewahr werden: Gewiß, wir können in ihr vieles sehen, was die Menschheit einmal schon hatte, wovon sie aber abkommen mußte. Aber das alles müssen wir in der abendländischen Kultur zum Teil reinigen von dem luziferischen Element, zum Teil hinaufheben so, daß das ChristusPrinzip einfließen kann.

Wenn wir von Asien nach Europa hinübergehen, so finden wir im Osten von Europa, in der russischen Kultur, ausgebreitet das orthodoxe Christentum, das stehengeblieben ist auf einer früheren Stufe der christlichen Entwickelung, das nicht mitgehen wollte, das noch etwas Luziferisches behalten wollte. Kurz, blicken wir nach Osten hinüber, so haben wir das, was, ich möchte sagen, die weise Weltenlenkung in der ganzen Entwickelung der Menschheit als das luziferische Element zurückließ.

Blicken wir nach Westen hinüber, besonders nach der amerikanischen Kultur, dann haben wir eine andere Eigentümlichkeit. Das Charakteristische dieser amerikanischen Kultur ist, daß alles im Äußerlichen gesucht wird. Dadurch wird gewiß Großes, Bedeutsames hervorgebracht; aber alles wird im Äußeren gesucht. Nehmen Sie ein Beispiel. Wenn wir in Europa, namentlich in Mitteleuropa, sehen, daß ein Mensch, der in seinem Leben zunächst nicht Gelegenheit hatte, auf den Christus und die geistigen Weltenmächte sein Gemüt hinzurichten, durch irgend etwas plötzlich gleichsam Umkehr gehalten hat in seinem Leben, dann interessiert uns, was in dieser Seele vorgegangen ist. Nicht daß er einen Sprung erlebte in seiner Entwickelung, ist es, was uns interessiert, das finden wir ja überall. Denn am unrichtigsten ist der Ausspruch, den die äußere Wissenschaft geprägt hat: Natur macht keine Sprünge. - Vom grünen Pflanzenblatt zum roten Blumenblatt ist ein mächtiger Sprung, vom Blumenblatt zum Kelche ist wiederum ein mächtiger Sprung. Es ist ein durchaus unrichtiger Ausspruch, und die Wahrheit der Entwickelung beruht gerade darauf, daß überall Sprünge gemacht werden. Daß also auch ein Mensch, wenn er eine Zeitlang so äußerlich hingelebt hat, durch irgend etwas wie plötzlich zum Geistigen sich hinneigen kann, das ist nicht das Besondere, was uns interessiert. Aber die innere Macht und Gewalt, die so etwas bewirkt, was man eine Bekehrung zum Geistigen nennen könnte, das wird uns interessieren. Wir werden in das Gemüt eines solchen Menschen hineinschauen wollen, wir werden wissen wollen, was ihn zu einer solchen Umkehr gebracht hat. Es wird uns das innere Seelische interessieren. Wie macht es nun der Amerikaner? — Er macht etwas sehr Eigentümliches. In Amerika konnte man ja vielfach beobachten, daß solche Bekehrungen stattgefunden haben. Nun, der Amerikaner läßt Briefe schreiben von solchen, die eine Bekehrung durchgemacht haben. Dann legt er alle diese Briefe zusammen auf ein Häufchen und sagt: Ich habe die Briefe nun erhalten von einer Anzahl Menschen; es waren etwa gegen zweihundert, die Briefe geschrieben haben, Vierzehn Prozent von all diesen Seelen, die eine solche Bekehrung erlebten, haben sie aus Furcht geschrieben, die plötzlich über sie kam vor dem Tode oder der Hölle; aus altruistischen Motiven fünf Prozent; aus Streben nach sittlichen Idealen siebzehn Prozent; aus Gewissensbissen fünfzehn Prozent; aus Befolgung von Lehren, die ihnen gegeben worden sind, zehn Prozent; dadurch, daß sie gesehen haben, daß andere bekehrt wurden - also aus Nachahmung -, dreizehn Prozent; dadurch, daß man sie genötigt hat, indem man sie im entsprechenden Alter durchprügelte, neunzehn Prozent und so weiter. So nimmt man die extremsten Seelen heraus, sortiert sie und erhält ein Resultat, das auf «sichere Daten» aufgebaut ist. Das wird dann verzeichnet in den Büchern, die man als « Seelenkunde» unter die Leute schickt. Alle andern Unterlagen sind diesen Leuten unsicher, seien nur auf Subjektivem aufgebaut, so sagen sie. Da haben Sie ein Beispiel von Veräußerlichung des Allerinnerlichsten selbst. So ist es in vieler, vieler Beziehung in Amerika. In der Zeit, die eine besondere spirituelle Vertiefung fordert, grassiert der äußerlichste Spiritismus in Amerika! Man will dort alles handgreiflich haben.

Das ist eine materialistische Erfassung des geistigen Lebens. Wir könnten noch viele solche Dinge anführen, an denen Sie sehen würden, daß die Kultur im Westen gepackt wird von dem Ahrimanischen. Das ist das andere Ausschlagen des Pendels. Blicken wir nach Osten, so haben wir das luziferische Element, blicken wir nach Westen, so haben wir das ahrimanische Element. Und die so unendlich bedeutungsvolle Aufgabe, die wir zwischen West und Ost in Mitteleuropa haben, das ist die, das Gleichgewicht zu finden. Daher möchten wir in unserem Dornacher Bau hinstellen als plastische Gruppe das Größte der spirituellen Anforderungen unserer Zeit: das Gleichgewicht zu finden zwischen dem Verhältnis zu Luzifer und dem Verhältnis zu Ahriman. Dann wird man erst erkennen, was der Christus-Impuls von der Erdenentwickelung wollte, wenn man den Christus nicht so einfach herausstellen wird, sondern wenn man in der richtigen Weise wissen wird, wie der Christus diejenige Macht ist, die für uns vorbildlich im Verhältnis zu Luzifer und Ahriman dasteht.

Daß in bezug auf das Verhältnis des Menschen und des Christus zu Luzifer und Ahriman noch keine Klarheit herrscht, das mag Ihnen durch folgendes anschaulich werden. Auch das Größte, das, was nach der einen Richtung das Größte enthält, ist nicht immer frei von dem, was noch als Einseitigkeit in der Zeit herrschen muß. Man kann gewiß nicht hoch genug stellen jenes Bild, das Michelangelo in der Sixtinischen Kapelle in Rom hingestellt hat, «Das jüngste Gericht», dieses wunderbare Bild. Der Christus triumphierend, die Guten nach der einen Seite lenkend, die Bösen nach der andern. Schauen wir uns diesen Christus an. Die Züge hat er nicht, die wir gerne erreichen möchten bei dem Christus, der in unserem Dornacher Bau stehen soll. Das muß ersichtlich werden, daß der Christus die Hand erhebt in Mitleid, trotzdem da oben Luzifer ist. Luzifer soll nicht gestürzt werden durch die Macht des Christus, sondern er stürzt sich selbst herab, weil er nicht ertragen kann, was von dem Christus ausstrahlt in seiner Nähe. Und der Christus erhebt sein Auge und faltet die Stirn, indem er die gefaltete Stirn zu Luzifer erhebt. Und Ahriman wird nicht durch den Haß des Christus überwunden, sondern er fühlt, daß er nicht ertragen kann, was von dem Christus ausströmt. Der Christus aber steht inmitten als derjenige, der das Parzival-Element in die neuere Zeit heraufbringt, der nicht durch seine Kraft, sondern durch sein Dasein zur Sich-Überwindung die andern bringen muß, so daß die andern sich selbst überwinden und nicht er sie überwindet. Bei Michelangelo sehen wir noch, wie der Christus durch seine Gewalt die einen zum Himmel, die andern zur Hölle schickt. Das wird in der Zukunft nicht der richtige Christus sein, sondern das wird ein Christus sein, der noch sehr luziferisch ist. Damit ist natürlich dieses Bild nicht verkleinert. Die ganze Größe dieses Bildes wird anerkannt, aber man muß gestehen, daß Michelangelo noch nicht den Christus malen konnte, weil die Weltentwickelung noch nicht so weit war. Es muß durchauseingesehen werden, daß man nicht nur den Sinn zu dem Christus hinlenken soll, sondern daß man den Sinn hinlenken soll zu der dreifachen Wesensgestaltung: Christus, Luzifer, Ahriman. Ich kann das nur andeuten. Geisteswissenschaft wird das alles erst herausbringen, was in diesem Geheimnis liegt: Christus im Verhältnis zu Luzifer und Ahriman.

Aber nun bedenken Sie das Folgende: Wenn wir nach Osten sehen, so sehen wir selbst im nächsten Osten luziferische Mächte. Und im Westen sehen wir ahrimanische Mächte. Wirklich, es muß schon einmal unsere Art sein, in der geisteswissenschaftlichen Betrachtung die Dinge nicht mit Sympathie und Antipathie und auch die Völker und Volksseelen nicht mit Sympathie und Antipathie zu betrachten, sondern so, wie sie in ihrer Eigenart sind. Was man die nationale Eigentümlichkeit eines Menschen nennt, der in seinem Volkstum darinsteht, das hängt vor allen Dingen von dem ab, was im physischen und im ätherischen Leib wirksam ist. Wenn wir vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen mit unserem Seelisch-Geistigen als astralischer Leib und Ich leben, dann leben wir außerhalb des gewöhnlichen Nationalen. Nur vom Aufwachen bis zum Einschlafen, wenn wir in den Leib untertauchen, leben wir im Nationalen. Daher ist das Nationale auch etwas, was der Mensch während seines Aufenthaltes im Kamaloka nach und nach überwindet. Zum allgemein Menschlichen strebt der Mensch hin, indem er im Kamaloka das Nationale überwindet, um dann die größte Zeit zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt im allgemein Menschlichen zu leben. Es gehört zu den Eigenschaften, die im Kamaloka abgelegt werden, auch dasjenige, was uns spezialisiert zum nationalen Menschen.

In dieser Beziehung sind nun die einzelnen Nationalitäten sehr voneinander verschieden. Vergleichen wir einmal einen französischen Menschen und einen russischen Menschen. Der französische Mensch hat die Eigentümlichkeit, daß er das, was die Volksseele hineinträgt in seinen physischen Leib und Ätherleib während seines Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod, ganz besonders festhält, daß er ganz besonders darin lebt. Das drückt sich darin aus, daß der Franzose - nicht als einzelner Mensch, sondern als Franzose — eine Vorstellung hat von dem, was ein Franzose ist; daß er vor allen Dingen das voranstellt, was denn eigentlich ein Franzose ist. Aber diese Gedanken, die sich der Franzose von seiner Nationalität macht, die sich überhaupt der Romane von seiner Nationalität macht, bewirken, daß im Ätherleib scharf eingedrückt ist die Vorstellung, die der Franzose von Nationalität hat. Geht er durch die Pforte des Todes, dann trennt er schon nach Tagen den Ätherleib ab; dieser Ätherleib ist dann eine festgeschlossene Gestalt, die lange in der ätherischen Welt vorhanden bleibt. Der Ätherleib kann sich lange nicht auflösen, weil ihm fest eingeprägt sind die Vorstellungen seiner Nationalität; diese Vorstellungen halten den Ätherleib zusammen. Wenn wir nach Westen hinübersehen, so sehen wir daher das Feld des Todes. angefüllt mit festgeprägten Ätherleibern.

Schauen wir nun näher nach dem Osten, nach dem russischen Menschen, dann ist das Eigentümliche dieser russischen Menschen, daß sie, wenn die Seelen durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, einen solchen Ätherleib in sich tragen, daß er sich verhältnismäßig sehr rasch auflöst. Das ist der Unterschied zwischen dem Westen und dem Osten. Die Ätherleiber, die ausgeschieden werden nach dem Tode beim westeuropäischen Menschen, die haben die Eigentümlichkeit, daß sie sich starr halten wollen. Das, was der Franzose «Gloire» nennt, das prägt sich seinem Ätherleib fest ein als nationale Gloire, so daß er verurteilt ist, lange, lange nach seinem Tode den geistigen Blick hinzulenken nach diesem Ätherleib, sich selbst anzuschauen nach dem Tode. Der russische Mensch dagegen schaut sich wenig an nach dem Tode. Durch das alles ist der westeuropäische Mensch dem ahrimanischen Einfluß ausgesetzt; dieses Vermaterialisieren des Ätherleibes ist wiederum ausgesetzt dem ahrimanischen Prinzip. Das Zerfließen des Ätherleibes, das baldige Aufgehen des Ätherleibes ist begleitet von einem Wollustgefühl, und das ist gerade das Eigentümliche, ein instinktives Wollustgefühl im Nationalen. Wie ist dieses ausgedrückt im Osten? — Mitteleuropa versteht das nicht, wie es sich auch da nicht hineinfühlt. Wenn man Dostojewskij und selbst Tolstoi verfolgt oder andere, die tonangebend waren, die immer reden vom «russischen Menschen», so ist dies ein Wollustgefühl im Nationalen, das sich selbst nicht definieren kann. Selbst bei Solowjow finden wir noch, wie in seiner Philosophie etwas Schwüles lebt, das der mitteleuropäische Mensch mit der Klarheit und Reinheit, die er sucht, nicht vereinigen kann. Was in Europa als geistige Macht wirksam ist, das hängt mit alledem zusammen. In Mitteleuropa ist ein anderer, ein Mittelzustand vorhanden, nämlich etwas, was man noch weiter ausführen könnte, als es im gestrigen öffentlichen Vortrag möglich war. Ich sagte: Etwas ist vorhanden in Mitteleuropa, was innerliche Strebensnatur ist. Goethe würde in den vierziger Jahren genau ebenso seinen «Faust» geschrieben haben: Immer streben, immer streben! — Aber dieses Streben ist innerlichste Natur. In Mitteleuropa war es, wo die Mystiker aufgetreten sind, die das Göttlich-Geistige nicht bloß erkennen wollten, sondern es mit der eigenen Seele durchleben wollten. Innerlich erleben wollten die Mystiker das Christus-Ereignis. Nimmt man nun Solowjow, so findet man, daß er vor allen Dingen davon ausgeht: Der Christus ist einmal historisch für die Menschheit gestorben. Das ist ganz richtig, aber es handelt sich bei Solowjow um eine Seele, die wie eine Wolke das geistige Leben außer sich sieht, eine Seele, die sieht, daß gleichsam schon alles geschehen ist, während der mitteleuropäische Mensch fordert, daß jeder wieder aufs neue das Christus-Erlebnis in sich erlebe. Selbst einem Solowjow würde Meister Eckart etwa folgendes erwidert haben. Wenn Solowjow immer wieder betont, der Christus müsse durch den Tod gehen, damit der Mensch Mensch sein kann, so würde Meister Eckart sagen: Ihr schaut den Christus an, wie man irgend etwas Äußerliches anschaut. Darauf kommt es nicht an, daß wir immer hinblicken nur auf die historischen Ereignisse, sondern wir müssen im Inneren den Christus selbst erleben, wir müssen etwas entdecken im Inneren, was solche Zustände durchmacht wie der Christus, wenigstens geistig, so daß geistig spirituell das Christus-Erlebnis wieder durchlebt wird.

Nun erscheint es gewiß vertrackt und phantastisch, wenn der heutigen Menschheit gesagt wird: Die ganze Entwickelung, selbst der sprachliche Volksgeist hat in Mitteleuropa so gewirkt, daß hereingeprägt wurde in seine Sprache dieser Zusammenhang des Ich mit dem Christus-Prinzip: I-CH = Jesus Christus. I-CH, das sich zusammenfügt so, daß es «Ich» wurde. Und indem man in Mitteleuropa Ich ausspricht, spricht man den Namen des Christus aus. So nahe will man das Ich mit dem Christus fühlen, so innig damit verbunden sein. Dieses intime Zusammenleben mit der geistigen Welt, wie es in Mitteleuropa auf allen geistigen Gebieten angestrebt werden muß, kennt man weder im Westen noch im Osten. Daher muß im 20. Jahrhundert etwas geschehen, damit sich allmählich über den ganzen europäischen Kontinent in entsprechender Weise ausbreiten kann das Christus-Prinzip. Ich habe es öfter in verschiedenen Vortragszyklen betont, daß im November 1879 diejenige geistige Wesenheit, die wir als den Erzengel Michael bezeichnen, eine besondere Entwickelungsstufe erreicht hat. Michael wurde sozusagen der führende Geist. Dieser führende Geist bereitet nun das Ereignis vor, das im ersten meiner Mysteriendramen als Erscheinung des ätherischen Christus über die Erde hin angedeutet ist, das Ereignis, welches im 20. Jahrhundert eintreten muß. Dann wird eintreten, daß erst einzelne Seelen, dann mehr und immer mehr Seelen wissen werden: Der Christus ist wirklich da, der Christus wandelt wiederum auf der Erde, aber in ätherischer Gestalt, nicht in physischer Gestalt. -— Das muß vorbereitet werden. Wenn im Laufe dieses 20. Jahrhunderts gewissen Seelen die geistigen Augen hellsichtig geöffnet würden — und das wird geschehen - für das, was in der ätherischen Welt lebt, würden sie gestört werden durch jene Ätherleiber, die von Westeuropa her sich ausbreiten. Auf die würde der geistige Blick zuerst fallen, und man würde in unrichtiger Weise die Gestalt des Christus sehen. Daher muß Michael einen Kampf kämpfen in Europa. Er muß etwas beitragen, daß diese westeuropäischen starren Ätherleiber aufgelöst werden in der ätherischen Welt. Dazu muß er diejenigen Ätherleiber nehmen, die sich gerne auflösen, die Ätherleiber im Osten, und muß mit ihnen kämpfen gegen Westen. Das bewirkt, daß sich seit 1879 ein mächtiger Kampf in der astralen Welt vorbereitet hat zwischen russischen und westeuropäischen Ätherleibern, und dieser Kampf durchtobt die ganze astralische Welt. Es ist wirklich ein heftiger Kampf vorhanden in der Astralwelt, geführt von Michael, zwischen Rußland und Frankreich. Das ist das, was in der Astralwelt zugrunde liegt dem Kampfe, der da tobt in Europa. Und wie wir oftmals so erschütternd davon ergriffen werden, daß etwas, was hier in der physischen Welt sich vollzieht, in der geistigen Welt entgegengesetzt ist, so ist es auch hier der Fall. Jenes durch Verführung von Ahriman zusammengekommene französisch-russische Bündnis, das vorzugsweise auf dem ahrimanischen Element, nämlich auf zwanzig Milliarden beruht, die von Frankreich an Rußland gegeben worden sind, ist der physische Ausdruck für einen Kampf, der tobt zwischen französischen und russischen Seelen, für einen Kampf, in den Mitteleuropa mit seinem Streben im innersten Seelenelement nach dem Begegnen mit dem Christus hineingestellt ist. Und Europa ist dem Karma verfallen, daß gerade in Mitteleuropa in tragischer Weise erlebt werden muß, was der Osten mit dem Westen und der Westen mit dem Osten auszumachen hat. Die Dinge, die äußerlich das deutsche Element mit dem französischen Element auszumachen hat, sind nur so aufzufassen, daß das Deutsche eben mitten zwischen dem Osten und dem Westen ist und nach beiden Seiten als Amboß wirkt. Denn das, was von beiden Seiten in Deutschland zusammengestoßen wird, das wird in Wahrheit von diesen beiden Seiten verhandelt. Das ist die geistige Wahrheit, die ganz anders ist als das, was sich äußerlich in der physischen Welt abspielt. Denken Sie, wie verschieden die geistige Wahrheit von dem ist, was sich äußerlich in der physischen Welt abspielt! Alles das klingt gewiß den heutigen Menschen grotesk, aber die Wahrheit ist es. Erschütternd muß diese Wahrheit auf uns wirken.

Aber noch eine andere Sache ist außerordentlich bedeutsam. Es widerspricht gewiß alledem, was uns die Geschichte zeigen kann, daß England, nachdem es immer mit der Türkei gegen Rußland vereint war, nun plötzlich mit Rußland gegen die Türkei kämpfen muß. Verstehen kann man diesen Widerspruch erst, wenn man folgende okkulte Beobachtung macht. Während hier unten auf dem physischen Plan England mit Rußland vereint das türkische Element bekämpft, stellt sich folgendes für die okkulte Beobachtung dar. Wenn man in bezug auf diesen Kampf okkult beobachtet und gleichsam von unten herauf auf den physischen Plan schaut und dann auf den Astralplan, so stellt sich heraus: Für den Norden erscheint einem Rußland mit England verbündet, und für den Südosten erscheint einem die Türkei mit England verbündet. Das rührt davon her, daß das Bündnis zwischen England und Rußland nur eine Bedeutung hat auf dem physischen Plan, aber keine Abspiegelung hat in der geistigen Welt, da es ganz auf materiellen Interessen beruht. Von unten sieht man nur auf dem physischen Plan England und Rußland verbunden im Norden. Im Südosten sieht man durch den physischen Plan hindurch auf dem Astralplan die Engländer mit den Türken seelenhaft vereint gegen Rußland kämpfend. So kämpft England auf dem physischen Plan auf der einen Seite zusammen mit Rußland, und auf der andern Seite wird Rußland von England bekämpft. So müssen wir die Dinge betrachten, die sich äußerlich wirklich abspielen, insofern sie sich als äußere Geschichte offenbaren. Denn das, was dahintersteckt, ist eben etwas ganz anderes.

Es wird eine Zeit kommen, in der die Menschen über die jetzigen Ereignisse ganz anders reden werden, als es gegenwärtig geschieht. Man muß sagen, die ganze Kriegsliteratur hat etwas recht Unerfreuliches. Manches Schöne wird ja auch gesagt, aber doch auch sehr viel Unerfreuliches. Und vor allen Dingen unerfreulich ist eines. Es wird immer gesagt: Heute kann man noch nicht darüber sprechen, wer den Krieg verschuldet hat und so weiter. — Man tröstet sich hinweg über die Dinge. Man sagt: In Zukunft wird man aus den Dokumenten der Archive schon herausbringen, wer den Krieg verschuldet hat! - In bezug auf die äußeren Ereignisse ist die Sache aber gar nicht so schwer zu finden, wenn man ohne Leidenschaft urteilt. Und Chamzberlain hat in seinen «Kriegsaufsätzen», wenn er auch in den Einzelheiten irrt, schon recht, wenn er sagt, daß man gerade über diesen Krieg das Allergewisseste wissen kann. Das ist richtig, daß darüber kein Zweifel ist, nur muß man die richtige Frage stellen. Es wird zum Beispiel erne Frage, wenn sie richtig gestellt ist, nur eindeutig beantwortet werden können. Es ist die Frage: Wer hätte diesen Krieg verhindern können? — Die immer wiederkehrende Frage: Wer hat die Schuld an diesem Kriege? und noch viele andere Fragen, sind eben nicht richtig. Wer hätte den Krieg verhindern können? — Darauf wird die Antwort keine andere sein können als die: Die russische Regierung hätte den Krieg verhindern können! — Und nur so wird man die richtige Definition finden können für die Antriebe, die im einzelnen wirken. Selbstverständlich hätte wiederum der seit Jahrzehnten von dem Osten gewollte Krieg heute nicht kommen können, wenn nicht ein gewisses Verhältnis zwischen England, Rußland und Frankreich bestanden hätte, so daß man auch, wenn man will, England die größere Schuld zuschreiben kann. Aber alle diese Dinge berücksichtigen nicht das, was hinter alledem doch an Ursachen steht, die den ganzen Weltkrieg als Notwendigkeit darstellen. Es ist naiv zu glauben, daß der Krieg hätte ausbleiben können. Die Menschen reden jetzt, als ob dieser Krieg nicht hätte zu kommen brauchen. Er liegt natürlich im europäischen Karma.

Etwas wollte ich andeuten durch die geistigen Gegensätze zwischen Osten und Westen. Es kommt nicht darauf an, daß wir sozusagen in besonderer Weise nach den äußeren Ursachen fragen, denn diese sind ja nicht wichtig. Wir müssen nur wissen, daß dieser Krieg eine historische Notwendigkeit ist. Da sind die einzelnen Ursachen nicht wichtig.

Aber wichtig sind schon alle die verschiedenartigen Wirkungen, zu denen wir uns in der richtigen Weise werden stellen müssen. Und da kann uns eine Wirkung als ganz besonders bedeutungsvoll vor die Seele treten. Es ist eine großartige, charakteristische Erscheinung, daß durch einen solchen Krieg viele unverbrauchte Ätherleiber erzeugt werden. Und da dies der größte Krieg ist, den die Menschheit geführt hat seit der bewußten Geschichtsentwickelung, so ist auch diese Eigentümlichkeit in einem höchsten Maße vorhanden. Unverbrauchte Ätherleiber werden erzeugt. Und sehen Sie, der Ätherleib, den der Mensch in sich trägt, kann ihn lange versorgen, bis der Mensch siebzig, achtzig, neunzig Jahre alt ist. Im Kriege aber werden Menschen in der Blüte ihrer Jahre hingeopfert. Wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes geht, so wird der Ätherleib, wie Sie wissen, nach kurzer Zeit ausgestoßen; aber bei den im Kriege Gefallenen wird der Ätherleib so ausgestoßen, daß er noch lange, jahrzehntelang hindurch im physischen Leibe diese Menschenleben hätte versorgen können. In der Physik erkennt man an, daß keine Kraft verlorengeht. Im Geistigen ist es aber ebenso. Diese Ätherleiber, die frühzeitig in die äthetische Welt hineingehen, bleiben mit ihren Kräften vorhanden. Bedenken Sie nun, wie unzählige unverbrauchte Ätherleiber von denen da sind, die als junge Menschen durch die Pforte des "Todes gehen. Mit diesen Ätherleibern ist es doch etwas Besonderes. Das möchte ich an einem Beispiel, das unserer Bewegung naheliegt, erläutern, um dann überzugehen auf die Ätherleiber, die von den durch den Tod gegangenen Kriegern in der ätherischen Welt in der nächsten Zukunft enthalten sein werden.

Wir haben in diesem Herbst in Dornach den Tod des kleinen Sohnes einer dort jetzt in der Umgebung des Baues beschäftigten Familie aus der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft erlebt, den Tod des kleinen, siebenjährigen Theodor Faiß. Der Vater hat früher in Stuttgart gelebt, dann kam er als Gärtner nach Dornach in die Umgebung des Baues und lebte dort mit seiner Familie. Er selbst war bald nach Kriegsausbruch eingezogen worden und war zu der Zeit des Ereignisses, das ich anführen will, im Lazarett. Der kleine, siebenjährige Theodor war ein wirkliches Sonnenkind, ein wunderbarer, lieber Knabe. Nun geschah eines Tages das Folgende. Wir hatten gerade einen Vortrag, wie ich sie in Dornach halte im Anschluß an das, was im Bau geschieht. Nach dem Vortrag kam eine Persönlichkeit und sagte, daß der kleine Theodor Faiß seit dem Spätnachmittag nicht zu seiner Mutter zurückgekommen sei. Es war zehn Uhr abends, und man konnte nichts anderes denken, als daß ein großes Unglück geschehen sei. Es war nämlich an diesem Nachmittag ein Möbelwagen angekommen und war in der Nähe der sogenannten Kantine einen Weg gefahren, auf dem er hatte umbiegen müssen. An eine Stelle war dazumal dieser Wagen gelangt, an der, man kann wirklich ruhig sagen, viele Jahrzehnte vorher kein so großer Wagen, überhaupt vielleicht noch kein Möbelwagen gefahren ist und ebensowenig nachher. Nun war der kleine Theodor, bevor dieser Wagen umgebogen hatte, in der Kantine gewesen. Er war dort etwas aufgehalten worden, sonst wäre er früher mit dem, was er an Eßwaren in der Kantine für das Abendessen geholt hatte, nach Hause gegangen. Er ist nun den Weg nach Hause - es ist nur eine ganz kurze Strecke — gerade so zurückgegangen, daß er sich gerade an jener Stelle befand, wo der Wagen umfiel und auf ihn, den kleinen Theodor, fiel. Niemand hatte es bemerkt, selbst der Kutscher nicht. Der hatte nur seine Pferde in Sicherheit gebracht, als der Wagen umfiel, und wußte nicht, daß das Kind darunter war. Als uns das Fehlen des Kindes gemeldet wurde, mußten wir den Wagen zu heben versuchen. Die Freunde holten Werkzeuge, und die mobilisierten schweizerischen Soldaten halfen uns dabei. Natürlich war das Kind seit etwa einhalb sechs Uhr nachmittags schon tot. Der Möbelwagen hatte es sogleich erdrückt, es war am Erstikkungstod gestorben.

Da haben wir solch einen Fall, auf den anzuwenden ist, was ich schon oftmals durch einen Vergleich klarzumachen versuchte, daß man verwechselt Ursache und Wirkung. Ich habe schon oft den folgenden Vergleich gebraucht: Nehmen wir an, wir sehen am Rande eines Flusses einen Menschen gehen. Der Mensch fällt in den Fluß hinein. Man läuft hin und findet an der Stelle, wo der Mensch in den Fluß gefallen ist, einen Stein und denkt nun, der Mensch sei gestolpert, dann in den Fluß gefallen und dadurch gestorben. Man sagt also, der Mensch ist gestorben, weil er in den Fluß fiel. Aber wenn man ihn nun seziert, so findet man vielleicht, daß er vom Herzschlag getroffen wurde und infolgedessen tot in das Wasser gefallen ist. Er ist also nicht gestorben, weil er ins Wasser gefallen ist, sondern ins Wasser gefallen, weil er gestorben ist. Solche Verwechslungen von Ursache und Wirkung finden Sie in der Beurteilung des Lebens ganz häufig und in der gewöhnlichen Wissenschaft noch mehr.

Bei dem kleinen Theodor war es so, daß das Karina abgelaufen war, so daß man wirklich sagen kann: Er hat den Wagen selbst hinbestellt. Ich erwähne den ganzen Fall, der äußerlich außerordentlich tragisch ist, aus dem Grunde, weil wir es da zu tun haben mit dem Ätherleib eines Kindes, der noch Jahrzehnte hindurch das Leben dieses Kindes hätte versorgen können. Dieser Ätherleib ist mit all den unverbrauchten Kräften in die geistige Welt, die ätherische Welt übergegangen. Wo ist er? Was macht er? — Derjenige, der genötigt ist, am Dornacher Bau seither mit künstlerischen Intentionen zu arbeiten, überhaupt Gedanken zu hegen in der Umfriedung des Baues, der weiß, wenn er zu gleicher Zeit okkulte Anschauung hat: Dieser ganze Ätherleib ist mit seinen Kräften vergrößert in der Aura des Dornacher Baues. Wir müssen unterscheiden: die Individualität ist woanders, die geht ihren eigenen Weg, aber der Ätherleib ist ja nach einigen Tagen ausgestoßen, der ist nun im Bau vorhanden. Und niemals werde ich anstehen zu sagen, daß unter den Kräften, die man zur Intuition braucht, die Kräfte dieses Ätherleibes sind, der hingeopfert ist für den Bau. Hinter dem Leben sind die Zusammenhänge oftmals noch ganz anders, als man nur ahnt. Zu schützenden Mächten des Baues ist dieser Ätherleib geworden. Etwas großartig Gewaltiges liegt in einem solchen Zusammenhang.

Und nun bedenken wir, welch große Summe von Kraft in den unverbrauchten Ätherleibern derjenigen in die geistige Welt hinaufgeht, die jetzt durch die Pforte des Todes infolge der kriegerischen Ereignisse gehen.

Die Dinge hängen eben doch anders zusammen, als die Menschen es sich vorstellen können; das Karma in der Welt vollzieht sich anders. Und Geisteswissenschaft muß gerade dazu da sein, an die Stelle phantastischer Vorstellungen geistig wahre Vorstellungen zu setzen. Wir können uns ja kaum — um nur ein Beispiel zu nennen — etwas vom spirituellen Standpunkt aus Phantastischeres und Unwahreres denken, als etwas, was sich vollzogen hat in den letzten Dezennien. Was hat sich denn vollzogen dadurch, daß man eine besondere «Friedensgesellschaft» gegründet hat, um an Stelle des Krieges das Recht zu setzen, wie man sagte, «das internationale Recht»! — In keiner Zeit der Menschheit sind so furchtbare Kriege geführt worden als seit der Zeit, da die «Friedensgesellschaft» besteht. Und in den letzten Jahrzehnten hat ja diese Friedensbewegung unter ihren besonderen Beschützern den Monarchen gehabt, der die blutigsten und grausamsten Kriege geführt hat, die jemals in der Weltgeschichte geführt worden sind. So daß die Einleitung der Friedensbewegung von seiten des Zaren wirklich als die größte Komödie erscheinen muß, die in der Weltgeschichte jemals gespielt worden ist, die allergrößte Komödie und zu gleicher Zeit die allerabscheulichste Komödie! Das ist dasjenige, was da drüben die luziferische Verführung genannt werden muß. Das kann in Einzelheiten gut verfolgt werden. Man kann sagen, es übt auf die Seele einen erschütternden Eindruck aus, wenn man sieht — mag man sonst die Dinge ansehen wie man will, - wie im Beginne, als diese Kriegsimpulse in Europa eingezogen sind, in Mitteleuropa, selbst da, wo man sich versammelt hatte wie im Berliner deutschen Reichstag, die Leute alle fast nichts gesprochen haben. Wenig ist gesprochen worden, aber die Dinge haben gesprochen. Unendlich viel ist im Westen wie im Osten gesprochen worden. Aber den erschütterndsten Eindruck in einer gewissen Weise hat man von dem, was in der Petersburger Duma von den verschiedenen Parteien gesprochen worden ist. Auf die verschiedenste Weise haben die Vertreter der Duma wirklich nichts anderes als die strohetnsten Phrasen mit dem größten Feuer der Begeisterung vorgebracht. Es war erschütternd. Das ist luziferische Verführung. Das alles aber weist uns darauf hin, daß das Feuer, das in diesem Kriege brennt, ein Warnungs- und Mahnfeuer ist, und daß die Menschen wohl aufpassen müssen.

Alles, was jetzt überhaupt geschieht, weist darauf hin, daß wenigstens einige Seelen sich sagen müssen: Es kann so nicht fortgehen, wie es in der Welt gegangen ist, es muß Spirituelles in die Menschenentwickelung einfließen! Der Materialismus hat sein Karma in diesem furchtbarsten der Kriege gefunden. In gewisser Beziehung ist dieser Krieg das Karma des Materialismus. Je mehr die Menschenseelen dieses einsehen werden, desto mehr werden sie über das Diskutieren hinauskommen, ob dieser, ob jener den Krieg verschuldet hat, und werden sich sagen: Dieser Krieg ist uns in die Weltgeschichte hineingeschickt worden, daß er ein Mahner sei, daß wir uns zuwenden sollen einem spirituellen Auffassen des ganzen Menschenlebens.

Der Materialismus macht ja nicht nur die Seelen der Menschen materialistisch gesinnt, er verdirbt auch die Logik und macht das Empfinden stumpf. Innerhalb Mitteleuropas wird man noch manches einsehen müssen, was zusammenhängt mit dem, was ich gesagt habe: daß man sich gerade in Mitteleuropa am intimsten befassen muß mit der Fortentwickelung des Christus-Impulses. Aber dazu wird gehören, daß man wird anfangen müssen, die Geister, welche schon die Keime dazu gelegt haben, zu verstehen. Nur ein Beispiel: Goethe hat eine Farbenlehre geschrieben. Die Physiker sehen sie an als etwas, nun, über das sie mitleidig lächelnd sagen: Was hat der Dichter von den Farben verstanden? Er war eben ein Dilettant! - Seit den achtziger Jahren bemühe ich mich, die Goethesche Farbenlehre gegen die moderne Physik zum Durchbruch zu bringen. Das kann nicht verstanden werden. Warum kann es nicht verstanden werden? Weil das materialistische Prinzip, welches von der britischen Volksseele ausgeht, in Mitteleuropa seinen Einzug gefunden hat. Newton, den Goethe bekämpfen mußte, hat den Sieg davongetragen über das, was bei Goethe aus dem Geist entsprungen ist. Goethe hat auch eine Entwicklungslehre begründet, in welcher gezeigt wird, wie durch das Erfassen von geistigen Gesetzen die Wesen von dem Unvollkommensten zum Vollkommensten fortschreiten. Das ist den Menschen zu schwer gewesen, zu verstehen. Als Darwin auf leichtere Weise seine Entwicklungslehre brachte, haben die Menschen diese angenommen. Darwin hat gesiegt über Goethe. Der materialistische Denker, der durch die britische Volksseele inspiriert ist, hat gesiegt über Goethe, der alles aus dem intimsten Zwiegespräch mit der deutschen Volksseele gezogen hat.

Ernst Haeckel hat Tragisches erlebt. Sein ganzes Leben hindurch hat er sich geistig genährt mit dem, was Huxley und Darwin ihm gegeben haben. Der Materialismus Ernst Haeckels ist im Grunde genommen rein englisches Produkt. Nun, als der Krieg ausbrach, war Haeckel entrüstet über das, was von den britischen Inseln aus geschah. Er war einer der ersten, welcher die englischen Orden, Diplome und Auszeichnungen zurückschickte. Was zurückgeschickt werden muß, sind aber nicht die Diplome, Orden und Auszeichnungen, sondern das sind der englisch gefärbte Darwinismus und die englisch gefärbte Physik. Zu dieser Besinnung muß man kommen, damit eingesehen wird, was in dem mitteleuropäischen Gebiet als intimes Zusammensein mit den Gesetzen der Welt erstrebt werden kann.

Am meisten kann man verderben, wenn man schon in das kindliche Gemüt das ergießt, was sich dann in nur materialistischer Färbung weiter entwickelt. Darauf haben die Jahrhunderte hingearbeitet. Ahriman hat bei den Briten drüben einen sogar ganz großen Schriftsteller so inspiriert, daß dieser Schriftsteller ein Werk geschrieben hat, das ganz darauf berechnet war, die Seele von dem kindlichen Alter an materialistisch so zu beeinflussen, daß man es nicht merkt, weil man das alles nicht als materialistisch präparierend ansieht. Das ist der «Robinson Crusoe.» Die ganze Art, wie der Robinson beschrieben ist, ist so raffiniert, daß diese Vorstellungen der Robinsonade, wenn sie aufgenommen werden, den Geist so präparieren, daß er später nur materialistisch denken kann. Die Menschheit ist von den Robinsonadenerfindern noch nicht geheilt, es hat solche immer gegeben und gibt sie heute noch. Und so könnte vieles angeführt werden. Nicht um etwas Ablehnendes gegenüber den Völkern des Westens zu sagen, die so sein müssen, wie sie sind, sondern um darauf hinzuweisen, wie in Mitteleuropa die Menschen den Zusammenhang finden müssen mit den großen, nur erst keimhaften Werten für die Entwikkelung gegen die Zukunft hin, werden diese Dinge ausgesprochen. Wie bedeutsam steht da im Grunde genommen ganz besonders auch Österreich da. In den letzten Jahrzehnten konnte man sehen, wie ein Höchstes erstrebt worden ist durch Geister wie Hamerling auf dichterischem Gebiet, wie Carneri, der den Darwinismus vertiefen wollte nach der moralischen Seite hin, und von Künstlern wie Bruckner und andern auf allen möglichen Gebieten. Selbstbesinnung der Volkheit auf diese Dinge, das ist es, worauf es ankommen wird.

Und nun bedenken wir die unverbrauchten Ätherleiber, die da vorhanden sind. Diese Ätherleiber wurden von Menschen abgelegt, die in einem großen Ereignis lernten, sich für etwas zu opfern, was es für sie, jedenfalls sinnenfällig, nicht mehr gibt: für die Volkheit. Wenn man heute als Geisteswissenschafter davon spricht, daß es eine Volksseele gibt als Erzengel und so weiter, dann wird man ausgelacht. Was man im Materialismus Volksseele nennt, ist nur der abstrakte Zusammenhang der Eigenschaften, die die Menschen eines Volkes haben. Was der Materialist Volk nennt, ist bloß die Summe von Menschen, die einander gleichsehend auf einem Raume zusammenleben. Wir sprechen von Volkheit so, daß wir wissen: Der Volksgeist ist als eine reale Wesenheit im Erzengelrang wirklich vorhanden. Wenn auch derjenige, der sich opfert, der durch den Tod geht für sein Volk, kein vollständiges Bewußtsein hat auf dem Feld der Ereignisse von einem realen Volksgeist, so bekräftigt er doch durch die Art, wie er durch den 'Tod geht, daß er an eine Fortwirksamkeit nach diesem Tode glaubt, daß er glaubt, daß es mehr gibt als das, was die Augen sehen in der Volkheit: ihren Zusammenhang und ihr Zusammenstehen mit dem Übersinnlichen. Alle diejenigen, die also durch den Tod gehen, ob sie es nun mehr oder weniger wissen, gehen durch diesen Tod, bekräftigend, daß es eine übersinnliche Welt gibt; das wird ihren Ätherleibern eingeprägt. So daß in der Zukunft außer denjenigen, die im physischen Erdenrund leben werden, wenn wieder Frieden eingetreten sein wird, die unverbrauchten Ätherleiber leben werden, immerdar in die Sphärenmusik die Töne hineinsendend: Es gibt mehr in der Welt als das, was bloß mit physischen Augen gesehen werden kann! Spirituelle Wahrheit wird hineintönen in die Sphärenmusik durch das, was die Toten zurücklassen in ihrem Ätherleib, ganz abgesehen von dem, was sie mitnehmen mit ihrer Individualität, die sie durch das Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt tragen. Aber gehört werden wird müssen dasjenige, was leben wird, was herabtönen wird aus diesen Ätherleibern, weil diese Ätherleiber abgelegt worden sind von Menschen, die, besiegelnd die Wahrheit der spirituellen Welt, durch den Tod gegangen sind. Die größte Sünde der Menschheit wird sein, wenn sie nicht hinhören wird darauf, was die gestorbenen Menschen ihr durch ihre mahnenden Ätherleiber zurufen werden. Und wie unendlich wird belebt dasjenige, was man so im Hinblick auf die geistige Welt schauen will, wenn man sich zu denken hat, daß die Väter und Mütter, die Schwestern und Brüder, Söhne und Töchter, die teure Tote verlieren, sich sagen müssen: Was da hingeopfert worden ist, lebt für die ganze Menschheit, mahnend an das, was da kommen muß!

Wenn man bloß auf das bauen wollte, was hier in der physischen Welt sich abspielt, könnte man nicht viel Hoffnung haben für den gedeihlichen Fortgang der spirituellen Bewegung, die in unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung gepflegt werden soll. Als uns neulich ein guter, treuer Mitarbeiter starb, ungefähr im dreißigsten Jahr seines Lebens, da war in meinen Worten, die ich richtete an diese durch die Pforte des Todes gegangene Seele, die Bitte, daß sie ebenso treu und tapfer mitarbeiten möchte auf unserem geisteswissenschaftlichen Felde, wie sie hier treu und hingebungsvoll mitgearbeitet hat, verwertend alles, was sie wußte. Fleißig hat er mitgearbeitet hier auf dem physischen Plan, dieser Mitarbeiter. Das gab ich ihm mit als eine Botschaft in sein Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, daß er mitarbeiten möge nach dem Tode, wie er es getan hat vor dem Tode, denn wir rechnen auf diese Toten, die sogenannten Toten, wie auf die Lebendigen. So lebendig muß uns die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung sein, daß die Kluft überwunden wird zwischen den sogenannten Toten und den Lebenden, daß wir die Toten unter uns fühlen wie Lebende. Nicht bloß Theorie, Leben wollen wir. So wollen wir auch darauf hinweisen, daß ein lebendiges Band besteht zwischen denen, die leben auf der Erde, wenn wieder Friede sein wird, und denen, die durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind. Die Menschen werden von den Toten lernen können, werden lernen müssen, wie diese Toten in der angegebenen Weise mitwirken an dem großen spirituellen Fortschritt, der die Erde ergreifen muß.

Es geht im Leben manchmal so, daß man sieht, wie die menschliche Logik nicht ausreicht. Ein Beispiel möchte ich Ihnen anführen, nicht aus persönlichen Gründen, sondern um zu charakterisieren die Art und Weise, wie sich die Menschen zu unserer Bewegung stellen. Vor einigen Jahren konnte man in einer süddeutschen sehr ernsten Zeitschrift einen Aufsatz lesen, den ein berühmter Philosoph der Gegenwart geschrieben hat über unsere Geisteswissenschaft. Die Geisteswissenschaft wurde da so behandelt, daß es einen gewissen Eindruck machen konnte auf die Leute, weil der Aufsatz von einem großen Philosophen geschrieben war. Der Herausgeber der Zeitschrift tat sich etwas Besonderes darauf zugute, daß er einen Artikel über die Geisteswissenschaft von einem so berühmten Manne bringen konnte. Natürlich war alles schlecht und schief dargestellt; ein ganz schiefes Bild wurde von der Geisteswissenschaft gegeben. Was brauchte aber der Herausgeber, um einzusehen, was er eigentlich da als Urteil hatte abgeben lassen in seiner Monatsschrift über unsere Bewegung? — Es kam der Krieg. Jener Mann, der den Artikel geschrieben hatte, schrieb an den Herausgeber einige Briefe. Diese Briefe enthalten ziemlich das Abstoßendste, was man überhaupt über die mitteleuropäische Kultur sagen kann. Schrecklich geschimpft und gehöhnt wurde da über diese mitteleuropäische Kultur. Der Herausgeber hat diese Briefe jetzt abgedruckt als ein Beispiel dafür, wie töricht man denken kann über diese Kultur. Und er sagt jetzt: So, wie dieser Mensch schreibt, kann doch nur ein Mensch schreiben, der ins Irrenhaus gehört. — Es liegt also das Faktum vor, daß für einen guten Herausgeber so etwas notwendig war, um einzusehen, daß der Mann, der vor einigen Jahren über die Geisteswissenschaft diesen Artikel, der nach außen auch viel Schaden angerichtet hat, schrieb, ins Irrenhaus gehört. Wenn der Mann aber jetzt ins Irrenhaus gehört, so gehörte er damals doch auch schon hinein. Aber damals schrieb er einen Artikel über Geisteswissenschaft!

So geht es in der Welt zu! Es müssen schon andere Hilfen kommen als die, die der Mensch heute hat, um ein Urteil zu bekommen. Der Geisteswissenschafter steht allerdings fest auf dem Boden, der da klar zeigt, daß die Wahrheit ihren Weg findet. Aber die Geisteswissenschaft muß wirken in der Entwickelung der Menschheit, damit das Notwendige geschieht. Und so, wie in jener Zeit, da der Kaiser Konstantin seine Aufgabe zu vollenden hatte, der Christus-Impuls aus der geistigen Welt in das Unterbewußte hineinwirken mußte, so, wie bei der Jungfrau von Orleans der Christus-Impuls wirken mußte, damit das geschah, was geschehen mußte, so muß der Christus-Impuls weiterwirken, nur jetzt mehr in Bewußtheit. Es muß Seelen geben in der Zukunft, die wissen werden: Da oben in der geistigen Welt rufen diejenigen, die mit ihrer Individualität sich opferten, uns auf, ihnen nachzufolgen in dem von ihnen im Tode erlangten Glauben an die Wirksamkeit des Geistigen. Aber auch die Kräfte aus den unverbrauchten Ätherleibern rufen in die Zukunft hinein, was man nur zu verstehen braucht, um es in die eigene Seele aufzunehmen. Unten aber müssen Seelen sein, die das vernehmen. Seelen müssen da sein, die sich dazu vorbereiten durch das richtige, durch das ‚lebendige Verständnis unserer Geisteswissenschaft. Unsere Geisteswissenschaft muß hier unten Seelen schaffen, die zu ahnen vermögen, was da oben die Ätherleiber der Toten in der Zukunft sprechen werden. Seelen, die wissen: Dort oben sind die Kräfte, die den Menschen, der auf Erden sich selbst überlassen sein mußte, ermahnen können. Und wenn hier unten geistbewußte Seelen nach den verborgenen Tönen der geistigen Welt ihren Sinn richten werden, dann werden aus alledem, was an Blut geflossen ist, was an Opfern geleistet wurde, was an Leid ertragen werden mußte und noch ertragen werden muß, die rechten Früchte entstehen. Hinblickend auf die Hoffnung, die ausgesprochen werden darf, daß sich recht, recht viele Seelen finden mögen durch die Geisteswissenschaft, welche hören können diese Stimmen, die insbesondere durch diesen Krieg aus der geistigen Welt ertönen werden, möchte ich, zusammenfassend die Schlußworte der heutigen Betrachtung, Worte sprechen, die nur empfindungsgemäß das ausdrücken sollen, was ich in ihren Seelen anregen möchte:

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

Mit solchen Gefühlen im Herzen wollen wir immerdar uns durchdringen mit dem Sinn des Rosenkreuzes, damit dieses Rosenkreuz in der rechten Weise von uns als die Devise angesehen wird unseres Wirkens und Webens und Empfindens. Nicht das schwarze Kreuz allein. Wer die Rosen vom schwarzen Kreuz reißen würde, wer nur das schwarze Kreuz hätte, würde dem Ahriman verfallen. Das schwarze Kreuz ist das nach der bloßen Materie hinstrebende Lebendige. Auch nicht, wer das Kreuz von den Rosen reißt und die Rosen allein halten möchte, wird das Richtige finden. Denn die Rosen, vom Kreuze getrennt, wollen uns zwar erheben zum Leben, aber dieses Leben würde egoistisch bloß nach dem Geistigen hinaufstreben wollen und nicht den Geist offenbaren in dem Materiellen. Nicht das Kreuz allein, nicht die Rosen allein, sondern die Rosen am Kreuz, das Kreuz tragend die Rosen, beides in harmonischer Wechselwirkung: das ist das, was unser richtiges Symbolum ist.

Christ in relation to Lucifer and Ahriman: the threefold constitution of the human being

Once our building dedicated to spiritual science in Dornach is finished, it will have a sculpture in a meaningful spot that will mainly show three figures. In the middle of this group will stand a figure who, I would say, represents the highest humanity that has been able to unfold on earth. Therefore, this figure of the highest humanity in the earth's evolution can also be perceived as Christ, who lived in the body of Jesus of Nazareth for three years during the earth's evolution. It will be a special task to shape this Christ figure in such a way that, on the one hand, one will be able to see how the being in question dwells in a human earthly body, but how this earthly body is nevertheless spiritualized in every feature, in everything that is in it, by what entered into this earthly body as the Christ in the thirtieth year of life from cosmic, spiritual heights. Then there are two other figures, one on the left and one on the right of the Christ figure, if I may call this figure, which I have just described in a few words, the Christ figure. This Christ figure stands as if before a rock, which rises up especially on the left side of Christ, so that its summit is above the head of the Christ figure. Up there on the rock is another figure, a winged figure; but the wings are broken, and this figure falls into the abyss because its wings are broken. What will have to be worked out artistically with particular precision is the way in which this Christ figure raises his left arm. For it is through this raising of the left arm of the Christ figure that this falling being breaks its wings. But it must not look as if Christ is breaking the wings of this being; rather, the whole scene must be artistically designed in such a way that, as Christ raises his arm, the entire movement of his hand shows that he actually has only infinite compassion for this being. However, this being cannot bear what flows up through the arm and hand and what will still be visible in the rock itself, like hollows made by the fingers of the outstretched hand. What this being feels within itself as it comes close to the being that stands there as the Christ being is such that one would like to put it into words: I cannot bear that something so pure should shine upon me.

This is what lives in this entity and what lives so essentially in this entity that its wings are broken and it consequently plunges into the abyss. This will be a particularly significant artistic task. And you can see what could be missed if Christ were to stand there in the flesh and simply raise his hand to radiate such power that he breaks the wings of this being, causing it to fall into the abyss. Then it would be Christ who, as if with hatred, would radiate this being and cause it to fall. But this must not be depicted in this way; rather, the being itself must bring about its own fall. For this being, depicted falling with broken wings, is Lucifer.

And on the other side, to the right of the figure of Christ, where the rock has a projection, the rock will be hollowed out. In this hollow there is also a figure with wings. And this figure with wings turns with its arm-like organs toward the hollow in the rock above. So you must imagine: on the right, the hollow in the rock, and in the hollow, this winged figure, which, however, has wings of a completely different nature than the figure above on the rock. The figure at the top of the rock has more eagle-like wings, while the figure in the hollow has bat-like wings. The figure in the hollow is literally clinging to the hollow; you can see it in chains, you can see it working down there, hollowing out the earth.

The figure standing in the middle, the Christ figure, has his right hand pointing downwards. So while his left hand is pointing upwards, his right hand is pointing downwards. Again, it will be a significant artistic task not to depict this as if Christ wanted to shackle this figure, who is Ahriman, but rather that Christ himself has infinite compassion for Ahriman. Ahriman, however, cannot bear this; he writhes in pain from what radiates from the hand of Christ. And what radiates from there causes the veins of gold at the bottom of the rock cavity to wind around Ahriman's body like cords and bind him. Just as what happens to Lucifer happens through himself, so it is with Ahriman. We will then try to ensure that this interpretation, which will be represented by a sculptural work of art at a significant point in the building, will have the same motif in a painterly interpretation, which must then be completely different. So that below, this group of three figures: Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman will stand as a sculptural group, and above it the same motif will be painted.

We are incorporating this relationship between Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman into our building in Dornach because spiritual science shows us in a certain way that the next task in understanding the Christ impulse is for human beings to finally learn what relationship exists in the world between these three powers, Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman. For up to now, people have talked a great deal about Christianity and the Christ impulse, but what actually came into the world through the Christ impulse as a result of the mystery of Golgotha has not yet become completely clear to human beings. People do indeed speak of Lucifer and Ahriman, but when they speak of Lucifer and Ahriman, they very often speak as if they had to flee from them, as if they had to say: I want to know nothing, absolutely nothing, about Lucifer and Ahriman! If the divine spiritual powers, which can be found in the way I described yesterday in the public lecture, also wanted to know nothing about Lucifer and Ahriman, then the world could not exist. It is not by saying, “Lucifer, I flee from you! Ahriman, I flee from you!” that one places oneself in the right relationship to them, but by considering what human beings must strive for as a result of the Christ impulse as the equilibrium of a pendulum. The pendulum is in equilibrium in the middle, but it must swing to one side or the other. So it is in the earthly evolution of man. Man must swing to one side toward the Luciferic principle and to the other toward the Ahrimanic principle, but he must remain firm through the development of what Paul called, “Not I, but Christ in me.”

We must indeed understand Christ in His activity as a reality, as a fact. This means that we must be clear that what flowed into our earthly evolution through the Mystery of Golgotha really was there. How well or how poorly people have understood this up to now is not important; what is important is that it was there, that it worked in human earthly evolution. Much could be said about what people have not understood about the Christ impulse up to now. And spiritual science will have to contribute a little to the understanding of what has flowed into earthly evolution from spiritual heights through the Mystery of Golgotha as the Christ impulse. In order to visualize how Christ worked, let us, as we have done elsewhere, consider two moments in the earthly evolution of humanity, two moments that became important in the entire Western evolution.

You will know from history what an important moment it was when Constantine, the son of Constantius Chlorus, defeated Maxentius and Christianity was introduced into Western development through Constantine. For this to happen, Constantine had to fight that important battle against Maxentius, through which Constantine then made Christianity the state religion in his Western empire. The entire map of Europe would have been different if Constantine's battle against Maxentius had not taken place at that time. But military skill, that which people at that time were capable of with their intellect, did not really decide this battle; something else entirely did. Maxentius consulted the so-called Sibylline Books, the prophetic books of Rome, and there he was led to lead his army, which would have been well protected within the walls of Rome, out of the walls of Rome and into the open field to face Constantine's army. But before the battle, Constantine had a dream in which he was told: If you march against Maxentius under the sign of the mystery of Golgotha, you will achieve a great goal. And carrying the sign of the mystery of Golgotha, the cross, Constantine went into battle with an army three-quarters smaller than that of Maxentius. And inspired by the power that came from the mystery of Golgotha, Constantine won that significant battle, through which Christianity was outwardly introduced into Europe. If we remember what people understood at that time with the mind of the Christ impulse, we find endless theological quarrels. People argued about whether Christ was equal to the Father from eternity and other such things. It must be said: what matters is not what people knew at that time about the Christ impulse, but that it was there, the Christ impulse, that it was there, that it guided Constantine, through a dream of Constantine, to do what had to be done. What matters is the reality of Christ, the real, actual power of Christ. Understanding what the Christ impulse is, that is where we begin in spiritual science.

Another moment was when, in the struggle between France and England, Europe once again took on a form about which one can say: if France had not been victorious over England at that time, all conditions would have been different. But how did this happen? The Christ impulse has worked into the subconscious of the soul right up to our time, when it must become more and more conscious. And there we see in the spiritual development of the West how the Christ impulse seeks out those conditions in the souls of human beings through which it can become effective in individual human beings. Legends have preserved for us the way in which the Christ impulse can assert itself in Western spiritual evolution. These legends refer in part to ancient pagan times, but everywhere to times when paganism was preparing the way for an understanding of Christianity.

If the soul does not consciously strive for initiation in the way is described in “How to Know Higher Things,” but is instead permeated by the Christ impulse in a natural way, as if through a natural initiation, then the most favorable time for this Christ impulse to inspire the soul is the period from Christmas Eve to Epiphany, from December 25 to January 6. We can understand this by realizing that occult knowledge makes it quite clear that our earth is not only what geologists speak of. What geologists speak of is to the earth what the skeleton is to the human being. But our earth also has the spiritual element that belongs to it. And it is precisely into the Earth's aura that Christ has entered. And this Earth sleeps and wakes, just as we sleep and wake in twenty-four hours. We must familiarize ourselves with the fact that the Earth's state of sleep occurs during the summertime, and its state of wakefulness during the wintertime. And the spirit of the Earth is most awake during these twelve or thirteen nights from Christmas to Epiphany. In ancient times, when, as you know from the many descriptions in my lecture cycles, people rose to the spiritual principle of the world more in a kind of dreamlike clairvoyance, the most favorable time was the summertime. It is quite natural that those who want to rise to the spiritual in a more dreamlike clairvoyance find it easier during the sleeping time of the earth, during the summertime. Therefore, in ancient times, it was the feast of St. John that was most favorable for raising the power of the soul to the spiritual. The old way in which the spiritual works into the earth has been replaced by the new, more conscious way; now the best time is when the earth is awake.

That is why legends tell us that particularly gifted people, people who are especially suited by their karma to enter a special state of consciousness during the Christmas season, which is only outwardly similar to sleep, but inwardly is such that it can be inspired by that which raised human beings to the world we call the spirit realm. There is a very beautiful legend, a Norwegian legend about Olaf Åsteson, who is told how he goes to church on Christmas Eve, falls into a sleep-like state, and then wakes up on January 6 and can recount what he experienced in this sleep-like state. And this Norwegian legend really tells us how Olaf Åsteson experienced something that at first feels like the soul world, then something that feels like the spirit world, only everything in images, in imaginations.

This was the most favorable time in those epochs when people were not as advanced as they are today. Today, the times are past when the Christ impulse could flow into souls in this way, as through a natural initiation. Today, people must consciously work their way up to initiation, as prescribed in How to Know Higher Worlds. We live in a time when initiations through nature are becoming increasingly rare and will eventually disappear altogether, so that we can no longer count on them. But one initiation that can essentially be called a nature initiation was that through which the Christ impulse worked into the mind of the simple country girl, the Virgin of Orleans, causing the victory of the French over the English, which so magnificently reshaped the map of Europe. Again, it was not something that human intellect could achieve, but something that went beyond all the art of military leaders at that time and guided the Maid of Orleans, giving Europe a new shape — the Christ impulse, which worked into the unconscious of a single personality, but worked in such a way that what is effective throughout history radiated out from this personality.

Now we must consider whether something similar could have happened as a natural initiation in the case of the Maid of Orleans, whether the soul of the Maid of Orleans might have been inspired during the nights from December 25 to January 6. In the course of her life, there seems to be no evidence that the Maid of Orleans was ever in a sleep-like state during the twelve or thirteen days from December 25 to January 6, in which the Christ impulse could have worked into her in a special way, so that she would then have acted as a human being who was only the shell of the Christ impulse on the battlefields of France. And yet it was so. For there is a time when, if the karma of the individual concerned makes it particularly possible in human beings, such a sleep-like state can actually be filled. This is the time of the last days, when the human being still lives in the mother's womb before seeing the physical light of the earth. During this time, the human being lives in a dreamlike, sleep-like state. They have not yet seen anything through their senses that is happening externally in the world. If a human being were particularly suited by their karma to receive the Christ impulse during these last days in their mother's womb, then these days would also be days of natural initiation. Then, strengthened and fortified by the Christ impulse within them, such a person would open their eyes for the first time after initiation, which in this case means after birth. And such a person would have to be born on January 6. The Virgin of Orleans was born on January 6. That is the secret of the Virgin of Orleans, that she was born on January 6, that she spent the time from Christmas to Epiphany in that peculiar, sleep-like state in her mother's womb and received her nature initiation there. Now consider the profound connections behind the external development that we usually call history. What is presented externally in history through documents is, as a rule, the least important thing. The simple date recorded in our calendar, that the Virgin of Orleans was sent into the world on January 6, is of decisive historical significance. This is how forces from the supersensible sphere influence the sensible sphere. And we must read this occult writing, through which the influence of the supersensible on the sensible is revealed to us. Thus, the inflow of the Christ impulse, as through a natural initiation, was already present in the Virgin of Orleans before her physical birth.

I want to explain these things in order to awaken in your souls a feeling of how, behind what we usually call history, there are forces and connections at work that are unknown to the outer eye. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, however, the Christ impulse has been guiding the history of European humanity in particular. And in the East, in Asia, a worldview has remained behind which one can say: in its feelings, it has not yet reached the Christ impulse. Certainly, Europeans have allowed themselves to be seduced into calling what is perceived as inner life something particularly profound. But it is characteristic of this inner life — of the entire Asian religious feeling — that, with all its feeling, it stands before the Christ impulse, but has preserved the state that existed in the religious feeling of the human race on earth before the Christ impulse. To lag behind in development always means to take something Luciferic into oneself. Therefore, the development of religion in Asia carries within itself a Luciferic element. And when we look at the development of religion in Asia, we must realize that, certainly, we can see in it much that humanity once had but had to abandon. But in Western culture, we must purify all of this, partly by removing the Luciferic element and partly by raising it up so that the Christ principle can flow in.

When we move from Asia to Europe, we find in the east of Europe, in Russian culture, the spread of Orthodox Christianity, which has remained at an earlier stage of Christian development, which did not want to move forward, which wanted to retain something of the Luciferic element. In short, when we look to the east, we see what I would call the wise guidance of the world throughout the entire development of humanity leaving behind the Luciferic element.

If we look to the West, especially to American culture, we see another peculiarity. The characteristic feature of this American culture is that everything is sought in the external. This certainly produces great and significant things, but everything is sought in the external. Take an example. When we see in Europe, especially in Central Europe, that a person who initially had no opportunity in his life to turn his mind to Christ and the spiritual world powers has suddenly, as it were, made a U-turn in his life, we are interested in what has gone on in this soul. It is not that he experienced a leap in his development that interests us; we find that everywhere. For the statement coined by external science is most incorrect: Nature does not make leaps. From the green leaf of a plant to the red petal of a flower is a mighty leap, and from the petal to the calyx is another mighty leap. This is a completely incorrect statement, and the truth of development lies precisely in the fact that leaps are made everywhere. So the fact that a person, after living for a time in this external way, can suddenly be drawn to the spiritual by something is not what interests us. But the inner power and force that brings about something that could be called a conversion to the spiritual is what interests us. We want to look into the mind of such a person; we want to know what brought about such a change. We are interested in the inner soul. How does the American do it? He does something very peculiar. In America, one could observe such conversions taking place on many occasions. Well, the American has letters written by those who have undergone a conversion. Then he puts all these letters together in a pile and says: I have now received letters from a number of people; there were about two hundred who wrote letters. Fourteen percent of all these souls who experienced such a conversion wrote out of fear that suddenly came over them before death or hell; five percent out of altruistic motives; seventeen percent out of a desire for moral ideals; fifteen percent out of remorse; ten percent out of obedience to teachings they had been given; thirteen percent because they saw others being converted—that is, out of imitation; nineteen percent because they were coerced by being beaten at the appropriate age, and so on. In this way, the most extreme souls are singled out, sorted, and a result based on “reliable data” is obtained. This is then recorded in books that are distributed to the public as “psychology.” All other documents are unreliable to these people, they say, because they are based only on subjective factors. Here you have an example of the externalization of the most innermost itself. This is the case in many, many respects in America. At a time that calls for a special spiritual deepening, the most external spiritism is rampant in America! People there want everything to be tangible.

This is a materialistic understanding of spiritual life. We could cite many more examples that would show you that Western culture is gripped by the Ahrimanic. This is the other swing of the pendulum. If we look to the East, we see the Luciferic element; if we look to the West, we see the Ahrimanic element. And the infinitely significant task that we have in Central Europe, between West and East, is to find the balance. That is why we want to represent in our building in Dornach, as a sculptural group, the greatest spiritual requirement of our time: to find the balance between the relationship to Lucifer and the relationship to Ahriman. Only then will we recognize what the Christ impulse wanted from the evolution of the earth, when we do not simply highlight Christ, but when we know in the right way how Christ is the power that stands before us as an example in relation to Lucifer and Ahriman.

The fact that there is still no clarity regarding the relationship of human beings and Christ to Lucifer and Ahriman may become clear to you through the following example. Even the greatest thing, that which contains the greatest in one direction, is not always free from what must still prevail as one-sidedness in time. One cannot overestimate the value of Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, “The Last Judgment,” that wonderful picture. Christ triumphant, directing the good to one side and the evil to the other. Let us look at this Christ. He does not have the features we would like to see in the Christ who is to stand in our building in Dornach. It must be evident that Christ raises his hand in compassion, even though Lucifer is up there. Lucifer is not to be overthrown by the power of Christ, but he throws himself down because he cannot bear what radiates from Christ in his vicinity. And Christ raises his eyes and furrows his brow, raising his furrowed brow toward Lucifer. And Ahriman is not overcome by the hatred of Christ, but he feels that he cannot bear what emanates from Christ. Christ, however, stands in the middle as the one who brings the Parzival element into the new era, who must bring others to overcome themselves not through his power but through his existence, so that the others overcome themselves and he does not overcome them. In Michelangelo, we still see how Christ, through his power, sends some to heaven and others to hell. In the future, this will not be the true Christ, but a Christ who is still very Luciferic. This does not, of course, diminish the picture. The whole greatness of this picture is recognized, but one must admit that Michelangelo was not yet able to paint Christ because the world's development had not yet reached that point. It must be clearly understood that one should not only direct one's attention to Christ, but that one should direct one's attention to the threefold nature of being: Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman. I can only hint at this. Spiritual science will reveal everything that lies hidden in this mystery: Christ in relation to Lucifer and Ahriman.

But now consider the following: when we look to the East, we see Luciferic forces even in the nearest East. And in the West we see Ahrimanic forces. Indeed, it must be our way in spiritual scientific observation not to view things with sympathy or antipathy, nor to view peoples and national souls with sympathy or antipathy, but rather as they are in their own nature. What we call the national character of a person who is rooted in their ethnicity depends above all on what is active in their physical and etheric bodies. When we live from falling asleep to waking up with our soul and spirit as an astral body and ego, we live outside the ordinary national sphere. Only from the moment of waking up to the moment of falling asleep, when we submerge ourselves in the body, do we live in the national sphere. Therefore, the national sphere is also something that human beings gradually overcome during their stay in Kamaloka. Human beings strive toward the universal human sphere by overcoming the national sphere in Kamaloka, in order to then live the greatest part of the time between death and rebirth in the universal human sphere. One of the characteristics that are discarded in Kamaloka is that which makes us specifically national beings.

In this respect, the individual nationalities are very different from one another. Let us compare a French person and a Russian person. The French person has the peculiarity of holding on very tightly to what the national soul carries into his physical body and etheric body during his life between birth and death, of living very much in it. This is expressed in the fact that the Frenchman — not as an individual human being, but as a Frenchman — has an idea of what a Frenchman is; that he puts above all else what it actually means to be a Frenchman. But these ideas that the French have about their nationality, that the novels have about their nationality, cause the idea that the French have of nationality to be sharply imprinted in the etheric body. When he passes through the gate of death, he separates his etheric body after only a few days; this etheric body is then a firmly closed form that remains in the etheric world for a long time. The etheric body cannot dissolve for a long time because the ideas of his nationality are firmly imprinted on it; these ideas hold the etheric body together. When we look to the west, we therefore see the field of death filled with firmly imprinted etheric bodies.

If we now look more closely to the east, to the Russian people, we see that the peculiarity of these Russian people is that when their souls pass through the gate of death, they carry within themselves an etheric body that dissolves relatively quickly. This is the difference between the West and the East. The etheric bodies that are excreted after death in Western Europeans have the peculiarity of wanting to remain rigid. What the French call “gloire” becomes firmly imprinted on their etheric body as national glory, so that they are condemned to turn their spiritual gaze toward this etheric body long, long after their death, to look at themselves after death. The Russian person, on the other hand, looks little at themselves after death. Through all this, Western Europeans are exposed to the Ahrimanic influence; this materialization of the etheric body is in turn exposed to the Ahrimanic principle. The dissolution of the etheric body, the rapid disintegration of the etheric body, is accompanied by a feeling of sensual pleasure, and this is precisely what is peculiar to the national character: an instinctive feeling of sensual pleasure. How is this expressed in the East? — Central Europe does not understand this, nor can it empathize with it. If one follows Dostoyevsky and even Tolstoy, or others who were influential and who always speak of the “Russian people,” this is a feeling of sensual pleasure in the national character that cannot be defined. Even in Solovyov, we still find something sultry in his philosophy that the Central European cannot reconcile with the clarity and purity he seeks. What is effective in Europe as spiritual power is connected with all this. In Central Europe, there is a different, intermediate state, something that could be elaborated further than was possible in yesterday's public lecture. I said: there is something in Central Europe that is an inner striving nature. Goethe would have written his Faust in exactly the same way in the 1840s: always striving, always striving! — But this striving is an innermost nature. It was in Central Europe that the mystics appeared who did not merely want to recognize the divine-spiritual, but wanted to experience it with their own souls. The mystics wanted to experience the Christ event inwardly. If we now take Soloviev, we find that he proceeds above all from the assumption that Christ died once historically for humanity. This is entirely correct, but Soloviev is a soul who sees spiritual life outside himself like a cloud, a soul who sees that everything has already happened, as it were, while the Central European human being demands that everyone experience the Christ event anew within themselves. Even to Soloviev, Meister Eckhart would have replied something like the following. When Soloviev repeatedly emphasizes that Christ must die so that man can be man, Meister Eckhart would say: You look at Christ as one looks at something external. It is not important that we always look only at historical events, but we must experience Christ himself within ourselves; we must discover something within ourselves that goes through the same states as Christ, at least spiritually, so that the Christ experience is relived spiritually.

Now, it certainly seems complicated and fantastical when we tell people today that the entire development, even the linguistic spirit of the people, has had such an effect in Central Europe that this connection between the I and the Christ principle has been imprinted in its language: I-CH = Jesus Christ. I-CH, which comes together in such a way that it becomes “I.” And when one pronounces “I” in Central Europe, one pronounces the name of Christ. That is how close people want to feel to Christ, how intimately connected with him. This intimate coexistence with the spiritual world, which must be strived for in all spiritual realms in Central Europe, is unknown in both the West and the East. Therefore, something must happen in the 20th century so that the Christ principle can gradually spread across the entire European continent in an appropriate manner. I have often emphasized in various lecture cycles that in November 1879, the spiritual being we call the Archangel Michael reached a special stage of development. Michael became, so to speak, the leading spirit. This leading spirit is now preparing the event that is hinted at in the first of my Mystery Dramas as the appearance of the etheric Christ over the earth, the event that must take place in the 20th century. Then it will happen that first individual souls, then more and more souls will know: Christ is truly here, Christ is walking again on Earth, but in etheric form, not in physical form. This must be prepared. If, in the course of this 20th century, certain souls were to have their spiritual eyes opened to clairvoyance — and this will happen — they would be disturbed by those etheric bodies spreading out from Western Europe when they looked at what lives in the etheric world. The spiritual gaze would fall on them first, and one would see the form of Christ in an incorrect way. Therefore, Michael must fight a battle in Europe. He must contribute something so that these rigid etheric bodies of Western Europe are dissolved in the etheric world. To do this, he must take those etheric bodies that are willing to dissolve, the etheric bodies in the East, and fight with them against the West. This has caused a powerful battle to be prepared in the astral world since 1879 between Russian and Western European etheric bodies, and this battle is raging throughout the entire astral world. There is truly a fierce battle going on in the astral world, led by Michael, between Russia and France. This is what lies at the root of the battle raging in Europe in the astral world. And just as we are often so shaken by the fact that something happening here in the physical world has its opposite in the spiritual world, so it is here. The French-Russian alliance, brought about by the seduction of Ahriman, which is based primarily on the Ahrimanic element, namely on the twenty billion given by France to Russia, is the physical expression of a struggle raging between French and Russian souls, of a struggle in which Central Europe, with its striving in its innermost soul element for an encounter with Christ, is caught up. And Europe has fallen prey to karma, so that it is precisely in Central Europe that what the East has to settle with the West and the West with the East must be experienced in a tragic way. The things that the German element has to settle with the French element can only be understood in the sense that the German element is situated right in the middle between the East and the West and acts as an anvil for both sides. For what collides in Germany from both sides is in truth being negotiated by these two sides. This is the spiritual truth, which is quite different from what is happening outwardly in the physical world. Think how different spiritual truth is from what is happening outwardly in the physical world! All this certainly sounds grotesque to people today, but it is the truth. This truth must have a shocking effect on us.

But there is another thing that is extremely significant. It certainly contradicts everything that history can show us, that England, after always having been united with Turkey against Russia, now suddenly has to fight with Russia against Turkey. This contradiction can only be understood if one makes the following occult observation. While here below on the physical plane England is united with Russia in fighting the Turkish element, the following presents itself to occult observation. If one observes this struggle occultly and looks up from below onto the physical plane and then onto the astral plane, the following becomes apparent: to the north, Russia appears to be allied with England, and to the southeast, Turkey appears to be allied with England. This stems from the fact that the alliance between England and Russia has only one meaning on the physical plane, but has no reflection in the spiritual world, since it is based entirely on material interests. From below, one sees only England and Russia united in the north on the physical plane. In the southeast, through the physical plane, one sees on the astral plane the English and Turks united in spirit, fighting against Russia. Thus, on the physical plane, England fights on one side together with Russia, and on the other side Russia is fought by England. This is how we must view the things that are actually happening outwardly, insofar as they reveal themselves as external history. For what lies behind them is something quite different.

A time will come when people will talk about the present events in a completely different way than they do now. It must be said that all the literature on the war has something quite unpleasant about it. Some beautiful things are said, but there is also a great deal that is unpleasant. And one thing above all is unpleasant. It is always said: Today we cannot yet talk about who was to blame for the war and so on. — People console themselves about these things. They say: In the future, the documents in the archives will reveal who was to blame for the war! But with regard to external events, the matter is not so difficult to determine if one judges without passion. And Chamberlain, in his “War Essays,” even if he is mistaken in the details, is right when he says that it is precisely about this war that we can know with the greatest certainty. That is correct, there is no doubt about it, but one must ask the right question. For example, if the question is asked correctly, it can only be answered unequivocally. The question is: Who could have prevented this war? The recurring question: Who is to blame for this war? and many other questions are simply not correct. Who could have prevented the war? The answer can only be: The Russian government could have prevented the war! — And only in this way will it be possible to find the correct definition for the individual forces at work. Of course, the war that had been desired by the East for decades could not have come about today if there had not been a certain relationship between England, Russia, and France, so that one can also, if one wishes, attribute greater blame to England. But all these things do not take into account the underlying causes that make the whole world war a necessity. It is naive to believe that the war could have been avoided. People now talk as if this war did not have to happen. It is, of course, part of Europe's karma.

I wanted to hint at something through the spiritual contrasts between East and West. It is not important that we ask, so to speak, in a special way about the external causes, for these are not important. We only need to know that this war is a historical necessity. The individual causes are not important.

But what is important are all the different effects that we will have to face in the right way. And here one effect may strike us as particularly significant. It is a magnificent, characteristic phenomenon that such a war produces many unspent etheric bodies. And since this is the greatest war that humanity has waged since the conscious development of history, this peculiarity is also present to the highest degree. Unspent etheric bodies are created. And you see, the etheric body that man carries within himself can sustain him for a long time, until he is seventy, eighty, ninety years old. But in war, people are sacrificed in the prime of their lives. When a person passes through the gate of death, the etheric body, as you know, is expelled after a short time; but in the case of those who have fallen in war, the etheric body is expelled in such a way that it could have sustained these human lives in the physical body for a long time, for decades. In physics, we recognize that no force is lost. But it is the same in the spiritual realm. These etheric bodies, which enter the etheric world prematurely, remain present with their forces. Consider now how countless unused etheric bodies there are of those who pass through the gate of death as young people. There is something special about these etheric bodies. I would like to explain this with an example that is close to our movement, and then move on to the etheric bodies that will be contained in the etheric world in the near future by the warriors who have passed through death.

This fall in Dornach, we experienced the death of the little son of a family from the Anthroposophical Society who is now employed in the vicinity of the building, the death of little seven-year-old Theodor Faiß. His father had previously lived in Stuttgart, then came to Dornach as a gardener in the vicinity of the building and lived there with his family. He himself had been drafted shortly after the outbreak of the war and was in a military hospital at the time of the event I am about to describe. Little seven-year-old Theodor was a real child of the sun, a wonderful, dear boy. Then one day the following happened. We were just having a lecture, as I usually do in Dornach, following on from what is happening in the building. After the lecture, a prominent figure came up and said that little Theodor Faiß had not returned to his mother since late afternoon. It was ten o'clock in the evening, and one could only think that a great misfortune had happened. That afternoon, a furniture van had arrived and driven near the so-called canteen, where it had to make a turn. The truck had reached a spot where, one can safely say, no vehicle that large had driven for many decades, perhaps not even a furniture truck, and none had driven there since. Little Theodor had been in the canteen before the truck turned. He had been delayed there, otherwise he would have gone home earlier with the food he had bought in the canteen for his evening meal. He was now walking home—it is only a very short distance—and had just reached the spot where the truck overturned and fell on him, little Theodor. No one had noticed, not even the driver. He had only brought his horses to safety when the wagon overturned and did not know that the child was underneath. When we were told that the child was missing, we had to try to lift the wagon. His friends fetched tools, and the Swiss soldiers who had been mobilized helped us. Of course, the child had already been dead since about half past five in the afternoon. The furniture van had crushed him immediately, and he had died of suffocation.

Here we have a case to which I have often tried to apply a comparison to clarify that cause and effect are being confused. I have often used the following comparison: Let us suppose we see a person walking along the bank of a river. The person falls into the river. You run over and find a stone at the spot where the person fell into the river, and you think that the person stumbled, fell into the river, and died as a result. So you say that the person died because he fell into the river. But if you dissect him, you may find that he had a heart attack and fell into the water as a result. So he did not die because he fell into the water, but fell into the water because he died. Such confusion between cause and effect is very common in the assessment of life, and even more so in ordinary science.

In the case of little Theodor, Karina's time had come, so that one can truly say that he called the car himself. I mention this whole case, which is extraordinarily tragic from an external point of view, because we are dealing here with the etheric body of a child, which could have sustained the life of this child for decades to come. This etheric body has passed into the spiritual world, the etheric world, with all its unspent powers. Where is it? What is it doing? — Anyone who is compelled to work on the Dornach building with artistic intentions, or even to entertain thoughts within the enclosure of the building, knows, if they also have occult insight, that This entire etheric body has been enlarged with its powers in the aura of the Dornach building. We must distinguish between the individuality, which is elsewhere and follows its own path, and the etheric body, which was expelled after a few days and is now present in the building. And I will never hesitate to say that among the forces needed for intuition are the forces of this etheric body, which has been sacrificed for the building. Behind life, the connections are often quite different from what one suspects. This etheric body has become a protective power of the building. Something magnificent and powerful lies in such a connection.

And now let us consider what a great sum of power goes up into the spiritual world in the unspent etheric bodies of those who are now passing through the gate of death as a result of the war.

Things are connected in a way that is different from what people can imagine; karma in the world works differently. And spiritual science must be there precisely to replace fantastical ideas with spiritually true ideas. To give just one example, we can hardly imagine anything more fantastical and untrue from a spiritual point of view than what has happened in the last few decades. What has been achieved by founding a special “peace society” in order to replace war with what was called “international law”? Never in the history of humanity have such terrible wars been waged as since the time when the “peace society” has existed. And in recent decades, this peace movement has had among its special protectors the monarch who has waged the bloodiest and most cruel wars ever waged in world history. So that the initiation of the peace movement on the part of the Tsar must really appear as the greatest comedy ever played in world history, the greatest comedy and at the same time the most abominable comedy! That is what must be called the Luciferic seduction over there. This can be easily traced in detail. One can say that it makes a shocking impression on the soul when one sees—no matter how one looks at things—how, in the beginning, when these war impulses entered Europe, in Central Europe, even where people had gathered, as in the German Reichstag in Berlin, almost no one said anything. Little was said, but things spoke. An infinite amount has been said in the West as in the East. But in a certain way, the most shocking impression was made by what was said in the Petersburg Duma by the various parties. In the most diverse ways, the representatives of the Duma really said nothing but the most straw-like phrases with the greatest fire of enthusiasm. It was shocking. This is Luciferic seduction. But all this points to us that the fire burning in this war is a warning and admonishing fire, and that people must be very careful.

Everything that is happening now indicates that at least some souls must say to themselves: Things cannot go on as they have been going in the world; something spiritual must flow into human development! Materialism has found its karma in this most terrible of wars. In a certain sense, this war is the karma of materialism. The more human souls realize this, the more they will move beyond discussing whether this or that person is to blame for the war, and will say to themselves: This war has been sent into world history to warn us that we must turn to a spiritual understanding of the whole of human life.

Materialism not only makes people's souls materialistic, it also corrupts logic and dulls the senses. Within Central Europe, we will have to understand many things that are connected with what I have said: that it is precisely in Central Europe that we must concern ourselves most intimately with the further development of the Christ impulse. But this will require that we begin to understand the spirits that have already laid the seeds for this. Just one example: Goethe wrote a theory of colors. Physicists look at it as something about which they smile pityingly and say: What did the poet understand about colors? He was just a dilettante! Since the 1980s, I have been trying to bring Goethe's theory of colors to prominence against modern physics. This cannot be understood. Why can it not be understood? Because the materialistic principle, which originates from the British national character, has found its way into Central Europe. Newton, whom Goethe had to fight against, triumphed over what sprang from Goethe's spirit. Goethe also established a theory of development which shows how, through the understanding of spiritual laws, beings progress from the most imperfect to the most perfect. This was too difficult for people to understand. When Darwin presented his theory of evolution in a simpler way, people accepted it. Darwin triumphed over Goethe. The materialistic thinker, inspired by the British national soul, triumphed over Goethe, who drew everything from his intimate dialogue with the German national soul.

Ernst Haeckel experienced tragedy. Throughout his entire life, he nourished himself spiritually with what Huxley and Darwin had given him. Ernst Haeckel's materialism is, in essence, a purely English product. Now, when the war broke out, Haeckel was outraged by what was happening from the British Isles. He was one of the first to return his English orders, diplomas, and awards. But what must be returned are not the diplomas, orders, and awards, but the English-influenced Darwinism and English-influenced physics. We must come to this realization so that we can understand what can be achieved in Central Europe as an intimate coexistence with the laws of the world.

The greatest damage can be done by pouring into the child's mind what will then develop in a purely materialistic direction. Centuries have worked toward this. Ahriman has inspired even a very great writer in Britain to such an extent that this writer has written a work which is entirely calculated to influence the soul from childhood in such a materialistic way that one does not notice it, because one does not regard it as materialistic conditioning. This is Robinson Crusoe. The whole way Robinson is described is so clever that when these ideas of Robinson's adventures are taken in, they condition the mind so that later it can only think materialistically. Humanity has not yet been healed by the inventors of Robinson's adventures; there have always been such people, and there still are today. And many other examples could be given. These things are said not to express rejection of the peoples of the West, who must be as they are, but to point out how people in Central Europe must find the connection with the great, as yet only embryonic values for development toward the future. How significant Austria is in this regard is particularly striking. In recent decades, we have seen how the highest ideals have been pursued by minds such as Hamerling in the field of poetry, Carneri, who sought to deepen Darwinism from a moral perspective, and artists such as Bruckner and others in all kinds of fields. What will matter in the end is the people's self-awareness of these things.

And now let us consider the unused etheric bodies that are available. These etheric bodies were laid down by people who, in a great event, learned to sacrifice themselves for something that no longer exists for them, at least in a tangible sense: for the people. If you talk about this today as a spiritual scientist, saying that there is a national soul as an archangel and so on, you will be laughed at. What materialism calls the national soul is only the abstract connection between the characteristics that the people of a nation have. What the materialist calls a people is merely the sum of people who live together in one place and see each other as equals. We speak of a people in such a way that we know: the spirit of the people really exists as a real entity in the rank of an archangel. Even if the one who sacrifices himself, who goes through death for his people, does not have complete consciousness in the field of events of a real national spirit, he nevertheless affirms by the way he goes through death that he believes in a continuing effect after this death, that he believes that there is more than what the eyes see in the nationality: their connection and their standing together with the supersensible. All those who thus pass through death, whether they know it more or less, pass through this death affirming that there is a supersensible world; this is imprinted on their etheric bodies. So that in the future, apart from those who will live in the physical sphere of the earth when peace has returned, the unspent etheric bodies will live on, forever sending tones into the music of the spheres: There is more in the world than what can be seen with the physical eyes! Spiritual truth will resound in the music of the spheres through what the dead leave behind in their etheric bodies, quite apart from what they take with them in their individuality, which they carry through life between death and new birth. But what will have to be heard is that which will live on, that which will sound down from these etheric bodies, because these etheric bodies have been laid aside by people who, sealing the truth of the spiritual world, have passed through death. The greatest sin of humanity will be if it does not listen to what the dead will call out to it through their admonishing etheric bodies. And how infinitely enlivened will be that which one wishes to see in relation to the spiritual world, when one has to think that the fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters who have lost their dear dead must say to themselves: What has been sacrificed there lives on for the whole of humanity, admonishing us of what must come!

If one wanted to build solely on what is happening here in the physical world, one could not have much hope for the prosperous continuation of the spiritual movement that is to be cultivated in our spiritual scientific worldview. When a good, faithful co-worker recently died, at about the age of thirty, I addressed these words to the soul passing through the gate of death, asking it to continue working just as faithfully and courageously in our spiritual scientific field as it had worked here faithfully and devotedly, making use of everything it knew. This colleague worked diligently here on the physical plane. I gave him this as a message for his life between death and rebirth, that he should work after death as he had done before death, for we count on these dead, the so-called dead, as we count on the living. The spiritual scientific worldview must be so alive to us that the gap between the so-called dead and the living is overcome, that we feel the dead among us as living beings. We want not just theory, we want life. We also want to point out that there is a living bond between those who live on earth, when peace returns, and those who have passed through the gate of death. People will be able to learn from the dead, will have to learn how these dead are working in the manner indicated toward the great spiritual progress that must take hold on earth.

In life, it sometimes happens that one sees how human logic is insufficient. I would like to give you an example, not for personal reasons, but to characterize the way people relate to our movement. A few years ago, a very serious magazine in southern Germany published an essay written by a famous contemporary philosopher about our spiritual science. Spiritual science was treated in such a way that it could make a certain impression on people, because the article was written by a great philosopher. The editor of the magazine took particular pride in being able to publish an article on spiritual science by such a famous man. Of course, everything was presented in a bad and distorted light; a completely distorted picture of spiritual science was given. But what did the editor need to realize what he had actually allowed to be published in his monthly magazine about our movement? War broke out. The man who had written the article wrote several letters to the editor. These letters contain some of the most repulsive things that can be said about Central European culture. This Central European culture was terribly reviled and mocked. The editor has now printed these letters as an example of how foolishly one can think about this culture. And he now says: Only a person who belongs in a madhouse could write the way this person writes. — So we have the fact that a good editor needed something like this to realize that the man who wrote this article about spiritual science a few years ago, which also caused a lot of damage to the outside world, belongs in a madhouse. But if this man belongs in a madhouse now, then he already belonged there back then. But back then he wrote an article about spiritual science!

That is how things are in the world! Other means of help must come than those available to man today in order to arrive at a judgment. The spiritual scientist, however, stands firmly on the ground that clearly shows that truth finds its way. But spiritual science must work in the development of humanity so that what is necessary may happen. And just as in those days when Emperor Constantine had to complete his task, when the Christ impulse had to work from the spiritual world into the subconscious, just as the Christ impulse had to work in the Virgin of Orleans so that what had to happen could happen, so the Christ impulse must continue to work, only now more consciously. There must be souls in the future who will know: up there in the spiritual world, those who sacrificed themselves with their individuality are calling us to follow them in the faith they attained in death in the effectiveness of the spiritual. But the forces from the unspent etheric bodies also call into the future, and one only needs to understand this in order to take it into one's own soul. But there must be souls below who hear this. There must be souls who prepare themselves for this through the right, through the 'living understanding' of our spiritual science. Our spiritual science must create souls here below who are able to sense what the etheric bodies of the dead will say up there in the future. Souls who know: Up there are the forces that can admonish human beings who have been left to their own devices on earth. And when spiritually conscious souls down here direct their minds toward the hidden sounds of the spiritual world, then the right fruits will arise from all the blood that has been shed, all the sacrifices that have been made, all the suffering that has had to be endured and still has to be endured. Looking to the hope that may be expressed that many, many souls may find their way through spiritual science, that they may hear these voices that will sound from the spiritual world, especially through this war, I would like to summarize the concluding words of today's reflection with words that are meant only to express what I would like to inspire in your souls:

From the courage of the fighters,
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the forsaken,
From the sacrifices of the people
Spiritual fruit will grow
Souls will think spiritually
Their meaning into the spiritual realm.

With such feelings in our hearts, let us always imbue ourselves with the meaning of the Rosicrucians, so that this Rosicrucianism may be regarded by us in the right way as the motto of our actions, our work, and our feelings. Not the black cross alone. Anyone who would tear the roses from the black cross, anyone who would have only the black cross, would fall prey to Ahriman. The black cross is the living being that strives toward mere matter. Nor will those who tear the roses from the cross and want to keep the roses alone find what is right. For the roses, separated from the cross, want to lift us up to life, but this life would strive upward toward the spiritual in a selfish way and not reveal the spirit in the material. Not the cross alone, not the roses alone, but the roses on the cross, the cross bearing the roses, both in harmonious interaction: that is what our true symbol is.