The Etheric Body as a Reflexion of the Universe
GA 159
13 June 1915, Elberfeld
Translator Unknown
At present we live in the midst of events that arouse every feeling of the human soul in the deepest and most significant way. We live in the midst of events that cause death to pass over the earth very, very frequently, in a comparatively short time, death that has always been looked upon by our spiritual science as a riddle which must be solved. The times in which we live send pain and suffering to many human souls, but let us hope that these times also bear within them forces for the unfolding of man's future development. Many things are born out of pain and suffering, and in these fateful days spiritual-scientific thoughts in particular are well suited to awaken in us forces of confidence and of hope. Let me therefore unfold a few thoughts before your souls. Although not directly, they are nevertheless, indirectly connected with feelings that come to the surface in these stormy and sorrowful times.
What we can see and feel in the manifold events of the present time, is the fact that many people abandon the physical plane, at a comparatively early age of their earthly life. What characterizes the events of the present, is that they call away many young lives from the physical plane.
We know that when a human being passes through the portal of death, he must leave his physical body to the elements of the earth. When he passes through the portal of death, he is, to begin with, still united with his etheric body, his astral body and his ego. And we know that after a comparatively short time the etheric body becomes severed from the human being, who then continues along the path which he must tread between death and a new birth; he passes through the after-death experiences with his ego and his astral body and together with those members of his spiritual nature which can only be acquired in the spiritual world. Afterwards, however, as he continues along his path during the time between death and a new birth, also the etheric body becomes severed from the human individuality and goes its own ways.
Now it must be evident to everyone of us that the etheric body of a man who died young must have an entirely different constitution than that of a man who died after having reached, so to speak, a normal age. We know that the ordinary natural science of to-day always speaks of the fact that forces never go lost, but transform themselves. Natural science recognises this truth in regard to the external world of physical life; it admits that forces do not go lost, but merely transform themselves. Spiritual science must teach that this truth should be recognised in regard to the spiritual world.
When an etheric body abandons a human being who has passed through the portal of death at an early age, that etheric body might still have maintained that man's life on the physical plane for many decades. The constitution of an etheric body must be of such a kind as to enable it to provide the life-forces required by a human being until he reaches an advanced age. But when a human being passes through the portal of death in his 25th, 26th or 30th year, the etheric body that abandons him still possesses the forces that might have enabled it to preserve physical life up to the 60th, 70th or 80th year. These forces live in the etheric body; they do not go lost.
Particularly at a time such as the present one, in which so many etheric bodies are entrusted, as it were, to the spiritual worlds, we should contemplate the following problem: What takes place with the etheric bodies of those who have passed through the portal of death in their early youth?—In order to obtain a sound answer to this question, it will be a good thing to become acquainted first of all with the path trodden by man's etheric body, while he is passing through his life between birth and death.
Man's external physical body (we know this, for it is a trivial truth) grows older and older. But this is not the case with the etheric body. It may perhaps be difficult to understand this, but the etheric body does not in any way grow older; the etheric body grows younger and younger, in the same degree in which the physical body grows older, until it reaches, as it were, a certain childlike stage of etheric existence, when the human being passes through the portal of death after having reached a normal age. We should therefore say to ourselves: When we begin our physical life on earth through birth, then our etheric body, that has become united with our physical body, is, comparatively speaking, old, and in the course of our earthly life it grows younger and younger, until it reaches its childhood stage, when we pass through the portal of death. We might also say: When a human being dies in his young years, his etheric body has not grown young enough, but has instead maintained a certain age. What does this really mean?—A concrete example, already known to many of you, but that I must nevertheless repeat here, a real event of recent times, experienced by quite a number of our friends, may throw some light upon this question.
This concrete example is really connected with a child, with the little boy of one of our members. After an evening lecture at Dornach, we were told that the son of our friend Faiss was missing—a little boy of seven. It was soon evident that a terrible accident must have happened, for a large furniture van had arrived in the late afternoon, moving towards the Goetheanum Building. Curiously enough, this furniture van had appeared in a part where perhaps no furniture van had been seen for a long time, or perhaps never at all, and where perhaps no furniture van would ever be seen again. At a certain spot, this large van had overturned; this had happened towards evening. Nothing else had been noticed, but the little boy was missing. When our friends, with the help of other people, began to lift the van between eleven and twelve at night (the owners intended to lift it the following day for it had fallen most awkwardly and was moreover a very heavy van), sparing no effort in doing so, and when they at last succeeded in lifting it, with the help of other people, it appeared that the little boy, Theodor Faiss, had passed by just when the van had collapsed, so that it fell on top of him. This child (he was only seven years old) was an exceptionally lovable child, with exceptionally beautiful qualities.
In order to see this in the light of spiritual science, let me remind you of a logical train of thoughts which I have often advanced in our circles. I have frequently explained to you that a superficial manner of thinking, an untrained manner of thinking, easily mixes up cause and effect; indeed, such confusions in regard to cause and effect are very frequent. I tried to explain this with the aid of an example, which was only meant, as a comparison. Take the following case: You see a man, who is walking along the bank of a river; you see him fall into the river and try to reach him. Where he fell into the river, you see a stone. You then try to draw the man out of the water; he is dead. What would be more natural than to think that he had stumbled over the stone, thus falling into the water and drowning? But this need not be true at all; a physical investigation may show us that his destiny in no way led him to the stone or anything else, but that at the very moment when he reached the stone, he had a stroke, and this stroke was the cause of his felling into the water. If we were not to investigate matters, we would simply say that the cause of his death was the fact that he fell into the river. Yet this would be the exact opposite of the truth.
In the case of things that are connected, with the spiritual world, it is far more difficult to perceive the true relationship of cause and effect. We should therefore say to ourselves: When we have before us [a] case resembling that of the boy who found his death under circumstances that were so extraordinary (other things too occurred that made it appear extraordinary), we should not think—if we consider the whole case from a higher standpoint—that for instance, the following course of events took place: That the furniture van arrived and overturned, and that the child simply happened to be crushed by it, so that the van was the real cause of the child's death. In a similar case, we think correctly and contemplate it from a spiritual-scientific standpoint, if we say instead that the boy's Karma had reached its end and that the van really arrived at that particular spot because the child had to encounter its death. The van therefore merely provided the external conditions that enabled the child to meet its death, as prescribed in its Karma. Trivially speaking, we might say: The child's Higher Self, that wished to pass through the portal of death, gave orders that this situation should arise, it ordered that these events should occur. Of course, those who think in accordance with the mentality of our time, will find that this is quite an insane idea. Spiritual science must however show that many things which are looked upon as insane by the materialistically minded people of the present time, really correspond to the truth.
In this particular case, however, it is significant that the etheric body of a child of seven severed itself from the child's individuality, from that part of its being which then continued along its path in the spiritual world, united with its ego and astral body. Now I do not mean to speak of the further path taken by the individuality of little Theodor Faiss, but I would rather draw your attention to the fact that this etheric body was of such a kind that its life-forces nurtured that boy's physical existence for only seven years; nevertheless it contained forces that might have enabled it to sustain a whole existence between birth and death, feeding it with life-forces. These forces remained in that etheric body and the significant fact is that all those who had any spiritual connection with the Building which we intend to erect at Dornach in the service of spiritual science, know from that day, which is connected with the death of little Theodor Faiss, what has become of his etheric body.
Many things must be achieved in connection with the Building. Let me now say a few things in regard to the inspirations which must now be brought down from the spiritual worlds. Helping forces are needed if everything that must be brought down from the spiritual world is really to come down. Ever since the death of little Theodor Faiss, we can see that our Dornach Building is enveloped by the greatly enlarged etheric body of this child, as if by an aura that reaches very far. Indeed, we may even determine the limits of this enveloping aura. If you contemplate the Dornach Building you will know (and those who have seen it know this) that it is a double cupola building. (A drawing is made). Here is a separate fire-box building, constructed in a special way, according to principles dictated by spiritual science, and here is another building, where the glass windows for the Goetheanum are cut. Casually I might also add that here you may see the so-called “Haus Hansi”, the house in which I live. Now it is strange to see that little Theodor Faiss' aura, enveloping the whole Building, reaches as far as this spot, near the woods; then it goes past the fire-box building and through the very midst of the building where the windows are cut, and finally past Haus Hansi, but without enclosing it. Consequently, when we enter the Goetheanum, we actually enter this etheric aura.
I have often explained to you that when the etheric body frees itself from the physical body it grows large. Consequently we should not wonder at the large size of this etheric body. It contains mediating forces, and in these we may find certain impressions from the spiritual world, which are needed to create the forms and the artistic structure of our Building. Those who work upon the Building know how much they owe to this etheric aura. And I shall never hesitate to confess that ever since little Theodor's death, the work upon the Building became possible, because the boy's etheric body spreading over the Building supplied the mediating forces that were needed to draw down inspirations from the spiritual world. It would be far easier to hide this fact, or to take on airs as if these mediating forces were not needed. But this is not the essential point; the essential point is to recognise the true facts.
If we consider the facts which I have described to you just now, we can grasp how matters really stand with an etheric body that had to cut itself off from the existence of a human being at a moment when death closed this existence at an early age. It is important to note that the etheric body does not remain, as it were, a mere misty shape, in which the physical body lies embedded. Even the true aspect of the physical body cannot be recognised if we merely describe a mass of muscles, bones, etc. It can only be recognised if we see in it, as it were, a kind of temple, an abode of the Godhead—if we see it standing before us like a microcosm. We recognise what pertains to the physical body only if we realise that its forms are really taken from the whole universe and that in regard to his physical body the human being is a wonderful structure. Those who know the feelings voiced in the first dialogue of my second Mystery Play, “The Souls' Probation”, can have an idea of how the individual human being is placed into his physical existence; all the hierarchies are at work on his physical body, a whole world of divine Beings has the task of placing a human being into his physical existence. If we bear in mind to some extent the observations of clairvoyant knowledge, we fully learn to know the significance of the physical body.
You see, clairvoyant knowledge arises when our soul-spiritual part is lifted out of our physical-corporeal part, so that we are endowed with consciousness and with perceptive forces in the soul-spiritual sphere, outside the body.
From a purely external standpoint, there is really no difference between one who is able to perceive clairvoyantly and one who is asleep, for in both cases the soul-spiritual part is lifted out of the physical-corporeal part. The clairvoyant consciousness is able to perceive outside the physical body, so that it can have an idea of what takes place with the human being when he is asleep.
To facilitate matters, let me draw you a diagram. (A drawing is made.) Now let us assume that this is the physical-corporeal and that the soul-spiritual part of a sleeping human being. When a man is awake, the soul-spiritual part is of course contained in the physical-corporeal part; but let us now imagine a sleeping human being. On the bed lie his physical body and his etheric body; they do not contain his astral body and his ego, as is the case when he is awake. We might say, however: The activity that our astral body and ego carry on within our physical body while we are awake, does not cease completely while we are asleep. To begin with, and seen purely from outside, the sleeping human being lying there on the bed has a lifeless aspect, but to a clairvoyant consciousness the physical and etheric body of the man lying there asleep on the bed do not present a lifeless aspect. The seer must give an entirely different description of a sleeping human being, of this physical and etheric human being, lying there asleep on his bed. A clairvoyant seer must say: The whole day long the sun shone over that region of the earth, where the human beings are now sleeping. Now it is night. (I am speaking of normal conditions; when people are asleep during the night and awake during the day, I am not speaking of the conditions of life in great cities, of metropolitan habits). Darkness envelops that region on which the sun shone the whole day long. And now it is strange to notice the following: The earth, as a living Being, begins to think, and the organs through which the earth thinks are the sleeping human bodies.
The human beings think through their brain, and in the same way the earth thinks through these sleeping human bodies. The earth always perceives by day; it perceives through the fact that the sun shines upon it out of the cosmic spaces. That is the earth's perception. And during the night, the earth works out in thoughts all its perceptions. “The earth thinks”, says the clairvoyant seer; the earth thinks because it makes use of the sleeping human beings. Every sleeping human being becomes, as it were, a brain-molecule of the earth. Our physical body is organised in such a way that it can be used by the earth for it's thinking activity, when we do not use it ourselves.
Just as the earth thinks through the physical body, so it “imagines” (you know what imaginative knowledge is)—it imagines all that is not earthly upon the earth itself, all that belongs to the earth from out the cosmos. The earth imagines this through the etheric body.
We may discern in the sleeping human body parts of the earth's brain, and when the human being is asleep, we may discern in his etheric body the imagination of that part of the universe which belongs, to begin with, to the earth. The etheric body contains, in a play of wonderful pictures, all the forces that must stream into the earth out of the etheric world, so that the earth's events may take place.
As a physical being man belongs to the earth, and just as truly does he belong to the heavens as an etheric being. We can only use our physical body as an organ of thinking, because it is organised for that purpose, because the earth sets it free, as it were, for this purpose, when we are awake. And we can only use our etheric body in such a way that it provides us with life-forces, because the heavens place it at our disposal; when we are awake, and because the heavenly forces of imagination are transformed into life-forces within us, when we are awake.
Thus we cannot speak of our etheric body merely as a misty form, but we should rather speak of it as a microcosmic form reflecting the heavens. When we are born, the etheric body is handed over to us as a specially perfect form. When we are born, our etheric body glistens and shines inwardly, because it is so full of imaginations that come towards it from the great universe. It is a magnificent reflexion of the universe! All that we acquire during our life as culture, knowledge and forces of the will and of feeling, is all drawn out of our etheric body as we grow old in the course of our existence between birth and death. Heaven's cosmic forces give us what they must give us during our life between birth and death, and so we are once more young as etheric beings, when we have lived through a normal life between birth and death, for then we have drawn out of our etheric body everything that could be drawn out of it.
But when an etheric body belonging to a youthful body passes through the portal of death, it still contains a great, great deal of unused heavenly light. That is why it becomes a mediator of the forces which I have described to you. Quite apart from what takes place with the individuality of a human soul such as the one of which we spoke just now, its etheric body almost becomes a heavenly gift, a gift of the spiritual worlds. Such an etheric body can therefore have the inspiring influence that I have described to you.
It would lead us too far to speak of the peculiar Karma of a human soul that is able to make such a sacrifice. This cannot be produced artificially; it must be connected with the whole Karma of the human being that is called upon to make this sacrifice, thus fulfilling something within the process of development of the world that is destined to play a part in the spiritual progress of humanity—and this is the aim of our Building at Dornach, that will house our spiritual-scientific endeavours.
Consider now that we live in a time in which many of these etheric bodies, though they may not be as young as Theodor Faiss, but which are nevertheless etheric bodies coming from youthful human lives, inhabit, as it were, the spiritual atmosphere. Those who crossed the threshold of death on the bloodstained battlefields, pass through this portal of death in a different way than those who pass through it when they die in bed, or as a result of an ordinary accident. In a certain way, they pass through the portal of death so that they reckon with their death, even though this may be more or less unconscious, but in a certain way the astral body reckons with death. We can always say that these deaths are sacrifices. All the etheric bodies, of youthful human beings that thus ascend to the spiritual world contain unused forces. And at present we are facing an epoch in the evolution of humanity in which the souls of men will be able to look up consciously to the spiritual worlds and say to themselves: A time has gone by which sent many, many unused etheric bodies to the spiritual world. These unused etheric bodies contain forces. And from a spiritual-scientific standpoint, we may say even at the present time that these unused etheric bodies contain forces that will be very significant for the evolution of humanity.
When similar things are discussed, it should be emphasized that they cannot apply to every war that was waged in the evolution of humanity upon the earth. What takes place spiritually, what should be contemplated with the aid of spiritual science, is not so easy as natural science thinks. Other wars belonging to the past, require to be spoken of differently. And what I am now explaining to you only applies to the present fateful times.
Now imagine the following: On various occasions we had to emphasize the fact that to-day we do not pursue spiritual science arbitrarily, but that this is connected with the evolutionary process of humanity. It is connected with the progress of humanity that the human beings should gradually become acquainted with spiritual science. We know that every epoch of human evolution has its particular task. You will find this in many of my lectures. And we can realise that man's future salvation, man's welfare in the nearest future, can only flourish if that which spiritual science can reveal, becomes the spiritual property of an ever growing number of human souls.
Consider now—you, who are filled with a heartfelt enthusiasm for spiritual science—consider the difficulties connected with the propagation of spiritual-scientific truths at the present time! Consider the strong opposition that spiritual-scientific truths encounter on the part of people outside. Consider how these truths are slandered, how people look upon them as something insane, distorted and mad, how they consider them to be empty fantasies. Indeed, I might mention striking cases, yet they would all be merely a portion of what everyone can feel, if he is filled with enthusiasm for spiritual science and faces a world, desirous that this world should take up spiritual science ... a world that is so little inclined to take it up!
The spiritual scientist may now say: What the mere earthly forces of humanity are able to attain, seems so weak, so very weak, in comparison to the tasks of spiritual science! But in the near future, the unused etheric bodies of those who had to carry life and soul through the portal of death, on the battlefields where the events of our time are taking place, will be there—and these etheric bodies with their unused forces will be inspiring forces, they will be helping forces in the near future. We only need to look up, but not in an intellectual or theoretic way, we only need to look up to the heavenly etheric bodies of those who in the present fateful times passed through the portal of death in their youth; we only need to direct our souls, as it were, in the mood of prayer towards these etheric bodies ... all those who are filled with enthusiasm for spiritual science only need to direct their souls towards these forces, and they will obtain help from these etheric bodies. Help will come! Those who are genuinely filled with a spiritual-scientific mentality and having a deep life in common with these etheric bodies will find that among the many fruits that will fall into the lap of our earnest time there will also be the one that the souls of men who are filled with enthusiasm for spiritual science will receive the instreaming forces of the youthful etheric bodies that were sacrificed in these terrible times; these forces will flow into them. The souls of those who will live in physical bodies in the near future, and who genuinely feel this, will be filled by the forces of the etheric bodies that were thus sacrificed; their forces will stream into them. And these will be heavenly forces, that is to say, forces pertaining to the spiritual world! Entirely different forces will in future hold sway in the world, so that the world may receive what it should receive: a spiritual-scientific mentality. If we but find the possibility of recognising what is taking place now, if we recognise it in accordance with the explanations given to you just now, this fateful present will acquire a deep, deep significance, also for those who pursue spiritual science.
I already explained to you how wonderful are the imaginative forms contained in man's etheric body! Yet they would present a different aspect, if they had not passed through a human etheric body. We may also apply to this field the saying: “Out of nothing, comes nothing.” Although this is not an absolute truth, it is nevertheless valid for this particular field. The etheric body that man receives through the fact that the human soul enters physical existence through birth, contains a whole collection of forces pertaining to the spiritual world. These forces are gradually used up during physical life. They do not come from nothing, they exist in the spiritual world. They may, of course, also be found in the spiritual world, but it is difficult to discover them directly in the spiritual world; for this we would have to unfold far greater powers. They can be used and they can help us more easily when they have passed through a human being who died young, and in that case they appear together with what they contain through the fact that they passed through that human being. All the forces that lived in the youthful etheric body of little Theodor Faiss would be in the spiritual world even if he had not existed, but without him, it would be a Herculean task to draw them down. Ever since they have become accessible to us through that boy, it is far easier to be inspired by them, so that there is a difference.
Think how important it is for the whole progress of human evolution that in the near future such a great number of etheric bodies with their unused forces will be at the disposal of humanity! Since these forces (I must always call them heavenly forces) have passed through human beings, they have become, as it were, emancipated from the cosmic laws on which they depend. Outside, in the cosmos, these forces that are drawn directly out of the cosmos, cannot possibly be used in an evil way.
Let us now consider the following: All those who pass through the portal of death as a result of the war, or through some other accident, would not yield such a great number of etheric bodies, had the war not broken out. Of course, all these forces also exist in the cosmos, but they could not be employed by the human beings on earth, for it would be too difficult to use them. Another reason why they could not be employed is that they would be entirely used up in the life of men who die at a normal age. This is a very significant fact, it is most important that these heavenly forces should have passed through human bodies, for this renders them, as it were, free from the ordinary course of development. Yet this very freedom also makes it possible that these forces be used for other purposes than the salvation of humanity.
These forces could be used in different ways. Let us take for granted that human life develops in the light of freedom. Let us then assume that Ahriman succeeds in darkening human thought and reason to such an extent as to induce him to reject spiritual science. The etheric bodies would then still be there, but no souls would be there, filled with enthusiasm for spiritual science and able to place these forces at the service of the earth's progress. Lucifer and Ahriman would in that case be able to exercise their influence and they would make use of these etheric forces, either by leading them into the world built up by Lucifer, or into that built up by Ahriman.
Consider the tremendous importance of this fact! It means, that it will depend on man, as it were, how these forces, bestowed upon the world through death-sacrifices, will be embodied in the evolutionary process of the earth. They serve the evolutionary process of the world through the fact that they can inspire us with what spiritual science has kindled. If materialism were to take hold of every mind, or if nationalism were to spread out exclusively in the form of passion, then Lucifer and Ahriman would be able to use these forces for their own end and in that case these forces would be unable to further the progress of the earth. If we consider these connections, then the deep significance which spiritual science has for the human development on earth rises up before us. And only then shall we be able to say: In order that these forces, sacrificed through death, may be rightly used for the progress of human development, it is necessary that the new spirit, which is the outcome of spiritual science, should take hold of those human beings who are capable of grasping it. If we consider spiritual science in connection with the spiritual process of evolution, which comes to the fore so clearly in these fateful days, then we realise that spiritual science is something tremendously great and sacred. The new spirit which can be acquired through spiritual science thus becomes something that may be compared with the mood of prayer and it may be comprised in the words:
O cosmic spirit, let us be completely filled with the spirit that grows out of spiritual science; so that we may not fail to wrest from Ahriman and Lucifer that which can be of help to the earth, for its salvation and its progress!
Our Building is intended to be a symbol of the soul-attitude that humanity should adopt through spiritual science; for that reason, it is built in such a way that its forms are an artistic expression of what spiritual science is able to give us.
I would be obliged to speak of many things were I to explain to you all that is contained in the details of this Building. But you will learn to know them when you shall see the Building in the course of time and participate in what takes place within it.
To-day I will just mention one thing connected with the explanations which I gave just now. There will be a plastic group in a significant place of our Building, where it turns to the East. This plastic group in particular expresses something that should completely fill our consciousness at the present time. Apart from the details that will be added to the group, we may say that it consists of three chief figures. Three Beings express themselves in this plastic group. In this sculpture we shall see a kind of rock with a projecting part, and in this projection there will be a cave. The central figure of the group will stand upon the projecting rock. It is quite indifferent what name we give to this central figure, but we may see in it the representative of man on earth, man's representative in the highest meaning of the word. And if we see the ideal of humanity in that human being who for three years bore within him the Christ, then we may also see the Christ in this central figure of our plastic group. Yet we should not simply face the statue with the thought: “That is meant to be the Christ”, for this would be wrong. Instead, we should experience everything in an artistic way, that is to say, we should not interpret things symbolically from outside, but everything should result from what the forms themselves reveal.
Above, you may see a second shape. This Being has a head resembling (I can only say, resembling) a human head. It is really formed in such a way that it has a strongly developed skull and particularly a strongly developed forehead. Whereas in man these parts are relatively rigid, everything in that Being is extremely mobile. That is to say, everything is an expression of the soul. Just as we can move our hands and fingers, but not the upper parts of our head, so this Being can move everything up there. And the sculptural work expresses that everything up there is mobile. In this Being, the lower part of the physiognomy recedes in a marked way. One might say that the mighty skull dominates the face, that recedes. (I can only discuss a few details, for every line of this sculpture is significant). It is characteristic that the ear of this Being is connected with that part which has, in the case of man, deteriorated and become his larynx. The lobe of the larynx grows upwards and forms the lower part of the ear, whereas the upper part of the ear is formed by the forehead. On the other side, we can see two protuberances that remind us of birds' wings, and in between there is a form that, as a whole resembles a transformed human countenance. The wings, larynx and ear are one form. We may therefore say that this Being lives with its wings in the harmony of the spheres; it swings through the spaces, through the waves of the harmony of the spheres, and this becomes localised in the ear. (In man, all this has deteriorated). Through the fact that the Representative of Mankind raises His left hand, the wings of that Being break against the rock. You may now guess that this falling shape with the broken wings is meant to be Lucifer.
Below in the cave, we can see another shape. Its wings do not resemble birds' wings, but those of a bat. Its body is like that of a dragon, or of a worm, and its head again reminds us of a human head. Whereas in Lucifer's forehead everything is powerfully developed, the forehead of this second Being recedes and is quite undeveloped. Instead, the lower parts, towards the jaw, are strongly developed. This Being is enwrapped in gold; it is the gold contained in the earth. The gold of the earth takes on the shape of strong fetters that chain this shape to the cave. It writhes under the influence of Christ's hand pointing downward, the hand of the Representative of Mankind. The shape in the cave is Ahriman; it is Ahriman fettered by the gold of the earth.
The above explanations can really give you, as it were, an idea of the whole. Yet this idea merely indicates the essential point. The essential point that we must bear in mind is that we should never imitate the mistake of the old theosophists, who always work with symbols; the essential point which we must bear in mind is that everything in spiritual science that tends towards human feeling should be transformed into something artistic. We should therefore not say: that these sculptures express “this or that”, but they should reveal to us, through what they are artistically and through what we can see in them, the relation of man, or of Christ, to Lucifer and Ahriman. For that reason, it is impossible to express this with the artistic means of the past. Every movement of the fingers and of the hands, the way in which the hands are shaped, are significant, for they must express something significant. At first we may think that Christ raises His left hand and sends out forces with the intention of breaking Lucifer's wings and of causing him to fall. We might also think that the right hand of Christ pointing downwards sends out forces that fetter Ahriman. Yet it would be quite wrong to think so.
In order to explain the significant fact contained in this, let me remind you of one of the greatest works of art that have so far been produced, of Michelangelo's Last Judgment, in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. There we see Christ sending the righteous men to heaven and the sinful ones to hell. We see Christ sending one part of mankind to a good world and the other part to an evil world. The Christ that is portrayed on Michelangelo's picture is not the Christ whose true nature we must, from now onwards, learn to know through spiritual science. The true Christ never condemns in wrath, nor does he mete out praise in ordinary love. His influence goes out of him simply because he is there; Lucifer's wings do not get broken, but it is Lucifer himself who breaks them, as a result of what takes place within his soul through the fact that he is in the proximity of Christ. And Ahriman fetters himself, as a result of what takes place within his soul, through the fact that he is in the proximity of Christ. When Christ raises his left hand and points downwards with his right hand, he only expresses purest compassion with the world. Lucifer, there above, cannot bear this, he cannot bear the proximity of Christ's hand. And what he thus experiences within him induces him to break his wings. It is not Christ who breaks them, it is Lucifer himself who breaks his own wings.
Michelangelo was not as yet able to portray the real Christ. Christ is such a significant Being and it is so difficult to understand Him, that this understanding can only be reached in the course of time. Only in [the] future shall we be able to grasp the Christ Who induces the other beings to condemn or to redeem themselves, simply through the fact that He is there. The Christ on Michelangelo's painting still has Luciferic and Ahrimanic traits, for he sends the sinners to hell in wrath and leads the righteous to heaven, so that his passions are active. But in our sculpture, Christ is mute impersonal, and the Beings that approach Him must judge themselves.
You may therefore see that man's position in the world that contains the Luciferic and the Ahrimanic forces will be significantly expressed in our Building. You will see in it the artistic expression of Beings that can only be found in the spiritual world. Naturalism in art and everything towards which art has striven in recent times as a result of materialism which took hold of man, must be overcome by the art which we cultivate here. Even in the sphere of art, something entirely new must enter the world through spiritual science, something that is able to overcome even the greatest artistic achievement—the Christ, portrayed in Michelangelo's Last Judgment.
It is permissible to say this, if we emphasize on the other hand something that we should not forget: that in spite of everything, our Building is but a first, primitive beginning. Everything in this Building is still imperfect and elementary, it is merely a beginning, yet it is the beginning of an entirely new impulse. We should of course bear in mind that everything is imperfect, yet at the same time we should not fail to notice in this the new impulse that will enter human life.
Consider how easy it is to ignore a gift of cosmic life consisting of the unused forces pertaining to the etheric bodies of human beings! Consider how these unused forces of the human etheric bodies can fall a prey to Lucifer and Ahriman, if we do not find the possibility of including them in the evolution of the earth, for the welfare of the earth!
Here we touch upon a great mystery, connected with the evolution of humanity upon the earth. It is the mystery of the connection existing between the Christ-impulse and the impulses of Lucifer and Ahriman. This connection of the Christ-impulse with the Lucifer-impulse and with the Ahriman-impulse will be grasped more and more clearly in the near future.
Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces surge through the world, but owing to the fact that man is conscious of Christ, owing to his Christ-consciousness, he is like a sailor who must steer his boat through the storms called up by Lucifer and Ahriman. He can steer his boat through that ocean, whose living substance consists of Lucifer and of Ahriman; he can do this in spite of everything, because he sits in his Christ-boat.
The true reason why we come together in our Group-meetings is not that of learning in a theoretical way one or the other truth which spiritual science can reveal, but the true reason why we assemble is that everything that lives in our souls should be filled with the spirit that can flow out of spiritual science. The essential point is not WHAT we think, but HOW we think, feel and will. The smallest or the greatest things in the evolution of the earth may rise up before our soul's eye, yet everything shows us how necessary it is for the human beings of the future to become acquainted above all with the significance of the triad, Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman. Michelangelo was unable to grasp this, and in the times that have gone by men were unable to see how these three Beings stand within the world. The true nature of Christ will only be grasped in the right way if we can see Him in relation to the forces which are active in the same way in which the North and the South poles are active: in relation to the forces of Lucifer and of Ahriman.
Many things connected with these thoughts will be discussed in the next few days for those who can remain. To-day I wished to bring before your souls thoughts that render the spiritual-scientific attitude so important even in regard to the significant things that will in the near future appear in the spiritual world to those who can discern the spiritual behind the physical events.
O how earnestly one would like to entreat the guardian spirits and the guardian divinities, of the earth and of humanity to give man strength, so that the things needed for the welfare of mankind may take place!
There above, will be the unused etheric forces of those human beings who passed through death in their youth. But here on earth there must be human hearts and human souls who look up to these forces so that they can be included in the right direction of human evolution. It is not only essential that these forces should exist up there, for they can fall a prey to Lucifer and Ahriman, but it is essential above all that here below physical bodies should be inhabited by human souls that send up their reverent thoughts to these sacrificed etheric bodies. On this circumstance will depend the way in which these forces will stream into the evolution of humanity, these forces that arose on the battlefields streaming with blood, where sacrifices are made and suffering is borne.
This indicates more or less what spiritual science is able to contribute to the future development of humanity, if a certain number of people really takes in that which can only be recognised through spiritual science.
Before I close this lecture, let me once more address to your souls a few pragmatic words that express what the present time, so fraught with destiny, is able to give us:
From the courage of the fighters
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the abandoned,
From the nation's sacrifices,
Shall grow forth a spirit-fruit,
If souls will lead, in spirit-consciousness,
Their mind and heart into the spirit-realm.
Geisteswissenschaft Als Gesinnung Der Ätherleib Als Abspiegelung Des Weltenalls
Wir stehen in der Gegenwart innerhalb einer Ära von Ereignissen, welche alle Empfindungen der Menschenseele in tiefstem, in bedeutungsvollstem Sinne aufrufen müssen. Wir stehen inmitten von Ereignissen, welche dasjenige, was unserer Geisteswissenschaft immer als ein Rätsel aufgegeben ist - den Tod - viele, viele Male in verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit über die Erde hinziehen lassen. Wir stehen in einer Zeit, welche Leid und Schmerzen verbreitet über unzählige Seelen, und in einer Zeit, von der wir hoffen wollen, daß sie in ihrem Schoße bedeutungsvolle Kräfte für die Entfaltung der zukünftigen Entwickelung der Menschheit trägt. Wenn so vieles aus Schmerz und Leid geboren werden muß, und wenn uns gerade Geisteswissenschaft lehrt, daß vieles aus Schmerz und Leid geboren werden muß, so werden gerade geisteswissenschaftliche Betrachtungen auch in dieser schicksaltragenden Zeit geeignet sein können, manche Kraft der Zuversicht, manche Kraft der Hoffnung in uns anzuregen. Und so seien denn heute einige Betrachtungen vor Ihren Seelen entwickelt, die zwar nicht direkt, aber doch indirekt mit dem zusammenhängen, was an Empfindungen und Gefühlen in unserer schmerz- und sturmbewegten Zeit in uns hervorgerufen werden kann.
Was wir so vielfältig in unserer Gegenwart sich ereignen sehen und fühlen, es ist, daß Menschen den physischen Plan verlassen in verhältnismäßig frühem Alter ihres physischen Daseins. Gerade das ist ja das Eigentümliche solcher Ereignisse, wie die jetzigen es sind, daß sie jugendliche Leben vom physischen Plan abberufen. Wir wissen, daß der Mensch, wenn er durch die Pforte des Todes geht, seinen physischen Leib den Elementen der Erde zu übergeben hat, daß er, indem er durch die Pforte des Todes tritt, zuerst noch vereint ist mit seinem Ätherleib, seinem Astralleib und seinem Ich. Wir wissen, daß nach verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit dieser Ätherleib von dem Menschen getrennt wird, und daß dann der Mensch seine weitere Wanderung, die er durchzumachen hat zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, in dem Ich und dem Astralleib durchmacht, vereint mit denjenigen Gliedern seiner geistigen Natur, die er sich erst in der geistigen Welt aneignen kann; daß aber dann für seine weitere Wanderung in der Zeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt der Ätherleib sich von der menschlichen Individualität trennt und seinen eigenen Weg durchmacht. Nun muß es uns auffallen, daß bei einem jugendlichen Sterben dieser Ätherleib in einer ganz andern Verfassung sein muß als beim Sterben eines Menschen, der eine normale Altersstufe erlangt hat. Wir wissen, wie die äußere Naturwissenschaft davon spricht, daß Kräfte sich zwar verwandeln können, daß sie aber nicht verlorengehen können. Für die äußere Welt des physischen Daseins erkennt die Naturwissenschaft diese Wahrheit durchaus an, daß Kräfte niemals verlorengehen, sich nur verwandeln. Für die geistige Welt muß Geisteswissenschaft lehren, dieses auch anzuerkennen. Wenn ein Ätherleib sich loslöst von einem Menschen, der im jugendlichen Alter durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, so ist das ein solcher Ätherleib, der noch durch viele Jahrzehnte das Leben dieses Menschen auf dem physischen Plan hätte versorgen können. Ein Ätherleib muß ja so eingerichtet sein, daß er alle diejenigen Lebenskräfte hergeben kann, die der Mensch bis ins höchste Alter in Anspruch nehmen muß. Wenn der Mensch, sagen wir, im fünfundzwanzigsten, sechsundzwanzigsten, dreißigsten Lebensjahr durch die Pforte des Todes geht, geht sein Ätherleib weg von ihm, aber dieser Ätherleib hat noch Kräfte, durch die er vielleicht bis ins sechzigste, siebzigste, achtzigste Jahr hinein das physische Leben des Menschen hätte erhalten können. Diese Kräfte sind im Ätherleib, diese Kräfte gehen nicht verloren. Und es muß uns — gerade in einer solchen Zeit wie die jetzige, wo so viele solcher Ätherleiber den geistigen Welten gewissermaßen anvertraut werden - die Frage beschäftigen: Was geschieht mit den Ätherleibern derjenigen Menschen, die in frühem Jugendalter durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind? - Es wird gut sein, wenn wir, um uns recht gründlich eine solche Frage zu beantworten, uns damit bekanntmachen, welchen Weg eigentlich der Ätherleib eines Menschen durchmacht, während der Mensch das Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod durchläuft.
Der äußere physische Leib des Menschen wird immer älter. Beim Ätherleib ist dies nicht der Fall. So schwierig zu begreifen es scheinen mag, beim Ätherleib ist das ganz und gar nicht der Fall, daß er immer älter wird, sondern der Ätherleib wird in demselben Maße, wie der physische Leib älter wird, immer jünger und jünger, und er erreicht eine gewisse, man könnte sagen, kindliche Stufe des ätherischen Daseins in der Zeit, in welcher der Mensch im normalen Lebensalter durch die Pforte des Todes geht. So daß wir uns sagen müssen: Wenn wir durch die Geburt unser physisches Erdendasein antreten, dann ist dasjenige, was sich als Ätherleib mit unserem physischen Leib vereinigt hat - wir können vergleichsweise sagen - eigentlich alt und wird während des Lebens immer jünger und erreicht seine kindliche Stufe dann, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes gehen. Wir könnten also auch sagen: Wenn nun ein Mensch im jugendlichen Alter stirbt, wird sein Ätherleib nicht jung genug, sondern er behält eine gewisse Stufe des Alters. - Was heißt das aber in Wahrheit? Was das heißt, darüber kann uns ein Beispiel belehren, das eine Anzahl von Ihnen schon kennen, das ich aber doch wiederum hier erwähnen muß, ein konkretes Beispiel aus der letzten Zeit, das von einer Anzahl von Freunden erlebt werden konnte.
Dieses konkrete Beispiel bezieht sich eigentlich auf ein ganz junges Kind, das kleine Söhnlein eines Mitgliedes von uns. Es war gerade an einem Vortragsabend in Dornach, als wir nach dem Vortrag erfahren mußten, daß ein Knabe von sieben Jahren, der Sohn unseres Freundes Faiß, abgängig sei. Und es war bald klar, daß ein großes Unglück geschehen sein müsse. Es war nämlich am Spätnachmittag in die Nähe des Dornacher Baues ein Möbelwagen gekommen, kurioserweise in eine Gegend, in welche vielleicht recht lange vorher, wenn überhaupt je, kein Möbelwagen gefahren ist, und nachher wohl auch nicht. Dieser Möbelwagen war an einer bestimmten Stelle umgefallen. Gegen Abend war das geschehen, weiter war nichts bemerkt worden; der Knabe war aber abgängig. Und als dann, mit andern vereint, unsere Freunde zwischen zehn und zwölf Uhr abends alle Anstrengung machten, um den Möbelwagen zu heben, der von den Leuten, denen er gehörte, nicht mehr aufgehoben worden war - sie hatten es sich für den nächsten Tag erspart, weil der Wagen sehr ungünstig gefallen und sehr schwer war -, als es gelungen war, ihn zu heben, da stellte sich heraus, daß in der Tat das Kind, der kleine Theodor Faifß, gerade in dem Augenblick vorbeigegangen war, als der Möbelwagen umfiel, und daß der Wagen auf das Kind gefallen war. Nun war dieses Kind es war nur sieben Jahre alt geworden - ein außerordentlich liebes Kind, ein Kind, das außerordentlich schöne Eigenschaften hatte.
Ich möchte, um eine solche Tatsache in das Licht unserer Geisteswissenschaft zu rücken, an eine logische Erwägung erinnern, die ich öfters in unserem Kreise angestellt habe. Ich habe öfters gesagt, wie man Ursache und Wirkung durch äußerliches Denken, durch ungeschultes Denken verwechseln kann, und daß solche Verwechslungen von Ursache und Wirkung wirklich außerordentlich häufig vorkommen. Durch ein Beispiel versuchte ich das zu veranschaulichen, ein Beispiel, das nur ein Vergleich sein soll. Man nehme an, man sehe in der Ferne einen Menschen am Rande eines Baches gehen. Man sieht, wie er hineinfällt in den Bach, man bemüht sich, in die Nähe zu kommen, und man sieht, wie gerade an der Stelle, wo der Mensch ins Wasser fiel, ein Stein liegt. Man versucht, den Menschen herauszuziehen aus dem Bach: er ist tot. Was liegt näher, als zu sagen: Der Mensch ist über den Stein gestolpert und in den Bach gefallen und ist dann ertrunken. Das braucht aber gar nicht so zu sein, sondern hier wird vielleicht die einfache physische Untersuchung uns lehren können, daß in dem Augenblick, wo der Mensch gerade diese Stelle betrat, ohne daß sein Schicksal irgend etwas mit dem Stein oder sonst etwas zu tun hatte, der Herzschlag ihn getroffen hat, und daß er infolgedessen in das Wasser gefallen ist - so daß der Herzschlag die Ursache des Hereinfallens in das Wasser war —, während man, wenn man sich keine Mühe gibt, auf die Sache zu kommen, sagen würde, das Hereinfallen ins Wasser sei die Ursache des Todes. Man würde also gerade das Umgekehrte von dem annehmen, was das Richtige ist.
Schwieriger schon ist eine solche Sache mit Bezug auf das Verhältnis von Ursache und Wirkung einzusehen, wenn man es mit Dingen zu tun hat, die mit der geistigen Welt zusammenhängen. So muß man sagen: In einem solchen Falle wie in dem Falle dieses Kindes, das wirklich durch so außerordentliche Umstände — die noch durch manches andere außerordentlich waren - seinen Tod findet, hat man von einem höheren Gesichtspunkte aus nicht daran zu denken, daß nun dieses geschehen sei: daß der Möbelwagen gekommen und umgefallen und das Kind zufällig unter den Wagen geraten ist; daß also der Wagen die Ursache für den Tod des Kindes sei. Vielmehr wird man in einem solchen Falle geisteswissenschaftlich in einer richtigen Weise denken, daß des Kindes Karma abgelaufen war, und daß im Grunde der Wagen an jene Stelle hingefahren ist, weil das Kind seinen Tod finden sollte; daß also der Wagen nur die äußeren Bedingungen herbeigeführt hat, um den Tod, der im Karma vorgezeichnet war, dem Kinde zu geben. Trivial könnte man sagen: Dasjenige, was des Kindes höheres Selbst ist, das durch die Pforte des Todes gehen wollte, habe sich die ganze Situation, die ganzen Geschehnisse, so bestellt. Gewiß wird es für den Menschen, der im Sinne unserer Zeit denkt, etwas ganz Wahnwitziges haben, von einer solchen Idee zu hören. Geisteswissenschaft muß uns eben zeigen, wie manches, was die materialistisch gesinnten Menschen der Gegenwart als wahnwitzig ansehen, gerade der Wahrheit entspricht.
Was bedeutungsvoll ist, ist aber, daß nunmehr gerade in diesem Falle der Ätherleib eines siebenjährigen Kindes sich losgetrennt hat von der Individualität des Kindes, von dem, was dann in Verbindung mit Ich und Astralleib weiter durch die geistigen Welten geht. Es soll jetzt nicht meine Aufgabe sein, davon zu sprechen, welches der weitere Lebensfortgang dieser Individualität des kleinen Theodor Faiß ist, sondern meine Aufgabe ist es vielmehr, aufmerksam zu machen darauf, daß der Ätherleib ja in diesem Falle ein solcher war, der nur sieben Jahre das physische Leben mit Lebenskräften versorgt hat; aber Kräfte hat er in sich gehabt, um ein ganzes langes Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod mit Lebenskräften zu versorgen. Diese Kräfte, die bleiben im Ätherleib. Und das Bedeutungsvolle ist, daß derjenige, der seit jenem Tode des kleinen Theodor Faiß in irgendeiner geistigen Beziehung mit dem Bau zu tun hatte, den wir in Dornach der Geisteswissenschaft errichten sollen, nunmehr wissen kann, was aus dem Ätherleib des kleinen Theodor Faiß geworden ist. Bei diesem Bau ist ja so mancherlei zu leisten. Wir werden gleich noch einiges von dem sprechen, was heute in bezug auf Inspirationen aus der geistigen Welt herunterzuholen ist. Man braucht helfende Kräfte, wenn all dasjenige, was daaus der geistigen Welt geholt werden soll, wirklich herunterkommen soll. Und da zeigt sich, daß in der Tat seit dem Tode des kleinen Theodor Faiß von dem vergrößerten Ätherleib dieses Kindes-bis in weitem Umkreis — unser Dornacher Bau wie von einer Aura eingehüllt ist. Es ist möglich, wirklich zu bestimmen, wie weit diese Einhüllung geht
Wenn Sie den Dornacher Bau sehen werden — diejenigen, die ihn schon gesehen haben, wissen es -, es ist ein Doppelrundbau (siehe Zeichnung). Hier haben wir ein Heizhaus, in einer besonderen Art nach Grundsätzen der Geisteswissenschaft angelegt, und hier haben wir dann ein anderes Haus angelegt, wo die Glasfenster für den Bau geschliffen werden. Nur nebenbei will ich erwähnen, daß etwa hier das sogenannte «Haus Hansi» ist — das ist das Haus, in dem wir wohnen. Nun ist es merkwürdig, daß bis hier, gegen den Wald hinauf, dann gerade an dem Heizhaus vorbei, mitten durchschneidend diesen Bau, wo die Fenster geschliffen werden, und hier an diesem Haus vorbei, Haus Hansi, dieses nicht einschließend, diese Aura des kleinen Theodor Faiß einhüllt den ganzen Bau. So daß man in der Tat, wenn man den Bau betritt, diese Ätheraura betritt.
Worauf ich öfter aufmerksam machte, das ist, daß sich ja der Ätherleib vergrößert, wenn er vom physischen Leibe frei wird. Daher braucht es uns nicht zu erstaunen, daß uns dieser Ätherleib in einer solchen Vergrößerung erscheint. Und in diesem Ätherleib sind die Vermittlerkräfte, durch die man gewisse Eindrücke aus der geistigen Welt findet, die man braucht, um sie in den Formen und der künstlerischen Ausgestaltung des Baues zu verwenden. Und derjenige, der für den Bau zu arbeiten hat, weiß, was er dieser Ätheraura verdankt. Niemals werde ich anstehen zu bekennen, daß die Arbeit seit dem Tode dieses kleinen Theodor Faiß mir dadurch möglich gemacht ist, daß Vermittlerkräfte für die Inspirationen in diesem über dem Bau ausgebreiteten Ätherleibe des Knaben gegeben sind. Es wäre viel leichter, eine solche Sache gar nicht zu erwähnen. Man könnte ja prunken damit, daß man solche Vermittlerkräfte nicht brauche. Aber es handelt sich nicht um solche Dinge, sondern darum, die Wahrheit zu erkennen.
Wenn wir diese eben geschilderten Tatsachen uns vor die Augen führen, dann bekommen wir einen Eindruck davon, wie es mit einem Ätherleib ist, der sich von einem Menschenleben trennen muß, wenn dieses Leben in jugendlichem Alter mit dem Tode abgeschlossen wird. Nun ist es wichtig, zu berücksichtigen, daß uns eines Menschen Ätherleib nicht bloß etwa wie ein nebelartiges Gebilde bleibt, in das der physische Leib eingebettet ist. Erkennen wir ja auch einen physischen Menschenleib nicht dadurch, daß wir ihn bloß wie eine Masse von Muskeln und Knochen und so weiter beschreiben, sondern dadurch, daß wir ihn erkennen, wie er gewissermaßen wie eine Art Tempel der Gottheit, wie ein Mikrokosmos dasteht. Was am physischen Leibe ist, erkennen wir nur dann im rechten Sinne, wenn wir uns bewußt werden, daß die Formen, in die er geprägt ist, wirklich aus dem ganzen Weltenall herausgenommen sind, daß der Mensch ein Wundergebilde ist mit Bezug auf seinen physischen Leib. Wer die Gefühle empfinden kann, welche ausgesprochen sind in dem ersten Gespräch des zweiten Mysteriendramas «Prüfung der Seele», wird sich eine Vorstellung machen können davon, wie ein einzelner Mensch in bezug auf seinen physischen Leib durch alle möglichen Hierarchien in dieses sein physisches Dasein gestellt ist; wie eine ganze Götterwelt es als ihr Ziel ansieht, diesen Menschen in das physische Dasein hineinzustellen. Nun lernen wir so recht kennen, welche Bedeutung dieser physische Leib hat, wenn wir die Beobachtung der hellsichtigen Erkenntnis ein wenig ins Auge fassen.
Das hellsichtige Erkennen ist ja das Erkennen, das dadurch zustande kommt, daß der Mensch sein Geistig-Seelisches aus seinem Physisch-Leiblichen herauszieht und daß er dann bewußt und wahrnehmend werden kann außerhalb seines Leibes im Geistig-Seelischen. Und es ist im Grunde in bezug auf alles Äußere kein Unterschied zwischen dem Menschen, der hellsichtig wahrnehmend ist, und dem schlafenden Menschen, der auch sein Geistig-Seelisches aus dem Physisch-Leiblichen herausgezogen hat. Dadurch, daß das hellsichtige Bewußtsein außerhalb des physischen Leibes wahrnehmen kann, kann es sich aber eine Vorstellung davon machen, was mit dem Menschen geschieht, wenn er im schlafenden Zustand ist. Zur Erleichterung nur sei diese schematische Zeichnung gemacht. Nehmen wir an, dieses sei das Physisch-Leibliche und dieses das Geistig-Seelische beim schlafenden Menschen. Beim wachenden Menschen ist natürlich das GeistigSeelische im Physisch-Leiblichen darinnen; wir stellen uns also einmal den Menschen in seinem schlafenden Zustand vor. Da liegt der physische Leib und der Ätherleib im Bette, sie enthalten nicht den Astralleib und das Ich, wie sie diese im Wachen enthalten. Aber man möchte sagen, dasjenige, was der Astralleib und das Ich im physischen Leibe während des Wachens vollbringen, wird nicht ganz eingestellt im Schlafe. Für all dasjenige, was der Mensch zunächst wahrnehmen kann, ist ja der im Bette liegende Mensch wie entseelt daliegend. Für das hellsichtige Bewußtsein ist dieser physische Mensch und dieser Ätherleib, der im Bette liegt, aber nicht wie entseelt daliegend. Der Hellseher muß etwas ganz anderes sagen von diesem schlafenden physischen und Äthermenschen. Er muß sagen: Während des ganzen Tages ist die Gegend der Erde, auf welcher jetzt die Menschen schlafen, von der Sonne beschienen worden. Jetzt ist Nacht. Ich rede von den normalen Verhältnissen, wenn man in der Nacht schläft und bei Tage wacht, nicht von den heutigen großstädtischen oder größtstädtischen Verhältnissen. Finsternis breitet sich über die Gegend aus, über welche bei Tag die Sonne geschienen hat. Merkwürdig, da merkt man: die Erde als Wesen beginnt zu denken und die Organe, durch welche die Erde denkt, das sind diese schlafenden Menschenleiber.
Wie die Menschen selbst durch ihr Gehirn denken, so denkt die Erde durch diese schlafenden Menschenleiber. Immer nimmt sie bei Tage wahr - und das Wahrnehmen besteht in dem Von-der-Sonne-Beschienenwerden aus dem Weltenraum heraus, das ist Wahrnehmung der Erde - und in der Nacht verarbeitet sie in Gedanken das, was sie wahrgenommen hat. Die Erde denkt, sagt der Hellseher, und sie denkt dadurch, daß sie sich der schlafenden Menschen bedient. Jeder schlafende Mensch wird gewissermaßen ein Gehirnmolekül der Erde. Es ist unser physischer Leib so eingerichtet, daß er, wenn wir ihn selbst nicht gebrauchen, dazu dienen kann, daß die Erde durch ihn zu denken vermag.
Aber so wie die Erde durch den physischen Leib denkt, so imaginiert sie — Sie wissen ja, was imaginative Erkenntnis ist —, so imaginiert sie alles dasjenige, was auf der Erde selbst nicht irdisch ist, was zu der Erde gehört aus dem ganzen Kosmos. Das imaginiert sie im Ätherleib. Im schlafenden physischen Leib des Menschen erkennt man Gehirnteile der Erde, und im Ätherleib des Menschen, wenn er schläft, erkennt man ein Imaginieren desjenigen Weltenalls, das zunächst zur Erde gehört. Da spielt in wunderbaren Bildern in den Ätherleib all das herein, was aus der Ätherwelt der Erde als Kräfte zufließen muß, damit die Geschehnisse dieser Erde sich abspielen können. So wahr der Mensch als physischer Mensch zur Erde gehört, so wahr gehört er als Äthermensch den Himmeln an. Und nur deshalb können wir unseren physischen Leib für uns selbst als Denkorgan gebrauchen, weil er zum Denken geschaffen ist, weil ihn sozusagen die Erde während des Wachens abgibt. Auch nur deshalb können wir unseren Ätherleib so gebrauchen, daß er uns die Lebenskräfte gibt, weil uns ihn die Himmel abgeben während des Wachens, und weil die Kräfte der Imagination der Himmel während des Wachens in uns in Lebenskräfte verwandelt werden. So daß wir von unserem Ätherleib nicht bloß wie von einem Nebelgebilde sprechen wollen, sondern davon, daß er in sich ein die Himmel spiegelndes, mikrokosmisches Gebilde ist.
Als besonders vollkommenes Gebilde wird uns unser Ätherleib bei unserer Geburt übergeben. Bei unserer Geburt ist unser Ätherleib so, daß er innerlich erglitzert und erglänzt von lauter Imaginationen, die aus dem großen Weltenall zu ihm kommen. Er ist eine herrliche Abspiegelung des Weltenalls. Und dasjenige, was sich der Mensch erwerben kann während seines Lebens an Erziehung, an Wissen, an Willens- und Gemütskräften, indem er alt wird zwischen Geburt und Tod, das wird aus diesem Ätherleib herausgeholt. Die kosmischen Himmelskräfte übergeben uns das, was sie uns zu übergeben haben, während des Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod. Deshalb sind wir als Äthermenschen wiederum jung, wenn wir ein ganz normales Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod durchlaufen haben, weil wir dann alles aus diesem Ätherleib herausgesogen haben. Geht aber ein solcher Ätherleib durch die Pforte des Todes, der einem jugendlichen Leibe angehört, dann ist noch viel, viel unverbrauchtes Himmelslicht in ihm. Daher wird er zu einem Vermittler solcher Kräfte, wie ich erzählt habe. Ganz abgesehen davon, was aus der Individualität einer solchen Menschenseele wird, wie die, von der vorher die Rede war, wird aus dem Ätherleib etwas wie eine Gabe der Himmel, eine Gabe der geistigen Welten. Daher kann dieser Ätherleib in dem geschilderten Sinne inspirierend wirken.
Es würde viel zu weit führen, von dem eigentümlichen Karma zu sprechen, das eine solche Menschenseele hat, die in der Lage ist, eben ein solches Opfer zu bringen. Denn das kann nicht künstlich herbeigeführt werden, sondern es muß mit dem ganzen Karma eines solchen Menschen zusammenhängen, der ein Opfer zu bringen hat, der irgend etwas zu tun hat, das im geistigen Weltenprozeß der Menschheit eine Rolle zu spielen berufen ist, wie es ja gewollt wird für diesen unseren Dornacher Bau, der unsere geisteswissenschaftlichen Bestrebungen umschließen soll.
Nun aber bedenken Sie, daß wir einer Zeit entgegengehen, in welcher viele, viele solche Ätherleiber, wenn auch nicht aus solch jugendlichem Menschenalter heraus, aber doch aus jugendlichem Menschenleben heraus, in der geistigen Atmosphäre sein werden. Diejenigen, die auf den blutigen Schlachtfeldern durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind, sie gehen ja alle in einer andern Weise durch die Pforte des Todes als derjenige, der in seinem Bette oder durch einen gewöhnlichen Unglücksfall durch die Pforte des Todes geht. Sie gehen in einer gewissen Weise so durch die Pforte des Todes, daß sie mit ihrem Tode rechnen, wenn auch mehr oder weniger im Unterbewußten — der Astralleib rechnet in einer gewissen Weise mit dem Tode. Und von einem Opfer bei diesem Tode kann man ja immer sprechen. Alle die Ätherleiber, die auf diese Weise von jugendlichen Menschen in die geistige Welt hinaufgehen, werden unverbrauchte Kräfte haben. Und eine Periode der Menschheitsentwickelung steht vor uns, in welcher Menschenseelen bewußt hinaufschauen können in die geistige Welt und sich sagen können: Eine Zeit ist vergangen, die viele, viele unverbrauchte Ätherleiber in die geistige Welt hinaufgeschickt hat. Und in diesen unverbrauchten Ätherleibern sind Kräfte enthalten, Kräfte, von denen wit geisteswissenschaftlich schon heute sagen können, welche Bedeutung sie für die Entwickelung der Menschheit haben werden.
Wenn man so etwas erörtert, muß man ausdrücklich daraufaufmerksam machen, daß das, was zu sagen ist über diese Sache, nicht etwa von jedem Kriege, der in der Entwickelung der Menschen auf Erden stattgefunden hat, gilt. Was geistig geschieht und durch die Geisteswissenschaft betrachtet werden soll, liegt nicht so einfach, wie es sich die Naturwissenschaft macht. Andere Kriege der früheren Zeiten erforderten, daß eben anders über sie gesprochen werde. Dasjenige, was ich zu sagen habe, gilt von den gegenwärtigen schicksaltragenden Zeiten. Denken Sie einmal das Folgende: Bei verschiedenen Anlässen, bei verschiedenen Gelegenheiten hat betont werden müssen, daß es nicht einer Willkür entspringt, wenn wir heute Geisteswissenschaft treiben, sondern daß es wirklich im Entwickelungsprozeß der Menschheit liegt, daß die Menschen allmählich bekanntwerden mit der Geisteswissenschaft. Wir wissen ja, wie eine jede Epoche der Erdenentwickelung der Menschheit eine bestimmte Aufgabe hat. Aus verschiedenen Zyklen können wir das entnehmen. Und erkennen können wir, daß das Heil der künftigen, der nächstkünftigen Entwickelung der Menschheit nur erblühen kann, wenn wirklich das, was durch die Geisteswissenschaft geoffenbart werden kann, geistiges Eigentum einer größeren und immer größeren Anzahl von Seelen werde.
Aber nun bedenken Sie einmal, die Sie ja zum größten Teil wohl alle von einem herzlichen Enthusiasmus für die Geisteswissenschaft getragen sein werden, bedenken Sie, welche Schwierigkeiten obwalten mit Bezug auf die Ausbreitung der geisteswissenschaftlichen Wahrheiten in der Gegenwart. Bedenken Sie, wie die Menschen draußen in der Welt diesen geisteswissenschaftlichen Wahrheiten widerstreben. Bedenken Sie, wie diese Wahrheiten verlästert werden, wie die Menschen sie als wahnsinnig, als verdreht, als verrückt, als Phantasterei ansehen. Es könnten ja wirklich eindringliche Beispiele gesagt werden, aber alle Beispiele würden doch nur ein kleiner Teil dessen sein, was im Grunde jeder empfinden kann, wenn er für Geisteswissenschaft begeistert ist und sich der Welt gegenüber sieht, von der er so gerne hätte, daß sie die Geisteswissenschaft aufnehmen würde — und die sie heute so wenig aufnimmt. Der Geisteswissenschafter selbst darf sich nun das Folgende sagen: Dasjenige, was mit den bloßen Erdenkräften der Menschheit erreicht werden soll, erscheint mit Bezug auf das, was Geisteswissenschaft für eine Aufgabe hat, schwach, recht schwach zu sein. Aber da werden in einer nächstkünftigen Epoche die unverbrauchten Ätherleiber derjenigen sein, die Seele und Leben durch die Pforte des Todes auf den Feldern der Ereignisse in unserer Zeit haben tragen müssen, und die ätherischen Leiber mit ihren unverbrauchten Kräften, sie werden inspirierende Kräfte, helfende Kräfte in der nächstkünftigen Zeit sein können. Und wir brauchen uns nur - jetzt nicht verstandesgemäß theoretisch, aber herzlich gemütvoll — die Gesinnung anzueignen, hinaufzusehen zu den himmlischen Ätherleibern derer, die in frühem Jugendleben durch die Pforte des Todes in unserer schicksaltragenden Zeit gegangen sind, und brauchen gewissermaßen nur in betender Stimmung unsere Seelen hinaufzuwenden zu diesen Ätherleibern, und diejenigen, welche von Geisteswissenschaft begeistert sind, brauchen nur ihre Seelen hinaufzuwenden zu diesen Kräften - und sie werden Hilfe haben von diesen Ätherleibern. So daß, wenn inbrünstiges geistiges Zusammenleben mit diesen Ätherleibern durch echtes Durchdrungensein mit geisteswissenschaftlicher Gesinnung möglich sein wird, unter den mancherlei Früchten, die im Schoße unserer schicksalschweren Zeit sind, auch diese zu finden sein werden, daß in die Seelen der geisteswissenschaftlich begeisterten Menschen der Zukunft dasjenige einströmen wird, was in den Kräften der jugendlich hingeopferten Ätherleiber unserer schicksalbewegten Zeit liegt. Durch die Seelen derer, die im physischen Leibe in der nächsten Zukunft leben, werden strömen können, wenn diese Seelen von der echten Gesinnung durchzogen sind, die Kräfte der also hingeopferten Ätherleiber. Und himmlische Kräfte, das heißt, Kräfte der geistigen Welt werden das sein! Und ganz andere Kräfte werden dann walten können in der Welt, um dasjenige, was in diese Welt kommen muß - geisteswissenschaftliche Gesinnung -, dieser Welt bringen zu können. Und wir müssen nur die Möglichkeit finden, uns zu dem, was jetzt geschieht, im Sinne der eben gegebenen Auseinandersetzung zu bekennen, dann werden diese schicksaltragenden Tage auch für denjenigen, der in der Geisteswissenschaft drinnensteht, eine tiefe, tiefe Bedeutung haben.
Herrlich, haben wir gesagt, sind die imaginativen Gebilde, die im Ätherleibe des Menschen sind. Und doch sind sie anders, als sie wären, wenn sie nicht durch einen Ätherleib des Menschen gegangen wären. Aber auch auf diesem Felde gilt der Satz: Aus nichts wird nichts! — Das ist nicht ein absoluter Satz, aber auf diesem Felde gilt er. Dasjenige was durch eine Menschenseele, wenn sie durch die Geburt in das physische Dasein tritt, als Ätherleib hinzukommt, das versammelt also Kräfte der geistigen Welt, die während des physischen Lebens verbraucht werden. Diese Kräfte sind nicht aus dem Nichts, sie sind da in der geistigen Welt. Gewiß, man kann sie auch in der geistigen Welt finden, aber wenn man sie unmittelbar aus der geistigen Welt finden will, so ist es schwierig. Man muß viel größere Machtmittel aufwenden. Wenn sie aber einmal dutch einen physischen Menschen gegangen sind, der dann früh gestorben ist, und sich einem darstellen gleichsam mit dem, was sie in dem Durchgang durch den Menschen in sich haben, so ist es leichter, ihre Hilfe zu gebrauchen. Alle die Kräfte, die in diesem jungen Ätherleibe des kleinen Theodor Faiß sind, gewiß, sie wären auch sonst in der geistigen Welt, aber es wäre eine geistige Herkulesaufgabe, sie sonst herbeizuziehen. Dadurch, daß sie auf dem Umweg durch den Knaben herbeigekommen sind, ist das Sich-inspirieren-Lassen durch sie wesentlich erleichtert, ist anders geworden. Denken Sie dann, welch ungeheuer große Bedeutung für die ganze Fortentwickelung der Menschheit es hat, daß dieser Menschheit in der nächstkünftigen Zeit eine so große Menge von Ätherleibern mit noch unverbrauchten Kräften gegeben sein wird! Aber durch den Umstand, durch die Tatsache, daß diese, ich möchte immer wieder sagen, himmlischen Kräfte durch Menschen gegangen sind, befreiten sich diese Kräfte gewissermaßen aus den Gesetzen, innerhalb derer sie im Kosmos draußen stehen. Es ist unmöglich, daß im Kosmos diese Kräfte in einem üblen Sinne verwendet werden, die eben unmittelbar aus dem Kosmos geholt werden. Nehmen wir einmal an, alle die Menschen, die jetzt durch die kriegerischen Ereignisse oder durch andere Verhältnisse durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, sie würden, wenn der Krieg nicht gekommen wäre, nicht eine solche Summe von Ätherleibern liefern. Es würden natürlich alle diese Kräfte auch im Kosmos sein; dann würden sie aber von den Menschen nicht verwendet werden können, weil es zu schwierig wäre, sie zu verwenden. Auch deshalb würden sie nicht verwendet werden können, weil sie aufgebraucht würden in den Leben von den Menschen, die ihr normales Alter erreichten. Das ist ganz bedeutungsvoll, daß diese himmlischen Kräfte durch Menschenleiber durchgegangen sind. Dadurch werden sie gewissermaßen frei von dem gewöhnlichen Fortgang der Entwickelung. Und diese Freiheit macht, daß diese Kräfte allerdings auch verwendet werden können in anderer Weise als zum Heile der Menschheit.
Sie können auch in anderer Weise verwendet werden. Das Menschenleben muß sich im Lichte der Freiheit entwickeln. Nehmen wir einmal an, es würde Ahriman wirklich gelingen, den Gedanken der Menschen und die Vernunft der Menschen soweit zu verdunkeln, daß sie alle Geisteswissenschaft ablehnen würden. Dann würden diese Ätherleiber doch da sein, aber es wären keine geisteswissenschaftlich begeisterten Seelen da, die diese Kräfte in den Dienst des Erdenfortschrittes stellen. Da würden dann Luzifer oder Ahriman eingreifen können und würden entweder in die Welt hinein, die sich Luzifer, oder in die Welt hinein, die sich Ahriman aufbaut, diese Kräfte verwenden können. Bedenken Sie, daß etwas ungeheuer Bedeutungsvolles damit ausgesprochen ist! Ausgesprochen ist damit, daß es gewissermaßen in die Hand der Menschen gelegt ist, in welcher Weise die Kräfte, die durch Opfertode der Welt verliehen worden sind, dem Erdenprozeß einverleibt werden. Daß sie die Möglichkeit haben, das durch die Geisteswissenschaft Angefachte zu inspirieren, das wird diese Kräfte dem Fortschritt der Erdenentwickelung dienstbar machen. Sonst aber könnte es sein — wenn der Materialismus alle Geister ergreifen würde, oder wenn Nationalismus sich in einer rein leidenschaftlichen Weise ausbreiten würde -, daß Luzifer oder Ahriman diese Kräfte in ihren Dienst stellen würden; dann würde der Erdenfortschritt von diesen Kräften nichts haben können. Da geht einem, wenn man diese Zusammenhänge bedenkt, die ganze tiefe Bedeutung der Geisteswissenschaft für die menschliche Erdenentwickelung erst auf. Da lernt man erst sich sagen: Wie notwendig ist es, damit Opferkräfte im rechten Sinne in der Entwickelung verwertet werden, wie notwendig ist es, daß einzelne Menschen, die dazu imstande sind, ergriffen werden von dem, was als Gesinnung aus der Geisteswissenschaft hervorgehen kann! — Und zu etwas ungeheuer Heiligem wird diese Geisteswissenschaft, wenn man sie im Zusammenhange betrachtet mit dem geistigen Werdegang, wie er sich ausdrückt auch in unseren schicksaltragenden Tagen. Die Gesinnung, die uns aus der Geisteswissenschaft werden kann, wird dadurch zu etwas Gebetartigem, das sich zusammenfassen läßt in die Worte: Laß uns nur recht, o Weltengeist, durchdrungen sein von dieser geisteswissenschaftlichen Gesinnung, damit wir nicht verfehlen, das, was sein kann zu der Erde Heil und der Erde Fortschritt, Luzifer und Ahriman im rechten Sinne abzutrotzen!
Unser Bau, er soll wie ein Wahrzeichen für dasjenige dienen, was Geisteswissenschaft der Menschheit als Gesinnung werden soll. Daher ist er so eingerichtet, daß in seinen Formen künstlerisch zum Ausdruck kommt, was Geisteswissenschaft aus sich heraus geben kann. Ich müßte vieles sprechen, wenn ich Ihnen dasjenige, was in jede Einzelheit dieses Baues hineingelegt ist, auseinandersetzen wollte. Das alles werden Sie erfahren, wenn Sie im Laufe der Jahre den Bau besuchen werden, und die Dinge, die sich darin abspielen sollen, mitmachen werden. Nur von einem will ich heute sprechen im Zusammenhang mit dem, was ich eben auseinandergesetzt habe.
An einer bedeutungsvollen Stelle des Baues, da wo er gegen Osten hin sich wendet, wird sich eine bildhauerische Gruppe befinden. In dieser bildhauerischen Gruppe soll insbesondere zum Ausdruck gebracht werden dasjenige, wovon das Bewußtsein unserer Zeit sich im rechten Maße durchdringen muß. Diese Gruppe wird, ganz abgesehen von dem, was dazukommen wird, im wesentlichen aus drei Figuren bestehen. Drei Wesenheiten werden in dieser Gruppe zum Ausdruck kommen. Es wird eine Art Felsen da sein. Dieser Felsen hat einen Vorsprung nach vorne, und in diesem Vorsprung ist eine Höhle. Auf dem Felsenvorsprung steht die Hauptfigur. Diese Hauptfigur, man wird sie nennen können, wie man will, aber man wird in ihr zu sehen haben den Repräsentanten des Erdenmenschen im höchsten Sinne des Wortes. Und will man in demjenigen Menschen, der drei Jahre seines Erdenlebens in sich die Christus-Wesenheit getragen hat, das Ideal des Erdenmenschen sehen, so wird man in dieser Hauptfigur auch den Christus sehen können. Aber das darf nicht so geschehen, daß man etwa vor diese Gruppe tritt mit dem Bewußtsein, das soll der Christus sein, sondern alles muß künstlerisch gefühlt werden. Das heißt, es darf nicht äußerlich symbolisch gedeutet werden, sondern alles muß aus den Formen selbst folgen.
Hier oben ist eine zweite Wesenheit. Diese Wesenheit hat hier ein menschenähnliches, ich kann nur sagen menschenähnliches Haupt. Das Haupt ist wirklich so, daß man sagen kann, ein menschliches Haupt erinnert an dieses Haupt. Denn dieser Kopf ist so gebildet, daß "mächtig ausgebildet ist die Schädelpartie, namentlich die Stirnpartie. Während beim Menschen diese Teile da oben verhältnismäßig unbeweglich sind, ist bei diesem Wesen alles beweglich. Alles ist seelischer Ausdruck. So wie der Mensch seine Hände bewegen kann mit den Fingern, aber nicht diese Partie hier, so kann diese Wesenheit hier oben alles bewegen. Und man sieht es der bildhauerischen Arbeit an, daß da oben alles beweglich ist. Sehr zurücktretend ist bei dieser Wesenheit die untere Partie des Gesichtes. Man möchte sagen, es wölbt sich die mächtige Schädelbildung über das zurücktretende Gesicht. Ich kann nur einzelne Teile besprechen, denn es ist jeder einzelne Strich an dieser Figur von einer großen Bedeutung. Dann ist aber das Eigentümliche, daß eine Verbindung zwischen dem, was beim Menschen zum Kehlkopf verkümmert ist, und dem Ohr bei dieser Gestalt besteht. Das, was als Kehlkopfläppchen darin ist, wölbt sich herauf und bildet den unteren Teil der Ohren. Der obere Teil wird durch die Stirnpartie gebildet. Auf der andern Seite schließen sich zwei an Vogelflügel erinnernde Gebilde an, zwischen denen dann ein Leib ausgebreitet ist, der so ist, wie wenn es ein umgestaltetes menschliches Antlitz im ganzen wäre. Flügel und Kehlkopf und Ohr sind in einem gebildet, so daß man erkennen wird: mit den Flügeln lebt das Wesen in der Sphärenharmonie drinnen, schwingt sich durch den Raum, durch die Wellen der Sphärenharmonie, und das lokalisiert sich im Ohr. Bei dem Menschen ist das alles verkümmert. Dadurch nun, daß der Menschheitsrepräsentant die linke Hand hier hinaufhebt, werden dieser Gestalt auf dem Felsen die Flügel gebrochen, und dadurch stürzt sie vom Felsen herunter. — Sie ahnen: mit dieser Gestalt, die da vom Felsen herunterstürzt, mit ihren gebrochenen Flügeln, ist Luzifer gemeint.
Hier unten, in der Höhle darin, befindet sich eine andere Gestalt. Sie hat nicht vogelähnliche Flügel, sondern sie hat fledermausähnliche Flügel, eine Art von drachen- oder wurmähnlichem Körper und ein Haupt, an das wiederum das menschliche Haupt erinnert. Aber alles das, was an Luzifer mächtige Stirnbildung ist, tritt an dieser unteren Gestalt ganz zurück, ist verkümmert. Die unteren Partien gegen den Mund zu, die sind mächtig ausgebildet bei dieser Gestalt. Und diese Gestalt ist umwickelt von dem, was in der Erde an Gold ist. Das Gold der Erde wird zu Fesseln, welche diese Gestalt dadrinnen anfesseln. Diese Gestalt krümmt sich unter der Wirkung, die von der heruntergehenden Hand des Menschheitsrepräsentanten, des Christus, ausgeht. Diese Gestalt da unten ist Ahriman, ist der durch das Gold der Erde gefesselte Ahriman.
Mit dem, was ich jetzt eben gesagt habe, ist gewissermaßen die Idee des Ganzen gegeben. Aber mit dieser Idee hat man nur hingedeutet auf dasjenige, worum es sich handelt. Niemals wird es sich bei uns darum handeln, die Unart der alten Theosophen, die immer mit Symbolen gearbeitet haben, auch hier zu treiben, sondern es wird sich darum handeln, daß alles wirklich ins Künstlerische umgewandelt wird, was von der Geisteswissenschaft aus zu dem menschlichen Gefühl hintreibt. Daher darf man nicht sagen: diese Gestalten drücken das oder jenes aus -, sondern sie müssen durch dasjenige, was sie künstlerisch sind, durch das, was man in ihnen sieht, das sein, was das Verhältnis des Menschen, oder auch des Christus, zu Luzifer und Ahriman darstellt. Daher kann dies auch nicht mit den alten künstlerischen Mitteln zum Ausdruck kommen. Jede Fingerbewegung an den Händen, die Art und Weise wie die Hände gebildet werden, wird bedeutungsvoll sein, denn darin wird sich etwas Bedeutungsvolles ausdrücken müssen. Man könnte zunächst die Idee haben, daß der Christus die linke Hand hinaufhebt und durch das, was er will, ließe er Kräfte ausströmen, welche dem Luzifer die Flügel brechen, so daß dieser herunterfällt. Und durch die rechte heruntergesenkte Hand würden wieder Kräfte ausgeströmt, durch welche Ahriman gefesselt wird. Man hätte etwas ganz Falsches vorgestellt, wenn man sich dieses vorgestellt hätte.
Um das ganz Bedeutungsvolle, was in diesem liegt, auszuführen, möchte ich an etwas erinnern, was wirklich zu dem Größten gehört, was die Kunst bisher hervorgebracht hat: «Das jüngste Gericht» von Michelangelo in der Sixtinischen Kapelle in Rom. Da sieht man den Christus, wie er die Guten nach dem Himmel, die Bösen nach der Hölle fördert. Man sieht es dem Christus an, wie er die einen nach der guten Welt, die andern nach der schlimmen Welt fördert. Dieser Christus, wie er da dargestellt ist, ist fortan nicht der Christus, den wir erst in seiner wahren Wesenheit durch die Geisteswissenschaft begreifen sollen. Der Christus, der der wahre Christus ist, verdammt nicht, lobt nicht, indem er Zorn, oder indem er gewöhnliche Liebe anwendet, sondern durch das, was er ist, wirkt er. Luzifer werden nicht die Flügel gebrochen, sondern er bricht sie sich durch seine Seelenverfassung, indem er in die Nähe des Christus kommt. Und Ahriman, er fesselt sich selbst durch das, was in seiner Seele geschieht, indem er in die Nähe des Christus kommt. Daher muß die hinaufgehaltene und die hinuntergehaltene Hand alles, was nicht rein seiendes Mitgefühl mit der Welt ist, nicht haben. Der Luzifer dort oben, der kann nicht ertragen, seinerseits nicht ertragen, daß die Hand des Christus in seine Nähe kommt. Und durch das, was er dadurch in sich erlebt, bricht er sich die Flügel, nicht bricht der Christus sie ihm, er bricht sie sich selbst. Und ebenso ist es bei Ahriman. Michelangelo hat noch nicht verstanden, einen Christus zu bilden, wie er wirklich ist. Die Christus-Wesenheit ist so bedeutsam, das Verständnis derChristusWesenheit ist so schwierig, daß dies nur im Laufe der Zeit erreicht werden kann. Der Christus, der durch das, was er ist, die Wesen dazu bringt, daß sie sich selbst verdammen oder erlösen, der wird erst verstanden werden. Der Christus auf dem Bilde des Michelangelo hat noch etwas Luziferisch-Ahrimanisches, weil er durch seinen Zorn die Bösen in die Hölle, die Guten in den Himmel führt: da ist er engagiert mit seinen Leidenschaften. Der Christus hier steht unpersönlich da, und die Wesen verurteilen sich selbst, die in seine Nähe kommen.
Sie sehen daraus, daß die Stellung des Menschen in der Welt, in der luziferische und ahrimanische Kräfte enthalten sind, an einer bedeutungsvollen Stelle unseres Baues zum Ausdruck kommen muß; daß Wesen ausgedrückt werden müssen, die nur in der geistigen Welt gefunden werden können. Aller Naturalismus der Kunst, alles das, wozu die Kunst gestrebt hat gerade in den letzten Zeiten, in denen die Menschen vom Materialismus ergriffen wurden, all das muß gerade überwunden werden durch diese Kunst, die hier gepflegt ist. Und etwas so völlig Neues muß, auch künstlerisch, durch Geisteswissenschaft in die Welt eintreten, daß überwunden wird auch ein Größtes, das bisher möglich war: die Christus-Gestalt des Michelangelo, in dem « Jüngsten Gericht».
Man darf solche Sachen aussprechen, wenn man auf der andern Seite wiederum all das betont, was nicht vergessen werden darf: daß selbstverständlich für all das unser Bau nur ein primitiver Anfang sein kann. Alles ist unvollkommen, alles ist elementar, alles ist nur ein Anfang, aber es soll der Anfang schon etwas völlig Neues sein. Daß alles unvollkommen ist, das kann selbstverständlich gewußt werden, aber hingewiesen werden muß auf etwas, was als Impuls in das ganze Menschenleben hineinkommen soll.
Bedenken Sie nun, wie nahe es liegt, gleichgültig vorüberzugehen an einer Gabe des kosmischen Daseins, die da besteht in den unverbrauchten Menschen-Ätherleiberkräften. Bedenken Sie, wie diese Ätherleiberkräfte eine Beute Luzifers und Ahrimans werden könnten, wenn der Mensch nicht die Möglichkeit fände, sie in das Heil der Erdenentwickelung hineinzustellen. Da haben wir ein ungeheures Geheimnis unserer Erdenmenschheitsentwickelung berührt: das Geheimnis von der Beziehung des Christus-Impulses zu dem LuziferImpuls, zu dem Ahriman-Impuls. Und diese Beziehung des ChristusImpulses zu dem Luzifer-Impuls und dem Ahriman-Impuls wird immer mehr und mehr in der nächsten Zukunft durch die Menschheit verstanden werden können. Luzifer-Kräfte und Ahriman-Kräfte durchwalten die Welt, und der Mensch muß durch sein ChristusBewußtsein werden wie ein Wesen, das wie in einem Boote sitzt, das zwar immer in den Stürmen, die Luzifer und Ahriman erregen, schaukeln muß, das aber seinen Weg findet durch dasMeer, dessen lebendige Substanz aus Luzifer und Ahriman besteht, durch das aber der Mensch sein Christus-Boot dennoch hindurchtreibt.
Nicht darum kommen wir in unseren Zweigen zusammen, daß wir dieses oder jenes theoretisch lernen, was uns Geisteswissenschaft enthüllen kann, sondern darum kommen wir zusammen, daß alles, was in unseren Seelen lebt, erfüllt wird von einer Gesinnung, die aus dieser Geisteswissenschaft erfließen kann. Nicht was wir denken aus der Geisteswissenschaft, sondern wie wir es denken, empfinden, fühlen und wollen, darauf kommt es an. Und ob das Kleinste oder das Größte, was wir in der Erdenentwickelung der Menschheit beobachten können, vor unser Seelenauge tritt, überall kann uns vor Augen treten, wie es für den Menschen der Zukunft notwendig ist, sich gerade mit dem bekanntzumachen, was die Dreiheit Christus, Luzifer, Ahriman bedeutet. Nicht hat sehen können Michelangelo, nicht haben sehen können die Zeiten, die bisher vergangen sind, in der richtigen Weise, wie diese Dreiheit in der Welt dasteht. Aber man wird auch den Christus in seiner Wesenheit erst richtig erkennen, wenn man ihn sieht in seinem Verhältnis zu dem, was in der Welt wirkt wie der Nord- und Südpol: Luzifer und Ahriman.
Mancherlei über diese Dinge wird für diejenigen, die dann dabei sein können, noch in den nächsten Tagen von uns zu besprechen sein. Heute hatte ich auf Ihre Seelen dasjenige legen wollen, was uns die geisteswissenschaftliche Gesinnung so wichtig auch für bedeutungsvolle Dinge erscheinen läßt, die sich in der geistigen Welt in der nächsten Zukunft dem zeigen können, der das, was physisch geschieht, auch geistig zu durchschauen vermag.
O man möchte zu den die Erde und die Menschheit schützenden guten Göttern und Geistern flehen, daß sie Kraft den Menschen geben, damit eintreten kann dasjenige, was geschehen muß zum Heile der Menschheit!
Da oben werden sie sein, die unverbrauchten Ätherkräfte der jugendlich durch den Tod gegangenen Menschen. Aber Menschenherzen und Menschenseelen werden hier auf Erden sein müssen, die so hinaufschauen zu diesen Kräften, daß diese Kräfte durch sie in die richtige Entwickelungsrichtung hineingebracht werden können. Nicht nur darauf kommt es an, daß da oben die Kräfte sind, die auch eine Beute Luzifers und Ahrimans werden könnten, sondern darauf kommt es an, daß unten in physischen Leibern Menschenseelen sind, die ihre andächtige Stimmung zu diesen Opfer-Ätherleibern hinaufsenden. Davon wird es abhängen, in welchem Sinne in die Menschheitsentwickelung die Kräfte einfließen, die geschaffen werden auf den Feldern, auf denen das Blut rinnt, auf denen Opfer gebracht werden, auf denen Schmerzen gelitten werden.
Das ungefähr zeichnet den Anteil, der an dem künftigen Gang der Menschheitsentwickelung aus Geisteswissenschaft werden kann, wenn das, was nur von Geisteswissenschaft erkannt werden kann, wirklich von einer Anzahl von Menschen ergriffen wird.
Was aus den gegenwärtigen schicksaltragenden Tagen werden kann, ich möchte es zum Schluß noch einmal in einigen pragmatischen Worten vor Ihren Seelen aussprechen:
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.
Spiritual Science as a State of Mind The Etheric Body as a Reflection of the Universe
We are currently living in an era of events that must stir the deepest and most meaningful feelings of the human soul. We are in the midst of events that are bringing to bear upon the earth, many, many times over in a relatively short period of time, that which has always been a mystery to our spiritual science: death. We are living in a time that spreads suffering and pain among countless souls, and in a time that we hope will carry within it meaningful forces for the unfolding of humanity's future development. If so much must be born out of pain and suffering, and if spiritual science teaches us that much must be born out of pain and suffering, then spiritual scientific considerations will also be able to stimulate in us some power of confidence, some power of hope, even in this fateful time. And so let us today develop before your souls some considerations which, though not directly, are nevertheless indirectly connected with what can be aroused in us in our painful and stormy times in the way of feelings and emotions.
What we see and feel happening in so many ways in our present time is that people are leaving the physical plane at a relatively early age of their physical existence. It is precisely this that is so peculiar about events such as those we are currently experiencing, that they are calling young lives away from the physical plane. We know that when a person passes through the gate of death, they must surrender their physical body to the elements of the earth, and that when they pass through the gate of death, they are still united with their etheric body, their astral body, and their ego. We know that after a relatively short time this etheric body is separated from the human being, and that the human being then continues its journey between death and a new birth in the ego and the astral body, united with those members of its spiritual nature that it can only acquire in the spiritual world; but that for its further journey in the time between death and a new birth, the etheric body separates from the human individuality and goes its own way. Now we must notice that in the case of a youthful death, this etheric body must be in a completely different condition than in the case of the death of a person who has reached a normal age. We know how external natural science speaks of forces being able to transform themselves, but not to be lost. For the external world of physical existence, natural science fully recognizes the truth that forces are never lost, but only transformed. For the spiritual world, spiritual science must teach us to recognize this as well. When an etheric body detaches itself from a human being who has passed through the gate of death in youth, it is an etheric body that could have sustained that person's life on the physical plane for many decades. An etheric body must be constituted in such a way that it can provide all the life forces that a human being needs until the highest age. When a person passes through the gate of death at, say, the age of twenty-five, twenty-six, or thirty, their etheric body leaves them, but this etheric body still has forces through which it could perhaps have sustained the person's physical life until the age of sixty, seventy, or eighty. These forces are in the etheric body; these forces are not lost. And we must ask ourselves — especially at a time like the present, when so many such etheric bodies are, as it were, entrusted to the spiritual worlds — what happens to the etheric bodies of those human beings who have passed through the gate of death in early youth? - In order to answer this question thoroughly, it would be good to familiarize ourselves with the path that the etheric body of a human being actually takes during the course of life between birth and death.
The outer physical body of the human being grows older and older. This is not the case with the etheric body. As difficult as it may seem to understand, the etheric body does not grow older at all, but rather, as the physical body ages, the etheric body becomes younger and younger, reaching a certain, one might say childlike, stage of etheric existence at the time in which the human being passes through the gate of death at the normal age. So we must say to ourselves: When we begin our physical earthly existence through birth, then that which has united itself with our physical body as the etheric body is, comparatively speaking, actually old and becomes younger and younger during life, reaching its childlike stage when we pass through the gate of death. We could also say that when a person dies in their youth, their etheric body does not become young enough, but retains a certain stage of age. But what does that really mean? An example that some of you already know, but which I must mention again here, can teach us what this means. It is a concrete example from recent times that was experienced by a number of friends.
This concrete example actually refers to a very young child, the little son of one of our members. It was during a lecture evening in Dornach when we learned after the lecture that a seven-year-old boy, the son of our friend Faiß, was missing. It soon became clear that a great misfortune must have happened. In the late afternoon, a furniture van had arrived near the Dornach building, curiously in an area where perhaps no furniture van had driven for a long time, if ever, and probably not since. This furniture van had overturned at a certain point. This happened towards evening, and nothing else was noticed; but the boy was missing. And then, between ten and twelve o'clock in the evening, our friends joined forces with others and made every effort to lift the furniture van, which had not been picked up by its owners—they had decided to leave it until the next day because it was in a very awkward position and very heavy— when they finally managed to lift it, it turned out that the child, little Theodor Faifß, had indeed been passing by at the very moment when the furniture van fell over, and that the van had fallen on top of the child. Now this child was only seven years old—an exceptionally sweet child, a child who had exceptionally beautiful qualities.
In order to shed light on such a fact from the perspective of our spiritual science, I would like to recall a logical consideration that I have often made in our circle. I have often said how cause and effect can be confused by external thinking, by untrained thinking, and that such confusion of cause and effect really occurs extremely frequently. I tried to illustrate this with an example, an example that is only meant to be a comparison. Suppose you see a person walking in the distance at the edge of a stream. You see him fall into the stream, you try to get closer, and you see that there is a stone lying at the very spot where the man fell into the water. You try to pull the man out of the stream: he is dead. What is more obvious than to say: The man stumbled over the stone and fell into the stream and then drowned. But that doesn't have to be the case. Simple physical investigation may teach us that at the moment the man stepped onto that spot, without his fate having anything to do with the stone or anything else, his heart stopped beating, and as a result he fell into the water—so that the heart attack was the cause of his falling into the water—whereas if one did not take the trouble to get to the bottom of the matter, one would say that falling into the water was the cause of death. One would therefore assume exactly the opposite of what is correct.
Such a thing is more difficult to understand in relation to cause and effect when dealing with things connected with the spiritual world. In a case such as that of this child, who really died as a result of such extraordinary circumstances — which were made even more extraordinary by many other factors — one must not think, from a higher point of view, that this is what happened: that the furniture van came and overturned and the child happened to fall under the van; that the van was therefore the cause of the child's death. Rather, in such a case, one would think in a spiritually scientific way that the child's karma had run its course and that, basically, the truck drove to that spot because the child was supposed to die there; that the truck merely brought about the external conditions for the death that was predestined in the child's karma. Trivially, one could say that the child's higher self, which wanted to pass through the gate of death, arranged the entire situation and all the events. Certainly, for people who think in the spirit of our time, it will seem completely absurd to hear such an idea. Spiritual science must show us how many things that materialistic people of the present day consider insane are in fact the truth.
What is significant, however, is that in this particular case, the etheric body of a seven-year-old child separated from the child's individuality, from that which then continues through the spiritual worlds in connection with the ego and the astral body. It is not my task here to discuss the further course of the life of this individuality of little Theodor Faiß, but rather to draw attention to the fact that in this case the etheric body was one that had supplied the physical life with life forces for only seven years; but it had within itself the power to supply a whole long life between birth and death with life forces. These forces remain in the etheric body. And what is significant is that anyone who, since the death of little Theodor Faiß, has had any spiritual connection with the building we are to erect in Dornach for spiritual science, can now know what has become of the etheric body of little Theodor Faiß. There is much to be done in this building. We will talk a little more about what needs to be brought down from the spiritual world in terms of inspiration. Helping forces are needed if all that is to be brought down from the spiritual world is to actually come down. And it is evident that since the death of little Theodor Faiß, the enlarged etheric body of this child has enveloped our building in Dornach in a wide circle, as if in an aura. It is possible to determine exactly how far this envelope extends.
When you see the Dornach building — those who have already seen it know — it is a double circular building (see drawing). Here we have a boiler house, designed in a special way according to the principles of spiritual science, and here we have another building where the glass windows for the building are cut. I would just like to mention in passing that the so-called “Hansi House” is located here — that is the house where we live. Now it is remarkable that up to this point, towards the forest, then right past the boiler house, cutting right through this building where the windows are being cut, and here past this house, Hansi's house, without enclosing it, the aura of little Theodor Faiß envelops the entire building. So that when you enter the building, you actually enter this etheric aura.
What I have often pointed out is that the etheric body enlarges when it is freed from the physical body. Therefore, we should not be surprised that this etheric body appears to us in such an enlarged form. And in this etheric body are the mediating forces through which one finds certain impressions from the spiritual world that one needs to use in the forms and artistic design of the building. And those who have to work on the building know what they owe to this etheric aura. I will never hesitate to admit that since the death of little Theodor Faiß, my work has been made possible by the mediating forces for inspiration in the etheric body of the boy spread out over the building. It would be much easier not to mention such a thing at all. One could boast that one does not need such mediating forces. But it is not a question of such things, but of recognizing the truth.
When we consider the facts just described, we get an impression of what happens to an etheric body that must separate from a human life when that life ends in death at a young age. Now it is important to bear in mind that a human being's etheric body does not simply remain as a mist-like formation in which the physical body is embedded. We do not recognize a physical human body by describing it as a mass of muscles and bones and so on, but by recognizing it as a kind of temple of the deity, as a microcosm. We can only truly recognize what is in the physical body when we become aware that the forms in which it is molded are really taken from the entire universe, that the human being is a miraculous structure in relation to his physical body. Those who can feel the emotions expressed in the first conversation of the second Mystery Drama, “The Trial of the Soul,” will be able to form an idea of how an individual human being is placed in his physical existence through all possible hierarchies in relation to his physical body; how a whole world of gods sees it as its goal to place this human being into physical existence. Now we can really get to know the significance of this physical body when we consider the observations of clairvoyant knowledge a little.
Clairvoyant knowledge is knowledge that comes about when a person withdraws their spiritual-soul life from their physical body and can then become conscious and perceptive outside their body in the spiritual-soul realm. And basically, in relation to everything external, there is no difference between a person who is clairvoyant and a sleeping person who has also withdrawn their spiritual-soul life from their physical-bodily life. However, because clairvoyant consciousness can perceive outside the physical body, it can form an idea of what happens to a person when they are asleep. To make this easier to understand, let us make a schematic drawing. Let us assume that this is the physical body and this is the spiritual-soul life of a sleeping human being. In a waking human being, the spiritual-soul life is naturally contained within the physical body; so let us imagine the human being in his sleeping state. The physical body and the etheric body lie in bed; they do not contain the astral body and the I, as they do when we are awake. But one might say that what the astral body and the I accomplish in the physical body during waking life is not completely suspended during sleep. For everything that the human being can initially perceive, the human being lying in bed is like a lifeless body. But for clairvoyant consciousness, this physical human being and this etheric body lying in bed are not like a lifeless body. The clairvoyant must say something completely different about this sleeping physical and etheric human being. He must say: Throughout the day, the area of the earth on which people are now sleeping has been illuminated by the sun. Now it is night. I am speaking of normal conditions, when one sleeps at night and is awake during the day, not of today's conditions in large cities or metropolises. Darkness spreads over the area that was illuminated by the sun during the day. It is remarkable to notice that the earth as a being begins to think, and the organs through which the earth thinks are these sleeping human bodies.
Just as human beings think through their brains, so the earth thinks through these sleeping human bodies. During the day, it always perceives—and perception consists in being illuminated by the sun from outer space, which is the perception of the earth—and at night it processes what it has perceived in thoughts. The earth thinks, says the clairvoyant, and it thinks by making use of sleeping human beings. Every sleeping human being becomes, in a sense, a brain molecule of the earth. Our physical body is so constituted that when we are not using it ourselves, it can serve as a means for the earth to think through it.
But just as the earth thinks through the physical body, so it imagines — you know what imaginative knowledge is — it imagines everything that is not earthly on the earth itself, everything that belongs to the earth from the whole cosmos. It imagines this in the etheric body. In the sleeping physical body of the human being, one recognizes parts of the brain of the earth, and in the etheric body of the human being when he is asleep, one recognizes an imagining of that universe which initially belongs to the earth. There, in wonderful images, everything that must flow in from the etheric world of the earth as forces so that the events of this earth can take place plays into the etheric body. As truly as the human being belongs to the earth as a physical human being, so truly does he belong to the heavens as an etheric human being. And it is only because our physical body is created for thinking, because the earth, so to speak, gives it up to us while we are awake, that we can use it for ourselves as an organ of thought. It is also only because the heavens give it up to us while we are awake, and because the forces of imagination from the heavens are transformed into life forces within us while we are awake, that we can use our etheric body in such a way that it gives us the forces of life. So we do not want to speak of our etheric body merely as a misty formation, but rather as a microcosmic formation that reflects the heavens.
Our etheric body is handed over to us at birth as a particularly perfect formation. At birth, our etheric body is such that it glitters and shines inwardly with pure imaginations that come to it from the great universe. It is a magnificent reflection of the universe. And what human beings can acquire during their lives in terms of education, knowledge, willpower, and emotional strength as they grow old between birth and death is extracted from this etheric body. The cosmic forces of the heavens give us what they have to give us during our lives between birth and death. That is why we are young again as etheric beings when we have lived a normal life between birth and death, because we have then drawn everything out of this etheric body. But when such an etheric body passes through the gate of death, belonging to a youthful body, there is still much, much unspent heavenly light in it. That is why it becomes a mediator of such forces, as I have described. Quite apart from what becomes of the individuality of such a human soul, as mentioned earlier, the etheric body becomes something like a gift from heaven, a gift from the spiritual worlds. That is why this etheric body can have an inspiring effect in the sense described above.
It would go too far to speak of the peculiar karma of such a human soul that is capable of making such a sacrifice. For this cannot be brought about artificially, but must be connected with the entire karma of such a person who has a sacrifice to make, who has something to do that is destined to play a role in the spiritual world process of humanity, as is indeed intended for our building in Dornach, which is to encompass our spiritual scientific endeavors.
But now consider that we are approaching a time when many, many such etheric bodies, even if not from such a youthful age, but nevertheless from youthful human lives, will be in the spiritual atmosphere. Those who have passed through the gate of death on the bloody battlefields pass through the gate of death in a different way than those who pass through it in their beds or through an ordinary accident. They pass through the gate of death in such a way that they expect death, even if only more or less in their subconscious—the astral body expects death in a certain way. And one can always speak of a sacrifice in this death. All the etheric bodies that ascend in this way from young people into the spiritual world will have unused powers. And a period of human evolution lies ahead of us in which human souls will be able to look consciously up into the spiritual world and say to themselves: A time has passed that has sent many, many unused etheric bodies up into the spiritual world. And these unspent etheric bodies contain forces, forces whose significance for the development of humanity we can already say today from a spiritual scientific point of view.
When discussing something like this, it must be made clear that what is to be said about this matter does not apply to every war that has taken place in the development of humanity on Earth. What happens spiritually and should be viewed through spiritual science is not as simple as natural science makes it out to be. Other wars in earlier times required that they be spoken of differently. What I have to say applies to the present fateful times. Consider the following: on various occasions, it has had to be emphasized that it is not arbitrary that we are engaged in spiritual science today, but that it is truly part of the evolutionary process of humanity that people are gradually becoming acquainted with spiritual science. We know, of all things, that every epoch of the earth's development has a specific task for humanity. We can see this from various cycles. And we can recognize that the salvation of humanity's future, immediate future development can only flourish if what can be revealed through spiritual science truly becomes the spiritual property of a larger and ever larger number of souls.
But now consider, all of you who are probably carried by a heartfelt enthusiasm for spiritual science, consider what difficulties prevail with regard to the spread of spiritual scientific truths in the present. Consider how people out in the world resist these spiritual scientific truths. Consider how these truths are slandered, how people regard them as insane, twisted, crazy, and fantastical. One could cite many striking examples, but all examples would be only a small part of what everyone who is enthusiastic about spiritual science feels when they look at the world, which they would so much like to see accept spiritual science — and which today accepts so little of it. The spiritual scientist himself can now say the following: What is to be achieved with the mere earthly powers of humanity seems weak, very weak, in relation to what spiritual science has as its task. But in the next epoch, the unspent etheric bodies of those who have had to carry their souls and lives through the gate of death in the fields of events in our time will be there, and the etheric bodies with their unspent forces will be able to become inspiring forces, helping forces in the next epoch. And we need only—not intellectually theoretically, but warmly and comfortably—to adopt the attitude of looking up to the heavenly etheric bodies of those who have passed through the gate of death in our fateful time in their early youth, and we need only, as it were, turn our souls upward in a prayerful mood toward these etheric bodies, and those who are enthusiastic about spiritual science need only turn their souls toward these forces—and they will receive help from these etheric bodies. So that when fervent spiritual coexistence with these etheric bodies becomes possible through genuine permeation with a spiritual scientific attitude, among the many fruits that lie in the womb of our fateful times will be found that what lies in the forces of the youthfully sacrificed etheric bodies of our fateful times will flow into the souls of the spiritually enthusiastic people of the future. Through the souls of those who will live in physical bodies in the near future, the forces of these sacrificed etheric bodies will be able to flow, if these souls are imbued with the right attitude. And these will be heavenly forces, that is, forces of the spiritual world! And then completely different forces will be able to work in the world to bring into this world what must come into it—a spiritual scientific attitude. And we only need to find the possibility of committing ourselves to what is now happening in the sense of the discussion just given, then these fateful days will also have a deep, deep meaning for those who are involved in spiritual science.
We have said that the imaginative forms in the etheric body of the human being are wonderful. And yet they are different from what they would be if they had not passed through the etheric body of the human being. But the statement “nothing comes from nothing” also applies in this field. This is not an absolute statement, but it does apply in this field. That which is added as an etheric body when a human soul enters physical existence through birth thus gathers forces from the spiritual world, which are used up during physical life. These forces do not come from nothing; they are there in the spiritual world. Certainly, they can also be found in the spiritual world, but it is difficult to find them directly there. Much greater means of power must be employed. However, once they have passed through a physical human being who died early, and present themselves to us with what they have acquired during their passage through the human being, it is easier to make use of their help. All the powers that are in the young etheric body of little Theodor Faiß would certainly also be in the spiritual world, but it would be a Herculean task to draw them there. The fact that they have come about indirectly through the boy makes it much easier to be inspired by them; it has become something different. Think then of the enormous significance for the entire further development of humanity that in the near future this humanity will be given such a large number of etheric bodies with powers that are still unspent! But through the circumstance, through the fact that these, I would like to say again and again, heavenly forces have passed through human beings, these forces have, in a sense, freed themselves from the laws within which they exist in the cosmos outside. It is impossible that these forces, which are taken directly from the cosmos, can be used in a bad sense in the cosmos. Let us assume that all the people who are now passing through the gate of death as a result of the war or other circumstances would not have provided such a sum of etheric bodies if the war had not come. All these forces would of course also be in the cosmos, but they could not be used by human beings because it would be too difficult to use them. They could not be used because they would be used up in the lives of people who reached their normal age. It is very significant that these heavenly forces have passed through human bodies. This makes them, in a sense, free from the ordinary course of development. And this freedom means that these forces can indeed be used in ways other than for the good of humanity.
They can also be used in other ways. Human life must develop in the light of freedom. Let us assume that Ahriman really succeeded in darkening people's thoughts and reason to such an extent that they would reject all spiritual science. Then these etheric bodies would still be there, but there would be no souls enthusiastic about spiritual science who could put these forces at the service of earthly progress. Lucifer or Ahriman would then be able to intervene and use these forces either in the world that Lucifer is building up or in the world that Ahriman is building up. Consider that something tremendously significant is being said here! What is being said is that it is, in a sense, in the hands of human beings to decide how the forces that have been bestowed upon the world through sacrificial deaths will be incorporated into the earthly process. The fact that they have the possibility of inspiring what has been kindled through spiritual science will make these forces serve the progress of earthly evolution. Otherwise, if materialism were to take hold of all minds, or if nationalism were to spread in a purely passionate way, Lucifer or Ahriman might put these forces at their service; then the progress of the earth would have nothing to gain from these forces. When one considers these connections, the whole profound significance of spiritual science for human evolution on earth becomes apparent. Only then can one say: How necessary it is that sacrificial forces be used in the right sense in evolution, how necessary it is that individual human beings who are capable of this be seized by what can emerge as a disposition from spiritual science! And this spiritual science becomes something immensely sacred when viewed in connection with the spiritual development that is also expressed in our fateful days. The attitude that can come to us from spiritual science thus becomes something prayer-like, which can be summed up in the words: Let us, O World Spirit, be thoroughly imbued with this spiritual scientific attitude, so that we may not fail to wrest from Lucifer and Ahriman, in the right sense, what can be the salvation and progress of the earth!
Our building is intended to serve as a symbol of what spiritual science should become for humanity as a mindset. It is therefore designed in such a way that its forms artistically express what spiritual science can give of itself. I would have much to say if I wanted to explain to you everything that has been put into every detail of this building. You will learn all this when you visit the building over the years and participate in the things that are to take place there. Today I want to speak only of one thing in connection with what I have just explained.
At a significant point in the building, where it turns toward the east, there will be a sculptural group. This sculptural group is intended to express in particular that which must permeate the consciousness of our time in the right measure. This group will essentially consist of three figures, quite apart from what will be added. Three beings will be expressed in this group. There will be a kind of rock. This rock has a projection at the front, and in this projection there is a cave. The main figure stands on the rock projection. This main figure can be called whatever one wishes, but one must see in him the representative of the earthly human being in the highest sense of the word. And if one wants to see in this human being, who carried the Christ being within himself for three years of his earthly life, the ideal of the earthly human being, then one will also be able to see Christ in this main figure. But this must not be done by standing before this group with the consciousness that this is supposed to be Christ; rather, everything must be felt artistically. That is, it must not be interpreted symbolically from the outside, but everything must follow from the forms themselves.
Up here is a second being. This being has a human-like head, I can only say human-like. The head is really such that one can say that a human head is reminiscent of this head. For this head is formed in such a way that “the skull, especially the forehead, is powerfully developed. Whereas in humans these parts at the top are relatively immobile, in this being everything is mobile. Everything is a spiritual expression. Just as a human being can move their hands with their fingers, but not this part here, so this being can move everything up here. And you can see from the sculptural work that everything up there is movable. The lower part of the face is very receding in this being. One might say that the powerful skull formation arches over the receding face. I can only discuss individual parts, because every single line on this figure is of great significance. But then there is the peculiarity that there is a connection between what has atrophied into the larynx in humans and the ear in this figure. What is inside as the larynx protrudes upward and forms the lower part of the ears. The upper part is formed by the forehead. On the other side, two structures resembling bird wings are connected, between which a body is spread out that looks as if it were a transformed human face in its entirety. The wings, larynx, and ear are formed in one piece, so that one can recognize that with its wings, the being lives in the harmony of the spheres, vibrates through space, through the waves of the harmony of the spheres, and this is localized in the ear. In humans, all of this is atrophied. Now, because the representative of humanity raises his left hand here, the wings of this figure on the rock are broken, and it falls down from the rock. You can guess that this figure falling down from the rock with its broken wings represents Lucifer.
Down here, in the cave, there is another figure. It does not have bird-like wings, but bat-like wings, a kind of dragon- or worm-like body, and a head that is reminiscent of a human head. But everything that is powerful in Lucifer's forehead recedes completely in this lower figure, is atrophied. The lower parts towards the mouth are powerfully developed in this figure. And this figure is wrapped in what is gold in the earth. The gold of the earth becomes chains that bind this figure inside. This figure writhes under the influence emanating from the descending hand of the representative of humanity, Christ. This figure down there is Ahriman, the Ahriman bound by the gold of the earth.
What I have just said gives, in a sense, the idea of the whole. But this idea only points to what it is all about. We will never engage in the bad habit of the old theosophists, who always worked with symbols, but rather we will strive to transform into art everything that spiritual science impels toward human feeling. Therefore, one cannot say that these figures express this or that — rather, through their artistic nature, through what one sees in them, they must be what represents the relationship of the human being, or even of Christ, to Lucifer and Ahriman. Therefore, this cannot be expressed with the old artistic means. Every movement of the fingers, the way the hands are formed, will be meaningful, because something meaningful will have to be expressed in them. One might initially have the idea that Christ raises his left hand and, through his will, allows forces to flow out that break Lucifer's wings, causing him to fall. And through his right hand, which is lowered, forces would flow out again, binding Ahriman. One would have imagined something completely wrong if one had imagined this.
In order to explain the profound meaning of this, I would like to recall something that truly belongs to the greatest works of art ever created: Michelangelo's “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. There we see Christ promoting the good to heaven and the evil to hell. You can see how Christ sends some to the good world and others to the bad world. This Christ, as he is depicted here, is not the Christ whom we are to understand in his true essence through spiritual science. The Christ who is the true Christ does not condemn or praise by using anger or ordinary love, but acts through what he is. Lucifer's wings are not broken, but he breaks them himself through his state of mind when he comes near Christ. And Ahriman binds himself through what happens in his soul when he comes near Christ. Therefore, the hand held up and the hand held down must not have anything that is not pure compassion for the world. Lucifer up there cannot bear, cannot bear for his part, that the hand of Christ comes near him. And through what he experiences within himself as a result, he breaks his own wings; Christ does not break them, he breaks them himself. And it is the same with Ahriman. Michelangelo did not yet understand how to form a Christ as he really is. The Christ being is so significant, the understanding of the Christ being is so difficult, that this can only be achieved in the course of time. Christ, who through what he is causes beings to condemn or redeem themselves, will only be understood then. The Christ in Michelangelo's painting still has something Luciferic-Ahrimanic about him, because through his anger he leads the wicked to hell and the good to heaven: there he is engaged with his passions. The Christ here stands impersonally, and the beings who come near him condemn themselves.
You can see from this that the position of the human being in the world, which contains Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces, must be expressed in a meaningful place in our structure; that beings must be expressed which can only be found in the spiritual world. All naturalism in art, everything that art has strived for, especially in recent times when people have been gripped by materialism, must be overcome by the art that is cultivated here. And something so completely new must enter the world through spiritual science, even artistically, that even the greatest thing that was previously possible will be overcome: Michelangelo's Christ figure in the Last Judgment.
One can say such things if, on the other hand, one emphasizes everything that must not be forgotten: that, of course, our building can only be a primitive beginning for all this. Everything is imperfect, everything is elementary, everything is only a beginning, but the beginning should already be something completely new. That everything is imperfect can of course be known, but attention must be drawn to something that should come into human life as an impulse.
Consider now how easy it is to pass indifferently by a gift of cosmic existence that consists in the unspent etheric forces of the human body. Consider how these etheric forces could become the prey of Lucifer and Ahriman if human beings did not find a way to use them for the good of earthly evolution. Here we touch upon an immense mystery of the evolution of humanity on Earth: the mystery of the relationship between the Christ impulse and the Lucifer impulse, the Ahriman impulse. And this relationship between the Christ impulse and the Lucifer impulse and the Ahriman impulse will become increasingly understandable to humanity in the near future. Lucifer forces and Ahriman forces pervade the world, and through his Christ consciousness, man must become like a being sitting in a boat that is constantly rocked by the storms stirred up by Lucifer and Ahriman, but which finds its way through the sea whose living substance consists of Lucifer and Ahriman, but through which the human being nevertheless steers his Christ boat.
We do not come together in our branches to learn this or that theoretically, which spiritual science can reveal to us, but we come together so that everything that lives in our souls may be filled with a disposition that can flow from this spiritual science. It is not what we think from spiritual science that matters, but how we think, feel, and will. And whether the smallest or the greatest thing we can observe in the earthly evolution of humanity appears before our soul's eye, everywhere we can see how necessary it is for the human beings of the future to become acquainted with what the trinity of Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman means. Michelangelo could not see, nor could the ages that have passed until now, the true nature of this trinity in the world. But one will only truly recognize Christ in his essence when one sees him in his relationship to what works in the world like the North and South Poles: Lucifer and Ahriman.
We will discuss many things about this in the coming days with those who will be able to be present. Today I wanted to place upon your souls that which makes the spiritual scientific attitude appear so important to us, even for meaningful things that may reveal themselves in the spiritual world in the near future to those who are able to see through what is happening physically with their spiritual eyes.
Oh, how one would like to implore the good gods and spirits who protect the earth and humanity to give people the strength to bring about what must happen for the good of humanity!
Up there they will be, the unspent etheric forces of human beings who have passed through death in their youth. But human hearts and human souls will have to be here on earth, looking up to these forces so that they can be brought into the right direction of development through them. It is not only important that the forces are up there, which could also become the prey of Lucifer and Ahriman, but it is important that there are human souls down here in physical bodies who send their devotional mood up to these sacrificial etheric bodies. This will determine in what sense the forces created in the fields where blood flows, where sacrifices are made, where pain is suffered, will flow into human evolution.
This roughly outlines the contribution that spiritual science can make to the future course of human development if what can only be recognized by spiritual science is truly grasped by a number of people.
What can come of these present fateful days, I would like to express once more in a few pragmatic words before 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
The fruits of the spirit will grow
Souls will think spiritually
And find their meaning in the spiritual realm.