Brunetto Latini
GA 161
30 January 1915, Dornach
Translated by George Adams
The manifold studies which we have recently pursued have shown that all true Art eventually issues from the secrets of Initiation. We have frequently spoken of this fact, and we have indicated many examples. Great epochs of Art, when artistic deeds raying far and wide over humanity have taken place, derive their sources again and again from Initiation. This shows how Art brings spiritual life into the physical. Initiation opens out to man the possibility to advance from the physical plane into the spiritual worlds. That which can then be experienced, more or less consciously in spiritual worlds, true Art carries down into the physical forms wherein it finds expression.
But the inner connection of the facts to which we are here referring, cannot be fully penetrated unless we also bear in mind that the last few centuries of evolution have in reality eclipsed—made imperceptible to the vast majority of men—things that were not by any means a secret to the same extent, five, six or seven centuries ago, as they are today for those who call themselves civilised mankind.
To point to one significant example, we may choose a work of art which does indeed ray out over the ages—the Divine Comedy of Dante.
No one who lets the Divine Comedy work upon his soul will fail to perceive the spiritual note that pervades what Dante has here expressed. Nowadays, if it be a question of studying how Dante arrived at the magnificent pictures of his poem, people will readily be inclined to use the word fancy or imagination. Dante, they say, was filled with artistic imagination. They are content to leave it at that. Needless to say, I shall not deny that artistic imagination was at work in Dante. But even in the light of outer history it would be wrong to suppose that he created the whole of his magnificent poem, as it were out of the void, out of mere fancy.
Dante had a friend and teacher Brunetto Latini, who, as I think you will recognise from what we shall presently say, may be described as an Initiate in the true sense of the word. It is this connection between Dante and a man who was initiated according to the conditions of his time, which we, in the light of our ideas, must fundamentally point out.
One thing at any rate was known to that time. They knew that man, to reach the secrets of existence, must take the path that leads through his own re-birth. This above all was fully and absolutely living in that time: the recognition that the path to knowledge of the world must necessarily lead through self-knowledge. Self-knowledge, however, must not be thought of in the superficial sense in which people often speak of it today. Who does not think himself able to know about himself? By way of introduction, let me bring home to you with an example, how difficult self-knowledge is even in the most elementary matters. How little a man is inclined to set out for what can truly be called self-knowledge!
I have here a book by a famous philosopher of today—Dr. Ernst Mach, who has written a number of works highly characteristic of the present time. At the very beginning of his book on the Analysis of Sensations, dealing with the connections of the physical and the psychical, the following remark occurs: ‘As a young man,’ he writes, ‘I was once going along the street when I saw a face which was highly distasteful to me. How astonished I was when I observed that it was my own face which I had seen by the chance combination of two mirrors in a shop-window!’
Thus, as he went along the street, his karma led him past a shop where two mirrors were so inclined that he could see himself. He saw the face, highly distasteful to him, and then discovered that it was his own. We see that even with respect to this most outer aspect, it is not quite easy for us to acquire the most elementary self-knowledge. But Mach makes another remark as well. He becomes a University professor; so he has some idea of the appearance of a scholar or a pedant.
‘Not long ago,’ he writes, ‘tired after a long railway journey, I got into an omnibus. Simultaneously another man entered from the opposite side. What a wretched-looking pedant, I said to myself, and presently discovered that I had only seen myself, for a looking-glass was hanging opposite the entrance.’ ‘Thus,’ he continues by way of explanation, ‘the class-type was far more familiar to me than my own special type.’ He had formed an idea in his mind of the typical pedant. He knew that the man, getting in opposite, looked rather like an out-of-work schoolmaster. Not until afterwards did he discover that it was himself. A pretty example of the often very deficient self-knowledge of men, even as regards their outer form. As to the knowledge of the soul, it is a great deal more difficult. Nevertheless, personal and individual self-knowledge is none other than the first elementary beginning of the path which leads through man into the universal secrets of existence.
When we regard the world externally, here in the physical world we have before us only that which belongs to the outermost nature of man—to the system of his physical body. Look out over the widespread environment which we can see on the physical horizon of this world; there we have everything that is related to our own outer body—the physical human body. We know that this is only a portion of our total being. Behind it is the etheric body; but man in the first place is unaware of all that in his environment which resembles his etheric body. Still less does he surmise that which resembles his astral body and his Ego.
Man, to begin with, on the Earth, is for himself the only example—the only document he has brought over from the spiritual world. Therefore he must pass through this, the document of his own being. He must go through himself. This was always known to those who experienced anything of Initiation. Thus it was known to Brunetto Latini, teacher and friend of Dante. Moreover, it is characteristic how Brunetto Latini's Initiation, as we may call it, was eventually brought about. It happened by a particular event. That is what frequently occurs. Fundamentally speaking, every one who sets his foot on the path of spiritual science is waiting for the portal of the spiritual world to be opened to him sooner or later, as indeed it will be. It may be—indeed it often is so—that the entry to the spiritual world takes place by degrees. Then we grow slowly into the spiritual world. Nevertheless, very, very frequently it happens that the world is opened to us as by a kind of shock which breaks in upon our life—by a sudden and unexpected event.
Thus, as Brunetto Latini himself relates, he had been sent as ambassador to the ruler of Castile. On his way back he learned that his party, the Guelphs, had been expelled from Florence. Florence had utterly changed during his absence. This message brought him into confusion. Such confusion of our state of soul which is suited to the outer physical world, often goes hand-in-hand with what becomes the starting-point for an entry into the spiritual world.
Brunetto Latini goes on to relate how as a result of his confusion, instead of riding home, he rode into a neighbouring forest, quite unaware of what he was doing (or so at any rate he afterwards believed when he looked back on it). Then, when he came to himself, he had a strange and unwanted impression. He saw no longer the ordinary world of the physical plane around him, but something that looked like an immense mountain. He did not come to himself again in that consciousness which normally confronts the physical world. He came to consciousness over against quite another world than that which was physically there around him. There was an immense mountain; but these things were such that they came and went—came into being and passed away again. There at the side of the mountain stood a woman, according to whose commands that which arose, arose, and that which passed away, passed away again.
Brunetto Latini now beheld the laws and principles of Nature's working in the forms of Imagination. All Nature's laws—the living and creative essence of Nature herself—came before him in an Imagination, in the figure of a woman who gave her orders for all these things to arise and pass away again.
We must imagine ourselves living in the time of the thirteenth, fourteenth century, when the natural scientific way of thought was slowly entering. In later times, men spoke abstractly of the Laws of Nature; they would on no account imagine that there was any reality of being behind the totality of Nature's laws. Brunetto Latini, however, saw it in the form of Imagination, as a woman, out of whose spirit proceeded all that was subsequently felt as abstract Laws of Nature, like a Word that held sway throughout this Nature, which stood before him in living Imagination.
This woman, he relates, then bade him deepen the forces of his soul; so would he enter more and more deeply into himself. Here it is interesting. Raying out over him her forces, as it were, she gives him the possibility to enter more and more deeply into himself. He dives down into his own being, and the sequence he now indicates is indeed, under certain conditions, the true sequence of Initiation.
The first thing, he tells us, which he now learned to know were the forces of the soul. Diving down into himself, man does indeed learn to know what otherwise remains unconscious in him—the forces of his soul. This recognition of his own soul-forces is a thing from which man will often flee, when he draws near to it. For when we perceive the forces of the soul, it often seems to us that we say to ourselves: ‘What an unsympathetic soul that is!’ We do not like this feeling, any more than the worthy professor did when he saw his own form, which was distasteful to him. We do not want to see. For with the chorus of the soul's forces we often see many a thing we have within us, which we by no means attribute to ourselves in ordinary life. We see it as something that is at work in the totality of our own being—enhancing our being, or making it smaller; making us of greater or lesser value for the Universe.
Thus, to begin with, we rise into the soul-forces. At the next stage, we experience the four temperaments. There it becomes clear to us how we are woven together, of the choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic, and how this weaving together lies deeper down than the soul-forces.
Then, when we have gone through the temperaments, we come to what may be called the five senses—in the occult sense. For in the way man ordinarily speaks of the five senses, he only knows them from outside. You cannot learn to know the senses inwardly till you have descended through the temperaments into the deeper regions of your own self. Then you behold the eyes, the ears, the other senses from within. You experience your own eyes, for instance, or your ears—filling them from within. You must imagine it thus. Just as you came into this hall through this door, and perceived the objects and persons that were already here, so when you undergo this descent into yourself you come into the region of your eyes or your ears. There you perceive how the forces are working from within outward, to bring about your seeing and your hearing. You perceive an altogether complicated world, of which a man who only knows the outer physical plane has no idea at all.
Some, no doubt, will say: ‘Maybe, but this world of the eyes and the ears will not impress me greatly. The world of the physical plane which I have around me here is great, and the world of the eyes and ears is very small. I should be gazing into a minute world.’
That, however, is maya. What you envisage when you are within your ears or within your eyes is far greater, fuller in content, than the outer physical world. You have a far more abundant world around you there.
Then and then only, when you have gone through this region, you come into the realm of the four elements. We have already spoken of all the properties of the several elements; but it is only at this stage that you feel really within them—within the earthy, the watery, the airy, and the element of warmth.
Man ordinarily knows his senses from without. Here now he learns to know them from within. Consciously entering into the eye from within, he then breaks through the eye, and breaking through the eye comes into the four elements. But he can likewise break through the ear, or the sense of taste.
By these four elements he is perpetually surrounded, only he does not know what they are inwardly. He cannot see it with outer organs of sense. He must first get out of the sense-organs—albeit, get out of them from within. He must leave them again, as though by a gateway. He must get out, through his eye or his ear. So he slips through—through the eye, through the ear—and comes into the region of the elements. And in the region of the elements he learns to know all the spiritual beings who are living there—the manifold Nature-spirits, and Beings who belong to the Hierarchies nearest to man.
Then, going on and on, he comes into the region of the seven Planets. He is already farther outside, and learns to know what is creatively connected with man, in the great Universe. And then at last he has to cross Oceanos—the great Ocean, as it has always been called.
The Soul-forces
the four Temperaments
the five Senses
the four Elements
the seven Planets
the Ocean.
What does this passing through the ocean signify? Man can approach the planets while with the last portion of his soul's being he still remains within the physical. But when he thus goes inward through the gates of the senses, eventually he must take with him the very last relics of his soul, so that he may consciously enter the condition in which he is normally only in sleep. Ordinarily, when he is with the planets, he still remains in the body with a portion, as it were, with a fragment of his soul. But when he draws even this last out of the body, it seems to him as though he were floating through the universal ocean of spiritual being.
All this, Brunetto Latini undergoes. He tells how he undertook one after another of these steps, at the behest of the woman who appeared to him in his Imaginative cognition. Then she instructed him that he must go still farther. This, however, was at a particular moment, which again is highly characteristic.
Think of the situation. Perplexed, at a loss on account of what has happened in his paternal city, he rides into a forest. He comes to himself again, but this awakening leads him not into the physical world. It leads him through all the regions which we have here described. Then, however, the moment arises when, not by accident, not by mere chance, but by the definite summons of this woman he sees himself in the forest once more. Having undergone all these things, having passed through the soul-forces and the temperaments and through the senses outward into the elemental world, where he already perceived abundant spiritual life; having perceived the seven planets, and through them the higher Hierarchies, circle on circle; having felt himself at length not on the solid ground but swimming as it were, swimming through the great ocean; now he awakens again in the physical world.
That is the very significant thing we recognise in all these Initiations. The disciple passes through a complete cycle and returns again into the physical world.
Having lived through all this, Brunetto Latini feels himself once more in his forest. Now he is really surrounded by all that is physically about him. And anon the woman is there again at his side, albeit he now has the physical forest around him. She tells him to ride on towards the right, and she gives him instruction, how he shall come to Philosophy and to the four Virtues of man, and to the knowledge of the God of Love.
Mark what a significant truth lies behind these things! A man of today will be quick enough with his reply: Philosophy—with that I am familiar! I have studied the whole history of philosophy. I know what philosophy is, and what it teaches. As to the four Virtues—Plato already named them: Wisdom, Courage, Balance or Moderation, and Justice. And the God of Love, who does not know of Him! You need only read the four Gospels. The man of today is familiar with all these things. But it is precisely the characteristic of spiritual knowledge: we begin to see that we do not really know all these things. We must first go through the understanding of the spiritual world and then return to what the physical provides. Then only do we understand the physical world.
If Brunetto Latini were to arise again today and a very learned man of our time were to approach him—a learned professor of philosophy, a famous man, let us assume—and were to say: ‘I am familiar with the whole range of philosophy,’ Brunetto Latini would answer: ‘Yes, yes, no doubt you are, but in reality you know nothing of it. You must first learn to know the aspect of the super-sensible worlds, you must know what things are like in the super-sensible. Then you can come back again to philosophy, and it will be something quite new to you. Then only will you begin to divine what you now imagine that you know quite well.’
The same thing may be put in another way. After all, who would not think it absurd! ... A famous thinker of our time writes a philosophic book. Surely then he must understand it. How should he not understand what he himself has written? ... And yet, it is literally true: he may have written the book and may yet understand nothing of what he has written. It is not at all difficult nowadays to write a book. Books almost write themselves. One pieces together the things one has learned to repeat. One need not penetrate into the deeper meaning to do so.
That is the greatness that meets us in Brunetto Latini. What others learn to know by external study—he only will claim to know it after having penetrated through the spiritual world. Then he meets it again. He meets again what others imagine that they know of the physical world—the knowledge of Philosophy, of the four Virtues, and of the God of Love.
I should like my meaning at this point to be quite fully understood. No doubt a certain kind of knowledge is also attainable without spiritual cognition. But these things appear in a new light when one has first made oneself familiar with that which lies behind the physical. So do we see it in this example of Brunetto Latini, whom I have only cited to show how outer artistic creation is concerned with Initiation. We see it in this example, in the relation of Brunetto Latini to Dante, revealing how Dante's great work of art is connected with Initiation.
Dante could never have reached his peculiar relation to the spiritual world if he had not had Brunetto Latini for his friend and teacher, to educate him into the spiritual world.
Every age has its own way of seeking the spiritual world. Already in the centuries preceding Dante's age, we find again and again with the most varied Initiates the woman of whom Brunetto Latini speaks—the guidance of man into the spiritual world by this woman. This line of evolution reaches back to the seventh and eighth centuries. Some of them actually refer to her as Natura—the living, creative Being of Nature. Initiates of old describe her living and creative Nature—as the counsellor of nous, of the Intelligence that works creatively throughout the world, Intelligence or Reason that permeates the world. Moreover, they call her a kinswoman of Urania. Out in the Cosmos, nous is counselled by Urania; here in this earthly realm, by Natura.
When we see clearly through this, we are led into still more ancient times, when the Initiates tried in another way to come near to certain secrets of existence. We find the same woman again in Proserpine—Persephone who weaves the garment for her mother Demeter. Thus do the Imaginations change in the course of centuries, showing, however, that the secrets of Initiation are always working in the progressive stream of human evolution.
To come thoroughly near to these things, it is also necessary for us to permeate ourselves with the living feeling, that in all that happens in the world, not only those forces and beings are at work which outer senses and intellect can perceive, but that the spiritual is working everywhere. We must take this into our reckoning. What man today describes—and for some time past has described as spiritual or intellectual development, is the development of forces that are bound to the physical body. This condition has developed gradually. We know that there was in ancient times the normal condition of clairvoyance. This gradually ebbed away and died down, and what we call spiritual today is altogether bound to the physical man. It is true that with the Mystery of Golgotha something great and mighty entered the evolution of humanity—so great that it will only be able to be understood in its fullness in the course of time. What man had hitherto was a kind of tradition. With the last relics of atavistic clairvoyant power, the writers of the Gospels wrote down what had happened. That, as I say, was a last exertion of the old powers. Now we are once more beginning, with a newly awakened, newly discovered power of clairvoyance, to understand the first truths of the Mystery of Golgotha. We must realise that coming ages will penetrate more and more deeply into these secrets of the Mystery of Golgotha. We are only at the beginning, but we are indeed beginning.
The impulse, however, of the Mystery of Golgotha has been working ever since the moment when the life of Christ passed through the Earth. Had the Christ-Impulse only been able to work through that which men were capable of understanding, they would only have had very little of Christ in the past centuries.
I have often given two examples—and I might give many more—to show how the Christ works in the human soul, in that which passes through mankind's historic evolution, but of which men know nothing. Truly, what the Emperor Constantine knew of the Christ-Impulse when he himself, being converted, made Christianity the State religion, was very little. But the whole arrangement which came about by his victory—the victory of Constantine, son of Constantius Chlorus, over Maxentius—was such that we see the Mystery of Golgotha at work on every hand. The Sibylline Books were consulted by Maxentius. I mentioned it in the Leipzig Lecture-Cycle a year ago. They told him how he should act, over against the advancing army of Constantine. Moreover, he had a dream. In obedience to his dream and to the Sibylline Books, he, with an army many times stronger, went forth from the city to meet Constantine—a grave error, according to all the rules of war.
Constantine also dreamed. He dreamed that he would be victorious if he let the symbol of the Cross of Christ be carried before his army, and he did so.
Not through all human wisdom of which one could partake at that time, but by dreams, all these things were decided. Something was working through these dreams which could not be understood or received into consciousness. None the less, it was the living impulse of Christ. Truly, these men could not understand what was working in them—livingly, actively carrying forward the evolution of the world, determining for that time the face of the European Continent.
Again we find an epoch when we observe men—not only with reason and intellect but with their faculty of feeling—wrangling with one another about all manner of dogmatic questions. These dogmas seem very strange to the ‘enlightened’ people of today. The question, for instance, whether it is right to receive the Holy Communion in one or in two forms, and the like ... Yet we know what an important part these conflicts played, for they subsequently worked themselves out in the Hussite movement, in Wycliffe and in others. There were all these conflicts, showing how little the intellect of man could reach to what the Christ-Impulse was in its reality. Where, then, did the Christ-Impulse really appear, in an important historic moment? This, too, I have often indicated. In a peculiar kind of vision, the Christ-Impulse manifested itself in a shepherd maid—the Maid of Orleans. We must know what this signifies. It represents a kind of helping hand, held out by the super-sensible, the spiritual forces that worked into the feeling of man at a time when they could not yet work into human concepts. In Joan of Arc it is particularly interesting to see how this happened. Her inner being was opened, as it were. But it was not that part of her inner life which was bound to the physical body. It was the perception of her ethereal and astral being that was spiritually opened, so much so that we find in her case a true analogy to the events of Initiation.
Recently, you will remember, at an appropriate season we spoke of the story of Olaf Asteson, who slept through the days after Christmas and did not reawaken until the day of the Three Kings, the 6th of January. In this connection we remarked, that in the season when the outer physical rays of the Sun have the least power, the spiritual power enveloping the Earth is greatest. Therefore the Christmas Festival is rightly placed in the season when the darkness is physically greatest. Then it is that illumination comes over the soul that is capable of illumination. Therefore, the legend tells, it was just in this season that Olaf Asteson attuned his inner life of soul, so that it was taken hold of by those forces which as spiritual light pass from the Sun into the aura of the Earth, at the time when the outer forces of the Sun are weakest. Until the 6th of January he really underwent an entry into the spiritual world.
The soul of the Maid of Orleans had to be kindled for a great historic mission. There had to be present in her soul the impulses that surge and weave their way throughout the world with the Christ-Impulse. They had to be there in her soul. How should they enter her? They could indeed have entered her, if at some time in her life she had undergone an experience similar to that of Olaf Asteson; if she had slept for the thirteen days after Christmas and had awakened on the 6th of January. And so indeed it was. Though she did not do so in the way of Olaf Asteson, still in a certain sense she underwent in sleep this time which is so favourable to Initiation. She underwent it in the last thirteen days of her embryonal life. She was borne by her mother, so as to pass through the Christmas season in the body of her mother in the last thirteen days of her embryo life. For she was born on the 6th January. That is the birthday of Joan of Arc. Thus she passed through the very time in which the spiritual forces weave and work most strongly in the Earth's aura.
Therefore we need not wonder, if even outer documents relate that on that 6 January 1412, the villagers ran hither and thither, feeling that something momentous had happened,—though what it was that happened on that 6th of January they did not know until a later time, when the Maid of Orleans fulfilled her mission. For one who penetrates into the spiritual facts, it is of great significance to find it recorded in our calendar of births that Joan of Arc was born on the 6th January.
Thus, even in such facts as shine out far and wide in history, we see how necessary it is to pass through an understanding of the spiritual and thence to return to earthly affairs, for it is only then that we can fully understand the latter.
I have put this before you once more in order to show how old and dry and arid has become what is commonly known as the spiritual and intellectual culture of our time. He who can understand anything of the deeper impulses flowing through the evolution of the world and humanity, will realise that we must now be approaching a renewal, wherein we ourselves must play an active part through our understanding of and longing for the spiritual world. The more intensely we realise that a renewal is necessary, the better shall we find the possibility to co-operate.
With pale and petty changes and reforms of the old, we cannot serve this future. Radically we must renew the spiritual life of humanity. Great as is the difference between ‘spiritual science’ in our sense of the word, and that which is taught about the spiritual life in wide circles in the outer world—equally great will be the difference between the civilisation of the future and that of today. And if the people of today find it so easy to judge the pursuits of spiritual science fantastic, foolish and absurd, it only means that they describe as foolishness and as absurdity all that will dominate the spiritual culture of the future.
Yet, in precisely such a time, a rebirth of the life of the human soul must take place. All branches of human life must find their way into the impulses of this renewal, this rebirth. And among other things, all the artistic life must come near again to Initiation. These are the real reasons why we with our Goetheanum had to make the attempt to create a beginning—I have often emphasised that it is only a beginning—which, with all its imperfections, is nevertheless related in all detail to what the science of Initiation has to say for our time.
The results of spiritual science must come to life in our souls. As a living and vital result they must find expression in the outer form. By this alone can that which is arising in our Goetheanum have its corresponding value. Then it will indeed have its value—not as anything complete, but as a new beginning. Would that there were an intensive consciousness in our circle of the intimate relation that exists between the spiritual science which we have been seeking to acquire for all these years, and that which our Building contains in every line, in every feature. If we ourselves are once filled with this recognition, then we shall be able to say to the world through our Goetheanum what must needs be said. Then we shall look with satisfaction into that future which will be destined to create, out of the primitive beginnings of this Building, something increasingly complete and perfect, it is true, yet in the same style and character.
Dritter Vortrag
Im Grunde genommen geht aus den mannigfaltigen Betrachtungen, die wir nun im Laufe der Zeit hier angestellt haben, doch hervor, daß wirkliche, echte Kunst zuletzt zurückgeht auf die Geheimnisse der Initiation. Wir haben das ja an verschiedenen speziellen Beispielen, wenigstens schon hinweisend, erörtert. Große Kunstepochen, solche Kunstepochen, in denen über die Menschheit hinleuchtende künstlerische Taten geschehen, ziehen ihre künstlerischen Quellen immer wieder und wiederum aus der Initiation heraus. Damit ist darauf hingewiesen, wie die Kunst das spirituelle Leben hereinbringt ins physische Leben. Die Initiation eröffnet dem Menschen die Möglichkeit, fortzuschreiten von dem physischen Plan in die geistigen Welten hinein, und was dann in den geistigen Welten erfahren, erlebt werden kann, mehr oder weniger bewußt, das wird von wahrer Kunst heruntergetragen in die physischen Formen, durch die sich die Kunst zum Ausdruck bringt.
Nun wird man den ganzen Zusammenhang, der hiermit gemeint ist, doch erst so recht durchschauen, wenn man darauf Rücksicht nimmt, daß die letzten Jahrhunderte der Menschheitsentwickelung wirklich vieles zugedeckt haben, unsichtbar, unwahrnehmbar gemacht haben für die weitaus meisten Menschen, was selbst vor fünf, sechs, sieben Jahrhunderten noch durchaus nicht in demselben Grade ein Geheimnis war, wie es heute für diejenigen, die sich Kulturmenschen nennen, ein Geheimnis ist.
Um auf eine bedeutsame Tatsache hinzuweisen, sei das Beispiel eines ja wirklich über die Zeiten hinleuchtenden Kunstwerkes gewählt, der «Göttlichen Komödie» Dantes. Wer wird, wenn er wirklich die «Göttliche Komödie» auf sich wirken läßt, nicht den spirituellen Zug walten sehen durch dasjenige, was Dante zum Ausdruck gebracht hat! Heute wird man gerne geneigt sein, wenn es sich darum handelt, zu sagen, wie Dante zu den grandiosen Bildern seines Gedichtes gekommen ist, das Wort «Phantasie» zu gebrauchen und sich zufrieden geben damit, daß man sagt: Nun ja, in Dante hat eben die künstlerische Phantasie gewirkt. — Selbstverständlich soll nicht geleugnet werden, daß in Dante die künstlerische Phantasie gewirkt hat. Aber selbst historisch, äußerlich historisch wäre es unrichtig, wenn man glauben wollte, daß Dante, so wie aus dem Nichts heraus, aus der Phantasie sein ganzes grandioses Gedicht geschaffen hätte.
Dante hatte einen Lehrer und Freund, Brunetto Latini, und ich denke, man wird aus dem, was wir gleich werden zu sagen haben, erkennen, daß Brunetto Latini im wahrhaften Sinne ein Initiierter genannt werden kann. Wenn wir damit also den Zusammenhang eines nach den Verhältnissen seiner Zeit Initiierten mit Dante haben, so haben wir ja den Zusammenhang, den wir gerade gegenüber unseren Anschauungen aufs gründlichste betonen müssen.
Eines wußte die damalige Zeit: daß man den Weg durch die Wiedergeburt des Menschen gehen müsse, wenn man hinter die Geheimnisse des Daseins kommen will. Und das war vor allen Dingen in der damaligen Zeit noch unbedingt lebendig, daß der Weg zur Welterkenntnis durch die Selbsterkenntnis führt. Nur darf man diese Selbsterkenntnis nicht so oberflächlich betrachten, wie man heute oftmals von Selbsterkenntnis spricht. Wer glaubt nicht, in der Lage zu sein, über sich selbst etwas zu wissen! Ich möchte durch ein kleines Beispiel einleitend Ihnen zum Bewußtsein bringen, wie schwierig Selbsterkenntnis schon in den allerelementarsten Dingen ist, wie wenig der Mensch eigentlich geneigt ist, auf das wirklich loszugehen, was man Selbsterkenntnis nennen kann.
Ich habe hier ein Buch von einem ganz berühmten Philosophen der Gegenwart, ein Buch von Dr. Ernst Mach, der eine ganze Reihe für die Gegenwart durchaus charakteristischer Werke geschrieben hat. Er macht gleich auf Seite 3 seiner «Analyse der Empfindungen» eine Anmerkung, wo er über den Zusammenhang des Physischen mit dem Psychischen spricht, eine Anmerkung, die ganz charakteristisch ist. Er sagt: «Als junger Mensch erblickte ich einmal auf der Straße ein mir höchst unangenehmes, widerwärtiges Gesicht im Profil. Ich erschrak nicht wenig, als ich erkannte, daß es mein eigenes sei, welches ich an einer Spiegelniederlage vorbeigehend durch zwei gegen einander geneigte Spiegel wahrgenommen hatte.»
Also er ging, und sein Karma trug ihn vorbei an einer Spiegelniederlage, wo zwei Spiegel so geneigt waren, daß er sich selbst sehen konnte. Und da sah er dieses ihm unangenehme Gesicht, von dem er dann entdeckte, daß es sein eigenes sei. Also selbst in bezug auf dieses Äußerlichste ist es nicht ganz leicht, auch nur die elementarste Selbsterkenntnis zu gewinnen,
Aber noch eine andere Anmerkung macht der Betreffende. Er wird Universitätsprofessor und hat sich so eine Anschauung gebildet, wie ein höherer Schulmeister aussieht. «Vor nicht langer Zeit stieg ich nach einer anstrengenden nächtlichen Eisenbahnfahrt sehr ermüdet in einen Omnibus, eben als von der anderen Seite auch ein Mann hereinkam. «Was steigt doch da für ein herabgekommener Schulmeister ein», dachte ich. Ich war es selbst, denn mir gegenüber hing ein großer Spiegel.» Und nun fügt er erklärend hinzu: «Der Klassenhabitus war mir also viel geläufiger als mein Spezialhabitus.» Er hatte sich die Vorstellung gebildet von einem Schulmeister, und das wußte er, daß der, der da hereinstieg, so aussah wie ein herabgekommener Schulmeister. Erst hinterher entdeckte er, daß er es selber war.
Das ist ein schönes Beispiel für die oft recht mangelnde Selbsterkenntnis, selbst in bezug auf die äußere Gestalt; aber mit der seelischen Selbsterkenntnis geht es noch schwieriger. Dennoch ist ja diese individuell-persönliche Selbsterkenntnis nichts anderes als der allerelementarste Anfang, der Anfang jenes Weges, der durch den Menschen hindurch in die weiten, universellen Geheimnisse des Daseins führt.
Wenn wir äußerlich auf dem physischen Plan die Welt betrachten, so haben wir ja innerhalb dieser physischen Welt wirklich nur alles dasjenige, was zum alleräußersten Wesen des Menschen gehört, nämlich zum Gefüge des physischen Menschenleibes. Wir können sagen: Wenn wir die weite Umgebung, die wir überschauen können auf dem physischen Horizont, ins Auge fassen, dann haben wir da alles dasjenige, was verwandt ist unserem äußeren physischen Menschenleib. Wir müssen uns klar sein, daß das nur ein Teil unserer Gesamtwesenheit ist, daß dahinter der Ätherleib liegt. Aber was alles ähnlich dem Ätherleib in der Umgebung des Menschen ist, das ahnt ja der Mensch zunächst nicht; noch weniger ahnt er, was ähnlich ist seinem Astralleib, was ähnlich ist seinem Ich.
Der Mensch muß, weil er ja zunächst hier auf der Erde für sich selbst das einzige Beispiel ist, welches ihm aus der geistigen Welt Dokumente herträgt, er muß durch diese seine eigenen Dokumente durchgehen, er muß durch sich hindurchgehen! Das haben alle diejenigen, die etwas von der Initiation erlebt haben, gewußt; das hat auch Brunetto Latini gewußt.
Nun ist bei ihm, bei diesem Lehrer und Freund Dantes, besonders charakteristisch, daß - was sehr häufig ist -— durch ein besonderes Ereignis ausgelöst wird dasjenige, was man Initiation nennt. Im Grunde genommen erwartet eigentlich ein jeder, der sich auf den Pfad der Geisteswissenschaft begibt, daß über kurz oder lang für ihn die Tore der geistigen Welten sich öffnen werden. Sie werden es auch. Es kann ja allerdings vorkommen und kommt oftmals vor, daß das Hineingehen in . die geistige Welt allmählich erfolgt, daß wir langsam hineinwachsen in die geistige Welt; aber sehr häufig ist es auch so, daß durch eine Art plötzlichen Ereignisses, wie durch eine Art Lebensschock, der über uns hereinbricht, die geistige Welt uns geöffnet wird. Und so erzählt denn Brunetto Latini selber, wie er als Gesandter zum Beherrscher Kastiliens geschickt worden war, wie er wieder zurückkehrte, wie er auf dem Wege erfuhr, daß aus Florenz seine Partei, die Welfische Partei, vertrieben worden war, daß Florenz sich vollständig verändert hatte während seiner Abwesenheit. Das brachte ihn in Verwirrung. Mit solcher Verwirrung der äußeren, für die physische Welt geeigneten Seelenverfassung ist oftmals das verbunden, was den Anfangspunkt bildet für das Hereinkommen in die geistige Welt.
Er erzählt weiter, wie er infolge der Verwirrung statt nach Hause in einen benachbarten Wald hineingeritten ist, ganz besinnungslos, wie er nachher in der Erinnerung glauben muß. Als er zur Besinnung kam, war es ihm ganz eigentümlich: da sah er nicht die gewöhnliche Welt des physischen Planes um sich herum, sondern da sah er etwas wie einen mächtigen Berg vor sich. Er kam nicht zur Besinnung in dem Bewußtsein, das zunächst der physischen Welt gegenübersteht, sondern er kam zum Bewußtsein gegenüber einer ganz anderen Welt, als diejenige war, die ihn physisch umgab. Ein mächtiger Berg. Die Dinge waren aber so, daß sie kamen und gingen, entstanden und wieder vergingen. Und an der Seite dieses Berges stand eine Frau, nach deren Befehlen dasjenige, was entstand, entstand, und dasjenige, was verging, verging.
Die Gesetzmäßigkeit des natürlichen Geschehens sah Brunetto Latini in der Form einer Imagination. Die ganzen Naturgesetze und ihre Gesetzmäßigkeit, die schaffende, webende, wesende Natur kamen ihm vor in der Imagination in der Gestalt einer Frau, die die Befehle gab, wie da die Dinge entstehen und vergehen sollten.
Wir sehen, wir leben in der Zeit des 13., 14. Jahrhunderts, wir leben in der Zeit, in welcher die naturwissenschaftliche Denkweise nach und nach heranrückt. Dasjenige, was man später abstrakt die Naturgesetzlichkeit nannte, wovon man sich später durchaus nicht hat vorstellen wollen, daß etwas Wesenhaftes dahinter ist, das sah Brunetto Latini in Form der Imagination von einer Frau, aus deren Geiste, wie in einem diese von ihm auch imaginierte Natur beherrschenden Worte, dasjenige hervorging, was später in abstrakter Form als Naturgesetzmäßigkeit empfunden wurde. Diese Frau sagte ihm dann - so erzählt er -, er solle seine Seelenkräfte vertiefen, dann werde er immer tiefer in sich hineinkommen. - Und nun ist es interessant, wie sie, gleichsam ihre Kraft über ihn ausstrahlend, ihm die Möglichkeit gibt, immer tiefer in sich hineinzukommen. Es ist das Untertauchen in die eigene Wesenheit. Und die Reihenfolge, die er angibt, ist wirklich für gewisse Verhältnisse die richtige Reihenfolge der Initiation.
Das erste, sagt er, was er nun kennenlernte, das waren die Seelenkräfte. Also indem man da in sich untertaucht, lernt man das, was einem ja sonst unbewußt bleibt, wirklich kennen: die eigenen Seelenkräfte. Und dieses Erkennen der eigenen Seelenkräfte, das ist ja allerdings etwas, was leicht der Mensch, wenn er wirklich an sie herankommt, flieht. Denn es ist schon wirklich oftmals so, daß uns diese Seelenkräfte, wenn wir sie wahrnehmen, unsympathisch vorkommen, daß wir uns sagen: Was für eine unsympathische Seele ist das! - Und das will man dann nicht. Gerade so, wie es dem guten Professor gegangen war, als er seine eigene Gestalt gesehen hat und sie ihm recht unangenehm vorkam. Man will sie nicht sehen! Denn innerhalb dieses Chores von Seelenkräften sieht man so manches, was man an sich hat, was man sich durchaus im gewöhnlichen Leben nicht zuschreibt. Aber man sieht es in einer Weise, daß es an der Gesamtheit unseres Wesens arbeitet, an der Erhöhung, aber auch an der Verringerung unseres Wesens, daß es uns wertvoller oder weniger wertvoll macht für das Gesamtdasein des Universums.
Also wir steigen da zuerst herein in die Seelenkräfte. Die nächste Stufe, die man dann erlebt, ist diejenige der vier Temperamente. Wie wir da zusammengewoben sind aus dem cholerischen, melancholischen, sanguinischen, phlegmatischen Temperament, und wie dieses Zusammenweben tiefer unten liegt als die Seelenkräfte, das wird zunächst klar. Und erst wenn man durch die Temperamente gegangen ist, kommt man zu dem, was man im okkulten Sinne die fünf Sinne nennen kann. Denn so wie der Mensch zunächst von diesen fünf Sinnen spricht, ist es ja nur, wie er sie von außen kennt. Er kennt sie ja nur von außen, diese fünf Sinne. Innerlich kann man die Sinne nur kennenlernen, wenn man durch die Temperamente heruntergestiegen ist in tiefere Regionen des eigenen Selbstes. Dann sieht man die Augen, die Ohren, die anderen Sinne von innen, das heißt, man erlebt zum Beispiel seine eigenen Augen, seine eigenen Ohren, sie ausfüllend von innen. Sie müssen sich, sagen wir, folgendes vorstellen: Statt daß Sie hier hereingehen durch diese Tür in diesen Saal und hier die Gegenstände und Personen wahrnehmen, die schon darinnen sind, so kommen Sie, wenn Sie dieses Hinuntersteigenin-sich-Selbst durchmachen, in die Region, sagen wir, Ihrer Augen oder . Ohren. Innerhalb dieser Region nehmen Sie wahr, wie von innen heraus die Kräfte arbeiten, um das Sehen und das Hören zustande zu bringen. Sie nehmen eine ganz komplizierte Welt wahr, eine Welt, von der ein Mensch, der nur den äußeren physischen Plan kennt, keine Ahnung hat.
Gewiß wird mancher sagen: Nun ja, aber imponieren wird mir doch nicht diese Welt der Augen und Ohren! Die Welt des physischen Planes, die ich um mich habe, ist groß, aber die Welt der Augen und Ohren ist klein; da schaue ich in eine kleine Welt hinein. — Das aber ist eine Maja! Was Sie überschauen, wenn Sie in Ihrem eigenen Ohre drinnen sind, wenn Sie in Ihrem eigenen Auge drinnen sind, ist viel größer, viel voller als die äußere physische Welt; da haben Sie eine viel reichere Welt um sich herum.
Und dann erst, wenn man durch diese Region durchgegangen ist, kommt man in die Region der vier Elemente. Wir haben ja von all diesen Eigentümlichkeiten der einzelnen Elemente auch gesprochen. Dann erst fühlt man sich darinnen im Erdigen, im Wässerigen, Luftförmigen und Wärmeartigen.
So wie der Mensch seine Sinne kennt, kennt er sie von außen, aber hier lernt er sie von innen kennen. Also er geht hier mit dem Bewußtsein von innen in das Auge hinein, durchbricht dann das Auge, und so durch das Auge brechend, kommt er in die vier Elemente hinein. Er kann auch durch das Ohr durchbrechen oder durch den Geschmackssinn. Von diesen Elementen ist der Mensch fortwährend umgeben, aber er weiß doch nicht, wie sie innerlich sind. Wie sie innerlich sind, das kann man nicht sehen mit den äußeren Sinnesorganen; da muß man zuerst aus diesen Sinnesorganen herauskommen, aber von innen, muß sie dann wieder wie durch Tore verlassen, muß hinaussteigen durch seine Augen und seine Ohren. Da schlüpft man also durch das Auge durch, schlüpft durch das Ohr durch und kommt dann in die Region der Elemente hinein. Dadurch lernt man kennen, was in dieser Region der Elemente selber als Geistiges lebt: also die verschiedenen Arten von Naturgeistern und diejenigen Wesenheiten, die zu den an die Menschen zunächst angrenzenden Hierarchien gehören.
Dann kommt man weiter, kommt in die Region der sieben Planeten hinein. Da ist man schon weiter draußen, da lernt man schon dasjenige kennen, was schöpferisch mit uns verbunden ist im großen Universum. Und dann hat man, wie es immer genannt worden ist, Okeanos, den Ozean, zu durchschreiten.
Seelenkräfte
vier Temperamente
fünf Sinne
vier Elemente
sieben Planeten
Ozean
Dieses Durchschreiten des Ozeans bedeutet das Folgende: Man kann an die Planeten noch herankommen, wenn man, ich möchte sagen, mit dem letzten Teil seines Seelenwesens im Physischen noch drinnen ist. Aber wenn man so durch die Tore der Sinne hinausgeht, durch die Elemente und die Planeten hindurch, dann muß man zuletzt selbst die letzten Reste von seinem Seelenwesen nachziehen, so daß man bewußt in den Zustand hineinkommt, in dem man sonst nur im Schlafe ist. Wenn man so mit den Planeten ist, ist man noch immer gleichsam mit einem Stück seines Seelenwesens im Leibe drinnen (siehe Zeichnung). Zieht man dies noch heraus, dann kommt einem das so vor, als ob man durchschwimmen würde den universellen Ozean des geistigen Daseins.
Dies alles unternimmt nun Brunetto Latini; er erzählt, wie er jeden dieser Schritte unternommen hat auf das Geheiß der Frau, die ihm in seiner imaginativen Erkenntnis erscheint. Dann ermahnt ihn die Frau, er solle weitergehen. Diese Ermahnung trifft ihn aber in einem besonderen Augenblick, und das ist sehr charakteristisch.
Also bedenken Sie: Der Mann reitet, weil er perplex ist über dasjenige, was in seiner Vaterstadt geschehen ist, in einen Wald, kommt zu einer Besinnung, die ihn aber nicht in die physische Welt führt, sondern durch alle diese Regionen durch. Dann tritt für ihn der Moment ein, wo er - jetzt nicht durch einen Zufall, wie man so sagt, sondern durch die Aufforderung der Frau - sich in dem Wald drinnen erblickt. Also nachdem er das alles durchgemacht hat, nachdem er hindurchgestiegen ist durch die Seelenkräfte und die Temperamente, durch die Sinne geschritten ist in die elementare Welt, dort schon reiches, geistiges Leben wahrgenommen hat, nachdem er die sieben Planeten wahrgenommen hat, durch die sieben Planeten hindurch die höheren Hierarchien, wie sie Kreis an Kreis geschlossen haben, dann sich gefühlt hat, nicht wie auf festem Grunde, sondern wie den Ozean durchschwimmend, wacht er auf in der physischen Welt.
Und dies ist das außerordentlich Wichtige, das wir auch wiedererkennen bei allen diesen Initiationsvorgängen: daß die Betreffenden einen Kreislauf durchmachen, daß sie zurückkommen in die physische Welt.
Brunetto Latini fühlt sich, nachdem er das alles durchlebt hat, wieder in seinem Walde. Jetzt ist er von dem, was ihn physisch umgibt, wirklich umgeben. Gleich darauf steht die Frau wieder da, aber so, daß er jetzt den physischen: Wald um sich hat, und sie sagt ihm, er solle nun nach der rechten Seite reiten. Und da gibt sie ihm Anweisung, wie er kommt zur Philosophie, zu den vier menschlichen Tugenden, und zur Erkenntnis des Gottes der Liebe.
Merken Sie, was da Bedeutsames dahinterliegt! Der Mensch der Gegenwart wird ohne weiteres sagen: Philosophie, na, das kenne ich, ich habe die ganze Geschichte der Philosophie studiert, weiß was Philosophie ist, was sie lehrt. Vier Tugenden: Plato hat sie genannt Weisheit, Mut, Gleichgewicht oder Mäßigkeit, Gerechtigkeit. Nun, und der Gott der Liebe, wer kennt ihn nicht? - man braucht nur die vier Evangelien zu lesen! Kurz, der Mensch der Gegenwart kennt das alles. Das ist aber das Charakteristische mit Bezug auf die geistige Erkenntnis: man fängt an zu sehen, daß man das alles nicht kennt, daß man erst hindurchgehen muß durch das Begreifen der geistigen Welt und dann zurückkommen muß zu dem, was die physische Welt gibt, und dann erst die physische Welt begreifen kann.
Also Brunetto Latini würde, wenn er jetzt aufstehen würde, und es würde zu ihm ein sehr gelehrter Herr der Gegenwart kommen, nehmen wir an, ein ganz berühmter Professor der Philosophie, und er würde sagen: Ich kenne die ganze Philosophie -, da würde Brunetto Latini antworten: Ja, gewiß kennst du sie, aber in Wahrheit weißt du gar nichts von ihr. Du mußt zunächst kennenlernen das Aussehen der übersinnlichen Welten, mußt wissen, wie es in den übersinnlichen Welten beschaffen ist; dann kommst du zurück zur Philosophie, und dann ist sie für dich etwas ganz Neues, dann erst wirst du anfangen, eine Ahnung zu haben von dem, was du jetzt glaubst, ganz genau zu wissen.
Man könnte dieselbe Sache auch noch anders beschreiben. Nicht wahr, wer würde es nicht absurd finden, wenn man sagen würde: ein ganz berühmter philosophischer Kopf schreibt ein philosophisches Buch, aber er versteht es nicht. Das muß er doch verstehen, nicht wahr? Wenn er ein philosophisches Buch schreibt, wie sollte er das nicht verstehen, was er selber geschrieben hat! Ja, aber es ist buchstäblich wahr, daß er das Buch geschrieben haben kann und doch nichts davon zu verstehen braucht, was er geschrieben hat. Es ist heute gar nicht schwierig, Bücher zu schreiben: sie schreiben sich von selber. Die Dinge, nicht wahr, die man nachsagen gelernt hat, die komponiert man zusammen, aber man braucht deshalb nicht einzudringen in den tieferen Sinn der Sache. Das ist das Gewaltige, das uns bei Brunetto Latini entgegentritt, daß er durch geistiges Erkennen dasjenige kennenlernen will, was die anderen durch äußeres Studium kennenlernen, und daß er erst, nachdem er hindurchgegangen ist durch die geistige Welt, dann wiederum antrifft das, was die anderen zu haben glauben von der physischen Welt her: die Erkenntnis der Philosophie, die Erkenntnis der vier Tugenden und die Erkenntnis des Gottes der Liebe.
Ich möchte gerne, daß dies, was ich mit den letzten Auseinandersetzungen meine, ganz verstanden werde, meine lieben Freunde! Gewiß, eine bestimmte Art von Kenntnis der Dinge ist schon zu erlangen, auch ohne geistiges Erkennen; aber die Dinge erscheinen in einem ganz neuen Lichte, erscheinen als etwas ganz anderes, wenn man sich zuerst bekannt gemacht hat mit dem, was hinter der physischen Welt liegt. Und so sehen wir gerade an dem Beispiel des Zusammenhanges des Brunetto Latin mit Dante, das ich nur aus diesem Grunde angeführt habe, wie äußeres künstlerisches Schaffen zusammenhängt mit der Initiation, so sehen wir, wie in der Tat das große Kunstwerk Dantes zusammenhängt mit der Initiation. Dante hätte zu seiner eigentümlichen Art, sich zur geistigen Welt zu stellen, nicht kommen können, wenn er nicht Brunetto Latini zum Freund und Lehrer gehabt hätte, der ihn hinaufgezogen hat in die geistige Welt.
Jedes Zeitalter hat eine besondere Art, die geistige Welt zu suchen. Wir finden schon in den dem Danteschen Zeitalter vorangehenden Jahrhunderten immer wieder und wiederum bei den verschiedensten Initiierten jene Frau, von der auch Brunetto Latini spricht, jenes Hineingeführtwerden in die geistige Welt durch diese Frau. Einzelne - und diese ganze Entwickelung geht ja zurück bis ins 7., 8. Jahrhundert -, einzelne nennen geradezu diese Frau «Natura», die lebendige, schaffende Natur. Alte Eingeweihte beschrieben diese Frau, die lebendige, schaffende Natur als die Beraterin des Nus, des die Welt durchschaffenden Verstandes, der die Welt als Nus durchsetzenden, weisheitsvollen Vernunft, und sie nennen diese Frau eine Verwandte der Urania. Während Nus draußen im Kosmos beraten wird von Urania, wird er in unseren Gegenden, unseren irdischen Gegenden beraten von der Natura. Und wenn man die ganze Sache durchschaut, so wird man zurückgeführt auf die andere Art, durch welche in viel älteren Zeiten die Eingeweihten gewissen Geheimnissen des Daseins nahezukommen versuchten, und dann finden wir in älteren Zeiten diese Frau wieder in Proserpina, in der Persephone, die der Mutter Demeter das Gewand webt. So verändern sich die Imaginationen im Verlaufe der Jahrhunderte, aber aus all diesen Imaginationen müssen wir entnehmen, daß das, was im fortlaufenden Strom der Menschheit gewirkt hat, eben die Geheimnisse der Initiation sind.
Um diesen Dingen recht nahezukommen, gehört allerdings dazu, daß man sich durchdringt mit dem lebendigen Gefühle, daß in allem, was in der Welt geschieht, nicht nur diejenigen Kräfte und Wesenhaftigkeiten wirksam sind, welche die äußeren Sinne und der äußere Verstand wahrnehmen können, sondern daß überall das Geistige wirksam ist. Wir müssen aber rechnen damit, daß dasjenige, was der Mensch heute, und schon seit langer Zeit, «geistige Entwickelung» nennt, ja nichts anderes ist als die Entwickelung jener Kräfte, die an die physische Leiblichkeit gebunden sind. Man nennt ja heute vielfach geistige Entwickelung die Entwickelung der Kräfte, die an die physische Leiblichkeit gebunden sind. Das hat sich nach und nach entwickelt. Wir wissen ja, daß in alten Zeiten Hellsehen als der normale menschliche Zustand vorhanden war. Dieses ist allmählich abgeflutet und abgedämmert, und das, was wir heute geistige Entwickelung nennen, ist etwas, was durchaus an den physischen Menschen gebunden ist.
In der Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha trat allerdings mit diesem Mysterium von Golgatha etwas in die menschliche Entwickelung ein, das groß, so gewaltig ist, daß es erst nach und nach ganz wird begriffen werden können. Was der Mensch bisher hatte, war eine Art Tradition. Mit dem Aufwand der letzten Reste atavistischer Hellseherkraft haben die Evangelienschreiber aufgezeichnet, was geschehen ist; aber das ist, wie gesagt, ein letzter Aufwand. Und jetzt fangen wir an, mit der neuerschlossenen Hellseherkraft die ersten Wahrheiten des Mysteriums von Golgatha wiederum zu begreifen. Wir müssen begreifen, daß die kommenden Zeiten tiefer und tiefer hineindringen werden in diese Geheimnisse des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Wir stehen durchaus erst am Anfang davon. Doch wir fangen eben an. Gewirkt hat der Impuls des Mysteriums von Golgatha aber seit jenem Zeitpunkt, seit dem das Christus-Leben durch die Erde durchgegangen ist. Hätten die Menschen vom Christentum - ich habe das schon öfter betont - nur dasjenige gehabt, was sie einsehen können, dann hätten sie nicht viel vom Christentum gehabt. Hätte der Christus-Impuls nur durch dasjenige wirken können, was sie haben begreifen können, dann hätten sie in den verflossenen Jahrhunderten wirklich recht wenig von dem Christus gehabt.
Ich habe öfter zwei Beispiele angeführt - ich könnte viele anführen -, aus denen wir sehen, wie der Christus wirkt in der menschlichen Seele, in dem, was also durch die historische Entwickelung der Menschheit durchgeht, von dem die Menschen aber nichts wissen können. Denn wahrhaftig, das, was der Kaiser Konstantin gewußt hat vom ChristusImpuls, als er selbst sich zum Christentum bekehrt hat und das Christentum zur Staatsreligion gemacht hat, war sicher herzlich wenig. Aber dadurch, daß Konstantin, der Sohn des Constantins Chlorus, des Blassen, den Sieg errungen hat über Maxentius, wurde in Rom der Anstoß zur Einführung des Christentums gegeben. Die ganze Einrichtung ist so, daß spezielle Kräfte zugrunde liegen, so daß überall dieser ChristusImpuls wirkt. Die Sibyllinischen Bücher wurden von Maxentius zu Rate gezogen. Sie gaben ihm die Auskunft - ich habe das zum Beispiel im Leipziger Zyklus vor einem Jahre erwähnt -, wie er es machen sollte gegenüber dem heranrückenden Heere des Konstantin. Aber auch einen Traum hatte er. Diesem Traum und den Sibyllinischen Büchern folgend, ging er mit dem Heer, das viermal stärker war als das Heer des Konstantin, aus der Stadt dem Konstantin entgegen, was nach allen Kriegsregeln ein Fehler war.
Konstantin träumte auch davon, daß er siegen würde, wenn er seinem Heere vorantragen lassen würde das Symbolum des Kreuzes Christi, was er auch tat. Nicht durch alle menschliche Weisheit, deren man damals hatte teilhaftig werden können, sondern durch Träume wurde alles entschieden. Aber durch die Träume hindurch wirkte etwas, was nicht begriffen werden konnte, was aber doch der lebendige ChristusImpuls war. Wirklich, es konnten die Menschen nicht verstehen, was in ihnen wirksam, tätig, lebendig wirkte, und was die Weltentwickelung weiter brachte, was dazumal dem europäischen Kontinent sein Antlitz gab.
Und wiederum finden wir eine Zeit, in welcher wir sehen können, wie die Menschen mit ihrer Vernunft, mit ihrem Verstand, auch mit ihrem Gefühlsvermögen sich herumzanken über allerlei Dogmen, Dogmen, die heute den Aufgeklärten recht sonderbar vorkommen: ob es richtig sei, die Kommunion unter einer oder unter zwei Gestalten zu nehmen und so weiter. Wir wissen, mit welcher Heftigkeit diese Streitigkeiten spielten, die dann später im Hussitismus, bei Wiclif und so weiter, zum Austrag gekommen sind. Aber solche Streitigkeiten gab es immer. Sie sind ein Beweis dafür, wie wenig heranreichte der Verstand des Menschen an dasjenige, was der Christus-Impuls wirklich war.
Wo aber kam in einem wichtigen Augenblick der Christus-Impuls wirklich zum Vorschein? Ich habe auch darauf öfter hingewiesen. In einem Hirtenmädchen, in der Jungfrau von Orleans kam er in einer Art Schau zum Vorschein. Und nun müssen wir uns klar sein, daß das eine Art Nachhilfe ist der übersinnlichen, der spirituellen Kräfte, die da hereinwirken in das Gefühl der Menschen in einer Zeit, wo sie noch nicht in die menschlichen Begriffe hereinwirken konnten.
Bei Jeanne d’Arc war die Sache ja ganz besonders interessant. Ihr Inneres war aufgeschlossen; aber nicht dasjenige war aufgeschlossen, was an den physischen Leib gebunden ist, sondern aufgeschlossen war das Wahrnehmen ihres ätherischen, ihres astralischen Wesens. Aber es war so aufgeschlossen, daß wir in der Tat ein Analogon bei ihr finden für die Initiation. Inwiefern?
Nun, erinnern Sie sich einmal, wie wir neulich in einem gehörigen Zeitpunkt hier zum Vortrage gebracht haben die Geschichte von Olaf Åsteson: wie Olaf Åsteson die Tage nach Weihnachten durchschlief und erst wieder aufwachte am Dreikönigstag, am 6. Januar. Wir haben daran gewisse Bemerkungen geknüpft: daß in der Jahreszeit, wo die äußeren physischen Sonnenstrahlen die geringste Kraft haben, die geistige Kraft, welche die Erde umhüllt, die größte ist. Deshalb ist das Weihnachtsfest mit großem Recht in die Zeit gelegt, in der physisch die größte Finsternis ist. In der Finsternis kommt die geistige Erleuchtung über die menschliche Seele, die der Erleuchtung fähig ist. Deshalb wird uns die Legende von Olaf Åsteson erzählt: wie er gerade in der Zeit sein Seelisch-Inneres stimmt so, daß die Kräfte, die als geistig-spirituelle Lichtkräfte von der Sonne hineingehen in die Erdenaura in der Zeit, wo die äußere Sonnenkraft am schwächsten ist, seine Seele ergreifen, und er wirklich bis in die Zeit des 6. Januar durchmacht dasjenige, was man nennen kann: ein Hereinschreiten in die geistige Welt.
Für eine große historische Mission soll die Jungfrau von Orleans angeregt werden. In ihrer Seele sollten die Impulse anwesend sein, die mit dem Christus-Impuls durch die Welt wallen und wogen. Die sollten darinnen sein in ihrer Seele. Wie konnten sie hineinkommen? Sie hätten hineinkommen können, wenn die Jungfrau von Orleans zu irgendeiner Zeit ihres Lebens etwas Ähnliches durchgemacht hätte wie Olaf Åsteson: wenn sie geschlafen hätte die dreizehn Tage nach Weihnachten und am 6. Januar aufgewacht wäre. Das hat sie allerdings nicht getan wie Olaf Åsteson; aber in gewissem Sinne hat sie in einem Schlafzustand durchgemacht diese Zeit, die der Initiation günstig ist, in den letzten dreizehn Tagen ihrer Embryonalzeit. Sie wurde von ihrer Mutter so getragen, daß sie durchmachte in den letzten dreizehn Tagen ihrer Embryonalzeit die Weihnachtszeit im Leibe ihrer Mutter, und daß sie am 6. Januar geboren wurde: denn das ist der Geburtstag der Jungfrau von Orleans. Das ist ein Hindurchgehen gerade durch diejenige Zeit, in der die geistigen Kräfte besonders stark in der Erdenaura walten.
Daher brauchen wir uns auch nicht zu verwundern, wenn die äußeren Dokumente es selbst feststellen, daß die Dorfbewohner an jenem 6. Januar 1412 durcheinandergerannt sind, gefühlt haben, daß etwas geschehen ist. Was denn eigentlich geschehen war an diesen 6. Januar, wußte man allerdings erst später, als die Jungfrau von Orleans ihre Mission auszuführen hatte. Für denjenigen, der die geistigen Zusammenhänge durchschaut, bedeutet es etwas Ungeheures, daß in unserem Geburtskalender eingeschrieben steht, daß Jeanne d’Arc am 6. Januar geboren ist.
Die Zusammenhänge in der Welt sind eben tief, und der Mensch, der aufgeklärt ist, kann auch wissen - er braucht es ja nur nachzuschauen im Konversationslexikon -, wann die Jungfrau von Orleans geboren ist. Aber er weiß damit natürlich nur das Allerwenigste. Erst derjenige, der die Bedeutung des 6. Januar durch die Geisteswissenschaft kennt, lernt die ganze Bedeutung dieses Faktums erkennen.
So sehen wir selbst bei so weithin leuchtenden Tatsachen, wie man gleichsam hindurchgehen muß durch ein Begreifen der geistigen Angelegenheiten, wie man dann wiederum zurückkommen muß zu den irdischen Angelegenheiten und diese dann erst im vollen Sinne des Wortes verstehen kann.
Auch diese Betrachtung habe ich wiederum aus dem Grunde angestellt, um zu zeigen, daß wirklich dasjenige, was man heute gemeiniglich Geisteskultur nennt, alt geworden ist, dürr und trocken geworden ist, und wie derjenige, der irgend etwas begreift von den tieferen Impulsen, die durch die Welt- und Menschheitsentwickelung gehen, sich klar werden muß, daß wir vor einer Erneuerung stehen müssen, an der wir selber teilnehmen durch unser Begreifen, teilnehmen durch unsere Sehnsucht nach der spirituellen Welt. Und je intensiver wir uns vorstellen, daß eine Erneuerung eintreten muß, desto besser werden wir auch die Möglichkeit finden, mitzuwirken an einer solchen Erneuerung.
Mit dem bloßen kleinlichen Verändern und Reformieren des Alten ist für die Zukunft nicht mehr gedient; es handelt sich um eine radikale Erneuerung desjenigen, was man menschliches Geistesleben nennen kann. Denn so verschieden dasjenige ist, was Geisteswissenschaft in unserem Sinne genannt wird, von dem, was heute in den weitesten Kreisen draußen über das geistige Leben gelehrt wird, so verschieden wird die Zukunftskultur von der Kultur der Gegenwart sein. Und wenn heute die Menschen leicht finden, daß dasjenige, was Geisteswissenschaft treibt, eine Phantastik, vielleicht eine Narretei ist, so bedeutet das nichts Geringeres, als daß die Menschen der Gegenwart alles, was die Geisteskultur der Zukunft beherrschen wird, zugleich eine Phantasterei, eine Narretei nennen.
In solcher Zeit aber muß eine Wiedergeburt des menschlichen Seelenlebens stattfinden. Da müssen sich alle Zweige des menschlichen Lebens in den Impuls dieser Erneuerung, dieser Wiedergeburt hineinleben. Da muß auch alles Künstlerische wiederum nahe an die Initiation herankommen. Und damit haben wir die Gründe angegeben, warum einmal versucht werden mußte, in unserem Dornacher Bau ein Anfangswerk zu schaffen, das bei allen seinen Unvollkommenheiten dennoch in allen seinen Einzelheiten zusammenhängt mit dem, was die Wissenschaft der Initiation für unsere Gegenwart zu sagen hat.
Nur dadurch, daß die Ergebnisse der Geisteswissenschaft lebendig in unseren Seelen werden und als lebendiges Ergebnis in der äußeren Form zum Ausdruck kommen, nur dadurch hat dasjenige, was in unserem Bau entsteht, seinen entsprechenden Wert, und wird ihn haben als Ausgangspunkt, nicht als etwas, was schon vollendet ist. Man möchte wünschen, daß die Sache so angesehen wird und daß insbesondere in unserem Kreise intensiv das Bewußtsein vorhanden ist: Es besteht ein. inniger Zusammenhang zwischen dem, was wir die Jahre hindurch uns aneignen wollten als Geisteswissenschaft, und dem, was in jeder Linie, in jeder Einzelheit unseres Baues enthalten ist. Dann, wenn wir selber von dieser Erkenntnis durchdrungen sind, werden wir durch unseren Bau der Welt dasjenige sagen können, was der Welt notwendigerweise gesagt werden muß. Und dann werden wir mit Befriedigung in die Zukunft sehen können, die aus.den elementaren, primitiven Anfängen dieses Dornacher Baues heraus immer Vollkommeneres und Vollkommeneres - aber in seiner Art - wird zu schaffen haben.
Third lecture
Basically, the many different thoughts we've shared here over time show that real, true art ultimately goes back to the mysteries of initiation. We have already discussed this, at least in outline, using various specific examples. Great artistic epochs, those artistic epochs in which artistic deeds shine forth over humanity, draw their artistic sources again and again from initiation. This points to how art brings spiritual life into physical life. Initiation opens up the possibility for human beings to progress from the physical plane into the spiritual worlds, and what can then be experienced in the spiritual worlds, more or less consciously, is carried down by true art into the physical forms through which art expresses itself.
Now, the whole connection that is meant here can only be truly understood if one takes into account that the last centuries of human development have really covered up a great deal, making it invisible and imperceptible to the vast majority of people, which even five, six, or seven centuries ago was by no means as much of a mystery as it is today for those who call themselves cultured people.
To point out a significant fact, let us take the example of a work of art that has truly shone down through the ages, Dante's “Divine Comedy.” Who, when they truly allow the “Divine Comedy” to work on them, will not see the spiritual force at work in what Dante has expressed! Today, when it comes to explaining how Dante arrived at the grandiose images of his poem, people are inclined to use the word “imagination” and be satisfied with saying: Well, Dante's artistic imagination was at work. Of course, it cannot be denied that artistic imagination was at work in Dante. But even historically, externally historically, it would be incorrect to believe that Dante created his entire magnificent poem out of nothing, out of fantasy.
Dante had a teacher and friend, Brunetto Latini, and I think you will see from what we are about to say that Brunetto Latini can truly be called an initiate. So if we have this connection between an initiate, according to the conditions of his time, and Dante, then we have the connection that we must emphasize most thoroughly in relation to our views.
One thing was known at that time: that one must follow the path of human rebirth if one wants to discover the secrets of existence. And it was still very much alive at that time that the path to knowledge of the world leads through self-knowledge. But this self-knowledge must not be viewed as superficially as it is often spoken of today. Who does not believe that they are capable of knowing something about themselves? I would like to begin with a small example to make you aware of how difficult self-knowledge is even in the most elementary things, how little human beings are actually inclined to really pursue what can be called self-knowledge.
I have here a book by a very famous contemporary philosopher, a book by Dr. Ernst Mach, who has written a whole series of works that are quite characteristic of the present day. On page 3 of his “Analysis of Sensations,” he makes a remark about the connection between the physical and the psychological, a remark that is quite characteristic. He says: “As a young man, I once saw a face in profile on the street that was extremely unpleasant and repulsive to me. I was quite startled when I realized that it was my own, which I had perceived through two mirrors tilted toward each other as I passed by a mirrored wall.”
So he walked along, and his karma carried him past a mirror stand where two mirrors were positioned at an angle so that he could see himself. And there he saw this unpleasant face, which he then discovered was his own. So even in relation to this most external aspect, it is not easy to gain even the most elementary self-knowledge.
But the person concerned makes another remark. He becomes a university professor and has formed an idea of what a higher schoolmaster looks like. “Not long ago, after a strenuous night train journey, I got into a bus, very tired, just as a man was getting in from the other side. ‘What a down-and-out schoolmaster is getting in,’ I thought. It was me, because there was a large mirror opposite me.” And now he adds by way of explanation: “The class habitus was therefore much more familiar to me than my special habitus.” He had formed an idea of a schoolmaster, and he knew that the man who got in looked like a down-and-out schoolmaster. Only afterwards did he discover that it was himself.
This is a fine example of the often rather lacking self-knowledge, even with regard to one's outward appearance; but with spiritual self-knowledge it is even more difficult. Nevertheless, this individual, personal self-knowledge is nothing other than the most elementary beginning, the beginning of that path which leads through human beings into the vast, universal mysteries of existence.
When we look at the world externally on the physical plane, we really have within this physical world only that which belongs to the outermost essence of the human being, namely the structure of the physical human body. We can say that when we look at the wide surroundings that we can see on the physical horizon, we have everything that is related to our outer physical human body. We must be clear that this is only a part of our total being, that behind it lies the etheric body. But what is similar to the etheric body in the environment of the human being, the human being does not initially sense; even less does he sense what is similar to his astral body, what is similar to his I.
Because human beings are initially the only example here on earth that provides them with evidence of the spiritual world, they must go through this evidence themselves; they must go through themselves! All those who have experienced initiation have known this; Brunetto Latini also knew this.
Now, what is particularly characteristic of him, this teacher and friend of Dante, is that — as is very often the case — what is called initiation is triggered by a special event. Basically, everyone who embarks on the path of spiritual science expects that sooner or later the gates of the spiritual worlds will open for them. And they will. It can happen, and often does, that entering the spiritual world is a gradual process, that we slowly grow into the spiritual world; but very often it is also the case that the spiritual world is opened to us through a kind of sudden event, like a kind of shock that comes upon us. And so Brunetto Latini himself tells how he was sent as an envoy to the ruler of Castile, how he returned, how he learned on the way that his party, the Guelphs, had been expelled from Florence, that Florence had completely changed during his absence. This confused him. Such confusion of the outer, physical state of mind is often connected with what forms the starting point for entering the spiritual world.
He goes on to tell how, as a result of his confusion, he rode into a neighboring forest instead of home, completely unconscious, as he later had to believe in his memory. When he came to his senses, it was very strange to him: he did not see the usual world of the physical plane around him, but saw something like a mighty mountain before him. He did not come to his senses in the consciousness that initially faces the physical world, but came to consciousness facing a world completely different from the one that physically surrounded him. A mighty mountain. But things came and went, arose and passed away. And at the side of this mountain stood a woman, at whose command what arose arose, and what passed away passed away.
Brunetto Latini saw the lawfulness of natural events in the form of an imagination. All the laws of nature and their regularity, the creative, weaving, existing nature appeared to him in his imagination in the form of a woman who gave orders as to how things should come into being and pass away.
We see that we are living in the 13th and 14th centuries, a time in which scientific thinking is gradually gaining ground. What was later abstractly called the laws of nature, which people later refused to believe had any essential substance behind them, Brunetto Latini saw in the form of the imagination of a woman, from whose mind, as in a word that he also imagined to rule nature, emerged what was later perceived in abstract form as the laws of nature. This woman then told him, he recounts, that he should deepen his soul forces, and then he would go deeper and deeper into himself. And now it is interesting how she, as it were, radiating her power over him, gives him the opportunity to go deeper and deeper into himself. It is a submersion into one's own being. And the sequence he indicates is really the correct sequence of initiation for certain circumstances.
The first thing he says he came to know were the soul forces. So by immersing oneself in them, one really gets to know what otherwise remains unconscious: one's own soul forces. And this recognition of one's own soul forces is something that people easily flee from when they really come into contact with them. For it is often the case that when we perceive these soul forces, they seem unpleasant to us, and we say to ourselves: What an unpleasant soul that is! And then we don't want that. Just as it happened to the good professor when he saw his own form and found it quite unpleasant. We don't want to see it! For within this chorus of soul forces, one sees many things that one has in oneself, things that one would never attribute to oneself in ordinary life. But one sees them in such a way that they affect the whole of our being, raising it up, but also lowering it, making us more or less valuable for the total existence of the universe.
So we first enter into the soul forces. The next stage we experience is that of the four temperaments. How we are woven together from the choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic temperaments, and how this weaving together lies deeper than the soul forces, becomes clear at first. And only when you have passed through the temperaments do you come to what can be called the five senses in the occult sense. For when people speak of these five senses, they are only referring to how they know them from the outside. They only know these five senses from the outside. Internally, one can only get to know the senses by descending through the temperaments into deeper regions of one's own self. Then one sees the eyes, the ears, the other senses from within, that is, one experiences, for example, one's own eyes, one's own ears, filling them from within. Imagine, for example, that instead of entering this room through the door and perceiving the objects and people already inside, you descend into yourself and enter the region of your eyes or ears. Within this region, you perceive how forces work from within to bring about seeing and hearing. You perceive a very complicated world, a world of which a person who knows only the outer physical plane has no idea.
Certainly, some will say: Well, yes, but I am not impressed by this world of eyes and ears! The world of the physical plane that surrounds me is large, but the world of the eyes and ears is small; I am looking into a small world. — But that is a Maya! What you see when you are inside your own ear, when you are inside your own eye, is much larger, much fuller than the outer physical world; there you have a much richer world around you.
And only when you have passed through this region do you enter the region of the four elements. We have already spoken about all the peculiarities of the individual elements. Only then do you feel yourself inside the earthy, the watery, the airy, and the warm.
Just as human beings know their senses from the outside, here they learn to know them from within. So here they enter the eye with their consciousness from within, then break through the eye, and thus, breaking through the eye, they enter the four elements. They can also break through with the ear or with the sense of taste. Human beings are constantly surrounded by these elements, but they do not know what they are like internally. How they are internally cannot be seen with the external sense organs; one must first leave these sense organs, but from within, one must then leave them again as if through gates, one must step out through one's eyes and ears. So one slips through the eye, slips through the ear, and then enters the region of the elements. In this way, one learns what lives as spirit in this region of the elements: the various kinds of nature spirits and those beings that belong to the hierarchies immediately adjacent to human beings.
Then one goes further, entering the region of the seven planets. There one is already further out, learning about what is creatively connected to us in the great universe. And then one has to pass through what has always been called Okeanos, the ocean.
Soul forces
four temperaments
five senses
four elements
seven planets
ocean
Crossing the ocean means the following: one can still reach the planets if, I would say, the last part of one's soul is still inside the physical realm. But when you pass through the gates of the senses, through the elements and the planets, you must finally pull the last remnants of your soul being after you, so that you consciously enter the state in which you are otherwise only in sleep. When you are with the planets in this way, you are still, as it were, with a piece of your soul being inside your body (see drawing). If you pull this out, it feels as if you are swimming through the universal ocean of spiritual existence.
Brunetto Latini now undertakes all this; he recounts how he took each of these steps at the behest of the woman who appears to him in his imaginative knowledge. Then the woman urges him to continue. However, this exhortation comes at a special moment, and this is very characteristic.
So consider: the man rides into a forest because he is perplexed by what has happened in his hometown, comes to a realization, but this does not lead him back to the physical world, but through all these regions. Then the moment comes when he sees himself in the forest — not by chance, as one might say, but because the woman tells him to. So after he has gone through all this, after he has climbed through the soul forces and the temperaments, after he has stepped through the senses into the elemental world, where he has already perceived a rich, spiritual life, after he has perceived the seven planets, through the seven planets the higher hierarchies, how they are closed circle upon circle, then feels himself, not as if on solid ground, but as if swimming through the ocean, he awakens in the physical world.
And this is the extraordinarily important thing that we recognize again in all these initiation processes: that those concerned go through a cycle, that they return to the physical world.
After going through all this, Brunetto Latini feels himself back in his forest. Now he is truly surrounded by his physical surroundings. Immediately afterwards, the woman appears again, but now he is surrounded by the physical forest, and she tells him to ride to the right. And there she gives him instructions on how to arrive at philosophy, at the four human virtues, and at the knowledge of the God of love.
Notice what is significant behind this! The modern person will readily say: Philosophy, well, I know that, I have studied the entire history of philosophy, I know what philosophy is, what it teaches. Four virtues: Plato called them wisdom, courage, balance or moderation, and justice. Well, and the God of love, who does not know him? You only have to read the four Gospels! In short, people today know all this. But that is the characteristic feature of spiritual knowledge: you begin to see that you do not know all this, that you first have to go through the understanding of the spiritual world and then come back to what the physical world offers, and only then can you understand the physical world.
So if Brunetto Latini were to stand up now and a very learned gentleman of the present day came up to him, let us suppose a very famous professor of philosophy, and he said: “I know all philosophy,” Brunetto Latini would reply: “Yes, certainly you know it, but in truth you know nothing about it. First you must get to know the appearance of the supersensible worlds, you must know what the supersensible worlds are like; then you will return to philosophy, and then it will be something completely new to you, and only then will you begin to have an inkling of what you now believe you know exactly.”
One could describe the same thing in another way. Wouldn't it be absurd to say that a very famous philosopher writes a philosophical book but does not understand it? Surely he must understand it, mustn't he? If he writes a philosophical book, how could he not understand what he himself has written? Yes, but it is literally true that he can have written the book and yet not understand anything he has written. It is not difficult to write books today: they write themselves. The things one has learned to repeat, one composes together, but one does not need to penetrate the deeper meaning of the matter. That is the powerful thing we encounter in Brunetto Latini, that through spiritual insight he wants to know what others learn through external study, and that only after he has passed through the spiritual world does he encounter what others believe they have from the physical world: the knowledge of philosophy, the knowledge of the four virtues, and the knowledge of the God of love.
I would like you to understand fully what I mean by my last remarks, my dear friends! Certainly, a certain kind of knowledge of things can be attained even without spiritual insight; but things appear in a completely new light, appear as something completely different, once one has first become acquainted with what lies behind the physical world. And so we see, precisely in the example of Brunetto Latini's connection with Dante, which I have cited for this reason alone, how external artistic creation is connected with initiation; we see how Dante's great work of art is indeed connected with initiation. Dante could not have arrived at his unique way of relating to the spiritual world if he had not had Brunetto Latini as his friend and teacher, who drew him up into the spiritual world.
Every age has its own special way of seeking the spiritual world. Already in the centuries preceding Dante's age, we find again and again, among the most diverse initiates, that woman of whom Brunetto Latini also speaks, that introduction into the spiritual world through this woman. Some individuals – and this whole development goes back to the 7th and 8th centuries – actually call this woman “Natura,” the living, creative nature. Ancient initiates described this woman, the living, creative nature, as the advisor of Nus, the mind that creates the world, the wise reason that permeates the world as Nus, and they call this woman a relative of Urania. While Nus is advised outside in the cosmos by Urania, in our regions, our earthly regions, he is advised by Natura. And when one sees through the whole thing, one is led back to the other way in which, in much older times, the initiates tried to approach certain secrets of existence, and then we find this woman again in older times in Proserpina, in Persephone, who weaves the robe for her mother Demeter. Thus, imaginations change over the centuries, but from all these imaginations we must conclude that what has been at work in the continuous stream of humanity are precisely the secrets of initiation.
In order to come close to these things, however, it is necessary to be imbued with the living feeling that in everything that happens in the world, it is not only those forces and essences that are effective which can be perceived by the outer senses and the outer intellect, but that the spiritual is effective everywhere. But we must reckon with the fact that what human beings today, and have long since, called “spiritual development” is nothing other than the development of those forces that are bound to physical corporeality. Today, spiritual development is often called the development of the forces that are bound to physical corporeality. This has developed gradually. We know that in ancient times clairvoyance was the normal human condition. This has gradually ebbed away and faded, and what we now call spiritual development is something that is entirely bound to the physical human being.
However, at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, something entered human development with this Mystery of Golgotha that is so great, so powerful, that it can only be fully understood little by little. What human beings had up to that point was a kind of tradition. With the last remnants of atavistic clairvoyant power, the Gospel writers recorded what had happened; but that was, as I said, a last effort. And now we are beginning to understand the first truths of the mystery of Golgotha with our newly acquired clairvoyant power. We must understand that the coming times will penetrate deeper and deeper into these secrets of the mystery of Golgotha. We are only at the beginning of this process. But we are beginning. The impulse of the mystery of Golgotha has been at work since the moment the Christ life passed through the earth. If people had only had what they could understand of Christianity—I have emphasized this many times—they would not have gained much from it. If the Christ impulse had only been able to work through what they could comprehend, they would have gained very little from Christ in the centuries that have passed.
I have often cited two examples—I could cite many—from which we can see how Christ works in the human soul, in what passes through the historical development of humanity, but of which people can know nothing. For truly, what the Emperor Constantine knew about the Christ impulse when he himself converted to Christianity and made Christianity the state religion was certainly very little. But through the fact that Constantine, the son of Constantine Chlorus, the Pale, won the victory over Maxentius, the impetus for the introduction of Christianity was given in Rome. The whole system is based on special forces, so that this Christ impulse is at work everywhere. Maxentius consulted the Sibylline Books. They told him—I mentioned this, for example, in the Leipzig Cycle a year ago—how he should deal with Constantine's approaching army. But he also had a dream. Following this dream and the Sibylline Books, he led his army, which was four times stronger than Constantine's, out of the city to meet Constantine, which was a mistake according to all the rules of war.
Constantine also dreamed that he would be victorious if he had the symbol of the cross of Christ carried before his army, which he did. Not through all the human wisdom that was available at that time, but through dreams, everything was decided. But through the dreams, something was at work that could not be understood, but which was nevertheless the living Christ impulse. Indeed, people could not understand what was working, active, and alive within them, and what was driving world development forward, what was shaping the European continent at that time.
And again we find a time in which we can see how people, with their reason, their intellect, and also their emotional faculties, quarrel about all kinds of dogmas, dogmas that seem quite strange to enlightened people today: whether it is right to take communion under one or two forms, and so on. We know with what vehemence these disputes were carried on, which later came to a head in Hussitism, with Wycliffe, and so on. But such disputes have always existed. They are proof of how little the human intellect could grasp what the Christ impulse really was.
But where did the Christ impulse really come to the fore at an important moment? I have often pointed this out. It came to the fore in a kind of vision in a shepherdess, in the Virgin of Orleans. And now we must be clear that this is a kind of tutoring by the supersensible, spiritual forces that work into people's feelings at a time when they cannot yet work into human concepts.
With Joan of Arc, the matter was particularly interesting. Her inner being was open, but it was not that which is bound to the physical body that was open; rather, it was the perception of her etheric, astral being that was open. But it was so open that we can indeed find an analogy for initiation in her. In what way?
Now, remember how we recently told you the story of Olaf Åsteson at an appropriate moment: how Olaf Åsteson slept through the days after Christmas and did not wake up again until Epiphany, on January 6. We made certain remarks about this: that at the time of year when the outer physical rays of the sun have the least power, the spiritual power that envelops the earth is at its greatest. That is why Christmas is quite rightly placed in the time when physical darkness is at its greatest. In the darkness, spiritual enlightenment comes to the human soul that is capable of enlightenment. That is why we are told the legend of Olaf Åsteson: how, at that very time, he attunes his inner soul so that the forces that enter the Earth's aura as spiritual light forces from the sun at the time when the outer power of the sun is at its weakest take hold of his soul, and he actually experiences what can be called a “stepping into the spiritual world” until January 6. a stepping into the spiritual world.
The Virgin of Orleans is to be inspired for a great historical mission. The impulses that are sweeping and surging through the world with the Christ impulse should be present in her soul. They should be there in her soul. How could they get there? They could have gotten there if the Virgin of Orleans had gone through something similar to Olaf Åsteson at some point in her life: if she had slept for thirteen days after Christmas and woken up on January 6. However, she did not do this like Olaf Åsteson; but in a certain sense she went through this time, which is favorable for initiation, in a state of sleep during the last thirteen days of her embryonic period. She was carried by her mother in such a way that she spent the last thirteen days of her embryonic life in her mother's womb during the Christmas season, and that she was born on January 6: for that is the birthday of the Virgin of Orleans. This is a passage through precisely that time when spiritual forces are particularly strong in the earth's aura.
Therefore, we need not be surprised when external documents themselves state that on that January 6, 1412, the villagers ran about in confusion, sensing that something had happened. What actually happened on that January 6 was not known until later, when the Virgin of Orleans had to carry out her mission. For those who understand the spiritual connections, it is something tremendous that our birth calendar records that Joan of Arc was born on January 6.
The connections in the world are deep, and the enlightened person can also know—he only needs to look it up in the encyclopedia—when the Virgin of Orleans was born. But of course, he knows only the bare minimum. Only those who know the significance of January 6 through spiritual science can recognize the full meaning of this fact.
Thus, even with such widely known facts, we see that we must first pass through an understanding of spiritual matters, and then return to earthly matters, which we can then understand in the full sense of the word.
I have made this observation again in order to show that what is commonly called spiritual culture today has indeed become old, dry, and barren, and that anyone who understands anything of the deeper impulses that run through the development of the world and of humanity must realize that we are facing a renewal in which we ourselves must participate through our understanding and through our longing for the spiritual world. And the more intensely we imagine that a renewal must take place, the better we will find the possibility of participating in such a renewal.
Mere petty changes and reforms of the old are no longer of any use for the future; what is needed is a radical renewal of what can be called human spiritual life. For just as different is what we mean by spiritual science from what is taught about spiritual life in the widest circles today, so different will the culture of the future be from the culture of the present. And if people today find it easy to think that what spiritual science is doing is fantasy, perhaps foolishness, this means nothing less than that the people of the present call everything that will dominate the spiritual culture of the future fantasy, foolishness.
But in such a time, a rebirth of the human soul must take place. All branches of human life must live into the impulse of this renewal, this rebirth. Everything artistic must also come close to initiation again. And with that we have given the reasons why it was necessary to attempt to create a first work in our building in Dornach, which, despite all its imperfections, is nevertheless connected in all its details with what the science of initiation has to say for our present age.
Only by allowing the results of spiritual science to become alive in our souls and express themselves as living results in their outer form, only then does what is created in our building have its corresponding value, and will it have it as a starting point, not as something that is already complete. One would wish that this were understood and that, especially in our circle, there were an intense awareness that there is an intimate connection between what we have sought to acquire over the years as spiritual science and what is contained in every line and every detail of our building. Then, when we ourselves are imbued with this knowledge, we will be able to say through our building to the world what must necessarily be said to the world. And then we will be able to look with satisfaction into the future, which, starting from the elementary, primitive beginnings of this building in Dornach, will have to create something more and more perfect—but in its own way.