The Lost Union of Speaking and Thinking
GA 162
18 July 1915, Dornach
Translated by D. S. Osmond
We shall try today to understand one of the aspects of the Luciferic-Ahrimanic nature. If we are to acquire some idea of this element which plays a real part in man's existence, we must look back to the Moon-evolution of our Earth and consider this Moon-evolution in connection with Earth-evolution proper.
We know that Earth-evolution proper was the outcome of the Sprits of Form having penetrated into the heritage left by the preceding Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions. And we know too that these Spirits of Form produced an Earth constituted in such a way that man was able to receive his ego—in other words it became possible for the three principles of man's being which were the heritage of the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions to be permeated by the Ego. The Spirits of Form endowed man with his Ego by a direct inpouring of their own being. As we look up to these Spirits of Form, seeing them as the bringers of the Ego we must also be mindful of the Hierarchy ranking immediately above man—which represents as it were, different stages of the organisation of the Spirits of Form. This other Hierarchy consists of the Spirits of Personality, the Archangeloi and the Angeloi.
Leaving aside for the moment the still higher ranks of Beings, we have to regard as the Creators and Regents of Earth-evolution: the Spirits of Form and their Servers—the Spirits of Personality, the Archangeloi and the Angeloi. Thus there was created an Earth-existence which, as its flower or crowning fruit, brought man with his Ego-nature into being.
When we observe earthly existence today we cannot really discern what its character might have been if the Spirits of Form alone, together with their Servers, had created and ruled over it. For the Luciferic and the Ahrimanic beings penetrate into everything. Thus we have an Earth-existence which, in its onflowing evolution, reveals what can be brought into being and directed by the normally-developed Spirits of Form and their Servers, and in-woven with it everything that proceeds from the Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences.
If we are clear about this we shall realise that all earthly existence—of man and the other kingdoms alike—would have been different if the Spirits of Form and their Servers had been able to create, to work, and to rule by themselves. What actually lies before us, therefore, is a clouded, falsified picture of Earth-existence, a picture that has been falsified through the working of Lucifer and Ahriman. In connection with many a phenomenon on the Earth we may well ask ourselves: What would this Earth-existence have become if the Luciferic and Ahrimanic falsifications had not taken place—in other words, if only the Spirits of Form and their Servers had been at work?
Among many phenomena that come into consideration, there is, for example, the subject of which I spoke yesterday.1Das Reich der Sprache—not translated.
I spoke of the evolution of language, which actually takes place more in the subconscious life of man, and I said that there is evidence of a certain law operating. In the development of language within the onflowing stream of Earth existence. I also said that the human-personal element has taken effect in this development and that today man has still not reached the point of perceiving in the sounds of speech, in the sounds of the letters, signs of the development of thoughts. Man has brought the development of thoughts to quite a different stage from that of speech and language.
But just in this connection there is something that can become clear to us when we ask: How would the development of thoughts have proceeded in earthly existence if Luciferic an Ahrimanic influences had not been at work? What would man’s thinking have been, what would his speech have been, if the Spirits of Form and their Servers had been the sole creators and leaders of the Earth?
If no Luciferic or Ahrimanic influence had taken effect in Earth-evolution, speaking and thinking would have been in complete unison. And this unison must be sought for again with a certain objectivity. If speech gradually assumes the character of a sign, the Luciferic-Ahrimanic element will be overcome. But if this Luciferic-Ahrimanic element had not been at work, inner unison, inner harmony between speaking and thinking, would have unfolded in humanity—that is to say, man would have perceived, would have had a living experience of what lies in a sound of speech, in d, t, th, and so on. He has no such experience today. This is evident from the fact that, in essentials at least, when men the whole world over have come to think in a certain way about one thing or another, they do not differ from one another in respect of their concepts, but very much in respect of their words. This one-sided character of thought which does not ever come to expression in speaking, must always be borne in mind for it is something that has already branched away from speech; it would be much more intimately connected with speech if no Luciferic-Ahrimanic influences had invaded Earth-existence. Men would have permeated speech with their feelings; they would have lived in the sound itself but at the same time would have experienced the concept, the idea, within the sound—the concept and the sound would have been experienced as one. That is what the Spirits of Form had originally planned for man. The element of soul which comes into play when, on the one hand, man is given up to his thoughts and ideas, and on the other, when he is given up to speech—this element of soul was not originally intended by the Spirits of Form for man on Earth; what they intended for him had been unison of speaking and thinking—speaking and thinking were to be experienced as one. The breach that exists today between speaking and thinking is to be traced back directly to the influences of Lucifer and Ahriman.
Men have no feeling today for the special quality and character of m, g, and so on; the soul is related with these things in quite a different way from that in which it is related with thinking. The Spirits of Form and the Beings who serve them had intended for man an existence much more strongly based upon Nature-conditions than he was then able to achieve on Earth. The Spirits of Form had intended that man’s speech should be of such a character that it carries thinking itself on its wings, and not a kind of speech from whom the sap of thought has been drained. That is what the Spirits of Form had intended for man. And according to their intentions, differentiation among men was not to be determined by the character of languages on the Earth; differentiation among the nations was intended to be based only upon natural conditions, upon geographical and climatic differences. Man was to have felt himself belonging to a nation through the fact that he felt himself connected with certain powers working in the Nature-foundations underlying his existence.
On the other hand, if the intentions of the Spirits of Form alone had been carried out, it would have been possible when as a member of a nation a man encountered a member of another nation, for him to feel and understand from the very outset what lay within the words. There would still have been different languages. But in respect of the understanding of languages men would not have differed; in experiencing what lay in the single sound, in the single letter, a man would, it is true, have heard the other language, but he would not have heard the word as a mere husk; within the sound, within the word, he would also have heard the thought or the idea; it would have been carried on the wings of the word itself. The reason why a man does not understand a foreign language today is because the ideas do not lie in the words themselves; the words have become divorced from the ideas.
And so a cleft has arisen between speaking and thinking (ideation). The result is that up to now man was unable in Earth-evolution to develop the faculty of meeting other men with a feeling understanding even of an entirely new language. In this connection you must not think of the languages as they are now. The languages themselves would naturally have been quite different; as they have now become, people who live in one language-domain cannot understand those who live in a domain where a different language is spoken. This is because the languages have not developed in the same way that the life of thought has developed. In view of the present development of the languages, therefore, it is impossible to have any such understanding as was originally conceived by the Spirits of Form and which was to have been directed by the Beings who serve them. The Spirits of Form had not, of course, intended that men all over the Earth should be cut to one pattern, as it were by cosmic tailors; the intention was that men should differ among themselves but differ in such a way that they would still have confronted each other with complete understanding over the whole Earth.
Beings belonging to the Hierarchy of the Archangeloi were chosen to direct those groups of men as conceived by the Spirits of Form. The Archangeloi were those Beings who during the Moon-evolution had perfected the development proper to that evolution. And in order that the single individual within such a group of men should also have a guide to act as intermediary between himself as a single personality and the group as a whole—such a guide was to be a Being from the Hierarchy of the Angeloi, from the Hierarchy of the Angeloi whose development had proceeded regularly and normally during the Moon-evolution.
It can therefore be said: if things had come about as they were intended by the Spirits of Form, differences among men would have been found all over the Earth, but everywhere they would have been connected as naturally as vegetation, and the plant-world, with the whole earthly environment. Men would have grown together with Nature, but there would not have penetrated into the life of soul the element that separates men according to languages. And there is something else too that would not have come to pass: men would not have attempted to find one science, one form of knowledge, all over the Earth. It is a deep-seated but a purely Luciferic belief today that there can be a uniform science which, comprised in a number of dogmas, must be valid for all mankind on the Earth. This belief has arisen simply because knowledge, conceptual ideation, has separated from speaking and thereby exists on its own.
If the intentions of the Spirits of Form had been ful¬filled, men would have expressed themselves differently about things in the world according to the groups to which they belonged, but in their feeling they would have understood the others, they would have had no dispute with those who expressed themselves differently. Diversity itself would have been the basis of the right form of life on the Earth.
These things were all part of what the Spirits of Form intended, but mankind has no longer the slightest understanding of them. For with surprising forcefulness the belief has taken root that the so-called conceptual life the life of thought, is non-national, in contrast to speaking which must necessarily be national. It was the middle condition that was intended by the Spirits of Form: not separation based upon languages and not union all over the Earth on the basis of some firmly established concept, but diversity of speech together with diversity of ideas. That is what was intended by the Spirits of Form.
In our own domain of spiritual science this must also in a certain respect become an ideal, an actual ideal. But there is a deep-seated unwillingness in man's nature today to recognise this ideal.—I can give you an illustration.
Although it is a long time ago now, you probably know that we were once part of the "Theosophical Society" of which Mrs. Besant was and is to continue to be President. We too—a number of us—were in the habit of attending the Congresses of that Society. Addresses were always given by the different General Secretaries representing the various European Sections. The difference in the languages was brought very clearly into evidence because each of the representatives spoke in his own tongue—with the inevitable consequence that the majority of them were not understood. Nevertheless, with the idea of promoting some measure of mutual understanding, the principle was followed of each representative giving at least a short address in his own language. Perhaps a few who were present on such occasions will remember that for several years I always spoke to the same effect—I do not know whether it was noticed, but year after year I said the same thing—not exactly with the thought, but always with the feeling: Will the real point of it be understood?—What I emphasised was always this: When we come together from the different countries we do not for the purpose of receiving a central Theosophy but in order to lay upon a common altar what it is the task of the various countries to accomplish for Theosophy. I always laid stress upon the individual element which, coming from the different sides, asks only to be laid on a common altar. Year after year I emphasised the same point. The only result was that although what I said was correct, some did not understand and the rest took offence. But it contained an expression of the ideal to which we must aspire: the ideal that cannot be made manifest by attempts to create a uniform system of dogma for the whole world but by working in the direction of enabling the principle of diversity in our Earth-existence to come to expression amid mutual understanding.
The preconceived assumption that there can be only one truth is so deeply rooted in human souls that contradictions are actually suspected when in a lecture-course something is expressed in one way and at another time in a different way. But this is exactly what must be cultivated among us, in order to show that diversity is a sine qua non in any presentation of truth. It is diversity, manifoldness, therefore that must become an ideal—not uniformity.
We have spoken briefly of the normally developed Spirit of Form and the Beings who serve them, and of the character of speaking and thinking which was intended for Earth-evolu¬tion, but we shall understand what lies at the root of these things only when we bear in mind the opposing Luciferic and Ahrimanic elements. If we are to understand these, we must turn our minds away from Earth-evolution; for the Luciferic Ahrimanic element became what it is as a result of the Moon-evolution. As we have often heard, the Luciferic-Ahrimanic element remained stationary at the stage of Moon-evolution and carried over into Earth-evolution what stems from the Moon-evolution. So in the case of this Luciferic-Ahrimanic element we must not speak of the Spirits of Form as the Creators; the Spirits of Form are Creators only in the case of beings suitable for the Earth-evolution. In the case of the Ahrimanic and Luciferic beings, it is the Spirits of Movement who must be regarded as the Creators, for they are the Creators and Regents of the Moon-evolution, thus being what the Spirits of Form are for the evolution of man and the Spirits of Movement are for the Moon-evolution and therewith for the Ahrimanic-Luciferic evolution as a whole. These Spirits of Movement were Creators during the Moon-evolution by virtue of what they brought into being in con¬junction with the Spirits who were then their Servers: the Spirits of Form as they then were, the Spirits of Personality and the Spirits belonging to the Hierarchy of the Archangeloi.
And what was brought into being were the Angeloi—the Angeloi who developed in the regular and normal way on the Moon. Just as in the course of Earth-evolution man is meant to develop the seven principles or members of his constitution the Angeloi were meant to develop their seven principles during the Moon-evolution.
Those Angeloi who during the Moon-evolution duly developed their seven principles, passed over into Earth-evolution and became the Spirits who were to function as the intermediaries between the individual man and the group of men that is guided and led by a single Archangel—again a Being who developed his seven principles during the Moon-evolution. But among these Beings there were some who had only succeeded in developing six or even five of their principles, who had not developed all their seven principles during the Moon-evolution. Hence they were not capable during Earth-evolution of becoming leaders of individual men as Angeloi, or leaders of groups of men as Archangeloi. These spiritual beings who had developed only six or five of their principles are, so to speak, subordinate Hierarchies; other Hierarchies rank above them. When we speak of Ahriman and Lucifer, they are to be regarded as the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings most closely allied to them—beings, therefore, who could not possibly pass in a regular way into the Earth-evolution because this was under the direction of the Spirits of Form; these beings had not reached the stage where they could become helpers of the Spirits of Form, for they were at the stage of the Angeloi. Neither could they have become men. They therefore stood midway between the normally developed Angeloi and men.
Thus in the Earth-evolution we have Man, (see diagram) and above him the Creators—the Spirits of Form—then the Spirits of Personality, the Spirits from the Hierarchy of the Archangeloi, the Spirits from the Hierarchy of the Angeloi. These spiritual Beings had developed their seven or nine principles during the Moon-evolution; hence it is not necessary for them to enter into the kind of earthly embodiment created for man by the Spirits of Form; they – the Angeloi, for example—enter into an etheric body only, because they belong to the Hierarchy immediately above man. And in between are the beings for whom progress in simply not possible in these phases of evolution. Because they have not developed their seven principles, they are beings who can say of themselves: Our Creators are the Spirits of Movement, and we are ruled over by certain Spirits of Form, Archai and Archangeloi. Nevertheless, these beings were there, and were not capable of fulfilling the office that should properly have devolved upon them—which was to share in the rulership of the evolution of humanity and also of the other kingdoms of the Earth. In this they could have no share.

And so there were two classes both of Archangeloi and of Angeloi—not to speak for the moment of the other Beings. These beings who had developed normally now shared in the activity which was meant to have taken the course I have described, for example in connection with speaking and thinking.
If this legacy from the evolution directed by the Spirits of Movement had not existed, speaking and thinking would have developed in harmonious unison—as I described just now. And now something came to pass which seems to have little meaning when it is put into words, but it is, in fact, a tremendously significant, momentous cosmic event. There were now in the Spirit-Land—or, speaking in terms of religion—there were now in Heaven: the normally developed Archangeloi, the normally developed Angeloi, and a brood of incompletely developed Beings. And what happened was that the normally developed Archangeloi and Angeloi cast down upon the Earth those beings who had completed, not their full development, but only that of six or five of their principles—cast them down to the Earth from Heaven because no use could be made of them there.
And so, from the beginning onwards an invisible kingdom was mingled with Earth-evolution, the invisible kingdom of Lucifer and Ahriman, who had been cast out of that realm from which man, animals, plants and minerals were ordained to be created and governed. They had been cast out and were now on the Earth; they could not, of course be perceived with earthly senses, but they were there. The normally developed Archangeloi and Angeloi were in Heaven—to use the Biblical expression; retarded beings were wandering about the Earth. It is to this that the words of the Bible refer: “Neither was their place found any more in heaven.”2Revelation, XII,8 They were cast down to the Earth.
And now try to think of the actual situation in order that you may avoid erroneous ideas about certain matters.—Men were living on the Earth in a primitive stage of development, as you will find described in "Occult Science", but immediately below and around them, beings were living—we will speak of the very lowest rank of Luciferic beings—beings who on the Moon were the retarded Angeloi and who, instead of now being in the position of rulers, were, to begin with, idle and inactive. But whereas man was only just about to begin to develop his seven principles, whereas he could only hope to develop his seventh principle at the end of the Earth-evolution, or at a correspondingly nearer time his sixth or fifth principle—in these Luciferic beings the development of the sixth or the fifth principle was already complete; it was only the seventh principle that they had not developed.
The situation at the present time is that we are working at the development of what is called "Intellect”. The principle of man’s nature that is only now—in the Fifth Post Atlantean epoch—coming to expression in him for the first time, was far from being developed in the men of Lemuria. At that time the Angeloi who had been cast down had developed, already in the Moon-period, the principle which man is now for the first time in process of developing—already possessed what man was intended to develop only at a much later period of Earth-evolution. It is indeed a fact that even after the Lemurian epoch, in the Atlantean epoch, an important part was played by invisible beings who at that time had developed to a high degree that of which man in the Atlantean epoch had no trace whatever and which he is only now in process of developing, namely, the element of intellect.
And so highly developed Intelligences, Angeloi beings, hovered hither and thither as retarded Spirits during the epochs of Lemuria and Atlantis. These were Spirits at a lofty stage, an exceedingly lofty stage of development. Again, to put it trivially, therefore, we can say: The plan of the Spirits of Form was thwarted. Whereas their intention had been to develop man stage by stage, letting him be guided by Angeloi so that by the time of the Fifth Post-Atlantean epoch he would be ready to develop intellect which would be in unison with speech and language—this aim was thwarted owing to the fact that invisible Beings lived among men.
We will think, to begin with of the Invisible Luciferic beings, the Luciferic Angeloi. These Luciferic Angeloi-beings penetrated into individual men in an early period of Earth-evolution, took possession of them, as it were. These Angeloi were beings who had been cast down upon the Earth. And so in ancient times there were men who, if they had become what the Spirits of Form had intended, would have been naive, primitive natures—but as things were, Luciferic Angeloi-beings had entered into them, and the result was that they were exceedingly clever, exceedingly astute—to a degree that was not possible in the case of man himself until the fifth or sixth epoch of Earth-evolution. In ancient India there was still some understanding of what the seven Rishis represented; these were men "illuminated by the Luciferic Angeloi-beings. They were men to whom naive and simple people naturally looked up to as standing at very lofty heights. In that time, and during later times too, these Luciferic Angeloi-beings again and again took possession of men, influencing either individuals or groups, they inculcated into humanity the notion of the "internationality" of the world of concepts, of the so-called uniformity of dogma over the whole Earth. Wherever men believe in this uniformity of dogma, wherever they believe that salvation is to be found, not in diversity but in uniformity—there the Luciferic Spirits are at work. They have torn the world of thought and ideation away from the world of speech and languages. Thereby they have evoked the state of things which has made it impossible for the thoughts and ideas to retain their rightful place within the spoken word. And so Luciferic uniformity, Luciferic monism, or the striving for it, came to prevail all over the Earth. Wherever there are fanatics who claim that what they themselves regard as right must forthwith be believed by all men on Earth—these fanatics are possessed by Luciferic Angeloi. What really matters, however is not so much the fact that men are possessed by this false idea of uniformity, but that they shall strive for an understanding of harmonious diversity.
And now the way was smoothed for Spirits other than these Luciferic Angeloi-beings. The Luciferic Angeloi manifested in the form of illumined individuals, especially in ancient India. It was through these chosen men—who, in their states of illumination, gave early expression to a condition not intended for the rest of humanity until a much late time—that the delusion of uniformity of all thinking was spread over the Earth. And thereby the path was smoothed for the other Spirits who belonged to the Hierarchy of the Archangeloi. But they were Archangeloi who during the Moon evolution had not developed their seventh but only their sixth principle. They too—because they could not be used as teachers and guides of groups of men divided according to geographical and climatic conditions—had been cast down and were now on the Earth among men. These Archangeloi—they were no longer to be found in Heaven but on the Earth—were sent out by the highest among them to the different folk-groups. And these folk-groups dragged speech down a stage lower. Whereas the Luciferic beings had torn thinking away from speaking, these incompletely developed Archangeloi allowed speech and language to sink a stage lower, so that the languages were as different—well, as different as they actually became on the Earth.
These beings who were retarded Archangeloi and carried out the guidance of groups of men on the Earth in such a way that they split humanity asunder, causing men to hate one another, to isolate themselves from one another—these beings have the Ahrimanic nature. They were highly developed beings but they were not the rightful leaders of peoples, for the simple reason that according to the intentions of the Spirits of Form, this leadership was meant to lie with the normal Archangeloi who have developed all their seven principles. It was especially the beings who had developed only six of their principles who now set themselves in opposition to the legitimate leaders of peoples. It is the Ahrimanic beings who have been the cause of languages sinking a stage lower, to a stage where to begin with men simply do not perceive what concepts, what ideas, are contained in the actual words of language. If the Luciferic Angeloi beings alone had come upon the scene the delusion of uniformity would, it is true, have spread over the Earth; but the several languages would have developed in such a way that if, merely in his mind, a man had overcome the delusion of uniformity, he would have been able still to feel what is contained in the different languages. But once the world of thoughts and ideas had been torn away by the Luciferic Angeloi, it was easy for the Ahrimanic Archangeloi to force speech still another stage downwards, with the result that it was then no longer possible for speech to develop in such a way that the thought or idea could be directly experienced within it.
We have here a picture of the interworking of a threefold principle. When our statue3The great statue carved in wood which is to be seen in the Goetheanum. has been completed and you look at it, you will see that it gives expression to this threefoldness.—There is an onflowing process of evolution, but it has been falsified: falsified above through the delusion of the uniformity of thoughts, and falsified below through the delusion of the false principle of differentiation—which already is no longer a delusion but actual fact—the splitting up of humanity into so-called nations according to languages.
That is what came to pass in the course of Earth-evolution—it is part and parcel of Earth-evolution. And the result was that, as time went on, there developed the belief that is dominated by the delusion of uniformity, and, on the other side, the splitting into nations. That is what developed. This state of things had reached its peak when the Cosmic Being, Christ, came down to the Earth in the way known to you, inculcating into Earth-evolution an Impulse which we now have to carry into the world which represents the normal evolutionary process. But since Earth-evolution has for a time gone astray in two directions, the Christ-Impulse sets itself the task of creating the counter-impulse—that is to say, to impart greater power to the normally developed Angeloi in order that they may oppose the Luciferic Angeloi who uphold the delusion of uniformity. In the place of the monistic, delusive idea of the uniformity of all knowledge, there now came the Impulse that is implicit in Christianity when rightly conceived: understanding but not obtrusion of one’s own belief, the endeavour to find the truth residing in the nature of other men. Inasmuch as this is implicit in Christianity, the Impulse given by Christ enhances the strength of the normally developed Angeloi. So that for men and for every epoch it can again become an ideal to find on the Earth, wheresoever it may be, truth clothed in an individual form—to find what is true, now not merely through the intellect that has already been driven into delusion by Lucifer, but through souls, through hearts, allowing every man to find in his own way what is true.
The saying that truth resides in every human soul is a profoundly Christian principle, as I have said on other occasions. It is the outcome of a strengthening of the Angeloi, enabling them to gain a victory over the Luciferic Angeloi who want to spread over the whole earth the delusion of the uniformity of dogma as a body of intellectualism which does not admit of diversity of manifoldness of understanding. And on the other side, the power of the normally developed Archangeloi was to be fortified in order that they may gradually defeat those spiritual beings who bring about the differentiation of groups of men through the fact that these groups become infatuated with their own language and are led to separate from each other to the point of fanaticism. The strength of the normally developed Angeloi and Archangeloi was to be enhanced through the Christ-Impulse. What was to come to pass through the Christ-Impulse is not something that exists merely in the thoughts, the minds and the feelings of men; what happens in the Earth as the outcome of the Christ-Impulse transcends the visible and passes into the invisible. Christ is there not for men only, but also for the Angeloi and Archangeloi. For Christ is a Cosmic Being Who, through Jesus of Nazareth, entered into the Earth evolution.

In the middle of Earth-evolution, therefore, a strengthening was given everywhere: the Christ-Impulse entered, enhancing the power of the Angeloi and Archangeloi. This Impulse was powerful and mighty; something entered into Earth-evolution that had never previously been seen or known within it. (see diagram) The principle that had formerly prevailed strove to work as a Nature-principle, and desired that the spiritual guidance of the world should be based on the Jahve-principle. According to this principle it would have been natural for man's thinking and speaking to be in unison.—Our thinking has been detached from the Nature-Principle and has become spiritual; our speech has been detached from the Nature-principle and has taken on the qualities of soul.
Speech has been laid hold of by forces of soul, by the element of emotion and passion pertaining to the life of soul; thinking has been laid hold of entirely by the intellectual element which again pertains to the astral. But it was not meant to have been so; thinking was meant to lie a stage lower and to have been far more of a Nature-process; man was meant to speak and to understand the spoken word at a far higher level. After speaking and thinking had been separated for a while (I take speaking and thinking as examples among others that could be quoted), an Impulse much stronger than the Jahve-impulse was necessary. The nature of the Jahve-impulse was such that it did not yet reckon with the Luciferic and Ahrimanic impulses. But these Impulses were at work nevertheless, until the middle of the Greco-Latin epoch—and then came the Christ-Impulse. This Impulse had necessarily to be stronger, more powerful than the Jahve-impulse then in operation. And this mightier Impulse was not only to lead Earth-evolution onwards along the course it would have taken if there had been no invasion by Lucifer and Ahriman, but to bring it back again into its old tracks until the end. Thus the Christ-Impulse took very powerful hold of Earth-evolution. Because men were at first incapable of understanding it, it worked in ways I have indicated—examples that may be thought of are the Emperor Constantine and the Maid of Orleans.—The influence of the Christ-Impulse is of untold significance.
Earth-evolution continued its course, and speaking figuratively, the following may be said. Suppose thick snow is lying on a railway line. A train comes and ploughs through the snow up to a certain point; but at that point the pile of snow is so high that the progress of the train is checked. Something similar happened in the case of the Christ-Impulse. It entered with tremendous power, strove to lay hold of the Earth, but Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces were there and they reared up like the snow in front of the train. For a time they were overcome—and, of course, will be further overcome if a sufficient number of men allow themselves to be moved by the Christ-Impulse—but for all that the snow-pile was there. And the consequence has been that—precisely in the age of intellectualism—the delusion of the uniformity of knowledge has asserted itself with particular strength. There is clear evidence of something which simply was not there in earlier times. Those conversant with the history of spiritual evolution are well aware that from the eighth or ninth century of the Christian era onwards, this delusion that a single form of truth must be made valid all over the Earth came strongly to the fore. The Luciferic Angeloi reared up once again. They were intent upon victory, intent upon misleading men into believing the delusion that one uniform truth should be held to prevail all over the Earth. And again and again there comes over men this terrible delusion of the monistic nature of dogma.
Later on, when the age of intellectualism had already dawned, came the great resistance emanating from the Ahrimanic Archangeloi—those beings who have brought the delusion of nationalism—a delusion that has now become accomplished fact. This Ahrimanic principle took essential effect in the 19th century, just as the Luciferic principle had done in the 8th/9th century. The earthly bearer of this Ahrimanic principle was Napoleon. Napoleon is the one from whom proceeded that corruption of Europe which led to the idea that the principle of nationalism is all-important, that men must be divided into groups on the basis of the nationalistic principle. Napoleon worked in the service of Ahriman, and that was the starting-point of the state of things that has persisted to this day: the grouping of men according to regions of the Earth strictly enclosed within national boundaries.
This delusion—it is now accomplished fact—is everywhere in evidence today. It is Ahriman on his rounds, it is the influence which strives to evoke the seductive cry that men must shut themselves off in accordance with the principle of nationality, while they clothe their delusion in the slogan: "Freedom of the nations—freedom and equality of the nations!"
This is a trend deeply and intimately bound up with cosmic evolution and it is taking effect in a terrible way at the present time. The spiritual beings who set out to bring falsification into Earth-evolution naturally make use of ideas and concepts which seem to men not to be repre-hensible but, on the contrary, particularly noble; Ahrimanic intentions are adorned in the mask of great and powerful ideals, just as the Luciferic spirit has been masked by the delusion of the uniformity of knowledge, expressed in words which everyone understands because they sound so idealistic: "One truth for all men." But with this slogan, Lucifer creeps into the hearts of men; Ahriman creeps in when the cry goes forth: The peoples must shut themselves off as nationalities living in particular regions on the Earth—and only those groups of men who represent nationalities are of any account.
Just as the first is a seductive call of Lucifer which appears in the guise of an ideal, the second is a seductive call of Ahriman which again appears as an ideal—but a terribly perverted ideal. Spiritual science is called upon to see through the seductive falsity of such calls and to work to the end that mankind shall take the rightful path, the path which after it had been laid down less forcefully through the Jahve-impulse, is now the path of the greater Impulse which came into Earth-evolution: the Christ-Impulse which sweeps away all the Luciferic and Ahrimanic delusions that have crept into the souls and hearts of men.
Siebenter Vortrag
Es obliegt uns heute, uns klarzumachen, wie von einer gewissen Seite her luziferische und ahrimanische Wesenheit beschaffen ist. Wir müssen, wenn wir zu einer wenigstens in gewissem Sinne begrenzten Vorstellung derjenigen luziferisch-ahrimanischen Wesenheit kommen wollen, mit der es der Erdenmensch zunächst zu tun hat, zurückblicken nach der Mondenentwickelung unserer Erde, und diese Mondenentwickelung im Zusammenhang mit der eigentlichen Erdenentwickelung einmal ins Auge fassen.
Nicht wahr, das wissen wir, daß die eigentliche Erdenentwickelung zustande gekommen ist dadurch, daß, wie auf eine Grundlage, auf all das, was vorangegangen ist und was gewissermaßen als Erbschaft der Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenentwickelung kommen konnte, eingewirkt hat die Wesenheit der Geister der Form. Und wir finden ja auch, daß diese Geister der Form eine solche Erdenbildung hervorgebracht haben, daß in dem ganzen Zusammenhang dieser Erdenbildung der Mensch sein Ich bekommen konnte, daß also zu den drei Gliedern der Menschheitsnatur, die wie eine Erbschaft sich ergaben aus der Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenentwickelung, das Ich als diese Glieder durchdringend dazukommen konnte. Wir können sagen: Wie eine Einwirkung - dieses konkret genommen -, wie ein Hineinwirken ihrer eigenen Wesenheit haben die Geister der Form den Menschen das Ich gegeben. Insofern wir also zu diesen Geistern der Form hinaufblicken und sie als Bringer des Ich ins Auge fassen, müssen wir zugleich uns sagen, daß, gewissermaßen wie die dienenden Organe dieser Geister der Form, all das da war, was wir nun zu zählen haben als die Wesenheiten der über den Menschen stehenden nächsthöheren Hierarchie: der Geister der Persönlichkeit, der Geister, die zu der Hierarchie der Archangeloi und der Geister, die zu der Hierarchie der Angeloi gehören.
Wenn wir von all dem, was darübersteht, zunächst absehen, so haben wir also als Schöpfer und Regenten des Erdendaseins anzusehen die Geister der Form und ihre Diener gleichsam: die Geister der Persönlichkeit, die Erzengelgeister und die Engelgeister. Dadurch konnte ein Erdendasein geschaffen und regiert werden, welches aus seinem Ganzen heraus wie die Blüte oder - man könnte sogar sa gen -, wie die höchste Frucht dieses Erdendaseins den Menschen _ ergab mit seiner Ich-Natur.
Wenn wir heute das Erdendasein betrachten, so bekommen wir es nicht eigentlich in reiner Wesenheit so heraus, wie es sich hätte ergeben können, wenn die Geister der Form nur mit dieser ihrer angedeuteten Dienerschaft dieses Erdendasein eben geschaffen hätten und regieren würden. Denn in all das, was ich jetzt charakterisiert ‘habe, wirken ja herein die luziferischen und die ahrimanischen geistigen Wesenheiten. So daß wir ein Erdendasein haben, welches gewissermaßen in seiner fortgehenden Hauptentwickelung uns das zeigt, was hervorgebracht und regiert werden kann durch die regulär entwickelten Geister der Form und ihre Diener; und dann in dieses hineingewirkt, hineinverwoben alles dasjenige, was abhängt von den luziferischen und ahrimanischen Einflüssen.
Machen wir uns zunächst dieses klar, so werden wir uns sagen können: Alles Erdendasein, das menschliche Erdendasein und das Erdendasein der anderen Reiche, würde anders sein, wenn nur die Geister der Form und ihre Diener schaffen, wirken und regieren würden. Das, was wir vor uns haben, zeigt uns also schon gewissermaßen ein getrübtes, ein verfälschtes Bild des Erdendaseins, ein durch luziferisches und ahrimanisches Dasein gefärbtes Bild des Erdendaseins. Wir könnten uns bei verschiedenen konkreten Erdenerscheinungen fragen: Was wäre denn nun aus diesem Erdendasein geworden, wenn die angedeuteten Fälschungen, die luziferischen und ahrimanischen Fälschungen nicht eingetreten wären, wenn es, mit anderen Worten, so gegangen wäre, daß nur die Geister der Form mit ihren Dienern in dem entsprechenden Grade wirken würden?
Da zeigt sich dem, der diesen Dingen nachgeht, daß unter mannigfaltigen Erscheinungen, die beobachtet werden können und denen gegenüber die eben charakterisierte Frage aufgeworfen werden könnte, zum Beispiel auch diejenige ist, die sich unmittelbar anschließt an das gestern Gesagte. Ich habe gestern gesprochen von dem, was mehr wie im Unterbewußten des Menschenlebens vor sich geht als Sprachentwickelung. Ich habe auf eine gewisse Gesetzmäßigkeit der Sprachentwickelung im Flusse des menschlichen Erdendaseins und seiner Entwickelung hingewiesen. Ich habe dann auch erwähnt, daß ja das Charakteristische dieser Sprachentwickelung darin besteht, daß sie gewissermaßen ergriffen wird von dem Menschlich-Persönlichen, und daß der Mensch auch heute noch nicht so weit gekommen ist, in den Sprach-Charakteren, in den Buchstaben, Lauten und ihrer Zusammensetzung reine Zeichen zu sehen für die Gedankenentwickelung. In der Gedankenentwickelung hat es der Mensch gewissermaßen zu etwas ganz anderem gebracht als in der Sprachentwickelung. Aber gerade damit hängt zusammen dasjenige, was uns klar werden kann, wenn wir die Frage aufwerfen: Wie wäre Sprachentwickelung und wie wäre Gedankenentwickelung im Erdendasein zur Entfaltung gekommen, wenn nicht luziferische und ahrimanische Einflüsse gewirkt hätten? - Mit anderen Worten: Wie würde der Mensch denken, und wie würde er sprechen und das Gesprochene hören, wenn nur die Geister der Form und ihre Diener die Erde schaffen und leiten würden?
Wenn dies der Fall wäre, wenn kein luziferischer und ahrimanischer Einfluß in der Erdenentwickelung sich zur Geltung gebracht hätte, so würde von vornherein in dieser Erdenentwickelung ein völliger Einklang gewesen sein zwischen dem Sprechen und dem Denken. Wir müssen diesen Einklang erst wiederum durch eine gewisse Objektivität suchen. Dadurch, daß wir nach und nach die Sprache zum Zeichen machen müssen, dadurch wird das luziferischahrimanische Element überwunden werden. Wäre es aber gar nicht gekommen, so wäre ein inniger Einklang zwischen Sprechen und Denken in der Menschheit zur Entfaltung gekommen; das heißt, es wäre so gekommen, daß der Mensch eine Wahrnehmung, eine lebendige Empfindung haben würde für das, was im Sprachlaut liegt, für das, was im D, T, Th und so weiter liegt, was er ja heute nicht hat. Es geht bei ihm das Sprechen neben dem Denken einher. Sie sehen das ja schon daraus, daß wenigstens im wesentlichen die Menschen über die Erde hin, wenn sie eine gewisse Gestalt des Denkens in bezug auf irgend etwas erlangt haben, in ihren Begriffen sich nicht unterscheiden, wohl aber sich in ihren Worten unterscheiden.
Dies Einseitige des Denkens, das ganz und gar nicht in dem Sprechen zum Ausdruck kommt, das müssen wir ins Auge fassen; denn es ist etwas, das vom Sprechen schon abgezweigt ist. Das hätte mit dem Sprechen in einem viel innigeren Zusammenhang erscheinen müssen, wenn keine ahrimanisch-luziferischen Wirkungen in das Erdendasein eingegriffen hätten. Die Menschen würden mit ihren innersten Lebensempfindungen durchdringen das Sprachliche; sie würden sozusagen in dem Laut drinnenstehen, aber im Laut drinnen zu gleicher Zeit den Begriff, die Vorstellung erleben; beides nicht getrennt empfinden, sondern beides als eines empfinden. So haben es die Geister der Form für den Menschen veranlagt gehabt. Denn jenes seelische Element - wohlgemerkt, jenes seelische Element, das im Menschen auftritt, wenn er sich auf der einen Seite hingibt dem, was ihm seine Vorstellungen geben, auf der anderen Seite dem, was ihm das Sprechen gibt, also wenn er in dem Vorstellen aufgeht, und wenn er im Sprechen aufgeht -, dieses Seelenelement, das haben die Geister der Form ursprünglich den Erdenmenschen gar nicht zugedacht gehabt, sondern sie haben ihm zugedacht die Einheit des Sprechens und Denkens. Das Als-Eines-Erleben des Sprechens und Denkens hatten sie ihm zugedacht. Wenn wir unser. heutiges Auseinandergerissensein von Sprechen und Denken ins Auge fassen, so ist das eben durchaus auf die Einflüsse Luzifers und Ahrimans zurückzuführen.
Der Mensch empfindet heute nicht den besonderen Charakter des M, des G und so weiter, sondern das ist ihm etwas geworden, das er in ganz anderer Weise mit seiner Seele verbindet, als die Weise, die Art ist, wie er seine Seele mit dem Denken verbindet. Die Geister der Form und ihre dienenden Wesenheiten haben dem Menschen ein viel selbstverständlicheres natürliches Dasein zugedacht, als es der Mensch dann auf Erden hat erringen können. Die Geister der Form haben dem Menschen zugedacht ein liebevolles Drinnenleben - aber jetzt nicht in einem Sprechen, aus dem der Saft des Denkens ausgepreßt ist, sondern in einem solchen Sprechen, das in sich das Denken selber, ich möchte sagen, auf seinen Flügeln trägt. Solches haben die Geister der Form den Menschen zugedacht gehabt. Und es hätten nach den Intentionen der Geister der Form die Menschen nicht sich unterscheiden sollen nach Sprach-Charakteren auf der Erde, sondern der Unterschied der Nationen war von den Geistern der Form so gedacht, daß er sich nur gründen sollte auf NaturUntergrundlagen, auf geographische und klimatische Verschiedenheit. Der Mensch sollte sich als Nation fühlen dadurch, daß er sich im Zusammenhang gefühlt hätte mit gewissen, wie selbstverständlich in den Natur-Untergrundlagen seines Daseins wirkenden Mächten.
Dagegen wäre es, wenn die Intentionen der Geister der Form allein ausgeführt worden wären, dem Menschen möglich geworden zu verstehen, wenn er als Angehöriger der einen Nation dem Angehörigen einer anderen Nation entgegengetreten wäre, fühlend zu verstehen von vornherein, was in dem Worte liegt. Verschiedene Sprachen würde es schon gegeben haben. Aber nicht wären die Menschen in bezug auf das Verständnis der Sprachen verschieden gewesen; sondern im Empfinden dessen, was in dem einzelnen Laut, in dem einzelnen Buchstaben liegt, hätte zwar der Mensch die andere Sprache gehört, aber er hätte nicht gehört das Ausgehülste des Lautes, des Wortes; in dem Wort, in dem Laut drinnen hätte er die Vorstellung gehört, auf den Flügeln des Wortes wäre ihm die Vorstellung gekommen. Man versteht jetzt die fremde Sprache aus dem Grunde nicht, weil in dem Worte ja die Vorstellungen gar nicht drinnen liegen, weil die Worte enthülst sind von den VorstelJungen.
So ist also ein Riß zwischen Sprechen und Vorstellen entstanden. Daher ist es gekommen, daß der Mensch bis jetzt diese Fähigkeit gar nicht entwickeln konnte während seiner Erdenentwickelung: dem anderen gegenüberzutreten so, daß er ein fühlendes Verstehen hat selbst einer noch so fremden Sprache. Die Sprachen, wie sie jetzt sind, dürfen Sie dabei nicht ins Auge fassen. Die Sprachen wären natürlich ganz anders geworden; sie sind eben jetzt so geworden, daß der Angehörige des einen Sprachgebietes die Angehörigen des anderen Sprachgebietes nicht verstehen kann, weil die Sprachen sich nicht so entwickelt haben, wie das Gedankenleben sich entwickelte. So, daß das Gedankenleben drinnen wäre in den Sprachen, so haben sich die Sprachen nicht entwickelt. Daher ist es auch nach der heutigen Entwickelung der Sprachen unmöglich, ein solches Verständnis zu haben, wie es ursprünglich gedacht war von den Geistern der Form, und wie es dirigiert werden sollte von ihren Dienern. Die Geister der Form haben schon vorgehabt, natürlich nicht über die ganze Erde hin nach einem Schnitt - etwa so wie kosmische Schneider -, alle Menschen zu formen, sondern die Menschen sollten verschieden sein; aber sie sollten so verschieden sein, daß sie doch mit vollem Verständnis über die ganze Erde hin einander gegenübergestanden wären.
Und zu Regierern dieser von den Geistern der Form gedachten Menschengruppen waren ausersehen die Wesenheiten aus der Hierarchie der Archangeloi, jene Wesenheiten aus der Hierarchie der Archangeloi, die während der Mondenentwickelung ihren MondenVollkommenheitsgrad erlangt haben. Und damit der einzelne, wenn er in einer solchen Menschheitsgruppe drinnen steht, auch eine Führung hätte, die zwischen ihm als Persönlichkeit und der ganzen Menschheitsgruppe vermittelte, waren ihm als Führung zugedacht, zur Führung für ihn ausersehen die regelmäßig mit der Mondenentwickelung entwickelten Wesenheiten aus der Hierarchie der Angeloi.
Man könnte also sagen: Wenn es nach der Absicht der Geister der Form gegangen wäre, so würde man über die Erde hingeschritten sein und die Menschen verschieden gefunden haben über die Erde hin, aber so im Zusammenhang mit der ganzen Konfiguration, mit der Umgebung der Erde, wie etwa die Vegetation, die Pflanzenwelt es ist. Man hätte sie zusammengewachsen gefunden mit dem Naturdasein. Aber es wäre nicht in das Seelische hineingezogen dasjenige, was die Menschen nach Sprachen spaltet. Allerdings, etwas anderes wäre auch nicht gekommen: das wäre nicht gekommen, daß über das ganze Erdenrund hin gesucht wird eine einzige Wissenschaft, eine einzige Form der Erkenntnis. Es ist heute ein tiefer Glaube, aber ein rein luziferischer Glaube, daß es ein einziges Wissen geben kann, welches man in eine Anzahl von Dogmen faßt, und welches dann für die ganze Erdenmenschheit gelten muß. Das ist nur dadurch entstanden, daß sich das Wissen, das begriffliche Vorstellen losgetrennt hat von dem Sprechen und dadurch vereinheitet worden ist.
Wäre die Sache so gekommen, wie es in der Absicht der Geister der Form gelegen hat, dann würden die Menschen nach Menschengruppen sich über die Dinge der Welt verschieden ausgedrückt haben; aber man hätte es fühlend verstanden, man hätte auch den anderen gelten lassen, der sich anders ausdrückt über die Dinge, als man sich selber ausdrückt; man hätte gerade in der Mannigfaltigkeit das richtige Leben der Erde gefunden.
Das alles sind Dinge, die in den Intentionen der Geister der Form lagen, die aber in bezug auf ihr Verständnis aus der Menschheit völlig herausgeschwunden sind. Denn es hat sich festgelegt in einer ganz eklatanten Weise der Glaube, daß das sogenannte Vorstellen, das Leben in Begriffen anational sein müsse im Gegensatz zum Sprechen, das national sein müsse. Der Mittelzustand ist von den Geistern der Form gerade intendiert gewesen: nicht das Getrenntsein nach Sprachen und das Verbundensein über die ganze Erde hin nach einem leichtesten, schlampigen Begriffe; sondern die Mannigfaltigkeit der Sprache mit der Mannigfaltigkeit der Vorstellungen, das ist dasjenige, was von den Geistern der Form intendiert war.
Das ist auch dasjenige, was für uns auf unserem geisteswissenschaftlichen Gebiet in gewisser Beziehung wiederum ein Ideal abgeben muß, ein richtiges Ideal abgeben muß. Aber es nistet tief in der Menschennatur heute, dieses Ideal nicht anerkennen zu wollen. Ich kann Ihnen ein Beispiel dafür sagen, wie tief es in der menschlichen Natur nistet, dieses Ideal nicht anerkennen zu wollen.
Wir waren ja, wie Sie vielleicht noch wissen, obwohl es für ein gegenwärtiges Gedächtnis schon eine lange Zeit her ist, wir waren auch einmal verbunden mit der sogenannten «Theosophical Society», mit der «Theosophischen Gesellschaft», die zu ihrem Präsidenten hatte, noch haben soll, Frau Besant. Wir waren auch - eine Anzahl von uns - in den ersten Zeiten zu den sogenannten Kongressen dieser Gesellschaft gegangen. Da wurden von den verschiedenen Vertretern, von den Generalsekretären der einzelnen europäischen Sektionen immer Reden gehalten. Die Verschiedenheit der Sprachen drückte sich ja so ganz besonders klar dadurch aus, daß jeder in seiner Sprache sprach, was natürlich zur Folge hatte, daß man die meisten überhaupt nicht verstand. Aber es wurde doch, um das gegenseitige Verständnis zu pflegen, eben so gehandhabt, daß man wenigstens eine kurze Rede in der Sprache des eigenen Landes hielt. Ich habe - vielleicht erinnern sich einige, die dabei waren - bei dieser Gelegenheit immer ein und dieselbe Sache durch mehrere Jahre hindurch vorgebracht. Ich weiß nicht, inwiefern es bemerkt worden ist, aber ich habe durch Jahre hindurch immer ein und dieselbe Sache vorgetragen, immer mit dem, ich möchte sagen, nicht Hintergedanken, sondern Hintergefühl: ob wohl die Sache verstanden werden würde. Es wurde nämlich immer von mir betont: Wenn wir hier aus den verschiedenen Ländern zusammenkommen, so kommen wir nicht zusammen, um eine zentrale Theosophie zu empfangen, sondern wir kommen zusammen, um dasjenige, was an Theosophischem die einzelnen Länder zu leisten haben, auf einem gemeinsamen Altar niederzulegen. - Ich betonte immer das Individuelle, das von den verschiedenen Seiten Hergekommene, das nur auf einem gemeinsamen Altar niedergelegt sein will. Von Jahr zu Jahr habe ich, wie gesagt, dasselbe betont. Die Folge davon war nur, daß die einen nicht verstanden haben, was ich ausführte, obwohl es richtig war, und die anderen davon verschnupft worden sind. Es lag aber darin ein Ausdruck für das Ideal, das wir haben müssen: für das Ideal, das sich nicht so aussprechen kann, als ob wir über die ganze Erde hin ein einheitliches Dogma schaffen könnten, sondern das wir in der Richtung haben müssen, daß das Mannigfaltige auf unserer Erde im gegenseitigen Verständnis sich ausleben kann.
Es nistet eben das Vorurteil, als ob die Wahrheit nur eine einzige sein könne, so tief in den Menschenseelen, daß die Menschen schon Widersprüche wittern, wenn in einem Vortragszyklus einmal auf die eine Art, ein anderes Mal auf die andere Art etwas zum Ausdruck gebracht wird. Das soll aber gerade bei uns gepflegt werden, um zu zeigen, wie die Darstellung der Wahrheit die Mannigfaltigkeit fordert. Das muß also ein Ideal werden: Mannigfaltigkeit, nicht Einförmigkeit.
Was nun der ganzen Sache zugrunde liegt, das werden wir nur einsehen, wenn wir, nachdem wir ein wenig charakterisiert haben die regulär entwickelten Geister der Form und ihre dienenden Glieder, und dasjenige, was zum Beispiel in bezug auf das Konkrete des Sprechens und Denkens aus ihnen für die Erdenentwickelung hätte werden sollen, wenn wir dem nun in ganz bestimmter Weise das luziferische und das ahrimanische Element gegenüberstellen. Wenn wir dieses Element verstehen wollen, dann müssen wir nicht auf die Erdenentwickelung schauen; denn das luziferische und ahrimanische Element ist ja so, wie es geworden ist, durch die Mondenentwickelung geworden. Wir haben oft betont, daß es gerade in der Mondenentwickelung stehengeblieben ist und in die Erdenentwikkelung hereintrug, was von der Mondenentwickelung herstammt. So dürfen wir also bei diesem luziferischen und ahrimanischen Element nicht davon sprechen, daß die Geister der Form die Schöpfer dort sind; die Geister der Form sind es nur für Wesenheiten, die angemessen sind der Erdenentwickelung. Für diese ahrimanischen und luziferischen Wesenheiten kommen als Schöpferwesenheiten die Geister der Bewegung in Betracht, die gewissermaßen die Schöpfer und Regierer der Mondenentwickelung sind.
Was also die Geister der Form für die Menschen-Erdenentwickelung sind, das sind die Geister der Bewegung für die Mondenentwickelung und damit für das ganze ahrimanisch-luziferische Element. Und diese Geister der Bewegung, sie waren die Schöpfer während der Mondenentwickelung durch dasjenige, was sie geschaffen haben. Und was sie in Verbindung mit ihren dienenden Geistern, den damaligen Geistern der Form, den Geistern der Persönlichkeit, den Geistern aus der Hierarchie der Archangeloi, zustande gebracht haben, war regelmäßig auf dem Monde ausgebildete Engelwesenheit. So wie der Mensch im Laufe der Erdenentwickelung seine sieben Glieder ausbilden soll, so sollten die Engel ihre sieben Glieder während der Mondenentwickelung ausbilden.
Diejenigen Engel nun, welche während der Mondenentwickelung richtig ihre sieben Glieder ausgebildet haben, die traten in die Erdenentwickelung ein, und sie sind solche Geister geworden, die vermitteln sollen zwischen dem einzelnen Menschen und der Menschengruppe, die geleitet ist von einem einzelnen Erzengel. Und das ist wiederum ein Erzengel, welcher seine sieben Glieder während der Mondenentwickelung ausgebildet hat. Aber es sind unter diesen eben solche gewesen, die es sozusagen nur bis zu sechs oder zu fünf Gliedern gebracht haben, die nicht völlig während der Mondenentwickelung ihre sieben Glieder alle entwickelt haben. Daher sind sie nicht fähig geworden, während der Erdenentwickelung als Engel Leiter der einzelnen Menschen, oder als Erzengel Leiter der Gruppen von Menschen zu werden. Diese geistigen Wesenheiten, welche entweder nur ihre sechs oder ihre fünf Teile ausgebildet haben, die sind nun gleichsam die unterste Hierarchie. Es gibt darüberstehende, wenn wir von Ahriman und Luzifer sprechen. Sie sind als die uns zunächststehenden luziferischen und ahrimanischen Wesenheiten anzusehen, sind also solche Wesenheiten, welche gar nicht eingehen konnten in regulärer Weise in die Erdenentwickelung, weil die Erdenentwickelung beherrscht wurde von den Geistern der Form: sie waren aber nicht dazu gekommen den Geistern der Form zu helfen, denn sie standen auf der Engelstufe. Menschen konnten sie auch nicht so ohne weiteres werden. Sie standen also zwischen den regulären Engeln und den Menschen mitten darinnen. So daß wir also folgendes haben.
Wir können sagen: Wenn das die Erdenentwickelung darstellt mit dem Menschen unten (siehe Zeichnung), so haben wir darüber die Schöpfer, die Geister der Form, dann die Geister der Persönlichkeit, die Geister aus der Hierarchie der Archangeloi, die Geister aus der Hierarchie der Angeloi. Diese haben also ihre Entwickelung durch ihre sieben beziehungsweise neun Glieder während der Mondenentwickelung durchgemacht; sie haben nicht nötig, in das einzugehen, was die Geister der Form für den Menschen schaffen als irdische Verkörperung; sie gehen nur ein in einen ätherischen Leib - die Engel zum Beispiel -, weil sie ja der nächsten Hierarchie angehören.

Und zwischen drinnen stehen diejenigen Wesenheiten, welche gar nicht sich die Fähigkeit erworben haben, in diesen Evolutionen hier weiterzuschreiten, sondern welche dadurch, daß sie nicht ihre entsprechenden sieben Glieder ausgebildet haben, Wesenheiten sind, die von sich sagen können: Wir sind geschaffen von den Geistern der Bewegung; wir werden regiert von gewissen Geistern der Form, Archai, Archangeloi. - Aber nun waren sie da, und waren für ihre Aufgabe, wie sie ihnen eigentlich zugefallen wäre: mitzuregieren an der fortlaufenden Menschheitsentwickelung und auch an der Entwickelung der anderen Reiche der Erdennatur, sie waren dazu nicht befähigt; das konnten sie nicht mitmachen.
So gab es also, ich möchte sagen, zwei Klassen - wenn wir zunächst auf die anderen nicht sehen - sowohl von Erzengeln wie von Engeln. Die regulär Entwickelten waren jene, die sich nun einreihten in die Tätigkeit, welche so hätte verlaufen sollen, wie ich sie eben charakterisiert habe zum Beispiel für die Sprache und das Denken. Wäre nur diese Veranlagung der Geister der Bewegung da, so wäre das Sprechen und das Denken in einem solchen Einklange entwickelt worden, wie ich es vorhin charakterisiert habe.
Nun entstand etwas, was trivial ausschaut, wenn man es ausspricht, aber es ist nicht so trivial. Es ist eben ein ungeheuer schwerwiegendes, großes, bedeutsames kosmisches Ereignis. Man möchte sagen: es waren jetzt im Geisterland, oder wenn wir im Sinne der Religion sprechen, es waren im Himmel, die regulär entwickelten Erzengel, die regulär entwickelten Engel und dasjenige, was sich als ein nicht fertiges Gezücht ergab. Und da stellt sich dann das heraus, daß die regulär entwickelten Erzengel und Engel diese nicht regulär entwickelten, die bloß ihre sechs oder fünf Glieder entwickelt hatten, herunterwarfen auf die Erde, aus dem Himmel auf die Erde, weil sie dort nicht zu gebrauchen waren.
Und so mischte sich vom Beginn der Erdenentwickelung an, ich möchte sagen, in die Substantialität der Erdenentwickelung herein ein unsichtbares Reich: das Reich Luzifers und Ahrimans, die herausgestoßen waren aus jenem Reich, von dem aus regelrecht geschaffen und regiert wird fortlaufend der Mensch, Tiere, Pflanzen, Minerale. Heruntergestoßen waren sie, die nicht fertig geworden waren. Sie waren auf der Erde da. Natürlich konnten sie mit Erdensinnen nicht gesehen werden, aber sie waren da. Die regulären Erzengel und Engel waren, wenn wir einen religiösen Ausdruck gebrauchen, im Himmel; aber auf der Erde irrten herum die zurückgebliebenen. Darauf bezieht sich das biblische Wort: «Und ihr Ort ward nicht mehr im Himmel gefunden.» Sie waren heruntergestoßen.
Nun bedenken Sie nur den wahren Sachverhalt, damit Sie über gewisse Dinge sich nicht falschen Vorstellungen hingeben. Da lebten auf der Erde die Menschen, in einer zunächst primitiven Entwickelung, so wie Sie es ja entsprechend in der «Geheimwissenschaft» dargestellt finden. Aber unmittelbar unter den Menschen, um sie herum lebten Wesenheiten - nehmen wir also nur die alleruntersten luziferischen Wesenheiten -, die auf dem Monde zurückgebliebenen Engel, die, statt daß sie nun zu regieren hatten, tatenlos zunächst waren. Aber während der Mensch erst dabei war, nach und nach seine sieben Glieder zu entwickeln, während er erst hoffen konnte, am Ende der Erdenentwickelung das siebente Glied zu entwickeln, oder in einer entsprechend näheren Zeit das sechste oder fünfte Glied, waren diese soweit, daß sie ihr sechstes oder fünftes Glied fertig hatten; nur ihr siebentes hatten sie nicht entwickelt.
Nehmen wir einmal die Sache, wie sie ist. Wir wissen ja, daß wir jetzt gerade daran sind, an der Entwickelung desjenigen zu arbeiten, was wir den Intellekt nennen. Wir leben in der fünften Periode der nachatlantischen Zeit. Ja, die Menschen in der lemurischen Zeit waren weit entfernt davon, dieses Glied ihrer Wesenheit etwa schon entwickelt zu haben, das erst jetzt, in der fünften, in der nachatlantischen Zeit, zum Ausdruck kommt. Was die Wesenheiten, die dazumal herabgestoßene Engel waren, gerade auszeichnet, das ist, daß sie von der Mondenzeit her längst das hatten, was der Mensch erst jetzt entwickelt; sie hatten schon das, was dem Menschen erst zugedacht ist in einer späteren Periode der Erdenentwickelung. Ja, das ist sogar durchaus eine Tatsache, daß lange Zeit, sogar noch in der nachlemurischen, in der atlantischen Zeit, solche unsichtbaren Wesenheiten eine große Rolle spielten, welche damals in hohem Grade das ausgebildet hatten, woran der Mensch in der atlantischen Zeit nicht denken konnte, woran er jetzt erst ist, es auszubilden: nämlich das intellektuelle Element.
Also hoch entwickelte Intelligenzen, Engelwesen schwebten gleichsam unsichtbar in dieser lemurischen und atlantischen Zeit herum als zurückgebliebene Geister. Hoch entwickelte Geister waren das, ganz außerordentlich hoch entwickelt. Wir können also sagen, wenn wir uns wieder trivial ausdrücken wollen: Es ist durchkreuzt worden die Absicht der Hierarchie der Geister der Form. Während diese Hierarchie sich gesagt hat: Wir entwickeln den Menschen nach und nach und lassen ihn leiten durch Engel, und in der fünften Zeitepoche, da soll er den Intellekt entwickeln, da soll er diesen Intellekt so entwickeln, daß er dann schon reif ist -, während es die Absicht war, es so kommen zu lassen, daß der Einklang von Intellekt und Sprache sich ausgebildet hätte, ist dies, was sonst gekommen wäre, durchkreuzt worden dadurch, daß unsichtbare Wesenheiten mitten drinnen gelebt haben unter den Menschen.
Von diesen unsichtbaren Wesenheiten betrachten wir zunächst die luziferischen Engelwesenheiten. Diese luziferischen Engelwesenheiten haben jetzt etwas getan, was man so bezeichnen kann: sie haben gewissermaßen einzelne Menschen einer früheren Erdenperiode überbefruchtet, sie sind in sie hineingefahren, sie haben sie von sich besessen gemacht. Diese Engelwesenheiten sind ja heruntergestoßen worden auf die Erde. Und so trifft man solche Menschen in alten Zeiten, die, wenn sie geworden wären, wie es ihnen von den Geistern der Form zugedacht war, einfache, ursprüngliche Menschen gewesen wären. So aber fuhren in sie hinein solche Engelwesenheiten. Dadurch wurden sie furchtbar gescheit, klug, wie der Mensch erst in der fünften, oder sogar sechsten Kulturepoche der Erdenentwickelung es werden sollte, und wovon man im alten Indien noch keinen Begriff hatte. Von den sieben Rishis oder Erleuchteten sprechen wir jetzt eigentlich. Das waren also solche besessene, von den luziferischen Engelwesenheiten erleuchtete Menschen. Es waren selbstverständlich solche Menschen, zu denen der naive Mensch hinaufblicken mußte als zu etwas besonders Hohem.
Diese Wesenheiten brachten, indem sie auch später immer wieder und wieder Menschen von sich besessen machten, entweder auf einzelne Menschen oder Menschengruppen wirkten, diese luziferisch gearteten Engelwesenheiten brachten unter die Menschen das Vorurteil von der Internationalität der Begriffswelt, von der sogenannten über die ganze Erde hinüberreichenden einheitlichen Dogmatik. Wo man an eine solche einheitliche Dogmatik glaubt, wo man glaubt, daß} es möglich sei, nicht in der Mannipgfaltigkeit, sondern in der Einheitlichkeit das Heil zu suchen, da wirken die luziferischen Geister. Sie haben losgerissen die Vorstellungswelt von der Sprachenwelt. Sie haben damit dasjenige heraufbeschworen, was unmöglich gemacht hat, daß die Vorstellungen ihren Sitz richtig in dem gesprochenen Wort drinnen behalten haben. Und so entstand die luziferische Einheitlichkeit, der luziferische Monismus oder das Streben nach dem luziferischen Monismus über die ganze Erde hinüber. Überall, wo Fanatiker auftreten, die da glauben, daß dasjenige, was sie gerade als das Richtige ansehen, nun so schnell als möglich von allen Erdenmenschen geglaubt werden müsse, da sind sie besessen von jenen luziferischen Engeln. Denn nicht darum handelt es sich, daß man von diesem Einheitswahn besessen ist, sondern darum handelt es sich, daß man nach Verständnis der Vielheit, der harmonisch wirkenden Mannigfaltigkeit strebt.
Und nun war die Bahn geebnet für andere Geister, nachdem diese luziferisch gestalteten Engelwesenheiten in der Form von besonders erleuchteten Individuen, namentlich innerhalb Indiens zunächst auftraten. Diese auserlesenen Menschen, die das, was der anderen Menschheit überhaupt erst zugedacht war in einer viel späteren Zeit, in ihrem besonders strahlenden Erleuchtetsein früh zeigten, die brachten über die Erde den Wahn von der Einheitlichkeit alles Denkens. Und jetzt war die Bahn geebnet für die anderen, die namentlich aus der Hierarchie der Archangeloi sind, aber solcher Archangeloi, welche während der Mondenentwickelung nicht ihre volle Entwickelung bis zum siebenten Glied erlangten, sondern beim sechsten Glied stehengeblieben sind. Sie wurden nun auch, weil sie nicht zu gebrauchen waren als Lehrer von Menschengruppen, die nach geographisch-klimatisch natürlichen Verhältnissen verteilt waren, hinuntergeworfen und sind nun auch unter den Menschen der Erde mitten drinnen.
Diese Archangeloi, deren Ort nun auch nicht im Himmel zu finden war, sondern auf der Erde - das heißt, im Abgrund, in dem sie umherirrten -, sie wurden nun ausgesandt, von ihren Obersten ausgesandt, hinaus zu den einzelnen Volksgruppen. Und diese rissen nun ihrerseits auch das Sprechen um eine Stufe tiefer herunter. Während die vorhin genannten luziferischen Wesenheiten das Denken abgerissen haben vom Sprechen, ließen diese falsch entwickelten Erzengel die Sprach-Charaktere noch um eine Stufe tiefer hinuntersinken, so daß die Sprachen so geschieden waren, nun, wie sie eben auf der Erde geschieden wurden.
Diese Wesenheiten, die zurückgebliebene Erzengel sind, und die nun die Lenkung von Menschengruppen auf Erden in dem Sinne betrieben, daß sie die Menschheit spalteten, so daß die Menschen sich hassen, sich absondern, diese Sorte, die hat ahrimanische Natur. Es sind hoch entwickelte Wesenheiten; aber sie sind eben nicht dazu berufen, Völkerschaften zu leiten, aus dem einfachen Grunde, weil Völkerschaften zu leiten nach dem Sinne der Geister der Form die normal entwickelten Erzengel berufen sind, die ihre sieben Glieder ausgebildet haben. Namentlich solche, die nur ihre sechs Glieder ausgebildet haben, sind nun diejenigen, welche sich entgegenstellen den eigentlichen regulären Völkerlenkern. Ahrimanische Wesenheiten - wir haben sie jetzt einmal genauer ins Auge gefaßt -, das sind die Wesenheiten, welche es nun dahin gebracht haben, daß die Sprachen um eine Stufe tiefer noch hinuntergesunken sind, auf eine Stufe, auf der man eben zunächst gar nicht sieht, welche Begriffe, welche Vorstellungen in der Sprache als solcher enthalten sind. Wären nur die luziferischen Engelwesen gekommen, so wäre zwar der Einheitswahn über die Erde gekommen; aber es würden sich die einzelnen Sprachen so entwickelt haben, daß man, wenn man nur in seinem Gemüte den Einheitswahn überwindet, noch empfinden könnte in den verschiedenen Sprachen das, was in ihnen liegt. Aber nachdem einmal die Vorstellungswelt losgerissen war von den luziferischen Engeln, war es dann den ahrimanischen Erzengeln leicht, die Sprache noch um eine Stufe hinunterzutreiben; so daß dann keine Möglichkeit mehr war, die Sprache so zu entwickeln, daß in ihr die Empfindung für die unmittelbare Vorstellung geblieben wäre.
Sehen Sie, da haben wir das Zusammenwirken einer Dreiheit. Wenn Sie einmal unsere Holzplastik, nachdem sie fertig sein wird, anblicken werden, dann werden Sie die Dreiheit plastisch zum Ausdruck gebracht sehen. Wir haben die Dreiheit einer fortgehenden Entwickelung, die aber gefälscht ist: die gefälscht ist nach oben durch den Einheitswahn der Vorstellungen, gefälscht nach unten durch den falschen Differenzierungswahn, was schon kein Wahn mehr ist, sondern eine Tatsache: das Zerklüften, das Zerspalten der Menschheit in sogenannte Nationen nach den Sprachen.
So war es nun über die Erdenentwickelung gekommen; das ist im Laufe, in der Strömung der Erdenentwickelung darinnen. Und dadurch, daß das darinnen ist, entwickelte sich eben im Lauf der Zeit das, was der Glaube war, der vom Einheitswahn beherrscht ist, und auf der anderen Seite die Spaltung in Nationen. Das entwickelte sich. Das war auf seinem Höhepunkt angelangt, als nun die kosmische Wesenheit des Christus sich auf die Erde niedersenkte, in der Ihnen ja bekannten Weise, und damit der Erdenentwickelung ein Impuls einverleibt war, den wir jetzt durchaus in die Welt zu versetzen haben, welche die regelmäßige Fortentwickelung darstellt. Nur daß dieser Christus-Impuls sich die Aufgabe setzt, nachdem die Erdenentwickelung nun eine Weile gewissermaßen nach zwei Richtungen hin falsch gegangen ist, die Gegenimpulse zu schaffen: das heißt, den normal entwickelten Engeln eine größere Macht zu geben, damit sie den luziferisch entwickelten Engeln, welche den Einheitswahn befolgen, entgegenwirken. An die Stelle der monistischwahnhaften Einheitsnatur alles Wissens ist nun das getreten, was eigentlich im richtig verstandenen Christentum liegt: das Verstehen, aber das Nicht-Aufdrängen desjenigen, was man selber meint, das Suchen der Wahrheit in der anderen Menschennatur. Indem das darinnen liegt, liegt in dem Impuls des Christus eine Verstärkung der normal entwickelten Engel. So daß es wieder für die Menschen und für jedes Zeitalter ein Ideal werden kann, überall, wo es sein soll, auf der Erde zu finden eine individuell gestaltete Wahrheit, jetzt nicht aus dem eben von Luzifer schon ganz in den Wahn hinein verschossenen bloßen Intellekt heraus, sondern von Seelen, von Herzen heraus dasjenige zu finden, was wahr ist; gewissermaßen jeden Menschen auf seine eigene Art finden zu lassen, was wahr ist.
Diese Worte: daß die Wahrheit in jeder Menschenseele liegt, das ist das tief Christliche, wie ich es auch bei anderer Gelegenheit schon erklärt habe. Dem liegt zugrunde eine Verstärkung der Engelnatur, so daß diese den Sieg erringen können über diejenigen luziferischen Engel, die den Einheitswahn einer gleichmachenden Dogmatik über die ganze Erde hin verbreiten wollen als ein gleichmäßiges Netz einer gleichlautenden Intellektualität, die nicht zuläßt die Mannigfaltigkeit, die Vielheit der Auffassung. - Und geschärft nach der anderen Seite sollte werden auch die Kraft der regulär entwickelten Erzengel, so daß sie nach und nach besiegen können diejenigen geistigen Wesenheiten, welche die Differenzierung der Menschengruppen dadurch herbeiführen, daß diese Menschengruppen in ihre Sprache verliebt werden und dadurch zu einer besonderen Absonderung, in ein Fanatisches kommen. Stärker sollen die regulär entwickelten Engel und Erzengel gemacht werden durch den Christus-Impuls. Dasjenige, was durch den Christus-Impuls geschehen sollte, ist eben nicht etwas, was bloß in den Gedanken, in der Anschauung der Menschen, in dem Gefühl der Menschen da ist, sondern es geht das, was in der Erde geschieht, über das Sichtbare hinaus in das Unsichtbare hinein. Der Christus ist nicht nur da für die Menschen, sondern auch für die Engel und für die Erzengel. Denn der Christus gehört einer kosmischen Wesenheit an, die durch den Jesus von Nazareth in die Erdenentwickelung hereingekommen ist.

So daß man sagen muß: In der Mitte der Erdenentwickelung tritt überall eine Verstärkung ein; der Christus-Impuls greift ein. Überall tritt auch für Engel und Erzengel eine verstärkende Kraft ein. Bleiben wir dabei zunächst (siehe Zeichnung, violett). Dieser verstärkende Impuls war mächtig, war gewaltig, und es war etwas über die Erdenentwickelung hereingekommen, was früher überhaupt nicht innerhalb der Erdenentwickelung gesehen oder erhört war. Dasjenige Prinzip, das früher da war, wollte gerade als Naturprinzip wirken, wollte die geistige Lenkung der Welt als Naturprinzip haben: das Jahve-, das Jehova-Prinzip. Da hätte es dem Menschen natürlich sein sollen, zusammen zu haben Denken und Sprechen. Unser Denken ist davon losgelöst, ist geistig geworden; unsere Sprache ist losgelöst vom Naturprinzip, ist seelisch geworden. Und vom Seelischen, vom Leidenschaftlichen der Seele erfaßt ist das Sprachprinzip; von dem, was das Intellektuelle, also wiederum das Astralische umfaßt, ist einseitig das Denken erfaßt. Aber das hätte nicht so werden sollen, sondern das Denken sollte um eine Stufe tiefer liegen, der Mensch sollte viel natürlicher denken, und er sollte auf einer viel höheren Stufe sprechen und das Gesprochene verstehen. Nachdem das eine Weile auseinander gegangen war - bei anderen Dingen ist es ja ebenso gegangen, ich habe nur das Sprechen und Denken diesmal besonders herausgegriffen -, mußte ein viel stärkerer Impuls kommen, als der Jahve- oder Jehova-Impuls war. Dieser war so gestaltet, daß noch nicht gerechnet war mit den luziferischen und ahrimanischen Impulsen. Jetzt haben sie aber gewirkt in der Erdenentwickelung bis zur Mitte der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit. Da kam der Christus-Impuls herein. Der mußte jetzt stärker, kräftiger sein als dasjenige, was als Jahve-Impuls da war. Und dieser kräftigere, dieser umfassendere Impuls, der ist jetzt nicht nur dazu angetan, die Erdenentwickelung so weiterzuleiten, wie sie hätte werden müssen, wenn kein Luzifer und Ahriman eingegriffen hätte, sondern sie wiederum, nachdem Luzifer und Ahriman eingegriffen hatten, in ihre alten Bahnen zurückzubringen bis zu ihrem Ende. Die Folge davon war, daß eben stark eingegriffen hat der Christus-Impuls. Und weil ihn die Menschen zunächst nicht verstehen konnten, wirkte er so, wie ich es angedeutet habe. Nennen wir als Beispiel etwa den Konstantin, die Jungfrau von Orleans. Aber es war einmal eben durch dieses Mysterium ein mächtiger Einfluß in der Erdenentwickelung geschehen; und dieser mächtige Einfluß, er wirkt natürlich zunächst ungeheuer bedeutsam.
Jetzt ging die Erdenentwickelung so weiter, daß, um einen Vergleich zu gebrauchen, man sagen könnte: Wir nehmen an, hier läge Schnee (es wird gezeichnet); nun kommt die Lokomotive und fährt in den Schnee hinein. Bis zu einem gewissen Punkt wird sie fahren, dann aber ist der Schnee so aufgetürmt, daß sie doch zunächst gehemmt wird. In ähnlicher Weise müssen wir den ChristusImpuls beurteilen. Er wirkte mächtig herein, versuchte die Erde zu ergreifen, aber luziferische und ahrimanische Kräfte waren da, und sie türmten sich auf wie der Schnee vor der Lokomotive. Eine Weile wurden sie überwunden. Selbstverständlich werden sie auch weiter überwunden, wenn sich genügend Menschen finden, die sich von dem Christus-Impuls ergreifen lassen wollen. Aber das Auftürmen geschah. Und die Folge davon ist, daß gerade im Zeitalter der Intellektualität nun gekommen ist der Wahn von der Einheit der Wissenschaft, der mit besonderer Stärke aufgetreten ist. Denn wir sehen insbesondere etwas, was früher gar nicht da war: derjenige, der die Geschichte der geistigen Entwickelung kennt, der weiß, daß vom 8., 9. Jahrhundert der nachchristlichen Entwickelung an besonders stark auftritt dieser Wahn, daß man eine einheitliche Form der . Wahrheit über die ganze Erde hin schaffen müßte. Das tritt da besonders stark auf. Und was da besonders stark auftritt, ist eben noch einmal ein Aufbäumen der luziferischen Engel. Sie wollen siegen. Sie wollen die Menschen dazu verführen zu glauben, von dem Wahn sich beherrschen zu lassen, daß über die ganze Erde hin eine einförmige, gleichlautende dogmatische Wahrheit herrschen soll. Und immer wieder und wiederum kommt über die Menschen dieser furchtbare Wahn von dem Monismus der Dogmatik. So hängt die Sache zusammen.
Und wiederum, eine Weile nachher schon, nachdem das Zeitalter des Intellektualismus völlig angebrochen war, kam das große Stemmen, Sich-Stemmen der ahrimanischen Erzengel, derjenigen Wesenheiten, welche den Wahn - aber das ist jetzt ein Tatsachenwahn - des Nationalen gebracht haben. Und im wesentlichen herausgekommen ist dieses ahrimanische Prinzip im Grunde, wie das luziferische im 8., 9. Jahrhundert, so dieses ahrimanische Prinzip im 19. Jahrhundert. Und der Träger, der irdische Träger davon war Napoleon. Napoleon ist derjenige, von dem zunächst ausgegangen ist jene Verführung von Europa, daf3 auf das nationale Prinzip alles ankomme, daß es auch darauf ankomme, die Menschen in Gruppen zu teilen nach Nationalem. Im Dienste Ahrimans wirkte Napoleon, und von da aus geht dasjenige, was in unsere Tage herein lebt: als ob es darauf ankomme, die Menschen zu gruppieren nach solchen Erdengebieten, die streng national abgeschlossen wären.
Und diesen Wahn, der ein Tatsachenwahn ist, den sehen wir heute umgehen. Es ist der umgehende Ahriman; es ist dasjenige, was die Menschen dazu verführen will, den Ruf zu erheben, daß sich abschließen müssen die Menschen nach dem Nationalitätsprinzip, indem ihr Wahn sich kleidet in den Ruf: Für Freiheit der Nationalitäten, für Freiheit und Gleichheit der Nationalitäten.
Das ist dasjenige, was ein tiefer innerer Zusammenhang mit der ganzen kosmischen Entwickelung ist, und was in unseren Tagen in einer so furchtbaren Weise hereinspielt. Selbstverständlich gebrauchen diejenigen geistigen Wesenheiten, welche dazu berufen sind, die Erdenentwickelung zu fälschen, Ideen und Vorstellungen, welche den Menschen nicht als etwas Niedriges, sondern gerade als etwas besonders Hohes erscheinen. Mit kräftigen, gewaltigen Idealen werden die Intentionen Ahrimans verbrämt. Geradeso wie verbrämt worden ist, maskiert worden ist der luziferische Geist von dem Einheitswahn der Wissenschaft unter dem Wort, das für jeden so leicht verständlich ist, weil es so idealistisch klingt: Zine Wahrheit für alle Menschen. - So aber schleicht sich mit diesem Wahnwort Luzifer in die Herzen der Menschen ein, Ahriman mit dem Wort: Die Nationen sollen sich in besonderen Gebieten auf der Erde als Nationalitäten absondern, und nur wert gefunden werden diejenigen Menschengruppen auf der Erde, die in sich geschlossene Nationalitäten darstellen.
Wie das erste ein verführerischer Ruf des Luzifer ist, der aber als ein Idealwort erscheint, so ist das zweite ein versucherischer Ruf des Ahriman, der wiederum als ein furchtbar verführerisches Ideal erscheint. Geisteswissenschaft wäre dazu berufen, das Verführerische und Versucherische solcher Wahnworte zu durchschauen und mitzuwirken dahin, daß die Menschheit auf den rechten Weg komme, auf den Weg, der, nachdem er vorgezeichnet war mit schwächerer Kraft durch den Jahve- oder Jehova-Impuls, als der größere Impuls in die Erdenentwickelung eingegangen ist: der Christus-Impuls, der über alle luziferischen und ahrimanischen Wahngebilde in den menschlichen Seelen und den menschlichen Herzen hinweghebt.
Seventh Lecture
Today it is incumbent upon us to clarify for ourselves what the nature of the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings is from a certain point of view. If we want to arrive at at least a limited understanding of the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings with which human beings on Earth are initially concerned, we must look back to the lunar evolution of our Earth and consider this lunar evolution in connection with the actual evolution of the Earth.
We know that the actual development of the earth came about because the beings of the spirits of form acted upon everything that had gone before and that could be regarded as the legacy of the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions. And we also find that these spirits of form brought about such an earth formation that, in the whole context of this earth formation, human beings could acquire their I, so that the I could be added as a penetrating element to the three members of human nature that emerged as a legacy from the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions. We can say: as an influence — taken concretely — as an inward working of their own essence, the spirits of form gave human beings the I. Insofar as we look up to these spirits of form and see them as the bringers of the I, we must at the same time tell ourselves that, in a sense, everything that we now have to count as the beings of the next higher hierarchy above human beings was there as the serving organs of these spirits of form: the spirits of personality, the spirits belonging to the hierarchy of the archangels, and the spirits belonging to the hierarchy of the angels.
If we disregard everything above this for the moment, we must regard the spirits of form and their servants, as it were, as the creators and rulers of earthly existence: the spirits of personality, the archangel spirits, and the angel spirits. This made it possible to create and govern an earthly existence which, out of its whole, produced man with his ego nature as the flower or, one might even say, as the highest fruit of this earthly existence.
When we look at earthly existence today, we do not actually perceive it in its pure essence as it could have been if the spirits of form had created and ruled this earthly existence with only their implied servants. For in everything I have now characterized, the Luciferic and Ahrimanic spiritual beings are at work. So we have an earthly existence which, in its ongoing main development, shows us what can be brought forth and governed by the regularly developed spirits of form and their servants; and then, woven into this, everything that depends on the Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences.
If we first make this clear to ourselves, we will be able to say: All earthly existence, human earthly existence and the earthly existence of the other realms, would be different if only the spirits of form and their servants were to create, work and rule. What we have before us therefore shows us, in a sense, a clouded, distorted picture of earthly existence, a picture colored by Luciferic and Ahrimanic existence. We could ask ourselves, in relation to various concrete earthly phenomena: What would have become of this earthly existence if the distortions I have mentioned, the Luciferic and Ahrimanic distortions, had not occurred, if, in other words, only the spirits of form had worked with their servants to the corresponding degree?
It then becomes clear to anyone who pursues these matters that among the manifold phenomena that can be observed and to which the question just characterized could be applied, there is also the one that immediately follows what was said yesterday. Yesterday I spoke of what goes on in the subconscious of human life more than language development. I pointed to a certain lawfulness in the development of language in the flow of human earthly existence and its development. I then also mentioned that the characteristic feature of this language development is that it is, in a sense, seized by the human-personal, and that even today, human beings have not yet progressed far enough to see in the characters of language, in the letters, sounds, and their composition, pure signs for the development of thought. In the development of thought, human beings have, in a sense, achieved something completely different than in the development of language. But this is precisely what becomes clear to us when we ask the question: How would the development of language and the development of thought have unfolded in earthly existence if Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences had not been at work? In other words, how would humans think, and how would they speak and hear what was spoken, if only the spirits of form and their servants had created and guided the earth?
If this were the case, if no Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences had come into play in the development of the earth, there would have been complete harmony between speech and thought from the outset in this earthly development. We must seek this harmony again through a certain objectivity. By gradually making language a sign, the Luciferic-Ahrimanic element will be overcome. But if this had not happened at all, a deep harmony between speech and thinking would have developed in humanity; that is, it would have come about that human beings would have a perception, a living feeling for what lies in the sound of speech, for what lies in D, T, Th, and so on, which they do not have today. For him, speaking goes hand in hand with thinking. You can see this from the fact that, at least in essence, people across the earth, once they have attained a certain form of thinking in relation to something, do not differ in their concepts, but they do differ in their words.
We must take into account this one-sidedness of thinking, which is not expressed at all in speech, because it is something that has already branched off from speech. This should have appeared in a much more intimate connection with speech if no Ahrimanic-Luciferic influences had intervened in earthly existence. People would permeate language with their innermost feelings; they would, so to speak, stand inside the sound, but at the same time experience the concept, the idea, within the sound; they would not perceive the two separately, but as one. This is how the spirits of form had intended it for human beings. For that soul element — mind you, that soul element that arises in humans when they devote themselves, on the one hand, to what their ideas give them and, on the other hand, to what speech gives them, that is, when they are absorbed in imagining and when they are absorbed in speaking—this soul element was not originally intended for earthly humans by the spirits of form. Instead, they intended for them the unity of speech and thought. They intended for them to experience speech and thinking as one. When we consider our present-day separation of speech and thinking, this can be traced back entirely to the influences of Lucifer and Ahriman.
Today, human beings do not perceive the special character of M, G, and so on, but rather these have become something that they connect with their soul in a completely different way than the way they connect their soul with thinking. The spirits of form and their serving beings intended for human beings a much more natural existence than what human beings have been able to achieve on earth. The spirits of form intended for human beings a loving inner life—but not in speech from which the juice of thought has been squeezed out, but in speech that carries thought itself, I might say, on its wings. This is what the spirits of form intended for human beings. And according to the intentions of the spirits of form, human beings should not have differed from one another on earth according to linguistic characteristics; rather, the difference between nations was conceived by the spirits of form in such a way that it should be based solely on natural foundations, on geographical and climatic differences. Human beings were to feel themselves as a nation through feeling connected to certain powers that were as natural as the natural foundations of their existence.
On the other hand, if the intentions of the spirits of form had been carried out alone, it would have been possible for humans to understand, when encountering a member of another nation, what was meant by the words they heard. Different languages would have existed. But people would not have differed in their understanding of languages; rather, in their perception of what lies in the individual sound, in the individual letter, people would have heard the other language, but they would not have heard the essence of the sound, of the word; in the word, in the sound, they would have heard the idea, and the idea would have come to them on the wings of the word. We do not understand a foreign language because the ideas are not contained in the words, because the words are stripped of their ideas.
Thus a rift has arisen between speech and imagination. This is why humans have not been able to develop this ability during their earthly evolution: to face another person in such a way that they have a feeling understanding of even the most foreign language. You must not consider languages as they are now. Languages would naturally have developed quite differently; they have now become such that members of one language group cannot understand members of another language group because languages have not developed in the same way as the life of the mind. Languages have not developed in such a way that the life of the mind is contained within them. Therefore, even with the current development of languages, it is impossible to have the kind of understanding that was originally intended by the spirits of form and that should be directed by their servants. The spirits of form had already planned, not to shape all human beings across the whole earth according to a single pattern – like cosmic tailors – but rather that human beings should be different; yet they should be so different that they would still be able to understand one another fully across the whole earth.
And the beings from the hierarchy of the Archangels, those beings from the hierarchy of the Archangels who had attained their degree of perfection during the lunar evolution, were chosen to be the rulers of these groups of human beings conceived by the spirits of form. And so that the individual, when standing within such a human group, would also have a guide who would mediate between him as a personality and the entire human group, the beings from the hierarchy of the Angeloi, who had developed regularly with the lunar evolution, were designated as guides for him.
One could therefore say that if it had been according to the intention of the spirits of form, one would have walked across the earth and found human beings scattered across it, but in connection with the whole configuration, with the environment of the earth, such as the vegetation and the plant world. One would have found them grown together with the natural world. But that which divides people according to languages would not have been drawn into the soul. However, something else would not have come about either: there would not have been a search throughout the whole world for a single science, a single form of knowledge. Today, it is a deep belief, but a purely Luciferic belief, that there can be a single knowledge that can be summarized in a number of dogmas and that must then apply to all of humanity on Earth. This arose only because knowledge, conceptual thinking, separated itself from speech and was thereby unified.
If things had turned out as the spirits of form intended, then people would have expressed themselves differently about the things of the world according to their groups of humanity; but they would have understood this intuitively, and they would have accepted others who expressed themselves differently about things than they themselves did; they would have found the true life of the earth precisely in this diversity.
All these things were in the intentions of the spirits of form, but they have completely disappeared from human understanding. For the belief has become firmly established that so-called imagination, life in concepts, must be non-national, in contrast to speech, which must be national. The middle state was precisely what the spirits of form intended: not separation according to languages and connection across the whole earth according to the simplest, most sloppy concepts, but the diversity of language with the diversity of ideas—that is what the spirits of form intended.
This is also what must in a certain sense be an ideal for us in our spiritual scientific field, a true ideal. But it is deeply rooted in human nature today not to want to recognize this ideal. I can give you an example of how deeply rooted it is in human nature not to want to recognize this ideal.
As you may remember, although it was a long time ago now, we were once connected with the so-called “Theosophical Society,” whose president was, and still is, Mrs. Besant. A number of us also attended the so-called congresses of this society in the early days. There, speeches were always given by the various representatives, by the general secretaries of the individual European sections. The diversity of languages was particularly evident in that everyone spoke in their own language, which of course meant that most people could not understand anything at all. But in order to foster mutual understanding, it was agreed that at least one short speech would be given in the language of one's own country. I always brought up the same thing on this occasion for several years, as some of you who were there may remember. I don't know to what extent it was noticed, but I always said the same thing over the years, always with, I would say, not an ulterior motive, but a feeling in the back of my mind: whether the matter would be understood. For I always emphasized that when we come together here from different countries, we do not come together to receive a central Theosophy, but we come together to place on a common altar that which the individual countries have to contribute to Theosophy. I always emphasized the individual, that which has come from different sides and which wants to be placed on a common altar. Year after year, as I said, I emphasized the same thing. The result was only that some did not understand what I was saying, even though it was correct, and others took offense at it. But this was an expression of the ideal we must have: the ideal that cannot be expressed as if we could create a uniform dogma across the whole earth, but which we must have in the sense that the diversity on our earth can live out in mutual understanding.
The prejudice that there can only be one truth is so deeply rooted in the human soul that people sense contradictions when something is expressed in one way in a lecture series and in another way in another lecture. But this is precisely what we must cultivate in order to show how the presentation of truth demands diversity. This must therefore become an ideal: diversity, not uniformity.
We will only understand what underlies the whole thing when, after characterizing a little the regularly developed spirits of form and their serving members, and what what, for example, in relation to the concreteness of speech and thinking, should have become of them for the development of the earth, when we now contrast this in a very specific way with the Luciferic and Ahrimanic elements. If we want to understand this element, we do not need to look at the development of the earth, for the Luciferic and Ahrimanic elements have become what they are through the development of the moon. We have often emphasized that what originated in the lunar evolution remained there and carried over into the earth's evolution. So we cannot say that the spirits of form are the creators of these Luciferic and Ahrimanic elements; the spirits of form are only the creators of beings that are appropriate for the earth's evolution. The spirits of movement, who are in a sense the creators and rulers of the lunar evolution, can be considered the creator beings for these Ahrimanic and Luciferic entities.
What the spirits of form are for human-earth evolution, the spirits of movement are for the lunar evolution and thus for the entire Ahrimanic-Luciferic element. And these spirits of movement were the creators during the lunar evolution through what they created. And what they brought about in connection with their serving spirits, the spirits of form at that time, the spirits of personality, the spirits from the hierarchy of the archangels, was angelic beings regularly formed on the moon. Just as human beings are to develop their seven members in the course of Earth's evolution, so the angels were to develop their seven members during the lunar evolution.
Those angels who developed their seven members correctly during the lunar evolution entered the earth's evolution and became spirits who are to mediate between the individual human being and the group of human beings guided by an individual archangel. And this is again an archangel who developed his seven members during the lunar evolution. But among these there were some who, so to speak, only developed six or five members, who did not fully develop all seven members during the lunar evolution. Therefore, they did not become capable of becoming angels during the earth evolution to guide individual human beings, or archangels to guide groups of human beings. These spiritual beings, who developed only six or five parts, now form the lowest hierarchy, as it were. There are higher ones above them, when we speak of Ahriman and Lucifer. They are to be regarded as the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings closest to us, that is, beings that could not enter into the Earth's development in the normal way because the Earth's development was dominated by the spirits of form. However, they were unable to help the spirits of form because they were on the angelic level. Nor could they easily become human beings. They therefore stood between the regular angels and human beings in the middle. So we have the following.
We can say: if this represents the development of the earth with human beings at the bottom (see drawing), then above them we have the creators, the spirits of form, then the spirits of personality, the spirits from the hierarchy of the archangels, and the spirits from the hierarchy of the angels. These have thus undergone their development through their seven or nine members during the lunar evolution; they do not need to enter into what the spirits of form create for human beings as earthly embodiment; they only enter into an etheric body—the angels, for example—because they belong to the next hierarchy.

And in between stand those beings who have not acquired the ability to progress in these evolutions here, but who, because they have not developed their corresponding seven members, are beings who can say of themselves: We are created by the spirits of movement; we are ruled by certain spirits of form, Archai, Archangeloi. But now they were there, and they were not capable of fulfilling the task that would have fallen to them: to participate in the ongoing development of humanity and also in the development of the other realms of earthly nature. They could not do that.
So there were, I would say, two classes—if we do not consider the others for the moment—of archangels and angels. Those who had developed normally were those who now took their place in the activity that should have proceeded as I have just characterized it, for example, in relation to language and thinking. If only this predisposition of the spirits of movement had been there, speaking and thinking would have developed in such harmony as I have just characterized.
Now something arose that seems trivial when you say it, but it is not so trivial. It is an enormously serious, great, significant cosmic event. One might say: there were now in the spirit world, or if we speak in religious terms, there were in heaven, the regularly developed archangels, the regularly developed angels, and that which resulted as an unfinished breed. And then it turns out that the normally developed archangels and angels threw down to earth, from heaven to earth, those who were not normally developed, who had developed only their six or five members, because they were of no use there.
And so, from the beginning of the earth's development, I would say that an invisible realm mixed itself into the substance of the earth's development: the realm of Lucifer and Ahriman, who had been cast out of that realm from which human beings, animals, plants, and minerals are continually created and governed. Those who had not been completed were cast down. They were there on Earth. Of course, they could not be seen with earthly senses, but they were there. The regular archangels and angels were, to use a religious expression, in heaven; but the ones who had been left behind wandered around on Earth. This is what the Bible refers to when it says, “And their place was found no more in heaven.” They had been cast down.
Now consider only the true facts, so that you do not give yourself over to false ideas about certain things. There lived on earth human beings in a primitive state of development, as you find described in The Secret Science. But immediately below the people, around them, there lived beings—let us take only the lowest Luciferic beings—the angels who had remained on the moon, who, instead of now having to rule, were initially inactive. But while human beings were only gradually developing their seven members, while they could only hope to develop the seventh member at the end of Earth's development, or the sixth or fifth member in a correspondingly closer time, these beings had reached the point where they had completed their sixth or fifth members; only their seventh they had not developed.
Let us take the matter as it is. We know that we are now working on the development of what we call the intellect. We are living in the fifth period of the post-Atlantean era. Yes, the people of the Lemurian era were far from having developed this member of their being, which is only now coming to expression in the fifth, post-Atlantean era. What distinguishes the beings who were once fallen angels is that they had long since acquired what humans are only now developing; they already had what is intended for humans in a later period of Earth's development. Yes, it is even a fact that for a long time, even in the post-Lemurian, Atlantic period, such invisible beings played a major role, beings who had developed to a high degree what humans in the Atlantic period could not even think of, what they are only now beginning to develop: namely, the intellectual element.
So highly developed intelligences, angelic beings, hovered invisibly, as it were, in this Lemurian and Atlantean period as backward spirits. These were highly developed spirits, extraordinarily highly developed. So we can say, if we want to express ourselves in trivial terms: The intention of the hierarchy of the spirits of form has been thwarted. While this hierarchy said to itself: We will develop human beings gradually and let them be guided by angels, and in the fifth epoch they will develop their intellect, they will develop this intellect in such a way that it will then be mature — while the intention was to allow the harmony of intellect and language to develop, what would otherwise have come about was thwarted by the fact that that invisible beings lived among humans.
Of these invisible beings, we will first consider the Luciferic angelic beings. These Luciferic angelic beings have now done something that can be described as follows: they have, in a sense, overfertilized individual humans from an earlier period of Earth's history; they have entered into them and made them possessed by themselves. These angelic beings were cast down to Earth. And so, in ancient times, one encounters people who, had they become what the spirits of form had intended for them, would have been simple, primitive human beings. But instead, these angelic beings entered into them. This made them terribly clever, intelligent, as human beings were only to become in the fifth or even sixth cultural epoch of Earth's development, and of which people in ancient India had no concept. We are now actually talking about the seven Rishis or enlightened ones. These were therefore possessed people who had been enlightened by the Luciferic angelic beings. They were, of course, people whom naive human beings had to look up to as something particularly exalted.
By repeatedly possessing people, either individually or in groups, these beings of a Luciferic nature brought among humans the prejudice of the internationality of the conceptual world, of the so-called uniform dogmatism extending across the whole earth. Wherever people believe in such uniform dogmatism, wherever they believe that it is possible to seek salvation not in diversity but in uniformity, there the Luciferic spirits are at work. They have torn the world of ideas away from the world of language. In doing so, they have conjured up something that has made it impossible for ideas to retain their proper place in the spoken word. And thus arose Luciferic uniformity, Luciferic monism, or the striving for Luciferic monism throughout the whole earth. Wherever fanatics appear who believe that what they consider to be right must now be believed as quickly as possible by all people on earth, there they are possessed by those Luciferic angels. For it is not a matter of being obsessed with this delusion of unity, but rather of striving for an understanding of multiplicity, of harmoniously interacting diversity.
And now the way was paved for other spirits, after these Luciferic angelic beings first appeared in the form of particularly enlightened individuals, especially in India. These chosen people, who in their particularly radiant enlightenment showed early on what was intended for the rest of humanity at a much later time, brought to earth the delusion of the uniformity of all thinking. And now the way was paved for the others, who are named from the hierarchy of the Archangels, but such Archangels who did not attain their full development up to the seventh member during the lunar evolution, but remained at the sixth member. Because they were useless as teachers of groups of human beings distributed according to geographical and climatic conditions, they were cast down and are now also among the human beings of the earth.
These Archangeloi, whose place was now also not to be found in heaven, but on earth—that is, in the abyss in which they wandered about—were now sent out by their superiors to the individual peoples. And these, in turn, also pulled speech down one level lower. While the Luciferic beings mentioned earlier tore thinking away from speech, these falsely developed archangels caused the language characters to sink down another level, so that the languages were now divided as they had been divided on earth.
These beings, who are backward archangels, now guided groups of people on Earth in such a way that they divided humanity, so that people hated each other and separated themselves. This type of being has an Ahrimanic nature. They are highly developed beings, but they are not called upon to lead peoples, for the simple reason that leading peoples, according to the spirit of form, is the task of the normally developed archangels who have developed their seven members. Those who have developed only six members are now opposed to the actual regular leaders of peoples. Ahrimanic beings—we have now taken a closer look at them—are the beings who have brought languages down a step lower, to a level where one cannot even see at first glance what concepts and ideas are contained in language as such. If only the Luciferic angelic beings had come, the delusion of unity would have spread over the earth; but the individual languages would have developed in such a way that, if one overcame the delusion of unity in one's mind, one could still feel in the different languages what lies within them. But once the world of ideas had been torn away by the Luciferic angels, it was easy for the Ahrimanic archangels to drive language down another level, so that there was no longer any possibility of developing language in such a way that the feeling for immediate ideas remained in it.
You see, here we have the interaction of a trinity. When you look at our wooden sculpture once it is finished, you will see the trinity expressed in a plastic form. We have the triunity of a continuing development, but it is falsified: falsified upwards by the delusion of unity in ideas, falsified downwards by the false delusion of differentiation, which is no longer a delusion but a fact: the fragmentation, the splitting of humanity into so-called nations according to languages.
This is how it came about in the course of Earth's development; it is inherent in the flow of Earth's development. And because it is inherent, what developed over time was the belief dominated by the delusion of unity and, on the other hand, the division into nations. This developed. It had reached its peak when the cosmic entity of Christ descended upon the earth in the manner known to you, and thus an impulse was incorporated into the development of the earth, which we now have to bring into the world, which represents its regular further development. Only that this Christ impulse sets itself the task, after the development of the earth has now gone wrong for a while in two directions, so to speak, of creating counter-impulses: that is, of giving the normally developed angels greater power so that they can counteract the Luciferically developed angels who follow the delusion of unity. The monistic delusion of a unified nature of all knowledge has now been replaced by what actually lies in correctly understood Christianity: understanding, but not imposing one's own opinions, seeking the truth in the nature of other human beings. Because this lies within it, the impulse of Christ strengthens the normally developed angels. So that it can once again become an ideal for human beings and for every age, wherever it is to be found on earth, to find an individually shaped truth, now not out of the mere intellect, which Lucifer has already completely lost in delusion, but out of the soul, out of the heart, to find what is true; to let each human being find what is true in his own way, so to speak.
These words: that truth lies in every human soul, that is the deeply Christian thing, as I have already explained on other occasions. Underlying this is a strengthening of the angelic nature, so that it can gain victory over those Luciferic angels who want to spread the delusion of unity throughout the whole earth as a uniform net of identical intellectualism that does not allow for diversity, for a multiplicity of views. - And sharpened on the other side should also be the power of the regularly developed archangels, so that they can gradually defeat those spiritual beings who bring about the differentiation of human groups by making these human groups fall in love with their language and thereby come to a special separation, to fanaticism. The regularly developed angels and archangels should be strengthened through the Christ impulse. What should happen through the Christ impulse is not something that exists merely in people's thoughts, in their perceptions, in their feelings, but rather what happens on Earth goes beyond the visible into the invisible. Christ is not only there for human beings, but also for angels and archangels. For Christ belongs to a cosmic being that entered into the evolution of the earth through Jesus of Nazareth.

So that one must say: In the middle of Earth's development, a strengthening occurs everywhere; the Christ impulse intervenes. A strengthening force also comes into play everywhere for angels and archangels. Let us remain with this for the moment (see drawing, violet). This strengthening impulse was powerful, it was mighty, and something came into Earth's development that had never before been seen or heard within Earth's development. The principle that existed earlier wanted to act as a natural principle, wanted to have spiritual guidance of the world as a natural principle: the Yahweh, the Jehovah principle. It should have been natural for human beings to have thinking and speaking together. Our thinking has become detached from this, has become spiritual; our language has become detached from the natural principle, has become soul-based. And the principle of speech is grasped by the soul, by the passion of the soul; thinking is grasped one-sidedly by that which encompasses the intellectual, that is, the astral. But it should not have been so; thinking should have been one step lower, human beings should have thought much more naturally, and they should have spoken on a much higher level and understood what was spoken. After this had diverged for a while — the same thing happened with other things, I have only singled out speech and thinking this time — a much stronger impulse had to come than the Yahweh or Jehovah impulse. This impulse was designed in such a way that the Luciferic and Ahrimanic impulses had not yet been taken into account. But now they have been at work in the evolution of the earth until the middle of the Greco-Latin period. Then the Christ impulse came in. It had to be stronger and more powerful than what was there as the Yahweh impulse. And this stronger, more comprehensive impulse is now not only suited to continuing the development of the earth as it would have been if Lucifer and Ahriman had not intervened, but also to bringing it back to its old course until its end, after Lucifer and Ahriman had intervened. The result of this was that the Christ impulse intervened strongly. And because people could not understand it at first, it had the effect I have indicated. Let us take Constantine and the Virgin of Orleans as examples. But once, through this mystery, a powerful influence had been brought into earthly evolution, and this powerful influence naturally had an enormously significant effect at first.
Now the development of the earth continued in such a way that, to use a comparison, one could say: Let us suppose there is snow here (it is drawn); now the locomotive comes and drives into the snow. It will drive up to a certain point, but then the snow is so piled up that it is initially impeded. We must judge the Christ impulse in a similar way. It had a powerful effect, tried to take hold of the earth, but Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces were there, and they piled up like snow in front of the locomotive. For a while they were overcome. Of course, they will continue to be overcome if enough people can be found who are willing to let themselves be seized by the Christ impulse. But the piling up happened. And the consequence of this is that, precisely in the age of intellectuality, the delusion of the unity of science has now come, and it has appeared with particular strength. For we see something in particular that was not there before: anyone who knows the history of spiritual development knows that from the 8th and 9th centuries of post-Christian development, this delusion arose with particular force, that a uniform form of truth must be created throughout the whole earth. This is particularly strong there. And what appears particularly strongly here is once again a rebellion of the Luciferic angels. They want to triumph. They want to seduce people into believing in the delusion that a uniform, dogmatic truth should reign throughout the whole earth. And again and again this terrible delusion of dogmatic monism comes upon people. That is how things are connected.
And again, a while later, after the age of intellectualism had fully dawned, there came the great struggle, the struggle of the Ahrimanic archangels, those beings who brought about the delusion—but this is now a factual delusion—of nationalism. And essentially, this Ahrimanic principle emerged in the 19th century, just as the Luciferic principle emerged in the 8th and 9th centuries. And the earthly bearer of this was Napoleon. Napoleon was the one who first spread the seduction of Europe that everything depended on the national principle, that it was also important to divide people into groups according to nationality. Napoleon worked in the service of Ahriman, and from there comes what lives on in our day: as if it were important to group people according to earthly regions that are strictly national.
And we see this delusion, which is a delusion of facts, around us today. It is Ahriman at work; it is that which wants to seduce people into proclaiming that people must isolate themselves according to the principle of nationality, while their delusion is clothed in the cry: “Freedom for nationalities, freedom and equality for nationalities.”
This is what has a deep inner connection with the whole cosmic development and what is playing such a terrible role in our days. Of course, those spiritual beings who are called upon to falsify the development of the earth use ideas and concepts that appear to people not as something low, but precisely as something particularly high. Ahriman's intentions are disguised with powerful, mighty ideals. Just as they have been disguised, the Luciferic spirit has been masked by the scientific delusion of unity under a word that is so easy for everyone to understand because it sounds so idealistic: one truth for all people. But with this delusional word, Lucifer creeps into the hearts of people, Ahriman with the words: The nations should separate themselves into particular areas on earth as nationalities, and only those groups of people on earth who represent self-contained nationalities will be considered worthy.
Just as the first is a seductive call from Lucifer, which appears as an idealistic word, so the second is a tempting call from Ahriman, which in turn appears as a terribly seductive ideal. Spiritual science would be called upon to see through the seductive and tempting nature of such delusional words and to help bring humanity onto the right path, the path that, after being traced out with weaker force by the Jahve or Jehovah impulse, entered into the earth's development as the greater impulse: the Christ impulse, which lifts us above all Luciferic and Ahrimanic delusions in human souls and human hearts.