Toward Imagination
GA 169
11 July 1916, Berlin
6. The Feeling For Truth
Before today's talk, there will be a recitation of several poems in the first part of the evening. In these poems I have tried to express some things connected with the way we think and feel in our spiritual science. These verses were originally intended for a eurythmy performance in Dornach and were indeed first performed in eurythmy. I will soon publish them with a few words of explanation, and they will be available here in a little booklet as part of our published cycles.1Rudolf Steiner, Twelve Moods, (Spring Valley, NY: Mercury Press, 1984). However, before we begin, I would like to introduce the verses with a few comments.
Last time, in another context, I spoke about the art of poetry. Now we must really take seriously what I have said so often this winter, namely, that the whole impulse, the whole spirit of our spiritual science has to enter the culture of our times and bring something special to it. Poetry is after all not just a matter of expressing something one has invented or thought, but of expressing it in a certain form. Spiritual science seeks to connect the human being with the great laws of the universe, the great laws of the cosmos. The deepest impulses of spiritual science will be understood in the true sense of the word only when people realize how extensively we are actually searching for the connection between human beings and the great transcendental laws of the universe.
What is nowadays called poetry will gradually take on a new face. Granted, this is hard to understand these days, but it is true nevertheless. Though nowadays people hardly feel this way, poetry should represent what human beings experience together with the cosmos, what is drawn from the mysteries of the cosmos. All this must flow into poetic form. If we create certain mental images that are representations of what belongs to imaginative knowledge, we can then discover the laws governing the position of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the relationship of the movements of the seven planets to these twelve signs. We can also identify certain movements and laws that do not apply to all seven planets, but only to the sun and moon and their passage through the signs of the zodiac. What matters is not that we serenade what goes on in the universe, but that what speaks there in the great laws of the universe also speaks in the form of our poetry.
And today you will hear attempts at poetry where the laws that reign in the cosmos also prevail in the sequence of the lines, their relationship to each other, and in their meaning. For instance, you will hear a poem of twelve stanzas, and each stanza has seven lines. The structure of the poem is such that what the seven lines express represents the laws of the movements of the seven planets. The fact that there are exactly twelve stanzas and that the mood of the seven lines is repeated in each stanza corresponds to the laws determining the planets' orbits through the signs of the zodiac. Thus, what is going on outside in the cosmos, in the harmony of the spheres, is also in the meaning of the twelve stanzas of seven lines each. The laws of the cosmos are meant to prevail in these twelve verses of seven lines.
You will find, let us say, in the Capricorn stanza that the fourth line expresses a certain position of Mars in regard to Capricorn. The meaning of this line must be such that if you were woken up from sleep and heard only this one line from the Capricorn stanza, this Mars line, you would be able, after having developed a feeling for this, to say this line is the Mars line of the Capricorn stanza. In the same way, all the other lines have their meaning. Thus, the structure is not just superficial or merely external; it is the poem's inner structure. This is what matters.
Similarly, the short poem of quatrains is arranged so that certain movements express cosmic events. One of the poems of twelve verses is to be taken seriously; the other, as you will see, is really a satire. Now you may easily think it improper to treat “sacred things” satirically. But truly, my dear friends, if we want to advance in this sphere of a spiritual world view, one of the basic requirements is precisely that we do not forget to laugh at those things in the world that are a laughing matter when judged rightly. A lady once told a story about a man who was always in a mood of “looking up to the great cosmic revelations.” He never spoke of other people at all, only of “masters,” and she also said he usually made a long face.
When she told me about this man with his long, tragic face, I remembered a very interesting experience I had long ago in Vienna. Back then, there lived a man in Vienna who tried in every sort of way to live himself into spiritual spheres. He was professor of physics and mathematics at the Vienna Agricultural College, and his name was Oskar Simony, the same man who found a tragic end much later, in fact only just recently.2Oskar Simony, 1852–1915, Austrian mathematician. We met in Vienna—I remember it as if it had happened only yesterday—in the Salesianergasse. I knew him by sight but had never spoken to him. He did not know me at all, and we met just as two people do who pass each other on the sidewalk. I was then just a young fellow of twenty-six or twenty-seven. Oskar Simony looked at me, stopped, and began a conversation about all sorts of things spiritual—remember, I am only telling you the facts. Then he took me to his house and gave me his latest publication on the extension of the four arithmetical operations, which he had published in the old Academy of Science. All this happened just at the time when the Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf and the Archduke Johann—who, as you may know, later disappeared under the assumed name of Johann Orth—were busying themselves with the unmasking of a psychic medium and other such things.3Rudolf, 1858–1889, Archduke and Crown Prince of Austria. Only son of Emperor Franz Joseph. Died, allegedly by suicide, at his hunting lodge Mayerling together with Baroness Maria Vetsera. Naturally, people in Vienna back then talked a great deal about these kinds of things, and Oskar Simony examined these matters scientifically. He wrote a book about tying a knot into a round ribbon of one piece, which is very interesting.4Oskar Simony, Gemeinverständliche, leicht contiolierbare Lösung der Aufgabe: In ein ringförmiges geschlossenes Band einen Knoten zu machen, und verwandter merkwürdiger Probleme (“Generally understandable and controllable solution to the problem of making a knot in a ringlike, closed ribbon, and other curious related problems”), 3rd. ed., Vienna, 1881.
Well, as we were talking, Simony paused and then said, “In dealing with these things, one needs a good sense of humor!” Indeed, that is true; for precisely when we enter into the depths of spiritual understanding, we must not forget how to laugh. In other words, we should not feel obliged to always make a long, tragic face! I am convinced that Oskar Simony lost his sense of humor in the last part of his life before he found such a tragic end.
Now there is ample opportunity to develop this sense of humor, particularly in our spiritual movement. Caricatures of the striving for the spirit love to cling to such spiritual movements. By caricatures I do not mean people, but only aspirations; the things said to sail under the colors of spiritual striving or, shall we say, of membership in a movement that has taken on spiritual striving!
That is what makes it so difficult to represent our spiritual movement in the world. Basically, there was nothing to be said—and still is nothing to be said—against some women wearing the kind of clothing I had to design for the performance of the first scene of my first mystery drama. After all, we couldn't have had modern dress on stage there. Then several women made such dresses for themselves. That is certainly praiseworthy, but then it got out of hand.
I don't need to tell you about that, as it is well-known how far these things got out of hand. Then people believed such clothes absolutely called for short hair. Yes, indeed, one could hear people say that in our movement the women wore their hair short, and the men theirs quite long—which has actually happened in only a few exceptional cases. Anyway, this has led to people asking me after public lectures whether having one's hair cut short was part and parcel of being a theosophist.
Well, all this is merely a matter of appearances; however, even in matters of inner, spiritual significance people in our circle have been up to mischief many times, mischief we must strongly oppose. The things I am supposed to have said and the things that are supposedly thus and so, and on and on! Sometimes what is said seems to indicate that the person who spoke just wanted to get some attention, to put it mildly. In other words, there are excesses that make it difficult to represent our movement to people who can't help laughing when they hear about things they do not understand. They will then also laugh about what is serious and even about what is most significant. But we do not need to provoke their laughter and give them a certain justification for it with the caricatures accompanying the striving for the spiritual. These things have led me to write a satirical poem to be performed in eurythmy, which will also be presented
today.
In this satire on the twelve moods of the signs of the zodiac, the planets are also used, but they are used to give you a glimpse, so to speak, of the seamy side of all this to-do about spiritual science—not of spiritual science itself, which, of course, has no seamy or dark sides at all, only its adherents do. These poems are intended to show how the intuited cosmic laws lead to true laws of form for the poetry of the future.
These verses will be recited with several by Robert Hamerling.5Robert Hamerling, pseudonym of Rupert Hammerling, 1830–1889, Austrian poet. Best known for his epics Ahasverus in Rom (1865) and Homunculus (1888). Please keep in mind that they were intended for performance in eurythmy; today they will be presented without eurythmy, but never mind.
Program of the recitation by Frau Steiner that followed:
Poems by Robert Hamerling: “O, let me sing in solitude,”
“Son and heir of eternity,” “Between heaven and earth,”
“Nightly movement,” “Spirits of Night,”
“Don’t scold the soft tones,” “Venice,” “Song of life.”
”Followed by music on the harmonium
“The Eagle” by Robert Hamerling
Poems by Rudolf Steiner:
“Dance of the Planets,” “Pentecost,” “Twelve Moods.
Followed by music on the harmonium
“Lost Echoes” by Robert Hamerling
“Diamonds ”by Robert Hamerling
“ The Song of Initiation,” a satire by Rudolf Steiner.
I want to start from the same basis as in so many of our talks, namely, spiritual science as it permeates us should not live in our souls so that we simply know it in the same way we know geography, botany, or political science, and can keep it nicely separate from the rest of life. On the contrary, spiritual science should give us impulses and life forces that flow into our understanding of the reality surrounding us. This is how it must be for the sake of spiritual science and also because it has the task to intervene in our cultural life and revitalize many areas where our culture has reached a dead end. Spiritual science is to heal what is sick in our cultural and spiritual life. One thing above all must permeate the activity of our soul if we really want to enter deeply into spiritual science, and that is honesty. We will have to be so imbued with honesty that we do not waver from it in our whole understanding of life. However, we are confronted today by a view of life that is certainly not permeated by honesty in its judgments and attitudes.
Now let us take as our point of departure an event we have recently learned about. It is already a bit dishonest to think too little about such events and not to see them clearly enough in the context of life as a whole. You may have read about the shocking events that have recently taken place on a small scale, in one person's life, and must be added to those terrible, great, and gigantic blows of fate we witness in our time. Nowadays everything that is not part of the great events of the day is considered to be on a small scale.
Well, a painter, and apparently a good one at that, as the court records show, had painted pictures and signed them Böcklin, Uhde, Menzel, Spitzweg, and other famous names.6Arnold Böcklin, 1827–1901, Swiss painter. Known for paintings of moody landscapes and sinister allegories.
Fritz von Uhde, 1848–1911, German painter.
Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel, 1815-1905, German painter.
Carl Spitzweg, 1808–1885, German painter. Most representative of Biedermeier artists in Germany. Known for humorous and detailed portraits of small-town characters. He had painted many such pictures and sold them to people who wanted to buy a Menzel, a Lenbach, a Böcklin. However, the painter's name was really Lehmann.7Franz von Lenbach, 1836-1904, German painter. His works included copies of Rubens, Titian, and others, as well as portraits of famous people. Lehmann was a good painter, and so his paintings were bought as genuine Böcklins, Menzels, Uhdes, and so forth. And then he was prosecuted. It was obviously a clear case of fraud. The experts held the fraud to be the greater because he was such a good painter and had been able to do so well that his paintings were indistinguishable from those painted by these famous artists. For this fraud he was sentenced to four years in prison.
Now, let me tell you a story that is the counterpart to this event. Goethe used to place a picture and its counter-picture side by side; that was his method. This is of course not so convenient as the usual way of thinking, but it throws more light on reality and truth. In Brussels, there is the Wiertz Museum, where paintings by Wiertz are exhibited.8Antoine Joseph Wiertz, 1806-1865, painter. One can't help but be utterly amazed at the originality of these pictures by Wiertz. They are indeed different from any other paintings; they are unique. Some of them may seem weird and crazy to strict and narrow-minded critics. Well, their opinion may not always be a valid criterion,—in any case some of the paintings are very deeply moving.
Wiertz was born into a poor family at the beginning of the nineteenth century and grew up in poverty. One day, however, he was struck by the thought—and here true vocation met with extraordinary vanity; a combination that is indeed possible—that he wanted to become a painter greater even than Rubens, a successor of Rubens, a super-Rubens.9Peter Paul Rubens, 1577–1640, Flemish painter. Renowned for excellence of his coloring. In post-Nietzschean times, I think we can say a super-Rubens. So he wanted to be a super-Rubens, and he certainly had talent. He got a scholarship and could go to Rome and study Italian painting. And then he painted a picture, a very large picture, a gigantic picture, of a scene from the Trojan war. It was better, indeed far better, than the average pictures you can see in exhibitions.
So, he submitted this picture to the committee of the Louvre in Paris. The committee accepted it, but hung the painting in such a way that it looked as though it had not really been accepted. You know it is a frequent practice of the committees in charge of selecting artworks for museums to hang pictures as if they did not really belong in the exhibition. But it is of course essential for a picture to be seen! When people cannot see it because it is hung in a poorly lit place, then even though the painting is on exhibit, it's as good as not really there. And since Wiertz had just as much vanity as talent, this vexed him greatly. He got very furious with Paris, went back to Brussels, and never again wrote the word “Paris” without drawing a thunderbolt above it that was striking the word. He later received other distinctions, but they did not particularly please him. For instance, he received a bronze medal from the king for something he did. However, Wiertz only said that if he could not have gold or silver, he did not need bronze either. He remained furious.
Then he wanted to test the Louvre committee again. In 1840 he sent two pictures to an exhibition. One of them he painted and signed with his name. The other he had come by in a different way. An acquaintance of his had a genuine, an admittedly genuine and significant Rubens painting. Wiertz at once scratched out the name Rubens and put in his own name instead. Thus, he sent two pictures signed Wiertz to the Louvre committee. The Louvre committee looked at them, at the two paintings by Wiertz and said, nothing doing; both are not suited for exhibition; they are both worthless daubs! But one of them was a genuine, even a quite excellent, Rubens! Thus Wiertz avenged himself; naturally he broadcast the story everywhere, and at the time it made quite a stir.
This is the counterpart to the event I told you about earlier. Think of the amount of dishonesty there is these days when people judge art. Do people buy actual works of art? No, names are what people buy. Names are bought! If somebody were to paint a picture today that was as good as any of Leonardo's—it might be a really good painting—it goes without saying people would buy Leonardo's but not the other person's painting.10Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519, Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist.
There have been other painters, and a newspaper wrote about them, who have taken to copying old masters because they were unable to sell their own work. When they wrote the name Leonardo or Michelangelo on their pictures, they could sell them!11Michelangelo, 1475–1564, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. By the time it was discovered what they had done, they had already died, and so it was too late to imprison them for four years!
Such events have to be seen in the light of the dishonesty of our general culture. Lehmann would not have sold a single one of his pictures had he signed them Lehmann, but they would have been just as good as they are with another name on them. These things are very distressing. It is necessary to think about them, for they are examples of things that are becoming more and more frequent in other areas of everyday life and show how much our age needs honesty and the avowal of honesty, the striving for honesty. But striving for honesty is not within our reach if we do not have the will to face things, to deal with them, instead of quickly passing over them and ignoring them. What matters is that we concern ourselves with what is happening around us and try to understand things more deeply. If we do not take a practice of observing reality in all its depth, we cannot really get very far in understanding the impulses of spiritual science. For spiritual science is born out of true reality, and if we are to understand spiritual science, we must familiarize ourselves with the impulse of true reality.
Those who know the facts realize that people who deal with truth the way it is usually done cannot understand spiritual science. At the same time, they see that the impulses of spiritual science must enter the spiritual life of the present and the immediate future. People nowadays read everything that comes before their eyes only superficially, their books as well as life. They look only at the surface of events, skimming lightly over them. Here I would like to point out something that can be understood only when we accept to some degree the facts of spiritual science. If you look at the development of our age, you can make an astonishing discovery if you pay attention to what the human soul takes in directly and to what it takes in to preserve and work on.
Now, in our time most people who read anything read the newspapers. Newspapers don't last beyond their day, and people think the newspapers leave their soul as easily as they entered it. They imagine this compensates for the superficiality and dishonesty of our journalism, which really defy description. But things are not the way people usually believe them to be. The contents of a book does not imprint itself as deeply into the soul of most people these days, though they remember it much longer, as the contents of the short-lived newspaper. It is precisely this fleeting and transitory character of the newspaper and the fact that we do not try to remember it but want to forget it quickly—forgetting here must be quick—that allows it to imprint itself infinitely deeply into our unconscious.
I have pointed out before how quickly we must forget in the case of some newspapers. One time, we were in the area of Pirano in Istria, where the Piccolo della Sera is published. Now, that is an evening paper, and one day it ran a very sensational article; I don't even remember anymore what it was about. Anyway, the article took up three columns, nearly the whole of the front page. But there was still a bit of space left on that page, and there this very same article was officially disclaimed and corrected because the article was based on an error. Now this is a thing not often found: a newspaper article that is disclaimed on the very same page. Particularly the big city newspapers are ever so gradually moving in this direction.
It is important to know that what we take in so quickly and then quickly forget is actually imprinted deeply into the subconscious of our soul and works there as a force over time. It goes on working in what we can call the general spirit of the times, the ahrimanic spirit of the times. In other words, good books today have far less effect than newspaper articles. What is carefully taken in and works upon the ego, which imprints it into our memory, has much less effect than what we take in hastily from a newspaper. Please do not take this to mean that you should not read newspapers, but accept it as your karma. Obviously, I don't mean that we must avoid reading so much as a line in a newspaper. We must take newspapers as part of the karma of our age and develop the side of our being that is able to sense whether we are reading actual content, something containing true spiritual striving, or mere empty words.
Thus, one can only hope that people will once again develop a feeling for how mental and spiritual achievements come about. For this feeling is what we are so sorely lacking nowadays. We cannot distinguish between what is written well and what is written very badly. We take in the content of a well-written piece just as indifferently as we do that of a badly written piece. The difference, the capacity to distinguish, is what we have lost. How many people nowadays can tell the difference between a page written by Herman Grimm and one written by Eucken, Kohler, or Simmel, and I could name many other writers, too?12Herman Grimm, Goethe, vol. 2, Lecture 23, p. 171f., Berlin, 1817.
Rudolph Christoph Eucken, 1846–1926, German philosopher. See Lecture One, note 14.
Josef Kohler, 1849–1919, German jurist and writer. See Lecture One, note 14.
Georg Simmel, 1858–1918, German philosopher and sociologist. His work was very influential in establishing sociology as a scientific discipline in the United States.
Who can see that in one page of Herman Grimm lives the whole culture of Central and Western Europe—in his composition, in the way he forms his sentences? Who can sense that if we give ourselves over to this sentence structure, we can connect with what is ruling spiritually in the world? The usual scholarly babble, however, connects us with nothing except the eccentricities of the gentlemen, or, as we may say today, of the ladies in question. I have known scholars and spoken with them about Grimm; well, these scholars actually dared to compare Herman Grimm with Richard M. Meyer, or someone like him.13Richard M. Meyer, 1860–1914, German philologist. The initial “M” in Meyer's name was always used; Meyer never wrote his full middle name; I don't know why he was too timid to do that. Well, these scholars said Meyer's works showed clear, decisive, and strictly methodical research. Herman Grimm, on the other hand, was not to be called a real worker in the field of science; rather, he was only strolling through it. It was customary in those days to call him a stroller through the field of science because he had too few footnotes. Who nowadays can see that the whole of European culture up to the end of the nineteenth century really lives in the style of Herman Grimm's works, in his manner of presentation, regardless of the content? That is precisely what we must achieve: a sense for style, a true feeling for art even in this area, for that alone can school us in honesty. The hurried reading for content only, which aims only at getting information, is really a schooling in dishonesty, in lies.
You need only look at our modern age to see how infinitely much has to be done before people will again develop a feeling for style. Granted, we have to read newspapers nowadays, but we should also be so sensitive that the style that has gradually taken root there irritates us and drives us to distraction. This must really come about. How much this is lacking these days can be seen in countless examples, and you have no idea how little people are generally inclined to go to the bottom of things in their thinking.
I am not introducing what now follows in order to talk about national prejudices or personal likes and dislikes after all, we must be able to understand every point of view and get a feeling for it. No, what I would like to tell you has nothing to do with all this. A few months ago, a book was published that is not available in Germany, and for good reason. It is entitled J’Accuse, written by a German and has been translated into all languages except German, and several hundred thousand copies have been sold throughout the world.14J’accuse von einem Deutschen (“J'accuse by a German”), Lausanne, 1915. Now I am not going to speak of the accusations in this book and the very pessimistic picture it presents of the connections between Germany and the war and Austria and the war. I do not want to talk about that; everyone has his or her own point of view in these matters. The point here is not that this book presents everything in the darkest light and puts the blame exclusively on the Central European powers, while exonerating all the others, completely clearing and whitewashing them—and not just whitewashing them, but presenting them as whiter than white. That is not what I want to talk about.
What matters is that this book has evidently been distributed widely not only among people who have been corrupted by newspaper reading and read nothing else anyway, but also among people with supposedly enlightened minds. Now this book is trashy literature of the very worst kind imaginable, quite apart from its point of view. If you just read it as it is, you will find in terms of form, in terms of sentence structure, a piece of trashy literature, really artistically abominable literature. It is the artistic side I want to look at here, regardless of the point of view; for I can perfectly well understand a point of view opposed to mine, or indeed any point of view. But what is so infinitely sad in this case is that people did not feel that anyone who writes so abominably badly—in his sentence structure, his thinking, and logic—comes into consideration only for those readers who do not go in for respectable literature but only for stuff that's peddled on the backstairs.
I would not be speaking about this today if the subject had not been revived the day before yesterday in an article in the Vossische Zeitung, which used to be a gossipy rag but is now a modern newspaper. The article was written by Dr. F. Oppenheimer, an untenured extramural lecturer, and deals with this book as well as with a very successful reply published as Anti-J'accuse.15Franz Oppenheimer, 1864–1943, German economist and sociologist. The reply was J’accuse! Aus den Aufzeichnungen eines feldgrauen Akademikers (“J'accuse! From the Notes of an Academic in field-gray”), Berlin, 1915. However, Dr. Oppenheimer starts out in a strange way by explaining that this book J'Accuse had been brought to his attention by a man from one of the neutral countries whom he had always considered one of the most outstanding and most unappreciated authors of our time. Then Oppenheimer goes on to talk about his own impressions of the book. He has at least some idea of how badly the book is written—and that is what I want to emphasize here—but I was anxious to see whether he would draw any conclusions from this insight. It seemed to me that Oppenheimer's thoughts and feelings about the book should have led him to question whether he had been in full possession of his faculties when he believed the man great who recommended such an abominable book as something special. But he did not come to that conclusion in this article.
Now I am not saying this to criticize this particular case, but to point out that it is a typical one. People just skim over the facts these days. After all, isn't this case suited to make Oppenheimer ask himself what his judgment is worth when he had taken a man for important who later tried to foist such a book off on him as significant? Is this not something that leads necessarily to some self-knowledge? Clearly, drawing the obvious conclusions from the situations confronting us now in such a terrible way is not a priority in the souls of many people. We can see the basic character and structure of contemporary spiritual life in just such typical examples. We must really feel that the basic shortcomings of our time are expressed in such things, and we must not ignore them as if they were of no importance.
These things are tremendously important, for they show on a small scale what I pointed to on a larger scale when I said that nowadays many people believe themselves to be good Christians though they have not even managed to be good Turks! Remember, I once read you a short passage from the Koran to show that Turks who know their Koran believe much more about Jesus than many modern pastors do. It is the same all over again but now on a field where the mighty facts of existence arise before the soul. The same mistake, however, the same type of mistake, meets us everywhere in our daily life, in the terrible superficiality of modern everyday life, which is really nothing else but dishonesty. We must go beyond that if all talking about spiritual science is not to be a washout for our time. The important thing is that spiritual science be more than just a failure and a waste.
We have to realize that in the nineteenth century and so far also in the twentieth century we have been wedged into a spiritual scientific development that has influenced modern thinking and feeling from two sides. There have been two streams, left and right, so to speak, and we have been wedged in between them. And now we have to extricate ourselves. Just this winter I have devoted a good many of my talks to drawing your attention to the fundamentals leading to what is thought nowadays. Truly, it is possible to show in many different symptoms what prevails these days. I have showed you this by drawing your attention to many occult movements active in different societies. I have told you that to a large extent the direction and attitude of modern thinking go back to the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, when the predominating spirit lived in the accomplishments of Bacon, Shakespeare, and Jacob Bohme.16Francis Bacon, 1st Baron Verulam and Viscount St. Albans, 1561–1626. English philosopher and author.
William Shakespeare, 1564–1616, English dramatist and poet.
Jakob Böhme, 1575–1624. German mystic. He was first a shoemaker, then had a mystical experience in 1600. This had to be so. However, we are now at a point where we have to overcome what was rightfully inaugurated at the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.
This is what I wanted to present in my new book Vom Menschenrätsel,17Rudolf Steiner, Vom Menschenrätsel (“The Riddle of Man”), vol. 20 in the Collected Works, (Domach, Switzerland: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1984). I wanted to explain the spiritual streams to which the fifth post-Atlantean epoch led, especially in Central Europe, and that the way out through spiritual science must be found. Time will tell whether this book, into which I really put all my heart—sometimes spending two whole days on a sentence that takes up a quarter of a page in order to be able to justify every word and turn of phrase—whether it will be read properly or just as badly as previous books.
You see, my dear friends, all our reflections amount to the insight that we must find in our soul the elements, the forces, to take in the Mystery of Golgotha in a new way. However, only those can understand the Mystery of Golgotha who do not seek this understanding with the forces of the physical body but by means independent of the physical body. Now, you may object that then the Mystery of Golgotha, the true wellspring of life for Christianity, can be understood only by people who have gone through esoteric development. Well, this is not the case, definitely not. Up to now people have indeed been able, even without spiritual science, to experience this freedom of the soul from the body necessary to understand the Mystery of Golgotha. But the number of those who understood dwindled while the number of those who opposed this true understanding grew ever larger.
Just think of one of the symptoms of this development: in earlier centuries, people were also reading the four Gospels and found the force contained in them. Thus, they approached an emotional and psychological understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. Then came the people of the nineteenth century who were naturally more clever than their ancestors and discovered that the four Gospels contradict each other! How could their intellect avoid seeing that the Gospels contradicted each other? Great pains were taken to find all the contradictions and to unearth a core common to all Gospels. Not much came of all this, but the attempt made many people famous in the course of the nineteenth and even in the twentieth century. Well, are people of earlier centuries supposed to not have seen that the Gospels contradict each other? Were they really so foolish that they didn't see that the Gospel of Matthew differs from the Gospel of John? Or, perhaps, has it just not occurred to nineteenth century people that their ancestors had a different sort of understanding, sought understanding with a quite different organ of their soul? You can answer that question for yourselves on the basis of what you have learned of spiritual science.
However, the days are gone when people could understand Christianity and the Mystery of Golgotha without taking the path of spiritual science. The number of people who can understand Christianity without spiritual science will become smaller and smaller. Spiritual science will become more and more an indispensable path to the understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha, which has to be understood with the etheric body. Everything else can be understood with the physical body. But spiritual science alone can prepare us for an understanding of all that has to be understood with the etheric body. Therefore either spiritual science will be fortunate and succeed, or there will be no further spread of Christianity because the Mystery of Golgotha will not be understood. In this respect we are still misunderstood by all those who think they are on the right path.
I have to tell the following story again and again. A few years ago, I lectured in a town in southern Germany about some of the treasures of wisdom in Christianity. Two clergymen were present who came up to me after the lecture and said they were really astonished at my positive attitude toward Christianity. They remarked that I had presented everything exactly the way it was supposed to be in Christianity. However, they felt my manner of presentation could e understood only by people with a certain amount of education, while their way of presenting Christianity was for all people and therefore the right way.
Well, I told them we must not judge on the basis of what pleases people; rather we are obligated to consider for our judgment only what corresponds to reality. People can easily delude themselves into believing that what they think is right. The less people are grounded in reality, the more they are usually convinced their opinion is right. Those who know the least about Christianity are often the very same ones who believe they know the most about it. In other words, it does not matter what we fool ourselves into thinking true; what matters is that we judge on the basis of reality.
So I asked the two clergymen whether everyone was still going to their churches, for that alone would decide the issue. The decisive point was not what these clergymen thought about Christianity but whether they were indeed speaking for all people, whether all people still went to their churches. They had to admit that indeed many people were staying away, unfortunately! Well, I told them that some of those people who didn't go to their churches anymore had come to hear my lecture, and I was speaking to them. For those who do not go to their churches are also seeking a way to the Mystery of Golgotha.
This way must be found. Our opinions must be dictated to us by reality, by what lives and works in reality, not by what we imagine. Obviously, everybody thinks his or her own method is the right one. But the right thing is not what we think is right, what we have thought out and have felt is right, but what reality reveals to us. Of course, that requires that we get used to immersing ourselves deeply into reality. It requires that we have the reverence for reality and devotion to it necessary to have our power of discernment, our sensitivity, and our feelings guided by reality. This is precisely what people have forgotten these days. They must learn it again in order to understand the smallest as well as the greatest things, to understand everyday life as well as what gives meaning to the whole earth evolution, that is, the Mystery of Golgotha.
Wahrheitsgefühl
Bevor ich zu den Vortragsbetrachtungen komme, möchten wir gerne in dem ersten Teil des heutigen Abends einige Dichtungen zum Vortrage bringen. Ich habe versucht — zunächst war es bestimmt zum Gebrauche bei eurythmischen Darstellungen -, einiges, das zusammenhängt mit der Denkweise und der Gesinnungsart geisteswissenschaftlicher Anschauung, zum Ausdruck zu bringen in einer Art gebundener Rede. Es war, wie gesagt, zunächst bestimmt für eine eurythmische Darstellung in Dornach, und ist damals auch eurythmisch dargestellt worden. Es wird demnächst in einer kleinen Veröffentlichung, die zu unseren Zyklus-Veröffentlichungen gehören wird, mit meinen Erklärungen dazu gedruckt werden und hier zu haben sein. Ich muß aber, bevor diese Dinge zum Vortrage kommen, einiges voraussenden.
Ich habe ja das letzte Mal ein paar Worte über die dichterische Kunst gesprochen in anderem Zusammenhang. Nun muß wirklich recht ernst genommen werden das, was oftmals gerade im Verlaufe dieses Winters wiederum ausgesprochen worden ist: daß der ganze Impuls, wenn ich das Paradoxon gebrauchen darf, der ganze Geist unserer Geisteswissenschaft in die geistige Zeitkultur hineingehen muß, der geistigen Zeitkultur etwas Besonderes bringen muß. Dichtung beruht nicht bloß darauf, daß irgend etwas Erfundenes oder Gedachtes ausgesprochen wird, sondern daß es in einer gewissen Form ausgesprochen wird. Nun sucht Geisteswissenschaft die Verbindung des Menschen herzustellen mit den großen Gesetzen des Universums, mit den großen Gesetzen des Kosmos. In wirklichem, wahrem Sinne verstehen wird man die tiefsten Impulse der Geisteswissenschaft erst, wenn man erfassen wird, wie weitgehend dieses Suchen nach der Beziehung zwischen dem Menschen und den großen übersinnlichen Gesetzen des Universums eigentlich ist. Dasjenige, was man Dichtung nennt, wird allmählich ein neues Gesicht bekommen. Das ist ja heute gewiß noch recht schwer zu verstehen, aber es ist doch so. In der Dichtung soll ja wiedergegeben werden es wird das heute nur mehr wenig gefühlt —, was der Mensch erlebt zusammen mit dem Weltenall, was herausgeholt ist aus den Geheimnissen des Weltenalls. Das aber muß auch fließen in die dichterische Form. Wenn wir gewisse Gedankenbilder uns machen, die Wiedergabe sind von Dingen der imaginativen Erkenntnis, so können wir damit auch die Gesetze finden, die sich beziehen auf die Stellung der zwölf Sternbilder des Tierkreises und die Beziehungen der Bewegung der sieben Planeten mit der Bewegung der zwölf Tierkreisbilder. Wir können auch herausheben gewisse Bewegungen und Gesetze, die sich auf weniger als auf die sieben Planeten beziehen, die sich zum Beispiel nur beziehen auf Sonne, Mond und den Durchgang der Sonne und des Mondes durch die Tierkreisbilder und dergleichen. Nicht darauf kommt es an, daß wir ansingen dasjenige, was da im Universum vorgeht, sondern daß dasselbe, was in den großen Gesetzen des Universums spricht, auch in der Form der Dichtung spricht. Und so werden Sie heute Versuche - es sind selbstverständlich erste Versuche - kennenlernen, in denen in der Aufeinanderfolge der Zeilen, in dem gegenseitigen Bezug der Zeilen aufeinander und in dem, was jede Zeile ausdrückt, solche Gesetze walten, wie sie im Universum walten. Sie werden zum Beispiel eine Dichtung finden, welche aus zwölf Strophen besteht, jede Strophe aus sieben Zeilen, und der ganze Bau der Dichtung ist so, daß sich das, was in den sieben Zeilen zum Ausdruck kommt, wirklich so gibt, wie die Gesetze der Bewegungen der sieben Planeten. Und daß es gerade zwölf Strophen sind und die Stimmung der sieben Zeilen in zwölf Strophen wiederkehrt, das entspricht den Gesetzen des Durchganges der einzelnen Planeten bei ihren Bewegungen durch die Tierkreisbilder. Was also da draußen im Kosmos sich abspielt, gewissermaßen in der Sphärenharmonie, das spielt sich ab in dem Sinn, der in zwölf siebenzeiligen Strophen zum Ausdrucke kommt. Also die Gesetze des Kosmos sollen da auch herrschen in diesen zwölf siebenzeiligen Strophen. Sie finden, sagen wir in der Strophe des Steinbocks, daß die vierte Zeile eine gewisse Stellung des Mars zum Steinbock ausdrückt. Da muß aber in dieser Zeile ein solcher Sinn darinnen sein, daß, wenn jemand aus dem Schlaf aufgeweckt wird und es wird ihm nichts anderes vorgelesen als die eine Zeile aus der Steinbock-Strophe, die Mars-Zeile, er sagen können muß, wenn er sich einmal eine Empfindung dafür angeeignet hat: Das ist die Mars-Zeile der Steinbock-Strophe! - So hat jede einzelne Zeile einen Sinn. Also nicht ist es eine Äußerlichkeit, sondern es ist innerlich so gebaut. Darauf kommt es an.
Ebenso ist in der kleinen Dichtung, die vierzeilige Strophen hat, die Anordnung so, daß gewisse Bewegungen kosmische Vorgänge ausdrücken. Von den zwöltstrophigen Versuchen ist der eine ernst gemeint, von dem anderen werden Sie gleich sehen, wenn er Ihnen nachher vorgetragen wird, daß er eine richtige Satire ist. Nun könnte man sehr leicht meinen, daß es etwas Ungehöriges ist, so, wie man sagt, «heilige Dinge» satirisch zu behandeln. Aber wirklich, meine lieben Freunde, will man weiterkommen gerade auf dem Gebiete geistiger Weltanschauung, dann ist eine Grundforderung diese, daß man nicht das Lachen verlernt über dasjenige, worüber in der Welt gelacht werden muß, wenn man es richtig beurteilt. Eine Dame erzählte einmal von einem Herrn, der immer in der Stimmung war, «hinaufzusehen zu den großen Offenbarungen des Weltenalls». Von anderen Menschen, als von «Meistern», sprach er überhaupt nicht, und, verzeihen Sie, aber sie sagte noch: Er hat eigentlich immer «ein Gesicht bis ans Bauch» gemacht - sie war keine Deutsche, die betreffende Dame - also ein tragisch verlängertes Gesicht trug er stets zur Schau. Ich mußte, als ich diesen Ausspruch der Dame hörte, daß jener Herr immer so ein tragisch verlängertes Gesicht hat, mich erinnern an ein mir wirklich außerordentlich interessantes Erlebnis, das ich vor langer Zeit in Wien hatte. Da lebte in Wien ein Mann, der sich auf alle Weise in das Geistgebiet einzuleben versuchte. Er war der Professor der Physik und Mathematik an der Wiener Hochschule für Bodenkultur, Oskar Simony, der dann ja viel später, erst vor ganz kurzer Zeit, tragisch geendet hat. Er begegnete mir einmal — ich weiß das so, wie wenn es gestern gewesen wäre - in der Salesianergasse, auf der Landstraße, in Wien. Ich kannte ihn vom Sehen, gesprochen hatte ich nie mit ihm. Er kannte mich gar nicht, wir begegneten uns eben wie zwei, die auf dem Trottoir aneinander vorbeigehen. Ich war dazumal ein ganz junger Lebensanfänger, ein junger Dachs von 26, 27 Jahren. Nun, Oskar Simony guckte mich an, blieb stehen - ich erzähle nur eine Tatsache - und fing mit mir ein Gespräch an über allerlei Dinge der geistigen Wissenschaft, nahm mich dann auch zu sich nach Hause und schenkte mir seine jüngste Publikation über eine Erweiterung der vier Rechnungsarten, die er in der alten Akademie der Wissenschaften damals veröffentlicht hatte. Es war dazumal gerade die Zeit, in der der österreichische Kronprinz Rudolf zusammen mit dem Erzherzog Johann, der dann als Johann Orth, wie Sie vielleicht wissen, verschwunden ist, sich beschäftigten mit der Entlarvung eines Mediums und überhaupt mit solchen Dingen. Daher war dazumal sehr viel von solchen Dingen in Wien die Rede, und Oskar Simony beschäftigte sich außerdem ja sehr wissenschaftlich mit diesen Dingen, er hat ein Buch geschrieben über das Schlingen eines Knotens in ein ringförmig geschlossenes Band, das sehr interessant ist. - Nun, während wir so sprachen, machte er eine Pause im Gespräche und sagte: «Ach, wenn man sich mit diesen Dingen beschäftigt, da braucht man eigentlich viel Humor dazu!» — Und wahrhaftig, es ist nötig, gerade wenn man in die Tiefen der geistigen Wissenschaft hineingeht, daß man den Humor nicht verlernt, daß man mit anderen Worten sich nicht ständig verpflichtet fühlt, das tragisch verlängerte Gesicht nur zu tragen. Und ich habe sogar die Überzeugung, daß Oskar Simony in der letzten Zeit seines Lebens eben den Humor verloren hatte, bevor er so tragisch geendet hat.
Nun ist ja auch reichlich Gelegenheit, Humor zu entfalten, gerade innerhalb unserer geistigen Bewegung. Denn an nichts so sehr wie an solche geistige Bewegungen hängen sich die Karikaturen des Strebens nach dem Geistigen. Nicht Menschen meine ich, sondern Strebungen meine ich mit diesen Karikaturen. Was soll nicht alles gehen unter der Flagge des geistigen Strebens, oder sagen wir, des Dazugehörens zu einer Bewegung, welche das geistige Streben zu dem ihrigen macht! Das ist ja dasjenige, was so schwierig macht, vor der Welt solch eine geistige Bewegung zu vertreten. An sich war gar nichts dagegen einzuwenden, daß eine Zeitlang - es ist auch heute noch nichts einzuwenden - einige Damen solche Kleidung getragen haben, wie ich sie einmal ausfindig machen mußte für die erste Szene der Aufführung des ersten Mysteriendramas; denn da konnte man keine modernen Kleider auf der Bühne haben. Dann haben Damen solche Kleider gemacht. Das war aller Anerkennung wert, selbstverständlich, aber auch das ist ausgeartet, und das brauche ich nicht weiter zu erzählen, das ist ja hinlänglich bekannt, wie diese Dinge ausgeartet sind, wie man dann geglaubt hat, daß zu einer solchen Kleidung unbedingt kurze Haare gehören. Ja, man konnte sogar hören, daß — was ja nur in einzelnen Fällen vorgekommen ist — bei uns Damen mit ganz kurzen Haaren und Herren mit recht langen Haaren herumgingen. Aber das waren ja nur Ausnahmen. Jedenfalls hat das dazu geführt, daß ich oftmals bei öffentlichen Vorträgen gefragt worden bin, ob denn zur Theosophie gehöre, daß man sich die Haare schneiden läßt. Nun, das ist eine Äußerlichkeit; aber auch mit Innerlichkeiten wurde schon in unseren Kreisen mancherlei Unfug getrieben, gegen den man sich scharf wenden muß. Was wird nicht alles gesagt, was ich gesagt haben soll, was wird nicht alles gesagt, was sein soll, und dergleichen! Manchmal nehmen sich die Dinge, die gesagt werden, durchaus nicht so aus, daß man nicht zu dem Urteil kommen könnte, daß der Betreffende, der es sagt, sich ein bißchen wichtig machen will, gelinde gesagt. Also es gibt Auswüchse, wegen welcher es schwierig ist, unsere Bewegung vor denjenigen zu vertreten, deren Lachmuskeln insbesondere dann wie von selbst in Bewegung kommen, wenn sie von etwas hören, das sie doch nicht verstehen. Die lachen dann über das Ernste, über das Bedeutungsvolle auch. Aber man braucht nicht noch Veranlassung zu geben durch die mit dem Streben nach dem Geistigen einhergehende Karikatur, daß sie ein gewisses Recht haben, zu lachen.
Solche Dinge haben dazu geführt, daß auch eine solche Dichtung als Satire einmal von mir gemacht worden und dann eurythmisch dargestellt worden ist, und die soll auch heute zum Vortrage kommen. Diese Satire mit den zwölf Tierkreisstimmungen, in denen auch die Planeten verwendet sind, aber verwendet sind, um, ich möchte sagen, die Schattenseiten des geisteswissenschaftlichen Betriebes - nicht der Geisteswissenschaft, die hat schon keine Schattenseiten, aber, sagen wir, des geisteswissenschaftlichen Anhanges — ein bißchen zu zeigen. Diese Versuche - es sollen wie gesagt bescheidene Versuche sei - sind eben gemacht, um zu zeigen, wie aus den erfühlten Gesetzen des Kosmos sich wirkliche Formgesetze einer Dichtung für die Zukunft ergeben werden. Diese Dichtungen sollen vorgetragen werden im Zusammenhange mit einigen von Robert Hamerling, die dazwischen genommen werden, und damit wollen wir heute beginnen, bevor wir zu unserer Vortragsbetrachtung schreiten. Also Sie müssen bei den Dichtungen in Erwägung ziehen, daß sie zur eurythmischen Aufführung bestimmt waren; sie werden heute vorgetragen ohne Eurythmie, aber das macht nichts.
[Programm der anschließenden Rezitation durch Frau Dr. Steiner: Gedichte von Robert Hamerling: «O, laßt mich einsam singen ...», «Sohn und Erbe der Ewigkeit ...», «Zwischen Himmel und Erde», «Nächtliche Regung», «Geister der Nacht», «Scheltet nicht die weichen Klänge ...», «Venedig», «Lebenslied», — Harmoniumspiel — «Der Adler». — «Planetentanz», «Pfingstspruch» («Wo Sinneswissen endet ...»), «Zwölf Stimmungen» von Rudolf Steiner, -— Harmonium: Die Himmel rühmen - «Verlorene Klänge» und «Diamanten» von Robert Hamerling, «Das Lied von der Initiation», Satire von Rudolf Steiner.]
Ich möchte ausgehen von dem, was ja jetzt schon öfter unseren Betrachtungen zugrunde gelegt worden ist. Wirklich nicht so soll das, was uns geisteswissenschaftlich durchdringt, in unserer Seele leben, daß wir, sowie man Geographie, Botanik, Staatswissenschaft oder dergleichen gelernt hat, auch Geisteswissenschaft kennen und dann das übrige Leben so hübsch davon trennen; sondern Geisteswissenschaft soll Impulse, Lebenskräfte geben, die sich wirklich hineinergießen in das Auffassen der Wirklichkeit, die uns umgibt. Nicht nur, daß das um der Geisteswissenschaft selber willen so sein muß, sondern es hat die Geisteswissenschaft wirklich die Aufgabe, einzugreifen in das gegenwärtige Geistesleben, so daß manches, in bezug auf welches das gegenwärtige Geistesleben wie in eine Sackgasse geht, wiederum angeregt werde, daß manches, was im gegenwärtigen Geistesleben krank ist, gesund werde. Und wir haben ja gehört: Eines muß ja unser ganzes Seelenweben durchdringen, wenn wir so richtig in der Geisteswissenschaft drinnenstehen wollen: das ist Wahrhaftigkeit! Man wird von Wahrhaftigkeit so durchdrungen werden müssen, daß man, wenn man Geisteswissenschaft treiben will, nicht von dieser Wahrhaftigkeit weicht, in bezug auf die ganze Auffassung des Lebens. Aber gerade da steht man heute einer Lebensauffassung gegenüber, die in der Beurteilungsart, in der Gesinnung, wirklich nicht von der Wahrhaftigkeit durchzogen ist.
Lassen Sie uns einmal von einem Ereignis, das wir in den letzten Tagen erfahren mußten, ausgehen. Auch das ist schon NichtWahrhaftigkeit, daß man über solche Ereignisse viel zu wenig nachdenkt, sie viel zu wenig im Zusammenhange mit dem ganzen Leben betrachtet. Sie werden es vielleicht gelesen haben, was, abgesehen von jenen furchtbaren, großen, gigantischen Erschütterungen, die heute vorgehen, im kleinen Kreise in diesen Tagen Frschütterndes an einem einzelnen menschlichen Schicksal sich abgespielt hat; heute ist ja alles ein kleiner Kreis, was sich außerhalb des großen abspielt. Ein Maler, der offenbar eigentlich ein guter Maler ist, das ging aus der Prozeßführung hervor, malte Bilder und schrieb darauf: Böcklin, Uhde, Menzel, Spitzweg und ähnliche berühmte Namen, malte viele solche Bilder, die verkauft wurden an diejenigen Menschen, die einen Böcklin, einen Lenbach, einen Menzel kaufen wollten. Es hatte sie aber Herr Lehmann gemalt. Aber Herr Lehmann konnte gut malen, so daß alle sie für richtige Menzels, Uhdes, Böcklins und so weiter gekauft haben. Nun wurde ihm der Prozeß gemacht. Es ist ja selbstverständlich ein ganz klarer Betrug. Die Sachverständigen haben gefunden, daß der Betrug um so größer ist, weil er eben ein guter Maler ist und wirklich auch die Sache so gut machen konnte, daß man sie nicht unterscheiden konnte von den Bildern, welche die betreffenden Berühmtheiten gemalt haben, und er wurde nun wegen Betrugs zu vier Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt.
Ich werde Ihnen nun das Gegenbild dazu erzählen, ein Gegenbild, das man neben dieses Ereignis stellen kann. Goethe hatte ja die Methode, Bild und Gegenbild immer gegeneinander zu stellen. Das ist freilich nicht so bequem wie das gewöhnliche Denken, aber es klärt die wahre Wirklichkeit mehr auf. Wenn man nach Brüssel kommt, so trifft man dort das Wiertz-Museum. Da sind Bilder des Malers Wiertz, und ich glaube nicht, daß es irgendeinen Menschen geben kann, der nicht im allerhöchsten Maße überrascht wäre von der Eigenart der Bilder des Wiertz. Es sind ja allerdings Bilder, die nicht so gemalt sind, wie andere sie malen, aber sie haben eine außerordentlich eigene Note, sind zuweilen so, daß selbstverständlich der steife Philister sie verrückt finden wird. Nun, das ist ja vielleicht nicht immer ein Maßstab, aber jedenfalls sind auch solche drunter, von denen man im höchsten Maße ergriffen werden kann. Wiertz wurde geboren im Anfange des 19. Jahrhunderts aus armer Familie, war ein armer Kerl, wuchs auch als armer Kerl auf; aber wie durch eine Erleuchtung kam eines Tages über ihn der Gedanke - und nun kam bei ihm zusammen, ich möchte sagen, wirkliche Berufung mit außerordentlicher Eitelkeit, die Dinge können ja zusammenkommen — , er müsse ein Maler werden, größer als Rubens, Fortsetzer von Rubens, er müsse Rubens überrubensen; ein Über-Rubens müsse er werden. Nicht wahr, man kann ja heute, in der Zeit nach Nietzsche, auch sagen: «Über-Rubens». - Also ein Über-Rubens wollte er werden; aber natürlich konnte er etwas. Er bekam dann auch ein Stipendium und konnte nach Rom gehen, konnte die italienische Malerei sehen. Und nun malte er ein Bild, das war allerdings furchtbar groß, ganz riesig groß: eine Szene aus dem Trojanischen Krieg. Es war aber wirklich weit besser als so die Durchschnittsbilder, die in Ausstellungen waren. Nun, er hat es in Paris der Louvre-Kommission eingereicht. Man hat es zwar angenommen, aber man hat es so gehängt, daß es gewirkt hat, wie wenn man es nicht angenommen hätte. Sie wissen ja, das ist so eine häufige Praxis der Kommissionen, die Bilder annehmen für Ausstellungen, daß sie etwas dann so hängen, wie wenn es nicht da wäre. Denn es kommt ja natürlich sehr darauf an, daß man ein Bild auch sieht. Wenn man es nicht sehen kann, wenn es so beleuchtet ist an einer Stelle, daß man es nicht sehen kann, so kann es ausgestellt sein, und es ist doch in Wirklichkeit nicht da. Und da Wiertz nicht gerade wenig Eitelkeit hatte neben einem großen Talent, so wurmte ihn das furchtbar. Er wurde ganz wild über Paris, ging nach Brüssel zurück und schrieb niemals mehr den Namen «Paris» auf, ohne daß er einen Blitz darüber malte, der in dieses Wort «Paris» hineinfuhr! Nun, er hat auch einige andere Auszeichnungen erhalten, die ihn nicht besonders erfreut haben. So bekam er für irgendeine Leistung einmal von dem König eine bronzene Medaille. Da sagte er: Gold habe ich nicht, Silber habe ich nicht, aber Bronze, die brauche ich auch nicht! - Und er blieb wild. Er wollte noch einmal die Probe machen mit der Louvre-Kommission. 1840 schickte er zwei Bilder zu einer Ausstellung. Das eine hatte er selber gemalt, da stand «Wiertz» darauf. Das andere ergab sich ihm aber auf eine andere Art. Es hatte nämlich ein Bekannter einen anerkannt echten, bedeutenden Rubens. Wiertz, flugs, kratzt den Namen Rubens aus und schreibt Wiertz darunter, schickt zwei «Wiertz» nach Paris. Die Leute schauen sich das an: zwei «Wiertz»? Nichts! Wird nicht ausgestellt, sind zwei Schunderzeugnisse! - Dabei war einer ein echter Rubens, es war gerade ein ganz vorzüglicher Rubens! Na, so hat er sich gerächt, hat das natürlich überall bekannt machen lassen, und es hat dazumal ein großes Aufsehen gegeben.
Das ist das Gegenstück zu dem Ereignis, das ich Ihnen vorhin erzählt habe. Nun denken Sie sich doch, welche Summe von Unwahrheit herrscht bei der Beurteilung von Kunstwerken heute! Wer kauft denn eigentlich Kunstwerke? Namen kauft man! Denn es ist ganz klar, daß, wenn heute jemand etwas malte, was so gut ist, wie Leonardo gemalt hat — es könnte ganz gut sein - , man würde selbstverständlich Leonardo kaufen und nicht den anderen. Es hat ja auch schon andere Maler gegeben, sogar eine Zeitung erzählt heute davon, die sich darauf verlegt haben, alte Maler zu malen, da sie von sich selber nichts verkaufen konnten; aber wenn sie Leonardo oder Michelangelo oder so etwas darauf schrieben, da konnten sie verkaufen. Aber sie waren schon gestorben, als man darauf kam, da konnte man sie nicht mehr vier Jahre einsperren! Solche Ereignisse sind vor allen Dingen in dem Lichte der Unwahrhaftigkeit unserer Verhältnisse zu beurteilen. Lehmann würde kein einziges seiner Bilder verkauft haben, wenn er «Lehmann» darauf geschrieben hätte; aber sie wären gerade so gut gewesen, als sie so sind. Diese Dinge sind schon erschütternd. Es ist schon notwendig, daß man mit seinem Denken in diese Dinge hineingreift, denn das sind nur Beispiele für Dinge, die im alltäglichen Leben heute auf anderen Gebieten und mit anderen Dingen immer wieder und wieder vorkommen, und die eben zeigen, wie notwendig es unsere Zeit hat, Wahrhaftigkeit, aber auch Bekenntnis zur Wahrhaftigkeit, Streben nach Wahrhaftigkeit in sich aufzunehmen. Nun ist Streben nach Wahrhaftigkeit gar nicht erreichbar ohne den guten Willen, mit den Dingen sich zu beschäftigen, auf die Dinge einzugehen, nicht einfach darüber hinwegzuhuschen und sich nicht um sie zu kümmern. Darum handelt es sich, sich wirklich um das, was um uns herum geschieht, zu bekümmern und zu versuchen, die Dinge in ihren Tiefen ein bißchen zu verstehen. Wenn. man, ich möchte sagen, dies nicht als Übung versucht, die Wirklichkeit als Wirklichkeit in ihren Tiefen zu beobachten, so kann man nicht sehr weit kommen in bezug auf das Erfassen der Impulse, die in der Geisteswissenschaft liegen; denn die Geisteswissenschaft ist einmal aus der wahren Wirklichkeit heraus entstanden, und wir müssen uns verwandt machen dem Impuls der wahren Wirklichkeit, wenn wir Geisteswissenschaft verstehen wollen.
Für den, der die Tatsachen kennt, ist es auf der einen Seite ganz verständlich, daß diejenigen, die es heute mit der Wahrheit halten, wie es eben sehr häufig mit der Wahrheit gehalten wird, nicht zum Verständnis der Geisteswissenschaft kommen können, wie es auf der anderen Seite selbstverständlich ist, daß geisteswissenschaftliche Impulse in unser geistiges Leben der Gegenwart und der nächsten Zukunft hineinkommen müssen. Es ist ja wirklich so, daß man heute eigentlich bei allem, was einem vor Augen tritt, ich möchte sagen, obenhin liest; nicht bloß das, was man liest, sondern auch das Leben liest man obenhin, oberflächlich betrachtet man die Ereignisse, man huscht so darüber hin. Ich möchte Sie da auf eines aufmerksam machen, was man im Grunde genommen erst verstehen kann, wenn man sich ein wenig auf geisteswissenschaftliche Tatsachen einläßt. Derjenige, der heute die Entwickelung der Zeit verfolgt, der wird eine erstaunliche Entdeckung machen können, wenn er achtgibt auf das, was die Seele des Menschen unmittelbar aufnimmt, und auf das, was sie so aufnimmt, daß sie es behält und wirksam macht. In unserer Zeit lesen ja die meisten Menschen, die überhaupt lesen, Zeitungen. Zeitungen sind so Tagesgeschöpfe, und die meisten denken, das geht ebenso wieder aus der Seele heraus, wie es hereingegangen ist, und sie denken, daß das einen trösten kann über die Oberflächlichkeit und Unwahrhaftigkeit unserer Journalistik, die ja wirklich alles übersteigt, wie wir es noch beschreiben werden. Nun liegt die Sache aber anders, als man gewöhnlich glaubt. Für die meisten Menschen der Gegenwart, die auch Bücher lesen, schreibt sich der Inhalt eines Buches viel weniger in die Seele ein, selbst wenn er gedächtnismäßig darin bleibt, als der Inhalt der Zeitungslektüre, trotzdem die Zeitung nur ein Tagesgeschöpf ist. Gerade dieses Vorübergehende des Zeitungsstoffes, der aufgenommen und wiederum abgeworfen wird, und den man nicht dem Gedächtnis einprägt, sondern den man womöglich schnell vergißt - man muß ja schnell vergessen - , er prägt sich ins Unterbewußte unendlich tief ein. Ich habe schon einmal erwähnt, wie schnell man bei manchen Zeitungen vergessen muß. Wir waren einmal da unten in Istrien, in der Nähe von Pirano; da erscheint der «Piccolo della Sera». Nun, das war ein Blatt, das erschien jeden Abend, brachte einmal einen furchtbar sensationellen Artikel, ich weiß schon nicht mehr über was, aber drei Spalten lang, die ganze erste Seite. Aber auf derselben Seite war noch ein bißchen Platz; da war derselbe Artikel noch dementiert, da war gesagt, daß er auf einem Irrtum beruht! Das ist doch etwas, was man nicht immer erlebt, daß auf derselben Seite der Artikel gerade wieder dementiert ist, nicht wahr! Aber so asymptotisch, so allmählich bewegt sich ja überhaupt dasjenige, was namentlich die großstädtische Zeitung ist, zu diesem Punkte hin.
Wichtig ist es, zu wissen, daß das, was man so rasch aufnimmt und rasch wieder vergißt, in der Tat tief eingeprägt ist gerade in den unterbewußten Teil unserer Seele, und gerade wirksam ist als Kraft zum Weiterwirken in der Zeitenfolge. Es wirkt also weiter in dem, was so allgemeiner Zeitgeist ist, ahrimanischer Zeitgeist; da wirkt es. So daß gute Bücher, die gegenwärtig geschrieben werden, viel, viel weniger wirken als Zeitungsartikel. Gerade dasjenige, was sorgfältig aufgenommen wird und auf das Ich wirkt, vom Ich aus ins Gedächtnis geprägt wird, gerade das wirkt sogar weniger, als was flüchtig als Zeitungssache aufgenommen wird. Aber ich bitte Sie, ziehen Sie jetzt daraus nicht diese Konsequenz, daß Sie keine Zeitung lesen sollen, sondern nehmen Sie das als Ihr Karma hin. Denn selbstverständlich darf das nicht so aufgefaßt werden, als ob wir uns nun hüten sollen, irgendeine Zeile der Zeitung zu lesen. Wir müssen das als ein Zeitenkarma auffassen, müssen uns klar sein darüber, daß wir gerade die Seite unseres Wesens entwickeln müssen, welche in der Lage ist, zu empfinden, ob irgendein Inhalt, ob geistiges Ringen darinnen ist, oder bloß Phraseologie. Das ist es, was man wünschen möchte, daß wiederum Empfindung für die Art und Weise, wie geistige Leistung zustande kommt, entstehen könnte. Denn darinnen stehen wir heute so schlecht. Wir haben kein rechtes Empfinden für etwas, was gut geschrieben ist, und etwas, was spottschlecht geschrieben ist. Wir nehmen denselben Inhalt, wenn er uns in gut Geschriebenem entgegentritt, ebenso gleichgültig entgegen, wie wir ihn entgegennehmen, wenn er schlecht geschrieben ist. Diese Unterscheidung, die haben wir verloren. Wieviele Menschen gibt es heute, die etwa eine Seite bei Herman Grimm unterscheiden können von einer Seite etwa bei Eucken, Köhler oder Simmel? Ich könnte viele anführen!
Wer kann unterscheiden, daß alle Kultur Mittel- und Westeuropas auf einer Seite Herman Grimms in der Art lebt, wie er die Sätze bildet, wie er einen Satz formt, und daß, wenn wir uns diesem Satzbau hingeben, wir eine Verbindung bekommen mit dem wirklich geistig in der Welt Waltenden, während wir bei dem gewöhnlichen Gelehrten-Geplapper mit gar nichts eine Verbindung kriegen, als mit den Verschrobenheiten der betreffenden Herren oder — heute kann man ja das auch schon sagen - Damen. Ich habe Gelehrte kennengelernt, mit denen ich über Herman Grimm gesprochen habe, die waren wirklich imstande, Herman Grimm zu vergleichen mit Richard M. Meyer oder so einem, weil sie sagten, bei Richard M. Meyer - man sagte immer «M.», er hat das «M.» nie ausgeschrieben, ich weiß nicht, warum er sich geniert hat, und man sagte auch so - finde man klare, entschiedene, streng methodische Forschung; Herman Grimm nannten die Gelehrten nicht einen Arbeiter auf dem Gebiete der Wissenschaft, sondern einen Spaziergänger. Das war überhaupt Sitte, von ihm zu sagen, er sei ein Spaziergänger auf dem Gebiete der Wissenschaft, weil er zu wenig Anmerkungen hatte. Wer hat heute eine Empfindung dafür, daß wirklich bei Herman Grimm im Stil, ganz abgesehen von dem, was drinnen steht, in der Art und Weise, wie dargestellt wird, die ganze europäische Kultur bis zum Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts liegt? Das ist dasjenige, wozu wir es aber bringen müssen: Stilempfindung, wahre Kunstempfindung auch auf diesem Gebiete, denn das ist eine große Schule der Wahrhaftigkeit, während das fuselige Lesen, das nur auf den Inhalt geht, sich nur informieren will, eine Schule der Unwahrhaftigkeit, der Lüge ist. Und in dieser Beziehung, fühlen Sie nur die Gegenwart an, da werden Sie sehen, wie unendlich viel gewirkt werden muß, damit die Menschen wiederum lernen, Stilgefühl, Stilempfindungen zu bekommen. Gewiß, man muß heute die Zeitungen lesen; aber man sollte auch die Empfindung bekommen, daß es einen zwickt und zwackt und man auf die Wände kriechen möchte über den Stil, der sich da allmählich eingebürgert hat, der gar nicht anders sein kann. Dazu muß man kommen, das muß man mitmachen. Aber inwieweit dies verlorengegangen ist, dafür gibt es unzählige Beispiele, und wie wenig man geneigt ist, ich möchte sagen, da bis auf den Grund mit seinem Denken zu gehen, darauf kommen die Menschen heute gar nicht.
Wirklich nicht, um einzugehen auf irgend etwas, was, ich möchte sagen, auf nationalen Vorurteilen oder Sympathie oder Antipathie beruht — man muß jeden Standpunkt verstehen und sich in jeden Standpunkt hineinfinden können -, aber davon ganz abgesehen möchte ich erwähnen: Da ist vor einigen Monaten ein Buch erschienen, das in Deutschland nicht verbreitet ist, begreiflicherweise. Dieses Buch heißt: «J’accuse, von einem Deutschen», ist in alle Sprachen, auch ins Deutsche übersetzt und in vielen hunderttausenden Exemplaren auf der ganzen Welt verbreitet. Nun wirklich, ich will nicht darüber reden, daß dieses Buch «J’accuse» anklagt, alles schwarz in schwarz malt, was das Verhältnis Deutschlands zum Kriege, das Verhältnis Österreichs zu diesem Kriege betrifft, ich will davon nicht sprechen, jeder mag seinen Standpunkt haben. Darauf kommt es nicht an in diesem Falle, daß alles in der schlimmsten Weise geschildert wird, alle Schuld nur auf die mitteleuropäischen Mächte geschoben wird und alle anderen ganz reingewaschen werden, ja, nicht nur reingewaschen, sondern sogar so hingestellt werden, als ob sie reiner als rein wären. Davon will ich wirklich nicht reden. Die Ansicht kann man haben, mag jeder seine Ansicht haben, darauf kommt es nicht an. Aber dieses Buch hat große Verbreitung gefunden, nicht nur bei Leuten, die sonst durch Zeitungslektüre verdorben sind und nichts anderes lesen, sondern merkwürdigerweise bei als erleuchtet geltenden Geistern. Man konnte das konstatieren.
Nun ist dieses Buch die schlimmste Hintertreppen-Literatur, die man sich denken kann, ganz abgesehen von dem Standpunkte. Wer das Buch einfach liest, wie es ist, findet in bezug auf das Formale, in bezug auf die Durchführung des Satzbaues, Hintertreppen-Literatur, also künstlerisch über alle Maßen schandbare Literatur. Also das Künstlerische will ich in Betracht ziehen dabei, ganz von Standpunkten absehen, denn ich kann sehr wohl einen entgegengesetzten Standpunkt oder jeden Standpunkt verstehen. Aber das unendlich Traurige ist, daß man nicht das Gefühl dafür gehabt hat, daß jemand, der so schändlich schlecht schreibt in der Art des Satzbaus und des Denkens, in der Bildung der Gedankenfolge, nicht in Betracht kommt als höchstens für diejenigen Leser, die eben nicht durchs Vorderhaus, sondern durch die Hintertreppen ihre Literatur bekommen. Ich würde das heute nicht sagen, aber es wurde vorgestern die Sache wiederum aufgefrischt durch einen Artikel, der in der «Vossischen Zeitung» hier erschien, in der alten «Tante Voß». Nun, sie hat jetzt ganz ihr altes Tantengepräge aufgegeben, die «Tante Voß», sie ist Jetzt eine heutige Zeitung geworden. Ein Artikel von einem Privatdozenten, Dr. Fr. Oppenheimer, handelt über dieses Buch und eine recht gelungene Gegenschrift, die darüber erschienen ist, «AntiJ’accuse»; aber er beginnt in einer merkwürdigen Weise, dieser Artikel in der «Vossischen Zeitung» von Dr. Fr. Oppenheimer. Er schreibt, er wäre aufmerksam gemacht worden auf dieses Buch von einem Menschen, der den neutralen Landen angehört, den er bisher für einen der allerausgezeichnetsten und vielverkanntesten Schriftsteller der Gegenwart gehalten hat. Dann gibt er seine Eindrücke über dieses Buch selber. Er kommt ja zum Teil darauf, wie schlecht dieses Buch geschrieben ist - und das ist vor allem dasjenige, was hier betont werden soll -, aber ich war doch eigentlich etwas gespannt, ob aus dem einen Gedanken ein anderer nun herausspringen könnte, denn mir schien, daß aus den Gedanken und Empfindungen, die Oppenheimer über das Buch gehabt hat, einigermaßen der andere hätte folgen sollen: Also war ich doch ein wenig nicht ganz bei mir, wenn ich den für einen großen Mann gehalten habe, der mir nachher ein solches Schandbuch als etwas Besonderes anempfiehlt. Aber diese Konsequenz steht nicht da.
Nun sage ich das nicht, um den einzelnen Fall zu beurteilen, sondern ich möchte sagen: Typisch ist dieses, wirklich typisch. Die Menschen huschen hinweg über die Tatsachen. Ist denn das nicht geeignet, um sich zu sagen: Was hat mein Urteil bedeutet, wenn ich einen Menschen für einen bedeutenden gehalten habe, der mir nachher ein solches Buch als ein bedeutendes aufmutzen will? Ist das nicht etwas, was notwendigerweise auf den Weg einiger Selbsterkenntnis führen muß? Aber Konsequenzen ziehen aus den Dingen, die uns gerade jetzt so furchtbar vor Augen treten, das scheint in der Tat nicht das Seelenamt vieler Menschen zu sein in der Gegenwart! Man muß den Grundcharakter, die Grundstruktur des Geisteslebens unserer Gegenwart an solchen typischen Beispielen aufsuchen. Man muß wirklich fühlen können, wie die Grundmängel unserer Zeit sich in solchen Dingen aussprechen, und man darf nicht über diese Dinge einfach hinweggehen, als wenn es ein Nichts wäre. Diese Dinge sind ungeheuer bedeutend, denn sie zeigen im Kleinen dasjenige, was ich Ihnen im Großen zeigte an dem Beispiel, daß heute viele glauben, ganz gute Christen zu sein, die noch nicht einmal Türken sind. Erinnern Sie sich nur daran, wie ich Ihnen das durch eine kleine Vorlesung aus dem Koran selber gezeigt habe, wie in der Tat viel mehr über den Jesus, als die modernen Pastoren oftmals glauben und vertreten, von jedem Türken geglaubt wird, der seinen Koran kennt. Da steht es eben nur auf einem anderen Felde, auf dem Felde, wo uns das Große des Daseins vor die Seele tritt. Aber dieselben Fehler, dieselbe, ich möchte sagen, Fehlerstruktur tritt uns eben im alltäglichen Leben in dieser furchtbaren Oberflächlichkeit, die identisch ist mit Unwahrhaftigkeit des alltäglichen Lebens, heute entgegen. Über diese müssen wir hinauskommen, wenn nicht alles Reden über geisteswissenschaftliche Dinge bloß ein Schlag ins Wasser sein soll für die gegenwärtige Zeit. Darauf kommt es an, daß es nicht ein Schlag ins Wasser ist!
Wir müssen uns schon damit bekannt machen, daß wir gerade im 19. Jahrhundert und im bisher abgelaufenen 20. Jahrhundert gewissermaßen hineingeklemmt waren in eine geisteswissenschaftliche Entwickelung, die von zwei Seiten her das moderne Denken und Fühlen beeinflußte, so daß man zwei Strömungen hatte, ich möchte sagen, links und rechts, zwischen die man eingeklemmt war. Und da muß man heraus. Ich habe mancherlei Betrachtungen gerade in diesem Winter dazu verwendet, um aufmerksam zu machen, wo die tieferen Grundlagen stecken, die zu dem geführt haben, was heute gedacht, gefühlt wird. Wirklich, man kann ja an den verschiedensten Symptomen zeigen, was heute herrscht, was heute sich entwickelt. Ich habe es Ihnen gezeigt, indem ich Sie hingewiesen habe auf mancherlei okkulte Bewegungen, die sich in Gesellschaften ausleben. Ich habe Sie hingewiesen darauf, wie ein großer Teil des neuzeitlichen Denkens, der Richtung des Denkens, der Gesinnung des Denkens zurückgeht auf den Beginn eben der fünften nachatlantischen Periode, wie da ein Geist tonangebend war, lebte in dem, was Bacon leistete, was Shakespeare leistete, was sogar Jakob Böhme leistete. Das mußte so kommen. Aber wir stehen heute auch auf dem Punkte, daß das überwunden werden muß, was im Beginne der fünften nachatlantischen Periode mit Recht eingeleitet, inauguriert worden ist. Und das gerade wollte ich darstellen in diesem Buche «Vom Menschenrätsel», das jetzt gekommen ist. Ich wollte auf der einen Seite zeigen, in welche geistigen Strömungen hineingeführt hat, namentlich in Mitteleuropa, das, was fünfte nachatlantische Kulturperiode ist, und wie der Weg hinaus, gerade der geisteswissenschaftliche Weg hinaus gesucht werden muß. Es wird sich ja zeigen, ob das, was in diesem Buche geschrieben ist, was wirklich mit Herzblut geschrieben ist, daß manchmal zu einem Satze, der eine Viertelseite einnimmt, zwei Tage verwendet worden sind, um jedes Wort und jede Wendung vertreten zu können, gelesen werden kann, oder wiederum so schlecht gelesen wird, wie vorhergehende Bücher gelesen worden sind.
Sehen Sie, meine lieben Freunde, alle diese Betrachtungen, die wir angestellt haben, sie tendieren ja doch dahin, daß gefunden werden müssen in unseren Seelen die Elemente, die Kraftelemente, das Mysterium von Golgatha auf eine neue Weise aufzunehmen. Aber dieses Mysterium von Golgatha, nur derjenige kann es verstehen, der nicht mit den Kräften des physischen Leibes Verständnis sucht, sondern der mit dem verstehen kann, was unabhängig vom physischen Leibe ist. Nun werden Sie sagen: Dann könnte ja das Mysterium von Golgatha, den wirklichen Lebensquell des Christentums, erst derjenige verstehen, der durch eine esoterische Entwickelung zu diesem Verständnis kommt. Nein, so ist die Sache nicht. Bisher war es durchaus möglich, daß der Mensch ohne Geisteswissenschaft diese Freiheit seines Seelischen von dem Leiblichen erlebte, die notwendig war, um das Mysterium von Golgatha zu verstehen. Immer weniger wurden allerdings diejenigen, die es verstanden haben, und immer zahlreicher wurden diejenigen, die sich gegen das wirkliche Verständnis aufgelehnt haben. Bedenken Sie nur das eine Symptom dafür: In früheren Jahrhunderten haben die Menschen auch die vier Evangelien gelesen. Sie haben daraus die Kraft gesucht, die in den Evangelien liegt, und haben sich dem empfindungsgemäßen, dem seelischen Verstehen des Mysteriums von Golgatha genähert. Dann kamen die Menschen namentlich des 19. Jahrhunderts, die waren natürlich gescheiter als alle früheren und fanden: Diese vier Evangelien widersprechen sich ja! — Wie sollte der Verstand nicht auch sehen, daß sie sich widersprechen? Ungeheurer Fleiß ist angewendet worden, um all die Widersprüche zu finden, und ungeheurer Fleiß ist darauf verwendet worden, um so einen Kern herauszusuchen, worin alle übereinstimmen. Es ist nicht viel dabei herausgekommen, aber es sind darüber sehr viele große Männer geworden im Laufe des 19., des 20. Jahrhunderts. Ja, sollten wirklich die Menschen der früheren Jahrhunderte das nicht auch gesehen haben, daß sich die Evangelien widersprechen? Sollten die wirklich alle so töricht gewesen sein, das gar nicht zu sehen, daß im Matthäus-Evangelium etwas anderes steht als im JohannesEvangelium? Oder sollten vielleicht die Menschen des 19. Jahrhunderts nur nicht darauf gekommen sein, daß die Menschen der früheren Zeit eben ein anderes Verständnis hatten, mit einem ganz anderen Seelenorgan zu verstehen suchten? Entscheiden Sie selbst die Frage nach dem, was Sie aus der Geisteswissenschaft mitbekommen haben!
Aber die Zeit ist vorüber, in der die Menschen noch Verständnis werden haben können für das Mysterium von Golgatha und für das Christentum, ohne den Weg durch die Geisteswissenschaft zu gehen. Immer geringer und geringer wird die Zahl der Menschen werden, die, ohne durch die Geisteswissenschaft zu gehen, auch das Christentum werden verstehen können. Es wird ein immer mehr und mehr notwendiger Weg werden, um das Mysterium von Golgatha zu verstehen, denn das Mysterium von Golgatha muß man mit dem Ätherleibe verstehen. Alles andere kann man mit dem physischen Leibe verstehen. Aber zu dem Verständnis dessen, was mit dem Ätherleib verstanden werden soll, bereitet uns nur die Geisteswissenschaft vor. Daher wird entweder Geisteswissenschaft Glück haben und durchkommen, oder es wird auch das Christentum nicht weiter bekannt werden können, weil das Mysterium von Golgatha nicht wird verstanden werden können. In dieser Beziehung wird man wirklich noch recht wenig verstanden von denjenigen, die heute glauben, ja ganz auf dem rechten Wege zu sein.
Ich muß immer wieder und wieder eines erzählen: Ich habe in einer süddeutschen Stadt einmal vor vielen Jahren über die Weisheitsschätze des Christentums vorgetragen. Da waren zwei Geistliche anwesend, die kamen nach dem Vortrage zu mir und sagten: Wir waren eigentlich erstaunt darüber, daß Sie das Christentum so positiv nehmen, daß Sie das alles ganz wie es nach dem Christentum sein soll, zum Ausdrucke bringen; aber so, wie Sie das darstellen, ist es doch nur verständlich für Leute, die eine gewisse Bildung haben. Wie wir das Christentum aber vertreten, ist es für alle Menschen; deshalb ist das, was wir vertreten, das Richtige, — Ich sagte: Wissen Sie, man darf nicht urteilen danach, was einem gefällt, sondern man ist verpflichtet, nur das in sein Urteil aufzunehmen, was der Wirklichkeit entspricht. Einbilden kann sich jeder, daß das richtig ist, was er denkt. Je weniger einer in der Wirklichkeit steht, desto mehr bildet er sich meist ein, daß das Richtig ist, was er meint. Der am allerwenigsten vom Christentum weiß, der bildet sich meistens ein, er weiß das meiste davon. Also es kommt nicht darauf an, daß wir uns einbilden, was das Richtige ist, sondern wir haben wirklichkeitsgemäß zu urteilen. Und da frage ich Sie: Gehen alle Menschen heute noch zu Ihnen in die Kirche hinein? — denn das allein entscheidet. Nicht, was Sie denken über das Christentum, sondern ob Sie für alle Menschen reden, darüber entscheidet das, ob alle zu Ihnen in die Kirche gehen. — Nein, nein, sagten sie, gewiß, leider bleiben so viele draußen! - Nun ja, sagte ich, und ein Teil von denen, die draußen bleiben bei Ihnen, die waren heute bei mir herinnen, für die rede ich; so ist ja alles in Ordnung. Aber diejenigen, die eben nicht zu Ihnen hineingehen, die suchen auch einen Weg zum Mysterium von Golgatha.
Und dieser Weg muß gefunden werden. Wir sind gezwungen, unser Urteil uns diktieren zu lassen von der Wirklichkeit, von dem, was in der Wirklichkeit webt und lebt, und nicht von dem, was wir uns einbilden. Denn selbstverständlich hält jeder seine Methode für die richtige. Aber das Richtige ist nicht das, wovon wir denken, es sei richtig, was wir ausgedacht haben und von dem wir empfunden haben, es sei richtig, sondern dasjenige, was wir der Wirklichkeit ablesen. Dazu müssen wir uns aber gewöhnen, in die Wirklichkeit unterzutauchen, und die Ehrfurcht vor der Wirklichkeit, die Hingabe an die Wirklichkeit zu haben, die eben notwendig ist, um von der Wirklichkeit heraus sich seine Urteilskraft, seine Empfindung, sein Fühlen diktieren zu lassen. Das haben aber die Menschen heute verlernt. Das müssen sie wieder lernen zum Verstehen des Kleinsten und des Größten, des alltäglichen Lebens und desjenigen, was der ganzen Erdenentwickelung Sinn gibt, zum Verstehen des Mysteriums von Golgatha.
Sense of Truth
Before I come to my reflections on the lectures, we would like to present some poems in the first part of this evening. I have attempted—initially for use in eurythmic performances—to express in a kind of formal speech some ideas related to the way of thinking and the attitude of spiritual science. As I said, it was originally intended for a eurythmic performance in Dornach, and was indeed performed eurythmically at that time. It will soon be printed with my explanations in a small publication that will be part of our cycle of publications and will be available here. However, before these things are presented, I must send you a few things in advance.
Last time, I said a few words about the art of poetry in a different context. Now we must take very seriously what has been said again and again, especially during the course of this winter: that the whole impulse, if I may use the paradox, the whole spirit of our spiritual science must enter into the spiritual culture of our time and bring something special to it. Poetry is not based merely on the expression of something invented or thought, but on the expression of something in a certain form. Now, spiritual science seeks to establish a connection between human beings and the great laws of the universe, the great laws of the cosmos. In a real, true sense, the deepest impulses of spiritual science will only be understood when we grasp how extensive this search for the relationship between human beings and the great supersensible laws of the universe actually is. What we call poetry will gradually take on a new face. This is certainly still quite difficult to understand today, but it is nevertheless true. Poetry is supposed to reflect — although this is little felt today — what human beings experience together with the universe, what has been drawn out of the mysteries of the universe. But this must also flow into the poetic form. When we form certain thought images that are the reproduction of things of imaginative knowledge, we can also find the laws that relate to the position of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and the relationships between the movement of the seven planets and the movement of the twelve zodiac signs. We can also highlight certain movements and laws that relate to fewer than the seven planets, for example, those that relate only to the sun, moon, and the passage of the sun and moon through the signs of the zodiac and the like. It is not important that we sing about what is happening in the universe, but that the same thing that speaks in the great laws of the universe also speaks in the form of poetry. And so today you will encounter attempts—initial attempts, of course—in which, in the sequence of lines, in the mutual relationship of the lines to each other, and in what each line expresses, laws prevail that are the same as those that prevail in the universe. For example, you will find a poem consisting of twelve stanzas, each stanza consisting of seven lines, and the whole structure of the poem is such that what is expressed in the seven lines really corresponds to the laws of the movements of the seven planets. And the fact that there are precisely twelve stanzas and that the mood of the seven lines recurs in twelve stanzas corresponds to the laws governing the passage of the individual planets in their movements through the signs of the zodiac. So what happens out there in the cosmos, in the harmony of the spheres, so to speak, takes place in the meaning expressed in twelve seven-line stanzas. So the laws of the cosmos should also prevail in these twelve seven-line verses. You find, for example, in the verse of Capricorn, that the fourth line expresses a certain position of Mars in relation to Capricorn. But there must be such a meaning in this line that if someone is awakened from sleep and nothing else is read to them but this one line from the Capricorn stanza, the Mars line, they must be able to say, once they have acquired a feeling for it: That is the Mars line of the Capricorn stanza! Thus, every single line has a meaning. So it is not an external feature, but is built up internally. That is what matters.
Similarly, in the short poem, which has four-line stanzas, the arrangement is such that certain movements express cosmic processes. Of the twelve-stanza attempts, one is meant seriously, while the other, as you will see when it is recited to you later, is a true satire. Now, one might very easily think that it is inappropriate to treat “sacred things” satirically, as they say. But really, my dear friends, if one wants to make progress in the realm of spiritual worldview, then a basic requirement is that one does not forget how to laugh at those things in the world that must be laughed at when judged correctly. A lady once told me about a gentleman who was always in the mood to “look up to the great revelations of the universe.” He never spoke of other people as “masters,” and, forgive me, but she added that he always had “a face down to his stomach” — she was not German, the lady in question — meaning that he always wore a tragically elongated expression. When I heard the lady say that this gentleman always had such a tragically elongated face, I was reminded of an extremely interesting experience I had in Vienna a long time ago. There was a man living in Vienna who was trying in every way to settle into the intellectual life there. He was Oskar Simony, professor of physics and mathematics at the Vienna University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, who tragically died much later, only a short time ago. I met him once—I remember it as if it were yesterday—in Salesianergasse, on Landstraße in Vienna. I knew him by sight, but I had never spoken to him. He didn't know me at all; we just passed each other like two people walking down the sidewalk. At the time, I was a young man just starting out in life, a young buck of 26 or 27. Well, Oskar Simony looked at me, stopped—I'm just telling you the facts—and started a conversation with me about all kinds of things related to intellectual science. He then took me to his home and gave me his latest publication on an extension of the four types of arithmetic, which he had published in the old Academy of Sciences at the time. It was just at that time when the Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf, together with Archduke Johann, who then disappeared as Johann Orth, as you may know, were preoccupied with exposing a medium and such things in general. Therefore, there was a lot of talk about such things in Vienna at the time, and Oskar Simony was also very scientifically involved in these matters. He wrote a book about tying a knot in a ring-shaped closed ribbon, which is very interesting. Well, while we were talking, he paused and said, “Oh, when you deal with these things, you really need a good sense of humor!” — And indeed, it is necessary, especially when one delves into the depths of spiritual science, not to lose one's sense of humor, in other words, not to feel constantly obliged to wear a tragically prolonged face. And I am even convinced that Oskar Simony had lost his sense of humor in the last period of his life, before he came to such a tragic end.
Now there is ample opportunity to develop humor, especially within our spiritual movement. For nothing so much as such spiritual movements attract caricatures of the pursuit of the spiritual. I don't mean people, I mean aspirations. What can't be done under the banner of spiritual aspiration, or let's say, of belonging to a movement that makes spiritual aspiration its own! That is what makes it so difficult to represent such an intellectual movement before the world. In itself, there was nothing wrong with the fact that for a time—and there is still nothing wrong with it today—some ladies wore the kind of clothing I once had to find for the first scene of the performance of the first Mystery Drama, because modern dresses could not be worn on stage. Then ladies made such dresses. That was worthy of all recognition, of course, but that also degenerated, and I need not go into that further, for it is well known how these things degenerated, how people then believed that short hair was absolutely necessary with such clothing. Yes, one could even hear that—which only happened in isolated cases—ladies with very short hair and gentlemen with quite long hair were walking around. But those were only exceptions. In any case, this led to me often being asked at public lectures whether it was part of Theosophy to have one's hair cut. Well, that is an outward appearance; but even with inner matters, all sorts of nonsense has been spread in our circles, against which we must take a firm stand. What is not said that I am supposed to have said, what is not said that is supposed to be true, and so on! Sometimes the things that are said do not appear to be anything other than an attempt by the person saying them to make themselves seem important, to put it mildly. So there are excesses that make it difficult to represent our movement to those whose laughter muscles are particularly prone to kicking in when they hear something they do not understand. They laugh at what is serious and meaningful. But we don't need to give them any further cause to laugh by caricaturing the pursuit of spiritual things, as if that gave them a certain right to laugh.
Such things led me to write a piece of poetry as satire, which was then presented in eurythmy, and which I will also recite today. This satire with the twelve zodiac moods, in which the planets are also used, but used, I would say, to show a little of the dark side of spiritual science — not spiritual science itself, which has no dark side, but, let us say, of the spiritual science appendage. These attempts – modest attempts, as I said – are made to show how the felt laws of the cosmos will give rise to real formal laws of poetry for the future. These poems are to be recited in connection with some by Robert Hamerling, which will be inserted between them, and we will begin with that today before moving on to our lecture review. So you must bear in mind when considering the poems that they were intended for eurythmic performance; they will be recited today without eurythmy, but that does not matter.
[Program for the subsequent recitation by Dr. Steiner: Poems by Robert Hamerling: “O, let me sing alone ...”, “Son and heir of eternity ...”, “Between heaven and earth”, “Nighttime stirrings”, “Spirits of the night”, “Do not rebuke the soft sounds ...”, “Venice”, “Song of life”, — harmonium playing — “The eagle”. — “Planet Dance,” “Pentecost Saying” (“Where Sensory Knowledge Ends ...”), “Twelve Moods” by Rudolf Steiner, — Harmonium: The Heavens Praise — “Lost Sounds” and “Diamonds” by Robert Hamerling, “The Song of Initiation,” satire by Rudolf Steiner.]
I would like to start from what has already been the basis of our reflections on several occasions. What we learn through spiritual science should not live in our souls in such a way that, once we have studied geography, botany, political science, or the like, we also know spiritual science and then neatly separate the rest of our lives from it. Rather, spiritual science should provide impulses and life forces that truly pour into our perception of the reality that surrounds us. Not only must this be so for the sake of spiritual science itself, but spiritual science really has the task of intervening in the present spiritual life, so that many things in relation to which the present spiritual life is going into a dead end may be stimulated again, and many things that are sick in the present spiritual life may become healthy. And we have heard that one thing must permeate our entire soul life if we want to be truly involved in spiritual science: that is truthfulness! We must be so imbued with truthfulness that, if we want to pursue spiritual science, we do not deviate from this truthfulness in our entire view of life. But today we are faced with a view of life that is really not imbued with truthfulness in its judgment and attitude.
Let us start with an event that we have had to experience in recent days. It is also untruthfulness that we think far too little about such events, that we consider them far too little in connection with the whole of life. You may have read about what, apart from the terrible, great, gigantic upheavals that are taking place today, has happened in a small circle in recent days, shaking the fate of a single human being; today, everything that happens outside the big circle is a small circle. A painter, who was apparently a good painter, as was evident from the trial, painted pictures and wrote on them: Böcklin, Uhde, Menzel, Spitzweg, and similar famous names. He painted many such pictures, which were sold to people who wanted to buy a Böcklin, a Lenbach, or a Menzel. But it was Mr. Lehmann who had painted them. However, Mr. Lehmann was a good painter, so everyone bought them thinking they were genuine Menzels, Uhdes, Böcklins, and so on. Now he was put on trial. It is, of course, a clear case of fraud. The experts found that the fraud was all the greater because he was a good painter and could really do it so well that you couldn't tell the difference between his pictures and those painted by the famous artists in question, and he was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud.
I will now tell you the counter-image to this, a counter-image that can be placed alongside this event. Goethe always had the method of contrasting image and counter-image. This is, of course, not as convenient as ordinary thinking, but it clarifies the true reality more. When you come to Brussels, you will find the Wiertz Museum. There are paintings by the artist Wiertz, and I do not believe that there is anyone who would not be utterly astonished by the peculiarity of Wiertz's paintings. They are certainly not painted in the same way as others paint, but they have an extraordinarily unique style, and are sometimes such that even the stiff-necked philistine will naturally find them crazy. Well, that may not always be a yardstick, but in any case there are some among them that can move you deeply. Wiertz was born at the beginning of the 19th century into a poor family, was a poor fellow, and grew up a poor fellow; but one day, as if by an epiphany, the thought came to him—and now, I would say, a real calling combined with extraordinary vanity—things can come together—he had to become a painter, greater than Rubens, a successor to Rubens, he had to surpass Rubens; he had to become a super-Rubens. Today, in the post-Nietzsche era, one could also say “super-Rubens.” So he wanted to become a super-Rubens; but of course he had talent. He got a scholarship and was able to go to Rome to see Italian painting. And then he painted a picture, which was terribly large, huge: a scene from the Trojan War. But it was really much better than the average pictures in exhibitions. Well, he submitted it to the Louvre Commission in Paris. They accepted it, but they hung it in such a way that it looked as if they hadn't accepted it. You know, it's a common practice of commissions that accept paintings for exhibitions to hang them in such a way that they look as if they weren't there. Because, of course, it's very important that you can see a picture. If you can't see it because it's lit in such a way that you can't see it, then it might as well not be there. And since Wiertz was not exactly lacking in vanity alongside his great talent, this bothered him terribly. He became quite wild about Paris, returned to Brussels, and never again wrote the name “Paris” without drawing a lightning bolt through it! Well, he also received several other awards that did not particularly please him. For example, he once received a bronze medal from the king for some achievement. He said: “I have no gold, I have no silver, but I don't need bronze either!” And he remained wild. He wanted to try again with the Louvre Commission. In 1840, he sent two paintings to an exhibition. He had painted one himself, and it was signed “Wiertz.” The other, however, came to him in a different way. An acquaintance of his had a recognized genuine, important Rubens. Wiertz quickly scratched out the name Rubens and wrote Wiertz underneath, then sent two “Wiertz” to Paris. People looked at them: two “Wiertz”? Nothing! They weren't exhibited, they were two pieces of junk! But one of them was a genuine Rubens, it was an excellent Rubens! Well, that's how he got his revenge. He spread the word everywhere, of course, and it caused quite a stir at the time.
That's the counterpart to the story I told you earlier. Now just think about how much untruth there is in the assessment of works of art today! Who actually buys works of art? You buy names! Because it's quite clear that if someone today painted something as good as Leonardo painted — it could well be — you would of course buy Leonardo and not the other. There have been other painters, as even a newspaper reports today, who specialized in painting old masters because they couldn't sell their own work; but when they signed their paintings Leonardo or Michelangelo or something like that, they could sell them. But they were already dead when people realized this, so they couldn't lock them up for four years! Such events must be judged above all in the light of the untruthfulness of our circumstances. Lehmann would not have sold a single one of his paintings if he had written “Lehmann” on them; but they would have been just as good as they are. These things are truly shocking. It is necessary to engage with these issues intellectually, because they are just examples of things that occur again and again in everyday life today in other areas and with other things, and which show how necessary it is in our time to embrace truthfulness, but also a commitment to truthfulness, a striving for truthfulness. Now, striving for truthfulness is not at all achievable without the good will to deal with things, to respond to things, not just to rush over them and not care about them. That is what it is all about, really caring about what is happening around us and trying to understand things a little bit in their depths. If. If, I would say, one does not try this as an exercise, to observe reality as reality in its depths, then one cannot get very far in grasping the impulses that lie in spiritual science; for spiritual science arose from true reality, and we must make ourselves akin to the impulse of true reality if we want to understand spiritual science.
For those who know the facts, it is quite understandable that those who hold to the truth today, as is very often the case with the truth, cannot come to an understanding of spiritual science, just as it is self-evident that spiritual scientific impulses must enter into our spiritual life of the present and the near future. It is really the case that today, in everything that comes before our eyes, I would say we read superficially; not only what we read, but we also read life superficially, we view events superficially, we skim over them. I would like to draw your attention to something that can only be understood if one is willing to engage a little with spiritual scientific facts. Anyone who follows the development of our times today will make an astonishing discovery if they pay attention to what the human soul immediately takes in and to what it takes in in such a way that it retains it and makes it effective. In our time, most people who read at all read newspapers. Newspapers are creatures of the day, and most people think that what goes into the soul comes out again just as it went in, and they think that this can console them for the superficiality and untruthfulness of our journalism, which really exceeds everything, as we shall describe. But the matter is different from what is commonly believed. For most people today, even those who read books, the content of a book is much less engraved on the soul, even if it remains in the memory, than the content of newspaper reading, even though the newspaper is only a creature of the day. It is precisely this transience of newspaper material, which is absorbed and then discarded, and which is not imprinted on the memory but is quickly forgotten—one must forget quickly—that it becomes imprinted infinitely deeply in the subconscious. I have already mentioned how quickly one must forget some newspapers. We were down in Istria once, near Pirano, and the Piccolo della Sera appeared. Now, that was a paper that came out every evening, and once it had a terribly sensational article, I don't remember what it was about, but it was three columns long, the whole front page. But there was still a little space on the same page; there the same article was denied, it said that it was based on a mistake! That's something you don't always see, that an article is refuted on the same page, isn't it! But that's how asymptotically, how gradually, the big-city newspaper in particular is moving toward this point.
It is important to know that what we quickly absorb and quickly forget is in fact deeply imprinted in the subconscious part of our soul, and is particularly effective as a force that continues to have an effect over time. It therefore continues to have an effect in what is the general spirit of the age, the Ahrimanic spirit of the age; that is where it has an effect. So that good books written today have much, much less effect than newspaper articles. Precisely that which is carefully absorbed and has an effect on the ego, which is imprinted on the memory from the ego, has even less effect than what is fleetingly absorbed as newspaper material. But I beg you, do not draw the conclusion from this that you should not read newspapers, but accept this as your karma. For it must not, of course, be understood as meaning that we should now be wary of reading any line in the newspaper. We must understand this as the karma of the times and be clear that we must develop precisely that side of our nature which is capable of sensing whether there is any content, any spiritual struggle, or merely phraseology. That is what we would like to see: that a feeling for the way in which spiritual achievement comes about might arise again. For that is where we are so poor today. We have no real feeling for something that is well written and something that is badly written. We treat the same content with the same indifference when it is well written as when it is poorly written. We have lost this ability to distinguish. How many people today can tell the difference between a page by Herman Grimm and a page by Eucken, Köhler, or Simmel? I could name many!
Who can distinguish that all the culture of Central and Western Europe lives on a page by Herman Grimm in the way he constructs sentences, the way he forms a sentence, and that when we surrender ourselves to this sentence structure, we gain a connection with what is truly intellectually at work in the world, whereas with the usual scholarly chatter we gain no connection whatsoever other than the eccentricities of the gentlemen in question or—as we can say today—the ladies. I have met scholars with whom I have spoken about Herman Grimm who were actually able to compare him to Richard M. Meyer or someone like that, because they said that with Richard M. Meyer—they always said “M.”; he never wrote out the “M.” — I don't know why he was embarrassed — and that's how people spoke — you find clear, decisive, strictly methodical research; the scholars did not call Herman Grimm a worker in the field of science, but a stroller. It was customary to say that he was a stroller in the field of science because he had too few comments. Who today has a sense that Herman Grimm's style, quite apart from what is written, in the way it is presented, encompasses the whole of European culture up to the end of the 19th century? That is what we must achieve: a sense of style, a true appreciation of art in this field too, because that is a great school of truthfulness, whereas superficial reading, which focuses only on content and seeks only information, is a school of untruthfulness and lies. And in this regard, just feel the present, and you will see how much work needs to be done so that people learn to acquire a sense of style and style again. Certainly, one must read the newspapers today; but one should also get the feeling that something is pinching and tugging at you and that you want to crawl up the walls because of the style that has gradually become established there, which cannot be any different. You have to come to that, you have to go along with it. But there are countless examples of how much this has been lost, and how little people today are inclined, I would say, to think things through to their core.
Really not, in order to go into anything that, I would say, is based on national prejudices or sympathy or antipathy—one must understand every point of view and be able to see things from every point of view—but quite apart from that, I would like to mention that a book was published a few months ago that is not widely available in Germany, understandably so. This book is called “J'accuse, by a German,” has been translated into all languages, including German, and has been distributed in hundreds of thousands of copies around the world. Now, really, I don't want to talk about the fact that this book “J'accuse” paints a completely black picture of Germany's relationship to the war and Austria's relationship to this war; I don't want to talk about that, everyone is entitled to their point of view. In this case, it is not important that everything is described in the worst possible light, that all the blame is placed on the Central European powers and that everyone else is completely exonerated, not only exonerated, but even portrayed as if they were purer than pure. I really do not want to talk about that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that is not the point. However, this book has been widely read, not only by people who have been corrupted by reading newspapers and read nothing else, but, strangely enough, also by people who are considered enlightened. This has been observed.
Now this book is the worst kind of back-alley literature imaginable, quite apart from its point of view. Anyone who simply reads the book as it is will find it to be backwater literature in terms of form and sentence structure, i.e., artistically shameful literature beyond measure. I want to consider the artistic aspect here, leaving aside all points of view, because I can very well understand the opposite point of view or any point of view. But the infinitely sad thing is that one did not have the feeling that someone who writes so shamefully badly in terms of sentence structure and thinking, in terms of the formation of thought sequences, could be considered suitable for anything other than those readers who get their literature not through the front door but through the back alleys. I wouldn't say that today, but the matter was brought up again the day before yesterday in an article that appeared in the Vossische Zeitung, the old “Aunt Voss.” Well, the “Aunt Voss” has now completely abandoned its old auntie character and has become a modern newspaper. An article by a private lecturer, Dr. Fr. Oppenheimer, deals with this book and a rather successful counter-article that appeared about it, AntiJ'accuse; but this article by Dr. Fr. Oppenheimer in the Vossische Zeitung begins in a strange way. He writes that he was made aware of this book by someone who belongs to the neutral countries, whom he has always considered one of the most distinguished and most misunderstood writers of the present day. He then gives his impressions of the book itself. He does mention in part how poorly written the book is—and that is above all what should be emphasized here—but I was actually somewhat curious to see whether one thought might lead to another, for it seemed to me that Oppenheimer's thoughts and feelings about the book should have led to something else: So I was a little taken aback when I considered him a great man who subsequently recommended such a scandalous book to me as something special. But this consistency is not there.
Now, I am not saying this to judge the individual case, but rather to say that this is typical, really typical. People skim over the facts. Is this not a good reason to ask oneself: What did my judgment mean if I considered someone to be important who then tries to promote such a book to me as something significant? Isn't that something that must necessarily lead to some self-knowledge? But drawing conclusions from the things that are so terribly apparent to us right now does not seem to be the spiritual task of many people at present! We must seek the basic character, the basic structure of the spiritual life of our present age in such typical examples. One must really be able to feel how the fundamental deficiencies of our time are expressed in such things, and one must not simply pass over these things as if they were nothing. These things are immensely significant, for they show in miniature what I showed you in the larger picture with the example that many today believe themselves to be very good Christians, even though they are not even Turks. Just remember how I showed you this myself in a short lecture from the Koran, how much more is actually believed about Jesus by every Turk who knows his Koran than modern pastors often believe and profess. It is just that it is in a different field, the field where the greatness of existence appears before our soul. But the same mistakes, the same, I would say, structure of mistakes, confront us in everyday life in this terrible superficiality that is identical with the untruthfulness of everyday life today. We must overcome this if all talk about spiritual science is not to be a mere waste of time for the present age. It is essential that it is not a waste of time!
We must recognize that, especially in the 19th century and in the 20th century so far, we have been caught up in a spiritual development that has influenced modern thinking and feeling from two sides, so that we have had two currents, I would say, left and right, between which we have been caught. And we must get out of this. I have used various reflections this winter to draw attention to the deeper foundations that have led to what is thought and felt today. Indeed, one can point to a wide variety of symptoms that show what prevails today, what is developing today. I have shown this to you by pointing out various occult movements that are active in societies. I have pointed out to you how a large part of modern thinking, the direction of thinking, the attitude of thinking, goes back to the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean period, how a spirit set the tone there, lived in what Bacon achieved, what Shakespeare achieved, what even Jakob Böhme achieved. It had to come to this. But today we are also at the point where what was rightly initiated and inaugurated at the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean period must be overcome. And that is precisely what I wanted to show in this book, The Mystery of Man, which has now been published. On the one hand, I wanted to show the spiritual currents into which the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch has led, particularly in Central Europe, and how the way out, specifically the spiritual-scientific way out, must be sought. It will become apparent whether what is written in this book, which has been written with heart and soul, sometimes taking two days to write a single sentence that takes up a quarter of a page in order to be able to justify every word and every turn of phrase, can be read, or whether it will be read as poorly as previous books have been read.
You see, my dear friends, all these considerations we have made tend toward the conclusion that we must find in our souls the elements, the elements of power, to take up the mystery of Golgotha in a new way. But this mystery of Golgotha can only be understood by those who do not seek understanding with the forces of the physical body, but who can understand with that which is independent of the physical body. Now you will say: Then only those who have attained this understanding through esoteric development could understand the mystery of Golgotha, the real source of life in Christianity. No, that is not the case. Until now, it was entirely possible for people without spiritual science to experience this freedom of the soul from the physical body, which was necessary to understand the mystery of Golgotha. However, fewer and fewer people understood it, and more and more people rebelled against true understanding. Consider just one symptom of this: in earlier centuries, people also read the four Gospels. They sought the power that lies in the Gospels and approached a feeling-based, soul-based understanding of the mystery of Golgotha. Then came the people of the 19th century, who were naturally more intelligent than all those who had gone before them, and they found that these four Gospels contradicted each other! How could the intellect fail to see that they contradicted each other? Enormous effort was expended in finding all the contradictions, and enormous effort was expended in searching out a core in which all agreed. Not much came of it, but it made a lot of great men in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Yes, should the people of earlier centuries really not have seen that the Gospels contradict each other? Were they really all so foolish as not to see that the Gospel of Matthew says something different from the Gospel of John? Or perhaps the people of the 19th century simply did not realize that the people of earlier times had a different understanding, seeking to understand with a completely different soul organ? Decide for yourself what you have learned from spiritual science!
But the time is past when people can still understand the mystery of Golgotha and Christianity without going through spiritual science. The number of people who can understand Christianity without going through spiritual science will become fewer and fewer. It will become an increasingly necessary path to understanding the mystery of Golgotha, because the mystery of Golgotha must be understood with the etheric body. Everything else can be understood with the physical body. But only spiritual science can prepare us to understand what is to be understood with the etheric body. Therefore, either spiritual science will be fortunate and prevail, or Christianity will not be able to become more widely known, because the mystery of Golgotha will not be understood. In this respect, those who today believe that they are on the right path really understand very little.
I must tell this story again and again: Many years ago, in a city in southern Germany, I gave a lecture on the treasures of wisdom in Christianity. Two clergymen were present who came up to me after the lecture and said: We were actually astonished that you take Christianity so positively, that you express everything exactly as it should be according to Christianity; but the way you present it is only understandable to people who have a certain education. But the way we represent Christianity is for all people; therefore, what we represent is right.” I said, ”You know, one must not judge according to what one likes, but one is obliged to include in one's judgment only what corresponds to reality. Everyone can imagine that what they think is right. The less someone is grounded in reality, the more they usually imagine that what they think is right. Those who know the least about Christianity usually imagine that they know the most about it. So it is not important that we imagine what is right, but that we judge according to reality. And so I ask you: Do all people still go to your church today? — because that alone is what matters. It is not what you think about Christianity, but whether you speak for all people that matters, and that is determined by whether everyone goes to your church. — No, no, they said, certainly, unfortunately so many remain outside! “Well, yes,” I said, ”and some of those who stay outside with you were here with me today, and I speak for them; so everything is all right. But those who do not come to you are also seeking a way to the mystery of Golgotha.”
And this way must be found. We are forced to let our judgment be dictated by reality, by what weaves and lives in reality, and not by what we imagine. For it goes without saying that everyone considers their own method to be the right one. But what is right is not what we think is right, what we have thought up and felt to be right, but what we read from reality. To do this, however, we must accustom ourselves to immersing ourselves in reality and to having the reverence for reality, the devotion to reality that is necessary in order to allow our power of judgment, our perception, our feelings to be dictated by reality. But people today have forgotten how to do this. They must learn it again in order to understand the smallest and the greatest, everyday life and that which gives meaning to the entire evolution of the earth, in order to understand the mystery of Golgotha.