The Riddle of Humanity
GA 170
30 July 1916, Dornach
Lecture II
Today I would like to begin by considering a simple fact of which everyone is aware. If we cast an understanding and observant eye over the variety of natural occurrences, we will notice that they seem to fall into two very different and distinct realms: one realm which manifests the greatest kind of regularity and order, and another realm of extensive disorder, irregularity and virtually impenetrable interconnections. This, at any rate, is how we experience them. Even though there is a sharp dividing-line between these two realms, our normal natural sciences do not distinguish clearly between them. On the one hand we have all the things that happen with the regularity with which the sun rises and sets each morning and evening, and with which the stars rise and set, and with which all the other things associated with the rising and setting of the sun occur—such as the plants, which regularly send forth their growing shoots in the spring, develop through the summer, then fade away and disappear in autumn. And the realm of nature presents us with many other things in which we can see a similarly great degree of regularity and order.
But there is another realm of nature, one which cannot be experienced in the same way. One cannot anticipate storms in the way one can anticipate the sunrise and sunset each morning and evening, for storms do not occur with that kind of regularity. We can say that the sun will occupy a certain position in the heavens at ten o'clock tomorrow morning, but we cannot say that we will see a certain cloud formation in a certain position, let alone say anything about how the clouds will look. Nor can we predict, in the way we can predict the quarters of the moon, that, here in our building in Dornach, we are going to be surprised by a storm or shower at some particular time. It is possible to calculate eclipses of the sun and moon that will happen centuries hence quite accurately, but the occurrence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions cannot be predicted with the same degree of certainty.
You see here two distinct realms of nature, one that manifests regularities our reason can grasp, and the other whose manifestations are irregular and cannot be experienced in the same way. Great regularity and extreme unpredictability are intertwined in what we call nature as a whole. I would like to describe the overall impression that nature makes on us at a given instant as a mixture of the orderly procession of regular events with those other events, the ones that can take us by surprise, even though they come again and again with at least a certain degree of consistency.
Now, there is a profound truth that we have considered from many points of view in the course of our studies here, the truth that man is a microcosm—that man mirrors the macrocosm and that everything that is to be found at large in the macrocosm can be rediscovered in some form in mankind. So we would expect to find these two spheres of nature expressed in some human form, one which exhibits great order, the other which exhibits a pronounced lack of order. Naturally, in a human life these would be expressed very differently from the way they are expressed out there in nature. Nevertheless, that twofold division of nature into order and irregularity should remind us of something in man. Now, consider the typical example I tried to present to you yesterday.
That typical individuality was well able to think logically. When it was a matter of logical thinking, he could reckon, pass judgements and regulate his life with a degree of order, overseeing it and planning and acting accordingly. In other words, he had access to everything that regularity can contribute to the functioning of our understanding, our reason, our capacity for experience and our will-impulses. But, alongside these, this person also lived another life, a life that was expressed in those two works I described to you. From the little I have told you about the content of these books you can well imagine how stormy a life this was, how erratic when compared with what human reason has to offer. There were storms in the depths of that soul, profound storms, and these storms were lived out in the way we described yesterday. Such things truly do happen in the way thunderstorms and outbursts of wind and weather play into the regular procession of sun and moon, into the orderly succession of sprouting, fading away and dying in the plant world. Into all that develops out of the human head and the regular course of the human heart come the storms we experience as waking dreams or as lightning flashes of genius. These flash through the soul and discharge themselves like storms. But be in no doubt about it, every human soul has the tendency to experience the very same things that Otto Weininger experienced in such an extreme, radically paradoxical fashion. They are there in the depths of every human soul. Ordinary people who are not so disposed, as Weininger was, to experience their own genius, express it through their dreams—but always as dreams. Everyone dreams and, in the final analysis, dreams are things that bubble up out of the depths of the astral realm. They make their appearance at times when the astral body is being reflected in the etheric body. Every human being possesses a day-to-day awareness that a man like Weininger dismisses as the pedantic consciousness of a philistine, and every human being possess that other consciousness, the one that bubbles up in dreams.
One should not say, you see, that these dreams and this world of dreams are only present at night when one knows one is dreaming or has been dreaming. For a human being is constantly dreaming. Real dreams, or what one calls real dreams, are only the results of a temporary view of the continuous stream of dreams. Actually, however, one is continuously dreaming. All of you seated here are dreaming. Alongside the thoughts expressed in this lecture which, I trust, are living in you, you are all dreaming. In the depths of your souls you are all dreaming. And the only thing that distinguishes the dreams you have now from the ones you have at night is that at the moment there are other thoughts that are more conscious and stronger, and which I would think outweigh the dreams in most cases. But when waking consciousness has been suppressed and, simultaneously, sleep is interrupted, then what is now being dreamed unconsciously can emerge for a while. That is when a conscious dream appears. The life of dreams, however, proceeds without any interruption.
The contrast in human nature between the regularity of normal thinking and the lack of it in dreams is really of this nature. A person is spiritually ill if he does not have access to the regularity of normal thinking, to the kind of regularity which governs the appearance of the sun at its appointed time. A person must be able to apply the canons of reason and distinguish one event from another. But alongside his healthy waking consciousness a person also has, living in the depths of his soul, this other realm that I have described as stormy and irregular.
The forces upon which waking consciousness is based really do mirror the astronomical pathway of the stars across the heavens. If the pathway of the stars were not a part of us, we would have no waking consciousness. But, as you can see from remarks I made in the lecture cycle, The Spiritual Guidance of Man and of Humanity, the very same external forces that can be observed at play in wind and weather, in storm and earthquake, are also at work in the depths of the human soul and they are reflected in the unconscious and half-conscious aspects of human life. In this respect, a human being is truly a microcosm in which the macrocosm is repeated.
These days, there is a restricted awareness of such things, for we live in an age when humanity has been called upon to restrict itself more and more to the physical plane—to become materialistic. The cultivation of an understanding and a rationality divorced of spirituality is simply a symptom of this. But, as we have often explained here, humanity will also proceed beyond this age. And the spiritual-scientific movement should be preparing the manifestations of the spirit for the time to come.
Men are little aware that the spiritual world is connected with what they pursue here, with the events and facts of earthly existence. But mankind has not always lived in the spirit-less style of today. Human institutions have not always taken so little account of the influences of the spiritual world on the physical world. Think of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. I once described to you how he wanted to set about establishing institutions here on the physical plane. The story is symbolic, but a significant fact lies behind the symbolism. In order to find out how the eras of history would unfold, he consulted the nymph, Egeria, whose knowledge was derived from the spiritual world. Thereafter, he designated the era of Romulus as the first, his own as the second, and five others that would follow his, making a series of seven. There is something remarkable in this story about a king of Rome: the sevenfold order he constructs is the same as the order on which the seven members of our organism are based. In earlier times there was a tendency for physical life to be arranged so that its institutions reflected the demands of the spiritual world—so that they in some way reflected what happened in the spiritual worlds. Today, men take no account of this.
I have often mentioned how people have lost their sense of piety as regards establishing the time of the Easter festival, the festival of the Easter season. Today there are even some who want to set a fixed day for Easter Sunday, rather than following the present custom of determining the festival in accordance with the course of the stars. For it would simplify our account books if Easter were always to be, say, the first Sunday in April. Then one would no longer have to set up the books for a different Easter each year and it would be easier to close the accounts for the year. This is simply one crass example from among the countless examples that could be mentioned. It shows how little sense the men of today have for arranging their earthly institutions so that they will reflect what is happening in the spiritual worlds and in the stars. But it was not always so. There have been times when there was a profound awareness that a man's own life and the life he shares with other men should be an earthly reflection of what is happening in the spiritual worlds and is expressed in the stars. These were earlier ages, when atavistic clairvoyance was still present.
Let us look at an example from the ancient Hebrews. Their religious year, and thus the year that really mattered, was a moon year of 354 3/8 days. Now that is somewhat shorter than a sun year. So if one reckons in moon years, some days will be lost because the moon year does not entirely fill out a sun year. After a certain time, more and more days will have been left out. Then a balance would need to be established again. But the ancient Hebrews had a very special way of creating a balance between sun years and moon years. I will only go into this method briefly, since what we need today is to let the whole sense and spirit of the matter pass before our souls, not the particular details. Ancient Hebrew tradition recognised a so-called ‘Jubilee Year’. This was a year of universal conciliation and reconciliation. It was celebrated after 49 sun years, which add up to slightly more than 50 moon years. In such a year of reconciliation, people forgave one another for various things for which they held each other to be to blame: those who were debtors could be, or should be, released from their debts, property should be returned to those who had lost it, and such like. It was a year for balancing things out, for reconciling the 7 x 7 sun years with fifty moon years-actually 50 1/2 moon years, but one can call it 50 because this year lasted for a while and it furnished the starting point for one's reckoning. Thus, a Jubilee Period lasted 50 x 354 3/8 days; during this period one accumulated all the various things that would need balancing out.-If one takes into consideration that this Jubilee Year was a time for reconciling 49 (which equals 7 x 7) sun years with 50 moon years, one can say that it is ordered in accordance with the number 7. Therefore the institution of the Jubilee Year was based on a certain awareness of the significance of seven-foldness.
Today we want to make the spirit of the thing present for our souls, so we should give special heed to the following. We want to see what it would have been like to live in the ancient Hebrew times when one said: we experience the course of the days, one following after the other. After 354 days, a new year begins. And after experiencing 49 or 50, respectively,—years in a row, then begins a special festive year for humanity. And now just imagine how it would have been if, accompanying everything that people lived through, there was the awareness that it is 7, 8, or 9, years since the Jubilee Year, and that one would have to wait a certain number of years for the next Jubilee Year. Nor is this set up arbitrarily; it is established on the basis of an occult division according to certain numbers.
You need have no doubts that those who were living 24 years after a Jubilee Year would be reckoning back 24 years to the last Jubilee Year and 26 years forward to the next one. That gives you some degree of access to those times. In other words, the human souls here on earth were occupied with something that involved them in a particular numerical relationship, and this numerical order affected the way they felt things-this numerical order flowed through their souls in an uninterrupted stream. In the course of thousands of years, human souls became accustomed to living with what I have just characterised. And as you know, experiences that are repeated again and again are imprinted on life. They become part of the life that shapes the soul and gives it its configuration. Thus, investigating the ancient Hebrews, one discovers an awareness for a particular temporal order living in their souls, a particular temporal configuration which expressed itself in their awareness of the passage from one Jubilee Year to the next Jubilee Year. This gave every single day a special relationship to the passage of time. The soul had become accustomed to an order that was based, on the one hand, on 354, and on the other hand, on 49 (7 x 7)—or, respectively, 50. And this accompanied the soul wherever it went.
This is comparable to the way it is necessary to learn in one's youth the calculations that one will need to use later in life; once learned, they become a possession. A certain configuration has been established in the soul. We want to take note of that as we now move on to another consideration.
According to the calculations of today's astronomy, Mercury circles the Sun much more rapidly than the Earth does, so that if we refer to the revolutions of Mercury, we obtain a picture of the Earth slowly moving about the Sun while Mercury moves quickly. Now keep the orbit of Mercury in mind. We want to take 354 of these—in fact, we can take 354 3/8 of them; and then we want to multiply yet again by 49 or, respectively, by 50. Simply picture these numbers. If you think of one orbit of Mercury as a kind of celestial day, then 354 of these Mercury orbits would be a kind of Moon year on the planet Mercury. Then take 49 or 50 of these: that would be one celestial Jubilee Year. Naturally, one celestial Jubilee Year is much longer than an earthly Jubilee Year, but of course it is calculated with reference to Mercury.
Thus we are calculating a Jubilee Year that is based on Mercury, just as the ancient Hebrews calculated a Jubilee Year based on Moon and, respectively, on Earth. For 354 3/8 times they experienced one Earth day after the other. One year had passed. That, multiplied by 7 x 7 (49 or 50), made up one of the ancient Hebrews' Jubilee Years. Corresponding to this would be 354 3/8 Mercury orbits multiplied by 50 (or 49). Naturally, that is an entirely different expanse of time, an entirely different expanse of time from an Earth year, although it is based on the same numbers.
Now let see how yet another number is determined. Now we take Jupiter. Jupiter is much slower, it moves much more slowly. It takes twelve years to go around the Sun once. Mercury moves much more quickly than the Earth, Jupiter much more slowly. Now we will take Jupiter and consider one of these years for Jupiter. Actually, it would be a Jupiter year, but because Jupiter is in the heavens where we can think on a very large scale, we look upon that as one Jupiter day. We will let one of the periods in which Jupiter circles the Sun correspond to one of our Earth days. Then 354 3/8 of these days would add up to a large Jupiter year of the kind based on the Moon: one large Jupiter year. We will not multiply it by 7 x 7, but only once, because it lasts so long. Using the same method, then, we have calculated one Jubilee Year for Mercury, and one for Jupiter—just a single, great year.
Then we consider yet another planet, one not known to the ancient Hebrews. They were, however, aware of its sphere, which they thought of as being beyond the planets; they thought of it as the crystal sphere that formed the vault of the heavens. Much later it was discovered that one could speak of Uranus as being there. But we can consider Uranus, even though it was discovered much later. The only difference is that the ancient Hebrews thought of a sphere in the place where Uranus was later located. We will take 49 (or 50) orbits of Uranus, which moves very slowly.—And now we will compare all of this with Earth years.
Each of these would correspond to a definite number of Earth years, would it not? Thus, 354 3/8 x 50 revolutions of Mercury around the Sun would correspond to a certain period of Earth years. One great Jupiter year, consisting of 354 3/8 orbits, would correspond to another period of Earth years. And 49 (50) orbits of Uranus would give us yet another period of Earth years.
The extraordinary thing is that each of these yields the same number of Earth years. One obtains a given number of Earth years if one takes 50 (49) orbits of Uranus. One obtains the same number if one takes 354 3/8 orbits of Jupiter, or 50 x 354 3/8 of the orbits of Mercury: each yields that particular span of Earth years. In the case of Uranus, you multiply by 50, with Jupiter, you multiply by 354 3/8, and with Mercury, by 50 x 354 3/8—in each case you obtain the period I have already called a celestial Jubilee4For the sake of clarity, the exact astronomical calculations for the three cases discussed are shown here (one Sun-year / 365.26 days):
Cosmic Jubilee Year:
Mercury-orbit, 87.97 days x 354 3/8 x 49 = 4,182 years
Jupiter Year:
Jupiter-orbit, (11.86 years = 4,332.59 days)
4,332.59 days x 354 3/8 = 4,203 years
Uranus:
Uranus-orbit, (84.01 years = 30,688.39 days)
30,688.39 days x 49 = 4,117 years
x 50 = 4,201 years Year based on Mercury. All three planets give us the same number.
And how did the ancient Hebrews experience this number? The number is 4182. (Naturally, there are certain irregularities which play into this and which we are ignoring today.) In each of the three cases the number comes out at 4182. One has to say that this is approximate, but you can investigate it exactly, for the irregularities are balanced-out by compensating movements: it comes to 4182 Earth years! And what would an ancient Hebrew have had to say about this? He could say, ‘Here on Earth your soul experiences 354 3/8 x 50 days in each Jubilee Year, and that is one great year of reconciliation. But something is also happening out there where cosmic thoughts are formed. Out there live beings for whom one revolution of Mercury is equivalent to one of your Earth days. These beings also experience the macrocosm in other ways, for example, in a way that corresponds to your experience of a Jubilee Year. And such a being would tell you that one orbit of Mercury is equivalent to one day and that 354 3/8 x 49 (or 50) of these days is equivalent to one Jubilee Year reckoned on the basis of Mercury. The being would also tell you that this same number is identical to one Jupiter year and is also identical to 50 revolutions of the celestial sphere.’
The ancient Hebrews had reasons for calculating time from the beginning of the Earth in the following way—we also place an event at the beginning of our reckoning of Earth time, although it is a different event. According to their reckoning, 4182 years after the beginning of the Earth would be the time of a great, cosmic year of reconciliation, the year in which the Christ would appear in the flesh. In other words, the ancient Hebraic culture lived in a time-span that extended from the beginning of the Earth to the appearance of Christ in the flesh. This span was that of a single Jubilee Year of Mercury, one great Jupiter year, or 50 revolutions of the outermost, celestial sphere, which we now know as the orbit of Uranus.
In this wonderful example you see how the human soul was being prepared for the great, cosmic Jubilee Year. It was prepared by social institutions that based the temporal reckoning on 354 3/8 and 7 x 7, or 50. Thereby the soul was enabled to experience the ordering of the cosmos, which means that cosmic forms were inscribed in the soul. This is a tremendous thing. The connections are immensely profound.
And if you follow the thoughts of those who have emerged from Judaism, you will see that these souls bore thoughts of a cosmos inhabited by infinitely lofty beings. And they assumed that the laws governing the movements of the stars would announce to their interpreters the time of the Christ's descent from the sphere of the Sun to the Earth. The events out yonder were thought of in terms of 354 3/8 and 7 x 7. Out yonder, things were ordered so that someone who followed the clock of Mercury, counting one orbit of Mercury as one day, could determine the span of one Jubilee Year from the beginning of the Earth to the Mystery of Golgotha. Just as man thinks of the beginnings of earthly existence, so also do the cosmic beings think of that moment which, for the ancient Hebrews marked the beginning of the Earth—but cosmic beings think on a cosmic scale. Meanwhile, here on Earth a human institution was preparing human souls for thinking the great thought that is spread out before them in the heavens; it was shaping their souls so they would be able to apply the thought to their own passage through time. Those who lived in the time of Christ's coming and who could understand the place of the Mystery of Golgotha in the course of time were men who had gone through this preparation and whose souls had been shaped by it. Thereby they knew: The Mystery of Golgotha is approaching. They were thereby enabled to write the Gospels, for they could understand what lay behind the descent of the cosmic Sun Spirit to Earth. Such an understanding presupposes that the soul has been prepared.
Here you have a wonderful example of how social institutions that have been spiritually ordered by initiates can prepare the human soul for understanding an event—or for comprehending it at all. What does this show us? It deepens our understanding of why we should use our waking consciousness to shape our human social life so that it is related to the world of the stars. The Mystery of Golgotha cannot be understood—one cannot bring it within the scope of reason—until one has understood the connection of reason itself to the course of the stars. This is expressed in numerical relationships. Thus, everything that is connected with our waking consciousness is connected—consciously or unconsciously—with the orderly procession of the stars. In this case it was consciously determined by initiates. And so, emerging from the depths of our souls, these things begin to make their appearance in the forms I have described to you, in dreams or in the lightning flashes of genius of a man like Weininger. As I explained yesterday, these things do not belong to the present course of the stars and will only be developed in later incarnations.
What, then, are these things connected with? All the things that are consciously or unconsciously thought by our heads and felt by our hearts,—in short, everything connected with our waking consciousness—corresponds to the movement of the stars. What, then, corresponds to the things that go on in our more dreamlike or fantasy-filled states of consciousness and often fill our more inspired moods? These latter correspond more to the elemental world of natural events, the world on which such things as thunder and storms and hail and earthquakes depend. And in this fashion we can look deeply into nature. It begins to appear to us as it has appeared to men who are to some degree initiated and who have always asked, ‘What, then, is this part of nature that is not regulated by the regular course of the sun and moon and their like—this part of nature that does not proceed regularly or in accordance with rules? What is this nature of rain, of hail, of storms, of thunder, of earthquake, of volcanic eruption?’ And these initiates have always answered, ‘Here nature appears as a somnambulist!’
And now let us look up at the procession of the stars. In its regular, numerical relationships, as in its occult connections, it presents us with the macrocosmic representation of our waking consciousness. Then let us contemplate our dream consciousness and everything that is to a greater or lesser degree expressed there. There we find mirrored all the irregular happenings of the external world. Looking up to the heavens, we behold the external, macrocosmic representation of our waking consciousness. Looking down towards the Earth and its manifestations, we find nature as a somnambulist, a somnambulistic dreamer, who is the mirror and the outer picture of what goes on in the depths of our souls. Our waking spirit thinks in accordance with astronomy. Our dreaming, fantasy-filled, often somnambulistic soul lives and weaves in harmony with the great, somnambulistic consciousness of earthly nature. That is a profound truth.
Between now and tomorrow, reflect on the extent to which astronomy is governing your waking consciousness, and the extent to which meteorology rules in your unconscious. Yesterday, Otto Weininger provided us with an example of a man in whom astronomy came to expression only to be obscured by meteorological clouds. We will speak further about this tomorrow.
Zweiter Vortrag
Ausgehen möchte ich heute in unseren Betrachtungen von einer einfachen, vor aller Augen liegenden Tatsache. Wenn wir den Blick schweifen lassen über die Naturvorgänge, so erscheinen uns diese, wenn wir sie verständig, aufmerksam betrachten, doch eigentlich als zwei voneinander stark unterschiedene Reiche: ein Reich der allergrößten Regelmäßigkeit, der allergrößten Ordnung, und ein Reich von zunächst fast undurchdringlichen Zusammenhängen, von Unregelmäßigkeit, von vielfacher Unordnung; so wenigstens wird es empfunden. Die gewöhnliche Naturwissenschaft unterscheidet nicht klar zwischen diesen zwei Gebieten des Naturdaseins, und doch sind diese zwei Gebiete streng voneinander getrennt. Da haben wir auf der einen Seite alles dasjenige, was vorgeht mit jener Regelmäßigkeit, mit der etwa jeden Morgen die Sonne aufgeht, jeden Abend die Sonne untergeht, mit der die Sterne auf- und untergehen, sowie alles das, was in einem gewissen Zusammenhange mit Sonnenauf- und -untergängen erscheint: Mit Regelmäßigkeit erscheinen im Frühling die Wachstumstriebe, entwickeln sich während des Sommers, welken, schwinden im Herbst dahin. Und vieles Ähnliche, das mit einer großen Regelmäßigkeit und Ordnung empfunden werden muß, sehen wir in dem einen Gebiete der Natur.
Aber es gibt ein anderes Gebiet der Natur, das nicht in derselben Weise empfunden werden kann. Man kann nicht in derselben Weise, wie man den Sonnenaufgang am Morgen, den Sonnenuntergang am Abend erwartet, ein Gewitter erwarten; das kommt nicht mit solcher Regelmäßigkeit. Mit einer solchen Bestimmtheit, wie wir sagen: Morgen, wenn es zehn Uhr sein wird, werden wir die Sonne an einer bestimmten Stelle am Himmelsgewölbe sehen, können wir nicht sagen: Wir werden an einer Stelle ein gewisses Wolkengebilde sehen, oder gar darüber etwas sagen, wie dieses Wolkengebilde aussehen wird. Auch werden wir nicht mit einer gleichen Bestimmtheit, wie wir dieses oder jenes Mondenviertel voraussagen, sagen können: zu der oder jener Zeit wird hier den Dornacher Bau ein Sturm oder ein Regenwetter überraschen. Man wird mit einer gewissen Sicherheit berechnen können, wann nach Jahrhunderten Sonnenfinsternisse, Mondenfinsternisse sein werden; man wird aber nicht mit der gleichen Sicherheit angeben können, wann Erdbeben oder Vulkanausbrüche stattfinden.
Sie sehen da voneinander getrennt zwei Gebiete des Naturdaseins: eines, welches mit großer, für unseren Verstand durchdringbarer Regelmäßigkeit auftritt, und ein anderes Gebiet, das nicht in derselben Weise empfunden werden kann, das als Unregelmäßiges auftritt. Und das, was wir Gesamtnatur nennen, das ist im Grunde genommen ein Zusammenfluß, ich möchte sagen, der großen Regelmäßigkeit und der Unregelmäßigkeit; denn in jedem Augenblicke ist der Gesamteindruck, den wir haben von dem Naturdasein, bestimmt durch das, was durch den regelmäßigen Verlauf geschieht und was sich in diesen regelmäßigen Verlauf der Dinge an Geschehnissen hineinmischt, die uns Überraschungen gewähren können, und die eigentlich immer wiederkehren, bis zu einem gewissen Grade wenigstens.
Nun haben wir ja öfter in den verschiedensten Zusammenhängen unserer Betrachtungen einer tiefen Wahrheit gedacht, der Wahrheit, daß der Mensch ein Mikrokosmos gegenüber dem Makrokosmos ist, daß wir im Menschen in einer gewissen Weise wiederfinden, was wir draußen im Universum im großen finden. Wir können also erwarten, daß auch im Menschen in einer gewissen Beziehung so etwas wie zwei Gebiete zu finden sein müssen, ein Gebiet von größerer Regelmäßigkeit und ein Gebiet von einer gewissen Unregelmäßigkeit. Im Menschenleben wird sich das allerdings in anderer Art ausdrücken können, verschieden von der Art, die draußen in der Natur ist; aber an die Zweiheit in der Natur von Regelmäßigkeit und Unregelmäßigkeit, Ordnung und Unordnung wird uns etwas erinnern müssen im Menschen. Und nun gedenken Sie desjenigen, was wir gestern an einem typischen Beispiel darzustellen versuchten.
Jene typische Persönlichkeit konnte gut logisch denken, wenn es eben darauf ankam, logisch zu denken, konnte rechnen, Urteile fällen, die Erscheinungen der Welt in einem gewissen Zusammenhange sehen, das Leben bis zu einem gewissen Grade regelmäßig geordnet überschauen und überdenken und danach handeln, hatte also alles das, was aus der Regelmäßigkeit des Wirkens unseres Verstandes, unserer Vernunft, unserer Empfindungsfähigkeit, unserer Willensimpulse kommt. Daneben aber hatte diese Persönlichkeit ein anderes Leben, das sich ausgeprägt hat in den beiden Werken, die ich angeführt habe, ein Leben, von dem Sie haben sehen können aus dem wenigen, das ich aus dem Inhalte der Bücher angeführt habe, wie es stürmisch verlaufen ist, wie es irregulär verlaufen ist gegenüber dem, was der gewöhnliche, regelmäßige Verstand dem Menschen darbietet. Da waren unten in der Seele Stürme, tiefe Stürme, die sich auslebten in der Weise, wie wir es gestern schildern konnten. Und wahrhaftig, so wie in den regelmäßigen Sonnen- und Mondengang, in das regelmäßige Aufkeimen, Welken und Hinsterben der Gewächse die kommenden und gehenden Gewitter- und Wetterstürme und Winde hineinspielen, so spielen hinein in den regelmäßigen Gang dessen, was sich aus dem menschlichen Kopf und dem regelmäßigen Gang des menschlichen Herzens herausentwickelt, jene Stürme, die uns wie wache Träume erscheinen müssen oder wie geniale Lichtblitze, die die Seele so durchzucken wie Gewitter und sich wie Gewitter entladen. Aber Sie werden nicht daran zweifeln, daß dasjenige, was nur in einer extremen, radikal paradoxen Art bei Otto Weininger aufgetreten ist, sich in der Anlage in jeder Menschenseele findet. Auf dem Grunde jeder Menschenseele ist das vorhanden. Es tritt bei den gewöhnlichen Menschenseelen, die nicht Veranlagung haben, sich so genial zu finden, wie Weininger sich gefunden hat, in Form von Träumen auf — aber von Träumen immer. Jeder Mensch hat Träume, und die Träume sind ja schließlich das, was aus den Tiefen des astralischen Leibes herausquillt und dadurch zur Offenbarung kommt, daß der astralische Leib sich spiegelt im Ätherleibe. In jeder menschlichen Natur ist das tagwache Bewußtsein vorhanden, das ein Mensch wie Weininger das philiströse Bewußtsein nennt, das pedantische Bewußtsein, und auch das andere Bewußtsein, in das hineinschlagen die Träume.
Sehen Sie, diese Träume, diese ganze Traumwelt, man soll nicht von ihr sagen, sie ist nur dann vorhanden, wenn man weiß, in der Nacht, da träumt man oder man hat geträumt. Der Mensch träumt nämlich fortwährend. Wirklich träumen, was man so nennt wirklich träumen, das tritt nur dann ein, wenn man das fortwährende Träumen eine Weile beobachtet. Aber in Wirklichkeit träumt man fortwährend. Und alle, die Sie hier sitzen — neben dem, daß die Gedanken, die jetzt in diesem Vortrage ausgesprochen werden, in Ihnen leben, wie ich hoffe -, träumen Sie alle. Sie träumen alle auf dem Untergrunde Ihrer Seele. Und das Träumen, das Sie in der Nacht haben, unterscheidet sich von dem, das Sie jetzt haben, nur dadurch, daß Sie jetzt die anderen Gedanken als die bewußteren, als die stärkeren haben, und die überwiegen bei weitaus den meisten, denke ich; während, wenn das Wachbewußtsein hinabgedämpft ist und nicht wahrgenommen werden kann, zu gleicher Zeit aber der Schlaf unterbrochen wird, dann für eine Weile heraufkommen kann, was jetzt im Unterbewußtsein verträumt wird. Dadurch ist ein bewußter Traum da. Aber das Traumleben geht fortwährend vor sich.
Tatsächlich, es ist ein solcher Gegensatz in der Menschennatur vorhanden zwischen der Regelmäßigkeit des gewöhnlichen Denkens und der Unregelmäßigkeit des Traumlebens. Und wenn man diese Regelmäßigkeit des gewöhnlichen Denkens nicht hat, wenn man nicht die Dinge verstandesmäßig zu nehmen weiß und sie das eine Mal so, das andere Mal anders nimmt, nicht wie die Sonne, die jeden Morgen zu entsprechender Zeit in gleicher Weise aufgeht, so ist man geistig nicht gesund. Neben diesem gesunden Wachbewußtsein hat man in seiner Seele, auf dem Grunde seiner Seele, das andere Gebiet, ich möchte sagen, das stürmische Gebiet, das unregelmäßige Gebiet.
Es ist wirklich in uns eine Nachbildung des astronomischen Ganges der Gestirne am Himmel in den Kräften, die das Wachbewußtsein zusammensetzen. Wir hätten kein Wachbewußtsein, wenn wir es nicht hätten von dem Gang der Sterne. Aber die Kräfte, die da draußen spielen — Sie können das auch aus einer Bemerkung entnehmen, die ich in dem Vortragszyklus über «Die geistige Führung des Menschen und der Menschheit» gemacht habe -, die wir in den meteorologischen Erscheinungen, in Wind und Wetter, in Gewitter und Erdbeben beobachten, die spielen unten in den Tiefen des Seelischen, im halb- und unterbewußten Leben des Menschen. Wir wiederholen wirklich auch in dieser Beziehung mikrokosmisch den Makrokosmos.
Heute ist ein geringes Bewußtsein vorhanden von diesen Dingen, denn wir leben ja in dem Zeitalter, das die Menschheit aufgerufen hat, sich mehr und mehr auf den physischen Plan zu beschränken, materialistisch zu werden, und die geistige Begleiterscheinung des Materialismus ist die bloße Verstandes- und Vernunftbildung, die keine Spiritualität hat. Aber die Menschheit wird, wie wir oftmals hier ausgeführt haben, auch über dieses Zeitalter hinauskommen. Und vorbereiten sollte die geisteswissenschaftliche Bewegung, was wiederum als ein spiritueller Einschlag kommen soll.
Aber es war nicht immer so, daß die Menschen so gewissermaßen Geist-los gelebt haben wie jetzt, geistlos insofern, als sie wenig Bewußtsein davon haben, daß ein Zusammenhang besteht zwischen dem, was der Mensch hier auf der Erde treibt, was in allen Geschehnissen, in allen Tatsachen des Erdenseins vorgeht, und den geistigen Welten. Das spricht sich darin aus, daß heute bei den menschlichen Einrichtungen wenig Rücksicht darauf genommen wird, wie die geistigen Welten hereinspielen in die physischen Welten. Erinnern Sie sich nur, daß ich einmal dargestellt habe, wie Numa Pompilius, der zweite römische König, die Einrichtungen des physischen Planes gestalten wollte. Das wird symbolisch erzählt, aber hinter dieser symbolischen Erzählung liegt eine bedeutsame Tatsache. Er hat sich an die Nymphe Egeria gewandt, die hat ihm aus der geistigen Welt heraus gesagt, wie die Epochen zu verlaufen haben, und er hat dann die Epoche des Romulus als die erste, seine eigene als die zweite bezeichnet, und noch fünf dazu, damit es eine Siebenheit geworden ist, und innerhalb dieser Siebenheit können wir in einer merkwürdigen Weise finden, wie sich gerade diese römische Königsgeschichte mit derselben Gesetzmäßigkeit aufbaute, mit der sich die sieben Glieder unseres Organismus aufbauen. Es war in früheren Zeiten eine Tendenz vorhanden, den physischen Plan so einzurichten, daß seine Einrichtung den Anforderungen der geistigen Welt entspricht, gewissermaßen ein Abbild ist desjenigen, was in der geistigen Welt vor sich geht. Heute beachten dies die Menschen nicht.
Ich habe öfter erwähnt, wie die Menschen heute nicht einmal mehr pietätvoll jener Einrichtung gegenüber empfinden, welche die Osterzeit des Jahres, das Osterfest ist. Es denken heute schon gewisse Menschen daran, den Ostersonntag auf einen bestimmten Tag zu verlegen, nicht zu einem beweglichen Fest zu gestalten nach dem Gang der Sterne, wie es heute ist, sondern ihn vielleicht den ersten Sonntag im April sein zu lassen; denn die Kontobücher sind dadurch leichter zu führen, Geschäfte sind leichter abzuwickeln, als wenn man jedes Jahr in diesen Büchern eine andere Österzeit hat. Aber das ist nur ein krasses Beispiel für Unzähliges, was heute angeführt werden kann zum Beweise, wie wenig die Menschen heute einen Sinn dafür haben, in ihren Einrichtungen hier auf dem physischen Plan ein Abbild zu schaffen dessen, was in den geistigen Welten vorgeht und in den Sternen sich ausdrückt. Aber nicht immer war es so; sondern es gab schon Zeiten — und es sind eben die älteren Zeiten der Menschheit, in denen es noch atavistisches Hellsehen gab -, wo ein tiefes Bewußtsein davon vorhanden war, daß der Mensch hier auf der Erde so leben soll, daß sein Leben und auch das Zusammenleben der einzelnen Menschen gewisse Dinge abbildet, die sich in der geistigen Welt vollziehen und in den Sternen ausbreiten.
Wir wollen ein Beispiel nehmen. Die alten Hebräer hatten als Kirchenjahr, also als dasjenige Jahr, auf das es ankam, ein Mondenjahr, 3548/s Tage. Nun, das ist etwas kürzer als das Sonnenjahr; so daß immer, wenn man Mondenjahre zählt - denn das Mondenjahr füllt das Sonnenjahr nicht aus-, gewisse Tage übrigbleiben. Nach einer bestimmten Zeit bleiben immer mehr und mehr Tage übrig. Nun wurden Ausgleiche geschaffen. Aber diese Ausgleiche zwischen Monden- und Sonnenjahr wurden im hebräischen Altertum auf eine ganz besondere Art geschaffen. Ich will diese Art nur andeuten, denn es kommt uns heute weniger darauf an, diese Sache im einzelnen kennenzulernen, als den ganzen Geist und Sinn dieser Sache einmal vor unsere Seele zu führen. Es gab unter den alten hebräischen Gebräuchen das sogenannte Jubeljahr. Nach 49 Sonnenjahren nämlich — das ist etwas mehr als 50 Mondenjahre — wurde ein Jahr eingefügt, welches ein allgemeines Versöhnungs-, Aussöhnungsjahr war. In solchem Aussöhnungsjahr wurden gewisse Dinge vergeben, die der eine dem anderen vorzuwerfen hatte. Wer Schulden gemacht hatte, dem konnten oder sollten sie erlassen werden, wer sein Eigentum verloren hatte, sollte es zurückbekommen, und ähnliches. Es war ein Jahr des Ausgleiches, ein Jahr der Versöhnung nach 7 mal 7 Sonnenjahren, nach 49 Sonnenjahren oder 50 Mondenjahren — 50 1/2 eigentlich, aber 50 kann man sagen, weil ja das Jahr eine Zeitlang dauert und man daher den Anfang nehmen kann. 50 mal 354 Tage also dauerte die Jubelperiode, die Periode, in der sich allerlei anhäufen konnte, was dann ausgesöhnt wurde. -— Wenn man in Betracht zieht, daß ein Ausgleich geschaffen werden sollte zwischen dem Monden- und Sonnenjahr, und dadurch 7 mal 7 gleich 49 Sonnenjahre in 50 Mondenjahren kommt, so kann man sagen, daß dieses Jubeljahr nach der Zahl Sieben geordnet ist. Also es lag eine gewisse Anschauung von der Bedeutung der Siebenheit diesem Jubeljahr zugrunde.
Wir wollen aber, um uns den ganzen Geist der Sache vor die Seele zu führen, auf folgendes heute besonders sehen. Wir wollen darauf sehen, daß man also im hebräischen Altertum so lebte, daß man sich sagte: Man erlebt Tage, einen Tag nach dem anderen, man erlebt 354 Tage, dann beginnt ein neues Jahr. Und man erlebt diese Jahre 49- beziehungsweise 50mal hintereinander, dann beginnt ein besonderes Festesjahr für die Menschheit. Und nun, denken Sie, verlief alles das, was der Mensch durchlebte, so, daß fortwährend diese Nebenempfindung da war, man wußte: 7, 8,9 Jahre ist es her, seitdem ein Jubeljahr war, und soundso lange hat man zu warten, bis wieder ein Jubeljahr ist. Aber das ist nicht willkürlich gemacht, sondern das ist so eingerichtet, daß da eine okkulte Einteilung nach Zahlen zugrunde liegt.
Sie werden keinen Zweifel darein setzen, daß die, sagen wir, im 24. Jahre nach einem Jubeljahr Lebenden, 24 zurückrechneten zum vorhergehenden Jubeljahr, 26 weiter rechneten zum nächsten Jubeljahr, und sich so drinnenstehend fühlten in der Zeit zwischen dem vorhergehenden und dem nachfolgenden Jubeljahr. Das ist ein gewisses Sichhineinstellen in die Zeit, das heißt hier auf der Erde beschäftigt die menschlichen Seelen etwas, was sie in eine gewisse Zahlenordnung hineinstellt, und sie fühlten immer mit dieser Zahlenordnung; diese Zahlenordnung geht gleichsam als eine fortdauernde Strömung durch die Seelen. Durch Jahrtausende hindurch haben sich die Seelen gewöhnt, dies zu fühlen, gewissermaßen zu leben mit dem, was ich jetzt eben charakterisiert habe. Ja, das prägt sich dem Leben ein, was man immer wieder und wiederum in Wiederholungen erlebt, das gehört dann zum Leben dazu, das formt, das figuriert die Seelen, so daß, wenn man der alten hebräischen Seele nachgeforscht hat, man gefunden hat: In ihr war ein Bewußtsein von einer solchen Formung, von einer solchen Konfiguration, von einem solchen Drinnenleben in der Zeit von Jubeljahr zu Jubeljahr. Jeder Tag stellt sich dadurch in einer gewissen Weise in die Zeitordnung hinein. Die Seele gewöhnt sich in eine Ordnung hinein, die bedingt ist auf der einen Seite von 354 und auf der anderen Seite von 49 (7 mal 7) beziehungsweise 50, das trägt sie jetzt mit sich herum.
Man kann das damit vergleichen, daß man in der Jugend als Kind rechnen lernt und dann das Rechnen später anwenden kann; man hat es dann. Es bildet eine gewisse Konfiguration der Seele. Das wollen wir uns merken und jetzt etwas anderes betrachten.
Der Planet Merkur hat, wenn man nach der heutigen Astronomie rechnet, einen Umlauf um die Sonne, der weit schneller ist als der Umlauf der Erde, so daß, wenn wir den Umlauf des Merkur nehmen, wir ein solches Bild bekommen: Die Erde geht langsam um die Sonne und der Merkur geht schnell. Nun fassen Sie einmal einen Merkurumlauf ins Auge, den wollen wir 354 mal nehmen; wir könnten ihn sogar 354 3/8 mal nehmen; und dann wiederum nehmen wir ihn 49- beziehungsweise 50 mal. Bilden Sie sich also einfach diese Zahlen. Sie denken einmal einen Merkurumlauf wie eine Art Himmelstag, dann wären 354 solcher Merkurumläufe wie eine Art Monden-Himmelsjahr auf dem Merkurplaneten, und das nehmen Sie 49- beziehungsweise 50 mal. Dann würde das ein Himmels-Jubeljahr sein. Ein HimmelsJubeljahr, das ist natürlich viel länger als ein Erden-Jubeljahr, aber es ist eben auch nach dem Merkur berechnet.
Wir rechnen also in bezug auf den Merkur jetzt einmal geradeso, wie die alten Hebräer ihr Jubeljahr nach den Monden- beziehungsweise nach den Erdentagen gerechnet haben. Sie haben einen Erdentag nach dem anderen erlebt, 354 3/8 mal. Das war ein Jahr. Das, 7 mal 7 genommen (49 beziehungsweise 50), gibt ein Jubeljahr für die alten Hebräer. Dem entspricht ein Umlauf des Merkur 354 3/8 mal, und das 50- beziehungsweise 49 mal. Das ist natürlich ein ganz anderer Zeitraum, aber es liegen da doch die gleichen Zahlen zugrunde, nur daß die Zeiteinheit eine ganz andere ist als ein Erdenjahr.
Jetzt finden wir noch eine andere Zahl. Wir nehmen den Jupiter. Der Jupiter geht viel langsamer, geht sehr langsam. Zwölf Jahre braucht er, um einmal um die Sonne herumzugehen. Der Merkur geht viel schneller als die Erde, der Jupiter viel langsamer. Nun nehmen wir den Jupiter und betrachten jetzt einen solchen Jupitertag. Eigentlich ist es ein Jupiterjahr, aber wir betrachten das, weil es am Himmel ist und dort alle Maße groß genommen werden können, als einen Tag. So wie unseren Erdentag, so betrachten wir solch eine lange Periode, in der der Jupiter um die Sonne herumgeht, als einen Tag. Dann härten wir, wenn wir diese Periode 354%/smal nehmen würden, ein groBes Jupiterjahr, so wie man das Mondenjahr bildet, ein großes Jupiterjahr. Wir nehmen es jetzt nicht 7 mal 7 Male, sondern nur einmal, weil der Jupiter so lange braucht. Das wäre ein großes Jupiterjahr. Bei dem Merkur haben wir uns ausgerechnet ein Jubeljahr; beim Jupiter rechnen wir uns nur überhaupt ein Jahr aus nach derselben Methode.
Dann betrachten wir noch einen anderen Planeten, der den alten Hebräern ja noch nicht bekannt war; aber es war ihnen dafür die Sphäre bekannt, und sie haben gedacht, daß das die Kristallsphäre draußen ist, das Himmelsgewölbe selber. Er ist ja viel später gefunden worden, man kann aber trotzdem vom Uranus sprechen. Nur dachten die alten Hebräer, es wäre die Sphäre da, wo später dann der Uranus hingesetzt worden ist. Und vom Uranus — der geht nun sehr langsam — nehmen wir 49 beziehungsweise 50 Umläufe. Und jetzt vergleichen wir alles das mit Erdenjahren.
Nicht wahr, man kann sagen, das würde eine bestimmte Anzahl von Erdenjahren sein. Also wenn der Merkur 354 3/8 mal 50 mal um die Sonne herumgeht, so würde das eine bestimmte Anzahl von Erdenjahren ergeben. Der Umlauf des Jupiter 354%/smal würde wieder eine bestimmte Anzahl von Erdenjahren ergeben: ein großes Jupiterjahr. Und 49 (50) Umläufe des Uranus werden wiederum eine bestimmte Anzahl von Erdenjahren ergeben.
Das Merkwürdige ist, daß das immer dieselben Erdenjahre gibt. Man bekommt eine bestimmte Anzahl von Erdenjahren dadurch, daß man die 50 beziehungsweise 49 Umläufe des Uranus nimmt. Die gleiche Anzahl von Erdenjahren bekommt man dadurch, daß man 354 3/8 Umdrehungen des Jupiter nimmt, und daß man 50 mal 3543/s Umdrehungen des Merkur nimmt: Immer eine bestimmte Anzahl von Erdenjahren. Beim Uranus 50 mal; beim Jupiter 354 3/8 mal; beim Merkur 50 mal 354 3/8 mal — eine Art Merkur-Jubeljahr im Kosmos drauBen, sagte ich schon. Alle drei geben dieselbe Zahl.
Und was hat der alte Hebräer bei dieser Zahl empfunden? Diese Zahl war — natürlich, es kommen da immer gewisse Unregelmäßigkeiten hinein, die ihre gute Bedeutung haben, die wir heute übersehen können - die Zahl 4182. Alle drei Zahlen sind 4182. Man kann immer sagen ungefähr, aber man kann ganz genau darauf gehen, weil die Unregelmäßigkeiten sich wiederum durch andere ausgleichende Bewegungen erklären, 4182 Erdenjahre! Was konnte also der alte Hebräer sagen? Er konnte sagen: Hier auf dieser Erde erlebst du in deiner Seele den Erdentag 354 mal 50 mal; dann ist ein Jubeljahr, ein großes Versöhnungsjahr. Aber draußen in der Weltengedankenbildung geht etwas vor sich. Wenn irgendein Weltenwesen den Merkurumlauf als einen Tag rechnet und dann weiter geradeso empfindet im Makrokosmos draußen, wie du hier mit deiner Seele gegenüber dem Jubeljahre, so würde dieses Wesen draußen im Makrokosmos so empfinden, daß es sagte: Ein Merkurumlauf wie ein Tag, das 354 3/8 mal und 49beziehungsweise 50mal gleich ein Jubeljahr, bloß auf den Merkur berechnet; gleichzeitig ein Jahr vom Jupiter aus gerechnet, und 50mal Umlauf des Himmelsgewölbes, also die gleiche Zahl, die den beiden anderen zugrunde liegt.
Nun rechnete das hebräische Altertum den Erdenanfang mit Grund so — wenn wir auch heute ein anderes Ereignis dorthin setzen, wo das alte hebräische Altertum den Erdenanfang rechnete, wir setzen auch ein Ereignis — daß, wenn es von dem Erdenanfang 4182 Jahre weiterrechnete, dann das große Weltenversöhnungsjahr kam, da der Christus im Fleische erschien. Das heißt, das hebräische Altertum stimmte sich die Zeitenordnung so ab, daß es von dem von ihm angenommenen Beginne der Erdenentwickelung bis zu dem Erscheinen des Christus im Fleische rechnete ein großes Merkur-Jubeljahr, ein Jupiterjahr, und 50 Umläufe der äußersten Sphäre, was wir heute die Uranusbahn nennen.
Da haben Sie dieses wunderbare Beispiel, daß sich vorbereiten sollte die Menschenseele auf das große Welten-Jubeljahr dadurch, daß sie in ihren sozialen Einrichtungen hier auf der Erde nach 354 3/8 und 7 mal 7 beziehungsweise 50 darauf abgestimmt war, die Ordnung draußen im Kosmos mitzuerleben, das heißt die Formen dafür in der Seele zu figurieren. Es ist etwas Ungeheures, ein ungeheuer tiefer Zusammenhang.
Und wenn nun diejenigen, die aus dem Judentum herausgewachsen sind, in ihren Gedanken verfolgt werden sollen, so kann man sagen: diese Menschen haben vorausgesetzt, daß der Christus aus den Sonnenhöhen zur Erde herabkommen wird nach dem Gedanken, den unendlich erhabene Wesen im Kosmos draußen denken, und der angezeigt, interpretiert wird durch die Bewegungen der Sternenregelmäßigkeirt. Da draußen wird gedacht nach 3543/s, nach 7 mal 7. Und so wird es angeordnet, daß, wer zum Beispiel nach der Uhr des Merkur geht, abzuzählen hat einen Merkurjahresumlauf als einen Tag, und dann ein Jubeljahr zu zählen hat vom Weltenanfang bis zum Mysterium von Golgatha. Wie der Mensch jetzt nach seinen Erdentagen denkt, so denken die Weltenwesen von dem Moment, wo das Judentum die Welt erstehen läßt bis zur Erscheinung des Mysteriums von Golgatha, nach kosmischen Maßen. Und hier wurde durch die soziale Ordnung die Seele zubereitet, diesen großen Gedanken, der da ausgeschwebt ist, im Werdegang zu denken, sich dafür zu formen. Diejenigen, die in der Zeit der Entstehung des Christentums das Mysterium von Golgatha in bezug auf seine Hereinstellung in die Zeit zu verstehen hatten, die waren durchgegangen durch diese Vorbereitung, die hatten ihre Seele so geformt. Daher konnten sie wissen: das Mysterium von Golgatha wird kommen. Die konnten dann die Evangelien verfassen; denn ein Verständnis für das, was zugrunde liegt dem Herabkommen des kosmischen Sonnengeistes auf die Erde, ein solches Verständnis setzt voraus, daß man die Seele dazu vorbereitet hat.
Hier sehen Sie ein wunderbares Beispiel, wie die Menschenseele durch soziales Zusammenleben, das geistig geregelt wird von den Initiierten, vorbereitet wird, ein gewisses Ereignis zu verstehen und überhaupt aufzufassen. Was spricht sich darinnen aus? Nun, ein tiefes Bewußtsein davon, daß dasjenige, was wir auch in bezug auf das menschliche Zusammenleben ausdenken sollen in unserem Wachbewußtsein, einen gewissen Zusammenhang haben soll mit der Sternenwelt. Man kann das Mysterium von Golgatha nicht begreifen, man kann es nicht hereinkriegen in das Begreifen mit der Vernunft, wenn man nicht durchschaut den Zusammenhang der Vernunft selber mit dem Gang der Gedanken, die sich in dem Umlauf der Sterne nach Zahlenverhältnissen ausdrücken. Alles, was so zusammenhängt mit unserem Wachbewußtsein, hängt entweder bewußt oder unbewußt bewußt wie in diesem Falle, geregelt durch die Initiierten — mit dem regelmäßigen Sternengange zusammen. Und aus dem Schoße unserer Seele steigt dasjenige herauf, was sich auf diese Weise, wie ich es geschildert habe, in den Träumen ankündigt, oder in solch genialen Blitzen, wie sie bei Weininger sind, was zuweilen nicht diesem Sternengange entspricht, was sich, wie bei Weininger, erst in den nächsten Inkarnationen, wie ich gestern auseinandergesetzt habe, entwickeln wird.
Womit hängt denn dies zusammen, dieses andere? Während also entweder unbewußt oder sogar bewußt unser Kopf denkt, unser Herz fühlt, kurz, alles das, was dem Wachbewußtsein angehört, dem Sternengang entsprechend ist, entspricht dasjenige, was in unserem mehr traumartigen oder Phantasiebewußtsein oder auch oftmals genialischen Bewußtsein ist, mehr den Elementarwelten der Erdengeschehnisse, von denen auch Gewitter, Sturm, Hagel, Erdbeben und dergleichen abhängen. Und tief sehen wir hinein in das Naturdasein, das für uns dadurch das werden kann, was einigermaßen initiierteMenschen schon immer gesagt haben: Was ist denn die Natur, insofern sie nicht geregelt ist von dem regelmäßigen Gang der Sonne, des Mondes und dergleichen, insoferne sie also nicht in geregelter, regelmäßiger Ordnung verläuft? Was ist die Natur, insofern es Hagel, Regen, Sturm, Gewitter, Erdbeben, Vulkanausbrüche gibt? — Diese Initiierten haben immer gesagt: Diese Natur mit ihren Erscheinungen ist eine Somnambule!
Und jetzt blicken wir hin zu dem Gang der Sterne, der uns in den regelmäßigen Zahlenverhältnissen auch in okkultistischer Beziehung entgegentritt: da haben wir dasMakrokosmische unseres Wachbewußtseins. Und dann blicken wir hinein in unser Traumbewußtsein, auf das, was mehr oder weniger durch dieses Traumbewußtsein sich ausspricht, und wir haben dasjenige, was sich draußen in den unregelmäßigen Erscheinungen unserer Erde vollzieht wie ein Spiegelbild. Wir schauen hinauf zum Himmel und seiner Sternenweite und haben da draußen das Makrokosmische für unser Wachbewußtsein. Wir blicken hinunter auf die Erde mit ihren Erscheinungen und wir haben ein Bild, wie wenn die Natur als Somnambule, als somnambule Träumerin draußen spiegelte dasjenige, was in dem tiefen Schoße unserer Seele vor sich geht. Unser wacher Geist denkt nach der Astronomie. Unser träumendes, phantasieerfülltes, oftmals somnambules Seelenleben lebt und webt nach dem großen somnambulen Bewußtsein der Erdennatur. Das ist eine tiefe Wahrheit.
Denken Sie bis morgen einmal darüber nach, inwiefern Sie Astronomie in Ihrem Wachbewußtsein waltend haben und Meteorologie in Ihrem Unterbewußtsein. Gestern haben wir an Otto Weininger ein Beispiel gehabt des Zusammenwirkens von Astronomie im Menschen, die aber gleichsam abgedämpft war durch die Meteorologie. Davon wollen wir dann morgen sprechen.
Second Lecture
Today I would like to begin our reflections with a simple fact that is obvious to everyone. When we let our gaze wander over the processes of nature, if we observe them intelligently and attentively, they actually appear to us as two realms that are very different from each other: a realm of the greatest regularity, of the greatest order, and a realm of initially almost impenetrable connections, of irregularity, of manifold disorder; at least that is how it is perceived. Ordinary natural science does not clearly distinguish between these two areas of natural existence, and yet these two areas are strictly separated from each other. On the one hand, we have everything that happens with the regularity with which, for example, the sun rises every morning and sets every evening, with which the stars rise and set, as well as everything that appears in a certain connection with sunrise and sunset: with regularity, the shoots appear in spring, develop during the summer, wither and disappear in autumn. And we see many similar things in the realm of nature that must be perceived with great regularity and order.
But there is another realm of nature that cannot be perceived in the same way. One cannot expect a thunderstorm in the same way that one expects the sun to rise in the morning and set in the evening; it does not come with such regularity. With the same certainty with which we say, “Tomorrow, when it is ten o'clock, we will see the sun at a certain point in the sky,” we cannot say, “We will see a certain cloud formation at a certain point,” or even say anything about what this cloud formation will look like. Nor can we say with the same certainty with which we predict this or that quarter of the moon: at this or that time, a storm or rainy weather will surprise the Dornach building. It will be possible to calculate with a certain degree of certainty when solar and lunar eclipses will occur centuries from now, but it will not be possible to state with the same certainty when earthquakes or volcanic eruptions will take place.
You see two separate areas of natural existence: one that occurs with great regularity that is comprehensible to our minds, and another area that cannot be perceived in the same way, that appears as irregular. And what we call nature as a whole is basically a confluence, I would say, of great regularity and irregularity; for at every moment the overall impression we have of natural existence is determined by what happens through the regular course of events and what interferes with this regular course of events in the form of occurrences that may surprise us and that actually recur again and again, at least to a certain extent.
Now, in the most diverse contexts of our reflections, we have often thought of a profound truth, the truth that man is a microcosm in relation to the macrocosm, that we find in man, in a certain way, what we find outside in the universe at large. We can therefore expect that in human beings, too, there must be something like two areas in a certain relationship, an area of greater regularity and an area of a certain irregularity. In human life, however, this will be expressed in a different way, different from the way it is in nature; but something in human beings must remind us of the duality in nature of regularity and irregularity, order and disorder. And now think of what we tried to illustrate yesterday with a typical example.
That typical personality was able to think logically when it was important to think logically, could calculate, make judgments, see the phenomena of the world in a certain context, view and reflect on life in a regular and orderly manner to a certain extent, and act accordingly. In other words, it had everything that comes from the regularity of the workings of our intellect, our reason, our sensitivity, our impulses of will. But alongside this, this personality had another life, which is evident in the two works I have mentioned, a life which you have seen from the little I have quoted from the books, how stormy it was, how irregular it was compared to what the ordinary, regular mind offers to human beings. There were storms deep down in his soul, deep storms that played themselves out in the way we were able to describe yesterday. And truly, just as the coming and going of thunderstorms and weather storms and winds play into the regular course of the sun and moon, into the regular sprouting, withering, and dying of plants, so they play into the regular course of what what develops out of the human head and the regular course of the human heart play those storms that must appear to us like waking dreams or like flashes of genius that flash through the soul like thunderstorms and discharge themselves like thunderstorms. But you will not doubt that what appeared in an extreme, radically paradoxical way in Otto Weininger is found in the disposition of every human soul. It is present at the bottom of every human soul. In ordinary human souls, which do not have the predisposition to find themselves as brilliant as Weininger found himself, it appears in the form of dreams—but always in dreams. Every human being has dreams, and dreams are ultimately what wells up from the depths of the astral body and is revealed by the fact that the astral body is reflected in the etheric body. In every human nature there is the waking consciousness, which a person like Weininger calls the philistine consciousness, the pedantic consciousness, and also the other consciousness into which dreams strike.
You see, these dreams, this whole dream world, one should not say that it only exists when one knows that at night one dreams or has dreamed. For human beings dream continuously. Real dreaming, what is called real dreaming, only occurs when one observes continuous dreaming for a while. But in reality, you dream continuously. And all of you sitting here—apart from the fact that the thoughts expressed in this lecture are now living in you, as I hope—are all dreaming. You are all dreaming in the depths of your soul. And the dreams you have at night differ from the ones you are having now only in that that you now have other thoughts that are more conscious, more powerful, and these predominate in the vast majority of people, I think; whereas when the waking consciousness is subdued and cannot be perceived, but at the same time sleep is interrupted, then what is now dreaming in the subconscious can come up for a while. This is what constitutes a conscious dream. But dream life goes on continuously.
In fact, there is such a contrast in human nature between the regularity of ordinary thinking and the irregularity of dream life. And if one does not have this regularity of ordinary thinking, if one does not know how to take things intellectually and takes them one way one time and another way another time, not like the sun, which rises every morning at the same time in the same way, then one is not mentally healthy. Alongside this healthy waking consciousness, one has in one's soul, at the bottom of one's soul, another realm, I would say, the stormy realm, the irregular realm.
There is truly within us a replica of the astronomical course of the stars in the sky in the forces that make up our waking consciousness. We would have no waking consciousness if we did not have it from the course of the stars. But the forces that are at work out there — you can also gather this from a remark I made in the lecture cycle on “The Spiritual Guidance of Man and Humanity” — which we observe in meteorological phenomena, in wind and weather, in thunderstorms and earthquakes, are at work down in the depths of the soul, in the semi-conscious and subconscious life of human beings. In this respect, too, we are truly repeating the macrocosm in microcosm.
Today there is little awareness of these things, because we live in an age that has called upon humanity to limit itself more and more to the physical plane, to become materialistic, and the spiritual accompaniment of materialism is the mere development of the intellect and reason, which has no spirituality. But humanity will, as we have often explained here, also move beyond this age. And the spiritual science movement should prepare for what is to come as a spiritual impact.
But it was not always the case that people lived as spiritless as they do now, spiritless in the sense that they have little awareness of the connection between what human beings do here on earth, what happens in all events, in all facts of earthly existence, and the spiritual worlds. This is evident in the fact that today's human institutions take little account of how the spiritual worlds play into the physical worlds. Remember how I once described how Numa Pompilius, the second Roman king, wanted to organize the institutions of the physical plane. This is told symbolically, but behind this symbolic narrative lies a significant fact. He turned to the nymph Egeria, who told him from the spiritual world how the epochs were to unfold, and he then designated the epoch of Romulus as the first, his own as the second, and added five more to make a total of seven. Within this sevenfold structure, we can find in a remarkable way how this Roman royal history was structured with the same regularity with which the seven members of our organism are structured. In earlier times, there was a tendency to arrange the physical plane in such a way that its structure corresponded to the requirements of the spiritual world, that it was, in a sense, a reflection of what was happening in the spiritual world. Today, people do not pay attention to this.
I have often mentioned how people today no longer even feel reverence for the institution that is the Easter season of the year, the Easter festival. Certain people are already thinking of moving Easter Sunday to a specific day, not making it a movable feast according to the course of the stars, as it is today, but perhaps leaving it as the first Sunday in April; because this makes it easier to keep the accounts and conduct business than if Easter falls on a different date every year. But this is only one glaring example of countless others that can be cited today to prove how little sense people today have for creating in their institutions here on the physical plane a reflection of what is happening in the spiritual worlds and expressing itself in the stars. But it was not always so; there were times – and these were the earlier times of humanity, when atavistic clairvoyance still existed – when there was a deep awareness that human beings here on earth should live in such a way that their lives and the coexistence of individual human beings reflect certain things that take place in the spiritual world and spread out in the stars.
Let us take an example. The ancient Hebrews had a lunar year, 3548/s days, as their church year, that is, as the year that mattered. Now, this is somewhat shorter than the solar year, so that whenever one counts lunar years — for the lunar year does not fill the solar year — certain days remain. After a certain time, more and more days remain. Now, compensations were created. But these compensations between the lunar and solar years were created in a very special way in ancient Hebrew times. I will only hint at this method, because it is less important for us today to know the details of this matter than to bring the whole spirit and meaning of it before our souls. Among the ancient Hebrew customs there was the so-called jubilee year. After 49 solar years — that is, slightly more than 50 lunar years — a year was inserted which was a general year of reconciliation and atonement. In such a year of reconciliation, certain things that one person had to reproach another for were forgiven. Those who had incurred debts could or should have them forgiven, those who had lost their property should get it back, and so on. It was a year of balance, a year of reconciliation after 7 times 7 solar years, after 49 solar years or 50 lunar years — 50 1/2 actually, but we can say 50 because the year lasts for a certain period of time and we can therefore take the beginning as the starting point. The jubilee period, the period in which all kinds of things could accumulate and then be reconciled, lasted 50 times 354 days. -— If one considers that a balance had to be created between the lunar and solar years, and that this results in 7 times 7 equal to 49 solar years in 50 lunar years, one can say that this jubilee year is based on the number seven. So there was a certain view of the significance of the number seven underlying this jubilee year.
However, in order to grasp the whole spirit of the matter, let us look at the following in particular today. Let us consider that in ancient Hebrew times, people lived in such a way that they said to themselves: We experience days, one day after another, we experience 354 days, then a new year begins. And we experience these years 49 or 50 times in succession, then a special festive year begins for humanity. And now, think about it, did everything that people went through happen in such a way that there was a constant sense of awareness that it had been 7, 8, or 9 years since the last jubilee year, and that they had to wait that long until the next jubilee year? But this is not arbitrary; it is arranged in such a way that there is an occult division based on numbers.
You will have no doubt that those living, say, in the 24th year after a jubilee year counted back 24 years to the previous jubilee year, counted forward 26 years to the next jubilee year, and thus felt themselves to be standing within the time between the previous and the following jubilee year. This is a certain adjustment to time, which means that here on Earth, human souls are preoccupied with something that places them in a certain numerical order, and they always felt in accordance with this numerical order; this numerical order flows through the souls as a continuous stream, so to speak. Over thousands of years, souls have become accustomed to feeling this, to living, as it were, with what I have just characterized. Yes, what one experiences again and again in repetition becomes imprinted on one's life; it then becomes part of life, shaping and forming the souls, so that when one investigates the ancient Hebrew soul, one finds that Within it was an awareness of such a shaping, of such a configuration, of such an inner life from jubilee year to jubilee year. Each day thus fits into the order of time in a certain way. The soul becomes accustomed to an order that is conditioned on the one hand by 354 and on the other by 49 (7 times 7) or 50, and it now carries this with it.
You can compare this to learning arithmetic as a child and then being able to use it later; you have it then. It forms a certain configuration of the soul. Let us remember that and now consider something else.
According to modern astronomy, the planet Mercury orbits the Sun much faster than the Earth, so that if we take the orbit of Mercury, we get the following picture: The Earth moves slowly around the Sun and Mercury moves quickly. Now consider one orbit of Mercury; let us take 354 of these; we could even take 354 3/8; and then we take 49 or 50 of these. Simply form these numbers in your mind. Think of one Mercury orbit as a kind of heavenly day, then 354 such Mercury orbits would be like a kind of lunar heavenly year on the planet Mercury, and take that 49 or 50 times. That would be a heavenly jubilee year. A heavenly jubilee year is, of course, much longer than an earthly jubilee year, but it is also calculated according to Mercury.
So, in relation to Mercury, we now calculate in exactly the same way as the ancient Hebrews calculated their jubilee year according to the lunar or terrestrial days. They experienced one Earth day after another, 354 3/8 times. That was one year. Taking that 7 times 7 (49 or 50), we get a jubilee year for the ancient Hebrews. This corresponds to one orbit of Mercury 354 3/8 times, and that 50 or 49 times. This is, of course, a completely different period of time, but the same numbers are used, only the unit of time is completely different from an Earth year.Now we find another number. We take Jupiter. Jupiter moves much more slowly, very slowly. It takes twelve years to orbit the sun once. Mercury moves much faster than Earth, Jupiter much slower. Now let's take Jupiter and look at a Jupiter day. Actually, it's a Jupiter year, but we consider it a day because it's in the sky and all measurements can be taken on a large scale there. Just like our Earth day, we consider such a long period in which Jupiter orbits the sun to be a day. Then, if we take this period 354 3/8 mal, we get a big Jupiter year, just like how we make a lunar year, a big Jupiter year. We don't take it 7 times 7 times, but just once, because that's how long Jupiter takes. That would be a big Jupiter year. With Mercury, we have calculated a jubilee year; with Jupiter, we calculate only one year using the same method.
Then we consider another planet that was not yet known to the ancient Hebrews; but they knew the sphere, and they thought that it was the crystal sphere outside, the vault of heaven itself. It was discovered much later, but we can still refer to it as Uranus. The ancient Hebrews thought that it was the sphere where Uranus was later placed. And from Uranus — which moves very slowly — we take 49 or 50 revolutions. Now we compare all of this with Earth years.
Isn't that right? One could say that this would be a certain number of Earth years. So if Mercury orbits the Sun 354 3/8 times 50 times, this would result in a certain number of Earth years. The orbit of Jupiter at 354%/s would again result in a certain number of Earth years: a large Jupiter year. And 49 (50) orbits of Uranus would again result in a certain number of Earth years.
The strange thing is that it is always the same number of Earth years. You get a certain number of Earth years by taking the 50 or 49 revolutions of Uranus. You get the same number of Earth years by taking 354 3/8 revolutions of Jupiter and 50 times 354 3/8 revolutions of Mercury: always a certain number of Earth years. With Uranus 50 times; with Jupiter 354 3/8 times; with Mercury 50 times 354 3/8 times — a kind of Mercury jubilee year in the cosmos out there, as I already said. All three give the same number.
And what did the ancient Hebrews feel about this number? This number was — of course, there are always certain irregularities that have their own positive meaning, which we can overlook today — the number 4182. All three numbers are 4182. One can always say approximately, but one can also be quite precise, because the irregularities are explained by other compensating movements: 4182 Earth years! So what could the ancient Hebrew say? He could say: Here on this Earth, you experience the Earth day 354 times 50 times in your soul; then there is a jubilee year, a great year of reconciliation. But something is happening out there in the world of thought. If some world being calculates the orbit of Mercury as one day and then continues to feel in the macrocosm outside just as you feel here with your soul in relation to the jubilee year, then this being out there in the macrocosm would feel that it said: One Mercury cycle is like one day, which is 354 3/8 times and 49 or 50 times equal to a jubilee year, calculated only on Mercury; at the same time, one year calculated from Jupiter, and 50 times the cycle of the heavenly vault, thus the same number that underlies the other two.
Now, ancient Hebrews calculated the beginning of the Earth on this basis — even if we today place a different event where ancient Hebrews calculated the beginning of the Earth, we also place an event — that if we counted 4182 years from the beginning of the Earth, then the great year of world reconciliation came, when Christ appeared in the flesh. That is to say, ancient Hebrews coordinated the order of time in such a way that they calculated a great Mercury jubilee year, a Jupiter year, and 50 revolutions of the outermost sphere, which we today call the orbit of Uranus, from what they assumed to be the beginning of the Earth's development to the appearance of Christ in the flesh.
Here you have this wonderful example that the human soul was to prepare itself for the great jubilee year of the world by being attuned in its social institutions here on earth to 354 3/8 and 7 times 7, or 50, in order to experience the order outside in the cosmos, that is, to figure the forms for it in the soul. It is something tremendous, a tremendously profound connection.
And if those who have grown out of Judaism are now to be persecuted in their thoughts, one can say: these people have assumed that Christ will descend from the heights of the sun to the earth according to the thoughts of infinitely exalted beings in the cosmos outside, and that this is indicated and interpreted by the movements of the stars. Out there, thinking proceeds according to 3543/s, according to 7 times 7. And so it is ordained that those who follow the clock of Mercury, for example, must count one Mercury year as one day, and then count a jubilee year from the beginning of the world to the Mystery of Golgotha. Just as human beings now think according to their earthly days, so the world beings think according to cosmic measures from the moment Judaism brought the world into being until the appearance of the mystery of Golgotha. And here, through the social order, the soul was prepared to think this great thought that floated forth, to form itself for it. Those who, at the time of the emergence of Christianity, had to understand the mystery of Golgotha in relation to its place in time, had gone through this preparation and had formed their souls in this way. Therefore, they could know that the mystery of Golgotha would come. They were then able to write the Gospels, for an understanding of what lies at the basis of the descent of the cosmic Sun Spirit onto the earth requires that the soul has been prepared for it.
Here you see a wonderful example of how the human soul is prepared through social life, which is spiritually regulated by the initiates, to understand and even comprehend a certain event. What does this express? Well, a deep awareness that what we are supposed to think up in our waking consciousness in relation to human coexistence must have a certain connection with the starry world. One cannot understand the mystery of Golgotha, one cannot grasp it with reason, if one does not see through the connection between reason itself and the course of thoughts that express themselves in the movement of the stars according to numerical ratios. Everything that is connected in this way with our waking consciousness is linked, either consciously or unconsciously, as in this case, regulated by the initiates, with the regular course of the stars. And from the depths of our soul rises that which announces itself in dreams, as I have described, or in such flashes of genius as we find in Weininger, which sometimes do not correspond to the course of the stars, but which, as I explained yesterday, will only develop in the next incarnations, as in Weininger.
What does this other aspect have to do with it? While our head thinks, our heart feels, in short, everything that belongs to waking consciousness, either unconsciously or even consciously, corresponds to the course of the stars, that which is in our more dreamlike or imaginative consciousness, or often in our genius consciousness, corresponds more to the elemental worlds of earthly events, on which thunderstorms, storms, hail, earthquakes, and the like also depend. And we see deeply into the nature of existence, which can thus become for us what reasonably initiated people have always said: What is nature, insofar as it is not governed by the regular course of the sun, the moon, and the like, insofar as it does not proceed in a regulated, regular order? What is nature, insofar as there is hail, rain, storms, thunderstorms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions? These initiates have always said: This nature with its phenomena is a somnambulist!
And now we look at the course of the stars, which also appears to us in occult relationships in regular numerical ratios: there we have the macrocosm of our waking consciousness. And then we look into our dream consciousness, at what is more or less expressed through this dream consciousness, and we have that which is taking place outside in the irregular phenomena of our earth, like a mirror image. We look up at the sky and its vastness of stars and have the macrocosm out there for our waking consciousness. We look down at the earth with its phenomena and we have a picture as if nature, as a somnambulist, as a somnambulist dreamer, were mirroring outside what is going on in the deep bosom of our soul. Our waking mind thinks according to astronomy. Our dreaming, imaginative, often somnambulistic soul life lives and weaves according to the great somnambulistic consciousness of the Earth's nature. This is a profound truth.
Think about this until tomorrow: to what extent does astronomy reign in your waking consciousness and meteorology in your subconscious? Yesterday we had an example from Otto Weininger of the interaction of astronomy in humans, which was, however, dampened, as it were, by meteorology. We will talk about this tomorrow.