Inner Impulses of Evolution, The Mexican Mysteries, The Knights Templar
GA 171
18 September 1916, Dornach
3. The After Effects of the Atlantean Mysteries in America and Asia
It is extraordinarily difficult to speak of the conditions that were alluded to in the previous lecture because, in more recent times, in our age of materialistic thinking, the ideas and concepts for doing so are largely lacking. They must first be acquired through spiritual science. The information that can be given is, therefore, more in the nature of indications. Moreover, there is a further reason, which is determined by the whole development of our modern culture. This further reason that causes certain difficulties in treating conditions that are hidden behind the threshold of knowledge from modern man is that, on the whole, he has become somewhat lacking in courage. If one wishes to avoid actually using the word cowardly, one cannot say it differently. He has become weak in courage. The modern person much prefers his knowledge to give him nice pleasant feelings, but that is not always possible. Knowledge can fill us with inner satisfaction even when it does not convey exactly pleasant matters, because these—well, unpleasant things belong to truth. In every case one should find satisfaction in truth since even regarding the most terrible truths one can experience a kind of feeling of upliftment. As I have said, however, modern man is much too weak in courage for that; he wants to feel uplifted in his own way. This, too, is connected with secrets of modern existence that will become clearer in the course of such studies as we are now undertaking.
The particular faculties of which we have spoken, namely, the unfolding in our thought and deed of free imaginations and an attitude toward the world based on the primal phenomenon, can only be acquired by modern man when a veil is drawn over certain processes that are occurring, when they don't easily reveal themselves. Thus, it is also a necessary part of the evolution of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch that man does not understand certain things that thrust themselves into our sense world from the subsensible and super-sensible worlds. Most important events that are enacted around us before our very eyes are, in fact, not understood at all by modern man. In a way, he is protected from understanding them because he can only properly evolve the two faculties mentioned above under this protection. Foundations for his understanding of these events, however, have already begun to be laid. They have now progressed so far that evolution cannot continue to advance without reference being made, with a certain care and caution, to these matters.
Modern man, with his experience of what happens around him and of what he himself does and sets going, has but feeble reflections of what is surging and welling up in his own subsensory nature. At best, it emerges from time to time in frightening dream pictures, but they, too, are only feeble. What is happening in the subsensible is unknown to the man of today, and under normal circumstances he knows little of the super-sensible. Beneath what we modern people experience in the soul lies something that one can only describe as eruptive forces. It can be compared precisely with the world one experiences when standing on volcanic ground; you only have to set fire to some paper to have smoke burst out everywhere. If through the smoke you could see what is swirling and bubbling down below, you would then indeed realize what sort of ground you were actually standing on.
It is the same with modern life. We observe that Ernest Renan writes his Life of Jesus, and we see it as we see a solfatara or volcanic landscape. We see what David Friedrich Strauss writes, and we describe it as calm and peaceful. We see what Soloviev writes and we describe that too as calm and peaceful. All of this is written calmly as if we have not yet lit a piece of paper to see the eruptive impulses of humanity living and working beneath the soil.
A great deal has really been said with these few words. It only needs to be systematically thought through and you will see that it is so. What we described at the end of our observations yesterday we see is like living over a volcano. It is, however fully in accord with the purpose of evolution to see things so peaceful and harmless. That is good because beneath this peacefulness and harmlessness the very faculties that we need in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch are being developed. In most people they are not developed consciously, though in spiritual science the endeavor must be made to do so. Hence, it becomes necessary from time to time to indicate with care and caution the things one becomes aware of when one kindles that little piece of paper. Why is all this so? In the first place, because the ahrimanic powers have something quite different in mind for the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. In the fourth post-Atlantean culture they were greatly disillusioned through the Roman evolution, as we described in the last two lectures. They did not attain their goal and therefore have prepared still worse onslaughts for our fifth post-Atlantean epoch, for they mean to try again to achieve their purpose.
Now I have already mentioned that something is coming to expression from two sides, even geographically, that will burst like a storm into our calm and peaceful evolution in this fifth post-Atlantean epoch, predisposed as it is to calm and peace. I pointed to one of these directions when I told you how Genghis Khan was inspired by the priest who had seen a descendant of the “Great Spirit” of old Atlantis. I also indicated how a certain ahrimanic attack was launched from the West through all that followed the discovery of America. It has been overcome in a certain respect but continues to live on in it as a resistant force. One must not think that things that are not seen are not there. Because what the ahrimanic powers took in hand in the Western Hemisphere did not come to outer physical earthly reality, our fifth post-Atlantean culture has been saved from the first attacks. But it goes on living in a sort of spectral form. It is there and impresses itself into men's impulses. People know nothing of it, however, and are unaware that it lives in and inserts itself into their impulses. Now it is only through placing pictures side by side that I can really lay a foundation for concepts that you must gradually create and form for yourselves in meditation. It would not be easy to find concepts in the present fund of ideas to explain what actually lives in the urges and impulses below the threshold. They push up, to be sure, into the ordinary soul life but they are normally covered over and unperceived in modern normal life.
Upon the soil of the Western Hemisphere that was now trodden through the discovery of America, quite special conditions had gradually been taking shape in the course of past centuries. The general population inhabiting those parts was far from attaining the qualities that had meanwhile been developed in the Eastern Hemisphere of Europe and Asia. A people lived in the West who stood far removed from the intellectual capacities that had evolved in the Eastern Hemisphere, but among them were a great number of individuals who had been initiated into certain mysteries. Before the discovery of America, there were mysteries of the most varied kind in the Western Hemisphere and they had a large following for the teachings that came from them. Like a single central power whom all followed and obeyed, a kind of spectral spirit, a descendant of the “Great Spirit” of Atlantis, was revered. This spirit had gradually assumed an ahrimanic character because he still worked with forces that had been right in Atlantis or were already ahrimanic there.
When the Atlantean spoke of his “Great Spirit,” he expressed it, as we have seen, in a word that sounded something like the word “Tao,” which is still preserved in China. An ahrimanic, caricatured counterpart appeared in the West as opponent of the “Great Spirit Tao” but he was still connected with him. He worked in such a way that he could only be made visible through atavistic, visionary perception but whenever they desired his presence, he always showed himself to those persons connected with the widespread mysteries of this cult so they could receive his instructions and commands. This spirit was called by a name that sounded something like Taotl. Taotl was thus an ahrimanic distortion of the “Great Spirit”—a mighty being and one who did not descend to physical incarnation. A great many men were initiated into the mysteries of Taotl but the initiation was of a completely ahrimanic character. It had a quite definite purpose and goal, which was to rigidify and mechanize all earthly life, including that of humans, to such a degree that a special luciferic planet, which has already been referred to in these studies, could be founded above earthly life. The souls of men could then be drawn out to it, by force and pressure.
As we described yesterday, what the ahrimanic powers were striving for in the civilization of Rome was only a feeble echo of what those who, under the leadership of Taotl, set out to attain, and this in much fuller and wider measure by means of the most frightful magical arts. The goal they aimed to achieve was to make the whole earth a realm of death, in which everything possible would be done to kill out independence and every inner impulse of the soul. In the mysteries of Taotl the forces were to be acquired that would enable men to set up a completely mechanized earthly realm. To this end, one had, above all, to know the great cosmic secrets that relate to what works and lives in the universe and reveals its activities in earthly existence. You see, this wisdom of the cosmos is fundamentally in its wording, always the same, because truth is always the same. The point is, however, whether or not it is received in such a way that it is employed rightly.
Now this cosmic wisdom, which was intrinsically not evil but held holy secrets hidden within it, was carefully concealed by the initiates of Taotl. It was communicated to no one who had not been initiated correctly by the Taotl method. When a candidate had been initiated in the correct way, the teaching concerning the secrets of the cosmos was then imparted to him. Now, it was necessary for him to receive these secrets through initiation in a quite definite mood of soul. He had to feel in himself the inclination and desire to apply them on earth in such a way that they would set up that mechanistic rigid realm of death. It was thus that he had to receive the secrets. Nor were they communicated except on one special condition. The wisdom was imparted to no one who had not previously committed a murder in a particular manner. Moreover, only certain secrets were communicated to the candidate after the first murder, but further and higher secrets were imparted to him after he had committed others.
These murders, however, had to be committed under quite definite conditions. The one to be murdered was laid out on a structure that was reached by one or two steps running along each side. This scaffold-like structure, a kind of catafalque, was rounded off above and when the victim was laid upon it, he was bent strongly back. This special way of being bound to the scaffold forced his stomach outward so that with one cut, which the initiate had been prepared to perform, it could be cut out.
This kind of murder engendered definite feelings in the initiate. Sensations were aroused that made him capable of using the wisdom later imparted to him in the way that has been intimated above. When the stomach had been excised, it was offered to the god Taotl, again with special ceremonies. The fact that the initiates of these mysteries lived for the quite specific purpose that I have indicated to you, imparted a definite direction to their feelings. When the candidates to be initiated had matured on this path and had come to experience its inner meaning, they then learned the nature of the mutual interaction between the one who had been murdered and the one who had been initiated. Through the murder, the victim was to be prepared in his soul to strive upward to the luciferic realm, whereas the candidate for initiation was to obtain the wisdom to mould this earthly world in such a way that souls would be driven out of it. Through the fact that a connection was formed between the murdered and the initiated—one cannot say “murderer,” but “initiated”—it was made possible for the initiated to be taken with the other soul; that is, the initiated could himself forsake the earth at the right moment.
These mysteries, as you will readily admit, are of the most revolting kind. Indeed, they are only in accord with a conception that can be called ahrimanic in the fullest sense. Nevertheless, certain feelings and experiences were to be created on earth by their means. Now, naturally, the evolution of the earth would not continue if, over a considerable part of its surface, mankind and an interest in mankind should completely die out. The interest in humanity, however, did not quite die out even there because other and different mysteries were founded that were designed to counteract the excesses of the Taotl mysteries. These were mysteries in which a being lived who did not come down to physical incarnation but also could be perceived by men gifted with a certain atavistic clairvoyance when they had been prepared. This being was Tezcatlipoca. That was the name given to the being who, though he belonged to a much lower hierarchy, was partly connected through his qualities with the Jehovah god. He worked in the Western Hemisphere against those grisly mysteries of which we have spoken.
The teachings of Tezcatlipoca soon escaped from the mysteries and were spread abroad exoterically. Thus, in those regions of the earth, the teachings of Tezcatlipoca were actually the most exoteric, while those of Taotl were the most esoteric, since they were only obtained in the manner described above. The ahrimanic powers sought to “save” humanity, however—I am now speaking as Ahriman thought of it—from the god Tezcatlipoca. Another spirit was set up against him who, for the Western Hemisphere, had much in common with the spirit whom Goethe described as Mephistopheles. He was indeed his kin. This spirit was designated with a word that sounded like Quetzalcoatl. He was a spirit who, for this time and part of the earth, was similar to Mephistopheles, although Mephistopheles displayed much more of a soul nature. Quetzalcoatl also never appeared directly incarnated. His symbol was similar to the Mercury staff to be found in the Eastern Hemisphere, and he was, for the Western Hemisphere, the spirit who could disseminate malignant diseases through certain magic forces. He could inflict them upon those whom he wished to injure in order to separate them from the relatively good god, Tezcatlipoca. The powerful onslaughts were thus prepared in the West that were to be made upon the world of human impulses.
Now at a certain time a being was born in Central America who set himself a definite task within this culture. The old, original inhabitants of Mexico linked the existence of this being with a definite idea or picture. They said he had entered the world as the son of a virgin who had conceived him through super earthly powers, inasmuch as it was a feathered being from the heavens who impregnated her. When one makes researches with the occult powers at one's disposal, one finds that the being to whom the ancient Mexicans ascribed a virgin birth was born in the year 1 A.D. and lived to be thirty-three years old. These facts emerge when, as stated, one examines the matter with occult means. This being set himself a quite specific task.
At this same time in Central America another man was born who was destined by birth to become a high initiate of Taotl. This man had in his previous earthly incarnations been initiated as described above and through the fact that he had many, many times repeated the procedure involving the excision of the stomach, which has been described to you and which there is no need to recapitulate, he had been gradually equipped with a lofty earthly and super-earthly knowledge. This was one of the greatest black magicians, if not the greatest ever to tread the earth; he possessed the greatest secrets that are to be acquired on this path. He was faced directly with a momentous decision as the year 30 A.D. approached, namely whether or not, as a single human individual, to become so powerful through continuous initiation that he would come to know a certain basic secret. Through knowledge of this secret he would have then been able to give such a shock and impetus to the coming evolution of man on earth that humanity in the fourth and fifth post-Atlantean epochs would have been thrown into terrible darkness, with the result that what the ahrimanic powers had striven for in these epochs could have come into existence.
Then a conflict began between this super-magician and the being to whom a virgin birth was ascribed, and one finds from one's research that it lasted for three years. The being of the virgin birth bore a name that, when we try to transpose it into our speech approximates Vitzliputzli. He is a human person who, among all these beings who otherwise only moved about in spirit form and could only be perceived through atavistic clairvoyance, in actual fact became man, so the story goes, through his virgin birth. The three year conflict ended when Vitzliputzli was able to have the great magician crucified, and not only through the crucifixion to annihilate his body but also to place his soul under a ban, by this means rendering its activities powerless as well as its knowledge. Thus the knowledge assimilated by the great magician of Taotl was killed. In this way Vitzliputzli was able to win again for earthly life all those souls who, as indicated, had already received the urge to follow Lucifer and leave the earth. Through the mighty victory he had gained over the powerful black magician, Vitzliputzli was able to imbue men again with the desire for earthly existence and successive incarnations.
Nothing survived from these regions of what might have lived on if the mysteries of Taotl had borne fruit. The forces left over from the impulse that lived in these mysteries survived only in the etheric world. They still exist subsensibly, belonging to what would be seen if, in the sphere of the spirit, one could light a paper over a solfatara. The forces are there under the covering of ordinary life, which is like the surface crust of a volcano.
So, on one side, what came from the inspirer of Genghis Khan entered into the forming of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch and, on the other, what worked on as the ghost or spectre of the events that had taken place in the Western Hemisphere. No more than a feeble echo was left of this when the Europeans discovered America. But it is even known in ordinary history that many Europeans who set foot on Mexican-American soil were murdered by the decadent priesthood, which, though no longer as evil as in earlier times, still cut out the stomach, as I described. This was the fate of many Europeans who trod the soil of Mexico after the discovery of America, and the fact is even known to history.
In Vitzliputzli these people revered a Sun being who was born of a virgin, as I have said. When one investigates it occultly, one finds that he was the unknown contemporary in the Western Hemisphere of the Mystery of Golgotha. One can, indeed, also describe these things superficially as modern people like to do to avoid giving pain. If, however, one desires real knowledge, the one must cast a fleeting glance upon these concrete facts of the past, as we have done today. Yes, when we regard this modern human soul, we see how below, in the direction of the subsensible, and how above, in the direction of the super-sensible, it is exposed to great and serious dangers, and how forces play in that remain unknown. Yet it is good that they remain unknown because it is only in this way that the fifth post-Atlantean epoch can develop. The veil must be lifted now so that consciousness may be added to what still remains unconsciousness, because enough time has passed since America has been discovered. Otherwise, if consciousness did not gradually enter, these forces would become paramount, and the relatively beneficent conditions of the time of unconsciousness would turn around and become the curse of humanity. After all, many things, which in the way they have made their appearance have proved a benefit, bear the inherent tendency to become a curse to mankind.
I wished to indicate to you by means of this description the sort of things that are surging and seething beneath the surface. Now let us leave this sub-earthly region and again consider the earthly, but without trying to make any immediate connections in thought between the two realms; we can do that later. Let us consider the question as to how that most remarkable and brilliant Life of Jesus by Ernest Renan was written in such a way that Jesus is depicted as a man who went about on earth as I have described. Such a gifted personality as Renan was not conscious of the ground on which he wrote precisely this life of Jesus. Such a work was written out of quite definite impulses but they remain in the unconscious. The impulses out of which this book was written can be considered collectively as one fundamental impulse or instinct that so far has produced only what is good—within certain limits, relatively good—because it is an excellent work of its kind. Many other things have been done out of this same instinct. I have only chosen this one example in the sphere of knowledge but one could also choose examples from life. Here, however, one would come into spheres where people are easily irritated.
Renan's book is written out of a fundamental impulse that tries to attain a specific object, namely, to observe purely externally what we know as man, to view him solely as he is when placed out into the world. I have chosen this example of the life of Jesus because, actuated by this instinct, Renan here approaches the most sacred personality of humanity and describes Him in such a way that He stands before us only as outer personality. Should it go on increasing indefinitely, where would this natural impulse eventually lead us? It would lead to a point where men would no longer be inclined to look into their own souls when they observe the world. Renan has gone so far that he no longer trusts himself to look into his own inner self when he speaks of Christ Jesus. He speaks only of the historic figure and endeavors to perceive Him externally. This comes from the instinct to lose oneself gradually in mankind and so come to see each person in the world only outwardly, no longer responding to what is reflected into one's soul from another human being.
Here, the natural impulse of primal phenomenon perception is carried to an extreme: The outer world is to be perceived without stirring the inner life in any way. The one-sided perfecting of this impulse aims at a human society in which people only see each other externally when they meet. In many respects the immediate present shows us how far the impulse has gone because it is already assumed today that people are to be understood less and less from their inner qualities of soul and more and more purely externally. The false cultivation of the idea of “nation,” in particular, stamps a man with nationality—an external condition when compared with the inner soul nature. He is then judged in accordance with this nationality and is thereby moulded in life so that he comes to be regarded only as belonging to a certain nation rather than for his own character and qualities. This is one of the forces that does great service to his natural impulse. By these means earthly humanity would tend to be enclosed increasingly within national boundaries, which would become impassable in the future. Thus, out of this first impulse, the picture of each human being arises as he stands merely externally in the world.
Now let us look at the other impulse. It would be such that through it one would consider inner experience only, paying no attention to the external man and perceiving only what can be lived through inwardly, what can be directly felt in the soul. If one makes this impulse a criterion of knowledge regarding the figure of Christ Jesus, then interest in the Jesus figure would naturally decline and would center only on the Christ being. Should this impulse spread, there would be no interest in Jesus as an historical figure but only in study of the Christ being. It is the opposite of the other impulse and it, too, is now striving to become general in earthly humanity. Should it succeed, people would pass one another by, each brooding inwardly over himself in a rich life of soul. They would pass each other without even feeling the need to understand the individual character of those around them. Everyone would only desire to live in the home of his own soul, as it were. In the sphere of knowledge this impulse inspired Soloviev in his treatment of the most sacred Being of humanity. He had interest only in the Christ and not for the historical Jesus.
You see the two extremes toward which modern man is tending. The one is the impulse, the instinct, only to view the world from outside, to carry the primal phenomenon to an extreme. The other is to conceive of the world only inwardly in free imaginations. All this is in its beginnings and up to the present has developed in admirable, beneficent ways, but it also has a strong tendency to become the reverse. Just as Renan's Life of Jesus is a masterpiece of external description, so are Soloviev's representations of the Christ Being the highest that could have been created in this sphere in the present day. They are wholesome impulses. Nevertheless, they represent the urge that, in its one-sided cultivation, would drive back each man into his own house.
In contrast, a knowledge must arise through the science of the spirit, a knowledge that can be embraced in two statements that I should especially like to inscribe into your souls today. The first is: A man can never come to a really good, upright, strong personal inner life without having the warmest interest in other men. All inner life that we seek remains false and seductive if it does not go hand in hand with a kindly interest in the character and qualities of other people. We ought straightway to take it for granted that we find ourselves inwardly as man when we take an interest in the characteristics of others. Entering with love into the individualities of other people, which is at times united with a deep experience of the tragedy of life, is what can bring us to self-knowledge. The self-knowledge we seek through delving into ourselves will never be true. We deepen our own inner nature by meeting other people with full interest. But this statement as it has now been expressed here, implies something that cannot be directly carried into effect because it must interact with the other statement.
The other statement is: We never gain a true knowledge of the outer world if we do not resolve to examine the universally human in ourselves and learn to know it. Therefore, all natural science of modern times will be a purely mechanical science and knowledge, not true but false, inverted, unless it is based on the knowledge of man. In the science that was described by me as “occult science” in the book An Outline of Occult Science, the knowledge of the outer world was sought for together with the knowledge of the human being. We find the inner through the outer, the outer through the inner.
I will bring forward next time what remains to be said regarding certain present-day phenomena as they come to light in other works such as the so-called Life of Jesus by David Friedrich Strauss. Today, I should only like to add that when, twice seven years ago, our impulse to form a theosophical movement began to work—the movement later became anthroposophical—the intention was that all the activity that went on in this movement would be founded on these two principles: The without should kindle self-knowledge; the within should teach knowledge of the world. In these two statements, or rather in their realization in the world, lies true spiritual insight into existence and the impulse to real human love, to a love filled with insight. A realization of what lies in these statements should be sought for through our Society. If in these twice seven years all had come to pass that has been striven for, if the opposing powers in our time, had not been strong enough to hinder many things, then today I should have been able to speak of certain secrets of existence quite differently from the way in which it is possible to do so. Then this Society would have become ripe enough for things to be said in its midst today that could be spoken nowhere else.
In that case, there would also be a guarantee that these secrets of existence would be safeguarded in the right way. What has happened in our Society has shown, however, that it is precisely in the matter of safeguarding things that it fails, fails through all manner of contrary interests that have attached themselves to the movement. There is really no longer a safeguard today—at least, no thorough safeguard that what is said among us is not made use of, and, as frequently has happened, clothed by many persons in such feelings, in any way they please in the outer world. Since this is so, when we examine the Society, we find that, in looking back over the twice seven years, in many respects it has remained behind. Such introspection should not lead to a loss of courage but it should lead us to be discontent with revelling in the possession of a certain degree of knowledge, and also to developing that deep earnestness in life that will lead us to accept truth in the form in which it must be communicated in our age. When it is possible for outstanding members of our movement who are writers to think in the manner revealed recently, then it is clear that other and deeper impulses must now awaken within the souls of those who find themselves in our Society than have awakened hitherto. We do not join together merely to possess agreeable facts of knowledge. Rather should it be that we unite together in order to carry on a sacred service to truth in the interest of mankind's evolution. Then, indeed, the right knowledge will come to us. Then these facts will not be restrained by all sorts of prejudices.
At any rate, let us receive at least into our hearts this ideal that perhaps even yet such a Society may arise as is necessary in the wide world of prejudice—a Society that permeates and interpenetrates our times. What I am saying is naturally not directed in the slightest degree toward anyone in particular, nor toward any single soul among us. Its intention is solely to emphasize the ideal of knowledge of our epoch, the ideal of the service of mankind we should recognize as necessary. With the same warmth with which I spoke here about eight days ago. I should like again today to stress what must not be forgotten in our circle, namely, that it is essential to modern humanity for a group of people to exist to whom it is possible to speak in the most open and candid manner of the whole content of truth that needs to be revealed today without stirring up prejudicial emotions! We must accept it as our Karma that enmity has lifted up its head in our circle, enmity from out of the unintelligent feelings, ideas and customs of the time. We should not be deceived for a moment: this is our karma. Then, from the very recognition of it the impulse for the right will arise. In particular, we must not so often forget as quickly as we do what we receive, nor let so much of what is put into concise sentences embracing truths separately explained, merely pass over us. Rather, let us preserve it all in our hearts. In our circle the longing to forget often what is most important of all, is widely diffused. So we have not yet become the living organic Society that we need, or rather that humanity needs. To achieve this it is necessary above all that we should acquire a memory for what we can learn through life in the Society.
Dritter Vortrag
Es ist außerordentlich schwierig, über die Verhältnisse zu sprechen, welche im vorigen Vortrage angedeutet worden sind, weil in der neueren Zeit, in unserer Zeit des materialistischen Denkens, vielfach die Vorstellungen und Begriffe dafür fehlen. Die muß man sich erst durch die Geisteswissenschaft aneignen. So kann es auch nur gewissermaßen andeutend sein, was mitgeteilt werden kann. Außerdem liegt ja - durch die ganze Entwickelung unserer neueren Kultur ist das bedingt - ein anderer Grund noch vor: der Grund, daß gegenüber den Verhältnissen, die sich für den neueren Menschen hinter der Erkenntnisschwelle verbergen, dieser neuere Mensch in seiner Gesamtheit etwas schwachmütig geworden ist. Man kann es nicht anders sagen, wenn man das Wort «feige» vermeiden will: er ist schwachmütig geworden. Der neuere Mensch möchte sich am liebsten recht wohlige Gefühle verschaffen durch die Erkenntnis. Das ist aber nicht immer möglich. Die Erkenntnis kann uns auch mit innigster Befriedigung erfüllen, wenn sie uns nicht gerade angenehme Sachen sagt, angenehme Dinge zeigt; denn diese nicht angenehmen Dinge gehören ja zur Wahrheit und über die Wahrheit sollte man in jedem Falle befriedigt sein; gewissermaßen auch über die schlimmsten Wahrheiten kann man ein erhebendes Gefühl empfangen. Aber dazu ist vielfach, wie gesagt, der moderne Mensch zu schwachmütig; er will Erhebung auf seine Art. Das hängt wiederum zusammen gerade mit den Geheimnissen des modernen Daseins, auf die durch solche Betrachtungen, wie die jetzt angestellten, gedeutet werden soll.
Der moderne Mensch kann die besonderen Fähigkeiten, von denen gestern gesprochen worden ist, die freien Imaginationen im Denken und Handeln und das urphänomenale Verhalten zur Welt im Denken und Handeln sich nur aneignen, wenn über gewisse Vorgänge, die sich auch abspielen, ein Schleier gebreiter ist, wenn sie sich nicht so ohne weiteres enthüllen. Und so liegt es denn auch in der Notwendigkeit der Evolution des fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraumes, daß der Mensch gewisse Dinge, die sich abspielen, die gewissermaßen hereinschlagen aus untersinnlichen und übersinnlichen Welten in unsere sinnliche Welt, nicht versteht. Die wichtigsten Ereignisse, die sich vor unseren Augen um uns herum abspielen, versteht ja der moderne Mensch gar nicht. Er ist gewissermaßen davor geschützt, diese Ereignisse zu verstehen, weil er nur unter diesem Schutze die angedeuteten zwei Fähigkeiten gehörig entwickeln kann. Nur sind bis zu unserem Zeitpunkte so weit die Grundlagen geschaffen, daß es weiter nicht geht, in der Evolution vorzuschreiten, ohne daß in gewissen vorsichtigen Weisen und Arten doch auf diese Dinge hingedeutet werde. Der moderne Mensch, wie er so mit seiner Seele miterlebt nicht nur das, was um ihn geschieht, sondern das, was er selbst tut, was er selbst verrichtet, der moderne Mensch hat in seiner Seele gewissermaßen nur schwache Reflexe dessen, was eigentlich vorgeht, schwache Reflexe dessen, was treibt und quillt in der untersinnlichen Natur, die höchstens zuweilen in erschreckenden Traumbildern, aber da auch nur schwach, dem modernen Menschen heraufschauern. Was da geschieht, das weiß der moderne Mensch nicht. Auch vom Übersinnlichen weiß er im normalen Zustande wenig. Unter dem, was wir in der Seele erfahren als moderne Menschen, liegt gewissermaßen etwas, das man nicht anders bezeichnen kann denn als eruptive Kräfte. Es ist gerade so, als ob das, was der moderne Mensch in seiner Seele erlebt, so wäre, daß man es vergleichen könnte mit der Welt, die man erlebt, wenn man auf einem ganz vulkanischen Boden steht. Da kann es zunächst ganz beruhigend ausschauen; aber man braucht nur ein Papier in die Hand zu nehmen und es anzuzünden, so quillt überall der Rauch heraus! Und würde man in diesem Rauch auch noch sehen, was da unten quirlt und brodelt, so würde man wissen, auf welchem Boden man eigentlich steht. So ist es auch mit dem modernen Leben. Da beobachten wir im modernen Leben, daß Ernest Renan sein «Leben Jesu» schreibt. Wir sehen es so, wie wir sehen über einer Solfatara die Landschaft. Wir sehen das, was David Friedrich Strauß schreibt, und beschreiben es so, wie wir es gestern beschrieben haben — zahm. Wir sehen, was Solowjow schreibt; wir beschreiben es, wie wir es gestern beschrieben haben —- zahm. Das ist alles zahm beschrieben; das ist alles so beschrieben, daß wir noch nicht angefangen haben, ein Papierschnitzelchen anzuzünden und zu sehen, was alles unter dem Boden lebt und wirkt an eruptiven Trieben der Menschheit.
Es ist mit dem, was ich da andeute, recht viel gesagt. Es muß nur ordentlich durchdacht werden, dann werden Sie schon sehen, daß viel gesagt ist damit. Also betrachten wir das, was wir gestern am Ende unserer Auseinandersetzungen beschrieben haben, so wie das Leben über einem Vulkan. Und es ist wiederum ganz im Sinne der Evolution gelegen, daß das so ist, daß wir wirklich die Dinge so zahm, so harmlos ansehen. Das ist gut, denn unter dieser Zahmheit, unter dieser Harmlosigkeit entwickeln sich eben die Fähigkeiten, die wir brauchen im fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum. Nur entwickeln sie sich nicht bewußt bei den meisten Menschen, und es muß danach getrachtet werden durch Geisteswissenschaft, daß sie sich auch bewußt entwickeln können. Daher muß zuweilen eben in vorsichtiger Art auf die Dinge hingedeutet werden, die man dann gewahrt, wenn man dieses Papierschnitzelchen eben anzündet. Warum ist das alles so? Sehen Sie, das alles ist so aus dem Grunde, weil ja mit unserer fünften nachatlantischen Kultur zunächst die ahrimanischen Kräfte doch etwas ganz anderes vorhaben. In der vierten nachatlantischen Kultur sind sie so enttäuscht worden durch die römische Evolution, wie wir das gestern und vorgestern beschrieben haben. Sie haben ihr Ziel nicht erreicht; sie haben ärgere Stürme daher vorbereitet für unseren fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum, weil sie wiederum ihr Ziel erreichen wollen.
Nun habe ich schon angedeutet, daß von zwei Seiten her auch lokal zum Ausdrucke kommt das, was wie Stürme hereinstoßen soll in unsere gewissermaßen zahme, friedliche, oder zur Zahmheit und Friedlichkeit bestimmte Evolution in der fünften nachatlantischen Zeit. Auf das eine habe ich gedeutet, indem ich gesagt habe, wie Dschingis-Khan inspiriert worden ist durch jenen Priester, der einen Nachkommen des Großen Geistes der alten Atlantis geschaut hat; auf der anderen Seite habe ich hingedeutet, wie eine gewisse ahrimanische Sturmkraft ausgegangen ist von dem Westen und überwunden worden ist in gewisser Beziehung durch all das, was sich an die Entdeckung Amerikas geschlossen hat, respektive in all dem als eine Widerstandskraft lebt. Man soll nur nicht glauben, daß die Dinge, die man nicht sieht, nicht vorhanden sind! Dadurch, daß das nicht zur äußeren physischen Erdenwirklichkeit gekommen ist, was eigentlich in Angriff genommen worden ist von den ahrimanischen Mächten auf der westlichen Halbkugel, dadurch ist unsere fünfte nachatlantische Kultur vor den ersten Stürmen gerettet. Aber es lebt fort, es lebt fort gewissermaßen in gespenstischer Art. Es ist da, es drängt sich hinein in die Triebe der Menschen. Nur wissen die Menschen nichts davon, daß es sich in diese Triebe hineinlebt, hineindrängt. Nun kann ich Ihnen eigentlich nur durch eine gewisse Aneinanderreihung von Bildern eine Grundlage für Vorstellungen geben, die Sie sich nach und nach durch Meditationen selber verschaffen müssen, denn nicht leicht würde ich Begriffe finden im gegenwärtigen Begriffsmaterial, um anzudeuten, was eigentlich in den Trieben der Menschen lebt, die unterschwellig sind und die in das gewöhnliche Seelenleben zwar stoßen und treiben, aber die bedeckt sind, die nicht geschaut werden, die nicht gesehen werden im modernen normalen Leben.
Auf dem Boden, der betreten worden ist durch die Entdeckung Amerikas, hatten sich ja allmählich im Laufe der Jahrhunderte, die verflossen sind, auf der westlichen Halbkugel ganz besondere Verhältnisse herausgebildet. Eine allgemeine Bevölkerung war dort, die weit entfernt war, diejenigen Eigenschaften auszubilden, die mittlerweile auf der östlichen Halbkugel, in Asien, in Europa, entwickelt worden sind. Eine den allgemeinen Denkfähigkeiten, die auf der östlichen Halbkugel sich ausgebildet haben, fernestehende Bevölkerung war dort, aber innerhalb dieser Bevölkerung eine große Anzahl von Menschen, die eingeweiht waren in gewisse Mysterien. Mysterien der allerverschiedensten Art gab es auf dieser westlichen Halbkugel vor der Entdeckung Amerikas, Mysterien, die breite Anhängerschaften für gewisse Lehren hatten, welche aus diesen Mysterien heraus kamen. Und gewissermaßen wie eine einheitliche Macht, der alles gehorchte, der alles folgte, wurde ein gespensterartiger Geist verehrt, ein Geist, der ein Nachkomme war des Großen Geistes der Atlantis, ein Geist, der aber allmählich einen ahrimanischen Charakter angenommen hatte, indem er mit all denjenigen Kräften wirken wollte, die in der Atlantis die richtigen waren, oder schon in der Atlantis ahrimanische waren. So wollte er wirken. Wenn der Atlantier von seinem Großen Geiste sprach, so drückte er das aus, wie schon angedeutet worden ist in unseren Betrachtungen, in dem Worte, das ähnlich klang dem noch in China erhaltenen Worte Tao. Und eine ahrimanische Karikatur, ein ahrimanischer Widerpart, Gegner dieses Großen Geistes Tao, der aber doch mit ihm verwandt war, der wirkte so, daß er nur vor dem atavistisch-visionären Schauen sichtbar werden konnte, aber den Leuten, die namentlich in Beziehung standen zu den weit ausgebreiteten Mysterien dieses Geistes, auch immer, wenn sie ihn haben wollten, erschien, so daß sie seine Aufträge und seine Gebote empfangen konnten. Diesen Geist nannte man mit einem Worte, das so ähnlich klang: Taotl. [* Hinweis S. 362 beachten.] Das war also eine ahrimanische Abart des Großen Geistes, Taotl, eine mächtige, nicht bis zur physischen Inkarnation kommende Wesenheit.
In die Mysterien des Taotl wurden viele eingeweiht. Aber die Einweihung war durchaus eine solche, die einen ahrimanischen Charakter trug; denn diese Einweihung hatte einen ganz bestimmten Zweck, ein ganz bestimmtes Ziel. Sie hatte das Ziel, alles Erdenleben, auch das Erdenleben der Menschen, so weit zu erstarren, zu mechanisieren, daß über diesem Erdenleben der ja schon in verschiedener Weise in diesen Betrachtungen angedeutete besondere luziferische Planet angelegt werden könnte, daß die Seelen der Menschen herausgebracht würden; herausgepreßt werden sollten sie. Das, was in der römischen Kultur durch die ahrimanischen Mächte in der gestern angedeuteten Weise versucht worden ist, war nur ein schwacher nachatlantischer Nachklang desjenigen, was durch furchtbarste magische Künste erreicht werden sollte in einem viel umfänglicheren Maße von denjenigen, welche unter der Führung des Taotl standen. Ein ganz auf Ertötung jeder Selbständigkeit, jeder Seelenregung von innen heraus gerichtetes allgemeines ErdenTodesreich, könnte man sagen, sollte erstrebt werden, und in den Mysterien des Taotl sollten diejenigen Kräfte erworben werden, welche den Menschen befähigten, ein solches ganz mechanisiertes Erdenreich herzustellen. Dazu hätte man vor allem kennen müssen die großen kosmischen Geheimnisse, alle die großen kosmischen Geheimnisse, die sich beziehen auf dasjenige, was wirkt und lebt im Weltenall und seine Wirkungen äußert im Erdendasein. Diese Weisheit vom Kosmos, die ist im Grunde genommen in allen guten und schlechten Mysterien ja immer dem Wortlaute nach dieselbe, weil die Wahrheit immer dieselbe ist. Es handelt sich nur darum, sie in solcher Weise zu bekommen, daß sie entweder in gutem oder in schlechtem Sinne gewendet wird.
Die Weisheit nun von dem Kosmos, die an sich keine schlechte war, die in sich sogar heilige Geheimnisse enthielt, diese Weisheit wurde sorgfältig von den Initiierten des Taotl verborgen. Sie wurde niemandem mitgeteilt anders als dadurch, daß er eben im richtigen Sinne in der Taotl-Manier initiiert worden ist. Es handelte sich also darum, daß jemand in der richtigen Weise initiiert werden mußte; dann wurde ihm erst als Lehre mitgeteilt, was die Geheimnisse des Kosmos sind. Nun handelte es sich darum, diese Geheimnisse durch Initiation in einer ganz bestimmten Seelenverfassung zu erhalten, in einer solchen Seelenverfassung, daß man in sich die Neigung, die Sympathie dazu verspürte, diese Geheimnisse so zu verwenden auf der Erde, daß sie dieses mechanische, starre Todesreich auf der Erde aufrichteten. So sollte man sie bekommen. Und man bekam sie, man empfing sie in einer besonderen Weise: Keinem wurde die Weisheit mitgeteilt, der nicht vorher in einer gewissen Art einen Mord begangen hatte. Und zwar wurden ihm beim ersten Mord nur gewisse Geheimnisse mitgeteilt. Erst bei folgenden Morden wurden ihm weitere und höhere Geheimnisse mitgeteilt. Die Morde mußten aber auch unter ganz bestimmten Bedingungen begangen werden. Derjenige, der gemordet werden sollte, der wurde auf einen Aufbau gelegt, der so eingerichtet war, daß man durch ein oder zwei Stufen von allen Seiten zu einer Art von katafalkartiger Vorrichtung kam, die oben abgerundet war, so daß, wenn man den betreffenden zu Ermordenden darauf legte, er im Rücken stark gekrümmt wurde, und durch das besondere Anschnüren an jene Vorrichtung wurde ihm der Magen herausgetrieben. So wurde ihm der Magen herausgetrieben, daß mit einem Schnitt, zu dem der betreffende Einzuweihende vorbereitet worden ist, der Magen ausgeschnitten werden konnte.
Diese Art des Mordes erzeugte ganz bestimmte Gefühle, und diese Gefühle, die erregten die Empfindungen, welche fähig machten, die Weisheit, die dem Betreffenden später mitgeteilt wurde, in der angedeuteten Weise zu verwenden. Wenn dann der Magen ausgeschnitten worden war, so wurde er dem Gotte Taotl geopfert, wiederum unter ganz besonderen Zeremonien. Das bewirkte, daß die Initiierten dieser Mysterien in einer ganz bestimmten Absicht lebten, in der Absicht eben, die ich Ihnen angedeutet habe. Das bewirkte ganz bestimmte Gefühlsrichtungen. Wenn die Betreffenden, die initiiert werden sollten, reif waren auf diesem Initiationswege, dann erfuhren sie auch, um was es sich handelte; dann erfuhren sie, wie die Wechselwirkung war zwischen dem also Ermordeten und demjenigen, der initiiert worden war. Der also Ermordete, der sollte dadurch vorbereitet werden in seiner Seele, in das luziferische Reich hinaufzustreben, und derjenige, der initiiert werden sollte, sollte die Weisheit bekommen, diese Erdenwelt so zu gestalten, daß die Seelen aus ihr vertrieben werden. Und dadurch, daß eine Verbindung geschaffen war zwischen dem Ermordeten und dem Initiierten — nicht Mörder, kann man sagen, sondern Initiierten -, dadurch war dann die Möglichkeit gegeben, daß der Initiierte mitgenommen wurde von der anderen Seele, also selber im rechten Augenblicke die Erde verlassen konnte.
Es sind ja, wie Sie wohl ohne weiteres zugeben werden, diese Mysterien solche der allerempörendsten Art, solche, die eben nur einer Anschauung entsprechen, die man im vollsten Sinne eine ahrimanische nennen kann. Gewisse Empfindungen sollten dadurch auf der Erde erzeugt werden. Nun, selbstverständlich würde die Evolution der Erde nicht fortgehen, wenn auf einem beträchtlichen Teile der Erde Menschlichkeit und Sinn für Menschlichkeit ganz aussterben würde. Deshalb starb auch hier der Sinn für Menschlichkeit nicht ganz aus, und es wurden einzelne andere Mysterien begründet, welche dazu bestimmt waren, den Ausschreitungen dieser Mysterien entgegenzuarbeiten. Das waren die Mysterien, in denen ein Wesen lebte, das nicht bis zur fleischlichen Inkarnation kam, das aber wiederum von den ja mit gewissem atavistischem Hellsehen befähigten Menschen geschaut werden konnte, wenn die Betreffenden ordentlich vorbereitet worden sind durch die Mysterien dieses Wesens. Und dieses Wesen war Tezkatlipoka. So nannte man es; ein Wesen, das durch seine Eigenart etwas verwandt war — obwohl es zu einer viel niedrigeren Hierarchie gehörte - dem Jahve-Gott, und das da auf der anderen Hälfte der Erde entgegenwirkte diesen scheußlichen Mysterien, von denen gesprochen worden ist.
Die Lehren des Tezkatlipoka drangen sehr bald aus den Mysterien heraus und wurden exoterisch verbreitet, so daß in dieser Welt die Lehren des Tezkatlipoka eigentlich die exoterischesten waren, dagegen die des Taotl die esoterischesten waren, weil man nur eben auf die beschriebene Art hineinkam. Aber die ahrimanischen Mächte versuchten, die Menschheit gewissermaßen — jetzt spreche ich das so, wie es Ahriman denkt - zu retten vor dem Gotte Tezkatlipoka. Und daher wurde dem Tezkatlipoka ein anderer Geist entgegengesetzt, der für die westliche Halbkugel viel Ähnlichkeit hat mit dem Geiste, den Goethe als Mephistopheles beschrieben hat. Es ist ein Verwandter von ihm. Er wurde dort bezeichnet mit einem Worte, das so ähnlich klang wie Quetsalkoatl. Quertsalkoatl war also ein Geist — wir müssen uns ihn in das andere Milieu hineinversetzt denken -, welcher für dieses andere Milieu eben ähnlich war dem viel seelischer auftretenden Mephistopheles. Dieser Geist Quetsalkoatl, der auch nie unmittelbar inkarniert erschien, der hatte zu seinem Symbolum etwas Ähnliches wie es auf der östlichen Halbkugel der Merkurstab war, und er war zugleich auf dieser westlichen Halbkugel der Geist, welcher durch gewisse magische Kräfte bösartige Krankheiten austeilen konnte, bösartige Krankheiten, die er über diejenigen bringen konnte, die er verderben wollte, weil er sie losmachen wollte von dem verhältnismäßig guten Gotte Tezkatlipoka. Durch solche Dinge wurden hier die scharfen Stöße vorbereitet, die von ahrimanischer Seite allmählich in die Welt der menschlichen Triebe hineingebohrt werden sollten.
Nun ereignete sich in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkte dieses, daß ein Wesen geboren wurde, welches sich einebestimmte Aufgabe setzte innerhalb dieser Kultur, ein Wesen, das im heutigen Mittelamerika geboren wurde. Die Mexikaner, die alten Ureinwohner von Mexiko, knüpften an das Dasein dieses Wesens eine bestimmte Anschauung. Sie sagten, dieses Wesen sei dadurch zur Welt gekommen, daß eine Jungfrau es als Sohn bekommen habe, eine Jungfrau, welche in Jungfrauenschaft es empfangen hat durch überirdische Mächte, dadurch, daß ein gefiedertes Wesen der Befruchter dieser Jungfrau war, ein aus dem Himmel gekommenes gefiedertes Wesen. Wenn man mit den okkulten Mitteln, die einem zur Verfügung stehen, den Dingen nachgeht, so sieht man, wie dieses Wesen, dem die Altmexikaner Jungfrauengeburt zuschrieben, ungefähr ein Lebensalter von dreiunddreißig Jahren erreichte, und es wurde geboren ungefähr um das Jahr 1 unserer Zeitrechnung. Dies ergibt sich, wie gesagt, wenn man mit okkulten Mitteln den Dingen nachgeht. Und es stellte sich eine ganz bestimmte Aufgabe.
Es war damals nämlich in Mittelamerika ein schon durch seine Geburt zum hohen Initiierten des Taotl bestimmter Mensch geboren. Dieser zum hohen Initiierten bestimmte Mensch hatte eben schon in seinen vorhergehenden irdischen Inkarnationen Initiationen erreicht auf die angegebene Weise, und dadurch, daß er viele Male, sehr viele Male wiederholt hat die Ihnen beschriebene und nicht weiter zu wiederholende Prozedur des Magenausschneidens, dadurch war er allmählich mit einem hohen irdisch-überirdischen Wissen ausgerüstet worden. Es war dieses einer der allergrößten, wenn nicht der größte schwarze Magier, den die Erde jemals über sich hat schreiten sehen, derjenige schwarze Magier, der sich daher die größten Geheimnisse angeeignet hat, die es auf diesem Wege anzueignen gibt. Er stand unmittelbar vor einer großen Entscheidung, als das Jahr 30 heranrückte, vor der großen Entscheidung, durch fortdauernde Initiation wirklich als einzelne Menschenindividualität so mächtig zu werden, daß er das Grundgeheimnis gekannt hätte, durch das er der folgenden menschlichen Erdenevolution einen solchen Anstoß hätte geben können, daß wirklich die Menschheit im vierten und fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum so verfinstert worden wäre, daß zustande gekommen wäre das, was die ahrimanischen Mächte für diese Zeiträume angestrebt haben. Da begann zwischen ihm und jenem Wesen, dem eine Jungfrauengeburt zugeschrieben worden ist, ein Kampf, von dem man wiederum findet, wenn man nachforscht, daß er drei Jahre gedauert hat, ein Kampf zwischen jenem Wesen, dem Jungfrauengeburt zugeschrieben wird, und diesem übermächtigen Magier. Dieses Wesen, dem die Jungfrauengeburt zugeschrieben wird, trägt ungefähr den Namen, wenn man ihn versucht nachzubilden in unserer Sprache: Vitzliputzli. Vitzliputzli ist also ein Menschenwesen. Von allen diesen Wesen, die sonst nur gespenstig herumgingen, so daß sie nur durch atavistisches Hellsehen geschaut werden konnten, war dieses Wesen Vitzliputzli wirklich Mensch geworden durch die Jungfrauengeburt, die man ihm zugeschrieben hat. Der dreijährige Kampf endete damit, daß Vitzliputzli imstande war, den großen Magier kreuzigen zu lassen, und durch die Kreuzigung nicht nur seinen Leib zu vertilgen, sondern auch seine Seele zu bannen, so daß sie ohnmächtig wurde in ihrem Schaffen, so daß das Wissen ohnmächtig wurde, das Wissen getötet wurde, das sich dieser mächtige Magier des Taotl angeeignet hatte.
Auf diese Weise hat sich Vitzliputzli die Fähigkeit erworben, alle diejenigen Seelen, die auf die angedeutete Weise schon den Drang erhalten haben, Luzifer zu folgen und die Erde zu verlassen, wiederum für das Erdenleben zu gewinnen, ihnen wiederum den Trieb zum Erdenleben, zur folgenden Inkarnation einzuimpfen durch den mächtigen Sieg, den er über den großen schwarzen Magier davongetragen hatte.
So lebt fort nicht das, was fortgelebt haben würde von diesen Gegenden her, wenn die Mysterien des Taotl ihre Früchte getragen hätten, sondern es lebt fort gleichsam nur in der ätherischen Welt das, was an Kräften, an Nachkräften geblieben ist von dem Treiben, das in diesen Mysterien war. Alle diese Kräfte sind vorhanden; sie sind untersinnlich vorhanden, und sie gehören zu dem, von dem ich Ihnen sagte, man würde es schauen, wenn man im geistigen Leben ebenso es machen könnte, wie über einer Solfatara das Papier anzuzünden. Es ist da, es ist gewissermaßen unter der Vulkandecke des gewöhnlichen Lebens da. So daß hineinspielt in all das, was den fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum bildet, in bezug auf die Seelenentwickelung des Menschen auf der einen Seite das, was von dem Inspirator des Dschingis-Khan kam, und auf der anderen Seite das, was als das Gespenst der Vorgänge nachwirkt, die sich auf der westlichen Halbkugel vollzogen haben und die nur noch in schwachen Nachklängen vorhanden waren, als die Europäer Amerika entdeckten. Aber es weiß ja sogar die Geschichte, daß noch viele Europäer, die den Boden Amerikas, den Boden Mexikos betraten, dadurch ermordet worden sind, daß sie von der dortigen schon in Dekadenz befindlichen Priesterschaft, die nicht mehr so schlimm war wie die alte, auf solche Weise den Magen ausgeschnitten bekamen, wie ich sie geschildert habe. Vielen Europäern, die den Boden Mexikos nach der Entdeckung Amerikas betreten haben, ist das auf diese Weise passiert, das weiß ja sogar auch die Geschichte.
In Vitzliputzli verehrten diese Leute also ein Sonnenwesen, welches von einer Jungfrau geboren ist auf die Weise, wie ich es beschrieben habe und von dem man findet, wenn man den Dingen mit okkulten Mitteln nachgeht, daß es der unbekannte Zeitgenosse des Mysteriums von Golgatha auf der westlichen Halbkugel war.
Man kann ja diese Dinge auch so beschreiben - abstrakt -, wie es die Oberflächlinge der Gegenwart machen, daß sie gewissermaßen nicht weh tun; aber will man ein wirkliches Erkennen, dann muß man das Konkrete, das vorgegangen ist, schon wenigstens mit einem flüchtigen Blick streifen, wie wir es heute gestreift haben. Ja, wenn wir diese moderne Menschenseele betrachten, so sehen wir, wie sie nach unten, zum Untersinnlichen hin, nach oben, zum Übersinnlichen hin, starken, großen Gefahren ausgesetzt ist, wie da die Kräfte hereinspielen, die nur unbewußt bleiben. Und es ist gut, daß sie unbewußt bleiben, weil sich nur dadurch der fünfte nachatlantische Zeitraum entwickeln kann. Gelüftet muß der Schleier nur werden, damit, nachdem seit der Entdeckung Amerikas genügend Zeit verflossen ist, zu der Unbewußtheit auch die Bewußtheit eintreten kann; denn sonst würden, wenn nicht die Bewußtheit eintreten würde nach und nach, diese Kräfte übermächtig werden, und es würden Bedingungen, die verhältnismäßig zur Wohltat der Menschheit entstanden sind in der Zeit der Unbewußtheit, umschlagen und würden zum Fluch der Menschheit werden. Denn manches ist wirklich darauf angelegt, zum Fluch der Menschheit zu werden, das, so wie es entstanden ist von dieser oder jener Seite her, allerdings zur Wohltat der Menschheit geworden ist.
Ich wollte Ihnen durch das heute Geschilderte andeuten, was da unten unter der Oberfläche brodelt und quillt. Und nun verlassen wir diese unterirdische Gegend und gehen wiederum zum Oberirdischen, ohne daß wir irgendwie gleich unmittelbar eine Gedankenverbindung hervorrufen wollen - die können wir später einmal hervorrufen — zwischen den beiden Reichen. Betrachten wir jetzt einmal die Frage: Wie ist denn dieses ausgezeichnete, genialische «Leben Jesu» von Ernest Renan geschrieben? Es ist so geschrieben, daß wir einen Jesus vor uns haben, der als ein Mensch über die Erde wandelt, wie ich es gestern beschrieben habe. Solch eine geniale Persönlichkeit wie Ernest Renan ist sich nicht bewußt, aus welchen Gründen heraus sie gerade ein solches «Leben Jesu» schreibt. Es ist so etwas aus ganz bestimmten Trieben heraus geschrieben; aber die Triebe bleiben im Unbewußten. Diese Triebe, aus denen Ernest Renans «Leben Jesu» geschrieben ist, man kann sie zusammenfassen als einen Grundtrieb, der bisher nur Gutes hervorgebracht hat, in gewissen Grenzen relativ Gutes; denn das «Leben Jesu» von Ernest Renan ist zum Beispiel in seiner Art ein ausgezeichnetes Werk. Aber vieles ist gemacht worden aus demselben Grundtrieb heraus. Ich habe nur das eine Erkenntnisbeispiel gewählt; man könnte auch Lebensbeispiele wählen, nur würde man da auf Gebiete kommen, welche die Menschen sehr irritieren. Aus dem Grundtriebe heraus, der zu etwas ganz Bestimmtem sich hinentwickeln will, ist so etwas geschrieben, aus dem Grundtrieb heraus, das, was sich als Mensch kundgibt, nur äußerlich anzuschauen, nur so anzuschauen, wie es sich äußerlich in die Welt hineinsteilt. Ich habe dieses Beispiel des «Lebens Jesu» aus dem Grunde gewählt, weil Ernest Renan aus diesem Grundtriebe heraus sich gerade an die geheiligteste Persönlichkeit der Menschheit heranmacht und diese aus diesem Grundtriebe heraus so schildert, daß sie nur als äußere Persönlichkeit vor uns steht.
Wohin würde dieser Grundtrieb endlich führen, wenn er sich immer mehr und mehr steigern würde? Er würde dahin führen, daß die Menschen nicht mehr die Neigung haben würden, in ihre eigenen Seelen zu schauen, wenn sie die Welt betrachten. Denn Ernest Renan ist ja schon so weit, nicht mehr sich zu getrauen, in sein eigenes Innere zu schauen, wenn er von dem Christus Jesus spricht. Er spricht nur von der historischen Figur und sucht sie äußerlich anzuschauen. Das kommt aus dem Grundtrieb, uns allmählich als Menschheit so zu verlieren, daß wir jeden Menschen auf der Welt nur äußerlich anschauen, daß wir nicht mehr miterleben, was sich von dem Menschen in unserer eigenen Seele spiegelt. Der Grundtrieb des urphänomenalen Anschauens ist zum Extrem gebracht; der eine Grundtrieb ist zum Extrem gebracht: Die Außenwelt soll angeschaut werden, ohne daß das Innere irgendwie rege gemacht wird. Die einseitige Ausbildung dieses Triebes strebt nach einem menschlichen Verkehr, der so die anderen Menschen ansieht, daß er eben alles nur äußerlich ansieht. In vieler Beziehung zeigt uns gerade unsere unmittelbare Gegenwart, wie weit es mit diesem Triebe gekommen ist, wie die Menschen immer mehr und mehr nur aufgefaßt werden sollen nicht nach ihrem Seelischen, sondern nach ihrem Außerlichen. Und gerade die falsche Ausbildung der Nationalideen, die die Nationalität, die dem Seelenhaften gegenüber etwas Außerliches ist, dem Menschen aufprägt und ihn nur nach dem beurteilen will, ihn gewissermaßen so ausgestalten will im Leben, daß er nur noch als Angehöriger der Nationalität aufgefaßt wird, nicht seinem Innern nach, das ist eine der Kräfte, die diesem Grundtrieb ganz besonders dient. Dadurch würde die Erdenmenschheit immer mehr und mehr sich innerhalb nationaler Grenzen abschließen, und es würde in der Zukunft niemals diese nationale Grenze überschritten werden können.
Aus diesem Grundtriebe heraus also entsteht das Bild eines jeden Menschen nur, wie er äußerlich sich hineinstellt in die Welt, wenn dieser Grundtrieb sich in der Erkenntnis auslebt. Nun betrachten wir den anderen Grundtrieb. Der andere Grundtrieb, der entgegengesetzte Grundtrieb würde darinnen bestehen, daß man nur die inneren Erlebnisse ins Feld führt, gar nicht den Blick auf den äußeren Menschen richtet, sondern nur auf die inneren Erlebnisse, das nur anschaut, was man innerlich erleben kann, was man in der Seele unmittelbar erlebt. Wenn man diesen Trieb zur Erkenntnisfrage macht mit Bezug auf die Gestalt des Christus Jesus, da müßte natürlich das Interesse für die Jesus-Gestalt wegfallen, denn die Jesus-Gestalt kann nach Renanscher Weise nur äußerlich erforscht werden, und es würde das Interesse nicht haften an der Jesus-Gestalt, sondern nur an der Christus-Wesenheit. Da wird man kein Interesse haben an der Jesus-Gestalt als historische Figur, sondern nur für die Christus-Wesenheit. Wenn dieser Trieb, der der entgegengesetzte des zuerst geschilderten ist, der auch nun strebt, allgemein in der Erdenmenschheit zu werden, wenn der sich ausbreiten würde, dann würden wiederum die Menschen nebeneinander hergehen, jeder in seinem Innern ein reiches Seelenleben brodelnd haben, aber sie würden aneinander vorbeigehen, ohne auch nur das Bedürfnis zu haben, die Menschen, die um sie herum sind, irgendwie in ihrer Eigenart aufzufassen. Es würde jeder nur gewissermaßen in seinem eigenen Seelenhause leben wollen. Auf Erkenntnisgebieten der geheiligtsten Wesenheit der Menschlichkeit gegenüber lebt sich wiederum dieser Trieb bei Solowjow aus, der nur das Interesse für die Christus-Wesenheit hat, nicht für die historische Jesus-Figur.
Sie sehen, nach welchen beiden Extremen die moderne Menschheit hintendiert. Sie tendiert nach zwei Extremen hin. Das eine ist der Trieb, die Welt nur von außen anzuschauen, das Urphänomenale ins Extreme zu treiben; das andere ist, die Welt nur in freien Imaginationen innerlich zu erfassen. Das alles ist im Anfange, hat sich bisher in wohltätiger, schöner Weise ausgebildet; aber das alles strebt danach, verkehrt zu werden. Geradeso, wie in bezug auf äußerliche Schilderung Renans «Leben Jesu» ein Meisterwerk ist, sind die Solowjowschen Darstellungen der Christus-Wesenheit das Höchste, was auf diesem Gebiete in der Gegenwart hat geschaffen werden können. Es sind wohltätige Impulse, aber sie entspringen dem Trieb, der in seiner einseitigen Ausbildung jeden Menschen in sein eigenes Haus zurücktreiben würde.
Demgegenüber muß eine Erkenntnis gerade durch die Geisteswissenschaft Platz greifen, eine Erkenntnis, die zusammengefaßt werden kann in zwei Sätze, die ich Ihnen heute ganz besonders in die Seele schreiben möchte. Der eine Satz ist der, daß der Mensch niemals zu einem wirklichen guten, rechten, starken persönlichen Innenleben kommen kann, ohne daß er das wärmste Interesse hat für andere Menschen. Alles Innenleben, das wir suchen, bleibt falsch, bleibt ein versucherisches, wenn es nicht einhergeht mit einem liebevollen Interesse für die Eigenarten der anderen Menschen. Wir sollen geradezu voraussetzen, daß wir uns innerlich finden als Menschen, wenn wir Interesse haben für die Eigenarten der anderen Menschen. Liebevolles Eingehen auf die Individualitäten anderer Menschen — was zuweilen verbunden ist im Leben mit einer argen Lebenstragik -, nur das ist dasjenige, was uns zur Selbsterkenntnis bringen kann. Und Selbsterkenntnis, die wir durch Selbstgrübelei suchen, wird niemals eine richtige Selbsterkenntnis sein. Also unser Inneres vertiefen wir im interessevollen Verkehr mit den anderen Menschen. Aber dieser Satz ist, so wie er ausgesprochen wird, etwas andeutend, was nicht unmittelbar ausgeführt werden kann, weil es in unmittelbarer Wechselwirkung stehen muß mit einem anderen. Wir erlangen niemals nämlich eine richtige Erkenntnis der Außenwelt, wenn wir uns nicht dazu entschließen, das Menschliche, das Allgemeinmenschliche in uns selber zu erforschen, in uns selber kennenzulernen. Daher wird alle Naturerkenntnis der modernen Zeit eine bloß mechanische, nicht wahre, sondern falsche, verkehrte sein, die nicht so fußt auf einer Erkenntnis des Menschen, wie die Wissenschaft, die von mir als Geheimwissenschaft beschrieben worden ist in dem Buch «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß», wo mit der Erkenntnis des Menschen die Erkenntnis der Außenwelt gesucht wird. Das Innere finden wir im Äußeren, das Äußere finden wir im Inneren.
Was mit Bezug auf gewisse Zeiterscheinungen dann weiter zu sagen ist für andere Schöpfungen, die wir auch schon berührt haben, wie zum Beispiel das sogenannte «Leben Jesu» von David Friedrich Strauß, darüber will ich dann ein nächstes Mal sprechen. Heute möchte ich nur sagen, daß, als vor zweimal sieben Jahren begonnen worden ist mit unserem Impuls einer theosophischen Bewegung, die dann die anthroposophische geworden ist, daran gedacht worden ist, daß durch alles das, was in dieser Bewegung fließt, ganz besonders im Sinne dieser zwei Sätze gewirkt werde: Alles Äußere soll entzünden Selbsterkenntnis; das Innere soll lehren Welterkenntnis. In diesen Sätzen, beziehungsweise in ihrer Verwirklichung in der Welt, liegt wahre geistige Einsicht in das Dasein und liegen die Impulse zu wirklicher Menschenliebe, zu sehender Menschenliebe. Und eine Verwirklichung desjenigen, was in diesen Sätzen liegt, sollte gesucht werden durch unsere Gesellschaft. Wäre in den zweimal sieben Jahren all das zustande gekommen, was angestrebt worden ist, wären nicht die gegenteiligen Mächte in unserer Zeit noch stark genug gewesen, vieles zu verhindern, dann würde ich heute ganz anders noch sprechen können über gewisse Geheimnisse des Daseins, als gesprochen werden kann. Dann würde diese Gesellschaft reif geworden sein, daß in ihrem Schoße heute Dinge ausgesprochen werden könnten, die sonst nirgends ausgesprochen werden könnten. Aber es würde dann auch eine Garantie dafür vorhanden sein, daß diese Geheimnisse des Daseins in der richtigen Weise bewahrt würden. Die Vorgänge in unserer Gesellschaft haben aber gezeigt, daß gerade mit Bezug auf das Bewahren die Dinge nicht gehen, nicht gehen durch die mannigfaltigsten Gegengewichte, die sich der Bewegung angehängt haben. Denn da wirklich heute kein Schutz mehr vorhanden ist, wenigstens kein durchdringender Schutz dafür, daß das, was bei uns gesagt wird, in beliebiger Weise, in der Ihnen ja auch bekannten Weise verwendet wird draußen in der Welt, wie es von manchen Leuten verwendet wird, und eingehüllt wird in solche Gefühle, wie es von seiten mancher Leute geschieht, so zeigt sich darinnen im Hinblick auf die zweimal sieben Jahre, daß in gewisser Weise die Gesellschaft hinter dem, was angestrebt werden mußte, in mancher Beziehung zurückgeblieben ist. Solch eine Einsicht soll uns nicht zur Mutlosigkeit führen, aber sie solluns dazu führen, nicht bloß schwelgen zu wollen in gewissen Erkenntnissen, sondern Lebensernst genug entwickeln zu wollen, um die Wahrheit in der Gestalt aufzunehmen, in der sie gerade in unserer Zeit eigentlich mitgeteilt werden müßte. Wenn es möglich ist, daß hervorragende schriftstellernde Mitglieder unserer Bewegung so denken, wie es sich in der letzten Zeit gezeigt hat, dann ist es eben klar, daß erst noch andere, tiefere Impulse in den Seelen derjenigen Menschen aufwachen müssen, die sich innerhalb unserer Gesellschaft befinden, als bisher aufgewacht sind. Nicht bloß, um angenehme Erkenntnisse zu haben, sollen wir uns verbinden, sondern um einen heiligen Dienst der Wahrheit im Interesse der Evolution der Menschheit zu leisten. Dann werden schon die rechten Erkenntnisse unskommen; dann werden nicht durch allerlei Vorurteile diese Erkenntnisse zurückgedämmt werden.
Und so wollen wir wenigstens in unsere Herzen das Ideal aufnehmen, daß doch vielleicht eine solche Gesellschaft auch entstehen könne, welche notwendig ist in der allgemeinen Welt der Vorurteile, die unsere Zeit durchsetzt und durchsaugt. Das, was ich sage, richtet sich natürlich nicht im geringsten an irgendeine einzelne Seele unter uns; nicht im allergeringsten richtend wendet es sich an irgendeine einzelne Seele, ‚sondern lediglich darauf ist es gerichtet, das Ideal der Erkenntnis unserer Zeit zu betonen, das Ideal jenes Menschheitsdienstes, den wir als notwendig erkennen sollten. Und ebenso warm, wie ich vor etwa acht Tagen hier gesprochen habe, möchte ich auch heute wiederum betonen, daß nicht vergessen werden möge in unserem Kreise, daß der Menschheit in der Gegenwart notwendig ist ein Kreis von Menschen, zu dem in unbefangenster Weise von dem ganzen heute zu offenbarenden Wahrheitsgehalt gesprochen werden kann, ohne daß sich dagegen vorurteilsvolle Emotionen erheben. Wir müssen es als unser Karma hinnehmen, daß sich in unserem Kreise Feindschaft erhoben hat, Feindschaft erhoben hat, Feindschaft aus dem unverständigen Zeitgefühl und den unverständigen Zeitideen, Zeitemotionen heraus; aber wir sollten uns auch keinen Augenblick einer Täuschung darüber hingeben, daß dieses Karma eben das unsere ist. Dann wird uns aus dieser Erkenntnis heraus der Impuls für das Rechte aufgehen. Und namentlich sollen wir nicht so vieles, was wir aufnehmen, so schnell, als es geschieht, vergessen, so vieles von dem, wo sich in einzelnen überragenden Sätzen zusammenschließen die sonst auseinandergelegten Wahrheiten; wir sollen sie nicht bloß an uns vorüberziehen lassen, sondern sie in unseren Herzen bewahren. In unserem Kreise ist so viel verbreitet die Sehnsucht, zu vergessen, gerade oft das Wichtigste zu vergessen. Und so sind wir noch nicht der lebendige Gesellschaftsorganismus geworden, den wir brauchen, beziehungsweise den die Menschheit braucht. Dazu ist vor allen Dingen notwendig, daß wir uns Gedächtnis aneignen für das, was wir durch das Leben in der Gesellschaft lernen können.
Third Lecture
It is extremely difficult to speak about the conditions that were indicated in the previous lecture, because in recent times, in our age of materialistic thinking, the ideas and concepts for this are largely lacking. These must first be acquired through spiritual science. Thus, what can be communicated can only be indicated in a certain sense. Besides, there's another reason for this, which is due to the whole development of our modern culture: the fact that modern people have become a bit weak-minded when it comes to things that are hidden from their awareness. You can't say it any other way if you want to avoid the word “cowardly”: they've become weak-minded. The modern human being would prefer to obtain pleasant feelings through knowledge. But that is not always possible. Knowledge can also fill us with the deepest satisfaction, even if it does not tell us pleasant things or show us pleasant things; for these unpleasant things are part of the truth, and one should always be satisfied with the truth; in a sense, even the worst truths can give us an uplifting feeling. But, as I said, modern people are often too weak-minded for that; they want elevation in their own way. This, in turn, is connected precisely with the mysteries of modern existence, which are to be interpreted by such considerations as those now being made.
Modern man can only acquire the special abilities mentioned yesterday, the free imagination in thought and action and the primordial phenomenal behavior toward the world in thought and action, if a veil is spread over certain processes that are also taking place, if they do not reveal themselves so readily. And so it is also necessary for the evolution of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch that human beings do not understand certain things that take place, that strike, as it were, from sub-sensible and super-sensible worlds into our sensible world. Modern man does not understand the most important events that are taking place before our eyes and around us. He is, in a sense, protected from understanding these events because it is only under this protection that he can properly develop the two abilities mentioned above. However, at the present time, the foundations have been laid to such an extent that it is not possible to progress further in evolution without pointing to these things in certain cautious ways and forms. Modern human beings, as they experience with their souls not only what is happening around them, but also what they themselves are doing, what they themselves are accomplishing, have in their souls only weak reflections of what is actually going on, weak reflections of what is stirring and surging in the sub-sensible nature, which at most occasionally appear in frightening dream images, but even then only faintly. what is actually going on, weak reflections of what drives and wells up in the sub-sensible nature, which at most occasionally appear to modern man in frightening dream images, but even then only faintly. Modern man does not know what is happening there. In his normal state, he also knows little about the supersensible. Beneath what we experience in our souls as modern human beings lies something that can only be described as eruptive forces. It is as if what modern man experiences in his soul could be compared to the world one experiences when standing on completely volcanic ground. At first glance, it may seem quite peaceful, but one need only pick up a piece of paper and set it alight, and smoke will billow out everywhere! And if one could see what is swirling and bubbling below in the smoke, one would know what kind of ground one is actually standing on. So it is with modern life. In modern life, we observe Ernest Renan writing his “Life of Jesus.” We see it as we see the landscape above a solfatara. We see what David Friedrich Strauss writes and describe it as we described it yesterday — tame. We see what Solowjow writes; we describe it as we described it yesterday — tame. It is all described in a tame way; it is all described in such a way that we have not yet begun to light a scrap of paper and see what lives and works beneath the surface in the eruptive impulses of humanity.
What I am hinting at here says quite a lot. It just needs to be thought through properly, and then you will see that it says a great deal. So let us consider what we described yesterday at the end of our discussion as life above a volcano. And it is again entirely in keeping with evolution that we really see things as so tame, so harmless. That is good, because it is under this tameness, under this harmlessness, that the abilities we need in the fifth post-Atlantean period develop. However, they do not develop consciously in most people, and spiritual science must strive to ensure that they can also develop consciously. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary to point out in a cautious manner the things that can be perceived when one lights this little piece of paper. Why is all this so? You see, it is so because, with our fifth post-Atlantean culture, the Ahrimanic forces have something completely different in mind. In the fourth post-Atlantean culture, they were so disappointed by the Roman evolution, as we described yesterday and the day before yesterday. They did not achieve their goal; they have therefore prepared worse storms for our fifth post-Atlantean period because they want to achieve their goal again.
Now I have already indicated that what is to burst in like storms into our evolution in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, which is, so to speak, tame, peaceful, or destined for tameness and peacefulness, is also expressed locally from two sides. I pointed to one of these when I said how Genghis Khan was inspired by that priest who saw a descendant of the Great Spirit of ancient Atlantis; on the other hand, I have pointed out how a certain Ahrimanic storm force emanated from the West and was overcome in a certain sense by everything that followed the discovery of America, or rather lives on in all that as a counterforce. One must not believe that things one cannot see do not exist! Because what was actually set in motion by the Ahrimanic forces in the western hemisphere did not become external physical reality on Earth, our fifth post-Atlantean culture was saved from the first storms. But it lives on, it lives on in a ghostly way, so to speak. It is there, it pushes its way into the instincts of human beings. Only people know nothing about it, that it lives its way into these instincts, pushes its way in. Now I can really only give you a basis for ideas through a certain sequence of images, which you will have to acquire for yourselves little by little through meditation, for I would not easily find terms in the current vocabulary to indicate what actually lives in human instincts, which are subliminal and which, although they impinge upon and drive the ordinary soul life, are covered up, cannot be seen, are not seen in modern normal life.
On the ground that had been trodden by the discovery of America, very special conditions had gradually developed in the Western hemisphere over the centuries that had passed. The general population there was far from developing the characteristics that had meanwhile developed in the Eastern hemisphere, in Asia and Europe. There was a population there that was far removed from the general thinking abilities that had developed in the Eastern Hemisphere, but within this population there were a large number of people who were initiated into certain mysteries. Mysteries of all kinds existed in the western hemisphere before the discovery of America, mysteries that had a broad following for certain teachings that came out of these mysteries. And, as it were, like a unified power to which everything obeyed and followed, a ghostly spirit was worshipped, a spirit that was a descendant of the Great Spirit of Atlantis, but which had gradually taken on an Ahrimanic character by wanting to work with all those forces that were right in Atlantis or were already Ahrimanic in Atlantis. That was how it wanted to work. When the Atlanteans spoke of their Great Spirit, they expressed it, as already indicated in our considerations, in a word that sounded similar to the word Tao, which is still preserved in China. And an Ahrimanic caricature, an Ahrimanic adversary, an opponent of this Great Spirit Tao, who was nevertheless related to it, worked in such a way that he could only become visible to atavistic, visionary perception, but he always appeared to people who were connected with the far-reaching mysteries of this spirit, whenever they wanted him to, so that they could receive his instructions and commands. This spirit was called, in a word that sounded similar, Taotl. [* Note on p. 362.] This was therefore an Ahrimanic variation of the Great Spirit, Taotl, a powerful entity that did not incarnate physically.
Many were initiated into the mysteries of Taotl. But the initiation was definitely of an Ahrimanic character, for it had a very specific purpose, a very specific goal. Its goal was to freeze and mechanize all earthly life, including the earthly life of human beings, to such an extent that the special Luciferic planet, already hinted at in various ways in these considerations, could be superimposed upon this earthly life, so that the souls of human beings could be brought out; they were to be squeezed out. What was attempted in Roman culture by the Ahrimanic powers in the manner indicated yesterday was only a weak post-Atlantean echo of what was to be achieved on a much larger scale by those who stood under the leadership of the Taotl through the most terrible magical arts. One might say that the goal was to create a universal realm of death on earth, aimed entirely at destroying all independence and all inner soul movement. And in the mysteries of the Taotl, the forces were to be acquired that would enable human beings to create such a completely mechanized realm on earth. To do this, it would have been necessary to know the great cosmic secrets, all the great cosmic secrets relating to that which works and lives in the universe and expresses its effects in earthly existence. This wisdom of the cosmos is, in essence, always the same in all good and evil mysteries, because the truth is always the same. It is only a matter of obtaining it in such a way that it can be used either for good or for evil.
The wisdom of the cosmos, which was not evil in itself, but contained sacred secrets, was carefully hidden by the initiates of the Taotl. It was not communicated to anyone except those who had been initiated in the correct manner according to the Taotl. It was therefore necessary for someone to be initiated in the correct manner; only then would they be taught the secrets of the cosmos. Now it was a matter of receiving these secrets through initiation in a very specific state of mind, in such a state of mind that one felt the inclination, the sympathy to use these secrets on earth in such a way that they would establish this mechanical, rigid realm of death on earth. That was how one was to receive them. And they were obtained, they were received in a special way: no one was given the wisdom unless he had first committed murder in a certain way. In fact, only certain secrets were revealed to him during the first murder. Only during subsequent murders were further and higher secrets revealed to him. However, the murders also had to be committed under very specific conditions. The person who was to be murdered was placed on a structure that was set up in such a way that one could reach a kind of catafalque-like device from all sides via one or two steps. This device was rounded at the top so that when the person to be murdered was placed on it, his back was bent sharply, and by means of a special lacing to this device, his stomach was driven out. The stomach was pushed out in such a way that, with a cut for which the initiate had been prepared, the stomach could be cut out.
This type of murder evoked very specific feelings, and these feelings aroused sensations that enabled the initiate to use the wisdom that was later imparted to him in the manner indicated. When the stomach had been cut out, it was sacrificed to the god Taotl, again with very special ceremonies. This caused the initiates of these mysteries to live with a very specific purpose, the purpose I have indicated to you. This caused very specific emotional tendencies. When those who were to be initiated were ready on this path of initiation, they also learned what it was all about; they learned how the interaction between the murdered person and the one who had been initiated worked. The murdered person was to be prepared in his soul to ascend to the Luciferic realm, and the person who was to be initiated was to receive the wisdom to shape this earthly world in such a way that souls would be driven out of it. And through the connection that was created between the murdered man and the initiate—not murderers, one might say, but initiates—it became possible for the initiate to be taken away by the other soul, that is, to leave the earth himself at the right moment.
You will readily admit that these mysteries are of the most shocking kind, corresponding to a view that can only be called Ahrimanic in the fullest sense. Certain feelings were to be produced on earth by means of them. Now, of course, the evolution of the earth would not continue if humanity and the sense of humanity were to die out completely on a considerable part of the earth. That is why the sense of humanity did not die out completely here either, and other individual mysteries were established which were intended to counteract the excesses of these mysteries. These were the mysteries in which a being lived that did not reach physical incarnation, but which could be seen by people who had a certain atavistic clairvoyance, provided they had been properly prepared through the mysteries of this being. And this being was Tezcatlipoca. That was its name; a being that, through its peculiar nature, was somewhat related — although it belonged to a much lower hierarchy — to the Yahweh God, and which, on the other half of the earth, counteracted these hideous mysteries of which we have spoken.
The teachings of Tezkatlipoka soon spread beyond the mysteries and became exoteric, so that in this world the teachings of Tezkatlipoka were actually the most exoteric, while those of Taotl were the most esoteric, because one could only enter into them in the manner described. But the Ahrimanic powers tried, in a manner of speaking—I am now speaking as Ahriman thinks—to save humanity from the god Tezkatlipoka. And therefore, another spirit was set against Tezkatlipoka, who, for the western hemisphere, bears a strong resemblance to the spirit Goethe described as Mephistopheles. He is a relative of him. He was designated there with a word that sounded similar to Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was therefore a spirit — we must imagine him in the other milieu — who was similar to the much more soulful Mephistopheles in this other milieu. This spirit Quetzalcoatl, who also never appeared directly incarnated, had a symbol similar to the mercury staff in the eastern hemisphere, and at the same time he was the spirit in the western hemisphere who could use certain magical powers to inflict evil diseases on those he wanted to destroy, because he wanted to separate them from the relatively good god Tezkatlipoka. Through such things, the sharp blows were prepared here, which were to be gradually driven into the world of human instincts by the Ahrimanic side.
Now, at a certain point in time, a being was born who set himself a specific task within this culture, a being who was born in what is now Central America. The Mexicans, the ancient indigenous people of Mexico, attached a certain view to the existence of this being. They said that this being came into the world because a virgin gave birth to him, a virgin who conceived him in virginity through supernatural powers, because a feathered being was the fertiliser of this virgin, a feathered being who came from heaven. If one investigates these matters using the occult means available to us, one sees that this being, whom the ancient Mexicans attributed to a virgin birth, reached an age of approximately thirty-three years and was born around the year 1 of our calendar. This is what emerges, as I said, when one investigates these matters using occult means. And it had a very specific task to fulfill.
At that time, a person was born in Central America who, by virtue of his birth, was destined to become a high initiate of the Taotl. This person, destined to become a high initiate, had already attained initiation in his previous earthly incarnations in the manner described, and by repeating many, many times the procedure of cutting out his stomach, which I have described to you and which cannot be repeated, he had gradually acquired a high level of earthly and super-earthly knowledge. This was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, black magician the earth has ever seen, the black magician who had therefore acquired the greatest secrets that can be acquired in this way. He was facing a great decision as the year 30 approached, the great decision through continued initiation, to become so powerful as an individual human being that he would have known the fundamental secret through which he could have given such an impetus to the following human evolution on Earth that humanity in the fourth and fifth post-Atlantean periods would have been so darkened that what the Ahrimanic powers had strived for in these periods would have come about. Then a struggle began between him and the being to whom a virgin birth was attributed, a struggle which, if one investigates, one finds lasted three years, a struggle between the being to whom the virgin birth is attributed and this super-powerful magician. This being, to whom the virgin birth is attributed, bears approximately the name, if one tries to reproduce it in our language: Vitzliputzli. Vitzliputzli is therefore a human being. Of all these beings, who otherwise only wandered around ghostly, so that they could only be seen through atavistic clairvoyance, this being Vitzliputzli had truly become human through the virgin birth attributed to him. The three-year struggle ended with Vitzliputzli being able to have the great magician crucified, and through the crucifixion not only destroying his body, but also banishing his soul, so that it became powerless in its work, so that the knowledge became powerless, the knowledge that this powerful magician of Taotl had acquired was killed.
In this way, Vitzliputzli acquired the ability to win back all those souls who, in the manner indicated, had already received the urge to follow Lucifer and leave the earth, to instill in them once again the urge for earthly life, for the next incarnation, through the mighty victory he had won over the great black magician.
Thus, what would have continued to live on in these regions if the mysteries of the Taotl had borne fruit does not live on, but rather, only what remains of the forces and after-effects of the activities that took place in these mysteries lives on, as it were, in the ethereal world. All these forces are present; they are present in a subconscious way, and they belong to what I told you would be seen if one could do in spiritual life what one does when lighting paper over a solfatara. It is there, it is there, so to speak, under the volcanic cover of ordinary life. So that what plays into everything that forms the fifth post-Atlantean period is in relation to the soul development of human beings, on the one hand, what came from the inspirer of Genghis Khan, and on the other hand, what continues to have an effect as the ghost of the events that took place in the Western hemisphere and were only present in faint echoes when the Europeans discovered America. But even history tells us that many Europeans who set foot on American soil, on Mexican soil, were murdered because the priesthood there, which was already in a state of decadence and was not as bad as the old one, cut out their stomachs in the manner I have described. This happened to many Europeans who set foot on Mexican soil after the discovery of America; even history knows this.
In Vitzliputzli, these people worshipped a sun being who was born of a virgin in the manner I have described and who, if one investigates the matter with occult means, turns out to have been the unknown contemporary of the Mystery of Golgotha in the Western Hemisphere.
One can also describe these things in an abstract way, as the superficial people of today do, so that they do not hurt anyone, but if one wants real knowledge, one must at least touch upon the concrete facts that have occurred, as we have done today. Yes, when we look at the modern human soul, we see how it is exposed to great dangers, both downward, toward the subconscious, and upward, toward the superconscious, how forces come into play that remain unconscious. And it is good that they remain unconscious, because only in this way can the fifth post-Atlantean epoch develop. The veil must be lifted only so that, after sufficient time has passed since the discovery of America, consciousness can enter into the unconscious; for otherwise, if consciousness did not gradually enter, these forces would become overpowering, and conditions which arose in the age of unconsciousness in proportion to the benefit to humanity, would be reversed and become a curse to humanity. For many things are truly destined to become a curse to humanity, even though, as they arose from this or that source, they were indeed a benefit to humanity.
What I wanted to suggest to you today is what is bubbling and seething beneath the surface. And now let us leave this underground realm and return to the world above ground, without immediately trying to establish a connection between the two realms—we can do that later. Let us now consider the question: How was this excellent, ingenious “Life of Jesus” written by Ernest Renan? It is written in such a way that we have before us a Jesus who walks on earth as a human being, as I described yesterday. Such an ingenious personality as Ernest Renan is not aware of the reasons why he writes such a “Life of Jesus.” It is written out of very specific impulses, but these impulses remain in the unconscious. These impulses, out of which Ernest Renan's “Life of Jesus” is written, can be summarized as a basic impulse that has so far produced only good, relatively good within certain limits, for Ernest Renan's “Life of Jesus,” for example, is an excellent work in its own way. But much has been done out of the same basic impulse. I have chosen only one example of insight; one could also choose examples from life, but then one would enter areas that are very disturbing to people. Something like this is written out of the basic impulse that wants to develop into something very specific, out of the basic impulse to view what manifests itself as human only externally, only as it appears externally in the world. I chose this example of the “life of Jesus” because Ernest Renan, out of this basic impulse, approaches the most sacred personality of humanity and, out of this basic impulse, describes it in such a way that it stands before us only as an external personality.
Where would this basic impulse ultimately lead if it were to increase more and more? It would lead to people no longer having the inclination to look into their own souls when they look at the world. For Ernest Renan has already gone so far that he no longer dares to look into his own inner self when he speaks of Christ Jesus. He speaks only of the historical figure and seeks to view him externally. This comes from the basic instinct to gradually lose ourselves as humanity, so that we only look at every person in the world externally, so that we no longer experience what is reflected in our own souls. The basic instinct of primal perception has been taken to the extreme; the one basic instinct has been taken to the extreme: the external world is to be looked at without the inner world being stirred in any way. The one-sided development of this instinct strives for human interaction that views other people in such a way that it sees only the external. In many respects, our immediate present shows us how far this instinct has come, how people are increasingly to be understood not according to their soul, but according to their external appearance. And it is precisely the false development of national ideas, which impresses nationality, which is something external to the soul, upon people and wants to judge them only according to it, wants to shape them in life in such a way that they are perceived only as members of a nationality, not according to their inner nature, that is one of the forces that particularly serves this basic instinct. As a result, humanity on Earth would increasingly shut itself off within national boundaries, and in the future it would never be possible to cross these national boundaries.
Out of this basic instinct, therefore, the image of each human being arises only as he presents himself outwardly in the world when this basic instinct is lived out in cognition. Now let us consider the other basic instinct. The other basic instinct, the opposite basic instinct, would consist in bringing only inner experiences into play, not directing one's gaze at all toward the outer human being, but only at inner experiences, looking only at what one can experience inwardly, what one experiences directly in the soul. If one makes this impulse a question of knowledge with reference to the figure of Christ Jesus, then of course interest in the figure of Jesus must disappear, because according to Renan, the figure of Jesus can only be explored externally, and interest would not remain with the figure of Jesus, but only with the Christ being. One would then have no interest in the figure of Jesus as a historical person, but only in the Christ being. If this urge, which is the opposite of the one described first, also strives become universal in humanity on earth, if it were to spread, then people would once again walk side by side, each with a rich inner soul life bubbling within them, but they would pass each other by without even feeling the need to perceive the people around them in any way in their individuality. Everyone would want to live only in their own soul home, so to speak. In areas of knowledge concerning the most sacred essence of humanity, this impulse is again expressed in Soloviev, who is only interested in the Christ essence, not in the historical figure of Jesus.
You see the two extremes toward which modern humanity is tending. It is tending toward two extremes. One is the urge to view the world only from the outside, to drive the primordial phenomenal to extremes; the other is to grasp the world only inwardly in free imaginations. All this is in its infancy and has so far developed in a beneficial and beautiful way, but it all strives to be reversed. Just as Renan's “Life of Jesus” is a masterpiece in terms of external description, Soloviev's portrayals of the Christ being are the highest that could be created in this field at present. These are benevolent impulses, but they spring from an impulse which, in its one-sided development, would drive every human being back into his own house.
In contrast, a realization must take hold precisely through spiritual science, a realization that can be summarized in two sentences that I would like to impress upon you today. The first sentence is that human beings can never attain a truly good, right, and strong inner life without having the warmest interest in other people. All the inner life we seek remains false, remains tempting, if it is not accompanied by a loving interest in the individual characteristics of other people. We should assume that we find ourselves inwardly as human beings when we are interested in the individual characteristics of other people. Loving engagement with the individualities of other people—which is sometimes connected in life with a great tragedy—is the only thing that can bring us to self-knowledge. And self-knowledge that we seek through self-contemplation will never be true self-knowledge. So we deepen our inner selves through interested interaction with other people. But this statement, as it is expressed, suggests something that cannot be immediately carried out because it must be in direct interaction with another. For we never attain true knowledge of the external world unless we decide to explore the human, the universal human, within ourselves, to get to know it within ourselves. Therefore, all knowledge of nature in modern times will be merely mechanical, not true, but false and inverted, not based on a knowledge of man such as the science I have described as secret science in the book “Outline of Secret Science,” where knowledge of the external world is sought through knowledge of man. We find the inner in the outer, and the outer in the inner.
What can be said in relation to certain contemporary phenomena and other creations that we have already touched upon, such as the so-called “Life of Jesus” by David Friedrich Strauss, I will discuss next time. Today I would just like to say that when our impulse for a theosophical movement began seven years ago, which then became anthroposophical, it was thought that everything flowing in this movement would work especially in the sense of these two sentences: Everything external should ignite self-knowledge; the inner should teach knowledge of the world. In these sentences, or rather in their realization in the world, lies true spiritual insight into existence and the impulses for real human love, for seeing human love. And our society should seek to realize what lies in these sentences. If everything that had been strived for had been achieved in the two seven-year periods, if the opposing forces of our time had not been strong enough to prevent so much, then I would be able to speak today in a completely different way about certain secrets of existence than can be spoken of now. Then this society would have matured to the point where things could be said today in its bosom that could not be said anywhere else. But there would also be a guarantee that these secrets of existence would be preserved in the right way. However, the events in our society have shown that, precisely with regard to preservation, things do not work, do not work because of the manifold counterforces that have attached themselves to the movement. For today there is really no protection, at least no effective protection, against what is said here being used in any way, in the way you know, out in the world, as it is used by some people, and being cloaked in such feelings as are expressed by some people. In view of the two seven-year periods, it is evident that, in a certain sense, society has fallen behind in what should have been achieved. what had to be strived for. Such an insight should not lead us to despondency, but it should lead us not to merely revel in certain insights, but to develop enough seriousness in life to take in the truth in the form in which it actually needs to be communicated in our time. If it is possible that outstanding writers within our movement think as they have shown themselves to do recently, then it is clear that other, deeper impulses must awaken in the souls of those within our society than have awakened so far. We should not unite merely to gain pleasant insights, but to perform a sacred service to the truth in the interests of the evolution of humanity. Then the right insights will come; then these insights will not be held back by all kinds of prejudices.
And so let us at least take into our hearts the ideal that perhaps such a society could arise, which is necessary in the general world of prejudices that pervades and saturates our time. What I am saying is not directed in the least toward any individual soul among us; it is not addressed in the slightest to any individual soul, but is directed solely toward emphasizing the ideal of knowledge of our time, the ideal of that service to humanity which we should recognize as necessary. And just as warmly as I spoke here about eight days ago, I would like to emphasize again today that we should not forget in our circle that humanity in the present needs a circle of people to whom the whole truth that is to be revealed today can be spoken in the most unbiased way, without prejudiced emotions arising against it. We must accept as our karma that enmity has arisen in our circle, enmity arising from an incomprehensible sense of the times and from incomprehensible ideas and emotions of the times; but we should not for a moment delude ourselves that this karma is ours. Then, out of this realization, the impulse for what is right will dawn on us. And in particular, we should not forget so quickly so much of what we take in, so much of what brings together in individual outstanding sentences truths that are otherwise scattered; we should not just let them pass us by, but keep them in our hearts. In our circle, there is such a widespread desire to forget, often forgetting precisely the most important things. And so we have not yet become the living social organism that we need, or rather that humanity needs. To achieve this, it is necessary above all that we acquire a memory for what we can learn through life in society.