Inner Impulses of Evolution, The Mexican Mysteries, The Knights Templar
GA 171
25 September 1916, Dornach
6. Ancient Cultural Impulses Spiritualized in Goethe. The Cosmic Knowledge of the Knights Templar
We have been occupied in showing how those spiritual forces that we call the luciferic and ahrimanic powers play their part in the historical growth of mankind. We have seen how what is to be carried over from one age into another in the course of world evolution is carried over through such powers, and we have been at pains to show how in the desires, instincts and strivings for knowledge, in the impulses, too, of man's social life, something is present that can only be grasped concretely when one recognizes those super-sensible forces that underlie world historical evolution. We have seen how what must come to expression in our fifth post-Atlantean epoch has been in preparation since the fifteenth century. We have seen what new faculties of mankind have evolved in the whole European cultural life since that time.
If we wish to find a spirit who has brought to expression in the most concentrated and clearest manner what the impulses of our time ought to be, then we can look to Goethe. We have already observed that equally in his conception of nature and in his imaginative world, Goethe has expressed something that can form the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. I must remind you today how I have often pointed out that Goethe has expressed in intimate fashion in his Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily what he regarded as the right impulses of culture, knowledge, feeling and will; that is, what he was obliged to look upon as necessary for the activity of man in the future. He has concealed in his fairy tale what he knew of the spiritually hidden active forces at work in mankind since the fifteenth century, and that will be at work for about two thousand years more. You know, too, how in our Mystery Dramas we have sought to bring to life in all possible detail what Goethe saw when he composed this Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. The intention was to bring to expression, in the way in which it can again be brought to expression today, a hundred years later, what inspired Goethe and is to inspire the entire fifth post-Atlantean culture as the highest spiritual treasure. Such depths of soul underlying so great and powerful a work as the Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, in spite of its being symbolic, and such great impulses underlying Goethe's Faust as a poem of mankind, point again and again to forces lying deep below the surface of consciousness. All this worked in such a soul out of the depths of old cultural impulses. Today I should like to speak a little about such cultural impulses in connection with yesterday's lecture, and of how they went through a kind of spiritualizing process in Goethe.
We must go back to that age in which the impulses for the fifth post-Atlantean epoch were first laid down in germ, back before the fifteenth century because things that are to develop spiritually must be prepared long beforehand. One can only recognize how in the European life of soul, as well as in the European social life, in the striving toward the True, the Beautiful and the Good, the normally progressive divine-spiritual forces intermingle in our age with luciferic-ahrimanic powers when one goes back into the time when the earliest impulses were given. We learned about these first impulses of earlier ages yesterday. Today, we will learn about a similar impetus from the middle of medieval times, and come to know how certain spiritual tendencies were born out of human evolution. In doing so, we will no more than indicate the historical background since nowadays one can read about it in any encyclopedia.
In order to describe the configuration of the cultural impulses that underwent a certain spiritualization in Goethe, I must refer to the age in which the impulse of the Crusades arose out of the European will: in fact, out of the Christian impulses of the European will. At the time when the will to visit the Holy Places originated in the civilized inhabitants of Europe there were bitter conflicts in the life there between what are called the luciferic and ahrimanic powers. That is to say, into the progressive, good, truly Christian impulses those other powers worked in, as it were, from the direction that was described yesterday. They worked in the way in which they are permitted by the wise guidance of the world. Thus, what happens in the wise guidance of the world may be duly influenced by other impulses working from the past and interpenetrating the impulses of the present in the way we have described.
When we consider it, among much that brings rejoicing to the soul, among much that originated soon after the Crusaders won their first successes, we see the founding of the Order of the Knights Templar in the year 1119 A.D. Five French knights united under the leadership of Hugo de Payens and, at the holy place where the Mystery of Golgotha occurred, they founded an order dedicated entirely to the Mystery of Golgotha. Its first important home was close to the place where Solomon's Temple once stood, so that the holy wisdom from most ancient times and the wisdom of Solomon could work together for Christianity in this spot with all the feelings and sentiments that have arisen from entire and holy devotion toward the Mystery of Golgotha and its Bearer. In addition to the religious vows of duty to their spiritual superiors usual at that time, the first Knights Templar pledged themselves to work together in the most intensive manner to bring under European control the place where the events of the Mystery of Golgotha had occurred.
The Written and unwritten rules of the Order were such that the Knights were to think of nothing except how they could completely fill themselves in heart and soul with the sacred Mystery of Golgotha, and how with every drop of their blood they could help bring the holy places within the sphere of influence of European authority. In each moment of their lives they were to think and feel dedicated with all their strength to this task alone, shunning nothing in order to realize it. Their blood was no longer to be their own but was to be devoted solely to the task we have indicated. Were they to meet a power three times as great as themselves, it was commanded that they were not to flee but were to stand firm. In each moment of their lives they were to think that the blood coursing in their veins did not belong to them but to their great spiritual mission. Whatever wealth they might acquire belonged to no one individual but to the Order alone. Should a member of the Order be killed, no booty should be available to the enemy except the hempen cord girding his loins. This cord was the sign of their work, which was freely undertaken for what was then regarded as the healing of the European spirit. A great and mighty task was set, less to thought than to deep feeling, which aimed at strengthening the soul life as individual and personal with the intention that it might be entirely absorbed in the progressive stream of Christian evolution.
This was the star, as it were, that was to shine before the Knights Templar in all that they thought, felt and understood. With this an impulse was given, which in its broader activity—on the wider extension of the Templar Order from Jerusalem over the countries of Europe—should have led to a certain penetration of European life by a Christian spirit. With respect to the immeasurable zeal that existed in the souls of these Knights, the powers who have to hold evolution back, leading the souls to become estranged from the earth and to led away from it to a special planet, leaving the earth uninhabited, those powers who desired this, set to work quite especially on souls who felt and thought as did the Knights Templar. They desired to devote themselves entirely to the spirit and could easily be attacked by those forces that wished to carry away the spiritual from the earth. These forces do not want the spiritual to be spread over the earth to permeate earth existence. Indeed, the danger is always at hand that souls may become estranged from the earth, become earth weary, and that earthly humanity may become mechanized.
There we have a powerfully aspiring spiritual life that we can assume will easily be approached by the luciferic temptation; a foothold is here given it. Then we also have, however, at the same time as the spread of the Templar Order over the various countries of Europe, the possibility of a sharp intrusion of ahrimanic powers in Western Europe. At the close of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the Templar Order—not the individual Knights but the Order—had attained great prestige and wealth through its activity and had spread over Western Europe, we have a human personality ruling the West who can actually be said to have experienced in his soul a kind of inspiration through the moral, or the immoral, power of gold. He was a man who could definitely use for his inspiration the wisdom materialized from gold. Recollect the Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily in which the Golden King became the representative of wisdom. Since spiritual forces also exist in the various substances, which are always only maya with spiritual forces standing behind that [which] the materialist cannot perceive, it is absolutely possible for gold to become an inspirer.
A highly gifted personality, Philip the Fair, who was equipped with and extraordinary degree of cunning and the most evil ahrimanic wisdom, had access to this inspiration through gold. Philip IV, who reigned in France from 1285 to 1314, can really be said to have had a genius for avarice. He felt the instinctive urge to recognize nothing else in the world but what can be paid for with gold, and he was willing to concede power over gold to none but himself. He wished to bring forcibly under his control all the power that can be exercised through gold. This grew in him to be the immense passion that has become famous in history. When Pope Boniface forbade the French clergy to pay taxes to the State, this fact, in itself not very important, led Philip to make a law forbidding anyone to take gold and silver out of France. All of it was to remain there, such was his will, and only he was to have control of it. One might say that this was his idiosyncrasy. He sought to keep gold and silver for himself and gave a debased currency to his subjects and others. Uproar and resentment among the people could not prevent him from carrying out this policy, so that, when he made a last attempt to mix as little gold and silver as possible in the coinage, he had to flee, on the occasion of a popular riot, to the Temple of the Knights Templar. Driven to do so by his own severe regulations, he had had his treasures deposited for safety with them. He was astounded to see how quickly the Knights calmed the popular uprising. At the same time, he was filled with fear because he had seen how great was the moral power of the knights over the people, and how little he, who was only inspired by gold, availed against them. The Knights, too, had by this time acquired rich treasure and were immensely wealthy, but according to their rules, they were obliged to place all the riches of the Order in the service of spiritual activity and creative work.
When a passion is so strong as avarice was in Philip the Fair, it presses out strong forces from the soul that have a great influence on the unfolding of the will toward other men. To the nation, Philip counted for little, but he meant much to those who were his vassals, and these constituted a great host. He also understood how to use his power. As Pope Boniface had once opposed his will to make the clergy in France pay as much as possible, Philip hatched a plot against him. Boniface was freed by his followers but he died of grief soon after. This was at the time when Philip undertook to bring the entire Church completely under his control, thereby making Church officials mere bondsmen of the kingly power in which gold ruled. He thereupon caused the removal of the Pope to Avignon, which marked the beginning of what is often known in history as the “Babylonian Captivity” of the papacy. This lasted from the year 1309 to 1377.
Pope Clement V, former Bishop of Bordeaux, resided in Avignon and was a tool completely in the hands of Philip. Gradually, under the working of Philip's powerful will, he had reached the point of having no longer a will of his own, but used his ecclesiastical power only to serve Philip, carrying out all he desired. Philip was filled with a passionate desire to make himself master of all the then available wealth. After he had seen what a different significance gold could have in other hands, it was no wonder that he wished above all things to exterminate those other hands, the Knights Templar, so that he might confiscate their gold and posses their treasure himself. Now, I said that such a passion, aroused in such a materialistic way and working so intensely, creates powerful forces in the soul. At the same time, it creates knowledge, although of an ahrimanic order. So it was possible for a certain second-hand sort of knowledge to arise in the soul of Philip, of those methods that we have seen flame up in the harshest, most horrible way in the Mexican mysteries. The knowledge arose in Philip of what can be brought about by taking life in the correct way, although in a different, more indirect way from that of the Mexican initiates. As if out of deep subconscious impulses, he found the means of incorporating such impulses into humanity's evolution by putting men to death. For this, he needed victims. In a quite remarkable way this devilish instinct of Philip's harmonized with what developed of necessity in the bosom of the Knights, resulting from the dedication of their lives to the things I have indicated.
Naturally, where something great and noble arises, as it did among the Knights Templar, much that does not belong—perhaps even immorality—becomes attached to that greatness and nobleness. There were, of course, Knights who could be reproached for all sorts of things; that shall not be denied. But there was nothing of this kind in the spirit of the foundation of the Order, for what the knights had accomplished for Jerusalem stood first, and then what could be accomplished for the Christianizing of the whole of European culture. Gradually the Knights spread out in highly influential societies over England, France, Spain, part of Italy and Central Europe. They spread everywhere. In each single Knight was developed to the highest degree this complete penetration of the soul with the feeling and experience of the Mystery of Golgotha and of all that is connected with the Christian impulse. The force of this union with the Christ was strong and intensive. He was a true Knight Templar who no longer knew anything of himself, but when he felt, he let the Christ feel in him; when he thought, he let the Christ think in him; when he was filled with enthusiasm, he let the Christ in him be enthusiastic. They were perhaps few in whom this ideal had worked a complete transformation, a metamorphosis of the soul life, and who had really often brought the soul out of the body and enabled it to live in the spiritual world, but in respect of the entire Order they were, for all that, a considerable number. Something quite remarkable and powerful had thus entered into the circle of the Templar Order without their having known the rules of the Christian initiation other than through sacrificial service. At first in the Crusades, then in the spiritual work in Europe, their souls were so inspired by intense devotion to the Christian impulse and the Mystery of Golgotha that consequently many Knights experienced a Christian initiation. We have before us the following world historical event: on the world historical basis of the experience of a number of men, the Christian initiation, which is to say the perception of those spiritual worlds that are accessible to men through Christian initiation, arises from the fundamental depths of human development.
Such events always call forth opposing forces, which, indeed, in those times were abundantly at hand. What thus enters the world is not only loved; it is also excessively hated. In Philip, however, there was less hatred than the desire to rid the world of such a Society and to filch from it the treasure that had flowed abundantly to it and that was used only in the service of the spirit.
Now in such an initiation as was experienced by a number of the Knights, there is always the possibility of perceiving not only the beneficent, the divine, but also the luciferic and ahrimanic forces. All that draws men down into the ahrimanic world and up into the luciferic, appears, to him who goes through such an initiation, side by side with the insight into the normal worlds. The one thus initiated is confronted with all the sufferings, temptations and trials that come upon man through the powers hostile to good. He has moments in which the good spiritual world disappears before his spiritual gaze, the gaze of his soul, and he sees himself as though imprisoned by what tries to gain power over him. He sees himself in the hands of the ahrimanic-luciferic forces that wish to seize him to gain control of his willing, feeling, thinking and sense perception. These, indeed, are spiritual trials that are well-known from the descriptions of those who have seen into the spiritual world.
There were many in the circle of the Knights Templar who could gain a deep insight into the Mystery of Golgotha and its meaning and into Christian symbolism as it had taken shape through the development of the Last Supper. They beheld as well the deep background of this symbolism. Many a one who in consequence of his Christian initiation could look into the Christian impulses passing through the historical evolution of the European peoples, also saw something else; he experienced it in his own soul, as it were, since it always again came over him as a temptation. Recognizing the unconscious capabilities of the human soul, he repeatedly overcame the temptation that showed itself to him. The initiate thus became conscious of it and sought to overcome what otherwise remained in the subconscious. Many Knights learned to know the devilish urge that takes possession of the will and feeling to debase the Mystery of Golgotha. In the dream pictures by which many such initiates were haunted, appeared in vision the reverse, as it were, of the veneration of the symbol of the crucifix. This was possible owing to the way in which the initiation had come about, and particularly because the luciferic forces had stood close by with their temptation. He saw in vision how the human soul could become capable of dishonoring the symbol of the Cross and the holy ritual of the Consecration of the Host. He saw those human forces that urge men to return to ancient paganism, to worship what the pagans worshipped and to scorn the advance to Christianity. These men knew how the human soul could succumb to such temptation since they had to overcome it consciously.
You are looking here into a life of soul of which outer history relates but little. Philip the Fair, through his ahrimanic gold initiation, had also a correct knowledge of these facts of soul life, even if only instinctively. He knew enough of it, however, to be able to communicate it to his vassals. Now, after a cruel judicial process had been contrived involving all manner of investigation, a course of action, decided upon beforehand, was begun. Plots were made, instigated by Philip together with his vassals who had been summoned to make investigations against the Knights. Although they were innocent, they were accused of every imaginable vice. One day in France they were suddenly attacked and thrown into prison. During their confinement their treasures were seized.
Trials were now arranged in which, entirely under the influence of Philip, torture was extensively employed. Every Knight to be found was subjected to the severest torture. Here, therefore, torture was also used to take life, the significance of which you have already learned to know. The intention of Philip was to put to the rack as many persons as possible, and the torture was applied in the most cruel way so that many of the harassed Knights lost consciousness. Philip knew that the pictures of the temptations emerged when, in terrible agony on the rack, their consciousness became clouded. He knew: the images of temptation come out! Under his instigation a catechism of leading questions was so arranged that the answers were always suggested in the way the questions were put. The Knights' answers were, of course, given out of a consciousness dulled by the torture. They were asked, “Have you denied the Host and refrained from speaking the words of Consecration?” In their clouded consciousness the Knights acknowledged these things. The powers opposing the good spoke out of their vision and, whereas in their conscious life they brought the deepest reverence to the symbol of the Cross and the Crucifix, they now accused themselves of spitting upon it; they accused themselves of the most dreadful crimes, which normally lived in their subconscious as temptations. So from the admissions made by the tortured Knights, the story was fabricated that they had worshipped an idol instead of Christ, an idol of a human head with luminous eyes; that on their admittance to the Order they were subjected to repulsive sexual procedures of the vilest nature; that they did not conduct the Transubstantiation in the right way; that they committed the worst sexual offences; that even on their admittance to the Order they forswore the Mystery of Golgotha. The catechizing had been so well organized that even the Grand Master of the order had been tortured into making these subconscious avowals.
It is one of the saddest chapters of human history, but one that can only be understood if one sees clearly that behind the veil of what is related by history stand active forces, and that human life is truly a battlefield. Because of lack of time, I will omit all that might be said further on this subject, but it would be easy to show how there is every ostensible reason for condemning the Knights Templar. Many stood by their avowals, many fled; the majority were condemned and, as stated, even the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was forced under torture to speak in the way described. Thus it came about that Philip the Fair, Philip IV of France was able to succeed in convincing his vassal, Pope Clement V—it was not difficult—that the Knights had committed the most shameful crimes, that they were the most unchristian heretics. All this the Pope sanctioned with his benediction, and the Order of the Templar was dissolved. Fifty-four Knights, including Jacques de Molay, were burned at the stake. Shortly afterward in other European countries—in England, Spain, then right into Central Europe and Italy—action was also taken against them.
Thus we see how the interpretation of the Mystery of Golgotha and its influence penetrated into the midst of European evolution through the Order of the Templar. In a deeper sense, however, these things must be looked upon as determined by a certain necessity. Humanity was not yet ripe to receive the impulse of wisdom, beauty and strength in the way the Knights desired. Besides, it was determined on grounds we have yet to learn, grounds that lie in the whole spiritual development of Europe, that the spiritual world was not to be attained in the way in which the Templars entered it. It would have been gained too quickly, which is the luciferic way. We actually behold here a most important twofold attack of the forces of Lucifer and Ahriman: Lucifer urging the Knights on, driving them into their misfortune, and Ahriman working actively through the inspiration of Philip the Fair. We see here a significant twofold attack effected in world history.
But what lived and worked in the Knights Templar could not be eradicated. Spiritual life cannot be rooted out; it lives and works on further. With the Knights, notably with the fifty-four who had been burned at the stake through the agency of Philip, many a soul was certainly drawn up into the spiritual world who would still have done much work on the earth in the spirit of the Templar Order, and who would also have attracted pupils to work in the same spirit. But it had to turn out differently. In the spiritual world these souls lived through those experiences they had undergone in the most terrible agonies that were brought about under the influence of the visionary avowals extorted through torture. Their impulses, which now, between their death and their next birth, go out to souls who have since descended, and also to souls who are still above awaiting incarnation, must be metamorphosed from the character of the activity of the physical earthly world into spiritual activity. What now came from the souls of the Knights, who had been murdered in this pitiful way and who before their death by burning had to undergo the most frightful experience a man can suffer, was to become for many others a principle of inspiration. Powerful impulses were to flow down into humanity. We can prove this in the case of many human souls.
Today, however, we will keep more to the sphere of knowledge and intellect as we have done also in the other examples given in recent days. Inspiration from the cosmic knowledge of the Knights Templar—this was always given. The fact that ultimately people came to look on the Templars as heretics after they had been burned to death is not to be wondered at; nor is it to be wondered at that people also believed they had committed all sorts of infamous crimes. Had someone been pleased to condemn as specially heretical the Devil's act, which has just been presented here,1A presentation of Faust had presumably just taken place. in which Mephistopheles, the Lemures and the thick and thin Devils appear, perhaps—I do not know—countless persons in the nation would also look on that as something heretical. The methods of Philip the Fair are, however, no longer employed in the present rather more lamentable times. The cosmic wisdom that these Knights possessed has entered many souls. One could cite many examples of how the inspiration of the Knights Templar had been drawn into souls. I will read you a passage from the poem “Ahasver” by Julius Mosen, which appeared in 1838. As you can read in the lecture cycles, I have often referred to Julius Mosen, the author of the profound poem “Ritter Wahn” (Knight Chimera). In the very first canto of the third section of “Ahasver”, Mosen leads his hero to those parts of the earth where, in Ceylon and the neighboring islands, the region is to be sought that we describe in the cosmology of our spiritual science as the approximate locale of Lemurian evolution. This region of the earth is distinguished in a special way. You know that the magnetic north pole is located at a different point from that of the geographic north pole. Magnetic needles everywhere point toward the magnetic north pole and one can draw magnetic meridians that meet at this point. Up in North America where the magnetic north pole lies, these magnetic meridians go round the earth in straight lines. Remarkably, however, in the Lemurian region the magnetic meridians become sinuous serpentine lines. The magnetic forces are twisted into a serpentine form in this region. People notice these things far too little today. One who sees the living earth, however, knows that magnetism is like a force vivifying the earth;

in the north it goes straight, and in the region of old Lemuria it goes in a tortuous winding line. Just think how profoundly Julius Mosen speaks as he sends his Ahasver toward this region in the first canto of the third epoch—it is divided in epochs—of the poem:
In line direct and straight from Southern Pole
Takes the Magnetic Line its chosen course,
When suddenly it twines in serpent-curve
There before India and its neighbor isles
Before the dungeon where in deepest woe
Sits the Eternal Mother ever bound.
In circle form the Line drew back its length,
And twining swift and secret on itself
With a single plunge in swirling vortex fell.
There the Great Spirit in a first embrace
Held the poor spouse, and from their ardent fire
Sprang the Earth-demons instantly to life.
When thus the first creation came to naught,
The Great, the Nameless Spirit in his wrath
Stamped down the bridal couch beneath the sea.
So it goes on. We see inspiration emerge with wonderfully intuitive knowledge. The wisdom lives on that could only enter the world amid sufferings, tortures, persecutions and the most frightful offences. Nevertheless, it lives on in spiritualized form.
When we seek the most beautiful spiritualizations of this wisdom that has entered the development of Europe, as we have described, then we find one precisely in all that would work and live in the powerful imaginations of Goethe. Goethe knew the secret of the Templars. Not without purpose has he used gold as he has done in his Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, in which he made the snake consume the gold and then sacrifice itself. By this deed the gold is wrested from the powers with which Goethe truly knew it must not be allowed to remain. Gold—naturally everything is also meant here of which gold is a real symbol. Read once more Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily and try to feel how Goethe knew the secret of gold, how, through the way in which he lets gold flow through the fairy tale, he is looking back into earlier times. May I perhaps add here the personal confession that when for the first time in the eighties of the last century, I faced the question of the gold in Goethe's fairy tale, the meaning of the story emerged for me through the development of the gold in it.
Through the way in which Goethe lets gold flow through this fairy tale, he shows how he looks back into the time in which wisdom—for which gold also stands, hence, “The Golden King of Wisdom”—was exposed to such persecutions as those described. Now, he sought to show past, present and future. Goethe saw instinctively into the future of eastern European civilization. He could see how unjustifiable is the way in which the problem of sin and death worked there. If we wished to designate, not quite inappropriately perhaps, the nationality of the man who is then led to the Temple and the Beautiful Lily, who appears at first as without vigor as if crippled, then, from what we have had to say recently about the culture of the East and of Russia, you will not consider it unreasonable to deem this man to be a Russian. In so doing, you will almost certainly follow the line of Goethe's instinct. The secret of European evolution in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch lies concealed within this fairy tale, just as truly as Goethe was able to conceal it in his Faust, especially in the second part, as we know from his own statement. It is clearly to be seen in Goethe—we have already shown it in various respects; later it can be shown in others—that he begins to regard the world and to feel himself in it, in accord with the fundamental demand of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.
In Goethe we have a true continuation of the life of the Knights Templar but, as I have said, in a spiritualized way. This Goetheanism, however, will only be able to enter slowly and gradually into human understanding. I have already shown in certain respects how the impulse for everything of a spiritually scientific nature lies in Goetheanism. All of spiritual science can be developed from Goethe. I have shown in a public lecture (Berlin, April 15, 1916) that I gave a short time ago how the first elementary scientific foundation for the doctrine of reincarnation, of repeated earth lives, lies in Goethe's doctrine of metamorphosis. He begins the teaching of metamorphosis by showing how the leaf changes into the blossom, how an organ appears in different forms. When one follows this through with penetration, there lies implicit in it what I have often explained here; that is, the head of man is the transformed body, and the rest of the body is a human head still to be transformed. Here is metamorphosis in the ultimate degree, which for science will develop into a direct knowledge of reincarnation, of repeated earthly lives. But Goethe is still but little understood; he must first become familiar in the cultural life of humanity. Not only centuries but millenniums will be needed in order to unravel what lies in Goethe. As a matter of fact, even today there is not a foundation for a study of Goethe such as a monograph or biography could provide that would be produced really in his very style.
Let us see what has been done in particular instances in modern culture toward the understanding of Goethe's personality. We can, of course, only cite single examples. Herman Grimm has, however, rightly said, “A certain Mr. Lewes has written a book, which was for some time the most famous book on Goethe; one can even say the best. It is a book treating of a personality who was supposed to have been born in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1749, and to have had a Frankfurt councilor for a father. He then developed and grew up in such a way that Goethe's youth was ascribed to him, along with all sorts of other things taken from Goethe. Goethe's works were attributed to him; he also traveled to Italy in the same year as Goethe, and died the same year Goethe died. This person, however, is not Goethe but a fantasy of Mr. Lewes's”.
Then we also have a relatively good book in which Goethe's life and creative work is described with immense industry and better than many other works on Goethe. It is filled, however, from the first to the last page with hatred and aversion. This book is by the Jesuit, Baumgartner. It is an excellent but, in fact, a Jesuitical, book; but antagonistic to Goethe. At least, it is better written than the countless others on Goethe that have appeared throughout the nineteenth century and now on into the twentieth. A great number of these works are unpalatable. One continually sneezes because the dust of the library and professor gets into one's nose. They have been written by pedants who call it Goethe. Often they have been written with pedantic pride, but they are also fusty with library dust or the air one must breathe when one guesses how often the man who is writing about Faust, for example, has opened Grimm's or some other glossary in order to decipher a word or passage—and so on. One could say: Oh horrible, most horrible, what has been written in this field!
One book, however, stands out in a quite unusual way. These are Herman Grimm's lectures on Goethe given in the seventies at Berlin University. Grimm was, as we can see, a spirit who had the best will and the most wonderful traditions to aid him in familiarizing himself with Goethe. His book is an intelligent and excellent one that has developed right out of the Goethean atmosphere. Grimm grew up in the age when there were still Goethean traditions, but this book shows something quite remarkable. In fact, in a certain respect it is not at all a book that has developed from Goethean traditions; it is both Goethean and un-Goethean. For Herman Grimm does not write in a Goethean style but, strangely enough, in a style that leads one to say that the book was written by an American, a German American! One can call Grimm's lectures a book written by an American but in German. In style it is American—a style in which Grimm has educated himself. As one of the most enthusiastic followers of Emerson, he has studied him, read, digested, translated him, has quite familiarized himself with him. Now, Grimm finds his way into this American-Emerson style so that he is complete master of it; at the same time he grows enthusiastic about it. One can see at once on reading his novel, Invincible Powers, how he is able to let everything American live on in him. Enthusiasm for what is American and at the same time a wonderful feeling of internationalism is poured out in Herman Grimm's Goethe lectures.
In spite of all this, much, very much in the spiritual life of man must come about before Goethe and similar spirits will be understood! If sometimes they are rightly understood, it must be in quite another way from that of Herman Grimm. Once, in a conversation with him, I wished to make just a few references to the path by which one could gradually enter the spiritual world. The movement of his right arm will always remain unforgettable—a gesture of warding off; he wanted to push that aside. He created a Goethe who is simply delightful to see from outside, but one does not see into his heart. This Goethe of Grimm's, as he makes his way through historical development, as he stands there, as he moves about and comes into relation with people, as human relations flow into his works, as the contemporary world conception flows into his works—this Goethe goes past our mind's eye as a ghost who flits through the world unseen by the living. Goethe will only be understood when one has deepened Goetheanism to become spiritual science. Then, much will emerge from Goethe that he could not express himself. Goethe, truly understood, leads, in fact, to spiritual science, which is really developed Goetheanism.
From the beginning Goethe also understood that Christianity is a living thing. How he longed for a possible expression for the Christianizing of the modern world conception. It did not lie in his time to find it, but in the new age spiritual science is already working to attain it. Let us take his poem, “The Mysteries” (Die Geheimnisse), in which Brother Mark is guided to the Temple where the Rose Cross is on the door, and let us look at the whole picture. We shall see that the Christian mood is in this fragment, “The Mysteries,” the mood born of the feeling that the symbol of the Cross becomes a picture of life through the living roses entwining it! Then, too Goethe lets his Faust end with a Christian conception; he spoke of it to Eckermann in his old age. A time will come when in a much more active, intense sense, one will connect with Christianity the thoughts that ring through the conclusion of Faust, although Goethe, who was inwardly modest in such things, was far from doing so himself. He was, in reality, on the way that he made his Brother Mark take—to the Cross encircled with roses. In this lies ultimately all that is to flow from such wisdom as was striven for by the Knights Templar. (Their striving was too rapid and unsuitable to physical evolution.)
A longing for the full Christianizing of the treasures of wisdom concerning the cosmos and earthly evolution gradually broke through—a longing for the full Christianizing of earthly life so that suffering, pain and grief appear as the earth's Cross, which then finds its comfort, its elevation, its salvation in the Rose symbol of the Crucifix. Repeatedly in men thus inspired, in whom lived on what was thought to have been destroyed with the burning of the Templars—in these inspired men lived ever again the ideal that in the place of what brings strife and quarrels something must appear that can bring good to earth, and this good may be pictured in the symbol of the Cross in conjunction with the roses.
The book, Ruins (Shutt), by Anastasius Grün has been given to me today by one of our members. I have here again the same verses that I read to you some time ago to confirm the fact that this mystery, which this poem also expresses, is not merely something put forward by us, but that it comes to life again and again. Anastasius Grün, the Austrian poet, composed these poems; the eighth edition appeared in 1847. In his own manner he wrote of the progress of mankind, and I will read again today the passage I read years ago as proof of the role played by the image of the Rose Cross in evolving humanity; that is, among those who are incarnated in the new age. Anastasius Grün turns his gaze toward Palestine and other regions after having described how much confused fighting and quarreling has been spread over the earth. After he has seen and described much that causes fighting and strife he, who is a great seer in a certain way, turns to a region of the earth that he describes thus. I cannot read all of it as it would take too long, but one's eye is first turned to a part of the earth where the ploughshare is used.
As children once were digging in a meadow
They brought a shapeless thing of iron to light,
It seemed too straight, too heavy for a sickle,
For plough it was too slender and too slight.
With toil they dragged it home as new found treasure;
The elders see it, yet they know it not;
They call the neighbors round within the circle,
The neighbors see it, yet they know it not.
There is an ancient greybeard, wan and sallow,
Whose lifetime lingers on like tale forgot
Into the present world of busy dealing,
They show it to him, but he knows is not.
Well for them all, that they have never known it,
Else must they weep, and still must be deplored
The folly of their fathers, long since buried,
For what was known by no one was a sword!
Henceforth it shall but cleave the earth as ploughshare;
Shall point the seed-corn's path into the ground,
The sword's new hero-deeds are peaned
When sun-filled airs with song of lark resound.
Once more it came to pass, that in his ploughing
The farmer struck what seemed a piece of stone.
And as his spade unloosed the earthy covers,
A structure of a wondrous shape was shown.
He calls the neighbors round within the circle;
They look at it but still they know it not.
Thou wise and aged one, thou'lt surely tell us?
The greybeard looks at it, yet knows it not.
Thus, in ploughing, something was dug up and even the aged man does not recognize it.
Though known to none, yet with its ancient blessing
Eternal in their breast it stands upright,
Scatters its seed around in every roadway;
A Cross it was, this stranger to their sight!
They saw the fight not, and its bloodstained symbol,
They see alone the victory and the crown,
They saw the storm not, and the lashing tempest
They only see the rainbow's glistening shine.
The Cross will always be known, even in a region where it was already buried and drawn out of the earth as a cross of stone, where civilization has so withdrawn that an un-Christian culture has developed. There, Anastasius Grün wishes to say, a cross is found and men know it in their inmost breasts, even though the oldest among them fails to recognize it through tradition.
Though known to one, yet with its ancient blessing
Eternal in their breast it stands upright,
Scatters its seed around on every roadway,
A Cross it was, this stranger to their sight.
They saw the fight not and its bloodstained symbol,
They see alone the victory and the crown,
They saw the storm not and the lashing tempest
They only see the rainbow's glistening shine.
The Cross of stone they set up in the garden;
A venerable relic strange and old,
Flowers of all species lift their growth above it,
While roses climbing high the Cross enfold.
So stands the Cross weighty with solemn meaning
On Golgotha, amidst resplendent sheen;
Long since 'tis hidden by its wealth of roses;
No more, for roses, can the Cross be seen.
But it is there! There is the Cross! There are the roses! One only learns the meaning of history when one turns one's gaze to what lives in the spiritual and pervades human evolution, when, too, one will turn one's attention to what shows us under what auspices, under what insignia things enter world history. I think that one can feel the deeper connection between what we have characterized for later times and what has been characterized in the ideal of the Knights Templar and their fate in the world at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Sechster Vortrag
Wir haben uns damit beschäftigt, zu zeigen, wie in dem geschichtlichen Werden der Menschheit diejenigen geistigen Kräfte mitspielen, die wir in unserer Art als luziferische und ahrimanische Kräfte oder Mächte bezeichnen. Wir haben gesehen, wie das, was im Weltenwerdegang hinübergetragen werden soll aus einem Zeitalter in das andere, hinübergetragen wird durch solche Mächte, und wir haben uns bemüht zu zeigen, wie in den Trieben, in den Begierden, in den Erkenntnissehnsuchten, auch in den Impulsen des sozialen Lebens der Menschen das vorhanden ist, was im Konkreten nur dann gefaßt werden kann, wenn man diese übersinnlichen, dem weltgeschichtlichen Werden zugrunde liegenden Kräfte kennt. So wie das hat ausgesprochen werden sollen für unseren fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum, so hat es sich, wie wir gesehen haben, vorbereitet seit dem 15. Jahrhundert. Wir haben gesehen, welche neuen Fähigkeiten der Menschheit heraufgezogen sind seit diesem 15. Jahrhundert, was sich im gesamten Kulturorganismus Europas seit jener Zeit entwickelt hat.
Wenn wir nach einem Geiste blicken wollen, der in konzentriertester und schärfster Weise zum Ausdruck gebracht hat, welches die menschlichen Impulse unserer Zeit sein sollen, so können wir auf Goethe blicken, und wir haben schon erwähnt, daß er sowohl mit seiner Naturanschauung wie mit seiner imaginativen Welt das zum Ausdrucke gebracht hat, was den Anfang bilden kann des fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraums. Und ich muß Sie heute daran erinnern, daß ich öfter darauf aufmerksam gemacht habe, wie Goethe das, was er als die Kulturimpulse, Erkenntnisimpulse, Gefühlsimpulse, Willensimpulse angesehen hat, was er als notwendig für die Wirksamkeit der Menschen in der Zukunft sich hat denken müssen, in intimer Weise zum Ausdruck gebracht hat in jenem Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie, in das er hineingeheimnißt hat dasjenige, was er wußte, man könnte sagen, aus den geistig verborgen wirkenden Kräften, die seit dem 15. Jahrhundert in der Menschheit tätig sind und durch etwa zwei Jahrtausende tätig sein werden. Sie wissen ja auch, wie wir in unseren Mysterien in einer ausführlichen Weise versucht haben, dasjenige lebendig zu machen, was Goethe durchschaut hat, als er dieses Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie dichtete. In diesen Mysterien sollte das, was Goethe beseelte, was aber die ganze fünfte nachatlantische Kulturmenschheit als höchstes Geistesgut beseelen soll, so zum Ausdruck gebracht werden, wie es eben wiederum hundert Jahre nach Goethe zum Ausdruck gebracht werden kann.
Solche Tiefen einer Menschenseele, wie sie zugrunde liegen einer so großen, gewaltigen Dichtung wie das Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie, trotzdem es eine symbolische Dichtung ist, solche großen Impulse, wie sie Goethes «Faust» als Menschheitsdichtung zugrunde liegen, die weisen uns immer wieder und wiederum hin auf tiefe, unter der Oberfläche des Bewußtseins liegende Kräfte. Das wirkt in einer solchen Seele aus den Tiefen alter Kulturimpulse heraus. Und über solche Kulturimpulse, wie sie bei Goethe, ich möchte sagen, eine gewisse Vergeistigung erfahren haben, möchte ich heute im Zusammenhange mit dem gestern Ausgeführten etwas sprechen.
Wir müssen da zurückgehen wiederum bis in jene Zeit, in der gewissermaßen im Keime die Impulse gelegt worden sind für die fünfte nachatlantische Zeit; wir müssen vor das 15. Jahrhundert zurückgehen, weil solche Dinge, die dann geistig fortwirken, lange vorher vorbereitet werden müssen. Wie sich im europäischen Seelenleben und im europäischen sozialen Leben in dem Streben nach dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten des europäischen Lebens die normal fortwirkenden göttlich-geistigen Kräfte verschlingen mit den ahrimanisch-luziferischen Mächten für unser Zeitalter, das kann man nur erkennen, wenn man zurückgeht bis in die Zeiten, wo gewissermaßen die ersten Anstöße gegeben werden. Solche ersten Anstöße der früheren Zeiten, wir haben sie gestern kennengelernt. Wir wollen heute noch einen solchen Anstoß kennenlernen aus der Mitte des Mittelalters; wir wollen kennenlernen, wie in der Mitte des Mittelalters sich herausgebären gewisse geistige Tendenzen aus dem menschlichen Werden. Dabei werde ich den historischen Hintergrund nur andeuten können. Den historischen Hintergrund kann ja heute jeder aus jedem Konversationslexikon sich nachlesen.
Zurückverweisen muß ich, um die Konfiguration der Kulturimpulse, die dann in Goethe eine gewisse Vergeistigung erfahren haben, zu schildern, auf jene Zeit, in der aus dem europäischen Wollen heraus, und zwar aus den christlichen Impulsen des europäischen Wollens heraus der Wille entstanden ist zu den Kreuzzügen. In dieser Zeit, als der Wille in der europäischen Kulturmenschheit entstanden ist, die heiligen Stätten zu besuchen, gab es harte Zusammenstöße im gesamten europäischen Leben zwischen dem, was man luziferische und was man ahrimanische Mächte nennt. Das heißt, in die fortwirkenden guten, wahrhaft christlichen Impulse wirkten gewissermaßen von jenen Seiten her, die gestern charakterisiert worden sind, diese anderen Mächte hinein in der Art, wie solche Mächte zugelassen werden von der weisheitsvollen Weltenlenkung, damit dasjenige, was in der weisheitsvollen Weltenlenkung der Gegenwart geschieht, in der entsprechenden Weise konfiguriert werde von den aus der Vergangenheit hereinwirkenden anderen Impulsen, die sich mit den Gegenwartsimpulsen immer durchkreuzen in der Art, wie wir ja dies öfter besprochen haben.
Wir sehen in dieser Zeit unter vielem, das, wenn man es betrachtet, ich möchte sagen, zum Frohmachen der Menschenseele ist, wie unter vielem, was da entsteht, bald nachdem die Kreuzzüge ihre ersten Erfolge errungen haben, begründet wird im Jahre 1119 der Orden der Tempelherren. Fünf französische Ritter unter der Führung von Hugo de Payens tun sich zusammen und begründen an der geheiligt gehaltenen Stätte, auf der sich das Mysterium von Golgatha vollzogen hat, einen Orden, der sich ganz weihen soll dem Dienste des Mysteriums von Golgatha, und der sein erstes wichtigstes Ordenshaus unmittelbar neben der Stätte hat, wo einst der Salomonische Tempel gestanden hat, so daß gewissermaßen zusammenwirken konnte an dieser Stätte uraltheilige, für das Christentum vorbereitete Weisheit und die salomonische Weisheit, mit allen Empfindungen und allen Gefühlen, die in höchstem Maße aus der heiligsten Begeisterung für das Mysterium von Golgatha und seinen Träger entstanden sind. Neben den gewöhnlichen, damals üblichen Mönchsgelübden, der Pflicht des Gehorsams gegenüber den geistlichen Oberen, verpflichteten sich die ersten Tempelherren, in intensivster Weise mitzuwirken dazu, hereinzubeziehen in den Bereich europäischer Machtentfaltung die Stätten, auf denen sich das Mysterium von Golgatha vollzogen hat. An nichts sollten sie denken — so war es in den geschriebenen und namentlich in den ungeschriebenen Ordensregeln enthalten -, als wie sie in ihrem Herzen, in ihrer Seele ganz sich erfüllen können mit dem geheiligten Geheimnis von Golgatha, und wie sie dienen können mit jedem Tropfen ihres Blutes der Hereinbeziehung der geheiligten Stätte in den Machtbereich des europäischen Willens. In jedem Augenblick ihres Lebens sollten sie denken, sollten sie empfinden, daß sie ganz nur dieser Aufgabe gehören, und daß sie nichts scheuen werden, um diese Aufgabe mit all der Kraft, die jedem einzelnen zur Verfügung steht, zu verwirklichen. Ihr Blut sollte ihnen nicht selber gehören, sondern einzig und allein der Aufgabe, die wir gekennzeichnet haben. Und wenn sie einer dreifachen Übermacht gegenüberstehen - so war ihnen befohlen -, dürfen sie nicht fliehen; jeder Templer muß seine Stelle behaupten, auch wenn drei Ungläubige ihm diese Stelle streitig machen wollen. Und in jedem Augenblick ihres Lebens mußten sie denken, daß das Blut, das in ihren Adern rinnt, nicht ihnen gehört, sondern ihrer großen geistigen Aufgabe. Was sie an Vermögen erwerben sollten, das sollte keinem einzelnen gehören. Nicht der einzelne sollte irgendeinen Besitz haben, sondern nur der ganze Orden. Vom einzelnen sollte derjenige, der aus der Reihe der Feinde einen besiegt, kein anderes Gut erbeuten als die hanfene Schnur, die um die Lenden gegürtet war, das Zeichen ihrer freiwillig übernommenen Arbeit für dasjenige, was man dazumal als das Heil für den europäischen Geist ansah. Eine große, gewaltige Aufgabe, weniger dem Nachdenken als dem tiefen Empfinden, war gestellt, eine Aufgabe, die dahin ging, das Seelenleben als individuelles, als persönliches nur deshalb zu stärken, damit dieses einzelne Seelenleben ganz aufgehen könne in dem fortlaufenden Strom der christlichen Entwickelung.
Das war gewissermaßen der Stern, der den Tempelrittern bei allem, was sie dachten, fühlten, unternahmen, voranleuchten sollte. Damit war ein Impuls in Seelen gegeben, welcher in seiner weiteren Wirksamkeit bei der weiteren Ausdehnung des 'Templerordens von Jerusalem aus über die europäischen Länder zu einer gewissen Durchgeistigung, Durchchristung des europäischen Lebens hätte führen sollen. Begreiflich kann es erscheinen bei dem schier unermeßlich großen Eifer, der in diesen Tempelherrenseelen bestand, daß diejenigen Mächte, welche die Entwickelung zurückzuhalten haben, sie so zu lenken haben, daß die Seelen der Menschen von der Erde abgelenkt werden, erdenfremd werden, gewissermaßen geführt werden zu einem besonderen Planeten, damit die Erde entvölkert werde, daß die Mächte, die dieses wollten, ganz besonders sich heranmachen wollten an die Seelen, die also empfanden und fühlten wie die Tempelritter. Diese Seelen, die ganz sich hingeben wollten dem Geistigen, an sie konnten leicht jene Kräfte kommen, welche das Geistige von der Erde wegheben wollen, die nicht wollen, daß das Geistige auf der Erde ausgebreitet werde, daß der Geist das Erdensein durchdringe. Und immer ist ja die Gefahr vorhanden, daß die Seelen erdenfremd und erdenmüde werden, und daß die Menschheit auf der Erde mechanisiert werde.
Da haben wir auf der einen Seite gewaltig aufstrebendes geistiges Leben, von dem wir voraussetzen dürfen, daß die luziferische Versuchung ihm nahestehen kann, weil da ein guter Anhaltspunkt ist für die luziferische Versuchung. Dann haben wir aber in derselben Zeit, in welcher der Templerorden rasch sich ausbreitete über die verschiedenen christlichen Länder Europas, im Westen Europas die Möglichkeit scharfen Einsetzens ahrimanischer Mächte. Denn in der Zeit, in welcher der Templerorden durch seine Tätigkeit zu großem Ansehen und auch zu großem Reichtum - als Orden, nicht als einzelner Templer — gekommen war und sich ausgebreitet hatte auch über den Westen Europas, in dieser Zeit des ausgehenden 13., des beginnenden 14. Jahrhunderts, da haben wir im Westen herrschend einen Mann, eine menschliche Persönlichkeit, welche, man kann geradezu sagen, in der Seele eine Art Begeisterung empfand durch die moralische Macht oder respektive unmoralische Macht des Goldes; eine Persönlichkeit, die geradezu in einseitiger Weise die Vermaterialisierung der Weisheit aus dem Golde heraus zu ihrer Inspiration bilden konnte. Erinnern Sie sich an das Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie, wo der goldene König zum Repräsentanten der Weisheit geworden ist! Es kann allerdings, weil in den einzelnen Stoffen auch geistige Kräfte stecken denn der Stoff ist immer nur scheinbar, geistige Kräfte stecken dahinter, wenn sie auch der Materialist nicht wahrzunehmen vermag -, es kann geradezu das Gold zum Inspirator werden. Eine hochbegabte, mit außerordentlicher, mit höchster Klugheit ausgestattete Persönlichkeit ist zugänglich dieser Inspiration durch das Gold mit geradezu ärgster ahrimanischer Weisheit. Das ist der von 1285 bis 1314 in Frankreich regierende König Philipp der Schöne, Philipp IV. Philipp IV. der Schöne kann geradezu ein genial-habsüchtiger Mensch genannt werden, ein Mensch, der den instinktiven Drang in sich verspürte, nichts anderes anzuerkennen in der Welt als das, was mit Gold aufgewogen werden kann, und niemandem wollte Philipp der Schöne eine Macht über das Gold zugestehen als nur allein sich selber. Geradezu alles, was an Macht durch das Gold bewirkt werden kann, wollte er in seinen Machtwillen hineinzwingen. Das wurde bei ihm zur großen, welthistorischen Marotte.
Das führte dahin, daß bei dem an sich nicht sehr bedeutungsvollen Anlaß, als der Papst Bonifatius den französischen Geistlichen verbot, Steuern zu bezahlen an den französischen Staat, Philipp IV. der Schöne ein Gesetz machte, welches verbot, Gold und Silber aus Frankreich auszuführen. Alles Gold und Silber, das in Frankreich ist, sollte in Frankreich verbleiben nach seinem Willen; aber er sollte die Macht haben über alles Gold und Silber. Das war, man könnte sagen, seine Idiosynkrasie. Daher versuchte er, für sich das Gold und das Silber zu behalten und den übrigen Leuten, die er regierte, nur Scheinwerte zu geben, das heißt, er ließ die Münzen so schlecht wie möglich prägen, um in seinem Gold- und Silberschatze zurückzubehalten dasGold und den Münzen nur möglichst wenig beizugesellen. Aufruhr und Empörung des Volkes gerade über solche Maßnahmen konnten ihn nicht abhalten, in dieser Weise immer weiterzugehen. So daß, als er einen letzten Versuch machte, möglichst wenig Gold und Silber den Münzen beizumischen, er sich, durch eine Volksempörung veranlaßt, in die Tempelstätte der Templer flüchten mußte. Da hatte er bei den Templern, durch seine Gewaltmaßregeln dazu veranlaßt, seinen Schatz, seinen Goldschatz verbergen lassen. Er war erstaunt, wie schnell die Templer den Volksaufruhr beruhigen konnten. Aber er war zu gleicher Zeit von Furcht erfüllt, weil er gesehen hatte, wie groß die moralische Macht der Templer über das Volk war, und wie wenig er, der nur vom Golde inspiriert war, vermochte gegenüber der moralischen Macht der Templer, die dazumal auch schon reiche Schätze hatten, die ungeheuer reich waren, aber nach ihrer Ordensregel allen Reichtum ihres Ordens in den Dienst geistigen Wirkens, geistigen Schaffens stellen mußten.
Wenn eine Leidenschaft so stark wird, wie bei Philipp dem Schönen die Gold- und Silbergier war, dann preßt sie in der menschlichen Seele starke Kräfte aus, Kräfte, die einen starken Einfluß haben auf die Willensentfaltung gegenüber den übrigen Menschen. Beim Volke hatte Philipp der Schöne wenig Einfluß; um so mehr aber bei denjenigen, die seine Kreaturen waren, und das war denn doch ein großes Heer. Und er verstand seine Macht zu gebrauchen, dieser Philipp der Schöne. Als der Papst Bonifatius einst nicht seinen Willen tun wollte, das heißt, die Geistlichen in Frankreich möglichst viel bezahlen lassen wollte, da zettelte Philipp IV. der Schöne eine Verschwörung an gegen den Papst Bonifatius, und der Papst Bonifatius konnte nur noch von seinen Anhängern befreit werden. Er starb aus Gram sehr bald darauf. Das war zu derselben Zeit, als Philipp IV. der Schöne es unternahm, überhaupt die Kirche ganz und gar in die Gewalt des Königtums zu bringen, die Kirchenoberen nur zu Knechten der vom Golde regierten königlichen Gewalt zu machen. Deshalb brachte er es zustande, daß der Papst nach Avignon übersiedelte, und es begann unter Philipp dem Schönen die in der Geschichte oftmals genannte europäische «babylonische Gefangenschaft» der Päpste, die vom Jahre 1309 bis 1377 dauerte.
Eine völlige Kreatur in den Händen Philipps IV. des Schönen von Frankreich war der Papst Clemens V., der vorher Bischof von Bordeaux gewesen war und dann in Avignon residierte, der nach und nach durch den gewaltigen Willen Philipps des Schönen so weit gekommen war, daß er gar nicht mehr einen eigenen Willen hatte, sondern wirklich seine kirchliche Gewalt nur dazu verwendete, um Philipp dem Schönen zu dienen, allem, was Philipp der Schöne wollte. Und Philipp der Schöne wollte vor allen Dingen, wie aus einer tiefen Leidenschaft heraus, sich zum Herren aller Reichtümer, die damals verfügbar waren, machen. Kein Wunder, daß er — vor allem, nachdem er gesehen hatte, welch andere Bedeutung das Gold auch haben kann in anderen Händen — vor allen Dingen diese anderen Hände vernichten wollte, die Hände der Templer, um ihr Gold zu erbeuten und sich in den Besitz ihres Goldes zu setzen, in den Besitz aller ihrer Schätze. Nun sagte ich: Solch eine Leidenschaft, die auf eine solch materielle Weise angeregt wird und die so intensiv ist, die erzeugt zugleich in der Seele starke Machtkräfte; sie erzeugt aber auch, wenn auch nach dem Ahrimanischen hin gehende, Erkenntnisse. Und so konnte es sein, daß in der Seele Philipps IV. des Schönen gewisse Erkenntnisse aufgingen, ich möchte sagen, von nachgeordneter Art, von derjenigen Weise des Erkennens, die wir aufflammen gesehen haben in herbster, abscheulicher Weise in den mexikanischen Mysterien. Was man bewirken kann, wenn man in der richtigen Weise Leben überwindet in der Welt, wenn auch in anderer Weise als die mexikanischen Eingeweihten, wenn auch nicht in so unmittelbarer, sondern mittelbarer Weise, das ging Philipp IV. dem Schönen auf. Und wie aus tief unterbewußten Impulsen heraus fand er die Mittel, aus dem Töten von Menschen heraus unterbewußte Impulse der Menschheitsentwickelung einzuverleiben. Dazu brauchte er seine Opfer. Und in einer ganz merkwürdigen Weise stimmte zusammen dieser teuflische Instinkt Philipps IV. des Schönen mit demjenigen, was sich auf der anderen Seite im Schoße der Templer notwendigerweise entwickelte durch ihr den gekennzeichneten Dingen geweihtes Leben.
Selbstverständlich, wo so etwas Edles, Großes auftritt wie bei den Templern, da gliedert sich auch an dieses Große, Edle manches Ungehörige an, vielleicht auch manches Unmoralische; und daß es selbstverständlich auch Templer gegeben hat, denen man allerlei vorwerfen kann, das soll nicht bestritten werden. Aber im Sinne der Tempelrittergründung war das nicht. Im Sinne der Tempelrittergründung war zuerst das, was die Templer für Jerusalem geleistet hatten, und dann das, was zur Verchristung der ganzen europäischen Kultur geleistet werden konnte. Denn allmählich breiteten sich die Templer aus in einflußreichen Gesellschaften über England, Frankreich, Spanien und einen Teil Italiens, über Mitteleuropa, überall breiteten sich die Templer aus. Und bei einzelnen Templern bildete sich in einem höchsten Grade aus dieses ganze Erfülltsein der Seele mit dem Empfinden von dem Mysterium von Golgatha, mit dem Empfinden von all dem, was mit dem christlichen Impulse zusammenhängt. Stark und intensiv wurde die Kraft dieses Verbundenseins mit dem Christus in den Templern. Das war ein richtiger Templer, der gewissermaßen nichts mehr von sich wußte, sondern, wenn er empfand, den Christus in sich empfinden ließ, wenn er dachte, den Christus in sich denken ließ, wenn er begeistert war, den Christus in sich begeistert sein ließ. Waren es vielleicht wenige, aber gegenüber der gesamten Masse des Tempelrittertums war es immerhin eine stattliche Anzahl von Männern, in denen dieses Ideal eine völlige Umwandelung, eine ganze Metamorphose des Seelenlebens bewirkt hat, die Seele wirklich oft und oft herausgebracht hat aus dem Leibe, sie lieben hat lassen in der geistigen Welt.
Dadurch war etwas ganz Merk würdiges im Kreise der Templer vor sich gegangen; etwas ganz großartigGewaltiges war dadurch im Kreise der Templer vor sich gegangen, ohne daß diese Templer gekannt hätten die Regeln der christlichen Initiation durch etwas anderes als durch den Opferdienst. Zuerst in den Kreuzzügen, dann in dem geistigen Wirken in Europa, wurde ihre Seele von der intensiven Hingabe an die christlichen Impulse und an das Mysterium von Golgatha so inspiriert, daß das Resultat war das Erleben der christlichen Einweihung bei vielen Templern, bei einer stattlichen Anzahl der Templer. Und wir haben das welthistorische Ereignis vor uns, daß auf weltgeschichtlichem Untergrunde einer Reihe von Männern aus den Untergründen, aus dem Schoße des menschlichen Werdens heraus die christliche Einweihung erwächst, das heißt, das Schauen derjenigen geistigen Welten, die dem Menschen zugänglich werden sollen durch die christliche Einweihung.
Das fordert immer Gegenkräfte heraus, Gegenkräfte, die ja in der damaligen Zeit reichlich vorhanden waren. Das, was also in die Welt tritt, wird nicht nur geliebt, es wird auch unbändig gehaßt. Weniger Haß als die Begierde, hinwegzuräumen von der Welt eine solche Gesellschaft und ihr ihre Schätze, die ihr reichlich zugeflossen waren und die sie nur verwenden sollte im Dienst des Geistes, zu entwenden, das lebte in Philipp IV. dem Schönen.
Nun ergibt sich immer für eine solche Initiation, wie sie jetzt die Folge war bei einer Reihe der Tempelritter, auch die Möglichkeit, nicht nur zu sehen das Beseligende, das Göttliche, sondern auch die luziferischen und ahrimanischen Kräfte zu sehen. Alles das, was dem Göttlichen entgegenwirkt, alles das, was den Menschen in die ahrimanische Welt hinunterzieht und in die luziferische Welt hinaufzieht, all das erscheint neben dem Einblick in die normalen geistigen Welten dem, der eine solche Initiation durchmacht. All die Leiden und all die Versuchungen und all die Anfechtungen, die an den Menschen herankommen durch die dem Guten gegnerischen Mächte, denen steht der also Initiierte gegenüber, und er hat schon Augenblicke, in denen vor seinem geistigen Blicke, vor dem Seelenblicke schwindet die gute geistige Welt, und er sich wie gefangen sieht von dem, was Macht über ihn gewinnen will, und sich in den Händen sieht der ahrimanisch-luziferischen Mächte, die ihn ergreifen wollen, die sich seines Willens, Denkens, Fühlens, Empfindens bemächtigen wollen. Das sind ja die aus den Schilderungen derjenigen, die in die geistige Welt hineingesehen haben, genugsam bekannten geistigen Anfechtungen. Und es war so mancher aus dem Kreise der Tempelritter, der einen tiefen Blick hineintun konnte in das Mysterium von Golgatha und seine Bedeutung, der einen tiefen Blick hineintun konnte in die christliche Symbolik, wie sie sich herausgebildet hatte durch die Entwickelung des Abendmahles, der den tiefen Hintergrund dieser Symbolik schauen konnte. Mancher, der infolge seiner christlichen Initiation hineinschauen konnte in das, was an christlichen Impulsen durch das geschichtliche Werden der europäischen Völker ging, mancher, der in diese Dinge hineinschauen konnte, sah aber auch anderes. Er erlebte es sozusagen an eigener Seele, weil es als Anfechtung über ihn kam, die er immer wieder überwand; die sich ihm zeigte, weil er erkennen mußte, wessen eine menschliche Seele fähig sein kann, wenn sie sich dessen auch nicht bewußt wird. Der Initiierte wird sich dessen bewußt und sucht zu überwinden, was im Uhnterbewußten sonst bleibt. So lernte manch solcher Tempelritter kennen jenen teuflischen Drang, der sich des menschlichen Wollens und Fühlens bemächtigt, herabzuwürdigen das Mysterium von Golgatha. Und in den Traumbildern, von denen solch ein Initiierter heimgesucht werden kann, erschien manchem visionär - das war bei der Art, wie diese Initiation entstanden war, durchaus möglich, namentlich da ja die luziferischen Kräfte versuchend an der Seite standen - gewissermaßen die Kehrseite der Verehrung des Symbols des Kruzifixus. Er sah in der Vision, wie die menschliche Seele fähig werden konnte, zu verunehren das Kreuzessymbolum, zu verunehren die heilige Handlung der Konsekration der Hostie; er sah jene menschlichen Kräfte, welche dahin drängen, ins alte Heidentum wiederum zurückzuführen, anzubeten das, was die Heiden angebetet haben und zu verachten den christlichen Fortschritt. Wie dieMenschenseele solchen Anfechtungen erliegen kann, das wußten diese Menschen, weil sie es bewußt überwinden mußten. Und Sie schauen da hinein in dieses Seelenleben, von dem wenig erzählt die äußere Geschichte.
So ein rechtes Wissen, wenn auch nur instinktiver Art, von diesen Tatsachen des Seelenlebens hatte durch seine ahrimanische Gold-Initiation auch Philipp IV. der Schöne. Der wußte etwas davon, bis zu dem Grade sogar, daß er es seinen Kreaturen mitteilen konnte. Und nun wurde, nachdem man eine grausame Gerichtsprozedur heraufbeschworen hatte, durch die man allerlei Untersuchungen angestellt hatte, etwas in Szene gesetzt, was von vornherein beschlossen war. Man machte, angestiftet von Philipp IV. dem Schönen, mit den Kreaturen, die zu der Untersuchung herangezogen waren gegen die Templer, Anschläge. Aller möglichen Laster, von denen man wußte, daß sie sie nicht hatten, wurden sie angeklagt. Man hat sie eines Tages in Frankreich überfallen, um sie alle einzusperren, und nachdem man sie eingesperrt hatte, hat man sich möglichst schnell aller ihrer Schätze gleich bemächtigt, sie alle konfisziert.
Man machte nun Gerichtsprozeduren, in denen, ganz unter dem Einflusse Philipps IV. des Schönen, die Folter in ausgiebigstem Maße angewendet wurde. Alle nur auftreibbaren Tempelritter wurden den schlimmsten Folterungen unterworfen. So wurde hier die Folter angewendet zu ähnlichen Überwindungen des Lebens, wie Sie sie ja in ihrer Bedeutung kennengelernt haben. Möglichst viele Leute zu foltern, das gehörte mit in die Intentionen Philipps des Schönen. Und die Folterung wurde in der grausamsten Weise vollzogen, so daß eine große Zahl, ja die größte Zahl der gefolterten Tempelritter bis zur Bewußtlosigkeit gefoltert wurden. Das wußte Philipp IV. der Schöne, was da herauskommt, wenn das Bewußtsein getrübt wurde, wenn diese Leute auf der Folter liegen unter den entsetzlichsten Qualen; er wußte: da kommen die Bilder der Anfechtungen heraus! Und nun wurde unter Anstiftung Philipps IV. des Schönen eine Katechisierung zusammengestellt, ein Katechismus von Suggestionsfragen, so daß man die Fragen so stellte, daß immer in der Frage herausgefordert wurde die Antwort, und die Antwort gegeben aus dem durch die Folter getrübten Bewußtsein. Die Frage wurde gestellt: Habt ihr die Hostie verleugnet und bei der Konsekration nicht die Konsekrationsworte gesprochen? - Und die Tempelritter gestanden das, weil ihr Bewußtsein getrübt war durch die Folter, weil die dem Guten entgegenstehenden Mächte aus ihren Visionen heraus sprachen. Und sie klagten sich an, während sie in ihrem bewußten Leben dem Kreuzessymbolum, dem Kruzifixus, die höchste Verehrung entgegenbrachten, daß sie es bei der Aufnahme anspeien; und sie klagten sich an aller der schlimmsten Verbrechen, die in dieser Zeit sonst als Anfechtungen in ihrem Unterbewußtsein lebten. Und so stellte man zusammen aus dem, was die Tempelritter gestanden haben auf der Folter, daß diese Tempelritter angebetet hätten ein Idol statt des Christus, ein Idol eines Menschenkopfes, dessen Augen leuchtend werden, daß sie bei ihrer Aufnahme widerwärtigen Prozeduren schlimmster geschlechtlicher Art unterworfen würden, daß sie die Wandlung nicht in der richtigen Weise vollziehen, daß sie die schlimmsten geschlechtlichen Laster treiben, daß sie eben bei ihrer Aufnahme abschwören das Mysterium von Golgatha; und man hatte die ganze Katechisierung so eingerichtet, daß selbst der Großmeister des Templerordens unter der Folter gezwungen worden ist, aus dem Unterbewußten heraus diese Zugeständnisse zu machen.
Es ist eines der traurigsten Kapitel der Menschheitsgeschichte, aber eines derjenigen Kapitel der Menschheitsgeschichte, die man nur verstehen kann, wenn man sich klar ist darüber, daß hinter dem Schleier dessen, wovon die Geschichte erzählt, wirksame Kräfte stehen, und daß das Menschenleben wahrhaftig ein Kämpfen ist. Es wäre eine Leichtigkeit — ich will jetzt alles übrige, was noch zu erzählen wäre, weglassen wegen der kurzen Zeit - zu zeigen, wie alle Scheingründe dafür sprachen, die Templer zu verurteilen. Manche blieben bei den Geständnissen, manche flüchteten; ein großer Teil wurde verurteilt, und wie gesagt, selbst der Großmeister, Jakob Bernhard von Molay, wurde durch die Folter gezwungen, in der gekennzeichneten Weise auszusagen. Und so kam es denn, daß Philipp IV. der Schöne von Frankreich es dahin bringen konnte, seine Kreatur, den Papst Clemens V. zu überzeugen — es war nicht schwierig! -, daß die Templer alle die schändlichsten Laster begangen hätten, daß sie die unchristlichsten Ketzer seien. Alles das segnete der Papst Clemens V. auch mit seinem Segen, und es wurde von Clemens V. der Templerorden aufgehoben, vernichtet. Vierundfünfzig Tempelritter, auch Jakob Bernhard von Molay, wurden verbrannt. In den übrigen europäischen Ländern wurde ihnen bald danach auch der Prozeß gemacht, in England, in Spanien, dann auch bis nach Mitteleuropa, Italien herein.
So sehen wir, wie hineindringt mitten in die europäische Entwickelung dasjenige, was die Auffassung des Mysteriums von Golgatha und seiner Wirksamkeit durch den Templerorden war. Im tieferen Sinne müssen die Dinge doch angesehen werden als von einer gewissen Notwendigkeit bedingt. So aufzunehmen die Impulse von Weisheit, Schönheit, Stärke, wie die Templer das wollten, dazu war die Menschheit zu der Templer Zeiten noch nicht reif. Und außerdem war es durch Gründe, die wir auch noch kennenlernen werden später, durch Gründe, die in der gesamten europäischen Geistesentwickelung liegen, bedingt, daß nicht in der Form, in der die Templer sich in die geistige Welt hineinleben, diese geistige Welt errungen werden sollte. Sie wäre zu schnell errungen worden, wie es luziferische Art ist. Und wir sehen wirklich einen der bedeutungsvollsten Zusammenstöße Luzifers und Ahrimans: Luzifer nur die Templer gleichsam hindrängend, in ihr Unglück hineindrängend; Ahriman durch die Inspiration Philipps IV. des Schönen wirksam. Wir sehen ein bedeutsames Zusammenstoßen in der Weltgeschichte.
Dasjenige aber, was in den Templern lebte und wirkte, das konnte nicht ausgerottet werden. Geistiges Leben kann nicht ausgerottet werden. Geistiges Leben lebt und webt fort. Mit den Templern, gerade mit jenen vierundfünfzig, die dazumal verbrannt worden waren durch Philipp IV., war allerdings manche Seele in die geistige Welt hinaufgezogen, die auf der Erde noch manches gewirkt hätte im Sinne der Templer, und auch Schüler herangezogen hätte, die in demselben Sinne gewirkt hätten. Aber es sollte anders kommen. Durch jene Erfahrungen, die die Seelen durchgemacht hatten unter den furchtbarsten Folterqualen, unter dem Einflusse des unter der Folter erpreßten Visionsgeständnisses, lebten sich diese Seelen in die geistige Welt hinauf. Und ihre Impulse, die nun zwischen ihrem Tode und ihrer nächsten Geburt, ihrer nächsten Inkarnation auf die Seelen ausgehen, die herunter gekommen sind seither, und auch auf die Seelen, die noch oben sind und auf ihre Inkarnation warten seit jener Zeit, die sollten verwandelt werden aus der Art und Weise der Wirksamkeit in der physischen Erdenwelt in geistige Wirksamkeit. Und zum Inspirationsprinzip für viele sollte das werden, was jetzt von diesen Templerseelen kam, die auf diese elende Art hingemordet worden sind und die noch erleben mußten vor ihrem Tode, vor dem Verbrennungstode, ein Furchtbarstes, das ein Mensch erleben kann. Es sollten aus diesen Erlebnissen gewaltige Impulse in menschliche Seelen herunterfließen. Und bei mancher menschlichen Seele könnten wir dieses nachweisen.
Wir wollen auch heute mehr im Erkenntnis- und geistigen Gebiete bleiben, wie ich das in den anderen Fällen tat, wo ich in den letzten Tagen Beispiele gegeben habe. Inspiration auch des kosmischen Wissens der Templer, sie wurde immer gegeben. Daß schließlich das Volk nach und nach auch die Templer als Ketzer angesehen, nachdem sie gefoltert und verbrannt worden waren, das ist ja nicht zu verwundern; daß das Volk auch geglaubt hat, daß sie alles mögliche Schändliche getrieben haben, das ist nicht zu verwundern. Ich weiß nicht, wenn es jemand gefallen würde, das Teufels-Spiel, das gerade vorhin aufgeführt worden ist, in welchem Mephisto, die Lemuren, die Dick- und Dürrteufel auftreten, als besonders ketzerisch zu verdammen, ob sich nicht zahlreiche Menschen aus dem Volk finden würden, die das auch als etwas Ketzerisches ansehen würden! Nur daß man nicht mehr dieselben Mittel in der heutigen, etwas wehleidigeren Zeit anwendet, wie sie PhilippIV. der Schöne von Frankreich anwandte.

In so manche Seele ist das kosmische Wissen, das diese Templer gehabt haben, hineingegangen. Viele Beispiele könnte man anführen, wie die Templer-Inspiration in die Seelen gezogen ist. Ich will Ihnen nur eine Stelle vorlesen aus dem 1838 erschienenen Gedichte «Ahasver» von Julius Mosen. Ich habe Ihnen Mosen schon öfter — Sie können das in den Zyklen nachlesen - als einen recht tiefen Geist angeführt, Julius Mosen, den tiefsinnigen Dichter der tiefsinnigen Dichtung auch des «Ritter Wahn». Im dritten Teil des «Ahasver» führt gleich im ersten Gesange Mosen seinen Ahasver nach derjenigen Stätte der Erde hin, wo auf Ceylon und den angrenzenden Inseln die Gegend zu suchen ist, die wir in unserer Geisteswissenschaft in der Kosmologie als die Gegend bezeichnen, wo sich ungefähr die lemurische Entwickelung abgespielt hat. Diese Gegend der Erde, die ist auf eine besondere Weise ausgezeichnet. Sie wissen, daß es einen gewissen Punkt gibt - nicht den geographischen Nordpol, sondern einen gewissen Punkt, den magnetischen Nordpol. Die Magnetnadeln weisen überall nach dem magnetischen Nordpol hin. Gewisse Linien kann man als magnetische Meridiane ziehen; die fallen mit dem magnetischen Nordpol zusammen. Oben in Nordamerika, wo der magnetische Nordpol liegt, da sind die Linien ziemliche Kreise, aber gerade Kreise. Merkwürdigerweise gerade in der Gegend, die wir als die lemurische bezeichnen, wird diese Linie eine verschlungene Schlangenlinie. Die magnetischen Kräfte verschlingen sich dort schlangenförmig. Solche Dinge beachtet man heute viel zu wenig. Derjenige, der auf das Lebendige unserer Erde sieht, der weiß aber, daß der Magnetismus wie eine die Erde belebende Kraft ist, daß er im Norden gerade geht und sich schlängelt gerade in dem Gebiete, wo das alte Lemurien war. Denken Sie, wie tiefsinnig Julius Mosen, als er seinen Ahasver hinführt nach dieser Gegend im ersten Gesang der dritten Frist - er teilt ein in Fristen —, wie er da sagt:
Vom Südpol aus in ganz geradem Gange
Zieht die magnet’sche Linie sich vor,
Doch plötzlich krümmt sie sich wie eine SchlangeVor Indien und seinem Archipele —
Dort vor dem Kerker, wo gebunden sitzt
Die ewge Mutter, Weh in tiefster Seele.Die Linie möcht’ zum Kreise sich verkürzen
Und in sich selbst hinein geheimnisvoll
Mit einemmal in einen Wirbel stürzen.Der große Geist hielt dort zuerst umschlungen
Sein armes Weib, dort sind aus ihrer Glut
Die Erddämonen allzumal entsprungen.Als so die erste Schöpfung ausgedampft,
Hat er, der Große, unnennbare Geist
Im Zorn das Brautbett in das Meer gestampft.
Und so geht es weiter. Wir sehen da auftauchen eine Inspiration mitkosmischem Wissen, wunderbar ahnend. Die Weisheit lebt weiter, die unter Schmerzen, unter Qualen, unter Verfolgungen, unter furchtbarsten Sünden nur in die Welt einziehen konnte; aber vergeistigt lebt sie weiter.
Und suchen wir eine der schönsten Vergeistigungen dieser Weisheit, die, wie beschrieben, in die Weltenentwickelung Europas eingezogen ist, so finden wir sie eben in alle dem, was wirken und leben will in den gewaltigen Imaginationen Goethes. Goethe wußte um das Geheimnis der Templer. Und nicht umsonst hat er das Gold in der Weise, wie er es verwendet hat, verwendet in seinem Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie und gefordert, daß die Schlange das Gold verzehre und sich dann opfere, damit das Gold entrissen werde den Mächten, von denen Goethe wahrhaftig wußte, daß es nicht bei ihnen sein darf, bleiben darf. Mit Gold ist selbstverständlich hier auch all dasjenige gemeint, wofür das Gold reales Symbolum ist. Und lesen Sie das Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie von Goethe noch einmal, und versuchen Sie zu fühlen, wie Goethe das Geheimnis vom Golde kannte und wie er durch die Art und Weise, wie er das Gold durch das Märchen fließen ließ, zeigt, daß er in alte Zeiten zurückblickt. Ich darf vielleicht da das persönliche Geständnis einfügen, daß, als ich mir zum ersten Male gerade die Frage nach dem Golde in Goethes Märchen in den achtziger Jahren des verflossenen Jahrhunderts vorlegte, mir der Sinn des Goetheschen Märchens von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie durch die Fortentwickelung des Goldes in dem Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie aufging. Durch die Art und Weise, wie Goethe das Gold durch dieses Märchen fließen läßt, zeigt er, wie er zurückblickt in die Zeiten, in denen die Weisheit — für die auch das Gold steht, daher der goldene König der Weisheit - solchen Verfolgungen ausgesetzt war, wie die geschilderten waren. Nun versuchte er zu zeigen Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft. In die Zukunft der osteuropäischen Kultur sah Goethe instinktiv hinein. Er sah hinein in das Unberechtigte der Art, wie dort das Sünden- und Todesproblem wirkte. Und wenn man vielleicht nicht ganz ungeeignet bezeichnen wollte, welcher Nationalität der Mensch ist, der dann zum Tempel und zur schönen Lilie geführt wird, der zuerst wie ohne Mark auftritt, wie gelähmt: nach dem, was wir über die Kultur des Ostens, namentlich die russische Kultur in den letzten Tagen sagen mußten, werden Sie es nicht als ungereimt erachten, russischer Nationalität diesen Menschen zu finden, und Sie werden Goethes Instinkt damit ziemlich treffen. Es ist das Geheimnis des europäischen Werdens im fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum ebenso darinnen, wie es Goethe in seiner Zeit in seinen «Faust» hineingeheimnissen konnte, insbesondere — das wissen wir aus seinen eigenen Mitteilungen — wie es im zweiten Teil seines «Faust» darinnen ist. Gerade an Goethe läßt sich zeigen, und wir haben es für verschiedene Punkte schon getan, es soll in der Zukunft für andere Punkte noch gezeigt werden, daß er anhebt, mit jenem Denken und mit jener Art die Welt anzusehen und in die Welt sich hineinzufühlen, wie es die Grundforderung des fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraums ist.
Ein richtiger Fortsetzer des Tempelherrenlebens, aber in Vergeistigung, so wie ich es charakterisiert habe, ist doch in Goethe da. Nur wird erst langsam und allmählich gerade dieser Goetheanismus in das menschliche Verständnis hineinkommen können. Für gewisse Punkte, sagte ich, habe ich schon gezeigt, wie in dem Goetheanismus geradezu der Impuls für alles Geisteswissenschaftliche liegt. Aus Goethe heraus kann alles Geisteswissenschaftliche entwickelt werden. Und in einem öffentlichen Vortrage, den ich vor kurzer Zeit gehalten habe, habe ich gezeigt, wie in Goethes Metamorphosenlehre die erste elementare wissenschaftliche Begründung der Reinkarnationslehre, der Lehre von den wiederholten Erdenleben liegt. Denn, wie Goethe die Metamorphosenlehre beginnt und zeigt, wie das Blatt sich in die Blüte verwandelt, wie ein Organ in verschiedenen Formen erscheint, darin liegt beschlossen, wenn man es durchdringend durchführt, das, was ich nun auch hier schon ausführte: daß des Menschen Haupt ein umgewandelter übriger Leib sei und der übrige Leib ein noch nicht umgewandeltes menschliches Haupt. Metamorphose im äußersten Maße, die unmittelbar so der Wissenschaft zur Reinkarnationserkenntnis, zur Erkenntnis der wiederholten Erdenleben werden wird! Aber Goethe ist noch wenig verstanden worden; Goethe muß sich erst einleben in die Menschheitskultur. Und nicht nur Jahrhunderte, Jahrtausende werden nötig sein, um vieles zu ergründen, was in Goethe liegt. Denn im Grunde genommen gibt es heute noch nicht einmal eine Grundlage für ein Goethe-Studium durch eine wirklich im Goetheschen Stile selbst gehaltene Goethe-Monographie oder -Biographie.
Sehen wir, was innerhalb der modernen Kultur in einzelnen Fällen wir können ja nur einzelne Beispiele anführen - geleistet worden ist für das Verständnis der Gesamtpersönlichkeit Goethes. Herman Grimm hat zum Beispiel mit Recht gesagt: Da hat ein gewisser Mister Lewes ein Buch geschrieben - es war eine Zeitlang das allerberühmteste Buch über Goethe, sogar das allerbeste, kann man sagen -, ein Buch, das handelt von einer gewissen Persönlichkeit, die 1749 in Frankfurt am Main geboren sein soll, einen Frankfurter Ratsherrn zum Vater haben soll, die dann so sich entwickelt, daß ihr Goethes Jugendleben angedichter wird, der allerlei anderes von Goethe angedichtet wird, der Goethes Werke zugeschrieben werden, die auch in demselben Jahre nach Italien reiste, in dem Goethe nach Italien gereist ist, die auch in demselben Jahre stirbt, in dem Goethe stirbt — aber Goethe ist es nicht, sondern es ist ein Phantasiegeschöpf des Mister Lewes!
Dann haben wir ein verhältnismäßig auch gutes Buch, in dem mit einem Riesenfleiße, besser als vieles andere, was über Goethe geschrieben worden ist, Goethes Leben und Schaffen beschrieben wird, aber ganz erfüllt von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite mit Haß und Abneigung: das Buch des Jesuiten Baumgartner, ein ausgezeichnetes Buch, aber eben ein jesuitisches Buch, ein Goethe-gegnerisches Buch, ein Buch, das jedenfalls besser geschrieben ist als alle die zahlreichen Bücher, die über Goethe geschrieben worden sind im Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts und bis in das 20. Jahrhundert herein, von denen eine große Anzahl unangenehm zu genießen sind, weil man immerfort niesen muß: man bekommt in die Nase den Bibliothekstaub und den Schulgelehrtenstaub, welcher noch anhaftert diesen Büchern, die von Schulfüchsen über Goethe - sie nennen es Goethe — geschrieben worden sind, manchmal nicht ohne besonderen schulfüchsigen Hochmut geschrieben worden sind, aber muffig zu genießen, entweder wegen des Bibliothekstaubs oder wegen der Luft, die man einatmen muß, wenn man ahnt, wie oft der Betreffende, der da über «Faust» schreibt, bei dieser oder jener Goethe-Stelle das Grimmsche oder ein anderes Wörterbuch aufgeschlagen hat, um dieses oder jenes Wort bei Goethe zu entziffern, und dergleichen mehr. Man könnte sagen: Oh, schauervoll, höchst schauervoll, was auf diesem Gebiete geschrieben worden ist!
Ein Buch ragt allerdings ganz außerordentlich hervor. Es ist das Buch, in dem die Goethe-Vorlesungen von Herman Grimm enthalten sind, die er in den siebziger Jahren an der Berliner Universität gehalten hat. Herman Grimm war allerdings ein Geist, welcher den besten Willen und die wunderbarsten Traditionen hatte, um sich in Goethe einzuleben. Und so ist denn sein Buch ein geistvolles, ein ausgezeichnetes Buch, ein Buch, das herausgewachsen ist aus der Goethe- Atmosphäre. Es ist ja Herman Grimm aufgewachsen in dem Zeitalter, das überall noch Goethesche Traditionen hatte. Aber dieses Buch zeigt gerade wiederum Bedeutsames. Es ist nämlich in gewisser Beziehung wiederum gar nicht das Buch, das ganz aus den Goetheschen Traditionen herausgewachsen ist; es ist sowohl goethisch wie in gewisser Beziehung auch ungoethisch. Denn Herman Grimm schreibt einen Stil nicht wie Goethe, sondern Herman Grimm schreibt merkwürdigerweise einen solchen Stil, daß man sagen kann: sein Buch ist wie von einem Amerikaner, von einem Deutschamerikaner geschrieben. - Und man kann Herman Grimms Vorlesungen geradezu dem Stile nach ein amerikanisch geschriebenes Buch nennen, nur daß es in deutscher Sprache geschrieben ist; aber der Stil ist amerikanisch. Es ist jener Stil, den Herman Grimm sich herangebildet hat, indem er Emerson als einer der begeistertsten Anhänger studiert, gelesen, verdaut, übersetzt hat, sich ganz in ihn hineingefunden hat. Nun findet sich dieser Herman Grimm in diesen amerikanischen Emerson-Stil hinein, so daß er ihn handhabt, so daß er auch dafür begeistert wird. Und wie er alles Amerikanische in sich nachleben lassen kann, das sehe man nur einmal, indem man Herman Grimms Roman «Unüberwindliche Mächte» liest. Enthusiasmus für das Amerikanische und damit wunderbar Internationales ist auch ausgegossen über die Goethe-Vorträge, über das Goethe-Buch Herman Grimms.
Aber trotz allem und alledem wird vieles, vieles an geistigem Leben hinfließen müssen, bis Goethe und ähnliche Geister richtig verstanden worden sind. Und werden sie einmal richtig verstanden, dann müssen sie auch noch anders verstanden werden, als Herman Grimm Goethe verstand. Ich muß immer wieder und wiederum daran denken, als ich einmal in einem Gespräch mit Herman Grimm war und nur einiges von dem Wege andeuten wollte, wie man allmählich in die geistige Welt hineinkommen könnte: unvergeßlich wird mir immer bleiben Herman Grimms Bewegung seines rechten Armes — ablenkend; er wollte das beiseite schieben. Er schuf, man möchte sagen, einen Goethe, der wunderbar herrlich von außen anzusehen ist; man sieht nur nicht ihm ins Herz hinein. Aber so, wie er wandelt durch das geschichtliche Werden, wie er dasteht, wie er da geht, wie er mit Menschen in Beziehungen kommt, wie menschliche Beziehungen in seine Werke hineinfließen, wie die zeitgenössische Weltanschauung in seine Werke hineinfließt, so wandelt dieser Herman Grimmsche Goethe vor unserem geistigen Blick doch vorbei wie ein Gespenst, wie ein Gespenst, das durch die Welt hinhuscht, nicht vom Lebendigen erfaßt. Und erst, wenn man den Goetheanismus zur Geisteswissenschaft vertieft haben wird, erst dann wird Goethe verstanden werden können. Vieles wird sich finden aus Goethe, was Goethe selber nicht aussprechen konnte. Der richtig verstandene Goethe führt schon zur Geisteswissenschaft. Geisteswissenschaft ist nur ausgebildeter Goetheanismus.
Und von frühester Zeit an hat Goethe auch verstanden, wie das Christentum ein Lebendiges ist. Wie hat er sich gesehnt nach einem möglichen Ausdruck für die Durchchristung des modernen Weltanschauens. In der neueren Zeit arbeitet Geisteswissenschaft schon, diese Durchchristung zu finden. Das lag noch nicht in seinem Zeitalter. Aber nehmen wir sein Gedicht «Die Geheimnisse», wo der Bruder Markus hingeführt wird zu dem Tempel, auf dem das Rosenkreuz am Tore ist, und sehen wir uns das Ganze an: wie da christliche Stimmung in diesem Fragment «Die Geheimnisse» ist, jene christliche Stimmung, die daher stammt, daß das Symbolum des Kreuzes zum Bild des Lebens wird durch die lebendig es umschlingenden Rosen! Und wie läßt Goethe - er hat sich ja selber im hohen Alter zu Eckermann ausgesprochen - seinen «Faust» auslaufen in christliche Vorstellungen! Eine Zeit wird kommen, wo man in einem gar viel regsameren Sinne, in einem viel intensiveren Sinne dieses Ausklingen des Faust-Gedankens und das Zusammenklingen des Faust-Gedankens mit dem Christentum einfügen wird, wenn Goethe auch weit davon entfernt war, von sich aus das zu tun, denn er war bescheiden, innerlich bescheiden in solchen Dingen. Er war auf dem Wege, den er seinen Bruder Markus gehen läßt, zu dem Kreuze, von Rosen umwunden. Darinnen liegt schließlich doch dasjenige, was aus solcher Weisheit fortfließen soll, wie sie von den Tempelherren - aber nur in einem zu raschen Tempo und auf eine mehr für die physische Entwickelung berechnete Weise - angestrebt war.
Aber immer mehr und mehr brach auch die Sehnsucht nach voller Verchristung der Weisheitsschätze des Kosmos und des Erdenwerdens durch, und nach voller Verchristung des irdischen Lebens, solcher Verchristung des irdischen Lebens, daß der Erde Leiden, der Erde Schmerz und der Erde Trauer wie das Erdenkreuz erscheint, das allein aber seinen Trost, seine Erhebung, seine Erlösung findet in dem Rosensymbolum des Kruzifixus. Und in immer wieder und wiederum von dieser Seite inspirierten Menschen, in denen fortlebte dasjenige, was mit dem Verbrennen der Tempelritter getötet werden sollte, in Menschen, die davon inspiriert waren, lebte immer wieder das hohe Ideal, daß an die Stelle dessen, was in die Menschen Streit und Hader bringt, dasjenige treten muß, was das Gute auf die Erde bringen kann, so wie es vorgestellt werden kann, dieses Gute, unter dem Symbolum des Kreuzes in der Verbindung mit den Rosen.
Es wurde mir gerade heute von einem unserer Mitglieder überreicht das Buch «Schutt» von Anastasius Grün, und ich habe hier wiederum dieselben Verse, die ich schon vor Zeiten vorgelesen habe zur Bekräftigung, wie dieses Geheimnis, das auch hier gemeint ist, nicht etwa bloß von uns so aufgebracht worden ist, sondern immer wieder und wiederum auflebte. Anastasius Grün, der österreichische Dichter, hat seine Dichtungen «Schutt» geschrieben, deren achte Auflage schon 1847 erschienen ist. Da dichtete er in seiner Art über den Werdegang der Menschheit, und ich will heute wiederum die Stelle vorlesen, die ich schon vor Jahren vorgelesen habe zum Beweise dafür, welche Rolle die Vorstellung vom Rosenkreuz in der sich entwickelnden Menschheit bei den in der neueren Zeit in gekennzeichneter Art inkarnierten Menschen spielt. Anastasius Grün wendet hin seinen Blick nach Palästina; er wendet hin seinen Blick auch nach anderen Gegenden der Erde, nachdem er beschrieben hat, wie über die Erde vieles hingezogen ist an wüstem Kampf und Streit. Nachdem er vieles, was Kampf und Streit bewirkt, gesehen und es dargestellt hat in dem Gedichte, nachdem der in einer gewissen Weise großartige Seher Anastasius Grün das beschrieben hat, wendet er seinen Blick nach einer Gegend der Erde, die er also beschreibt. Ich kann nicht das Ganze vorlesen, es würde zu lange dauern. Der Blick ist zunächst auf eine Gegend der Erde gewendet, durch welche die Pflugschar gezogen wird:
Einst, da begab sich’s, daß im Feld die Kinder
Ausgruben gar ein formlos, eisern Ding;
Als Sichel deucht’s zu grad und schwer die Finder,
Als Pflugschar fast zu schlank und zu gering.Sie schleppen’s mühsam heim gleich selt’'nem Funde,
Die Eltern sehn es, — doch sie kennen’s nicht.
Sie rufen rings die Nachbarn in der Runde,
Die Nachbarn sehn es, — doch sie kennen’s nicht.Da ist ein Greis, der in der Jetztwelt Tage
Mit weißem Bart und fahlem Angesicht
Hineinragt, selbst wie eine alte Sage;
Sie zeigen’s ihm, — er aber kennt es nicht.Wohl ihnen allen, daß sie’s nimmer kennen!
Der Ahnen Torheit, längst vom Grab verzehrt,
Müßt’ ihnen noch im Aug’ als Träne brennen.
Denn was sie nimmer kannten, — war ein Schwert!Als Pflugschar soll’s fortan durch Schollen ringen,
Dem Saatkorn nur noch weist’s den Weg zur Gruft;
Des Schwertes neue Heldentaten singen
Der Lerchen Epopö’n in sonn’ger Luft! - —Einst wieder sich’s begab, daß, als er pflügte,
Der Ackersmann wie an ein Felsstück stieß,
Und, als sein Spaten rings die Hüll’ entfügte,
Ein wundersam Gebild aus Stein sich wies.Er ruft herbei die Nachbarn in der Runde,
Sie sehn sich’s an, — jedoch sie kennen’s nicht!
Uralter, weiser Greis, du gibst wohl Kunde?
Der Greis besieht’s — jedoch er kennt es nicht.
Also beim Pflügen wurde etwas ausgegraben, und selbst der alte Greis kennt es nicht.
Ob sie’s auch kennen nicht, doch steht’s voll Segen
Aufrecht in ihrer Brust, in ew’gem Reiz,
Und blüht sein Same rings auf allen Wegen;
Denn was sie nimmer kannten, — war ein Kreuz!Sie sahn den Kampf nicht und sein blutig Zeichen,
Sie sehn den Sieg allein und seinen Kranz.
Sie sahn den Sturm nicht mit den Wetterstreichen,
Sie sehn nur seines Regenbogens Glanz!
Daß es immer wieder erkannt wird, das Kreuz, selbst in einer Gegend, wo es schon verschollen war und nur noch als Steinkreuz aus der Erde gezogen ist, wo die Kultur schon so abgezogen ist, daß sich eine unchristliche Kultur entwickelt hat, will Anastasius Grün sagen. Da wird ein Kreuz gefunden: in der innersten Brust erkennt man es, wenn es auch nach der Tradition selbst der älteste Greis nicht kennt.
Ob sie’s auch kennen nicht, doch steht’s voll Segen
Aufrecht in ihrer Brust, in ew’gem Reiz,
Und blüht sein Same rings auf allen Wegen;
Denn was sie nimmer kannten, — war ein Kreuz!Sie sahn den Kampf nicht und sein blutig Zeichen,
Sie sehn den Sieg allein und seinen Kranz.
Sie sahn den Sturm nicht mit den Wetterstreichen,
Sie sehn nur seines Regenbogens Glanz!Das Kreuz von Stein, sie stellen’s auf im Garten,
Ein rätselhaft, ehrwürdig Altertum,
Dran Rosen rings und Blumen aller Arten
Empor sich ranken, kletternd um und um.So steht das Kreuz inmitten Glanz und Fülle
Auf Golgatha, glorreich, bedeutungsschwer;
Verdeckt ist’s ganz von seiner Rosen Hülle,
Längst sieht vor Rosen man das Kreuz nicht mehr.
Aber da ist es! Da ist das Kreuz! Da sind die Rosen!
Den Sinn der Geschichte erkennt man nur, wenn man den Blick richtet auf das, was lebt in dem Geistigen, was das menschliche Werden durchzieht, wenn man aber auch den Sinn lenken will auf das, was uns zeigt, unter welchen Auspizien, unter welchen Zeichen die Dinge in die Weltgeschichte eintreten. Ich denke, man kann fühlen den tieferen Zusammenhang von dem, was für die spätere Zeit von uns charakterisiert worden ist, und dem, was heute charakterisiert worden ist in dem Ideal der Templer und ihrem Schicksal in der Welt am Anfange des 14. Jahrhunderts.
Sixth Lecture
We have been concerned with showing how, in the historical development of humanity, those spiritual forces play a part which we, in our way, call Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces or powers. We have seen how that which is to be carried over from one age to another in the world's evolution is carried over by such powers, and we have endeavored to show how that which can only be grasped in concrete terms is present in the impulses of human social life, in the impulses of the social life of human beings, in their desires, in their cravings, in their thirst for knowledge. if one knows these supersensible forces underlying world historical development. Just as this had to be said for our fifth post-Atlantean period, so, as we have seen, it has been preparing since the 15th century. We have seen what new abilities have arisen in humanity since the 15th century, what has developed in the entire cultural organism of Europe since that time.
If we want to look for a spirit that has expressed in the most concentrated and sharpest way what the human impulses of our time should be, we can look to Goethe, and we have already mentioned that he expressed, both with his view of nature and with his imaginative world, what can form the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean period. And I must remind you today that I have often pointed out how Goethe expressed in an intimate way what he regarded as the cultural impulses, the impulses of knowledge, the impulses of feeling, the impulses of the will, which he must have thought necessary for the effectiveness of human beings in the future, in that fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, in which he secretly incorporated what he knew, one might say, from the spiritually hidden forces that have been active in humanity since the 15th century and will continue to be active for about two millennia. You also know how we have tried in our mysteries to bring to life in a detailed way what Goethe saw through when he wrote this fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily. In these mysteries, what inspired Goethe, but what is intended to inspire the entire fifth post-Atlantean cultural humanity as the highest spiritual treasure, was to be expressed in a way that could be expressed a hundred years after Goethe.
Such depths of the human soul, as they lie at the foundation of such a great and powerful poem as the fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, even though it is a symbolic poem, such great impulses as those that lie at the foundation of Goethe's “Faust” as a poem of humanity, point us again and again to deep forces lying beneath the surface of consciousness. This works in such a soul from the depths of ancient cultural impulses. And today, in connection with what I said yesterday, I would like to say something about such cultural impulses, which, in Goethe, I would say have undergone a certain spiritualization.
We must go back to the time when the seeds of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch were sown; we must go back to before the 15th century, because such things, which then continue to have a spiritual effect, must be prepared long in advance. How, in the European soul life and in European social life, in the striving for the true, the beautiful, and the good in European life, the normally effective divine-spiritual forces are engulfed by the Ahrimanic-Luciferic forces for our age, can only be recognized if we go back to the times when, in a sense, the first impulses were given. We learned about such initial impulses from earlier times yesterday. Today we want to learn about another such impulse from the middle of the Middle Ages; we want to learn how certain spiritual tendencies emerged from human development in the middle of the Middle Ages. I will only be able to touch on the historical background here. Anyone can read about the historical background in any encyclopedia today.
In order to describe the configuration of the cultural impulses that then underwent a certain spiritualization in Goethe, I must refer back to the time when, out of the European will, and specifically out of the Christian impulses of the European will, the will arose for the Crusades. At this time, when the will arose in European cultural humanity to visit the holy places, there were harsh clashes throughout European life between what are called Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces. This means that the continuing good, truly Christian impulses were influenced, as it were, from those sides that were characterized yesterday, These other forces were allowed to do so by the wise world guidance so that what is happening in the wise world guidance of the present may be configured in the appropriate way by the other impulses working in from the past, which always intersect with the impulses of the present in the way we have often discussed.
Among many things in this period which, when considered, I would say are a source of joy for the human soul, we see how, among many things that came into being soon after the Crusades achieved their first successes, the Order of the Knights Templar was founded in 1119. Five French knights under the leadership of Hugo de Payens joined forces and founded an order at the sacred site where the mystery of Golgotha had taken place, an order dedicated entirely to the service of the mystery of Golgotha, with its first and most important house located directly next to the site where Solomon's Temple once stood, so that, in a sense, ancient sacred wisdom prepared for Christianity and the wisdom of Solomon could work together at this site, with all the feelings and emotions that arose in the highest degree from the most sacred enthusiasm for the mystery of Golgotha and its bearer. In addition to the usual monastic vows customary at that time, the duty of obedience to their spiritual superiors, the first Knights Templar committed themselves to working intensively to bring the sites where the mystery of Golgotha had taken place into the sphere of European power. They were to think of nothing else—as was contained in the written and especially in the unwritten rules of the order—than how they could fill their hearts and souls completely with the sacred mystery of Golgotha, and how they could serve with every drop of their blood to bring the sacred site into the sphere of influence of the European will. At every moment of their lives, they were to think and feel that they belonged entirely to this task and that they would spare no effort to accomplish it with all the strength available to each individual. Their blood should not belong to themselves, but solely to the task we have described. And when they face a threefold superior force—so they were commanded—they must not flee; every Templar must hold his ground, even if three infidels seek to dispute it with him. And at every moment of their lives, they must remember that the blood flowing in their veins does not belong to them, but to their great spiritual task. Whatever wealth they acquire should not belong to any individual. No individual was to have any possessions, only the entire order. The individual who defeated one of the enemies was to take no other spoil than the hemp cord that was girded around his loins, the sign of his voluntarily undertaken work for what was then considered the salvation of the European spirit. A great and formidable task was set, less for reflection than for deep feeling, a task that was to strengthen the soul life as individual and personal, so that this individual soul life could blossom fully in the continuous stream of Christian development.
This was, in a sense, the star that was to guide the Knights Templar in all their thoughts, feelings, and undertakings. This gave an impulse to souls which, in its further activity, should have led to a certain spiritualization and Christianization of European life as the Order of the Knights Templar spread from Jerusalem to the countries of Europe. It seems understandable, given the almost immeasurable zeal that existed in the souls of these Knights Templar, that those powers that have to hold back development should direct them in such a way that the souls of human beings are diverted from the earth, become alienated from the earth, and are, in a sense, led to a special planet so that the earth may be depopulated, so that the powers who wanted this, could make a special attack on the souls who felt and sensed as the Knights Templar did. These souls, who wanted to devote themselves entirely to the spiritual, were easily approached by those forces that want to lift the spiritual away from the earth, that do not want the spiritual to spread on earth, that do not want the spirit to permeate earthly existence. And there is always the danger that souls will become alienated from the earth and weary of it, and that humanity on earth will become mechanized.
On the one hand, we have a powerfully emerging spiritual life, which we may assume is susceptible to Luciferic temptation because it provides a good foothold for Luciferic temptation. But then, at the same time that the Order of the Templars was rapidly spreading across the various Christian countries of Europe, there was the possibility of sharp intervention by Ahrimanic forces in Western Europe. For at the time when the Order of the Templars had gained great prestige and also great wealth through its activities — as an order, not as individual Templars — and had spread throughout Western Europe, at this time at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries, there was a man ruling in the West, a human personality who one can say, felt a kind of enthusiasm in his soul for the moral power or, rather, the immoral power of gold; a personality who was able to form the materialization of wisdom from gold into his inspiration in a one-sided way. Remember the fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, where the golden king became the representative of wisdom! However, because spiritual forces are also contained in individual substances—for substance is always only apparent, spiritual forces lie behind it, even if the materialist is unable to perceive them—gold can become an inspiration. A highly gifted personality endowed with extraordinary, supreme intelligence is susceptible to this inspiration through gold with the most evil Ahrimanic wisdom. This is King Philip the Fair, Philip IV, who reigned in France from 1285 to 1314. Philip IV the Fair can be called a geniusesly greedy man, a man who felt an instinctive urge to recognize nothing in the world except what could be weighed in gold, and Philip the Fair would allow no one but himself power over gold. He wanted to force everything that power could achieve through gold into his will to power. This became his great, world-historical obsession.
This led to the fact that, on the not very significant occasion when Pope Boniface forbade French clergy to pay taxes to the French state, Philip IV the Fair enacted a law prohibiting the export of gold and silver from France. All gold and silver in France was to remain in France according to his will; but he was to have power over all gold and silver. That was, one might say, his idiosyncrasy. Therefore, he tried to keep the gold and silver for himself and give the rest of the people he ruled only nominal values, that is, he had the coins minted as poorly as possible in order to keep the gold and silver in his treasury and add as little as possible to the coins. The turmoil and outrage of the people over such measures could not prevent him from continuing in this manner. So when he made a final attempt to add as little gold and silver as possible to the coins, he was forced to flee to the temple of the Templars due to a popular uprising. There, because of his violent measures, he had caused the Templars to hide his treasure, his gold treasure. He was amazed at how quickly the Templars were able to calm the popular uprising. But at the same time he was filled with fear, because he had seen how great the moral power of the Templars was over the people, and how little he, , who was inspired only by gold, was able to do in the face of the moral power of the Templars, who at that time already possessed immense treasures but, according to the rules of their order, had to place all the wealth of their order at the service of spiritual work and spiritual creation.
When a passion becomes as strong as Philip the Fair's lust for gold and silver, it squeezes powerful forces out of the human soul, forces that have a strong influence on the development of will in relation to other people. Philip the Fair had little influence over the people, but all the more over those who were his creatures, and that was a large army. And Philip the Fair knew how to use his power. When Pope Boniface once refused to do his will, that is, to make the clergy in France pay as much as possible, Philip IV the Fair instigated a conspiracy against Pope Boniface, and the pope could only be freed by his followers. He died of grief soon afterwards. This was at the same time when Philip IV the Fair undertook to bring the Church entirely under the power of the monarchy, to make the church leaders mere servants of the royal power ruled by gold. He therefore succeeded in having the pope move to Avignon, and under Philip the Fair, the European “Babylonian captivity” of the popes, often mentioned in history, began, lasting from 1309 to 1377.
A complete creature in the hands of Philip IV of France was Pope Clement V, who had previously been Bishop of Bordeaux and then resided in Avignon, who, through the powerful will of Philip the Fair, had gradually reached the point where he no longer had a will of his own, but really used his ecclesiastical power only to serve Philip the Fair, to do everything Philip the Fair wanted. And Philip the Fair wanted above all else, as if out of a deep passion, to make himself lord of all the riches that were available at that time. No wonder that he—especially after he had seen what other significance gold could have in other hands—wanted above all to destroy those other hands, the hands of the Templars, in order to seize their gold and take possession of all their treasures. Now I said: Such a passion, which is aroused in such a material way and which is so intense, generates powerful forces in the soul; but it also generates insights, albeit of an Ahrimanic nature. And so it came to pass that certain insights dawned in the soul of Philip IV the Fair, insights of a subordinate nature, I would say, of the kind of insight that we saw flare up in the most bitter and abominable way in the Mexican mysteries. Philip IV the Fair realized what can be achieved when one overcomes life in the world in the right way, even if in a different way than the Mexican initiates, even if not in such a direct way, but in an indirect way. And out of deep subconscious impulses, he found the means to incorporate subconscious impulses of human evolution into the killing of human beings. To do this, he needed his victims. And in a very strange way, this devilish instinct of Philip IV the Fair coincided with what necessarily developed on the other side in the bosom of the Templars through their life dedicated to the things that characterized them.
Of course, where something as noble and great as the Templars appears, there are also many things that are inappropriate, perhaps even immoral; and it cannot be denied that there were also Templars who could be accused of all sorts of things. But that was not the intention behind the founding of the Knights Templar. The original intention of the Knights Templar was first and foremost what the Templars had achieved for Jerusalem, and then what could be achieved for the Christianization of the whole of European culture. For gradually the Templars spread to influential societies throughout England, France, Spain, and part of Italy, throughout Central Europe; the Templars spread everywhere. And in individual Templars, this whole fulfillment of the soul with the feeling of the mystery of Golgotha, with the feeling of everything connected with the Christian impulse, developed to the highest degree. The power of this connection with Christ became strong and intense in the Templars. A true Templar was someone who, in a sense, knew nothing more of himself, but when he felt, he let Christ feel within him; when he thought, he let Christ think within him; when he was enthusiastic, he let Christ be enthusiastic within him. There may have been few of them, but compared to the entire mass of the Knights Templar, it was still a considerable number of men in whom this ideal brought about a complete transformation, a complete metamorphosis of the soul, which often and often brought the soul out of the body and allowed it to love in the spiritual world.
As a result, something quite remarkable had taken place in the circle of the Templars; something quite magnificent and powerful had taken place in the circle of the Templars, without these Templars having known the rules of Christian initiation through anything other than the sacrificial service. First in the Crusades, then in their spiritual work in Europe, their souls were so inspired by their intense devotion to the Christian impulses and to the mystery of Golgotha that the result was the experience of Christian initiation for many Templars, for a considerable number of Templars. And we have before us the world-historical event that, on the world-historical background of a series of men from the underground, from the womb of human becoming, Christian initiation arises, that is, the vision of those spiritual worlds that are to become accessible to human beings through Christian initiation.
This always provokes counterforces, counterforces that were abundant at that time. So what enters the world is not only loved, it is also hated with a passion. Less hatred than the desire to sweep away from the world such a society and rob it of the treasures that had flowed to it in abundance and which it should have used only in the service of the spirit—this was what lived in Philip IV the Fair.
Now, such an initiation as was the result in the case of a number of the Knights Templar always brings with it the possibility of seeing not only the blissful, the divine, but also the Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces. Everything that works against the divine, everything that pulls people down into the Ahrimanic world and up into the Luciferic world, all of this appears alongside the insight into the normal spiritual worlds to those who undergo such an initiation. All the sufferings and all the temptations and all the trials that come upon human beings through the forces opposed to the good are faced by the initiate, and there are moments when the good spiritual world disappears before his spiritual gaze, before the gaze of his soul, and he sees himself as if caught by that which wants to gain power over him, and sees himself in the hands of the Ahrimanic-Luciferic forces that want to seize him, that want to take control of his will, his thinking, his feeling, his sensing. These are the spiritual temptations that are well known from the descriptions of those who have looked into the spiritual world. And there were many in the circle of the Knights Templar who were able to look deeply into the mystery of Golgotha and its meaning, who were able to look deeply into Christian symbolism as it had developed through the development of the Lord's Supper, who were able to see the deep background of this symbolism. Many who, as a result of their Christian initiation, were able to look into what Christian impulses had passed through the historical development of the European peoples, many who were able to look into these things, also saw something else. They experienced it, so to speak, in their own souls, because it came upon them as a temptation that they had to overcome again and again; it revealed itself to them because they had to recognize what a human soul is capable of, even if it is not conscious of it. The initiated person becomes aware of this and seeks to overcome what otherwise remains in the subconscious. Thus, many of these Knights Templar came to know that devilish urge which takes hold of human will and feeling and leads them to denigrate the mystery of Golgotha. And in the dream images that can haunt such an initiate, many visionaries saw—which was entirely possible given the nature of this initiation, especially since the Luciferic forces were standing by, tempting them—the flip side of the veneration of the symbol of the crucifix. He saw in the vision how the human soul could become capable of dishonoring the symbol of the cross, of dishonoring the sacred act of the consecration of the host; he saw those human forces that are pushing to return to the old paganism, to worship what the pagans worshipped and to despise Christian progress. These people knew how the human soul can succumb to such temptations because they had to consciously overcome them. And you look into this soul life, about which little is told in external history.
Philip IV the Fair also had a true knowledge, albeit only of an instinctive nature, of these facts of the soul life through his Ahrimanic gold initiation. He knew something about it, even to the extent that he could communicate it to his creatures. And now, after a cruel judicial procedure had been conjured up, through which all kinds of investigations had been carried out, something was staged that had been decided in advance. Instigated by Philip IV the Fair, the creatures who had been called in to investigate the Templars were used to carry out attacks. They were accused of all kinds of vices that they were known not to have committed. One day, they were ambushed in France and imprisoned, and after they had been imprisoned, all their treasures were seized as quickly as possible and confiscated.
Court proceedings were then held in which, under the influence of Philip IV the Fair, torture was used to the fullest extent. All Knights Templar who could be found were subjected to the worst tortures. Torture was used here to bring about the same kind of surrender of life that you have come to know in its meaning. Torturing as many people as possible was one of Philip the Fair's intentions. And the torture was carried out in the most cruel manner, so that a large number, indeed the majority of the tortured Knights Templar were tortured to the point of unconsciousness. Philip IV the Fair knew what would happen when consciousness was clouded, when these people were lying on the rack under the most terrible torments; he knew that images of temptation would emerge! And now, at the instigation of Philip IV the Fair, a catechism was compiled, a catechism of suggestive questions, so that the questions were asked in such a way that the answer was always challenged in the question, and the answer was given from a consciousness clouded by torture. The question was asked: “Did you deny the Host and did you not speak the words of consecration at the consecration?” And the Knights Templar confessed this because their consciousness was clouded by torture, because the powers opposed to good spoke from their visions. And they accused themselves, while in their conscious life they had shown the highest reverence for the symbol of the cross, the crucifix, of spitting on it when they received it; and they accused themselves of all the worst crimes that at that time lived in their subconscious as temptations. And so it was concluded from what the Knights Templar confessed under torture that these Knights Templar had worshipped an idol instead of Christ, an idol of a human head whose eyes glowed, that during their initiation they were subjected to repulsive procedures of the worst sexual kind, that they did not perform the consecration in the proper manner, that they committed the worst sexual vices, that they renounced the mystery of Golgotha upon their initiation; and the whole catechism was arranged in such a way that even the Grand Master of the Templar Order was forced under torture to make these admissions from his subconscious.
It is one of the saddest chapters in human history, but one of those chapters in human history that can only be understood if one is clear that behind the veil of what history tells us, there are forces at work, and that human life is truly a struggle. It would be easy—I will omit everything else that could be said due to time constraints—to show how all the apparent reasons spoke in favor of condemning the Templars. Some stuck to their confessions, some fled; a large number were condemned, and, as I said, even the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was forced by torture to make the prescribed confession. And so it came about that Philip IV, the Fair, of France was able to persuade his creature, Pope Clement V—it was not difficult! — that the Templars had committed all the most shameful vices, that they were the most unchristian heretics. Pope Clement V also blessed all this with his blessing, and Clement V abolished and destroyed the Order of the Templars. Fifty-four Knights Templar, including Jacques de Molay, were burned at the stake. In the other European countries, they were soon put on trial, in England, in Spain, then also in Central Europe and Italy.
Thus we see how what was the understanding of the mystery of Golgotha and its effectiveness through the Templar Order penetrated into the midst of European development. In a deeper sense, things must be seen as conditioned by a certain necessity. Humanity was not yet ready in Templar times to accept the impulses of wisdom, beauty, and strength as the Templars wanted them to be accepted. Furthermore, for reasons that we will learn about later, reasons that lie in the entire European spiritual development, it was necessary that this spiritual world should not be attained in the form in which the Templars lived themselves into the spiritual world. It would have been attained too quickly, as is the Luciferic way. And we really see one of the most significant clashes between Lucifer and Ahriman: Lucifer, as it were, pushing the Templars forward into their misfortune; Ahriman, working through the inspiration of Philip IV the Fair. We see a significant clash in world history.
But what lived and worked in the Templars could not be eradicated. Spiritual life cannot be eradicated. Spiritual life lives and weaves on. With the Templars, especially with those fifty-four who were burned at the time by Philip IV, many souls were drawn up into the spiritual world who would have done much on earth in the spirit of the Templars and would also have attracted disciples who would have worked in the same spirit. But it was to be otherwise. Through the experiences that the souls had undergone under the most terrible tortures, under the influence of the confessions of visions extracted under torture, these souls lived their way up into the spiritual world. And their impulses, which now, between their death and their next birth, their next incarnation, go out to the souls that have come down since then, and also to the souls that are still above and have been waiting for their incarnation since that time, should be transformed from the manner of activity in the physical earthly world into spiritual activity. And what came from these Templar souls, who were murdered in such a miserable way and who had to experience the most terrible thing a human being can experience before their death, before being burned to death, should become the principle of inspiration for many. These experiences were to send powerful impulses down into human souls. And in some human souls we can prove this.
We want to remain today in the realm of knowledge and spirit, as I did in the other cases where I gave examples in the last few days. Inspiration from the cosmic knowledge of the Templars was always given. It is not surprising that the people gradually came to regard the Templars as heretics after they had been tortured and burned; nor is it surprising that the people believed that they had committed all kinds of shameful acts. I do not know whether anyone would like to condemn the devil's game that was just performed, in which Mephisto, the Lemurs, and the fat and skinny devils appear, as particularly heretical, whether there would not be numerous people among the people who would also consider it heretical! Only that in today's somewhat more sentimental times, we no longer use the same means as Philip IV, the Fair, of France.
The cosmic knowledge that these Templars possessed has entered into many souls. Many examples could be given of how the Templar inspiration has entered into souls. I will read you just one passage from the poem “Ahasver” by Julius Mosen, published in 1838. I have often mentioned Mosen to you—you can read about him in the cycles—as a very profound spirit, Julius Mosen, the profound poet of profound poetry, including “Ritter Wahn” (Knight Madness). In the third part of “Ahasver,” in the very first canto, Mosen leads his Ahasver to that place on earth where, on Ceylon and the neighboring islands, the region is to be sought which we in our spiritual science, in cosmology, designate as the region where the Lemurian evolution took place. This region of the earth is distinguished in a special way. You know that there is a certain point—not the geographical North Pole, but a certain point, the magnetic North Pole. Magnetic needles point everywhere toward the magnetic North Pole. Certain lines can be drawn as magnetic meridians; these coincide with the magnetic North Pole. Up in North America, where the magnetic North Pole is located, these lines are almost circles, but straight circles. Strangely enough, in the area we call Lemuria, this line becomes a winding snake line. The magnetic forces entwine there in a serpentine pattern. Such things are given far too little attention today. But anyone who looks at the living nature of our Earth knows that magnetism is a force that animates the Earth, that it runs straight in the north and winds its way precisely in the area where ancient Lemuria was located. Think how profound Julius Mosen is when he leads his Ahasver to this region in the first canto of the third period — he divides it into periods — when he says:
From the South Pole in a straight line
The magnetic line extends,
But suddenly it curves like a snakeBefore India and its archipelago —
There before the dungeon, where bound sits
The eternal mother, sorrow in her deepest soul.The line wants to shorten itself into a circle
And mysteriously plunge into itself
Suddenly plunge into a whirlpool.The great spirit first held his poor wife entwined there,
And from her heat
All the earth demons sprang forth.When thus the first creation had evaporated,
He, the great, unnameable spirit,
Stamped the bridal bed into the sea in anger.
And so it continues. We see an inspiration with cosmic knowledge emerging, wonderfully prescient. Wisdom lives on, which could only enter the world through pain, torment, persecution, and the most terrible sins; but spiritualized, it lives on.
And if we seek one of the most beautiful spiritualizations of this wisdom, which, as described, has entered into the world development of Europe, we find it in everything that wants to work and live in Goethe's powerful imaginations. Goethe knew the secret of the Templars. And it was not for nothing that he used gold in the way he did in his fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, demanding that the snake consume the gold and then sacrifice itself so that the gold might be wrested from the powers which Goethe truly knew must not have it, must not be allowed to keep it. Gold here naturally also means everything for which gold is a real symbol. Read Goethe's fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily again and try to feel how Goethe knew the secret of gold and how, through the way he let gold flow through the fairy tale, he shows that he is looking back to ancient times. I may perhaps add a personal confession here that when I first asked myself the question about gold in Goethe's fairy tale in the 1980s, the meaning of Goethe's fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily dawned on me through the further development of gold in the fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily. Through the way Goethe allows gold to flow through this fairy tale, he shows how he looks back to the times when wisdom—which gold also represents, hence the golden king of wisdom—was subjected to such persecution as described. Now he tried to show the past, the present, and the future. Goethe instinctively looked into the future of Eastern European culture. He saw the injustice of the way the problem of sin and death worked there. And if one did not want to describe as entirely inappropriate the nationality of the man who is then led to the temple and the beautiful lily, who at first appears as if without substance, as if paralyzed: after what we have had to say about the culture of the East, especially Russian culture in recent days, you will not consider it incongruous to attribute Russian nationality to this man, and you will thus be quite in tune with Goethe's instinct. It is the secret of European development in the fifth post-Atlantean period, just as Goethe was able to conceal it in his time in his Faust, especially—as we know from his own statements—as it is contained in the second part of his Faust. Goethe in particular shows, and we have already done so for various points, and will continue to do so for other points in the future, that he begins to view the world and feel his way into it with the kind of thinking and attitude that is the fundamental requirement of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.
A true successor to the life of the Temple Knights, but in a spiritualized form, as I have characterized it, can indeed be found in Goethe. However, it will only slowly and gradually be possible for this Goetheanism to enter into human understanding. I have already shown, I said, how Goetheanism contains the very impulse for all spiritual science. Everything spiritual can be developed from Goethe. And in a public lecture I gave recently, I showed how Goethe's theory of metamorphosis contains the first elementary scientific proof of the doctrine of reincarnation, the doctrine of repeated lives on earth. For, as Goethe begins his theory of metamorphosis and shows how the leaf transforms into the flower, how an organ appears in different forms, there lies, if one carries it through thoroughly, what I have already explained here: that the human head is a transformed remnant of the body, and the rest of the body is a human head that has not yet been transformed. Metamorphosis in the extreme, which will immediately become the scientific knowledge of reincarnation, the knowledge of repeated earthly lives! But Goethe has still been little understood; Goethe must first become established in human culture. And not only centuries, but millennia will be necessary to fathom much of what lies in Goethe. For, basically, there is not even a foundation today for a study of Goethe through a Goethe monograph or biography written in the Goethean style itself.
Let us see what has been achieved within modern culture in individual cases—we can only cite individual examples—for the understanding of Goethe's overall personality. Herman Grimm, for example, rightly said: A certain Mr. Lewes wrote a book—for a time it was the most famous book about Goethe, even the very best, one might say—a book about a certain personality who is said to have been born in Frankfurt am Main in 1749, to have had a Frankfurt councilman for a father, and who then developed in such a way that his youth is romanticized, that all sorts of other things are attributed to him, that his works are attributed to Goethe, that he traveled to Italy in the same year that Goethe traveled to Italy, that he died in the same year that Goethe died — but it is not Goethe, it is a figment of Mr. Lewes' imagination!
Then we have a relatively good book, in which Goethe's life and work are described with great diligence, better than much else that has been written about Goethe, but filled from the first to the last page with hatred and aversion: the book by the Jesuit Baumgartner, an excellent book, but a Jesuit book, a book opposed to Goethe, a book that is in any case better written than all the numerous books that have been written about Goethe in the course of the 19th century and into the 20th century, many of which are unpleasant to read because you have to sneeze all the time: one's nose is filled with the dust of the library and the dust of school scholars, which still clings to these books written by school foxes about Goethe—they call him Goethe—sometimes written not without a particular school fox arrogance, but musty to enjoy, either because of the library dust or because of the air one has to breathe when one suspects how often the person writing about Faust has opened Grimm's dictionary or some other dictionary at this or that passage in Goethe in order to decipher this or that word in Goethe, and so on. One could say: Oh, how horrifying, how utterly horrifying, what has been written in this field!
One book, however, stands out quite exceptionally. It is the book containing Herman Grimm's lectures on Goethe, which he gave at Berlin University in the 1870s. Herman Grimm was indeed a mind that had the best intentions and the most wonderful traditions for immersing himself in Goethe. And so his book is a spirited, an excellent book, a book that grew out of the Goethe atmosphere. Herman Grimm grew up in an age when Goethe's traditions were still everywhere. But this book shows something significant. In a certain sense, it is not a book that grew entirely out of Goethean traditions; it is both Goethean and, in a certain sense, un-Goethean. For Herman Grimm does not write in Goethe's style, but strangely enough, he writes in such a style that one could say his book was written by an American, a German-American. And one can call Herman Grimm's lectures, in terms of style, an American book, except that it is written in German; but the style is American. It is the style that Herman Grimm developed by studying, reading, digesting, and translating Emerson as one of his most enthusiastic followers, immersing himself completely in him. Now Herman Grimm has found his way into this American Emerson style, so that he handles it and has become enthusiastic about it. And how he is able to relive everything American in himself can be seen by reading Herman Grimm's novel “Unüberwindliche Mächte” (Unconquerable Powers). Enthusiasm for all things American, and thus wonderfully international, is also evident in the Goethe lectures and in Herman Grimm's book on Goethe.
But despite all this, much, much intellectual life will have to flow before Goethe and similar minds are properly understood. And once they are properly understood, they will have to be understood differently than Herman Grimm understood Goethe. I keep thinking back to a conversation I once had with Herman Grimm, when I wanted to hint at some of the ways in which one might gradually enter the spiritual world: I will never forget the movement of Herman Grimm's right arm—distracting; he wanted to push it aside. He created, one might say, a Goethe who is wonderfully magnificent to look at from the outside; only you cannot see into his heart. But the way he moves through historical development, the way he stands, the way he walks, the way he enters into relationships with people, the way human relationships flow into his works, the way the contemporary worldview flows into his works, this Herman Grimm Goethe passes before our spiritual eyes like a ghost, like a ghost rushing through the world, not grasped by the living. And only when Goetheanism has been deepened into spiritual science will Goethe be understood. Much will be found in Goethe that Goethe himself could not express. A correctly understood Goethe already leads to spiritual science. Spiritual science is nothing more than developed Goetheanism.
And from the earliest times, Goethe also understood how Christianity is a living thing. How he longed for a possible expression for the Christianization of the modern worldview. In more recent times, spiritual science is already working to find this Christianization. That was not yet possible in his time. But let us take his poem “The Secrets,” where Brother Markus is led to the temple with the Rosicrucian symbol on the gate, and look at the whole thing: how Christian the mood is in this fragment, “The Secrets,” that Christian mood that comes from the fact that the symbol of the cross becomes an image of life through the roses that entwine it so vividly! And how does Goethe—who himself spoke to Eckermann in his old age—allow his “Faust” to end in Christian ideas! A time will come when people will understand in a much more vivid sense, in a much more intense sense, this fading away of the Faust idea and its harmonizing with Christianity, even though Goethe was far from doing this himself, for he was modest, inwardly modest in such matters. He was on the path he lets his brother Markus take, to the cross, entwined with roses. Therein lies, after all, what should flow from such wisdom as was sought by the Knights Templar—but only at too rapid a pace and in a manner more calculated for physical development.
But more and more, the longing for the complete Christianization of the treasures of wisdom of the cosmos and of the earth's becoming broke through, and for the complete Christianization of earthly life, such a Christianization of earthly life that the suffering of the earth, the pain of the earth, and the sorrow of the earth appear as the cross of the earth, which alone, however, finds its consolation, its elevation, its redemption in the symbol of the rose of the crucifix. And in people who were inspired again and again by this side, in whom that which was to be killed with the burning of the Knights Templar lived on, in people who were inspired by this, the high ideal lived on again and again that in place of that which brings strife and discord among people, that which can bring good to earth, as it can be imagined, this good, under the symbol of the cross in connection with the roses.
Just today, one of our members presented me with the book “Schutt” by Anastasius Grün, and here I have again the same verses that I read aloud some time ago to confirm that this secret, which is also meant here, was not merely brought up by us, but has lived on again and again. Anastasius Grün, the Austrian poet, wrote his poems “Schutt,” the eighth edition of which was published in 1847. In his own style, he wrote about the development of humanity, and today I would like to read again the passage that I read years ago as proof of the role that the idea of the Rosicrucians plays in the development of humanity, particularly in the case of those who have incarnated in a distinctive way in recent times. Anastasius Grün turns his gaze to Palestine; he also turns his gaze to other regions of the earth after describing how much strife and conflict has swept across the earth. After he has seen much that causes struggle and strife and has depicted it in his poem, after the in a certain way great seer Anastasius Grün has described this, he turns his gaze to a region of the earth, which he describes as follows. I cannot read the whole passage, it would take too long. The gaze is first turned to a region of the earth through which the plowshare is being drawn:
Once upon a time, it happened that in the field the children
dug up a shapeless, iron thing;
To the finders, it seemed too straight and heavy to be a sickle,
and almost too slender and too small to be a plowshare.They drag it home laboriously, like a rare find,
Their parents see it, but they do not know what it is.
They call the neighbors around,
The neighbors see it, but they do not know what it is.There is an old man who lives in the present world
With a white beard and a pale face
Sticking out, like an old legend himself;
They show it to him, but he does not know it.Blessed are they all that they never knew it!
The folly of their ancestors, long since consumed by the grave,
Must still burn in their eyes like tears.
For what they never knew was a sword!From now on it shall struggle through clods as a plowshare,
Showing the seed only the way to the grave;
The sword's new heroic deeds are sung
The larks' epic songs in the sunny air! - —
Once again it happened that, as he was plowing,
The farmer struck a piece of rock,
And when his spade removed the covering,
A wondrous figure of stone appeared.He calls his neighbors to come and look,
They look at it, but they don't know what it is!
Ancient, wise old man, can you tell us?
The old man looks at it, but he doesn't know either.
So something was dug up while plowing, and even the old man does not know what it is.
Though they do not know it, it stands full of blessing
Upright in their hearts, in eternal charm,
And its seed blossoms all around on every path;
For what they never knew — was a cross!They did not see the battle and its bloody sign,
They see only the victory and its crown.
They did not see the storm with its thunderbolts,
They see only the splendor of its rainbow!
Anastasius Grün wants to say that the cross is always recognized, even in a region where it had already been lost and only a stone cross was pulled out of the ground, where culture had already been so stripped away that an unchristian culture had developed. A cross is found: it is recognized in the innermost heart, even if, according to tradition, not even the oldest of the elders knows it.
They may not know it, but it stands full of blessing
Upright in their hearts, in eternal charm,
And its seed blossoms all around on every path;
For what they never knew was a cross!They did not see the battle and its bloody sign,
They see only the victory and its crown.
They did not see the storm with its thunderbolts,
They see only the splendor of its rainbow!The stone cross they set up in the garden,
A mysterious, venerable antiquity,
Around it roses and flowers of all kinds
Climb upward, twining around it.So stands the cross amid splendor and abundance
On Golgotha, glorious, full of meaning;
It is completely covered by its veil of roses,
The cross has long since disappeared behind the roses.
But there it is! There is the cross! There are the roses!
The meaning of history can only be understood if one focuses on what lives in the spiritual realm, what permeates human development, but also if one directs one's attention to what shows us under what auspices, under what signs things enter world history. I think one can feel the deeper connection between what has been characterized for later times by us and what has been characterized today in the ideal of the Templars and their fate in the world at the beginning of the 14th century.