The Relation of Man to the Hierarchies
GA 172
26 November 1916, Dornach
Translated by George Kaufmann, edited by H. Collison
One reproach among others is often levelled at our Spiritual Science by theologians and others who believe—though they do not comprehend it—that they are standing on the true ground of Christianity. This Spiritual Science, they say, alleges truths concerning a whole number of Hierarchies, with Beings existing in the spiritual World, higher than man. For, as you know, we do speak of the spiritual Hierarchies, including the Angels, Archangels, Archai, Exusiai and so on. We speak of these kingdoms of the super-sensible Worlds just as we speak of the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the mineral kingdom, the elemental kingdom, and so on, in the earthly world. We know that the life of man falls into two halves. One of them takes its course between birth and death. During this life—or through this life—man comes down from the super-sensible World into the kingdoms which he then finds in his physical environment: the human kingdom, the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the mineral kingdom and so on. And when he passes through the gate of death the other section of his life begins. He then rises to the higher kingdoms which tower upward stage by stage from below, just as the kingdoms of Nature descend from above. He rises to the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, etc.
Nowadays, as I said, there are those who imagine—though they really do not comprehend it—that they themselves are standing on the ground of Christianity. And they direct their attacks especially against this idea of spiritual Beings between man and the Godhead—Beings who occupy the super-sensible spaces between the human being and the essential Godhead, who is not only far above man but far above the Angeloi, Archangeloi and the rest. Those above all who think themselves especially advanced in their Christian conception are very prone to say that this science of spiritual Hierarchies and Beings is a lapse into some old Polytheism, or, as they say, into a kind of Paganism. According to them, it is precisely the task of the man of to-day to place absolutely nothing between himself and the Godhead. Man shall live in this world, open his eyes to all that appears to his senses, and find his way directly to the Godhead, without any mediation through Angels, Archangels or the like. Many people hold that this is especially sublime: to stand face to face with one's God without any intermediates at all.
We hear this objection hurled at Spiritual Science from very many quarters. It only bears witness to the fact that in the circles whence it comes there is absolutely no knowledge of the spiritual needs of our time. For it is really not the question whether a man imagines that he of himself can find the way to his God. The question is whether, as a matter of fact, he can do so. The question is, not whether he imagines that he is thinking of his God, but whether he is really doing so. We from our point of view must ask, what are they really conceiving, who imagine that they are thinking of their God when they declare: ‘We will have none of your mediation through other spiritual Beings; we will rise from our own souls straight to our God.’ What are they conceiving in reality? Is it really God whom they conceive when they think or speak of God? Are they conceiving what the word God must mean when the human being rightly speaks of his God? No, they are not. What they are conceiving is altogether different. Let us go through all the ideas and conceptions such people have of their God: what do these ideas describe? None other than the being of an Angel—an Angelos. All those who declare that they look up directly from their soul to God—in reality they are only looking up to an Angel-being. You may search through all their descriptions—however sublime they sound—and you will find they are describing no more than an Angel. Really, what these people say amounts to the demand that we shall conceive as God nothing higher than an Angel. For instance, what is called God in modern Protestantism—the God of whom so much is said in Protestant quarters—is one of the Angeloi and nothing more than that. For the point is not whether one imagines that one is finding one's way to the highest God. The point is whether one is really doing so. Along these lines man only finds the way to his Angelos. I say again, to his Angelos—that is important.
Take to begin with the Beings of the lowest Hierarchies: the Archai (or Spirits of Personality as we have called them), Archangeloi (Archangels) and Angeloi (Angels). Thereafter comes man, then the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the mineral kingdom.
Archai (Spirits of Personality)
Archangeloi (Archangels
Angeloi (Angels)
Man
Animal
Plant
Mineral
Take only these, the lowest Beings. We need but remember what we have often described before. We know that the Archai or Spirits of Personality are also the Time-Spirits. We to-day are living in a different spiritual context than the old Greeks or Romans. We are under a different Time-Spirit. Such a Spirit of the Time is a sublime Being. Then again we have those Beings whom we call Archangels. Their mission is to bring about harmony among men on Earth. Hence in a certain sense they are the guides and leaders of the Folks and Nations. And the Angeloi—the Beings immediately above man—it is they who lead man through the gate of death. They lead him on and on, so that in a sense he has his Angelos beside him from death to a new birth. Then they lead him again into a new life on Earth. It is the mission of the Angeloi to lead the individual human being through his repeated lives on Earth.
Thence we come down to man himself. Man, as he now is on Earth, only remembers his earthly life in the physical body. The memory of the Angels goes much farther, for only so can they guide and direct the repeated earthly lives of men. The modern theologian does not even rightly conceive the Angel, for at the very outset he omits this property whereby the Angel guides the human individuality through his repeated lives on Earth.
All this must be borne in mind. Not until we come to the Archangels do we stand face to face with Beings who regulate the relationships among men. And the Time-Spirits regulate these relationships over long epochs of time. The Angels on the other hand are essentially those Beings who regulate the life of the individual. Bearing all this in mind we shall not fail to see that it is a hidden egoism on the part of men to wish to rise immediately to God. In truth, though they will not admit it, they only want to rise to their God—that is to say, to their own Angel.
This is of great practical significance. For it bears a certain seed within it, namely this: They speak of ‘the one God,’ but that is only a fanciful imagination on their part. In real truth, when they give themselves up to this fancy, every one of them is speaking of his own God, namely, of his Angel. And as an inevitable consequence, in course of time each one will worship his own God, namely his Angel. Indeed we can see how strong is the tendency of men to-day for every one to worship his own God. The finding their way together in those Gods who are common to all has become very slight indeed in modern time. The emphasis of every one on his own God has become more and more prominent. The human race is becoming automatised. It is as though the mere name of ‘God’ remained. It sounds the same, for all who share a common language, but with the one word every one conceives something different, namely his own Angel. He does not even rise to the Archangel who guides the communities of men.
Underlying it is a hidden egoism, which men will not confess. But it is of no little importance to realise the fact. For the human being is living in an untruth when he does not admit, ‘I am looking up to my Angel,’ but says to himself, ‘I am looking up to the one and unique God.’ He is living in a nebulous conception, that is, in an illusion, a Maya of the inner life, and this involves important consequences. For when a man gives himself up to this inward illusion something quite definite takes place. We do not alter the spiritual facts by giving ourselves up to fanciful ideas. The spiritual facts ensue, whether we think rightly or wrongly. A man looks up only to his Angel, but does not admit the fact. He imagines that he is looking up to God, while in reality he is not even looking up to an Archangel. By this untrue conception he in a certain sense benumbs his soul; and this benumbing of the soul is very common nowadays. But to benumb the soul is the most detrimental thing of all in our present period of human evolution. For when the soul is benumbed the Ego is suppressed, the Ego is made dim, and then those other Powers who ought not to be working in the soul creep in. That is to say, in place of the Angel whom he first desired to worship (whom he re-christened ‘God’) the Luciferic Angel creeps in, and by and by man comes to worship not the true Angel but the Luciferic Angel, and then the inclined plane which leads him down is very near at hand. Then it is very near at hand for him to deny God altogether, that is to say, to deny his Angel. And this denial is always connected with the denial of the true human Ego, of which I showed you an example in the book Matérialisme et Spiritualisme by Leblais, wherein it is said that the cat has an Ego just like any man, and there is also mention of a ‘Grandprêtre du chien.’
In many respects we must admit that to the question, ‘Who is to blame for the materialism of our time?’ this answer must be given: The religions are to blame—the religious faiths. For they darken the consciousness of men, putting an Angel in the place of God; and for this Angel the corresponding Luciferic Angel is then substituted. And the Luciferic Angel quickly leads the human being into materialism. Such is the hidden connection. In their arrogance and egoism the religious faiths will not hear of anything beyond the Angel. With measureless conceit they say that they are speaking of God while all the time they are only speaking of an Angel, and not even that completely. This measureless arrogance—though they would often describe it as humility—was in the long run bound to produce materialism.
If we bear this in mind, we recognise a significant connection. Through the false interpretation of an Angel as God, the tendency to materialism arises in the human soul. Underlying it is an unconscious egoism. On the one hand man shuns the task of rising to a knowledge of the spiritual world. On the other hand he would like to find a direct connection with his God,—as it were, out of his own resources only.
You will gain insight into many things that are working themselves out in our time if you will bear in mind what I have here indicated. There is only one safeguard against the misinterpretation of God, and that is recognition of the spiritual Hierarchies, for then one knows that the religious faiths of to-day do not rise higher than the Hierarchy of Angeloi.
At this point we are still more or less within the limits of what man develops as his conscious life. But there are many things living unconsciously in man—or only dimly conscious. So we may say: A man's connection with his Angel is a real one, but his connection is no less real with the Archangel Hierarchy and with the Hierarchy of the Archai. The misinterpretation of the Angel, which takes place more or less consciously, leads in its turn more or less consciously to the world-conception of materialism—not in the single individual, but in the epoch as a whole, it gradually leads to this. Here we are still within the realm of that which happens consciously in the soul. But when we come to man's relation to the Archangel Hierarchy we are no longer in a realm of which he has much knowledge. True, nowadays he often talks a lot about it, but he knows very little. We do indeed have very frequent confessions of faith nowadays—not in the Archangel Hierarchy, but in one Archangel. There may not be clearly expressed confessions of faith, but there are inclinations to the one Archangel or the other, inclinations of the feeling life. In the nineteenth century this bore very copious fruit in one respect at least, namely in the rise of the ideas of Nationality, which are an unconscious outcome of the one-sided devotion to one Archangel or another, overlooking the real co-operation of the Archangels. Underlying this is a similar egoism, as in the devotion to the one Angel,—only in this case it is an egoism of the social life.
Now we might also wish to describe what it is that goes hand-in-hand with this socially selfish devotion to the Archangel, just as materialism goes consciously hand-in-hand with the misinterpretation of the Angel. But if we dwelt on this subject we should be skating on thin ice, and that is not exactly permissible to-day.
Still darker are the relations of men to the Archai—to the Time-Spirits. These relations lie very far in the hidden depths. As to the Angels, men do at least want to enter into relation to them, though they do not admit the fact. Nevertheless, when they say ‘I believe in God’ they do admit it, wrongly, as I have shown. And with the Archangels they are connected—wrongly, once more, in our time—in their sentiment and feeling, inasmuch as they declare their adherence to this or that group by blood-relationship or the like. This leads into false paths which I will not, or cannot, describe today. Similarly, men are led into false paths in their relation to the Time-Spirits. Here too, they are generally attached to the one Time-Spirit, who appears to them as the spirit of their own particular age. You need only call to mind how we endeavour in Spiritual Science to counteract these self-centred notions by describing the successive epochs of time, letting their several characteristics influence us, so that we expand our heart and soul over all earthly evolution, nay, over all cosmic evolution, thus gaining a relation, in our thought at least, to many different Time-Spirits. But the people of to-day want no such thing. We should have to describe at length what we have here been hinting at, if we would characterise the false paths along which men are led by this their egoism in relation to the Time-Spirit. From a poetic work I recently placed before you a sorry picture of our present time—most tellingly described. Such by-ways as are there described are connected with the false relation to the Time-Spirit. But we are entering very profound regions when we speak of the false paths in relation to the Time-Spirit. When a man names his own Angel ‘God’ and is thus led from the true Angel to the Luciferic Angel, it is an aberration of belief, of faith, of world-outlook. Such aberration remains in a sense an individual matter. At the next stage there can be the aberration of whole nations. Yet even this is still no more, so to speak, than an aberration amongst human beings, and the consequences are simply the consequences of error among men. But when we reach up to the Time-Spirit—when we err in relation to the Time-Spirit—then do our aberrations begin to infringe upon the cosmos. There is a mysterious connection between man's errors in relation to the Time-Spirit and the beginnings of those cosmic burdens with which he loads himself, if I may put it in these words. Of course, if one refuses in any case to look beyond the Angel, one will see no such connection. What I shall now say, let everyone take as he can. I say it out of profound investigations of Spiritual Science, but I should have to speak for months if I would relate these investigations in all detail.
The errors man commits in relation to the Time-Spirit reach up into the cosmic events, and the cosmic events hit back again. And when cosmic processes—at any rate the beginnings of them—are thus carried into human life, the result is a decadence which goes so far as to attack even the physical body. The consequence, in other words, are illnesses, mortality, and all things of that kind. Perhaps in no very distant future mankind will grow convinced of this. Many a thing done by humanity on the physical plane, if it be such as to offend against the Time-Spirit, invokes into the evolution of the Earth destructive forces, the effects of which extend even to sickness and death. With the insight which you will now have gained you may ask yourselves whether it may not be that some things which are happening in our own day are errors against the Time-Spirit. Then perhaps you will be able to give yourselves the answer, and you will recognise profound connections, reaching even to disease and death, whereby a compensation will be brought about for many a sin which man is committing against the Spirit of the Time to-day.
We can be well aware, needless to say, that the clever people of to-day will only laugh at such statements as I have just advanced. They, with their scientific world-conception, know that it is nonsense (so they say) to believe that what a man does, or what men do in their social relationships together, can entail elemental consequences. But the time is not far distant when men will believe this, for the simple reason that they will witness it.
Our time lacks the necessary earnestness for a genuine world-outlook, able to sustain the life of man. It is one of the first calls on every one who finds his way into Spiritual Science, to develop this earnestness of world-outlook, to enter a little more deeply into the course of human evolution. How often have we emphasised the fact that earthly evolution only receives its sense and meaning through the Mystery of Golgotha. Indeed we have already given many things, to reveal the Mystery of Golgotha in its significance. But we must go on describing ever more and more exactly, to recognise its full meaning. To-day men sometimes ask, how does the human soul find its way to Christ? And we may say, since Christ is a higher Being than all the Archai, the way to Christ needs to be found. For by the way of the ordinary religious faiths to-day, Christ is not found, but as we have seen at most an Angel. In the name of the various Angels, nay even of some Archangels (if the Luciferic Archangels have usurped the place of the progressive ones) one may indeed behave as men are now behaving; but never in the name of Christ. It is an absolute impossibility for two men, who stand in enmity against each other, both to confess the Christ. Surely there is no difficulty in seeing that,—it should go without saying. No doubt it may be possible in the sense that one merely speaks the name: ‘Christ, Christ’ or ‘Lord, Lord’ (as Christ Himself already indicated) while all the time one is referring to one's own Angel. But it is impossible if one is really speaking of the Christ. Therefore the question may arise: how can the human soul find a way to Christ at all? To gain instruction on this question we could take various paths. Let us now choose one that re-suits naturally from our recent considerations.
The men of to-day know very little of the past. Above all, they do not know why it is that certain things are handed down traditionally. At most they know that they are handed down, but why, they scarcely know. For instance (as you may read to-day in all manner of exoteric books, and notably in Masonic books), it is traditionally related that there were Mysteries in ancient times, and that these Mysteries were so to speak a secret institution, i.e., that in these Mysteries, as the very word would indicate, secrets existed—real secrets, even in the external sense. Certain traditions were entrusted to whoever found access to the Mysteries. These traditions he was under obligation to communicate to no one save to those who were together with him in the self-same Mysteries. It was the very strictest rule in those ancient times that one must not betray the mystic communications. The rule was thus expressed: it is one of the most punishable offences for anyone to pronounce a secret of the Mysteries before an uninitiated hearer. Nay more, it is one of the most punishable offences for an unqualified person even to listen to such a communication. So long as the Mysteries existed in the ancient sense, this idea was carried out with the strictest interpretation. Why was it so? Why did they do this?
Nowadays, you see, there is much talk about the Mysteries, especially among those who want to shine and sparkle a little with their talk. Notably in those quarters where they talk of these things in words, without even having the will to understand, as is often the case in modern Freemasonry, much harm is done by talking round these matters in the most superficial way and with very little knowledge. Nowadays people do not even notice whether these things are being truly spoken of, out of the reality itself, or in mere words. Alas, one can have the strangest experiences in such matters. I do not wish to criticise, but the facts are far too serious, they must at least be indicated. For instance, one can have this experience. Some person is a member of one of those societies which call themselves by all kinds of names—Brotherhoods, Keepers of the Mysteries. Such a person comes to one (I am relating an actual fact), questions one about the subject which seemingly interests him, that is to say, interests him so far as the words are concerned; but he can understand very little of it. Then after a time one hears that he has been talking of these matters in this or that quarter, and has been talking pretty worthless nonsense.
Let us now bring before our souls one characteristic—concerning the customs and traditional procedure of the Mysteries—which resulted from the real evolution of mankind. How often have I emphasised the fact that mankind has changed in the course of earthly evolution, and that a most important incision took place at the time when Christ went through the Mystery of Golgotha. To indicate one important feature, among others that we have already mentioned, we may say this:—Let us go back beyond the Graeco-Latin epoch, or notably beyond the fourth century B.C., into the fifth, sixth or seventh century (so that we might even remain within the Graeco-Latin time,—but we should find it still more the case if we went back into the Egypto-Chaldean or the Persian epoch). Everywhere we should find that that which was spoken by man had quite another significance for other men than it had in later times, say in the seventh or eighth century after the Mystery of Golgotha. In the times when the old atavistic properties of the soul were still existing (leading up even to the old clairvoyance), the word which one man spoke to another had an altogether different significance from what it subsequently had, or what it has to-day. The word itself, if I may say so, by its own inherent virtue, had a kind of suggestive value. For much was still contained within it of an inherited, Divine-spiritual force. When a man spoke, it was as though the Angel from the Hierarchies was also speaking in his word. Hence you may estimate that in those olden times communications by word of mouth were very different from what they are today. To-day, even if we are aware of all these secrets, we have no possibility of speaking in words as they did in those olden times. For we are bound to speak in words by virtue of what the words have become through language. For us, they are conventional signs. We can no longer go to another human being and say to him with power as we could have done in the third or fourth or fifth century B.C., ‘Thy Angel loves thee,’ thereby letting a gentle thrill pass through his soul, which was a force of healing. We can no longer do this. The words have lost their virtue, they have lost their old suggestive power. In olden times a power of human community flowed from soul to soul when men spoke. Just as we breathe the common air when we are together in such a hall as this, so did there live in that which men spoke a spiritual power of community. This has been lost in the progressive evolution of mankind. The word has become more and more bereft of the Divine. If you consider this, then you will also realise that in those olden times there could be certain words and sentences and formulae which had a greater influence than other words—a greater influence than the words that were commonly spoken. Such formulae of words, which had an influence extending far beyond the commonplace, were handed down in the sacred Mysteries. Now you can understand why they might never be betrayed. For with his very knowledge of such formulae, great power over other men was given to a human being. This power must on no account be abused. It is an absolutely real truth: When the old Hebrew temple-priest pronounced what in ordinary life was called the ‘word’ (which in this case contained a certain sequence of sounds) when he pronounced it in the right way, then for the men to whom he spoke it actually happened that another World was there around them—spiritually speaking, but this spirituality was absolutely real. For in those olden times it was so: every sequence of sounds contained the corresponding power.
Thus you can understand, not only was it criminal to pronounce the Mystery-formulae before an unauthorised person—for one then wielded an unrighteous power over him—but it was also anathema to listen, for the listener himself would run the risk of falling completely under the power of the speaker. These things are not so abstract as certain people nowadays would fain describe them. They are very real and concrete. But the times have changed, and we must have an ear for the changing of the times. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, words no longer have the same significance. For you yourselves will recognise, true freedom could not have arisen among men if words had preserved their old significance. Men would always have remained a mere product, as it were, of speech. Words had to lose this inner force. But then another Force came into earthly evolution, which, if it found its true relation to mankind, could by and by replace for men what once had come to them out of the words. Out of their words, the men of olden time had learned to think. Indeed, in olden time there were no other thoughts than those that came out of the words. But the power of thought could only come out of the words so long as the words were such as I have now described them. In the succeeding times this power was no longer there. Then did there come that Being, who—if the thoughts were filled with Him—could give the thoughts this power back again. It was that Being who could say, I am the Word. It was the Christ. But men must first find the way to make Christ living in their souls. The Christ is there. We know that He is there as a real Power since the Mystery of Golgotha. And now that we are speaking about karma we shall also show how He has His relation to karma. Where the Angel only comes into relation to the one man, Christ can have a far higher significance even than the Archangels, for He not only unites men on the Earth according to the Spirit of the Time; He also unites the living and the dead—the souls that are organised here in the body and those that have passed through the gate of death.
To this end, however, we must first learn to understand a little better how Christ may be found—or rather, how a way to Him may be found—out of the Spirit of our Time. This is the question from which we took our start. How can the man of to-day find a way to Christ?
Above all, it is necessary for man once more to get beyond this selfish living-in-his-own-soul alone. There is a true word in the Gospels. (Alas, how many words of the Gospels are not taken in their real truth, because they do not suit human convenience!) It is this: ‘Where two are united together in My name, there am I in the midst of them!’ The spirit of vain mysticism which declares, ‘I will give birth to Christ in mine own soul’—that is not the spirit of Christianity. The spirit of Christianity is that which speaks: ‘Where two are united together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.’ But I would like to explain the full spirit of this saying in connection with the repeated earthly lives of man, for that is the intention of our present studies. I would apply it to our time, and relate it to that life into which modern man is placed by his calling or vocation. To do so, we must first dwell on certain characteristic features. We must learn to know what it is to get beyond this self-centred limitation of each man to himself. In the Spirit of our Time we must get beyond it, first and foremost by learning to understand once more the cosmos with which man is related and out of which man is born. We must learn to regard man in his relation to the cosmos.
Do you imagine that the Natural Science of to-day is able to conceive the cosmos in relation to man? Remember Herman Grimm's saying, which I have quoted even in public lectures: Natural Science conceives the world as a kind of mechanism in which there is simply no room for man. The natural-scientific world-conception is quite unable to conceive man in relation to the cosmos, for to do so one must first see things concretely. Nowadays when a man constructs a machine he imagines that the only thing that happens is that the machine is built; or at most he will add to it what happens by means of the machine, and that is all. But to give oneself up to this belief is to cultivate—what is indeed universal nowadays—what I would call negative superstition. Superstition is the belief in spirits where there are none, but it is also possible not to believe in spirits where they are. That is ‘negative superstition.’ To this negative superstition humanity to-day gives itself up unstintingly—albeit, hitherto, quite unawares—for men are not yet accustomed to conceive, in relation to the whole universe and subject to a moral point of view, those things which emerge in human evolution. They think of them purely from the point of view of mechanism.
Let us take one example, characteristic of our time and similar to many other things by which the outer life today is largely ruled: the steam-engine. What a tremendous part the steam-engine plays in our time! How many things in our life are governed by it? You need only think of all the things that would not be there if it were not for the steam-engine. I do not say that all these things must necessarily be produced by the steam-engine. The simple fact is, very many things are produced by the steam-engine nowadays, and that is according to the true spirit of the time.
The steam-engine was not properly invented until the 18th century, for the attempts that existed before were not really applicable in practice. What has become so universal and has attained such immense significance, is in effect the steam-engine which was made practicable by Newcomb in 1713 and by Watt in 1763. Not until then were the former attempts turned to practical account. Newcomb and Watt must be described as the originators of the steam-engine in the sense in which one speaks of it to-day, and of all that is connected with it.
Now let us ask, to what is it really due—this possibility of having steam-engines, which as you see is comparatively recent? The year 1763—what I now say will sound very queer to anyone who thinks along the lines of Natural Science—1763, when Watt first raised the steam-engine, so to speak, to its proper level, is very nearly the year of the conception of Goethe's Faust. Maybe in the further course of our studies we shall yet perceive strange connections between the steam-engine and the conception of Goethe's Faust, however far apart these things may lie. To this end, however, we must first bring before our souls certain facts connected with the entry of the steam-engine into human evolution. Let us ask once more: To what is the steam-engine really due? It is fundamentally due to the possibility of creating a vacuum, or a space in which the air is highly rarefied. The possibility of constructing steam-engines lies in the creation and useful application of the vacuum.
In times long past they used to speak of the horror vacui—fear of the void. They meant something quite objective. They meant that space itself always wants to be filled with something. An empty space cannot really be created; Nature has a kind of horror of the void. This belief in the horror vacui first had to disappear from humanity; it had to be possible to create a space in which the air is rarefied,—a space approximately empty. Only then could one proceed with the practical construction of steam-engines. The air had to be eliminated from certain spaces.
Mechanical considerations will never lead us to a new cosmic-moral conception as against the old cosmic-moral conception of the horror vacui. Let us then ask ourselves, what really happens when we create a vacuum or a space in which the air is rarefied, with the object of placing what is achieved thereby, at the service of human evolution on the Earth? The Bible tells us that Jehovah breathed into man the living breath—the air—and that thereby a living soul came into being. The air had to be brought into man in order that he might become what he was destined to become as earthly man. Through many hundreds of years, nay, through the thousands of years, man only made use of that rarefication and condensation of air which came about of its own accord within the cosmic process. Then came the modern age, and man himself began to rarefy the air; to get rid of that which Jehovah had brought in; to counteract the way of Jehovah's working, when He placed man on to the earth. What happens therefore when man uses a space with rarefied air, that is to say, when he banishes the air from a given space? It is a case of opposition against someone. And now you will readily conceive: Whereas Jehovah pours into man through the warmth, man drives Jehovah away when he creates a space where the air is rarefied. Hence, when the steam-engine is constructed in this way, Ahriman gains the possibility of establishing himself as a demonic being, even in the physical. When we build steam-engines, we provide the opportunity for the incarnation of demons. We need not believe in them if we do not want to; but then we are negatively superstitious. Positive superstition is to see spirits where there are none—negative superstition is to deny them where they are. In the steam-engine, Ahrimanic demons are actually brought to the point of physical embodiment. That is to say, while the cosmos descended with its spiritual content through that which was poured into human evolution, the spirit of the cosmos is driven away with this creation of demons. In other words, the great and admirable progress of modern time has not only brought us a demonology but a demonomagic. Modern technical industry is in many respects demonomagic.
Many things become apparent—I shall now again say something paradoxical—when we are rightly able to read what is generally considered insignificant. After all, in the letter i, materially speaking the line is the most important part, and yet it is only the dot that makes it i. How much less matter the dot contains than the line, and yet without the dot it is not i. So in the evolution of humanity, those who adhere to the material alone will often only see that which contains materially a hundred times more than the dot, and the dot they will fail to see. But an intimate observer, who does not merely stare at the phenomena but is able to read them truly, will learn to interpret many things which appear only in the gentlest hints. There is a strange fact which you will find indicated in the biography of James Watt. The way I shall now refer to it will no doubt seem mad to the enlightened modern man; but you must first understand the true interpretation. Watt was not able to carry out at once what he had intended with his invention of the steam-engine. As we saw, the process took place between 1713 and 1763. When someone makes an invention people imitate it again and again, do they not? So there was much construction going on during these years, and when Watt had built his machine—efficiently, so far as its other qualities were concerned,—he had included one arrangement for which another man already had a patent. So he was unable to carry it out. He had to think out another device instead; and in a strange way he discovered it. In the time in which he lived, the Copernican world-conception (which in reality, as I have told you, answers only to the spirit of our age) had long been accepted. And in real truth, Watt had the idea to construct the whole device, the instrument of movement which he needed, in such a way that he could name it the ‘Sun-and-Planet movement.’ He called it the ‘Sun-and-Planet movement,’ because he was actually guided by the way the revolutions of the Planets round the Sun are conceived in the Copernican system. So he brought down and secreted into the steam-engine what had been recognised in modern time as the movements of the Heavens!
Think now of what I recently told you, what will happen in the future (for it is only now in the initial stages): how by the summation of delicate vibrations great effects will be brought about. On Earth, thank Heaven, this is not yet achieved! Yet this is a beginning. The movement of the Sun and Planets is here imitated. Do you imagine—considering how great is the significance for the Earth of the Sun-and-Planetary movement as it rays down on to the Earth—do you imagine, when we imitate it here on a small scale and let it ray out again into the cosmic spaces, that it is of no significance? It is of very great significance for the cosmos. Here you can see at once: even the vibrations are given to the demon, whereby he may unfold his activity out into the cosmic spaces.
No one can sensibly imagine that this is meant to imply that the steam-engine should be abolished. Many things would then have to be abolished, for the steam-engine is by no means the most demonic. Wherever electricity is applied, and many another thing beside, there is far more of demonomagic; for there we are dealing with many other forces which have still more significance for the cosmos. Needless to say, anyone who understands Spiritual Science will realise that these things are not meant to be abolished. We cannot be reactionary or conservative in the sense of resisting progress. In deed and in truth, this demonomagic is progress, and the Earth will yet undergo more and more of such advances. Man will succeed in unfolding mighty effects into the cosmic spaces. It is not a question of abolition—not even of hostile criticism—for it goes without saying, these things are justified. Yet, if on the one hand these things must emerge in the progress of mankind, it is indeed a question on the other hand of our creating counter-forces to bring about the necessary balance. Compensating forces must be created, and that can only be when humanity understands once more the principle of Christ and finds the way to Christ. For a short space of time mankind has been led away from Christ. Even those who call themselves officially His representatives look only for an Angel in the place of. Christ. But we shall have to find the way of the soul to Christ Himself. For just as with the demons of our machines we work out into the cosmos, even to the physical stars, so must we find the way of the Spirit, out into those worlds where man is between death and a new birth and where the Beings of the Hierarchies are living. What I am now hinting at is connected with what I explained before. I told you on the one hand how men are entering more and more into the karma of their vocations, such as I described it, and how from the other side this karma must be met by that understanding of the Spiritual World which can in turn prepare our finding of a way to Christ Himself. Of these things we shall continue in the next lecture.
Neunter Vortrag
Einer der Vorwürfe, welcher unserer Geisteswissenschaft von seiten mancher Theologen und solcher gemacht wird, welche glauben, auf dem Boden des Christentums zu stehen, aber es nicht richtig verstehen, ist, daß durch diese unsere Geisteswissenschaft Wahrheiten über eine größere Anzahl von Hierarchien geltend gemacht werden, von Hierarchien, welche Wesenheiten umfassen, die über dem Menschen stehen und die in der geistigen Welt vorhanden sind. Wir sprechen ja, wie Sie wissen, von geistigen Hierarchien, welche umfassen die Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, Exusiai und so weiter; geradeso sprechen wir von diesen Reichen der höheren, übersinnlichen Welten, wie wir von dem Tierreich, dem Pflanzenreich, dem mineralischen Reich, dem Elementarreich und so weiter, innerhalb der irdischen Welt sprechen. Wir sind uns auch klar darüber, daß des Menschen Leben in zwei Abschnitte zerfällt. Der eine verfließt zwischen der Geburt und dem Tod. Während dieses Lebens oder durch dieses Leben steigt der Mensch aus der übersinnlichen Welt herunter zu den Reichen, die dann in seiner physischen Umgebung sind: Menschenreich, Tierreich, Pflanzenreich, Mineralreich und so weiter. Wenn der Mensch durch die Todespforte geht, so beginnt nun der andere Abschnitt seines Lebens. Er steigt hinauf zu den höheren Reichen, zu den Reichen, die ebenso von unten nach oben getürmt sind, wie die anderen Reiche von oben nach unten, er steigt hinauf in die Reiche der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai und so weiter. Derjenige, der heute glaubt, aber eben nicht versteht, auf dem Boden des Christentums zu stehen, der ficht ganz besonders diese Anschauung von den Wesenheiten an, welche hineingestellt sind zwischen den Menschen und der eigentlichen, weit, weit über den Menschen, auch weit über den Engeln, Erzengeln und so weiter liegenden Gottheit, welche hineingestellt werden in diesen übersinnlichen Raum. Insbesondere wird derjenige, der da glaubt, besonders fortgeschritten zu sein in seiner christlichen Anschauung, leicht davon sprechen, daß diese Erkenntnis von den geistigen Hierarchien und ihren Wesenheiten ein Rückfall sei in einen alten Polytheismus, oder, wie man sagt, in eine Art Heidentum. Denn, so sagt man, es sei gerade das die Aufgabe des heutigen Menschen, zwischen sich und die Gottheit nichts zu setzen, sondern in der Welt zu leben, die Augen zu richten auf dasjenige, was sich sinnlich darbietet, und dann den Weg unmittelbar zu der Gottheit zu finden, ohne eine Vermittelung durch Engel, Erzengel und so weiter. Und das glaubt mancher als das besonders Erhabene, so ohne Vermittelung, wie er sagt, seinem eigenen Gotte gegenüberzustehen.
Man kann diesen Einwand heute von vielen Seiten gegen die Geisteswissenschaft gerichtet hören. Dieser Einwand bezeugt, wie gerade in solchen Kreisen, wo er gemacht wird, ganz und gar keine Erkenntnis davon vorhanden ist, welches die geistigen Bedürfnisse unserer Zeit gerade sind. Denn es hängt wahrhaftig nicht davon ab, ob der Mensch sich einbildet, er könne den Weg finden von sich zu seinem Gotte, sondern ob er das wirklich kann. Es kommt wirklich nicht darauf an, ob der Mensch sich einbildet, er stelle sich seinen Gott vor, sondern es kommt darauf an, ob er ihn wirklich vorstellt. Und von unserem Gesichtspunkte müssen wir fragen: Was stellen sich denn eigentlich diejenigen vor, welche sich ihren Gott vorstellen, indem sie sagen: Wir wollen keine Vermittelung durch andere Geister haben, sondern unmittelbar von unserer Seele zu unserem Gotte aufsteigen, — was stellen sich solche Menschen vor? Stellen sie sich wirklich, wenn sie von Gott denken oder sprechen, Gott vor? Stellen sie dasjenige vor, was unter dem Gott gemeint sein muß, wenn der Mensch berechtigterweise von seinem Gotte spricht?
Das stellen sie nicht vor, sondern sie stellen etwas ganz anderes vor. Wenn man für die Vorstellung all die Begriffe durchgeht, welche sich solche Menschen von ihrem Gotte machen — was ist denn in solchen Begriffen ausgeführt? Nichts anderes als das Wesen eines Engels, eines Angelos, und all diejenigen Menschen, welche davon sprechen, daß sie unmittelbar von ihrer Seele zu Gott aufschauen, schauen nur zu einem Engel auf. Und suchen Sie sich alle Beschreibungen — wenn sie noch so erhaben klingen - solcher Menschen auf, so werden Sie finden: sie beschreiben nichts anderes als einen Engel, und dasjenige, was diese Menschen sagen, ist nichts anderes als die Forderung, man solle sich unter Gott nichts Höheres vorstellen als einen Engel. Das zum Beispiel, was man heute den modernen protestantischen Gott nennt und über den gerade von protestantischer Seite so viel geredet wird, ist ein Angelos, ist nichts anderes. Denn nicht darauf kommt es an, ob man sich einbildet, man finde den Weg zu dem höchsten Gotte, sondern darauf kommt es an, wozu man wirklich den Weg findet. Und man findet auf diese Weise nur den Weg zu seinem Angelos. Ich sage: zu seinem Angelos, denn das ist wichtig. Wenn wir nämlich nur zunächst ins Auge fassen die Wesenheiten der niedrigsten Hierarchien: Archai — Geister der Persönlichkeit, wie wir sie auch genannt haben -, Archangeloi, Erzengel, Angeloi, Engel, so kommt dann der Mensch, dann kommt das Tierreich, dann das Pflanzenreich, dann das Mineralreich.
Archai = Geister der Persönlichkeit
Archangeloi = Erzengel
Angeloi = Engel
Mensch
Tier
Pflanze
Mineral
Wenn wir diese relativ niedersten Wesen ins Auge fassen, so brauchen wir uns ja nur an manches zu erinnern, das wir schon früher auseinandergesetzt haben, um zu wissen, daß die Archai, die Geister der Persönlichkeit, auch Zeitgeister sind. Sie sind die regierenden Mächte für die ganze Zeitperiode, dasjenige, was als Geist in der ganzen Zeitperiode lebt. Wir leben heute in einem anderen geistigen Zusammenhange als die alten Griechen oder die alten Römer, weil wir von einem anderen Zeitgeiste regiert werden. Ein solcher Zeitgeist ist schon eine sehr erhabene Wesenheit. Dann wiederum haben wir diejenigen Wesen, die wir Archangeloi nennen. Sie sind dazu berufen, die Harmonie herzustellen unter den Menschen auf Erden. Daher sind sie auch die Lenker und Leiter der Volksstämme in gewisser Beziehung. Die Angeloi, die unmittelbar über dem Menschen stehenden Wesenheiten, sie führen den Menschen durch die Pforte des Todes hindurch, so daß er gewissermaßen seinen Angelos an seiner Seite hat, vom Tod zu neuer Geburt, und sie führen ihn wiederum ins neue Leben ein. Die Angeloi sind dazu berufen, die einzelne menschliche Individualität hindurchzuführen durch die wiederholten Erdenleben.
Dann kommen wir herunter bis zum Menschen selber. Der Mensch, so wie er heute auf der Erde ist, erinnert sich nur an sein Erdenleben hier im physischen Leib. Das Gedächtnis der Engel geht viel weiter, denn nur dadurch, daß es viel weiter geht, können sie die wiederholten Erdenleben der Menschen lenken und leiten. Nicht einmal richtig aber stellt sich der moderne Theologe den Engel vor, weil der moderne Theologe schon diese Eigenschaft wegläßt von dem Engel, daß er die menschliche Individualität durch die wiederholten Erdenleben durchleitet. Wenn wir ins Auge fassen, daß wir, indem wir den Erzengeln gegenüberstehen, es erst bei den Erzengeln zu tun haben mit Wesenheiten, die menschliche Zusammenhänge regieren, und bei den Zeitgeistern mit Wesenheiten, die menschliche Zusammenhänge über lange Zeiträume hindurch regieren, daß wir es bei den Engeln zu tun haben mit Wesenheiten, die wesentlich das Leben des einzelnen Menschen regieren, dann werden wir nicht verkennen, wenn wir das im Auge behalten, daß es ein verborgener Egoismus ist von den Menschen, unmittelbar zu dem Gotte sich erheben zu wollen, denn sie wollen sich in Wahrheit - obwohl sie das nicht zugeben - nur zu ihrem Gotte, zu ihrem eigenen Engel erheben.
Das hat eine große praktische Bedeutung, das ist von einer großen Wichtigkeit, denn es trägt einen gewissen Keim in sich. Es trägt den Keim in sich, daß die Menschen von dem einen Gotte sprechen, aber daß es nur eine Phantasterei ist, daß sie von dem einen Gotte sprechen. Denn in Wahrheit, indem die Menschen sich dieser Phantasterei hingeben, spricht jeder von seinem eigenen Gotte, nämlich von seinem Engel. Und die Folge davon muß sein, daß im Laufe der Zeit jeder Mensch seinen eigenen Gott, nämlich seinen eigenen Engel verehrt. Und wir sehen schon, wie stark der Drang der Menschen ist, daß jeder seinen eigenen Gott verehrt. Das Zusammenfinden der Menschen in denjenigen Göttern, die allen gemeinsam sind, ist ein sehr geringes geworden in der neueren Zeit. Das Pochen eines jeden auf seinen eigenen Gott hat sich als etwas ganz besonders Hervorstechendes herausgestellt. Das Menschengeschlecht wird atomisiert. Es bleibt gewissermaßen nur das Wort «Gott» noch übrig, das für die Menschen einer Sprache gemeinsam lautet, aber unter diesem einen Worte stellt sich jeder etwas anderes vor, nämlich seinen eigenen Engel. Und er kommt nicht einmal hinauf bis zu dem Erzengel, welcher menschliche Gemeinschaften leitet.
Dem liegt ein gewisser verborgener Egoismus zugrunde, den die Menschen nicht zugeben wollen. Aber es ist etwas Gewichtiges gesagt, wenn wir uns dies vor Augen halten, denn der Mensch lebt eigentlich in einer Unwahrheit, wenn er sich nicht gesteht: ich blicke auf zu meinem Engel — sondern wenn er sich sagt: ich blicke auf zu dem alleinheitlichen Gotte. - Er lebt in einer nebulosen Vorstellung, das heißt, in einer innerlichen Täuschung, in einer innerlichen Maja. Und dies hat wichtige Folgen, denn indem sich der Mensch also dieser innerlichen Täuschung hingibt, tritt etwas ganz Bestimmtes ein. Denn dadurch, daß wir uns phantastischen Vorstellungen hingeben, ändern wir nicht die geistigen Wirklichkeiten, die infolge desjenigen, was wir richtig oder unrichtig vorstellen, wirklich auch eintreffen. Indem der Mensch eigentlich nur zu seinem Engel aufblickt, das sich aber nicht gesteht, sondern glaubt, er blicke zu dem Gotte auf — während er nicht einmal zu einem Erzengel aufblickt -, betäubt er durch diese unwahre Vorstellung in einem gewissen Sinne seine Seele. Und diese Betäubung der Seele ist ja heute allgemein vorhanden. Aber wenn man die Seele betäubt, dann ist das für unsere heutige Menschheitsentwickelung außerordentlich verhängnisvoll. Denn durch die Betäubung der Seele wird das Ich heruntergedrückt, heruntergetrübt, und dann schleichen sich die anderen Mächte, die nicht in der Seele wirken sollen, in diese Seele ein. Das heißt, es schleicht sich an die Stelle des Engels, den man zunächst verehren wollte, den man aber umtauft zu «Gott», der luziferische Angelos ein, und man kommt allmählich dazu, nicht den Engel zu verehren, sondern den luziferischen Angelos. Dann aber ist die schiefe Ebene, die den Menschen hinunterführt, sehr nahe; dann ist es sehr nahe, daß er den Gott überhaupt verleugnet, das heißt, seinen Engel verleugnet — was immer zusammenhängt mit der Verleugnung des wahren menschlichen Ich, wie ich Ihnen gezeigt habe an dem Buche «Matérialisme et Spiritualisme» von Leblais, wo behauptet wird, daß die Katze ebenso ein Ich hat wie ein Mensch, und wo von dem «grand-prêtre du chien» gesprochen wird.
So müssen wir durchaus einsehen, daß in vieler Beziehung die Antwort[, die] gegeben werden muß auf die Frage «Wer hat Schuld an dem Materialismus unserer Zeit?» — [lautet:] Die Religionen haben Schuld, die religiösen Bekenntnisse, indem sie das Bewußtsein der Menschen trüben und an die Stelle Gottes einen Engel setzen, für den sich dann substituiert der luziferische Engel, der ihm entspricht. Und dieser luziferische Engel wird den Menschen alsbald in den Materialismus hineinführen. Das ist der geheimnisvolle Zusammenhang zwischen den hochmütigen, egoistischen Religionsbekenntnissen, welche nichts hören wollen von dem, was über einem Engel steht, sondern in maßlosem Hochmut sagen, daß sie von «Gott» sprechen, während sie nur von einem Engel sprechen, und von dem noch nicht einmal vollständig. Dieser maßlose Hochmut, der noch oftmals als Demut angesprochen wird, er ist es, welcher letzten Endes den Materialismus hat hervorbringen müssen. Wenn wir dies bedenken, dann sehen wir einen bedeutungsvollen Zusammenhang: Durch die fälschliche Umdeutung eines Engels zu Gott entsteht in der Menschenseele der Hang zum Materialismus. Und es liegt ein unbewußter Egoismus zugrunde, der sich darinnen äußert, daß der Mensch es verschmäht, aufzusteigen zu der Erkenntnis der geistigen Welt, der sich auch darinnen äußert, daß der Mensch sozusagen nur aus sich heraus den Zusammenhang mit seinem Gotte unmittelbar zu finden meint. Sie sehen in vieles hinein, was in der Gegenwart spielt, wenn Sie dies ins Auge fassen, was ich Ihnen hiermit angedeutet habe. Es gibt nur ein einziges Mittel gegen dieMißdeutung Gottes, und das ist die Anerkenntnis der geistigen Hierarchien. Denn dann weiß man auch, daß die gegenwärtigen Religionsbekenntnisse nicht höher hinaufsteigen als bis zu der Hierarchie der Angeloi.
Wenn wir dieses betrachten, dann stehen wir mehr oder weniger in dem, was der Mensch entwickelt als sein Bewußtseinsleben; aber vieles lebt im Menschen auch unbewußt, oder unklar bewußt. Und wir könnten uns jetzt sagen: Der Zusammenhang des Menschen mit seinem Engel ist ja ein realer, aber auch der Zusammenhang eines Menschen mit der Erzengel-Hierarchie, mit der Archai-Hierarchie ist ein realer. — Die Mißdeutung des Engels, die mehr oder weniger bewußt vollzogen wird, führt auch mehr oder weniger bewußt zur Weltanschauung des Materialismus; nicht bei dem einzelnen Menschen, aber sie führt so im Zeitalter allmählich dahin. Da stehen wir eben durchaus noch sozusagen in dem, was sich bewußt in der Seele abspielt. Aber in dem Verhältnis des Menschen zu der Erzengel-Hierarchie, da stehen wir schon gar nicht mehr da, wovon der Mensch viel weiß; wovon er zwar zuweilen jetzt viel spricht, aber wovon er wenig weiß. Wir haben ja heute allerdings die Bekenntnisse, nicht zu der Hierarchie der Erzengel, aber sehr häufig zu einem Erzengel, nicht die deutlich ausgesprochenen Bekenntnisse, aber das Hinneigen, das gefühlsmäßige Hinneigen zu dem einen oder zu dem andern Erzengel. Im 19. Jahrhundert hat das ganz besonders stark Früchte getragen auf einem Gebiete wenigstens: in dem Heraufkommen der Nationalitätsideen, denen unbewußt zugrunde liegt das Übersehen des Zusammenwirkens der Erzengel und das Hinneigen nur immer zu einem Erzengel. Dem liegt etwas ähnlich Egoistisches, nur etwas Sozial-Egoistisches zugrunde, wie das Hinneigen zu dem einen Engel.
Nun könnte man ja auch schildern wollen, was sich hinzugesellt zu diesem Hinneigen, zu diesem sozial-egoistischen Hinneigen zum Erzengel in ähnlicher Weise, wie sich der Materialismus bewußt hinzugesellt zum Mißdeuten des Engels. Aber damit betritt man heute schon Glatteis, und das ist nicht gerade etwas, was in unserer Zeit möglich ist zu besprechen.
Noch dunkler sind die Beziehungen des Menschen zu den Archai, zu den Zeitgeistern. Die liegen gewissermaßen schon sehr, sehr in den Untergründen. Zu den Engeln stehen die Menschen wenigstens, wenn sie es auch nicht zugeben, in einem gewissen Zusammenhange, denn indem sie sagen: Ich glaube an Gott, — geben sie es in der angedeuteten Weise fälschlich zu. Zu den Engeln wollen sich die Menschen wenigstens in ein Verhältnis setzen. Zu den Erzengeln stehen sie mit ihrem Fühlen und Empfinden, indem sie sich diesem oder jenem Zusammenhange durch ihr Blut oder dergleichen bekennen, in einem heute fälschlichen Zusammenhange. Das führt auf Abwege, die ich, wie gesagt, heute nicht schildern will, nicht schildern kann. Zu ähnlichen Abwegen kommt es mit Bezug auf die Zeitgeister. Aber auch da hängen die Menschen dem einen Zeitgeiste in der Regel an, der sich ihnen gerade als der Geist ihres Zeitalters repräsentiert. Bedenken Sie nur, wie wir versuchen durch die Geisteswissenschaft, diesen egoistischen, diesen zeitegoistischen Darstellungen entgegenzuwirken, indem wir die aufeinanderfolgenden Zeitperioden mit ihren Eigentümlichkeiten schildern und auf uns wirken lassen, um gewissermaßen unser Herz und unsere Seele auszudehnen über die ganze Erdenentwickelung, ja über die ganze kosmische Entwickelung, um dadurch wenigstens zunächst in den Gedanken eine Beziehung zu bekommen zu den verschiedenen Zeitgeistern. Aber das wollen die Menschen ja heute nicht. Und man müßte vieles schildern von demjenigen, was gestern angedeutet worden ist, wenn man die Abwege schildern würde, auf welche die Menschen durch diesen Egoismus zum Zeitgeiste kommen. Aus einem Dichterwerke habe ich Ihnen ein trübes Bild der unmittelbaren Gegenwart vorführen können, das ganz vortrefflich geschildert ist. Solche Abwege, wie sie da geschildert werden, hängen mit diesem fälschlichen Verhältnis zum Zeitgeiste zusammen. Aber da kommen wir schon, indem wir zu den Abwegen gegenüber dem Zeitgeistekommen, in sehr bedeutsame Gebiete hinein. Wenn der Mensch von seinem Engel, indem er ihn zu «Gott» umtauft, zu dem luziferischen Engel kommt, so ist das eine Verirrung des Glaubens, des Bekenntnisses, der Weltanschauung, eine Verirrung, die gewissermaßen individuell ist. Das Nächste kann eine Verirrung ganzer Völker sein; aber es bleibt immer eine Verirrung gewissermaßen unter den Menschen, und die Folgen, die auftreten, sind eben die Folgen der Verirrungen unter den Menschen. Aber wenn wir zum Zeitgeiste vordringen und dem gegenüber uns verirren, da stoßen wir schon mit unseren Verirrungen an den Kosmos. Und es gibt einen geheimnisvollen Zusammenhang zwischen den Verirrungen gegenüber dem Zeitgeiste und den Anfängen von dem, was der Mensch kosmisch gewissermaßen auf sich lädt. Diesen Zusammenhang sieht man nicht, wenn man überhaupt jeden Aufblick über den Angelos hinauf ablehnt. Dasjenige, was ich jetzt sage, möge jeder so nehmen, wie er es eben nehmen kann. Es wird aus der Geisteswissenschaft heraus gesagt aus tiefgehenden Untersuchungen, aber ich müßte monatelang reden, wenn ich diese Untersuchungen alle in ihren Einzelheiten anführen wollte.
Die Verirrungen, die der Mensch dem Zeitgeiste gegenüber begeht, stoßen an die kosmischen Ereignisse, und die kosmischen Ereignisse stoßen zurück. Und die Folge davon, daß ins Menschenleben nun kosmische Ereignisse hereingetragen werden, die Anfänge zunächst von kosmischen Ereignissen, ist Dekadenz, die bis zur Dekadenz des physischen Leibes greift, mit anderen Worten: Krankheiten und Sterblichkeit und alles, was damit zusammenhängt. Und es wird sich vielleicht einmal die Menschheit in gar nicht ferner Zeit überzeugen, daß sie allerdings durch manches, was sie auf dem physischen Plane verrichtet, wenn dieses geeignet ist bis zum Zeitgeist hinauf vorzustoßen, hereinbeschwört in die Erdenentwickelung zerstörende Kräfte, die in ihren Wirkungen bis zu Krankheit und Tod gehen. Wenn Sie sich dann fragen, ob nach den Einsichten, die Sie gewonnen haben, vielleicht manches, was gerade in der neuesten Zeit geschieht, eine Verirrung gegenüber dem Zeitgeiste sein kann, so werden Sie sich selbst die Antwort geben können über tiefgehende Zusammenhänge, die bis in Krankheit und Tod hineingehen, durch die dann ein Ausgleich herbeigeführt werden wird gegenüber mancherlei, was der Mensch an Sünden begeht gegenüber dem Zeitgeiste.
Man kann sehr gut wissen, daß die sehr gescheiten Menschen von heute selbstverständlich nur lachen, wenn man so etwas sagt, wie ich es eben vorgebracht habe. Denn sie wissen aus ihrer naturwissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung heraus, daß es doch, wie sie sagen, ein Unsinn ist zu glauben, das, was ein Mensch tut, was Menschen in ihren Zusammenhängen tun, könnte elementare Ereignisse herbeiführen. Aber die Zeit ist nicht fern, wo die Menschen dies glauben werden, aus dem einfachen Grunde, weil sie es dann sehen werden.
Es fehlt unserer Gegenwart zu einer wirklichen Weltanschauung, welche geeignet ist, das Menschenleben zu tragen, der Ernst. Daher ist es eine der ersten Anforderungen an denjenigen, der sich in die Geisteswissenschaft hereinfindet, diesen Ernst der Weltanschauung zu entwickeln und sich wirklich ein wenig zu vertiefen in den Gang der menschlichen Entwickelung. Wir haben es oftmals betont, daß die Erdenentwickelung eigentlich erst Sinn hat durch das Mysterium von Golgatha, und wir haben bis jetzt auch schon mancherlei angeführt, was das Mysterium von Golgatha in einem bedeutungsvollen Lichte zeigt. Aber man muß immer genauer und genauer charakterisieren, wenn man die ganze Bedeutung dieses Mysteriums von Golgatha einsehen will. Es kann heute ein Mensch fragen: Ja, wie kommt denn eigentlich die Menschenseele zu dem Christus? — Und man kann sagen, da Christus selbstverständlich ein höheres Wesen ist als alle Archai, daß der Weg zu Christus gefunden werden muß. Denn auf demjenigen Wege, den die gewöhnlichen Religionsbekenntnisse heute gehen, wird nicht der Christus gefunden, sondern höchstens ein Angelos, wie wir gesehen haben. Im Namen der verschiedenen Angeloi, auch sogar noch mancher Archangeloi, wenn sich statt der fortschreitenden die luziferischen an ihre Stelle gesetzt haben, kann man sich so verhalten, wie sich die Menschen heute verhalten, aber im Namen des Christus kann man das nicht. Denn es ist eine absolute Unmöglichkeit, eine tatsächliche Unmöglichkeit, daß zwei Menschen, die sich feindlich gegenüberstehen, jeder sich zu dem Christus bekenne. Ich meine: Dies einzusehen, ist keine Schwierigkeit, denn es ist sozusagen eine Selbstverständlichkeit. Man kann es unter der Voraussetzung, daß man den Namen spricht: «Christus, Christus» oder «Herr, Herr» — was ja der Christus selbst schon angedeutet hat —, daß man aber nur seinen eigenen Engel meint; aber man kann es nicht, wenn man wirklich von dem Christus spricht. Es kann also die Frage entstehen: Ja, wie kommt denn die Seele überhaupt zu einem Wege zu Christus? — Um über diese Frage sich zu unterrichten, kann man verschiedene Wege einschlagen. Wir wollen heute einen Weg einschlagen, der sich uns auf naturgemäße Weise aus mancherlei Betrachtungen ergibt.
Die Menschen wissen heute ja recht wenig von der Vergangenheit. Vor allen Dingen wissen die Menschen nicht, warum gewisse Dinge überliefert sind. Sie wissen allenfalls noch, daß sie überliefert sind, aber warum sie überliefert sind, das wissen die Menschen heute kaum. Überliefert zum Beispiel - und das kann man ja heute in allen möglichen exoterischen Büchern, namentlich auch in freimaurerischen Büchern lesen —, überliefert ist, daß es Mysterien gegeben hat in alten Zeiten, daß die Mysterien sozusagen eine geheime Einrichtung waren, und daß es in den Mysterien, es hängt das schon mit dem Worte zusammen, Geheimnisse gegeben hat, die wirklich auch im äußeren Sinne Geheimnisse waren. Das heißt: Demjenigen, der den Zugang gefunden hatte zu den Mysterien, dem wurden gewisse Dinge überliefert, welche er verpflichtet war, nur denjenigen Menschen mitzuteilen, welche wiederum mit ihm gemeinschaftlich in diesen Mysterien waren, und es war in diesen alten Zeiten eine strenge Regel, diese Mysterienmitteilungen nicht zu verraten. Diese Regel ist so ausgesprochen, daß es zum Sträflichsten gehört, sagte man, wenn jemand ein Mysteriengeheimnis ausspricht vor einem uneingeweihten Ohr; aber ebenso gehört es zum Sträflichsten, wenn ein Unberufener sich ein Mysteriengeheimnis anhört. Und diese Anschauung, die man gepflogen hatte in den Mysterien, wurde, als die Mysterien im alten Sinne da waren, in strengstem Sinne gehandhabt. Warum war denn das? Warum geschah dieses so?
Sehen Sie, heute wird viel über die Mysterien gesprochen, insbesondere bei denjenigen Leuten, die ein klein wenig glitzern wollen mit dem, was sie über die Mysterien sagen, die allerlei schöne Worte machen wollen. Insbesondere da, wo man, wie es bei der heutigen Freimaurerei vielfach der Fall ist, von diesen Dingen redet mit Worten, ohne auch nur den Willen zu haben, viel zu verstehen, wird recht viel Unfug getrieben, indem man in äußerlicher Weise über diese Dinge, ohne viel zu wissen, herumredet. Man merkt gar nicht, ob über diese Dinge richtig aus der Sache heraus gesprochen wird, oder ob nur mit Worten gesprochen wird. Bei diesen Dingen kann man ja die merkwürdigsten Erfahrungen machen, die ich gar nicht kritisieren, gar nicht abkanzeln will; aber die Sache ist doch zu ernst, als daß sie nicht wenigstens angedeutet werden sollte. Sehen Sie, man kann heute zum Beispiel dieses erfahren: Irgendein Mensch ist Mitglied einer Gemeinschaft, die sich heute mit allerlei Namen «Brüderschaften» nennen, Mysterienbewahrer nennen; ein solcher Mensch - ich erzähle Tatsachen - kommt zu einem, erkundigt.sich gerade über dasjenige, was ihn scheinbar interessiert, das heißt, den Worten nach interessiert; aber er kann nicht viel verstehen davon. Nach einiger Zeit hört man dann, daß er da und dort über die Dinge geredet hat und daß er ziemlich wertloses Zeug geredet hat. Gerade zu ‚denen, die heute verzogen werden, verdorben werden durch gewisse okkulte Brüderschaften, ist es in gewisser Weise fast am allervergeblichsten zu reden; denn auf dasjenige, um was es sich wirklich handelt, gehen sie doch nicht ein. So nur konnte es kommen, daß in der letzten Zeit zum Beispiel ein Buch erschienen ist von einem vielgenannten freigeistigen Redner und Schriftsteller über die Geheimnisse der Freimaurerei, ein Buch, das selbstverständlich nichts anderes enthält als flaches Zeug, und daß dieses flache Zeug von den Leuten, die sogar in okkulten Brüderschaften stehen, ernst genommen wird.
Nun wollen wir uns heute eine wirkliche Eigenschaft, die aus der Evolution der Menschheit sich ergab für die Mysteriengepflogenheiten, einmal vor die Seele führen. Ich habe es Ihnen ja öfter betont: Die Menschheit hat sich geändert im Laufe der Erdenentwickelung, und ein wichtiger Einschnitt war in der Entwickelung zur Zeit, da der Christus durch das Mysterium von Golgatha gegangen ist. Will man ein wesentlichstes Merkmal dieser Evolution neben anderen, die wir schon angeführt haben, anführen, so muß man sagen: Wenn wir zurückgehen würden über die griechisch-lateinische Zeit, namentlich wenn wir über das 4. Jahrhundert vor Christus hinauskommen zum 5., 6., 7. Jahrhundert — wir können also sogar schon bleiben in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit, aber wir würden noch mehr finden, wenn wir in die ägyptisch-chaldäische hinübergingen oder gar in die persische -, so finden wir überall, daß dasjenige, was vom Menschen gesprochen wurde, für die übrigen Menschen eine ganz andere Bedeutung hatte als nachher, zum Beispiel schon im 7.,8. Jahrhundert nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Das Wort, das einer zum andern sprach, hatte eine ganz andere Bedeutung in der Zeit, in der noch die alten atavistischen Eigenschaften der Seele vorhanden waren, die sogar zum atavistischen Hellsehen noch führten, als später, als heute. Da hatte das Wort, wenn ich so sagen darf, durch seine eigene innere Kraft eine Art suggestiven Wert, denn es lag in dem Worte viel von ererbter göttlich-geistiger Kraft. Wenn der Mensch sprach, sprach gewissermaßen in seinem Wort immer der Engel mit aus den höheren Hierarchien heraus.
Sie können sich daraus vorstellen, daß die Mitteilungen in jenen alten Zeiten, die durch Worte erfolgten, etwas ganz anderes waren als heute. Wir haben ja keine Möglichkeit, mit Worten so zu sprechen, auch wenn wir alle diese Geheimnisse kennen, wie in den alten Zeiten gesprochen worden ist, weil wir mit den Worten sprechen müssen durch dasjenige, was durch die Sprache aus den Worten geworden ist. Wir haben ja in den Worten konventionelle Zeichen. Wir können heute nicht mehr zu einem Menschen gehen und mit derselben Kraft, mit der man noch im 3., 4., 5. Jahrhundert vor Christus sprechen konnte, mit den Worten «Dein Engel hat dich lieb», einen leisen Schauer durch die Seele leiten, der Heilkraft war. Man kann das heute nicht mehr, den Worten ist ihr alter suggestiver Wert, ihre Kraft genommen. Es floß menschliche Gemeinsamkeitskraft von Seele zu Seele in alten Zeiten, indem die Menschen miteinander sprachen. So wie wir, wenn wir in einem Saale beisammen sind, die gemeinsame Luft einatmen, so lebte in dem, was die Menschen miteinander sprachen, eine geistige, eine spirituelle Kraft des Gemeinsamen in alten Zeiten. In der fortschreitenden Evolution der Menschheit ist das verlorengegangen. Das Wort ist immer entgöttlichter geworden.
Wenn Sie sich das vor Augen, vor das geistige Auge führen, dann werden Sie sich auch sagen können, daß es ja nun ganz bestimmte Worte und Wortzusammensetzungen, Wortformeln geben konnte, die eine größere Wirkung hatten als andere Worte, die im allgemeinen gesprochen werden. Und solche Wortformeln, die eine über das Gewöhnliche weit hinausgehende Wirkung hatten, wurden in den Mysterien überliefert. Jetzt können Sie begreifen, daß sie nicht verraten werden durften, weil dadurch, daß der Mensch diese Formeln kannte, ihm eine hohe Macht gegeben war über die anderen Menschen, die nicht mißbraucht werden durfte. Es ist eine absolut reale Wahrheit, daß, wenn der alte hebräische Tempelpriester dasjenige ausgesprochen hat, was man im gewöhnlichen Leben nur «das Wort» nannte, was aber eben eine gewisse Lautzusammensetzung hatte, dann, wenn er es aussprach in der richtigen Weise — weil es in jenen alten Zeiten so war, daß in jener Lautzusammensetzung die Kraft lag -, bei den Menschen, zu denen er sprach, tatsächlich das eintrat, daß um sie eine andere Welt war, geistig, aber diese Geistigkeit war wirklich.
Und so können Sie es verstehen, daß es nicht nur verbrecherisch war, zu demjenigen, zu dem es nicht sein durfte, die Mysterienformeln zu sprechen, da man dadurch eine Gewalt auf ihn ausübte, die unberechtigt war, sondern daß es auch verpönt war, hinzuhorchen, denn man setzte sich ja der Gefahr aus, sich ganz in die Gewalt des andern zu begeben. Die Dinge sind nicht so abstrakt, wie es heute gewisse Menschen darstellen wollen, sondern die Dinge sind konkret und real, und die Zeiten haben sich geändert, und auf diese Änderung der Zeiten muß man hinhorchen. Seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha haben die Worte diese Bedeutung nicht mehr, denn Sie sehen ja ein: wirkliche Freiheit hätte unter den Menschen nicht entstehen können, wenn die Worte diese Bedeutung beibehalten hätten; denn die Menschen wären immer nur das Ergebnis gewissermaßen der Sprache gewesen in seelischer Beziehung. Die Worte mußten diese innere Kraft verlieren. Aber eine andere Kraft kam herein in die Erdenentwickelung, welche, wenn sie ein richtiges Verhältnis zur Menschheit fand, den Menschen nach und nach wiederum ersetzen konnte das, was früher aus den Worten kam. Die alten Menschen lernten aus ihren Worten denken, und es gab in alten Zeiten keine anderen Gedanken als die, die aus den Worten kamen. Aber nur dann konnte aus den Worten die Kraft der Gedanken kommen, wenn die Worte so waren, wie ich sie geschildert habe. Diese Kraft war in der Folgezeit nicht mehr vorhanden. Aber da kam dasjenige Wesen, welches den Gedanken, wenn sich diese Gedanken erfüllen mit ihm, wiederum diese Kraft geben konnte, dasjenige Wesen, welches sagen konnte: «Ich bin das Wort», — und das ist der Christus. Nur müssen die Menschen erst den Weg finden, den Christus in ihrer Seele lebendig zu machen. Der Christus ist da. Wir wissen, daß er seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha eine reale Kraft ist. Und jetzt, wo wir über das Karma sprechen, wollen wir auch zeigen, wie er sein Verhältnis zum Karma hat, wie der Angelos nur zu dem einen Menschen in Beziehung kommt, der Christus aber eine viel höhere Bedeutung haben kann als die Erzengel, weil er nicht nur die Menschen hier auf der Erde verbindet dem Zeitgeiste nach, sondern weil er verbindet die Lebenden und die Toten, diejenigen Seelen, die hier im Leibe organisiert sind, und die, welche durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind. Aber dazu müssen wir noch ein wenig besser verstehen lernen, wie aus dem Geiste unserer Zeit heraus der Christus gefunden werden kann, beziehungsweise wie ein Weg zu dem Christus gefunden werden kann. Denn von dieser Frage sind wir ja gerade ausgegangen: Wie kann der heutige Mensch einen Weg zu dem Christus finden?
Vor allen Dingen ist notwendig, daß der Mensch wiederum hinauskommt über das egoistische Nur-in-seiner-Seele-Leben. Denn ein wahres Wort - oh, es werden so viele Worte, die in den Evangelien stehen, nicht ihrer Wahrheit nach genommen, weil sie den Menschen nicht passen! -, ein wahres Wort der Evangelien ist: «Wo zwei in meinem Namen vereinigt sind, da bin ich mitten unter ihnen.» — Der Geist der eitlen Mystik, der da sagt: Ich werde in meiner Seele den Christus gebären, — der ist nicht der Geist des Christentums, sondern der Geist, der da spricht: «Wo zwei in meinem Namen vereinigt sind, da bin ich mitten unter ihnen.» — Aber um den ganzen Geist dieses Spruches Ihnen auch im Zusammenhange mit den wiederholten Erdenleben, wie wir das bei den jetzigen Betrachtungen wollen, auseinanderzusetzen und für unsere Zeit ihn zu charakterisieren im Zusammenhange mit dem ganzen Leben, in das der Mensch heute durch seinen Beruf hineingestellt ist, dazu muß ich auf einiges Charakteristische gerade in unserer Zeit eingehen; denn es ist notwendig, daß man kennen lerne das Hinauskommen über das egoistische Beschränktsein im Menschen. Hinauskommen muß man im Sinne unserer Zeit schon durchaus dadurch, daß man auch wiederum den Kosmos kennenlernt, mit dem der Mensch ja in Beziehung steht und aus dem der Mensch geboren ist, daß man lernt, den Kosmos im Verhältnis zum Menschen denken zu können.
Glauben Sie denn, daß die Naturwissenschaft heute den Kosmos im Verhältnis zum Menschen denken kann? Erinnern Sie sich an den Ausspruch, den ich auch in öffentlichen Vorträgen zitiert habe, von Herman Grimm: Die Naturwissenschaft denkt eine Art Mechanismus, in dem der Mensch gar nicht drinnen sein kann. — Den Menschen im Verhältnis zum Kosmos kann heute die naturwissenschaftliche Weltanschauung nicht denken, denn um das zu können, muß man die Dinge erst konkret anschauen. Heute konstruiert einer eine Maschine; das tut er eben und glaubt, indem er diese Maschine konstruiert, da geschieht in der Tat nichts, als daß er diese Maschine konstruiert, beziehungsweise noch das, was durch diese Maschine geschieht. Aber einem solchen Glauben sich hinzugeben, hieße begründen das, was heute so allgemein verbreitet ist, was man nennen kann: negativen Aberglauben. Aberglaube ist der Glaube an Geister, wo keine sind; aber man kann auch nicht an Geister glauben, wo welche sind: das ist der negative Aberglaube. Diesem negativen Aberglauben, dem gibt sich heute die Menschheit in Hülle und Fülle hin, ohne daß sie es zunächst noch weiß, weil man sich noch nicht gewöhnt hat, die Dinge, welche in der Menschheitsentwickelung auftreten und die man heute nur unter dem Gesichtspunkte des Mechanismus denkt, diese Dinge auch im ganzen Weltenzusammenhange drinnen unter einem moralischen Gesichtswinkel zu denken.
Greifen wir eines heraus, aber eines, das zunächst charakteristisch ist für unsere Zeit, ähnlich ist vielem anderen, das heute in vieler Beziehung unser äußeres Leben beherrscht: die Dampfmaschine. Was spielt heute die Dampfmaschine für eine Rolle! Was ist alles in unserem Leben von der Dampfmaschine beherrscht! Denken Sie nur einmal nach, was alles nicht da wäre, wenn die Dampfmaschine nicht da wäre. Ich will nicht sagen, daß alles das, was der Mensch heute hat, durch die Dampfmaschine hervorgebracht sein müsse, aber es wird eben heute im Sinne des richtigen Zeitgeistes viel von der Dampfmaschine hervorgebracht.
So richtig ist die Dampfmaschine doch eigentlich erst im 18. Jahrhundert erfunden worden, denn was vorher vorhanden war, waren im Grunde genommen nur noch nicht verwertbare Versuche. Dasjenige also, was heute ganz allgemein ist, was heute eine ungeheure Bedeutung hat, das ist die Dampfmaschine, die, man kann sagen, zuerst brauchbar geworden ist — die früheren Versuche sind erst brauchbar gemacht worden - 1719 von Newcomen, und dann später, 1762, von Watt. Eigentlich kann man erst von den beiden sprechen als von Urhebern der Dampfmaschine, wenigstens in dem Umfange, in dem man heute von Dampfmaschinen spricht und allem, was damit zusammenhängt.
Nun, worauf beruht denn überhaupt diese Möglichkeit, Dampfmaschinen zu haben, die gar noch nicht so sehr alt ist? Worauf beruht denn diese eigentlich? Sehen Sie, 1769 - ich werde jetzt für jeden naturwissenschaftlich Denkenden etwas furchtbar Kurioses sagen -, da Watt die Dampfmaschine sozusagen erst auf die richtige Höhe gebracht hat, das ist das Jahr, das gar nicht fern liegt der Konzeption von Goethes «Faust». Vielleicht können sich für unsere Betrachtungen noch sonderbare Zusammenhänge ergeben zwischen dieser Dampfmaschine und der Konzeption von Goethes «Faust», obwohl diese Dinge sehr weit auseinanderliegen. Dazu müssen wir aber erst einmal uns mancherlei, was mit dem Eintreten der Dampfmaschine in die menschliche Evolution zusammenhängt, vor die Seele führen. Worauf beruht denn die Dampfmaschine eigentlich? Die Dampfmaschine beruht eigentlich darauf, daß man luftleeren oder luftverdünnten Raum herstellen kann. Alle Möglichkeit, Dampfmaschinen zu machen, beruht darin, luftleeren Raum herzustellen und nutzbringend zu verwenden. In alten Zeiten, die jetzt schon sehr lang vergangen sind, sprach man vom Horror vacui, von der Furcht vor dem Leeren. Man meinte damit etwas Objektives. Man meinte damit, daß der Raum immer mit etwas erfüllt sein will, daß etwas Leeres eigentlich nicht hergestellt werden könne, daß die Natur eine Art Horror habe vor dem Leeren. Es mußte in der Menschheit erst der Glaube an den Horror vacui verschwinden, und es mußte erst die Möglichkeit hergestellt werden, luftverdünnten, annähernd luftleeren Raum zu erzeugen, bevor man an Dampfmaschinen ging. Die Luft mußte fortgeschafft werden aus gewissen Räumen. Durch mechanische Betrachtung wird man nicht dazu kommen, gewissermaßen eine neue kosmische, moralische Vorstellung zu gewinnen gegenüber der alten kosmischen, moralischen Vorstellung von dem Horror vacui. Aber was geschieht denn da eigentlich, wenn wir einen luftleeren oder luftverdünnten Raum herstellen mit der Absicht, dasjenige, was dadurch geschieht, in den Dienst der menschlichen Erdenentwickelung zu stellen?
Die biblische Urkunde sagt, daß Jahve dem Menschen den lebendigen Odem eingeblasen hat, die Luft, und dadurch wurde er eine lebendige Seele. Die Luft mußte in den Menschen hereingeschaffen werden, damit der Mensch dasjenige werden konnte, was er als Erdenmensch werden soll. Durch viele Jahrhunderte, ja durch Jahrtausende hat der Mensch nur dasjenige an Luftverdünnung und -verdichtung benützt, was sich von selber ergab im kosmischen Zusammenhange. Dann kam die neuere Zeit. Da ging der Mensch daran, die Luft selber zu verdünnen, wegzuschaffen das, was Jahve hereingeschaffen hat, im Gegensinn zu dem zu wirken, wie Jahve wirken kann, indem er den Menschen in die Erde hereingestellt hat. Was geschieht denn also eigentlich, indem der Mensch den luftverdünnten Raum benützt, das heißt, die Luft fortjagt von dem Raume? Es geschieht Opposition gegen Jahve. Sie können sich jetzt leicht denken: Während Jahve in den Menschen hereinströmt durch die Luft, verjagt der Mensch den Jahve, wenn er den luftverdünnten Raum herstellt! Ahriman gewinnt die Möglichkeit, bis in die Physis herein sich als Dämon festzusetzen, indem auf diese Weise die Dampfmaschine konstruiert wird. Wenn man die Dampfmaschine konstruiert, gibt man Gelegenheit zur Verkörperung der Dämonen, Man braucht ja nicht an sie zu glauben, wenn man nicht will: das ist negativer Aberglaube, Positiver Aberglaube ist, Geister zu sehen dort, wo keine sind; negativer Aberglaube aber ist, Geister zu leugnen da, wo sie sind. In den Dampfmaschinen aber sind ahrimanische Dämonen wirklich sogar bis zum physischen Körper gebracht. Das heißt: Während der Kosmos mit seinem Geistigen heruntergestiegen ist durch das, was der menschlichen Evolution eingegossen worden ist, wird verjagt der Geist des Kosmos mit demjenigen, was da an Dämonen geschaffen wird. Das heißt: Der neuere große, bewundernswerte Fortschritt hat nicht nur eine Dämonologie gebracht, sondern eine Dämonomagie, und die moderne Technik ist vielfach Dämonomagie.
Manche Dinge - ich sage jetzt wieder etwas Paradoxes — zeigen sich an, wenn man das, was die Menschen zumeist für etwas höchst Unbedeutendes halten, richtig lesen kann. Schließlich, sehen Sie (es wird ein i an die Tafel gezeichnet), ist das (i ohne Punkt) ja auch der Materie nach die Hauptsache, aber das Pünktchen macht es doch erst zum i. Und vergleichen Sie, wie viel weniger das - man nennt es ein Tüpfelchen - enthält als der übrige Teil, und doch erst macht es jenes Pünktchen zum i. Derjenige, der in der Menschheitsevolution nur an dem Materiellen hängt, wird auch im Materiellen manchmal nur dasjenige, was natürlich hundertmal mehr enthält als das Tüpfelchen, sehen und das Tüpfelchen gar nicht. Aber ein intimer Beobachter, der nicht nur die Erscheinungen anglotzt, sondern sie lesen kann, der wird manches, wo sich zuweilen etwas intim andeutet, eben in der richtigen Weise zu deuten lernen. Eine merkwürdige Tatsache: Lesen Sie einmal eine Biographie von James Watt nach, so werden Sie diese Tatsache, auf die ich jetzt in einer. für jeden modernen, gescheiten Menschen geradezu verrückten Weise hindeuten werde, angedeutet finden, aber die Deutung müssen Sie selbstverständlich erst selber verstehen. Watt konnte nicht gleich ausführen, was er beabsichtigte mit seiner Erfindung, mit seiner Dampfmaschine. Sie sehen ja: die Sache spielt von 1712 bis 1769. Wenn einer einmal eine Erfindung macht, so machen sie ihm viele nach, immer wieder und wiederum, nicht wahr. Da ist vieles konstruiert worden zwischen diesen Jahren. Und als Watt durch andere Eigenschaften seine Maschine brauchbar konstruiert hatte, da hatte er eine Einrichtung darauf, für die schon ein anderer ein Patent hatte, und da konnte er sie nicht ausführen, weil ein anderer schon ein Patent hatte, und er mußte auf etwas anderes sinnen. Und da fand er denn auf eine merkwürdige Weise das, auf was er nun zu sinnen hatte. Er lebte ja in dem Zeitalter, in dem man schon längst die Kopernikanische Weltanschauung hatte, die ich Ihnen charakterisiert habe als etwas, was ja auch nur unserem Zeitgeiste entspricht; er lebte in der Zeit, in der man die Kopernikanische Weltanschauung schon lange hatte. Und wirklich, er kam darauf, sich seinen ganzen Zusammenhang, den Bewegungsapparat so zu konstruieren, daß er diesen Zusammenhang nennen konnte: Sonnen- und Planetenbewegung. Sonnen- und Planetenbewegung nannte er es deshalb, weil er wirklich dadurch geführt wurde, wie man sich vorstellt im Kopernikanischen System die Planetenumschwünge um die Sonne. Er hat wirklich heruntergeholt und in die Dampfmaschine hineingeheimnißt das, was man erkannt hatte in neuerer Zeit als Himmelsbewegung!
Nun denken Sie an dasjenige, was ich Ihnen neulich ausgeführt habe, das geschehen wird, aber erst im Anfange ist: daß feine Vibrationen, sich summieren und große Wirkungen erzielen werden. Auf der Erde ist es noch nicht erreicht, Gott sei Dank! Aber ein Anfang liegt da drinnen: die Sonnen- und Planetenbewegung ist nachgeahmt. Glauben Sie, daß nun, nachdem die Sonnen- und Planetenbewegung die große Bedeutung für unsere Erde hat, wenn sie hereinstrahlt, es keine Bedeutung hat, wenn wir sie hier im Kleinen nachmachen und wiederum hinausstrahlen lassen in den Weltenraum? Dasjenige, was da geschieht, hat eine große Bedeutung für den Kosmos. Da sehen Sie direkt, wie dem Dämon auch noch die Schwingungen hinzugefügt werden, durch die er seine Tätigkeit in den kosmischen Raum hinaus entfalten kann. Natürlich darf nun niemand glauben, daß so etwas, wie ich es jetzt gesagt habe, bedeuten solle, man solle die Dampfmaschine abschaffen. Man müßte vieles abschaffen, denn die Dampfmaschinen sind nicht einmal das Dämonischste. Überall da, wo Elektrizität angewendet wird und manches andere noch, da ist viel mehr Dämonomagie, weil es noch mit ganz anderen Kräften wirtschaftet, die eine noch andere Bedeutung haben für den Kosmos. Selbstverständlich wird derjenige, der Geisteswissenschaft versteht, sich klar sein darüber, daß diese Dinge nicht abgeschafft werden sollen, daß wir nicht reaktionär oder konservativ sein können in dem Sinne, daß wir uns auflehnen gegen den Fortschritt. Oh, die Dämonomagie bedeutet den Fortschritt, und die Erde wird immer mehr und mehr solche Fortschritte machen! Man wird es noch dazu bringen, daß man große, große Wirkungen hinaus in das Weltenall entwickeln wird. Nicht ums Abschaffen handelt es sich, auch nicht ums Abkritisieren, denn selbstverständlich sind die Dinge berechtigt. Aber darum handelt es sich, daß, nachdem auf der einen Seite diese Dinge auftreten müssen im Menschheitsfortschritt, auf der anderen Seite Gegenkräfte geschaffen werden müssen, die den Ausgleich wiederum herbeiführen. Gegenkräfte müssen geschaffen werden. Diese Gegenkräfte, die den Ausgleich herbeiführen, können nur geschaffen werden, wenn die Menschheit wiederum das Christus-Prinzip verstehen wird, wenn die Menschheit den Weg finden wird zu dem Christus. Eine Weile ist die Menschheit abgeführt worden von dem Christus. Selbst diejenigen, die sich offiziell Vertreter des Christus nennen, suchen nur statt des Christus einen Angelos. Aber es wird der Weg gefunden werden müssen, den die Seele machen muß zu Christus. Denn geradeso, wie wir durch die Dämonen der Maschinen zu den physischen Sternen wirken in den Kosmos hinaus, so müssen wir den Weg finden geistig in die Welten hinein, in denen der Mensch ist zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, in denen die Wesen der höheren Hierarchien sind. Und das, was ich jetzt andeute, das hängt zusammen mit dem, was ich schon ausgeführt habe: wie die Menschen hineinkommen immer mehr und mehr in ein Berufskarma auf der einen Seite, so wie ich es geschildert habe, und wie auf der anderen Seite diesem Berufskarma entgegenwirken muß das Verständnis für die geistige Welt, welches auch wiederum anbahnen kann das Finden eines Weges zu dem Christus.
Über diese Dinge wollen wir dann morgen weiter sprechen.
Ninth Lecture
One of the accusations made against our spiritual science by some theologians and others who believe they stand on the ground of Christianity but do not understand it correctly is that our spiritual science asserts truths about a large number of hierarchies, hierarchies that comprise beings who stand above human beings and exist in the spiritual world. As you know, we speak of spiritual hierarchies, which include the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, Exusiai, and so on; just as we speak of these realms of the higher, supersensible worlds, as we speak of the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the mineral kingdom, the elemental kingdom, and so on, within the earthly world. We are also clear that human life is divided into two stages. One flows between birth and death. During this life, or through this life, human beings descend from the supersensible world to the realms that are then in their physical environment: the human realm, the animal realm, the plant realm, the mineral realm, and so on. When a person passes through the gate of death, the other phase of their life begins. They ascend to the higher realms, which are also stacked from bottom to top, just as the other realms are stacked from top to bottom. They ascend to the realms of the angeloi, archangeloi, archai, and so on. Those who believe today but do not understand that they stand on the ground of Christianity particularly contest this view of the beings that are placed between human beings and the actual deity, which lies far, far above human beings, even far above the angels, archangels, and so on, and which are placed in this supersensible space. In particular, those who believe themselves to be particularly advanced in their Christian view will readily claim that this knowledge of spiritual hierarchies and their beings is a relapse into an old polytheism or, as they say, into a kind of paganism. For, it is said, it is precisely the task of modern man to place nothing between himself and the deity, but to live in the world, to fix his eyes on what presents itself to the senses, and then to find the way directly to the deity, without mediation by angels, archangels, and so on. And some believe that it is particularly sublime to stand before their own god without any mediation, as they say.
Today, this objection can be heard from many quarters against spiritual science. This objection testifies to the fact that, precisely in those circles where it is raised, there is a complete lack of understanding of what the spiritual needs of our time actually are. For it truly does not depend on whether people imagine they can find the way from themselves to their God, but whether they really can. It really does not matter whether people imagine they are picturing their God, but whether they really are picturing him. And from our point of view, we must ask: What do those who imagine their God actually imagine when they say: We do not want mediation through other spirits, but want to ascend directly from our soul to our God — what do such people imagine? When they think or speak of God, do they really imagine God? Do they imagine that which must be meant by God when a person rightly speaks of his God?
They do not imagine that, but something quite different. If one goes through all the concepts that such people have of their God, what is expressed in such concepts? Nothing other than the essence of an angel, an angelos, and all those people who speak of looking up directly from their soul to God are only looking up to an angel. And if you look up all the descriptions of such people, no matter how exalted they may sound, you will find that they describe nothing other than an angel, and what these people say is nothing other than the demand that one should not imagine anything higher than an angel under God. For example, what is called the modern Protestant God today, and about whom so much is spoken, especially by Protestants, is an Angelos, nothing else. For it does not matter whether one imagines that one finds the way to the highest God, but what really matters is what one actually finds. And in this way one finds only the way to one's Angelos. I say: to one's Angelos, because that is important. For if we first consider only the beings of the lowest hierarchies: Archai — spirits of personality, as we have also called them — Archangeloi, Archangels, Angeloi, Angels, then comes the human being, then the animal kingdom, then the plant kingdom, then the mineral kingdom.
Archai = Spirits of personality
Archangeloi = Archangels
Angeloi = Angels
Human beings
Animals
Plants
Minerals
When we consider these relatively lowest beings, we need only remember some of what we have already discussed in order to know that the Archai, the spirits of personality, are also spirits of the times. They are the ruling powers for the entire period of time, that which lives as spirit throughout the entire period. We live today in a different spiritual context than the ancient Greeks or Romans because we are governed by a different spirit of the times. Such a spirit of the times is already a very exalted being. Then again, we have those beings whom we call Archangeloi. They are called upon to establish harmony among human beings on earth. Therefore, they are also the guides and leaders of the tribes in a certain sense. The Angeloi, the beings standing directly above human beings, guide them through the gate of death so that they have their Angelos at their side, as it were, from death to new birth, and they in turn lead them into the new life. The Angeloi are called upon to guide the individual human personality through repeated earthly lives.
Then we come down to human beings themselves. Human beings, as they are today on earth, remember only their earthly life here in the physical body. The memory of the angels goes much further, for only by going much further can they guide and direct the repeated earthly lives of human beings. Modern theologians do not even imagine angels correctly, because they omit from the angel's nature the ability to guide human individuality through repeated earthly lives. If we consider that when we stand before the archangels, we are dealing with beings who govern human relationships, and when we stand before the spirits of the age, we are dealing with beings who govern human relationships over long periods of time, and that when we deal with angels, we are dealing with beings who essentially govern the life of the individual human being, then we will not fail to recognize, if we keep this in mind, that it is a hidden egoism on the part of human beings to want to rise directly to God, for in truth—although they do not admit it—they only want to rise to their God, to their own angel.
This has great practical significance; it is of great importance, for it carries within it a certain seed. It carries within it the seed that people speak of the one God, but that it is only a fantasy that they speak of the one God. For in truth, by indulging in this fantasy, everyone speaks of their own God, namely their own angel. And the consequence of this must be that, in the course of time, every person worships their own God, namely their own angel. And we can already see how strong the urge is in people for each to worship their own god. The coming together of people in those gods that are common to all has become very rare in recent times. The insistence of each person on their own god has become something very striking. The human race is becoming atomized. In a sense, only the word “God” remains, which is common to all people of the same language, but under this one word, everyone imagines something different, namely their own angel. And he does not even rise up to the archangel who guides human communities.
This is based on a certain hidden egoism that people do not want to admit. But it is something important that is said when we keep this in mind, for human beings actually live in a falsehood when they do not admit to themselves: I look up to my angel — but when they say to themselves: I look up to the one God. They live in a nebulous idea, that is, in an inner deception, in an inner Maya. And this has important consequences, because when human beings give themselves over to this inner deception, something very specific happens. For by giving ourselves over to fantastical ideas, we do not change the spiritual realities that actually occur as a result of what we imagine to be right or wrong. By looking up only to his angel, but not admitting this to himself, believing instead that he is looking up to God — when he is not even looking up to an archangel — man, in a certain sense, numbs his soul through this false idea. And this numbing of the soul is widespread today. But numbing the soul is extremely disastrous for the present stage of human evolution. For through the numbing of the soul, the I is depressed, clouded, and then other powers that should not be active in the soul creep into it. That is to say, the Luciferic Angelos creeps into the place of the angel whom one initially wanted to worship, but whom one renames “God,” and one gradually comes to worship not the angel but the Luciferic Angelos. But then the slippery slope that leads man downhill is very close; then it is very close to his denying God altogether, that is, to deny his angel — which is always connected with the denial of the true human I, as I have shown you in the book “Matérialisme et Spiritualisme” by Leblais, where it is claimed that the cat has an I just like a human being, and where there is talk of the “grand-prêtre du chien.”
So we must certainly recognize that in many respects the answer that must be given to the question “Who is to blame for the materialism of our time?” is: Religions are to blame, religious creeds, in that they cloud people's consciousness and put an angel in the place of God, who is then replaced by the Luciferic angel corresponding to him. And this Luciferic angel will soon lead people into materialism. This is the mysterious connection between the arrogant, selfish religious creeds, which do not want to hear anything about what stands above an angel, but in boundless arrogance say that they speak of “God,” when they speak only of an angel, and not even of him completely. This boundless arrogance, which is often referred to as humility, is what ultimately had to bring about materialism. When we consider this, we see a meaningful connection: through the false reinterpretation of an angel as God, a tendency toward materialism arises in the human soul. And underlying this is an unconscious egoism, which expresses itself in the fact that human beings spurn the ascent to knowledge of the spiritual world, and also in the fact that they believe they can find a direct connection with their God solely out of themselves, as it were. You will see much of what is happening in the present if you consider what I have indicated here. There is only one remedy for the misinterpretation of God, and that is the recognition of spiritual hierarchies. For then one also knows that the present religious creeds do not rise higher than the hierarchy of the angeloi.
When we consider this, we find ourselves more or less in what human beings develop as their conscious life; but much also lives in human beings unconsciously or in a state of unclear consciousness. And we could now say to ourselves: The connection between human beings and their angels is indeed real, but the connection between human beings and the archangel hierarchy, with the archai hierarchy, is also real. The misinterpretation of angels, which is carried out more or less consciously, also leads more or less consciously to the worldview of materialism; not in the individual human being, but it gradually leads to this in the age. Here we are still, so to speak, in what is consciously happening in the soul. But in the relationship between human beings and the archangel hierarchy, we are no longer where human beings know much; they talk a lot about it now, but they know little. Today, we do indeed profess our belief, not in the hierarchy of archangels, but very often in one archangel; not clearly expressed professions of faith, but a leaning, an emotional leaning toward one archangel or another. In the 19th century, this bore particularly strong fruit in at least one area: in the emergence of nationalist ideas, which are unconsciously based on overlooking the interaction of the archangels and bowing down only to one archangel. This is based on something similar to egoism, only something socially egoistic, like bowing down to one angel.
Now one might also want to describe what accompanies this inclination, this socially egoistic inclination toward the archangel, in a similar way to how materialism consciously accompanies the misinterpretation of the angel. But that would be venturing onto thin ice, and that is not something that can be discussed in our time.
Even darker are the relationships between humans and the archai, the spirits of the times. These lie, so to speak, very, very deep underground. At least humans stand in a certain relationship to the angels, even if they do not admit it, for by saying, “I believe in God,” they falsely admit it in the manner indicated. People want to at least establish a relationship with angels. They stand in a relationship with the archangels through their feelings and perceptions, by professing this or that connection through their blood or the like, in a relationship that is false today. This leads to aberrations that I do not want to describe today, nor can I describe them. Similar misguided paths arise in relation to the spirits of the times. But here too, people generally cling to the spirit of the times that presents itself to them as the spirit of their age. Just consider how we try, through spiritual science, to counteract these egoistic, zeitgeist-driven representations by describing successive periods of time with their peculiarities and allowing them to work on us, so as to expand our hearts and souls, as it were, over the entire development of the earth, indeed over the entire cosmic development, in order thereby to establish, at least initially in our thoughts, a relationship to the various Zeitgeists. But people today do not want that. And one would have to describe much of what was hinted at yesterday if one were to describe the wrong turns that people take through this egoism to arrive at the spirit of the age. From a work of poetry, I was able to present you with a gloomy picture of the immediate present, which is described very well. Such wrong turns, as they are described there, are connected with this false relationship to the spirit of the times. But here we are already entering very significant territory by discussing the wrong turns taken in relation to the spirit of the times. When human beings rename their angel “God” and thus come to the Luciferic angel, this is a deviation of faith, of confession, of worldview, a deviation that is, in a sense, individual. The next step can be a deviation of entire peoples; but it always remains a deviation among human beings, so to speak, and the consequences that arise are precisely the consequences of deviations among human beings. But when we advance to the spirit of the age and deviate from it, we already come into conflict with the cosmos through our deviations. And there is a mysterious connection between aberrations from the spirit of the age and the beginnings of what human beings take upon themselves, in a sense, cosmically. This connection cannot be seen if one refuses to look up at the Angelos at all. Let everyone take what I am saying now as they can. It is said from spiritual science, based on profound investigations, but I would have to speak for months if I wanted to go into all the details of these investigations.
The aberrations that human beings commit against the spirit of the times collide with cosmic events, and the cosmic events collide back. And the consequence of cosmic events being brought into human life, the beginnings of cosmic events, is decadence, which extends to the decadence of the physical body, in other words: disease and mortality and everything associated with them. And perhaps in the not too distant future, humanity will become convinced that through many of the things it does on the physical plane, when these are capable of reaching up to the spirit of the times, it conjures destructive forces into the evolution of the earth, the effects of which extend to illness and death. If you then ask yourself whether, according to the insights you have gained, perhaps some of the things what is happening in the present time may be an aberration from the spirit of the age, you will be able to answer this question for yourselves through profound connections that extend into illness and death, through which a balance will then be brought about in relation to many of the sins that human beings commit against the spirit of the age.
It is well known that today's highly intelligent people naturally laugh when someone says something like what I have just said. For they know from their scientific worldview that it is nonsense, as they say, to believe that what a person does, what people do in their contexts, could bring about elementary events. But the time is not far off when people will believe this, for the simple reason that they will then see it.
What is lacking in our present worldview, which is capable of sustaining human life, is seriousness. Therefore, one of the first requirements for those who find their way into spiritual science is to develop this seriousness of worldview and to really delve a little deeper into the course of human development. We have often emphasized that the evolution of the earth only really makes sense through the mystery of Golgotha, and we have already mentioned many things that show the mystery of Golgotha in a meaningful light. But one must characterize it more and more precisely if one wants to understand the whole meaning of this mystery of Golgotha. Today, a person may ask: How does the human soul actually come to Christ? And one can say that since Christ is obviously a higher being than all the archai, the way to Christ must be found. For on the path taken by ordinary religious creeds today, Christ is not found, but at most an angel, as we have seen. In the name of the various angeloi, and even of some archangeloi, if the Luciferic ones have taken the place of the progressive ones, one can behave as people behave today, but one cannot do so in the name of Christ. For it is an absolute impossibility, a real impossibility, that two people who are enemies should each profess themselves to be followers of Christ. I mean, it's not hard to see this, because it's kind of obvious. You can do it if you say the name “Christ, Christ” or “Lord, Lord” — which Christ himself hinted at — but only mean your own angel; but you can't do it if you're really talking about Christ. So the question may arise: How does the soul find its way to Christ? There are various ways to answer this question. Today we will take a path that arises naturally from various considerations.
People today know very little about the past. Above all, they do not know why certain things have been handed down. At best, they know that they have been handed down, but why they have been handed down is something people today hardly know. For example, it has been handed down — and this can be read today in all kinds of exoteric books, especially in Masonic books — that there were mysteries in ancient times, that the mysteries were, so to speak, a secret institution, and that in the mysteries, as the word itself suggests, there were secrets that were truly secrets in the outer sense. This means that those who had gained access to the mysteries were told certain things which they were obliged to reveal only to those who were also members of the mystery society, and in those ancient times it was a strict rule not to betray these mysteries. This rule was so strict that it was considered a most serious offense if someone revealed a mystery secret to an uninitiated ear; but it was equally serious if an uninitiated person listened to a mystery secret. And this view, which had been practiced in the mysteries, was strictly enforced when the mysteries existed in the old sense. Why was that? Why did this happen?
You see, today there is much talk about the mysteries, especially among those people who want to glitter a little with what they say about the mysteries, who want to use all kinds of beautiful words. Especially where, as is often the case with modern Freemasonry, people talk about these things with words without even wanting to understand much, a great deal of nonsense is spread by talking about these things in an outward manner without knowing much about them. One does not even notice whether these things are being spoken about correctly from the point of view of the matter itself, or whether they are just being spoken about with words. One can have the strangest experiences with these things, which I do not want to criticize or condemn; but the matter is too serious not to at least be mentioned. You see, today, for example, you can experience this: Someone is a member of a community that calls itself all sorts of names, such as “brotherhoods” or “keepers of mysteries”; such a person—I am telling you facts—comes to you and inquires about precisely what seems to interest him, that is, what he says he is interested in; but he cannot understand much of it. After some time, one hears that he has talked about these things here and there and that he has said quite worthless things. It is almost futile to speak to those who are being spoiled and corrupted by certain occult brotherhoods, because they do not go into what is really important. This is the only way it could have come about that, for example, a book has recently been published by a much-named free-thinking speaker and writer about the secrets of Freemasonry, a book that naturally contains nothing but shallow stuff, and that this shallow stuff is taken seriously by people who even belong to occult brotherhoods.
Now let us consider a real characteristic that has arisen from the evolution of humanity for the mystery customs. I have emphasized this to you often: Humanity has changed in the course of the Earth's evolution, and an important turning point in this evolution was when Christ passed through the mystery of Golgotha. If we want to name one of the most essential characteristics of this evolution, among others we have already mentioned, we must say: If we go back beyond the Greek-Latin period, especially if we go beyond the 4th century BC to the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries—we can even remain in the Greek-Latin period— but we would find even more if we went over to the Egyptian-Chaldean or even the Persian period — we find everywhere that what was said about human beings had a completely different meaning for other people than it did later, for example, already in the 7th and 8th centuries after the mystery of Golgotha. The word that one person spoke to another had a completely different meaning in the time when the old atavistic qualities of the soul were still present, which even led to atavistic clairvoyance, than later, than today. Then the word, if I may say so, had a kind of suggestive value through its own inner power, for there was much of inherited divine-spiritual power in the word. When a person spoke, the angel from the higher hierarchies always spoke through their words, so to speak.
You can imagine that the messages conveyed in those ancient times through words were quite different from those of today. We have no way of speaking with words in this way, even if we know all the secrets of how people spoke in ancient times, because we have to speak with words through what has become of them through language. We have conventional signs in words. Today, we can no longer go to a person and, with the same power that people had in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries BC, send a gentle shiver through their soul with the words “Your angel loves you,” which had healing power. This is no longer possible today; words have lost their old suggestive value, their power. In ancient times, human unity flowed from soul to soul when people spoke to one another. Just as we breathe the same air when we are together in a room, so in ancient times a spiritual power of unity lived in what people said to one another. This has been lost in the course of human evolution. Words have become increasingly devoid of divine power.
If you visualize this in your mind's eye, you will also be able to say that there could have been certain words and word combinations, word formulas, that had a greater effect than other words that are generally spoken. And such word formulas, which had an effect far beyond the ordinary, were handed down in the mysteries. Now you can understand that they could not be revealed, because if people knew these formulas, they would have been given a high power over other people, which could not be abused. It is an absolutely real truth that when the ancient Hebrew temple priest uttered what in ordinary life was simply called “the word,” but which had a certain sound composition, then, when he pronounced it in the right way—because in those ancient times it was so that the power lay in that sound composition—what actually happened to the people to whom he spoke was that they were surrounded by another world, a spiritual world, but this spirituality was real.
And so you can understand that it was not only criminal to speak the mystery formulas to someone to whom they were not meant, because this exerted an unjustified power over them, but that it was also frowned upon to listen in, because one exposed oneself to the danger of placing oneself completely in the power of the other. Things are not as abstract as certain people today would like to portray them, but they are concrete and real, and times have changed, and we must listen to this change in times. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, words no longer have this meaning, for you see, real freedom could not have arisen among human beings if words had retained this meaning; for human beings would always have been, in a sense, the result of language in a spiritual sense. Words had to lose this inner power. But another power came into the earth's development which, when it found the right relationship to humanity, was able to gradually replace in human beings what had previously come from words. The ancient people learned to think from their words, and in ancient times there were no other thoughts than those that came from words. But the power of thought could only come from words when the words were as I have described them. This power was no longer present in the following period. But then came the being who, when these thoughts were fulfilled in him, could give this power back to the thoughts, the being who could say, “I am the Word” — and that is Christ. But people must first find the way to make Christ alive in their souls. Christ is there. We know that since the Mystery of Golgotha he is a real power. And now, as we speak of karma, let us also show how he relates to karma, how the Angelos comes into relation only with one human being, but how Christ can have a much higher significance than the archangels, because he connects not only human beings here on earth according to the spirit of the age, but because he connects the living and the dead, those souls that are organized here in the body, and those who have passed through the gate of death. But to do this, we need to understand a little better how Christ can be found from the spirit of our time, or rather, how a path to Christ can be found. For this is the question we started with: How can people today find a path to Christ?
Above all, it is necessary for people to come out of their selfish, soul-centered lives. For a true word—oh, so many words in the Gospels are not taken at their true meaning because they do not suit people!—a true word of the Gospels is: “Where two are united in my name, there am I in their midst.” — The spirit of vain mysticism that says, “I will give birth to Christ in my soul,” is not the spirit of Christianity, but the spirit that says, “Where two are united in my name, there am I in their midst.” — But in order to explain to you the whole spirit of this saying in connection with repeated earthly lives, as we want to do in the present considerations, and characterize it for our time in connection with the whole life into which man is placed today through his profession, I must go into some characteristics of our time in particular; for it is necessary to learn how to overcome the egoistic limitations in man. In the spirit of our time, we must overcome this by getting to know the cosmos with which human beings are connected and from which they are born, by learning to think of the cosmos in relation to human beings.
Do you believe that natural science today can think of the cosmos in relation to human beings? Remember the statement I quoted in public lectures by Herman Grimm: Natural science thinks in terms of a kind of mechanism in which human beings cannot possibly exist. The scientific worldview today cannot conceive of man in relation to the cosmos, because in order to do so, one must first look at things concretely. Today, someone constructs a machine; he does so and believes that by constructing this machine, nothing happens except that he constructs this machine, or rather, what happens through this machine. But to give oneself over to such a belief would be to justify what is so widespread today, what can be called negative superstition. Superstition is the belief in spirits where there are none; but one cannot believe in spirits where there are some either: that is negative superstition. Humanity today indulges in this negative superstition in abundance, without even realizing it at first, because it has not yet become accustomed to thinking about the things that occur in human development, and which today are considered only from the point of view of mechanism, in their entire world context from a moral point of view.
Let us take one example, but one that is characteristic of our time and similar to many other things that dominate our external life in many respects today: the steam engine. What a role the steam engine plays today! How much of our life is dominated by the steam engine! Just think about all the things that would not exist if the steam engine did not exist. I don't want to say that everything that humans have today must have been brought about by the steam engine, but much of what we have today has been brought about by the steam engine in the spirit of the times.
The steam engine was not really invented until the 18th century, because what existed before that were basically just unusable experiments. So what is commonplace today, what has tremendous significance today, is the steam engine, which, one could say, first became usable—the earlier attempts were only made usable—in 1719 by Newcomen, and then later, in 1762, by Watt. Actually, it is only possible to speak of these two as the inventors of the steam engine, at least to the extent that we speak of steam engines today and everything associated with them.
Now, what is the basis for this possibility of having steam engines, which are not even that old? What is the basis for this? You see, in 1769 – and I am about to say something that will sound terribly strange to anyone with a scientific mind – Watt brought the steam engine up to the right level, so to speak. This was not long before Goethe conceived his “Faust.” Perhaps our considerations will reveal some strange connections between this steam engine and the conception of Goethe's “Faust,” even though these things are very far apart. But first we must consider a number of things related to the advent of the steam engine in human evolution. What is the steam engine actually based on? The steam engine is actually based on the ability to create a space that is empty of air or has very little air. All possibilities for making steam engines are based on creating a space that is empty of air and using it in a useful way. In ancient times, which are now long past, people spoke of horror vacui, the fear of emptiness. This was meant to be something objective. It meant that space always wants to be filled with something, that something empty cannot actually be created, that nature has a kind of horror of emptiness. The belief in horror vacui had to disappear from humanity, and the possibility of creating air-thinned, nearly airless space had to be established before steam engines could be developed. The air had to be removed from certain spaces. Mechanical observation will not lead us to a new cosmic, moral conception that replaces the old cosmic, moral conception of horror vacui. But what actually happens when we create an airless or air-thinned space with the intention of using what happens there to serve the development of humanity on Earth?
The biblical record says that Yahweh breathed the breath of life into man, the air, and thereby he became a living soul. The air had to be brought into man so that man could become what he was meant to be as an earthly human being. For many centuries, indeed for millennia, man used only that part of the air which was naturally available in the cosmic context for the purpose of rarefying and compressing it. Then came the modern era. Man began to thin the air himself, to remove what Yahweh had created, to work in opposition to the way Yahweh can work by placing man on earth. What actually happens when man uses air-thinned space, that is, when he drives the air out of space? Opposition to Yahweh occurs. You can now easily imagine: while Yahweh flows into man through the air, man drives Yahweh away when he creates air-thinned space! Ahriman gains the opportunity to establish himself as a demon in the physical realm by constructing the steam engine in this way. When you construct the steam engine, you give demons the opportunity to incarnate. You don't have to believe in them if you don't want to: that is negative superstition. Positive superstition is to see spirits where there are none; negative superstition is to deny spirits where they are. In steam engines, however, Ahrimanic demons are actually brought down to the physical body. This means that while the cosmos has descended with its spiritual essence through what has been poured into human evolution, the spirit of the cosmos is being driven out by the demons that are being created there. This means that the recent great and admirable progress has not only brought demonology, but also demon magic, and modern technology is in many ways demon magic.
Some things — and here I am saying something paradoxical again — become apparent when one can correctly interpret what people generally consider to be of little significance. After all, you see (an i is drawn on the board), that (i without a dot) is also the main thing in terms of matter, but it is the little dot that makes it an i. And compare how much less that — it is called a dot — contains than the rest, and yet it is that little dot that makes it an i. Those who, in the evolution of humanity, cling only to the material will sometimes see in the material only that which naturally contains a hundred times more than the speck, and will not see the speck at all. But an intimate observer who does not just stare at appearances but can read them will learn to interpret in the right way many things where something intimate is sometimes hinted at. A curious fact: if you read a biography of James Watt, you will find this fact, which I am now going to point out in a way that will seem downright crazy to any modern, intelligent person, but of course you will have to understand the interpretation for yourself. Watt was not able to immediately implement what he intended with his invention, his steam engine. As you can see, this took place between 1712 and 1769. When someone makes an invention, many others copy it, over and over again, don't they? A lot was designed between those years. And when Watt had designed his machine to be usable thanks to other features, he had a device for it that someone else already had a patent for, and so he couldn't implement it because someone else already had a patent, and he had to think of something else. And then, in a remarkable way, he found what he had been thinking about. He lived in an age when the Copernican worldview had long been established, which I have characterized as something that corresponds to the spirit of our time; he lived in a time when the Copernican worldview had long been established. And indeed, he came up with the idea of constructing his entire context, the apparatus of motion, in such a way that he could call this context: the movement of the sun and planets. He called it the movement of the sun and planets because he was truly guided by how one imagines the planetary revolutions around the sun in the Copernican system. He really brought down and incorporated into the steam engine what had been recognized in more recent times as the movement of the heavens!
Now think of what I explained to you recently, which will happen, but is only in its infancy: that fine vibrations will add up and achieve great effects. Thank God, this has not yet been achieved on Earth! But a beginning lies within: the movement of the sun and planets is imitated. Do you believe that now, since the movement of the sun and planets has such great significance for our Earth when it shines in, it has no significance when we imitate it here on a small scale and let it shine out again into space? What happens there has great significance for the cosmos. Here you can see directly how the vibrations are added to the demon, enabling it to unfold its activity in cosmic space. Of course, no one should believe that what I have just said means that we should abolish the steam engine. Many things would have to be abolished, because steam engines are not even the most demonic. Wherever electricity is used, and many other things besides, there is much more demonic magic, because it works with completely different forces that have a different meaning for the cosmos. Of course, anyone who understands spiritual science will realize that these things should not be abolished, that we cannot be reactionary or conservative in the sense of rebelling against progress. Oh, demonic magic means progress, and the earth will make more and more such progress! We will even succeed in developing great, great effects out into the universe. It is not a question of abolishing or criticizing, for these things are of course justified. But the point is that, while these things must occur in the progress of humanity, counterforces must be created on the other side to bring about balance. Counterforces must be created. These counterforces that bring about balance can only be created when humanity once again understands the Christ principle, when humanity finds the way to Christ. For a while, humanity has been led away from Christ. Even those who officially call themselves representatives of Christ are only looking for an angel instead of Christ. But the path that the soul must take to Christ will have to be found. For just as we work out into the cosmos through the demons of the machines to the physical stars, so we must find the path spiritually into the worlds in which man is between death and a new birth, in which the beings of the higher hierarchies are. And what I am now hinting at is connected with what I have already explained: how human beings become more and more involved in a professional karma on the one hand, as I have described, and how, on the other hand, this professional karma must be counteracted by an understanding of the spiritual world, which in turn can pave the way to finding Christ.
We will talk more about these things tomorrow.