Old and New Methods of Initiation
GA 210
1 February 1922, Breslau
Lecture V
It gives me profound pleasure to be among our Breslau friends. We have been through grave times which have made it all too obvious that mankind today is in need of something which can enable further development to take place. These catastrophic times are the consequence of a loss of upward momentum in human evolution. But in the soil of Anthroposophy we are tilling forces which can serve us in building up a spiritual life. Therefore I shall not speak too much today about contemporary events, but rather about the knowledge which human beings need, knowledge which they must absorb into their moral impulses. A great deal lives in our soul of which we are hardly aware. But because it is there, and because our soul element is linked to our existence on the earth, it is very important for our life.
What weighs on human beings today is the discordance between what the soul really needs and what present-day science can supply. Scientific knowledge is very demanding, and we ought to ask ourselves what it is that it demands of human beings. One thing it demands, for instance, is that we should accept its view of the beginning and end of the earth. Take the Kant-Laplace explanation of how the world began. A glowing ball of gas was formed by chemical and mechanical forces; it cooled, and when it was cool enough the same mechanical forces brought about the further solidification of everything that later became the kingdoms of plant, animal and man. And as for the future of earthly life and existence, we are told of an end to all life brought about by a gradual re-warming of the earth. Scientists say that physical laws will lead to the death of the earth through overheating. The end of the earth stretches before us like a gigantic churchyard. Between the two extremes, of the chemical and mechanical beginning of the world and its death by warmth at the end, lie all our human aspirations and ideals, all the moral purposes we have ever had or are going to have. The question is, why do such ideals and aspirations arise by chemical and physical means in the first place, if all they are destined for is to perish in the general death by overheating? Of course we can retort that these are theoretical considerations which have little influence on ordinary life. But even if we prefer to evade such questions, they still remain as disharmonies which work right into the depths of our unconscious soul life. They lead to the anxious question: What is the point of our moral impulses, what is the point of our religious ideals, if the whole of earth evolution is doomed to destruction?
The way this question is put shows what I am getting at. For all our moral impulses and all our religious ideals would benothing but an immense fraud perpetrated on mankind, they would be a terrible illusion, if they were destined to be buried in the cemetery of the earth. Eloquent examples already exist of the terrible effect of such soul moods brought about by purely scientific knowledge, but we are often not properly conscious of them. So the anxious question lives on in human hearts. Asking it from the point of view of natural science we have to say: We human beings grew out of nature and our moral ideals rose up in us; but they will perish with the earth. These moral ideals will perish in natural science. Natural science does not allow us to concede that our ideals have an independent, actual, reality. And even though this is no more than a theory, it nevertheless weighs heavily on the human soul.
This fatalistic world view is based, in the final analysis, on faith in the imperishability of material forces. But anyone trying to topple this dogma is considered mad. If this dogma were true, there would be no escape for moral ideals; they would simply be a picture of something that human beings have thought up and figured out. There would be no escape for these ideals if spiritual research could not find the means to give back to people a super-sensible content for their consciousness. This is relevant today. And in this relevant matter we are living at an important turning-point of evolution. Those of you who know me are aware that I do not like saying such a thing, because any moment in time can be called a turning-point. We have to consider in what respect a certain moment is a turning-point.
Let us consider where the knowledge given by natural science can lead us. Look first at the human being in his external manifestation living in the physical, sense-perceptible world. If we do this in an absolute sense, we see no more than a corpse. If we leave everything aside except the physical, sense-perceptible being and if we allow only chemical and physical laws to work on this being, then, by following only the external laws of nature, the human being begins to disintegrate, to dissolve. The forces we recognize with ordinary knowledge destroy the human being.
This alone is enough to refute the materialistic world view. If we say that the external forces destroy the human being, this must mean that from birth onwards people have been gathering forces which resist this destruction. As it dissolves, the corpse is absorbed into the world which we perceive with our senses. It is amalgamated into the sense-perceptible world by the death forces of chemical and physical laws. But what takes place at death inwardly at the level of the soul cannot be perceived by external sense-perception. These inward processes of soul can only be experienced by direct vision in the realm where higher knowledge has its source. This vision shows that outside the body the inward soul element is united with the spirit, with all the spiritual forces that stream through the world, giving it strength. The soul which unites with the spirit after death is then bound up in the spirit in the super-sensible world.
This is a fact which takes its place beside the fact of the corpse. In life the physical body was filled by the soul; in death it unites with the forces of nature. Anthroposophy leads us to a fact of life which is diametrically opposed to the fact of death. The merely theoretical statement of the eternal life of man can never be satisfying. But Anthroposophy introduces the fact that the soul unites with the spirit. The knowledge of natural science, on the other hand, leads only to the fact of death.
The higher sources of knowledge given by spiritual science lead us to what is revealed to the spiritual seeker in Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. These stages of knowledge are described in my book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds1 Rudolf Steiner Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. How is it achieved? and also in Occult Science. In the first instance you will find that here are descriptions of stages of knowledge. However, more is given to the spiritual seeker than mere stages of knowledge. Just as natural-scientific knowledge is not just knowledge but also possesses other sides and aspects, so it is with higher knowledge.
Today I shall consider with you something that goes beyond Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition as stages of knowledge, something that I discussed, for instance, in the Vienna lecture cycle of 19142 Rudolf Steiner, The Inner Nature of Man and Life between Death and New birth, Anthroposophical Publishing Company, London 1959. about life after death, but now from a somewhat different point of view. The part of the human being that lives here on earth is a corpse which is united with external physical nature. And just as he is united with the mineral forces below, so is he also united with the higher hierarchies above. Just as in the corpse he grows together with the mineral forces, so above he slowly grows together with, and enters into, the hierarchies. Sometimes people say that they might as well wait until they die to find out what happens then. And they might as well wait to grow together with the hierarchies. This is all very well, but it is not actually the point. It is very important for the human being to grow into the hierarchies in the right way, for we have to admit that to start with he stands in the world in a manner which allows him no inkling of his relationships with the higher hierarchies. Much depends on our becoming aware of these relationships.
The first hierarchy with whom human beings have a relationship we may call the world of the angels. But those who do not recognize the spiritual world—for whatever reason—cannot establish a relationship with the world of the angels, any more than someone who lacks physical sense organs can establish a relationship with the physical world. Angels are the beings next above man, closest to man, yet under certain circumstances we cannot approach them. Only by endeavouring to make a picture of the angel world while we are here on earth can we prepare to form relationships with it. The portal of death leads to the world of the angels if human beings can become conscious after death of what is confronting them.
The second group of higher beings is that of the folk spirits, or archangels. Angels are not folk spirits. Real folk spirits have no individual links with human beings, as is the case with angels. Folk spirits are related to communities and groups of human beings. Even natural science sometimes speaks of the national spirit, but this does not denote an actual being, let alone a spiritual one. From higher knowledge the spiritual seeker knows that folk spirits are real spiritual beings whose position is one step above that of the angels. The human being can grow into this hierarchy, too. But if our inner spiritual experience is not intense enough, our angel cannot lead us with our consciousness to the folk spirit. But since we have to be led to the folk spirit, this happens unconsciously by means of the laws of karma. Either we grow into the folk spirit consciously and with love, or we are forcibly led into the sphere of the folk spirits. When, after death, the moment is reached at which we turn to descend once more to the sense-perceptible world for a new incarnation, then it makes a great difference, as our soul is led down, whether we have consciously united in love with the folk spirit, or whether, unaware of what is going on, this takes place forcibly, under coercion.
This finds expression in a spiritual, a soul, fact. We can be born into a nation because we are related by coercion to that folk spirit, or because we are related by inner love. Those who are able to perceive such things find it outstandingly characteristic of our time that a great many people today lack a sufficiently loving relationship to their folk spirit. This statement hints at the cause for what today brings about disorder among nations. The conflict prevailing among nations today stems from the fact that many people are born with little love for their folk spirit and therefore find themselves in a forced relationship to it. The love which leads us to a particular folk spirit can never bring about a conflict with other nations. We must do everything we can to help people regain a love-filled relationship with their folk spirits. This is most urgent.
As we stand here in life, we have Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition as stages of knowledge which can lead to real vision in the spiritual and soul realm. But in the realm of spirit and soul, when our soul is to return once more to the physical world, Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition are facts governing events, they are facts of action. There our soul stands in a relationship with whatever it is that it has to achieve out of the cosmos. If we are to manage our life properly it must grant us conditions which make the achievement of its aims as nearly feasible as possible. Thus the discarnate, spiritual human being works through Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition towards his reincarnation in the physical world, while the incarnated, sense-bound human being can gain through Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition a vision of the world of soul and spirit.
Natural-scientific knowledge is not in a position to recognize the profoundest secrets of life. Such knowledge starts, for instance, with the consideration of a chemical compound. Proceeding to the consideration of a more complicated chemical compound, and so on, it arrives in the end at the living cell, which it regards as nothing more than a particularly elaborate chemical compound. Spiritual science shows that externally the cell is indeed a particularly elaborate chemical structure; but when the living cell, the germ of a new life, arises in the mother's womb in such an elaborate fashion, the chemical laws are reversed and become chaotic. In the germ of the embryo in the mother's womb, in the germ of life, the chemical laws are suspended, reversed, and in the realm of nature this means chaos. Because the germ is chaos, the cosmos can work into it.
Between death and a new birth the human being has an inkling of this. In the first step on the way to a new incarnation Imagination is realized and leads towards reincarnation. In the second stage Inspiration is realized, and this is a far clearer consciousness than our brain consciousness, for Inspiration is a cosmic force. A part of this cosmic force is breathed in, as it were, and streams towards the bodily nature without coming fully to consciousness, rather as is the case with the will. We are unaware of how our will moves our hand, yet our hand moves in the manner required. The spiritual human being approaching incarnation through realized Inspiration stands in relation to this realized Inspiration as does the incarnated human being to the air. When we think about our physical body in the ordinary way, we imagine it to consist of muscles, nerves, vessels, bones. We imagine the same of a corpse. The airy part of our organism we assume to be outside it rather than within. Although we know that we cannot live without air, we still do not consider it as so intimately a part of ourselves as, say, our skeleton. Yet it is a part of our organism. The air as it is outside us, and at the next moment within, only to be outside again at the next, is a part of our organism. It lives rhythmically in us. In a far more extended rhythm we live with the element of soul and spirit. Just as we breathe air in and out, so we also breathe the element of soul and spirit in and out, though for the most part this takes place unconsciously. Physically, too, part of what happens through breathing takes place unconsciously. When the human being consisting of soul and spirit breathes in realized Inspiration, he takes a picture into his soul. He takes it into the dampened down part of his consciousness. And what he takes in is the world of moral and religious impulses. He takes this in as his conscience.
The third stage in the descent to a new incarnation is when the human being makes the transition to what his parents give him. In doing this he is enacting a realized Intuition. So you see that what can be achieved, while incarnated, by way of three higher stages of knowledge, is something that is accomplished as a real occurrence in the realm of soul and spirit on the way to incarnation. Here on earth we ascend to the spiritual world through Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. And on our return from the spiritual world to incarnation we descend from the spiritual world through Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. This is the counter-image, in the spiritual world, of the three higher stages of knowledge.
What does this show us? It shows us that Anthroposophy is not merely knowledge but something which is alive. Through Anthroposophy we strive for higher knowledge in order to grasp the reality of the higher realms of life and in order to fill our souls with the content of what lives in the spiritual worlds. Those whose common sense has helped them to understand what the spiritual seeker has to say, experience something else as well. They can say to themselves that human beings in the state of incarnation between birth and death are constantly counteracting the death forces at work in their body. The forces of death are forever present in the human body, but so are those forces which counteract the forces of death. They are there. If we did not bear the forces of death within us we should never have developed our understanding for our physical environment.
One of the most important facts given to us by higher knowledge is that our forces of intellect are bound up with our forces of dying. Death is in a way nothing but a summary of all the forces of dying which are forever at work in us. But a moral ideal, which can intensify until it becomes a religious ideal, lives in us in quite a different way. It is said that certain natural forces exist which bring it about that plants grow upwards; and these forces are taken to be quite real. But when, on looking into the human being, people find there the driving forces of moral and religious ideals, they are not inclined to accept these as having any reality. Yet there they are, working not only in every human being but also in the cultures of all mankind. Higher knowledge teaches us that moral ideals live in man through the burning up of matter. Matter is destroyed when a person makes moral resolves. The breaking down of matter is the precondition for the building up of moral ideals. What is crucial is the manner in which a human being breaks down matter and the manner in which he can build it up again. External research is still caught up in the prejudice about the indestructibility of matter. But spiritual science shows that man can break through external natural forces. Once we are in possession of an anthroposophical world view we can comfort ourselves in face of the idea of the death of the earth through overheating. For it is this very destruction of matter which ensures for the human being the possibility of building up his moral personality.
If you look deeply into your soul you will find something which consumes and gnaws at the soul of modern man. This something, which consumes and gnaws at the soul, is the fact that modern natural science excludes the moral element from the realm of what is real. Anthroposophy shows how human beings break through natural laws; how the moral element destroys matter, which is then built up again as matter which can be the bearer of a moral world order. All that is contained within the confines of our skin is connected with the dying forces of matter. But what the world builds up again—this has been forgotten by the natural sciences.
In order to discover new moral worlds we must proceed to the question of where matter can be built up. Death is in us at every moment, but so is resurrection. This is where we should look. This, out of the anthroposophical world view, is the perspective we must place before human souls, since the natural sciences have turned their attention for far too long and far too one-sidedly to the forces of dying. It is important to develop the courage to attend to what must be done in order to build up new worlds.
I am assuming that these suggestions will give encouragement and lead to meditations on how to see more clearly what is felt and talked about a great deal, but what ought also to be strongly willed.
Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition als Tatsachen des Handelns auf dem Wege zur Wiederverkörperung
[ 1 ] Vorerst lassen Sie mich sagen, welche tiefe Befriedigung es mir gewährt, unter den Breslauer Freunden zu sein. Wir alle haben eine schwere Zeit durchgemacht, die aber gerade uns vor Augen bringt, daß die Menschheit in der Gegenwart für ihre Fortentwickelung etwas braucht. Denn daß wir in diese katastrophale Zeit hineingekommen sind, rührt davon her, daß die Menschen die Kraft zur Aufwärtsbewegung verloren haben. Aber gerade das, was auf unserem Boden erwachsen ist, sind Kräfte, die zum Aufbau des geistigen Lebens dienen können. Und deshalb möchte ich heute nicht so sehr von Zeitereignissen sprechen als vielmehr von Dingen, die der menschlichen Erkenntnis notwendig sind, notwendig für das, was in unsere moralischen Impulse aufgenommen werden muß. Vieles lebt in unserer Seele, von dem man kaum ahnt, daß es da ist. Aber da es da ist in unserer Seele, und da das Seelische mit dem Leben zusammenhängt, so ist das auch sehr wichtig für unser Leben.
[ 2 ] Was heute auf der Menschheit besonders lastet ist die Diskordanz von dem, was auf der einen Seite die Seele wirklich braucht und von dem, was auf der andern Seite durch die gegenwärtige naturwissenschaftliche Erkenntnis an die Seele herankommt. Diese naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse sind anspruchsvoll, und man sollte sich vor die Seele stellen, was sie eigentlich von den Menschen beanspruchen. So beanspruchen sie beispielsweise, daß man in ihrem Sinne auf den Erdenanfang und auf das Erdenende hinzublicken habe. Man redet da von einem Erdenanfang nach Kant-Laplace: Ganz auf den Grundlagen der chemischen Mechanik habe sich ein glühender Gasball gebildet, dieser habe sich abgekühlt, und als er genügend erkaltet war, habe sich auf Grund derselben mechanischen Gesetzmäßigkeit weiter herausgeballt alles das, was später zum Pflanzenreich, Tierreich und Menschenreich geworden ist. Und in bezug auf den Weiterverlauf des Erdenlebens und Erdendaseins spricht man von einem Aufhören allen Lebens durch den allmählich eintretenden Wärmeausgleich, und so ist man gewohnt worden, gemäß der wissenschaftlichen Anschauung von einem Wärmetod der Erde zu sprechen, der nach physikalischer Gesetzmäßigkeit eintreten wird. Man sieht auf ein Erdenende hin wie auf einen großen Kirchhof. Zwischen chemisch-mechanischem Erdenanfang und dem Wärmetod der Erde, zwischen diese beiden Extreme ist alles eingespannt, was uns Menschen als Ideale und als Moralisches aufgegangen ist und noch aufgeht. Man muß sich aber fragen, weshalb eigentlich solche Ideale erst auf chemisch-physikalische Weise entstehen, wenn sie doch bestimmt sein sollen, im allgemeinen Wärmetode wieder unterzugehen? Man kann freilich einwenden, das seien theoretische Betrachtungen, die auf das gewöhnliche Leben nicht viel Einfluß haben. Aber wenn man auch vorzieht, an solchen Fragen stillschweigend vorbeizugehen, so sind sie dennoch Disharmonien, die tief in das unbewußte Seelenleben hineinwirken. Sie führen zu der bangen Frage: Was machen wir mit unseren moralischen Impulsen, was machen wir mit unseren religiösen Idealen, wenn die gesamte Erdenentwickelung dem Untergange geweiht ist?
[ 3 ] Die Stellung dieser Frage zeigt, was mit diesem Hinweise gemeint ist. Denn alle unsere moralischen Impulse, alle unsere religiösen Ideale wären nichts weiter als ein ungeheurer Menschenbetrug, ein furchtbarer Wahn, wenn sie alle in dem Erdenfriedhof begraben werden sollten. Für die schlimmen Wirkungen solcher von der rein naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnis herrührenden Seelenstimmungen gibt es schon deutlich sprechende Beispiele, nur kommen sie uns nicht so deutlich ins Bewußtsein. Aber die bange Frage lebt in den Menschenherzen. Wenn man den Geist der Naturwissenschaften kennt und von ihrem Standpunkt aus diese Frage zusammenfaßt, so muß man sagen: Indem wir Menschen hervorgesprossen sind aus der Natur, sind uns Menschen die sittlichen Ideale gekommen, aber diese gehen zugrunde mit der Erde. Die sittlichen Ideale gehen in der Naturwissenschaft zugrunde. Die Naturwissenschaft gestattet nicht, daß man den Idealen eine selbständige reale Wirklichkeit einräumt. Und wenn das auch Theorie ist, so wirkt es doch ungeheuer lastend auf die menschliche Seele.
[ 4 ] Diese fatalistische Weltanschauung beruht letzten Endes auf dem, was aufgetreten ist als Glaube an die Unvergänglichkeit der materiellen Kraft. Wer aber heute an diesem Dogma rüttelt, wird als wahnsinnig angesehen. Wäre dieses Dogma wahr, dann gäbe es keine Rettung für die sittlichen Ideale, und diese wären dann nur ein bildlicher Inhalt für etwas, das sich der Mensch nur so zusammenreimt und zurechtlegt. Und es gäbe auch keine Rettung der Ideale, wenn wir nicht aus der geistigen Forschung heraus die Mittel fänden, dem Menschen wieder einen übersinnlichen Inhalt seines Bewußtseins zu geben. Das ‚ist eine Zeitfrage. In bezug auf diese Zeitfrage leben wir an einem wichtigen Wendepunkt der Entwickelung. Wer mich kennt, weiß, daß ich einen solchen Ausspruch nicht gern tue, weil man von jedem Zeitpunkt sagen kann, er sei ein Wendepunkt. Es kommt aber sehr darauf an, für was der Zeitpunkt ein Wendepunkt ist oder als Wendepunkt in Betracht kommt.
[ 5 ] Nun wollen wir einmal schauen, wohin und bis wohin eigentlich die naturwissenschaftliche Erkenntnis führen kann. Zu diesem Zwekke betrachten wir einmal den Menschen so, wie er uns im äußern sinnlichen Ausdruck entgegentritt, wie er als physisch-sinnlicher Mensch vor uns lebt. Man muß das aber in ganz radikaler Weise tun. Stellen wir den Menschen so vor uns hin, dann erscheint er uns letzten Endes nicht anders als ein Leichnam. Wenn wir von allem andern absehen und nur die physisch-sinnliche Wesenheit in Betracht ziehen, und wenn wir auf diese physisch-sinnliche Wesenheit nichts anderes wirken lassen als die chemisch-physikalischen Gesetzmäßigkeiten, dann beginnt der Mensch in dem Augenblicke, wo er den äußeren Naturgesetzen zu folgen beginnt, sich zu zersetzen, sich aufzulösen. Die Kräfte, die wir mit unseren gewöhnlichen Erkenntnisquellen erkennen, die zerstören den Menschen.
[ 6 ] Wenn man diesen Umstand in Betracht zieht, dann kann man schon allein dadurch zu einer Widerlegung der materialistischen Weltanschauung gelangen. Denn wenn man sich sagt, daß diese äußeren Kräfte den Menschen auflösen, dann müssen die Menschen vor der Geburt in einem Zustande gewesen sein, wo sie Kräfte sammelten, die der Auflösung widerstehen. Der Leichnam geht bei seiner Auflösung auf in der Welt, die wir mit unseren Sinnen erkennen. Da vereint er sich mit der Sinnenwelt durch die Sterbekräfte der chemisch-physikalischen Wirksamkeiten. Aber das, was bei dem Tode innerlich-seelisch vorgeht, kann nicht äußerlich-sinnlich wahrgenommen werden. Dieses Innerlich-Seelische kann nur im Bereiche der höheren Erkenntnisquellen durch Anschauung erlebt werden. Und da wird wahrgenommen, daß sich das Innerlich-Seelische außerhalb des Leibes mit dem Geiste vereinigt, vereinigt mit dem, was als Geist die Welt durchkraftet und durchströmt. Die Seele, die nach dem Tode sich vereinigt mit dem Geiste, ist dann in der übersinnlichen Welt verbunden mit dem Geiste.
[ 7 ] Das ist eine Tatsache, die sich neben die Tatsache des Leichnams hinstellt. Der stoffliche Leib war im Leben durchdrungen von der Seele; er vereinigt sich beim Tode mit den Naturkräften. Die Anthroposophie führt aber zu einer Lebenstatsache, die dem Tode als Tatsache unmittelbar entgegengesetzt ist. Wenn man durch bloße Theorien über das Ewig-Lebendige im Menschen etwas vorbringen wollte, so würde das den Menschen niemals befriedigen. Die Anthroposophie führt aber vor die Tatsache der Vereinigung der Seele mit dem Geiste. Die sinnliche Erkenntnis der Naturwissenschaften führt nur zur Tatsache des Todes.
[ 8 ] Wenn wir die höheren Erkenntnisquellen der Geisteswissenschaft berühren, dann treffen wir auf das, was durch den Geistesforscher mitgeteilt wird als imaginative, inspirierte und intuitive Erkenntnis. Diese Erkenntnisstufen werden beschrieben zum Beispiel in dem Buche «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» oder in dem Buche «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß». Und wenn Sie diese Beschreibungen studieren, dann haben Sie zunächst Beschreibungen von Erkenntnisstufen, gewiß, aber dennoch liefern sie dem Geistesforscher mehr als bloße Erkenntnisstufen. So, wie die naturwissenschaftliche Erkenntnis nicht nur bloße Erkenntnis ist, sondern noch andere Seiten und Tatsachen aufweist, so ist es auch bei den höheren Erkenntnissen.
[ 9 ] Unter dem, was zu Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition - außer dem, was sie als Erkenntnisstufen sind — noch anderes als Tatsachen hinzutritt, möchte ich mit Ihnen heute etwas betrachten, was ich zum Beispiel im Wiener Zyklus von 1914 über das Leben nach dem "Tode berührt habe, aber von einem etwas andern Gesichtspunkte aus. Sehen Sie, was der Mensch hier auf Erden ist, das steht als Leichnam in Verbindung mit der äußeren physischen Natur. Und so wie einerseits der Mensch in der Richtung nach unten mit den mineralischen Kräften in Verbindung steht, so steht er andererseits nach oben in Verbindung mit den höheren Hierarchien. So wie er im Leichnam verwächst mit den mineralischen Kräften, so verwächst er nach oben und wächst langsam hinein in die Hierarchien. Man hört zuweilen sagen, daß man, um das zu wissen, abwarten könne, was nach dem Tode komme, denn dann werde sich das schon erweisen. Und so könne man auch das Hineinwachsen in die Hierarchien abwarten. Ja, aber ganz so ist das nicht. Es kommt sehr darauf an, ob der Mensch so hineinwachsen kann, wie es ihm eigentlich bestimmt ist, denn zunächst, das muß man zugeben, steht der Mensch so in der Welt, daß er im physischen Bewußtsein keine Ahnung haben kann von den Beziehungen, die er mit den höheren Hierarchien hat. Aber von dem Bewußtwerden dieser Beziehungen hängt vieles ab.
[ 10 ] Die erste Gruppe von Wesen, mit denen der Mensch in Beziehung steht, nennen wir die Engelwelt. Aber derjenige, welcher auf gewissen Voraussetzungen fußend das Geistige nicht anerkennt, der kann auch keine Beziehungen zur Engelwelt anknüpfen, denn das kann ebensowenig geschehen, wie der Mensch ohne sinnliche Organe Beziehungen zur sinnlichen Welt anknüpfen könnte. Die Engelwesen sind zwar die unmittelbar über dem Menschen stehenden Wesenheiten, sozusagen dem Menschen nahestehende Wesenheiten, und dennoch können wir unter gewissen Voraussetzungen nicht an sie herankommen. Nur dadurch, daß wir schon jetzt auf Erden uns ein Bild zu machen versuchen von der Engelwelt, bereiten wir uns vor, daß wir mit ihr Beziehungen anzuknüpfen vermögen. Indem der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes schreitet, wird er zur Engelwelt geführt, und dann kommt es darauf an, ob der Mensch nach dem Tode ein Bewußtsein davon haben kann, um was es sich handelt.
[ 11 ] Die zweite Gruppe höherer Wesenheiten ist die Gruppe der Volksgeister oder Erzengel. Engelwesen sind noch keine Volksgeister. Reale Volksgeister stehen nicht mehr in individuellen Beziehungen zum Menschen, wie es bei den Engeln noch der Fall ist. Volksgeister stehen in Beziehung zu Gemeinschaften und Gruppen von Menschen. Auch die Naturwissenschaft spricht gelegentlich vom Volksgeist, aber wenn die Naturwissenschaft vom Volksgeist spricht, so erkennt sie einen solchen doch nicht an als reale Wesenheit. Aus höherer Erkenntnis weiß der Geistesforscher, daß Volksgeister reale geistige Wesenheiten sind, die eine Stufe über der Engelwelt stehen. Auch in diese Hierarchie kann der Mensch hineinwachsen. Aber wenn unser inneres geistiges Erleben nicht intensiv genug ist, dann kann uns der Engel nicht mit unserem Bewußtsein an den Volksgeist heranführen. Da wir aber doch herangeführt werden müssen, so geschieht es dann — wenn nicht bewußt, so unbewußt - durch karmische Gesetzmäßigkeit. Entweder verwachsen wir bewußt in Liebe hinein in den Volksgeist, oder aber wir werden mit Gewalt geführt in die Sphäre der Volksgeister. Wenn wir dann nach dem Tode an den Punkt gelangen, wo der Wiederabstieg in die sinnliche Welt zu einer neuen Verkörperung beginnt, da tritt ein großer Unterschied ein in dem Hinabführen der Seele zur neuen Verkörperung, je nachdem, ob der Mensch sich in Liebe bewußt verbunden hat mit dem Volksgeist oder ob er, der wahren Verhältnisse unbewußt, mit Gewalt, unter Zwang bewegt wird. Das drückt sich aus in einer geistig-seelischen Tatsache. Der Mensch kann in ein Volk hineingeboren werden, indem er zu seinem Volksgeist ein Verhältnis hat durch Zwang, oder ein solches durch innere Liebe. Derjenige, der in solche Dinge hineinzuschauen vermag, erlebt als ein hervorstechend charakteristisches Zeichen unserer Zeit, daß es heute eine große Anzahl von Menschen gibt, die kein hinreichend liebevolles Verhältnis zum Volksgeist haben. Was ich hiermit angedeutet habe, ist die Ursache für das, was die Völker durcheinariderbringt. Der Streit, der heute unter den Völkern herrscht, rührt davon her, daß viele Menschen geboren sind, die wenig Liebe zum Volksgeist entwikkelt haben und daher heute in einem Zwangsverhältnis zum Volksgeist stehen. Denn das, was uns als Liebe zu einem Volksgeist geführt hat, kann eigentlich niemals zu einem Konflikte mit andern Völkern führen. Deshalb müssen wir heute alles tun was nur möglich ist, um den Menschen wieder zu einem liebevollen Verhältnis zu den Volksgeistern zu verhelfen. Das ist eine dringende Notwendigkeit.
[ 12 ] Stehen wir hier im Leben, dann haben wir in Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition Erkenntnisstufen, die zu realen geistig-seelischen Anschauungen führen. In der geistig-seelischen Welt, wenn die Seele durch Karma wieder in die physische Welt hinunter kommen soll, sind Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition Tatsachen des Geschehens, Tatsachen des Handelns. Da steht die Seele in einem Verhältnis . zu dem, was aus dem Kosmos heraus von ihr erreicht werden soll. Wenn wir zurechtkommen wollen im Leben, muß uns das Leben gewähren, was uns die Annäherung an das Ziel ermöglichen kann. Und so erarbeitet der entkörperte übersinnliche Mensch durch Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition seine Wiederverkörperung in die physische Welt, während der verkörperte sinnliche Mensch durch Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition eine Anschauung von der seelisch-geistigen Welt haben kann.
[ 13 ] Naturwissenschaftliche Erkenntnis ist nicht in der Lage, die tiefsten Geheimnisse des Lebens zu erkennen. Naturwissenschaftliche Erkenntnis beginnt zum Beispiel bei der Betrachtung einer chemischen Verbindung. Dann schreitet sie weiter zur Betrachtung komplizierterer chemischer Verbindungen, und weiter fortschreitend bis zur Betrachtung der lebendigen Zelle, betrachtet sie diese schließlich als nichts anderes als eine besonders kunstvolle chemische Verbindung. Aber Geisteswissenschaft zeigt uns, daß die Zelle zwar äußerlich betrachtet ein außerordentlich kunstvolles chemisches Gebilde ist, aber indem die Lebenszelle, der Keim im Mutterleibe in so kunstvoller Weise entsteht, geht die chemische Gesetzmäßigkeit ins Gegenteil und wird zum Chaos. Beim Keim im Mutterleibe, dem Keim des Lebens, ist die chemische Gesetzmäßigkeit aufgehoben, ins Gegenteil verkehrt, und das ist im Bereich der Natur: Chaos. Und weil der Keim Chaos ist, kann der Kosmos wieder auf ihn wirken.
[ 14 ] Davon bekommt der Mensch zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt eine Ahnung. In der ersten Stufe auf dem Wege zur Wiederverkörperung wächst der Mensch durch realisierte Imagination in die Wiederverleiblichung hinein. Die zweite Stufe ist die realisierte Inspiration, und das ist ein viel helleres Bewußtsein als unser Hirnbewußtsein, denn Inspiration ist eine kosmische Kraft. Ein Teil dieser kosmischen Kraft wird gleichsam eingeatmet und strömt dann der Leiblichkeit zu, ohne daß sie vollständig ins Bewußtsein heraufkommt, so wie es ähnlich mit dem Willen ist. Wir wissen nicht, wie der Wille unsere Hand bewegt, aber sie bewegt sich doch so, wie wir es wollen. Der geistige Mensch, der sich durch realisierte Inspiration der Verkörperung nähert, verhält sich zur kosmischen Inspiration wie der leibliche Mensch sich zur Luft verhält. Wie wir uns unseren physischen Leib gewöhnlich vorstellen, denken wir ihn uns bestehend aus Muskeln, Nerven, Gefäßen, Knochen, ebenso wie wenn wir einen Leichnam betrachten. Aber was als Luft Anteil an unserem Organismus hat, das denken wir uns mehr außerhalb des Leibes. Zwar wissen wir, daß wir ohne Luft nicht leben können, aber wir betrachten sie nicht so zu uns gehörend wie beispielsweise das Knochengerüst. Dennoch bildet sie einen Teil unseres Organismus. Das, was Luft da draußen ist und im nächsten Augenblick drinnen, um dann im nächsten Augenblick wieder draußen zu sein, das bildet einen Teil unseres Organismus derart, daß die Luft in einem Rhythmus in uns lebt. In einem viel ausgedehnteren Rhythmus lebt der Mensch mit dem Seelisch-Geistigen. So, wie wir physisch Luft ein- und ausatmen, so atmen wir SeelischGeistiges ein, auch wenn es zum größten Teile unbewußt geschieht. Auch im Physischen geschieht ein Teil dessen, was durch das Atmen bewirkt wird, unbewußt. Wenn der seelisch-geistige Mensch in der realisierten Inspiration das Seelisch-Geistige einatmet, dann nimmt er ein Bild auf in seine Seele. Das nimmt er in den herabgedämpften Teil seines Bewußtseins auf, und was er aufnimmt, das ist die Welt der moralischen und religiösen Impulse. Das nimmt er auf in der Form des Gewissens.
[ 15 ] Die dritte Etappe im Herabstieg zur neuen Verleiblichung ist es, wenn der Mensch übergeht zu dem, was ihm von den Eltern gegeben wird. Da führt er eine realisierte Intuition aus. So sehen Sie, daß das, was der Mensch in der Verleiblichung als drei höhere Erkenntnisstufen erreichen kann, sich im Seelisch-Geistigen auf dem Wege zur Verleiblichung als ein reales Geschehen vollzieht. So, wie wir uns hier auf Erden durch Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition hinaufschwingen in die geistige Welt, so steigen wir auf dem Rückwege aus der geistigen Welt in die Verkörperung auch herab durch Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition. Das ist das Gegenbild der drei höheren Erkenntnisstufen in der geistigen Welt.
[ 16 ] Was sehen wir daraus? Wir sehen daraus, daß Anthroposophie keine bloße Erkenntnis ist, sondern daß sie Leben hat, denn wir streben durch Anthroposophie die höhere Erkenntnis an, um das höhere Leben in seiner Wirklichkeit zu erfassen und unsere Seele zu erfüllen mit dem Inhalt, der in den geistigen Welten darinnen lebt. Wer dann durch seinen gesunden Menschenverstand eingesehen hat, was der Geistesforscher zu sagen weiß, der erfährt noch etwas anderes. Er erfährt folgendes: Er kann sich sagen, daß die Menschen in dem Zustand der Verleiblichung zwischen Geburt und Tod immerfort den im Leibe waltenden Sterbekräften begegnen. Die Sterbekräfte waren immer da im menschlichen Leibe, aber es sind in uns auch die den Sterbekräften entgegengerichteten Kräfte immer da. Sie sind da. Hätten wir diese Sterbekräfte nicht in uns, dann würden wir niemals den Verstand für die physische Umgebung entwickelt haben.
[ 17 ] Es ist eine der wichtigsten Erkenntnistatsachen, daß unsere Verstandeskräfte gebunden sind an unsere Sterbekräfte. Der Tod ist eigentlich nur eine Zusammenfassung der fortwährend in uns wirkenden Sterbekräfte. Wenn wir uns aber fragen, wie ein sittliches Ideal, das sich zum religiösen Ideal steigern kann, in uns lebt, dann muß gesagt werden, daß dieses ganz anders in uns lebt. Man sagt, daß es gewisse Naturkräfte gibt, die bewirken, daß die Pflanzen nach oben getrieben werden, und diesen Kräften spricht man Realität zu. Aber wenn man in den Menschen hineinschaut und dort die Triebkräfte sittlicher und religiöser Ideale auffindet, dann will man diesen keine Realität zusprechen. Da sind sie aber und wirken nicht nur in jedem Menschen, sondern auch auf die Kulturen der ganzen Menschheit. Durch höhere Erkenntnis lernt man erkennen, daß die sittlichen Ideale dadurch im Menschen leben, daß Materie verbrannt wird. Materie wird vernichtet durch das Fassen sittlicher Ideale. Abbau von Materie ist die Voraussetzung zum Aufbau sittlicher Ideale. Auf die Art und Weise, wie der Mensch Materie abbaut, wie er sie wieder aufbauen kann, kommt es an. Die äußere Forschung ist zwar noch befangen in dem Vorurteil von der Unvergänglichkeit der Materie, doch Geisteswissenschaft zeigt, daß die Naturkräfte draußen durch den Menschen durchbrochen werden. Im Besitz anthroposophischer Weltanschauung lernt man sich trösten über die Vorstellung vom Wärmetod der Erde. Denn gerade durch die Vernichtung der Materie sichert sich der Mensch den Aufbau seiner moralischen Persönlichkeit.
[ 18 ] Versuchen Sie einmal, recht besonnen in Ihre Seele hineinzuschauen, dann finden Sie etwas, das an der Seele des modernen Menschen zehrt und nagt: Was da zehrt und nagt, das ist, daß durch die moderne Naturwissenschaft eine Austilgung des Sittlichen aus dem Bereich der Realitäten festgestellt wird. Anthroposophie zeigt, wie durch den Menschen das Naturgesetz durchbrochen wird, zeigt, wie durch das Sittliche die Materialität vernichtet wird, um dann neu wieder aufzubauen als Materie, aber nun als solche die Träger einer sittlichen Weltordnung werden kann. Die Materie entschwindet, aus einem Nichts entsteht die neue Schöpfung. Das, was in unserer Hautsteckt, das hängt zusammen mit den absterbenden Kräften der Materie, aber das, was die Welt wieder aufbaut, das haben die Naturwissenschaften vergessen.
[ 19 ] Wir müssen zu der Frage fortschreiten, wo Stoff aufgebaut werden kann, um zu neuen sittlichen Welten zu kommen. Wir haben zwar in uns jeden Augenblick den Tod, aber wir haben auch in uns die Auferstehung. Dahin müssen wir blicken, das ist die Perspektive, die wir aus anthroposophischer Weltanschauung vor die Menschenseelen hinstellen müssen, weil die Naturwissenschaften schon allzulange und allzu einseitig den Blick auf die Sterbekräfte hin geworfen haben. Und es ist wichtig, den Mut zu entwickeln, um ins Auge zu fassen das, was getan werden muß, um neue Welten aufzubauen. Ich setzte voraus, daß diese Andeutungen mancherlei Anregungen geben und zu Meditationen führen können, umklarer zuerkennen, was viel empfunden und beredet wird, und was stark gewollt werden soll.
Imagination, inspiration, and intuition as facts of action on the path to reincarnation
[ 1 ] First, let me say how deeply gratifying it is for me to be among my friends in Breslau. We have all gone through a difficult time, but this has made it clear to us that humanity needs something for its further development in the present. For the fact that we have entered this catastrophic period stems from the fact that people have lost the strength to move forward. But it is precisely what has grown on our soil that are forces that can serve to build up spiritual life. And that is why I would like to speak today not so much about current events as about things that are necessary for human knowledge, necessary for what must be taken up into our moral impulses. Much lives in our souls that we hardly suspect is there. But since it is there in our souls, and since the soul is connected with life, it is also very important for our lives.
[ 2 ] What weighs particularly heavily on humanity today is the discord between what the soul really needs on the one hand, and what comes to the soul through present-day scientific knowledge on the other. These scientific insights are demanding, and we should ask ourselves what they actually require of human beings. For example, they demand that we look at the beginning and end of the earth in their sense. They speak of the beginning of the earth according to Kant-Laplace: based entirely on the principles of chemical mechanics, a glowing ball of gas formed, which cooled down, and when it was sufficiently cold, everything that later became the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the human kingdom continued to form out of it according to the same mechanical laws. And with regard to the further course of life on earth and the existence of the earth, one speaks of the cessation of all life through the gradual equalization of heat, and thus one has become accustomed, in accordance with the scientific view, to speak of the heat death of the earth, which will occur according to the laws of physics. One looks at the end of the earth as at a large cemetery. Between the chemical-mechanical beginning of the earth and the heat death of the earth, between these two extremes, everything that has dawned on us humans as ideals and as morality is and still is being developed. But one must ask oneself why such ideals arise in a chemical-physical way in the first place, if they are destined to perish in general heat death? One may, of course, object that these are theoretical considerations that have little influence on ordinary life. But even if one prefers to pass over such questions in silence, they are nevertheless disharmonies that have a profound effect on the unconscious life of the soul. They lead to the anxious question: What do we do with our moral impulses, what do we do with our religious ideals, if the entire development of the earth is doomed to destruction?
[ 3 ] The position of this question shows what is meant by this reference. For all our moral impulses, all our religious ideals would be nothing more than a tremendous deception of humanity, a terrible delusion, if they were all to be buried in the graveyard of the earth. There are already clear examples of the terrible effects of such moods of the soul arising from purely scientific knowledge, but they do not come so clearly to our consciousness. But the anxious question lives in human hearts. If one knows the spirit of the natural sciences and summarizes this question from their point of view, one must say: Since we humans have sprung from nature, moral ideals have come to us, but these will perish with the earth. Moral ideals perish in natural science. Natural science does not allow us to grant ideals an independent, real existence. And even if this is only theory, it nevertheless weighs heavily on the human soul.
[ 4 ] This fatalistic worldview is ultimately based on what has emerged as a belief in the immortality of material force. But anyone who questions this dogma today is considered insane. If this dogma were true, there would be no salvation for moral ideals, and these would then be nothing more than a figurative content for something that man merely concocts and arranges for himself. And there would also be no salvation for ideals if we did not find the means, through spiritual research, to give man a supersensible content for his consciousness again. That is a question of time. In relation to this question of time, we are living at an important turning point in development. Those who know me know that I do not like to make such statements, because one can say that any point in time is a turning point. However, it is very important to consider what the turning point is for or what it is considered to be.
[ 5 ] Now let us see where and how far scientific knowledge can actually lead us. To this end, let us consider human beings as they appear to us in their external sensory expression, as physical, sensory beings living before us. But we must do this in a very radical way. If we place human beings before us in this way, they ultimately appear to us as nothing more than corpses. If we disregard everything else and consider only the physical-sensory entity, and if we allow nothing but the chemical-physical laws to act upon this physical-sensory entity, then the moment the human being begins to follow the external laws of nature, he begins to disintegrate, to dissolve. The forces that we recognize with our ordinary sources of knowledge destroy human beings.
[ 6 ] If we consider this circumstance, we can already arrive at a refutation of the materialistic worldview. For if we say that these external forces dissolve human beings, then human beings must have been in a state before birth in which they gathered forces that resist dissolution. When the corpse dissolves, it merges into the world we perceive with our senses. There it unites with the sensory world through the dying forces of chemical and physical processes. But what happens inwardly and spiritually at death cannot be perceived outwardly and sensually. This inner soul can only be experienced in the realm of higher sources of knowledge through intuition. And there it is perceived that the inner soul unites outside the body with the spirit, united with that which, as spirit, permeates and flows through the world. The soul, which unites with the spirit after death, is then connected with the spirit in the supersensible world.
[ 7 ] This is a fact that stands alongside the fact of the corpse. The physical body was permeated by the soul during life; at death it unites with the forces of nature. But anthroposophy leads to a fact of life that is directly opposed to death as a fact. If one were to put forward mere theories about the eternal life in human beings, this would never satisfy them. Anthroposophy, however, presents the fact of the union of the soul with the spirit. The sensory knowledge of the natural sciences leads only to the fact of death.
[ 8 ] When we touch upon the higher sources of knowledge in spiritual science, we encounter what spiritual researchers communicate as imaginative, inspired, and intuitive knowledge. These stages of knowledge are described, for example, in the book How Does One Achieve Knowledge of the Higher Worlds? or in the book An Outline of Esoteric Science. And when you study these descriptions, you will initially find descriptions of stages of knowledge, certainly, but they provide the spiritual researcher with more than mere stages of knowledge. Just as scientific knowledge is not mere knowledge, but has other aspects and facts, so it is with higher knowledge.p>
[ 9 ] Among the things that are added to imagination, inspiration, and intuition—apart from what they are as stages of knowledge—I would like to consider with you today something that I touched upon, for example, in the Vienna cycle of 1914 about life after death, but from a slightly different point of view. You see, what human beings are here on earth is connected as a corpse with the external physical nature. And just as human beings are connected downward with the mineral forces, so they are connected upward with the higher hierarchies. Just as they grow together with the mineral forces in the corpse, so they grow upward and slowly grow into the hierarchies. One sometimes hears it said that in order to know this, one can wait and see what happens after death, for then it will become clear. And so one can also wait and see how one grows into the hierarchies. Yes, but it is not quite like that. It depends very much on whether human beings can grow into them as they are actually destined to do, for we must admit that human beings initially stand in the world in such a way that they cannot have any idea in their physical consciousness of the relationships they have with the higher hierarchies. But much depends on becoming conscious of these relationships.
[ 10 ] The first group of beings with whom human beings are in relationship we call the angelic world. But those who, on certain premises, do not recognize the spiritual, cannot establish any relationship with the angelic world, for that is just as impossible as it is for human beings without sensory organs to establish a relationship with the sensory world. Although angelic beings are entities that stand directly above humans, entities that are, so to speak, close to humans, we cannot approach them under certain conditions. Only by trying to form a picture of the angelic world while we are still on earth can we prepare ourselves to establish relationships with it. When humans pass through the gate of death, they are led to the angelic world, and then it depends on whether humans can be conscious of what this is after death.
[ 11 ] The second group of higher beings is the group of folk spirits or archangels. Angelic beings are not yet folk spirits. Real folk spirits no longer have individual relationships with human beings, as is still the case with angels. Folk spirits are related to communities and groups of people. Natural science also occasionally speaks of the folk spirit, but when natural science speaks of the folk spirit, it does not recognize it as a real entity. From higher knowledge, the spiritual researcher knows that folk spirits are real spiritual beings that stand one level above the angelic world. Human beings can also grow into this hierarchy. But if our inner spiritual experience is not intense enough, then the angel cannot bring us into contact with the folk spirit through our consciousness. But since we must be led there, this happens—if not consciously, then unconsciously—through karmic law. Either we consciously grow into the folk spirit through love, or we are led by force into the sphere of the folk spirits. When we then reach the point after death where the descent back into the sensory world begins for a new incarnation, there is a great difference in the descent of the soul to the new incarnation, depending on whether the human being has consciously connected himself with the folk spirit in love or whether, unaware of the true circumstances, he is moved by force, under compulsion. This is expressed in a spiritual-soul fact. A person can be born into a people by having a relationship with their folk spirit through coercion or through inner love. Those who are able to see into such things experience as a striking characteristic sign of our time that there are today a large number of people who do not have a sufficiently loving relationship with the folk spirit. What I have indicated here is the cause of what is dividing the peoples. The strife that prevails among the peoples today stems from the fact that many people have been born who have developed little love for the national spirit and therefore now stand in a relationship of compulsion to it. For what has led us to love a national spirit can never actually lead to conflict with other peoples. That is why we must do everything possible today to help people regain a loving relationship with the national spirits. This is an urgent necessity.
[ 12 ] When we stand here in life, we have levels of knowledge in imagination, inspiration, and intuition that lead to real spiritual-soul perceptions. In the spiritual-soul world, when the soul is to descend back into the physical world through karma, imagination, inspiration, and intuition are facts of events, facts of actions. There the soul stands in a relationship to what it is to achieve from the cosmos. If we want to get along in life, life must grant us what enables us to approach our goal. And so, through imagination, inspiration, and intuition, the disembodied, supersensible human being works out his reincarnation into the physical world, while the embodied, sensory human being can have a view of the soul-spiritual world through imagination, inspiration, and intuition.
[ 13 ] Scientific knowledge is not capable of recognizing the deepest secrets of life. Scientific knowledge begins, for example, with the observation of a chemical compound. It then proceeds to the observation of more complex chemical compounds, and, progressing further, to the observation of the living cell, which it ultimately regards as nothing more than a particularly elaborate chemical compound. But spiritual science shows us that although the cell is an extraordinarily artistic chemical structure when viewed externally, the chemical laws are reversed and become chaos when the living cell, the germ in the womb, is created in such an artistic way. In the germ in the womb, the germ of life, chemical law is suspended, reversed, and this is chaos in the realm of nature. And because the germ is chaos, the cosmos can act on it again.
[ 14 ] Human beings get a glimpse of this between death and rebirth. In the first stage on the path to reincarnation, human beings grow into reincarnation through realized imagination. The second stage is realized inspiration, and this is a much brighter consciousness than our brain consciousness, because inspiration is a cosmic force. A part of this cosmic force is, as it were, inhaled and then flows to the physical body without coming fully into consciousness, as is similar with the will. We do not know how the will moves our hand, but it moves as we want it to. The spiritual human being who approaches embodiment through realized inspiration relates to cosmic inspiration as the physical human being relates to air. When we think of our physical body, we usually imagine it to consist of muscles, nerves, vessels, and bones, just as we do when we look at a corpse. But we think of the air that is part of our organism as being more outside the body. Although we know that we cannot live without air, we do not consider it to belong to us in the same way as, for example, our skeleton. Nevertheless, it forms part of our organism. That which is air outside and inside the next moment, only to be outside again the next moment, forms part of our organism in such a way that the air lives within us in a rhythm. In a much more expansive rhythm, human beings live with the soul-spiritual. Just as we physically breathe air in and out, we breathe in the soul-spiritual, even if this happens largely unconsciously. Even in the physical realm, part of what is brought about by breathing happens unconsciously. When the soul-spiritual human being breathes in the soul-spiritual in realized inspiration, he takes an image into his soul. He takes this into the subdued part of his consciousness, and what he takes in is the world of moral and religious impulses. He takes this in in the form of conscience.
[ 15 ] The third stage in the descent to new embodiment is when the human being passes over to what is given to him by his parents. Here he carries out a realized intuition. You can see, then, that what the human being can attain in embodiment as three higher stages of knowledge takes place in the soul-spiritual realm on the path to embodiment as a real event. Just as we here on earth ascend into the spiritual world through imagination, inspiration, and intuition, so too do we descend from the spiritual world into embodiment through imagination, inspiration, and intuition. This is the counterpart of the three higher stages of knowledge in the spiritual world.
[ 16 ] What do we see from this? We see that anthroposophy is not mere knowledge, but that it has life, for through anthroposophy we strive for higher knowledge in order to grasp higher life in its reality and to fill our soul with the content that lives in the spiritual worlds. Those who have understood through their common sense what the spiritual researcher has to say will experience something else. They will realize that between birth and death, when we are embodied, we are constantly confronted with the forces of death at work in our bodies. The forces of death have always been present in the human body, but the forces that counteract them are also always present within us. They are there. If we did not have these forces of death within us, we would never have developed an understanding of our physical environment.
[ 17 ] It is one of the most important facts of knowledge that our intellectual powers are bound to our forces of death. Death is actually only a summary of the forces of death that are constantly at work within us. But when we ask ourselves how a moral ideal, which can rise to a religious ideal, lives within us, then it must be said that it lives within us in a completely different way. It is said that there are certain forces of nature that cause plants to grow upward, and these forces are said to be real. But when we look inside human beings and find the driving forces of moral and religious ideals, we do not want to attribute reality to them. Yet there they are, and they are at work not only in every human being, but also in the cultures of all humanity. Through higher knowledge, we learn to recognize that moral ideals live in human beings through the burning of matter. Matter is destroyed through the grasping of moral ideals. The destruction of matter is the prerequisite for the building of moral ideals. It depends on the way in which human beings destroy matter and how they can rebuild it. Although external research is still bound by the prejudice of the immortality of matter, spiritual science shows that the forces of nature outside are broken through by human beings. With an anthroposophical worldview, one learns to find comfort in the idea of the heat death of the earth. For it is precisely through the destruction of matter that human beings secure the development of their moral personality.
[ 18 ] Try to look into your soul with a calm mind, and you will find something that gnaws at the soul of modern human beings: what gnaws at it is the fact that modern science has established that morality has been eradicated from the realm of reality. Anthroposophy shows how human beings break through the laws of nature, how morality destroys materiality, which is then rebuilt as matter, but now as the vehicle of a moral world order. Matter disappears, and out of nothing, a new creation arises. What is in our skin is connected with the dying forces of matter, but what rebuilds the world has been forgotten by the natural sciences.
[ 19 ] We must proceed to the question of where matter can be built up in order to arrive at new moral worlds. We have death within us at every moment, but we also have resurrection within us. That is where we must look; that is the perspective that we must present to the human soul from the anthroposophical worldview, because the natural sciences have focused too long and too one-sidedly on the forces of death. And it is important to develop the courage to contemplate what must be done to build new worlds. I assume that these hints will provide some inspiration and lead to meditation, so that we can recognize more clearly what is widely felt and discussed, and what should be strongly desired.