Old and New Methods of Initiation
GA 210
12 February 1922, Dornach
Lecture VII
Considerations such as those we embarked on yesterday are, of course, not necessarily set out for the purpose of inviting anyone to start practising what is needed for attaining super-sensible knowledge. To a certain extent this intention is, of course, also present. But the main reason is to make known what kind of higher knowledge can be attained by such means. A declaration stating that one thing or another is possible in man's development is, at the same time, a declaration about the intrinsic nature of the human being. It can be stated that the human being seeking initiation is capable of extricating his soul and spirit element from his physical body, either by the means described yesterday with reference to the ancient Mysteries, or by means suitable for today, which I am about to discuss briefly. A statement such as this shows that the element of soul and spirit is an independent entity which has its own existence over and above that of the body. So a discussion about higher knowledge is, at the same time, a revelation about the being of man; this is, in the first instance, what is important for the dissemination of anthroposophical wisdom.
Yesterday I described how in the ancient Mysteries the bodily nature of man was treated so that it became able to free its soul nature in both directions. I said that the two main aspects of this in the ancient Mysteries were, on the one hand, the draught of forgetfulness, and, on the other hand, the occasioning of states of anxiety, fear, shock. The draught of forgetfulness, I said, wiped from memory everything pertaining to ordinary earthly life. But this negative effect was not the main point. The main point was that during the process of coming to Mystery knowledge the brain was actually made physically softer, as a result of which the spiritual element which is usually held off was no longer held off by the brain but allowed through, so that the pupil became aware of his soul and spirit element and knew that this had been in him even before birth, or rather, even before conception.
The other aspect was the shock which caused the organism to become rigid. When the organism grows rigid it no longer absorbs the soul and spirit element in the way it usually does with regard to its expression in the will. On the one hand the rigid bodily organism withdraws from the element of soul and spirit, and on the other hand the element of soul and spirit becomes perceptible to the pupil. Through the softening of the brain the thought aspect of the soul became perceptible to the pupil of the ancient Mysteries, and through the rigidifying of the rest of the organism the will aspect became perceptible. In this way, initiation gave the pupil a perception, a picture of the element of soul and spirit within him. But this picture was dreamlike in character. For what was it that was freed on the one hand towards the thought aspect, and on the other hand towards the will aspect? It was that part which descends from realms of spirit and soul to unite with the physical, bodily nature of man. Only by taking possession of the body can it become capable of making use of the senses and of the intellect. It needs the body for these things. Without the use of the body these things remain dreamlike, they remain dull, twilit. So by receiving his detached soul and spirit element as a result of the processes described, the pupil received something dreamlike, which, however, also contained a thought element.
As I said yesterday, if people were to follow these procedures today, the condition induced in consequence would be a pathological condition. For since the Mystery of Golgotha human beings have progressed in such a way that their intellect has become stronger by comparison with their earlier, more instinctive manner of knowing. This strengthening of intellectual life has come over mankind particularly since the fifteenth century. It is extremely significant that throughout the Middle Ages people still knew that in order to attain higher knowledge, or indeed to lead a higher kind of life, it was necessary to extricate the soul from the body.
If Schiller had managed to write a great drama he had planned, Die Malteser (The Knights of Malta), German literature would probably have been all the richer for a work on this medieval knowledge about the super-sensible world, a work on the relationship of the Middle Ages to super-sensible matters. It is a most interesting aspect of German culture that, precisely in the years when Napoleon destroyed the Order of the Knights of Malta,1 Order of the Knights of Malta: In 1798 Napoleon seized and occupied Malta on his way to Egypt. Schiller was planning to write a drama about them, about the siege of Malta by the Turks and its defence by the grand master of the Order, de La Valette. Schiller was obviously prevented from writing this drama. He left it on one side and wrote Wallenstein (Wallenstein's Camp) instead. The Order of the Knights of Malta originated at the time of the Crusades. Schiller's drama would have shown clearly that the members of such an Order, which had the external task of working for the community and caring for the sick, considered that they could only do such work if they at the same time strove towards the attainment of a higher life.
At the time when the Order of the Knights Templar and the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John—which later became the Order of the Knights of Malta—were founded, and indeed throughout the Middle Ages, people had the certain feeling that human beings must first transform themselves before they can undertake such tasks in the right way. This is a feeling about the nature of the human being which has become entirely lost in more recent times. This can be put down to the fact that the human intellect has grown so much more intense and strong, with the result that modern man is totally intellectual because the intellectual aspect predominates entirely.
Now, in our own time, there is once more a great longing amongst mankind to overcome the intellectual aspect. Though literature and, above all, journalism, still express the opposite, nevertheless amongst the broad masses of mankind there is a longing to overcome the intellectual element. One thing that shows this especially is the fact that talks about spiritual matters are extremely well received in the widest circles. Another thing, even though it is not yet fully understood, is the way our eurythmy impresses the widest circles—not intellectually, but in what comes from the imaginative foundation of human beings. This became very obvious during my more recent lecture tours and especially the recent eurythmy tour. Eurythmy makes a very strong impression, even in circles where it cannot be understood in its deepest sense when it is seen for the first time. Nevertheless, it is felt to be something which has been called up out of the profoundest foundations of human nature, something that is more than what comes out of the intellect.
Now what is this intellectual element which is so much a part of the human being today? Let me draw you another diagram. As I said yesterday, with regard to the human brain (white), we can imagine how, as a result of the draught of forgetfulness, the element of spirit and soul, which usually came to a halt before penetrating too far inwards, now penetrated the brain (red). In the pupil of the ancient Mysteries the element of spirit and soul then rose up through the brain which had been thus prepared. Compared with ancient times, let us say prior to the Mystery of Golgotha, today's intellectual faculties are as they are because the element of soul and spirit is inwardly much stronger and more intense. The people of ancient times were far less intellectual. Their soul and spirit element was not etched with such sharp lines of thought as is the case today. Intellectuals think in straight lines, which is not how people thought in more ancient times. In those days thoughts were more like pictures, they were dreamlike and softer. Now, thoughts are endowed with sharp edges, clear contours. Yet, even though the element of soul and spirit is much stronger than it used to be, human beings today are still nevertheless incapable of grasping these thoughts with their soul and spirit element.
Please do not misunderstand me, my dear friends. Human beings today are considerably stronger in their soul and spirit than were people of old. They dream less than did people of old, and their thoughts are firmer. But their thoughts would be just as dull today as they used to be, if the element of soul and spirit alone were at work in them. Even today, human beings cannot think out of their soul. It is their body which relieves them of the power of thought. Sense perceptions are received by the element of soul and spirit. But to think these sense perceptions we need the help of our body. Our body is the thinker. So nowadays the following takes place: The sense perception works on the human being; the element of soul and spirit (red, top) penetrates and mingles with the sense perception; but the body acts like a mirror and keeps on throwing back the rays of thought (arrows). By this means they become conscious. So it is the body which relieves human beings of the effort of thinking, but it does not relieve them of the effort of perceiving with their senses. So today, if human beings want to strive for initiation with regard to the thought aspect, they must turn their exercises towards strengthening their element of soul and spirit even more. We know these exercises from Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and from the second part of Occult Science. Thus will they gradually make their soul and spirit element so independent that it no longer needs the body.
So let us understand one another: When we think in ordinary life today, our element of soul and spirit does participate. Above all it takes in the sense perceptions. But it would be incapable by itself of developing the thoughts which are developed today. So the body comes along and relieves us of the effort of thinking. In ordinary life we think with our body, our body is our thinking apparatus. If we pursue the exercises described in the books mentioned, our soul will be strengthened to such an extent that it would no longer need the body for thinking but would itself be able to think. This is, basically, the first step on the path towards higher knowledge; it is the first step when the soul and spirit element begins to dismiss the body as the organ that does the thinking so far as higher knowledge is concerned. And it cannot be stressed often enough that a person who ascends to higher knowledge—that is, to Imagination—must remain at his own side with his ordinary good sense, keeping a watch on himself and being his own critic. In other words, he must remain the same person he always is in ordinary life. But out of the first person that second one develops, capable now of thinking without the help of the body, instead of with it.
The element of spirit and soul which revealed itself to the pupil of the ancient Mysteries came out of the body and penetrated through the brain, and as it oozed forth the pupil perceived it. Today what is perceived in initiation is a strengthened thinking which does not in any way make use of the brain. The pupil in ancient times drew what he saw in the way of spirit and soul out of his own bodily organization. Today the human being perceives the soul and spirit element, as far as thoughts are concerned, in such a way that they penetrate into him in the same way as sense perceptions penetrate into him. In taking this first upward step towards higher knowledge the human being must accustom himself to saying: I am beginning to perceive myself with regard to my eternal element of soul and spirit, for this comes in through my eyes, it comes in from outside in every way.
In a public lecture2 See the lecture of 2 November 1921 in Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophie und Wissenschaft, Dornach GA 75 (not yet published). in the Bernoulli Hall in Basel I said: Anthroposophical spiritual science has to regard perception through the senses as its ideal. We have to take our start from perceiving with our senses. We must not return to dreamlike perception, but have to go forward to even clearer perception than that of perceiving with our senses. Our own being must come towards us, just as colours and sounds come towards our senses.
I showed two things in the last diagram. Both this (top) and this (bottom), the element of soul and spirit, are supposed to be one and the same thing. And they are one and the same, but seen from different sides. When a human being descends from the world of spirit and soul to physical incarnation, his element of soul and spirit, in a way, dies from the point of view of the soul and spirit world. When a human being is conceived and prepares to be born he dies as regards the spiritual world. And when he dies here in the physical world and goes through the portal of death he is born in the spiritual world. These concepts are relative. We die in respect of the spiritual world when we are born. And when we die in respect of the physical world we are born in the spirit. Death in the physical world signifies spiritual birth, birth in the physical world signifies spiritual death. Birth and death, then, are relative concepts. There is something which makes its appearance when the soul is on its way to birth, something that would not be capable of surviving in the spiritual world; it would disintegrate in the spiritual world, and so it streams towards a physical body in order to preserve itself.
In a diagram it can be depicted like this: The element of spirit and soul (red coming from the left) descends from the spirit and soul world. It arrives, you might say, in a cul-de-sac; it can go no further and is forced to equip itself with physical matter (blue). But the physical matter actually only works in the way I have described—from the brain, but not from the rest of the organism. As regards the rest of the organism the spirit and soul element does indeed travel onwards, having recovered through not being allowed to pass by the brain, through finding resistance and support in the brain. It is able, after all, to come to meet itself (red, right) throughout the rest of the organism, especially the system of limbs and metabolism. This blue part in the drawing is the head organism. Here (yellow) is the system
of limbs and metabolism; under normal conditions it absorbs the element of soul and spirit, but only to a certain extent.
As we grow up from childhood our spirit and soul element keeps making an appearance. At the moment of conception, and all through the embryonic stage in the mother's womb, the element of spirit and soul descending from the spiritual world is absorbed into matter. But because it finds a support it recovers again. Because of the shape of the embryo, at first that of the head, the element of spirit and soul finds a support (see drawing). Then the rest of the organism begins to grow, and once again the element of spirit and soul oozes through, as I have shown in the diagram.
As we grow up through childhood our element of spirit and soul gradually becomes ever more independent. I have often described this in detail and also shown how at major points of transition, such as the change of teeth and puberty, the element of spirit and soul becomes increasingly independent. As we grow up our physical body recedes more and more as we attain an independent spirit and soul element. This independent element is more intense today than it was in ancient times. But it would still be incapable of thinking. As I have said, it needs the help of the body if it wants to think. If this were not there, whatever grew towards us would remain forever dreamlike.
Initiates in ancient times strove to make their brain porous, so that what was then the element of spirit and soul could ooze through as it descended; in a certain way they could still see their life before birth through their softened brain. Today initiates are not concerned with that; they are concerned with what evolves during the course of life. This awakens a higher intensity with regard to the thought aspect. Initiates in ancient times would not have been capable of this. They would have been unable to take such a firm hold of the new spirit and soul element that begins to develop in the child—to begin with in an unclear way, and which later passes through the portal of death. In a way they slew the physical aspect, they paralysed it, so that the element of spirit and soul could emerge that had existed before conception.
Today we take a firmer hold of what we develop—at first in a weak way—through childhood and into adulthood, strengthening and reinforcing the new element of spirit and soul that has been developing since birth. We endeavour to achieve independence of our spirit and soul element over against our physical body, as far as our thought life is concerned. The pupil in ancient times made manifest the element of spirit and soul belonging to him before birth by toning down his physical body. We today endeavour to make manifest that element of spirit and soul which develops more and more from birth onwards. But we do not make it manifest to a degree which would be necessary in order to be able to see independently into the spiritual world. This is the difference.
As regards the will, the situation is as follows. The initiate in ancient times endeavoured to paralyse his will organization. This made it possible for him to perceive the element of spirit and soul he had from before his birth and which was normally absorbed by his will organization. If the body is rigid it does not absorb the element of spirit and soul, and so it is revealed independently. As modern initiates we do not do this; we do it differently. We strengthen our will by transforming the power of will in the manner described in the books already mentioned. It would be quite wrong to bring about a cataleptic condition by means of shocks or anxiety states as was the case in the ancient Mysteries. For modern man, with his highly-developed intellect, this would be something quite pathological. This must not be allowed to happen. Instead we use retrospective exercises—remembering backwards what has happened through the day—and also other will exercises to transform our will in a way which might be described as follows:
Consider the human eye. What must be its constitution if we are to be able to see? A cataract comes about when the physical matter of the eye makes itself independent so that it dresses itself up in physical matter which is not transparent. The eye must be selfless, it must be selflessly incorporated in our organism if we are to use it for seeing; it must be transparent. Our organism is most certainly not transparent for our will. As I have often said, we can think that we want to raise our hand. We form the thought: I want to raise my hand. But what then happens in our organism as this thought slips over into it and performs the action—this is as obscure for us as are the events which take place between going to sleep and waking up. The next thing we see is our raised hand, another perception. We perceive something at the beginning and we perceive something at the end, but what lies in between is a state of sleep. Our will unfolds in the unconscious just as much as the events of sleep unfold in the unconscious. So we can rightly say that for ordinary consciousness our organism is as untransparent as regards perceiving how the will functions as is an eye afflicted with cataract.
Of course I do not mean that the human organism is ill because of this. For ordinary, everyday life it has to be untransparent. This is its normal condition. But it cannot remain so for higher knowledge; it has to become transparent, it must become transparent for soul and spirit. This is achieved by means of the will exercises. Our organism then becomes transparent. We then no longer look down into something indeterminate when our will works, for our organism becomes as selfless as the eye, which is set selflessly into our organism so that we may perceive external objects properly. Just as the eye is in itself transparent, so our organism becomes transparent with regard to the element of spirit and soul; our whole organism becomes a sense organ. Thus, with regard to the will, we perceive the spiritual beings as objectively as we perceive external physical objects through our external eyes. Our will exercises are not aimed at making our body rigid in order to free our element of spirit and soul. They are aimed at developing the element of soul and spirit to such an extent that it becomes capable of seeing through the physical body. This is the main point. We see into the spiritual world only if we look through ourselves. We see external objects with our eyes only by looking through our eyes. And we do not see into the spiritual world directly, but only by looking through ourselves.
This is the other side: development with regard to the will. The whole of evolution in recent times depends, firstly, on our developing our thinking to an extent which makes it independent of the brain, and secondly, on our developing our will to an extent that the whole human being becomes transparent. It is impossible to see into the spiritual world through a vacuum, just as it is impossible to see the world of colours without looking through the eye. We have to look through ourselves, and this is brought about by means of the will exercises.
This, then, is for modern man what can be carried out by initiation. On the one hand, with regard to thinking, the element of soul and spirit can be made independent of the body, and on the other hand the material nature of the body can be overcome so that it becomes transparent for spirit and soul. Thus the element of spirit and soul has become independent through its own strength. This is the great difference between ancient and modern initiation. Ancient initiation transformed the physical body—the brain on the one hand, and the rest of the organism on the other—and, because the body was transformed in this way, the element of soul and spirit became faintly perceptible. Modern initiation transforms the element of spirit and soul, strengthening it with regard to the thought aspect on the one hand, and the will aspect on the other; thus it becomes independent of the brain, and at the same time so strong that it can see through the rest of the organism.
What the initiate saw in olden times appeared in ghostly form. Whatever beings of the spiritual world were able to reveal themselves when the procedure had been completed, appeared in a ghostly form. I could say that the spiritual world was seen in etheric shapes. The great anxiety of the teachers in the ancient Mysteries was that the pupils, despite the fact that what they saw of the spiritual world was ghostly, would learn to disregard this ghostly aspect. Ever and again they warned their pupils: What you are seeing appears to be material, but you must regard it as a picture; these ghostly things that you are seeing are only pictures of the spiritual world; you must not imagine that what you see around you in a ghostly form is actual reality. In a similar way, when I draw on the blackboard the chalk marks are not reality but only an image. Of course this expression was not used in olden times, but in modern terms it is a good way of putting it. It was the great concern of the teachers in the ancient Mysteries that their pupils should regard as pictures what they saw in a dreamlike, ghostly form.
In modern initiation there must be anxiety on a different score. Here, knowledge of the higher worlds can only be achieved at all by means of Imagination. Here we have to live in a world of pictures; the pictures have a picture character from the start. There is no danger of mistaking them in their picture character for anything else. But we have to learn to assess them correctly. In order to know how to relate these pictures to the spiritual reality they represent, we have to apply to them the exact thought processes we have acquired as modern human beings. We really have to think within this world of pictures in the very way we have learnt to think in the ordinary physical world. Every thoughtless glance is damaging to modern initiation. All the healthy ways of thinking we have developed as modern human beings must be brought to bear on higher knowledge. Just as we can find our way about the ordinary physical world if we can think properly, so can we only find our way about in the world of the spirit—which we enter through modern initiation—if we are able to penetrate with the thinking we have gained here in the physical world into all the knowledge we attain through Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition. In my book Theosophy,3 Rudolf Steiner Theosophy, Anthroposophic Press, New York 1986. as well as in Occult Science and Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, I have always stated categorically that this is a characteristic of modern initiation.
That is why it is so important that anyone who desires to enter into the higher worlds in a modern way should learn to think with exactitude and practise thinking with exactitude. This is not as easy as people suppose. To help you understand what I mean let me say the following: Think of something really startling: Suppose our present respected company were to be surprised tomorrow here in the Goetheanum by a visit from, say, Lloyd George4 David Lloyd George, 1863-1945. British Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922. of course this is only hypothetical, but I want to give an extreme example. If Lloyd George were to turn up here tomorrow you would all have certain thoughts and certain feelings. These thoughts and feelings would not be the result of simply observing all that went on from the moment of his appearance until the moment of his departure. In order to simply follow all this, you would not need to know that it was Lloyd George. If you did not know who it was, you would simply note whatever can be noted with regard to somebody who is entirely unknown to you. Until you learn to disregard everything you already know and feel from elsewhere about something you are observing, as long as you cannot simply follow what is going on without any of this, you are not thinking with exactitude. You would only be thinking with exactitude if you were capable—should Lloyd George really appear here tomorrow—of entertaining thoughts and feelings which applied solely to what actually went on from the moment you first noticed him to the moment when he disappeared from view. You would have to exclude every scrap of prior knowledge. You would have to exclude everything that had irritated you and everything that had pleased you about him and take in only whatever there was to take in at that moment. Only in this way is it possible to learn to think in accordance with reality.
Just think how far human beings are from being able to think with exactitude as regards reality! Only let something stir in your soul and you will see what feelings, living hidden and unconscious in your soul, you allow to rise up. It is extremely difficult to confine oneself solely to what one has seen. Read a description of something and then ask: Is the writer merely describing what he saw or is he not also calling up hundreds and hundreds of prejudices, both in feeling and in thinking, which are bound up with it? Only if you are capable of restricting yourself solely to what you have seen will you be in a position gradually to attain to thinking with exactitude.
It is necessary to lay aside everything we have been taught or have learned from life with regard to what we see, and follow solely what life presents to us. If you consider this and meditate on it a little you will gradually come to understand what I mean by thinking with exactitude. In ordinary life we have little opportunity under today's conditions to practise thinking with exactitude except in geometry or, over and above that, in mathematics. Here we really do restrict ourselves to what we see.
We have not many prejudices about a geometric form, a triangle for instance. Here is a triangle. Let me draw a parallel line here. This angle equals that angle, and the other one is equal to this one, and the one in the middle equals itself. This is a straight angle, so all three
angles of the triangle equal a straight angle. I am simply taking account of what I see before me, without applying the colossal prejudices I would bring to bear if Lloyd George were to arrive here tomorrow and I were to know about it in advance. In saying what I have just said, I was, of course, merely endeavouring to point out that thinking with absolute exactitude is a good preparation for seeing properly in the higher spiritual world. A kind of thinking in which you have firm control of the beginning of the thought, as well as a clear view of every step of thought along the way, is necessary in order to enter the higher worlds, that is, in order enter there with understanding. Above all a clearly-defined conscientiousness in thinking is necessary, a calling-oneself-to-account about one's thoughts. Ordinary life is very remiss in this, too. In most cases, people have no interest in thinking with exactitude; they prefer to think in a way in which they can enjoy the thought and feel comfortable with it.
For a Catholic priest, for instance, it is frightfully uncomfortable to entertain the thought that there might be something right about Anthroposophy. In such a case there can be no question of developing any exact thoughts. Instead, the matter is approached with all sorts of misconceptions and prejudices, and judgements are formed on the basis of these. Most things in life are decided on the basis of prejudices. Consider, for instance, what a strange impression is created sometimes when a simple attempt is made to describe something entirely objectively. Here we live in the Goetheanum. Nobody would consider me to be less of an admirer of Goethe than anyone else, and yet have I not said a good many things against Goethe? How often have I not attempted to describe Goethe from a narrow, overseeable point of view, whereas usually when Goethe is mentioned a whole host of prejudgements arises in response to his name alone. Merely to mention the name of Goethe sets up an excitement in the soul. It is impossible to approach any new phenomenon without prejudgement if one brings along a colossal collection of prejudices before even starting.
For the most part these things are not taken into account, and people therefore frequently say: Oh well, we can't get any further with our project of entering the spiritual worlds! Indeed, if elementary matters are not attended to first then, naturally enough, there is no way of entering those worlds. People just feel that unreasonable demands are being made of them if it is suggested that they take account of even the most elementary things.
Here is an example: In the nineties5 On 16 February 1894 Ernst Haeckel celebrated his sixtieth birthday. Rudolf Steiner was one of the invited guests. Bismarck, much admired by Haeckel, was also present. He had been forced to resign his office in 1890. I happened to be in Jena when Bismarck gave a grand speech after his forced resignation. He appeared on the platform in the wake of Haeckel and Bardeleben and other Jena professors. Imagine the huge crowd in the market square in Jena. They were expected to follow Bismarck's speech as they would a speech made by someone they had previously never heard of! Such a thing is unthinkable under normal conditions. And yet for someone who really desires to undergo a kind of initiation it is certainly necessary to develop an impartiality which enables him to take everything he sees as something entirely new, however many prejudices his soul might previously have harboured in that respect. Everything must be treated as though it had arrived like a bolt from the blue. For it is a special characteristic of the spiritual world that we have to win it afresh at every moment if we desire to enter it. And to do this we have to prepare ourselves in a suitable way.
It can be said that the general drift of civilization indicates that mankind is indeed headed in this direction. But for the moment this still appears in a light that is not all that pleasing, namely, in opposition to any kind of authority, and to any kind of received judgement, and so on. These things will have to be ennobled. But meanwhile mankind is indeed moving in the direction of impartiality and freedom from prejudice. But, for the moment, the more negative, the uglier sides of this are more prevalent. We must, therefore, judge the evolution of civilization with regard to the future in the very manner I have just been describing.
Alte und neue Einweihungsmethoden II
[ 1 ] Wenn man solche Auseinandersetzungen macht, wie sie gestern hier gepflogen worden sind, hat man natürlich nicht etwa immer im Sinne, daß darin eine Aufforderung zur Übung nach der Richtung liegen soll, auf die gedeutet wird in Hinsicht von Erlangung höherer übersinnlicher Erkenntnisse. Selbstverständlich liegt das auch darinnen, aber indem solche Dinge mitgeteilt werden, handelt es sich auch darum, daß sich eine Erkenntnis verbreitet von dem, was durch solche Übungen zu höherer Erkenntnis erlangt werden kann. Und wer nun erklärt, dies oder jenes ist möglich in bezug auf die Entwickelung des Menschen, der erklärt ja dadurch etwas über das Wesen des Menschen selbst. Hört man, daß ein Mensch, der eine Einweihung sucht, das Seelisch-Geistige loslösen kann von dem Physisch-Leiblichen entweder in der Art, wie ich es gestern dargestellt habe, wie es in den alten Mysterien geschehen ist, oder so, wie ich es, für die heutige Zeit geeignet, gleich nachher andeutungsweise darstellen will -, hört man, daß so etwas möglich ist, dann kann man eben wissen, daß das Seelisch-Geistige ein selbständiges Wesen ist, welches sein Dasein über das Leibliche hinaus hat. Man erlangt also aus den Mitteilungen, daß es höhere Erkenntnisse gibt, Erkenntnisse über die menschliche Wesenheit selbst, und das ist es, was zunächst wesentlich ist für die Verbreitung anthroposophischer Weistümer.
[ 2 ] Ich habe gestern dargestellt, wie in den alten Mysterien das Körperliche behandelt worden ist, damit dieses Körperliche die Seele nach den beiden verschiedenen Richtungen hin freigeben konnte. Ich habe gesagt, die beiden wesentlichen Dinge, auf die es ankam in den alten Mysterien, waren: der Vergessenheitstrunk auf der einen Seite und das Hervorrufen von angstartigen, furchtartigen, schreckartigen Zuständen auf der andern Seite. Der Vergessenheitstrunk bewirkte ja allerdings, daß man die Erinnerung tilgte für alles, was zunächst aus dem gewöhnlichen Erdenleben in dem Gedächtnisse darinnen war. Aber dieses Negative war nicht die Hauptsache, sagte ich, sondern die Hauptsache war, daß das Gehirn während des Mysterien-Erkenntnisprozesses gewissermaßen wirklich leiblich verweicht wurde und daß dadurch das Geistige, das sonst aufgehalten wird, nicht aufgehalten wurde durch das Gehirn, daß es durchgelassen wurde und daß der Mensch dadurch gewahr wurde: Ja, ich habe ein ewiges SeelischGeistiges, das vor der Geburt beziehungsweise vor der Konzeption von mir vorhanden war.
[ 3 ] Das andere ist, daß der übrige Organismus gewissermaßen erstarrte unter dem Einfluß der schreckhaften Tatsache. Wenn aber der Organismus erstarrt, dann saugt er nicht, wie das sonst der Fall ist, das Seelisch-Geistige auf, insofern sich dieses durch den Willen äußert. Es zieht sich das erstarrte Körperliche sozusagen einerseits zurück von dem Seelisch-Geistigen, und es wird andererseits das Seelisch-Geistige dem Menschen wahrnehmbar. Durch die Erweichung des Gehirnes wurde die Gedankenseite des Seelischen für die alten Mysterienschüler wahrnehmbar. Durch die Erstarrung des übrigen Organismus wurde die Willensseite wahrnehmbar. Und auf diese Weise bekam der Mensch durch die Einweihung eine Vorstellung von seinem SeelischGeistigen. Aber diese Vorstellung hatte einen durchaus traumhaften Charakter. Denn was war es denn eigentlich, was einerseits nach der Gedankenseite, andererseits nach der Willensseite frei wurde? Es war dasjenige, was aus geistig-seelischen Welten heruntersteigt und sich mit dem Physisch-Leiblichen des Menschen verbindet. Das wird erst durch den Besitz des Leibes fähig, sich der Sinne, sich des Verstandes zu bedienen, denn dazu ist der Leib notwendig. Ohne daß es sich des Leibes bedient, bleibt es traumhaft, bleibt es durchaus dumpf, dämmerig. So daß also der Mensch, indem er durch die geschilderten Vorgänge sein Seelisch-Geistiges losgelöst erhielt, dadurch eben ein Traumhaftes erhielt, allerdings ein Traumhaftes, in welchem in einer gewissen Weise durchaus ein gedankliches Element enthalten ist.
[ 4 ] Ich sagte schon gestern: Würde der Mensch dies heute wiederum ausführen oder noch so ausführen wie früher, so würde das einen krankhaften Zustand herbeiführen. Denn der Mensch ist im wesentlichen nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha in seiner Organisation so fortgeschritten, daß das intellektuelle Leben sich gegenüber den früheren, instinktiven Erkenntniszuständen verstärkt hat. Diese besondere Verstärkung des intellektuellen Lebens ist insbesondere seit dem 15. Jahrhundert über die Menschheit gekommen. Es ist außerordentlich bedeutsam, daß auch noch während des ganzen Mittelalters die Menschen gewußt haben, wenn sie zu höheren Erkenntnissen kommen wollen, wenn sie überhaupt ein in gewissem Sinne höheres menschliches Leben führen wollen, so ist dazu ein Loslösen des Seelischen von dem Leiblichen notwendig.
[ 5 ] Wir hätten wahrscheinlich eine Dichtung innerhalb der deutschen Literatur über dieses mittelalterliche Wissen von dem Übersinnlichen, über dieses mittelalterliche Verhältnis zu dem Übersinnlichen, wenn Schiller dazugekommen wäre, sein von ihm projektiertes großes Drama «Die Malteser» auszuführen. Es ist eine außerordentlich interessante Erscheinung innerhalb des deutschen Geisteslebens, daß Schiller vorhatte gerade in den Jahren, in denen der Malteserorden durch Napoleon zugrunde gerichtet worden ist, ein Malteserdrama zu schreiben, nämlich die Belagerung der Insel Malta durch die Türken und die Verteidigung dieser Insel durch den Großmeister des Malteserordens, Lavalette. Schiller konnte offenbar dieses Drama nicht ausführen. Er hat dann den «Wallenstein» geschrieben, und die «Malteser» liegen lassen. Wir würden, wenn die «Malteser» von Schiller ausgeführt worden wären, ein Drama haben, aus dem deutlich ersichtlich wäre, wie in einem solchen Orden - und die Malteser sind noch aus den Vorgängen während der Kreuzzüge hervorgegangen -, der nach außen hin eigentlich auf humanitäre Handlungen, auf Gemeinwirksamkeit, auf Wohltätigkeitswirksamkeit und so weiter eingerichtet war, durchaus die Meinung herrschte, daß man so etwas nur vollführen könne, wenn man zu gleicher Zeit in einem gewissen Sinne zu einem höheren Leben aufsteigt.
[ 6 ] Man hatte in der Zeit, in welcher der Tempelherrenorden und der Johanniterorden - aus dem dann der Malteserorden geworden ist — gestiftet worden sind, ja, auch noch während des ganzen Mittelalters durchaus das Gefühl: Der Mensch muß sich verwandeln, bevor er in der richtigen Weise so etwas unternehmen kann. Es ist dieses ein Gefühl gegenüber dem Menschenwesen, das eigentlich in der neueren Zeit vollständig verlorengegangen ist, und das ist darauf zurückzuführen, daß eben der Intellekt des Menschen wesentlich intensiver, stärker geworden ist, so daß der neuere Mensch ganz und gar intellektuell ist, daß das Intellektuelle bei ihm ganz besonders vorliegt.
[ 7 ] In unserer Zeit ist wiederum eine starke Sehnsucht bei den Menschen vorhanden, das Intellektualistische zu überwinden. Was heute in der Literatur, namentlich im Journalismus hervortritt, spricht allerdings noch das Gegenteil aus, aber in den breiten Massen ist durchaus eine Sehnsucht vorhanden, das intellektualistische Element zu überwinden. Das zeigt sich insbesondere auch dadurch, daß nicht nur das Reden über Spirituelles heute in den weitesten Kreisen außerordentlich gut einschlägt, sondern daß auch so etwas, was — wie unsere Eurythmie - nicht aus Intellektuellem, sondern aus dem, was imaginativ dem Menschenwesen zugrunde liegt, hervorgeholt wird, wenn es auch noch nicht völlig verstanden wird, aber doch auf die weitesten Kreise heute schon einen Eindruck macht. Denn das hat sich ja bei den letzten Reisen, insbesondere aber bei der letzten Eurythmiereise gezeigt, daß die Eurythmie einen außerordentlich starken Eindruck auch auf diejenigen Kreise macht, die sie natürlich beim ersten Sehen, auf den ersten Anhub, nicht in ihrem tiefsten Wesen durchschauen können, die aber fühlen, daß da etwas ist, was aus tieferen Untergründen der menschlichen Natur herausgeholt worden ist, was mehr ist als das bloß Intellektualistische.
[ 8 ] Nun, worauf beruht nun dieses Intellektualistische, das heute ganz besonders dem Menschen eigen ist? Ich möchte Ihnen das wiederum durch eine Art schematischer Zeichnung klarmachen [siehe $. 78, Tafel 6]. Ich sagte gestern: Wenn wir das menschliche Gehirn nehmen (weiß), so können wir uns vorstellen, daß durch dasjenige, was als der Vergessenheitstrunk aufgefaßt worden ist, eben das Geistig-Seelische, das sonst vor dem Gehirn Halt macht, das Gehirn durchdrang (rot), und daß gewissermaßen durch den alten Eingeweihten von innen herauf aufstieg das Geistig-Seelische durch das präparierte Gehirn. — Der Intellektualismus von heute beruht ja darauf, daß gegenüber dem älteren Menschen, sagen wir vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha, das Seelisch-Geistige beim heutigen Menschen innerlich stärker, intensiver geworden ist. Der ältere Mensch hat überhaupt nicht so viel Intellektualismus gehabt. Sein Seelisch-Geistiges prägte sich nicht zu solchen scharfen Gedankenlinien aus, wie das beim heutigen Menschen der Fall ist. Denn wenn man Intellektualist ist, so denkt man ja alles in geraden Linien. So dachte der ältere Mensch nicht. Der ältere Mensch dachte bildhafter, traumhafter, weicher, möchte ich sagen. Beim heutigen Menschen sind die Gedanken eckig, sind mit scharfen Konturen begabt. Aber dieser heutige Mensch könnte, trotzdem sein Seelisch-Geistiges stärker geworden ist als es in älteren Zeiten war, dennoch nicht vom Seelisch-Geistigen aus diese Gedanken fassen.
[ 9 ] Verstehen wir uns recht, meine lieben Freunde. Der heutige Mensch hat schon gegenüber dem älteren ein gut Stück seelischg-eistiger Stärke. Er träumt nicht mehr so, wie der ältere Mensch geträumt hat, er strafft sich in seinen Gedanken. Dennoch würden diese Gedanken abgedämpft bleiben, wenn nur das Seelisch-Geistige beim modernen Menschen wirken müßte. Eigentlich kann jetzt der Mensch noch immer nicht von seiner Seele aus denken.
[ 10 ] Was dem Menschen die Kraft des Denkens abnimmt, das ist der Leib. Wenn wir zum Beispiel eine Sinneswahrnehmung haben, so haben wir sie allerdings mit dem Seelisch-Geistigen. Wenn wir sie dann aber denken wollen, diese Sinneswahrnehmung, dann muß uns der Leib helfen. Der Leib ist eigentlich der Denker. So daß also heute die Sache so ist: Die Sinneswahrnehmung wirkt auf den Menschen, das Seelisch-Geistige (rot oben) durchsetzt die Sinneswahrnehmung, aber der Leib wirkt wie ein Spiegel und wirft fortwährend die Gedankenstrahlen zurück (grüne Pfeile). Dadurch werden sie bewußt. Also der Leib ist das, was dem Menschen die Mühe des Denkens abnimmt, nicht aber die Mühe der Sinneswahrnehmungen. Und wenn nach dieser Gedankenseite hin der Mensch heute nach einer Einweihung streben will, dann muß er durch seine Übungen, die wir ja kennen aus «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» und aus dem zweiten Teil der «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß», das SeelischGeistige noch mehr verstärken; dann bringt er es allmählich dahin, dieses Seelisch-Geistige in sich so selbständig zu machen, daß es den Leib nicht mehr braucht.
[ 11 ] Also verstehen wir uns richtig: Wenn heute im gewöhnlichen Leben gedacht wird, dann ist allerdings das Seelisch-Geistige tätig. Vor allen Dingen nimmt es die Sinneswahrnehmungen auf, aber es könnte nicht diejenigen Gedanken entwickeln, die heute entwickelt werden. Daher kommt der Leib und nimmt dem Menschen die Mühe des Denkens ab. Im gewöhnlichen Leben denkt man durchaus mit dem Leib, der Leib ist der Gedankenapparat. Wenn man die Übungen macht, von denen in den genannten Büchern die Rede ist, dann wird die Seele durch diese Übungen so stark, daß sie nicht mehr den Leib zum Denken braucht, daß sie selbst denkt. Und das ist im Grunde die erste Etappe der Entwickelung zum höheren Erkennen hin, daß das Seelisch-Geistige anfängt, den Leib für die höhere Erkenntnis als das eigentliche Denkorgan abzusetzen. Es muß nur immer wieder betont werden, daß der Mensch, indem er zur höheren Erkenntnis, also zur Imagination aufrückt, immer neben sich mit seinem gesunden Menschenverstand bleibt als einer, der sich selber kontrolliert, sich selber kritisiert. Also man bleibt daneben derselbe, der man sonst auch im gewöhnlichen Leben ist. Es entwickelt sich nur der zweite Mensch aus dem ersten Menschen heraus, der dann fähig ist, nicht mehr mit Hilfe des Leibes, sondern ohne die Hilfe des Leibes zu denken.
[ 12 ] Also das, was sich als Geistig-Seelisches dem alten Mysterienschüler offenbarte, das kam aus dem Leibe heraus, drang durch das Gehirn durch und im Herausquillen gewissermaßen nahm es der Mensch wahr. Das aber, was der Mensch heute wahrnimmt als ein Eingeweihter, das ist verstärktes Denken, das nun ganz und gar nicht das Gehirn in Anspruch nimmt. Während also der alte Mensch das, was er als Geistig-Seelisches wahrnahm, aus seiner Organisation herauszog, nimmt der Mensch heute das Seelisch-Geistige nach der Gedankenseite hin so wahr, daß es in ihn hereindringt, wie Sinneswahrnehmungen in ihn hereindringen. Der Mensch, indem er diese erste Stufe der höheren Erkenntnis erklimmt, muß sich daran gewöhnen, zu sagen: Ich beginne, mich selber meinem ewigen Seelisch-Geistigen nach wahrzunehmen, denn das dringt durch mein Auge, das dringt überhaupt von außen in mich herein.
[ 13 ] Ich habe bei einem öffentlichen Vortrag im Basler Bernoullianum gesagt: Die Geisteswissenschaft in anthroposophischem Sinne muß das Sinneswahrnehmen als ihr Ideal betrachten. Man muß vom Sinneswahrnehmen weiterschreiten. Man darf nicht zurück zum traumhaften Erkennen gehen, sondern man muß zu einem klareren Erkennen schreiten, als es dieses Wahrnehmen ist. Daher muß unser eigenes Wesen an uns herankommen, wie die Farben und wie die Töne an die Sinne herankommen.
[ 14 ] Sehen Sie, wenn der Mensch aus der geistig-seelischen Welt heruntersteigt zur physischen Verleiblichung, dann ist sein Seelisch-Geistiges so, daß es gewissermaßen für die seelisch-geistige Welt stirbt; indem der Mensch konzipiert wird, sich zur Geburt anschickt, stirbt er für die geistige Welt. Wenn der Mensch hier für die physische Welt stirbt, so wird er, indem er durch die Pforte des Todes geht, für die geistige Welt geboren. Das sind nur relative Begriffe. Stirbt man für die geistige Welt, wird man physisch geboren; stirbt man für die physische Welt, wird man geistig geboren. Tod in der physischen Welt bedeutet geistige Geburt; Geburt in der physischen Welt bedeutet geistigen Tod. Das sind, wie gesagt, ja nur relative Begriffe. Was da in der Seele auftritt, wenn sie hin zur Geburt schreitet, das ist in der Tat etwas, was in der geistigen Welt nicht weiter fortbestehen könnte, was in der geistigen Welt zerfallen würde und was zu einem Leiblichen hinläuft, damit es sich weiter erhalten kann.
[ 15 ] So daß man also, wenn man es nun schematisch zeichnen will, etwa so zeichnen müßte: Das Geistig-Seelische (rot von links) steigt aus der geistig-seelischen Welt herab. Es ist, man möchte sagen in einer Sackgasse angekommen; es kann jetzt nicht weiter, es muß sich mit physischer Materialität ausstatten (blau). Aber die physische
[ 16 ] Materialität wirkt eigentlich nur so, wie ich es jetzt eben beschrieben habe, vom Gehirn aus, nicht vom übrigen Menschen aus. Vom übrigen Menschen aus geht doch wieder das Geistig-Seelische, das sich gewissermaßen dadurch erholt, daß es vom Gehirn nicht durchgelassen wird, daß es im Gehirn eine Widerlage, eine Unterstützung hat. Dadurch wird es dem Geistig-Seelischen wiederum möglich, nun doch durch die übrige menschliche Organisation, also namentlich durch die Gliedmaßen-Stoffwechselorganisation, sich selber sich entgegenzustellen (rot rechts). Man könnte also sagen: Was ich hier blau gezeichnet habe, das ist die Kopforganisation. Hier ist dann die Gliedmaßen-Stoffwechselorganisation (gelb); die saugt zwar im normalen Zustande das Seelisch-Geistige auf, aber doch nur bis zu einem gewissen Grade. Schon indem wir von Kindheit aufwachsen, kommt eigentlich das Geistig-Seelische immer wieder zum Vorschein. In dem Momente, wo der Mensch konzipiert wird, und während er ein Embryo, ein Keim im Leibe der Mutter ist, wird gewissermaßen das ganze Geistig-Seelische, das aus der geistig-seelischen Welt herunterkommt, untergetaucht in das Materielle. Aber dadurch, daß es eine Stütze bekommen hat, dieses Geistig-Seelische, erholt es sich wiederum. Der Embryo hat die Form, die das schon äußerlich zeigt: zunächst die Kopforganisation, da findet das Geistig-Seelische eine Stütze (siehe Zeichnung). Dann setzt sich die übrige Organisation an; da quillt schon das Geistig-Seelische wiederum durch - das habe ich hier schematisch gezeichnet.
[ 17 ] Indem wir nun als Kind heranwachsen, da wird immer wieder das Geistig-Seelische selbständig, beim Kinde noch nicht so stark, aber immer mehr und mehr wird das Geistig-Seelische selbständig. Ich habe ja, indem ich die Entwickelung des Kindes beschrieben habe, dies im einzelnen ausgeführt; auch wie dieses Geistig-Seelische dann bei den großen Übergangspunkten, beim Zahnwechsel und bei der Geschlechtsreife, immer selbständiger und selbständiger wird. So daß wir, indem wir als Mensch heranwachsen, immer mehr das LeiblichPhysische zurücktreten lassen und ein selbständiges Geistig-Seelisches bekommen. Dieses Selbständige ist beim heutigen Menschen intensiver als beim älteren Menschen. Aber es könnte doch nicht denken. Es braucht eben, wie ich sagte, den Leib zur Hilfe, wenn es denken will. Sonst bliebe gerade auch das, was dann an uns heranwächst, immer traumhaft.
[ 18 ] So kann man also sagen: Der ältere Eingeweihte suchte, das Gehirn durchlässig zu machen, so daß das frühere Geistig-Seelische, das da herunterstieg, für ihn noch durchquillen konnte, daß er also gewissermaßen das vorgeburtliche Leben noch wahrnahm durch das verweichte Gehirn. Der neuzeitliche Eingeweihte, der reflektiert nicht darauf, sondern der reflektiert auf das, was sich im Laufe des Lebens herausbildet. Das erweckt er zu einer höheren Intensität nach der Gedankenseite hin. Der ältere Eingweihte hätte das nicht gekonnt. Der hätte das, was sich beim Kinde in dumpfer Weise als das neue Geistig-Seelische entwickelt, was dann später durch die 'Todespforte geht, nicht so stark anfassen können. Er tötete daher gewissermaßen das Leibliche ab, er lähmte es herunter, damit das alte Geistig-Seelische herauskam, das früher war, bevor er konzipiert beziehungsweise empfangen worden war.
[ 19 ] Heute fassen wir dasjenige, was wir in schwacher Weise durch die Kindheit bis zum Erwachsensein entwickeln, stärker an, so daß wir also das, was sich seit der Geburt als das neue Geistig-Seelische entwickelt, erkraften, verstärken. Dadurch versuchen wir ein selbständiges Geistig-Seelisches gegenüber dem Leibe nach der Gedankenseite hin zu bekommen. Während also der alte Eingeweihte das vorgeburtliche Geistig-Seelische durch die Herabdämpfung des Leibes offenbar machte, versuchen wir offenbar zu machen, was sich nach der Geburt als Geistig-Seelisches immer mehr und mehr herausentwickelt; aber wir machen es nicht bis zu der Stärke offenbar, in der wir es gebrauchen, um selbständig die geistige Welt wahrzunehmen. Das ist der Unterschied.
[ 20 ] Nach der Willensseite hin ist es so: Der alte Eingeweihte versuchte, wie gesagt, die Willensorganisation erstarrt zu machen. Dadurch wurde das Geistig-Seelische, das sonst durch die Willensorganisation aufgesogen wird, für ihn wiederum wahrnehmbar, also dasjenige, was da war vom Vorgeburtlichen. Wenn der Körper erstarrt ist, so saugt er eben nicht das Geistig-Seelische auf; dadurch wird es in seiner Selbständigkeit offenbar. Das machen wir wiederum nicht als moderne Eingeweihte, sondern da wird anders vorgegangen. Da wird nun wiederum der Wille verstärkt, indem die Kraft des Wollens in der Weise, wie ich das in den genannten Büchern dargestellt habe, umgewandelt wird. Es wäre ganz falsch, wenn durch Schocks, durch Angstzustände, durch Schreckzustände, wie beim alten Eingeweihten, kataleptische Zustände herbeigeführt würden. Das würde beim modernen Menschen mit seiner stark entwickelten Intellektualität ganz und gar ins pathologische Gebiet gehören. Das darf also nicht sein. Dagegen wird zum Beispiel durch Rückwärtsübungen - wo man gewissermaßen nicht vorwärts vorstellt, sondern, wie bei der Rückschau, die Tageserlebnisse von rückwärts nach vorn, vom Abend zum Morgen durchnimmt — oder auch durch andere Willensübungen der Wille umgewandelt in einer Weise, die ich etwa so charakterisieren kann: Betrachten Sie das menschliche Auge. Wie muß es denn gestaltet sein, damit wir sehen können? Wenn wir starkrank werden, macht sich die Materie des Auges selbständig geltend. Das Auge kleidet sich aus mit Materie, die dann undurchsichtig wird. Das Auge muß selbstlos sein, selbstlos in den Organismus eingefügt sein, wenn wir es zum richtigen Sehen brauchen wollen, es muß durchsichtig sein. Unser Organismus ist für den Willen durchaus nicht durchsichtig. Ich habe es Ihnen ja öfter dargestellt. Wir können einen Gedanken haben, sagen wir, daß wir den Arm, die Hand erheben wollen. Wir fassen den Gedanken: Ich will den Arm, die Hand erheben. — Aber was dann geschieht in unserem Organismus, indem dieser Gedanke hinüberschießt in den Organismus und die Ausführungen macht. Das ist ebenso in Dunkel gehüllt wie die Ereignisse, die zwischen dem Einschlafen und dem Aufwachen vor sich gehen. Wir sehen erst wiederum den erhobenen Arm, die erhobene Hand. Also wir haben wiederum eine Vorstellung. Anfangsvorstellung und Endvorstellung schließen sich zusammen; was in der Mitte drinnen liegt, das ist ein Schlafzustand. Der Wille entfaltet sich so im Unbewußten für den Menschen, wie sich die Ereignisse des Schlafes im Unbewußten entfalten. Wir können ganz gut sagen: In bezug auf das Durchschauen des Willens ist unser Organismus undurchsichtig für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein, wie ein starkrankes Auge undurchsichtig wäre.
[ 21 ] Selbstverständlich will ich nicht sagen, daß der menschliche Organismus deshalb krank sei. Er muß eben so undurchsichtig sein für das gewöhnliche praktische Leben. Das ist sein normaler Zustand. Aber für die höhere Erkenntnis kann er so nicht bleiben, da muß er durchsichtig werden, seelisch-geistig durchsichtig. Das geschieht eben durch die Willensübungen. Der Organismus wird so, daß wir ihn durchschauen können, daß wir also nicht mehr in ein Unbestimmtes hinunterschauen, wenn der Wille sich entfaltet, sondern er wird so selbstlos wie das Auge in seiner Substantualität selbstlos in den Organismus eingesetzt ist, damit wir die äußeren Gegenstände richtig sehen. Wie das Auge selbst durchsichtig ist, wird der Organismus geistig-seelisch durchsichtig, wird der ganze Organismus ein Sinnesorgan. Dadurch nehmen wir nach der Willensseite hin objektiv die geistigen Wesenheiten wahr, wie wir durch das äußere Auge die äußeren physischen Gegenstände wahrnehmen. Also die Willensübungen gehen bei uns nicht darauf aus, den Körper zu erstarren, damit das Geistig-Seelische frei werde, sondern sie gehen darauf aus, das Geistig-Seelische so zu entwickeln, daß es durch das Körperliche hindurchschauen kann. Das ist das Wesentliche. Man sieht in die geistige Welt nur hinein, wenn man durch sich selber hindurchschaut. So wie man die äußeren Gegenstände, die man sieht, durch das Auge nur sieht, indem man durch das Auge durchschaut, so sieht man in die geistige Welt nicht direkt hinein, sondern indem man durch sich selber durchschaut.
[ 22 ] Das ist die andere Seite, die Entwickelung nach der Willensseite. Also die ganze Entwickelung beruht in der neueren Zeit darauf, daß man erstens das Denken erstarkt, so daß es unabhängig wird vom Gehirn, und zweitens, daß man den Willen so gestaltet, daß der ganze Mensch durchsichtig wird. Man kann nicht durch das Blitzblaue in die geistige Welt hineinschauen, ebensowenig wie man ohne das Auge in die Farbenwelt hineinschauen kann. Man muß durch sich durchschauen. Das aber geschieht durch die Willensübungen.
[ 23 ] Da haben Sie jetzt für den modernen Menschen, was eben durch die Initiation ausgeführt werden kann. Es kann sowohl nach der Gedankenseite hin das Seelisch-Geistige unabhängig gemacht werden von dem Leiblichen als auch der Leib in seiner Materialität überwunden werden kann, indem er geistig-seelisch durchsichtig wird. Dadurch haben Sie das durch seine eigene Kraft selbständig gewordene Geistig-Seelische gegeben. Das ist der große Unterschied zwischen der alten und der neuen Einweihung. Die alte Einweihung veränderte den Leib, änderte ihn nach der Gehirnseite, nach der Seite des übrigen Organismus, und dadurch, daß der Leib verändert wurde, wurde das Seelisch-Geistige in einer dumpfen Weise wahrnehmbar. Die moderne Einweihung verändert das Geistig-Seelische, macht es in sich stärker nach der Gedankenseite und nach der Willensseite hin und macht es dadurch auf der einen Seite vom Gehirn unabhängig, auf der andern Seite so stark, daß es durchschaut durch den Organismus.
[ 24 ] Das bedingt allerdings, daß der alte Eingeweihte dasjenige, was er wahrnehmen konnte, gewissermaßen gespensterhaft sah. Es trat, nachdem die entsprechenden Prozeduren abgelaufen waren, gespensterhaft das auf, was sich als das Wesenhafte der geistigen Welt offenbaren konnte. Man sah die geistige Welt, ich möchte sagen in ätherischen Gebilden. Und die große Sorge der Lehrer der alten Mysterien war die, daß die Schüler, trotzdem sie die Wahrnehmungen aus der geistigen Welt heraus gespensterartig sahen, lernten, von dem Gespensterartigen abzusehen. Immer wieder und wieder gingen die Ermahnungen der Lehrer der alten Mysterien dahin, den Schülern klarzumachen: Ihr seht etwas, was wie materiell aussieht, aber ihr müßt das wie Bilder anschauen. In dem, was ihr seht, in diesem Gespensterhaften, habt ihr nur die Bilder der geistigen Welt. Ihr müßt nicht glauben, daß ihr in dem, was ihr da gespensterartig um euch herum seht, die wahre Wirklichkeit habt — wie ja auch der Kreidestaub auf der Tafel, wenn ich etwas aufzeichne, nicht die Wirklichkeit ist, sondern dasjenige, was abgebildet wird. Natürlich sagte man das nicht mit solchen Worten, aber in modernerer Art könnte man es so ausdrücken. Das war die große Sorge der alten Mysterien, daß die Schüler nicht das für Wirklichkeit hielten, was sie da traumhaft gespenstig sahen, sondern daß sie es als Bilder hinnahmen.
[ 25 ] In der modernen Einweihung hat man eine andere Sorge. Da kommt man überhaupt nur zum Erkennen der höheren Welt, indem man durch die imaginative Erkenntnis schreitet. Da lebt man also in einer Welt von Bildern; da sind die Bilder von vornherein in ihrem Bildcharakter da. Also der Verwechslung ist man nicht ausgesetzt, man hat zunächst einen Bildcharakter. Aber daß man diese Bilder in der richtigen Weise beurteilen kann, daß man weiß, wie man diese Bilder auf die geistige Realität zu beziehen hat, das muß man dadurch erreichen, daß man das exakte Denken, das man sich angeeignet hat als moderner Mensch, nun auf die Bilderwelt anwendet, daß man wirklich in dieser Bilderwelt denkt, wie man denken gelernt hat in der gewöhnlichen physischen Welt. Jedes gedankenlose Anschauen ist für die moderne Initiation von Schaden. Es muß alles dasjenige, was man an gesundem Denken als moderner Mensch entwickelt hat, in die höhere Erkenntnis hineingetragen werden. So wie man sich in der gewöhnlichen physischen Welt orientieren kann, wenn man ordentlich denken kann, so kann man sich erst recht in der Welt des Geistes, in die man durch die moderne Initiation eintritt, nur dann orientieren, wenn man alles das, was man durch imaginative, inspirierte, intuitive Erkenntnis erlangt, in der richtigen Weise mit dem Denken zu durchsetzen vermag, das man sich hier in der physischen Welt angeeignet hat. Ich habe ja das in meiner «Theosophie», wie in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» und auch in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» immer mit völliger Deutlichkeit ausgesprochen als ein Charakteristikum der modernen Einweihung.
[ 26 ] Deshalb ist es auch so notwendig, daß jeder, der in dem neueren Sinne in die höheren Welten eindringen will, wirklich exakt denken lernt und sich im exakten Denken übt. Das ist nämlich nicht so leicht, wie die Menschen sich es vorstellen. Ich will, um das, was ich eigentlich meine, verständlich zu machen, folgendes sagen: Denken wir einmal etwas ganz Prägnantes. Sagen wir, es würde diese verehrte Gesellschaft hier morgen dadurch überrascht werden - es ist ja selbstverständlich eine Hypothese — daß hier im Goetheanum, nun, sagen wir Lloyd George erscheint. Ich will eben einen extremen Fall anführen. Nun, wenn morgen hier Lloyd George erschiene, so würden Sie alle bestimmte Gedanken, bestimmte Empfindungen haben. Aber diese Gedanken, diese Empfindungen, die Sie haben würden, die würden nicht bloß dadurch entstehen, daß Sie von dem Augenblick, wo dieser Lloyd George erscheint, bis zu dem Augenblick, wo er wieder weggeht, alles das, was Sie sehen, verfolgen. Um das zu verfolgen, brauchten Sie ja gar nicht zu wissen, daß er Lloyd George ist. Sie würden dann an ihm nur wahrnehmen können, was man eben an einem Menschen, der einem ganz unbekannt ist, sehen kann. Ehe Sie nicht in die Lage kommen, von allem abzusehen, was Sie über irgend etwas, das Sie in solcher Weise wahrnehmen, von anderswoher schon wissen und empfinden, ehe Sie nicht bloß das rein verfolgen können, was Sie sehen, eher denken Sie nicht exakt. Sie denken erst dann exakt, wenn Sie imstande sind, falls morgen Lloyd George erscheint, hier nichts anderes über ihn zu denken und zu empfinden, als was der reine Eindruck hervorruft, von dem ersten Moment, wo Ihr Auge auf ihn aufmerksam wird, bis zu dem Moment, wo er Ihrem Auge wiederum entschwindet. Alles das, was Sie früher gewußt haben, müssen Sie ausschalten. Alles das, worüber Sie sich geärgert haben über ihn oder was Sie entzückt hat an ihm, müssen Sie ausschalten, und nur, was er Ihnen in der reinen Anschauung darbietet, das müssen Sie auffassen. Nur dadurch lernt man genau der Wirklichkeit gemäß denken. Denken Sie, wie weit die Menschheit davon entfernt ist, genau der Wirklichkeit gemäß zu denken! Lassen Sie irgend etwas in Ihrer Seele rege werden, so werden Sie sehen, wieviel Sie von den in der Seele lebenden, verborgenen, unbewußten, unterbewußten Empfindungen heraufsteigen lassen. Es ist die größte Schwierigkeit, sich auf das zu beschränken, was man bloß gesehen hat. Versuchen Sie, etwas zu lesen, wo irgend jemand etwas beschreibt, und fragen Sie sich: Beschreibt er bloß das, was er gesehen hat, oder ruft er nicht hunderte und hunderte von vorgefaßten Empfindungen und Gefühlen hervor, die da drinnen mitsprechen? - Und dennoch: Nur wenn man in der Lage ist, sich rein auf das zu beschränken, was man gesehen hat, dann ist man imstande, allmählich zu einem genauen Denken zu kommen. Also es muß vor allen Dingen das durchgeführt werden, daß man alles, was einem, auch durch das Leben selbst, anerzogen ist, für gewisse Erscheinungen abstreifen kann und wirklich nur das verfolgt, was sich einem im Leben darbietet. Wenn Sie das bedenken und ein wenig meditieren über das, was ich jetzt gerade gesagt habe, dann bekommen Sie allmählich einen Begriff von dem, was man «exaktes Denken» nennt. Im gewöhnlichen Leben hat der Mensch eigentlich kaum Gelegenheit, in den heutigen Verhältnissen sich in einem exakten Denken anderswo zu üben als in der Geometrie, höchstens noch im Rechnen. Da beschränkt sich der Mensch auf das, was er sieht. Zu einer geometrischen Figur, zu einem Dreieck, bringt man nicht viel Vorurteile mit. Da sagt man sich: Das ist das Dreieck. Ich zeichne hier eine Parallele. Dieser Winkel ist gleich dem Winkel dort, jener gleich diesem, und der in der Mitte ist sich selbst gleich. Das ist dann ein gestreckter Winkel. Also sind die drei Winkel des Dreiecks auch gleich einem gestreckten Winkel. - Da schaue ich auf das, was ich vor mir habe. Da bringe ich nicht solche Kolosse von Vorurteilen mit, wie wenn Lloyd George morgen käme und ich es etwa schon im voraus wüßte. Natürlich will ich mit dem, was ich jetzt eben ausgesprochen habe, nur sagen, daß ein wirkliches exaktes, genaues Denken eine gute Vorbereitung für ein richtiges Anschauen der höheren geistigen Welten ist. Ein Denken, wobei man den Anfang des Gedankens genau in der Hand hat und wirklich jeden Schritt des Gedankens ganz genau überschauen kann, das ist notwendig, um in die höheren Welten hineinzukommen, ich meine, um verständig in die höheren Welten hineinzukommen. Vor allen Dingen ist eine ausgeprägte Gewissenhaftigkeit des Denkens notwendig, ein Sich-Rechenschaft-Geben über das, was man denkt. Und auch davon hält ja das gewöhnliche Leben zu sehr zurück. Die Menschen haben in den meisten Fällen kein Interesse daran, exakt zu denken, sondern sie haben vielmehr ein Interesse daran, so zu denken, daß ihnen der Gedanke gefällt, daß ihnen der Gedanke angenehm ist.
[ 27 ] Nicht wahr, wenn man schließlich katholischer Priester ist und etwas von Anthroposophie hört, so ist einem der Gedanke, daß da etwas Richtiges sein kann in der Anthroposophie, doch furchtbar unangenehm. Also es kann gar nicht die Rede davon sein, daß man da ein exaktes Denken entfaltet. Da tritt man ja an die Sache heran mit allen möglichen Antezedenzien, allen möglichen Vorempfindungen und Vorurteilen, und man entscheidet sich dann nach diesen Vorurteilen. Im Leben wird ja das meiste nach diesen Vorurteilen entschieden. Bedenken Sie doch nur einmal, welch sonderbaren Eindruck es manchmal macht, wenn man einfach den Versuch macht, in vorurteilsloser Weise etwas zu charakterisieren. Wir leben hier im Goetheanum. Kein Mensch wird mir zutrauen, daß ich in geringerem Sinne ein Goethe-Verehrer bin als irgendein anderer, aber wie vieles habe ich gegen Goethe vorgebracht! Wie oftmals mache ich den Versuch, Goethe aus einer begrenzten Erscheinungsreihe heraus zu charakterisieren, die man überschauen kann, während zumeist, wenn über Goethe geredet wird, schon im Namen Goethe eine ganze Summe von Wertungen liegt. Damit, daß nur der Name Goethe ausgesprochen wird, ist schon etwas erregt in der Seele. Man kann nicht, wenn man an eine neue Erscheinung herantritt, vorurteilslos an diese Erscheinung herantreten, wenn man eben den ganzen Koloß von Vorurteilen mitbringt.
[ 28 ] Diese Dinge werden gewöhnlich nicht berücksichtigt, und daher sagt man sehr häufig: Ach, man kommt ja nicht weiter in dem Hereindringen in die geistigen Welten! - Ja, wenn die elementaren Dinge nicht berücksichtigt werden, so kann man eben natürlich nicht hineinkommen. Und die Leute betrachten es als eine Zumutung, wenn man an sie die Anforderung stellt, die elementarsten Dinge zu berücksichtigen.
[ 29 ] Ich stelle ein Bild vor Sie hin. In den neunziger Jahren war ich einmal in Jena; da hat nach seiner Entlassung Bismarck eine große Rede gehalten. Er ist im Gefolge von Haeckel und Bardeleben und andern Jenenser Professoren unter einem Baldachin erschienen. Nun denken Sie, die ganze kolossale Menge, die dazumal auf dem Marktplatz in Jena stand, die sollte, was Bismarck sagt, nur so verfolgen, wie sie es verfolgen würde bei einem Menschen, den sie jetzt erst kennenlernt! Nicht wahr, das ist undenkbar unter gewöhnlichen Verhältnissen. Und dennoch, für den, der wirklich in eine Art Einweihung hineinkommen will, ist es durchaus notwendig, daß er sich die Unbefangenheit entwickelt, alles das, was er sieht, auch wenn sich darüber noch so viel schon in seiner Seele festgelegt hat, immer wiederum wie etwas ganz Neues anzusehen, wie etwas sozusagen ihm vom Himmel Zugefallenes. Denn das ist ja das Eigentümliche der geistigen Welt, daß wir sie uns immer erst in jedem Augenblicke wieder neu erringen müssen, wenn wir sie haben wollen. Dazu müssen wir uns in der entsprechenden Weise eben vorbereiten.
[ 30 ] Aber man kann doch sagen: Wenn man die allgemeinen Zivilisationserscheinungen beachtet, bewegt sich die Menschheit in einer solchen Linie. Nur kommt sie zunächst noch in schlechtem Aspekt zum Vorschein: in dem Bekämpfen jeder Autorität, in dem Bekämpfen jedes hergebrachten Urteiles und so weiter. Diese Dinge müssen nur alle veredelt werden. Aber die Menschheit bewegt sich in der Linie der Vorurteilslosigkeit, der Unvoreingenommenheit. Es kommt nur zunächst von seiner negativen, häßlichen Seite aus zum Vorschein. Man muß, wenn man die Entwickelung der Zivilisation richtig beurteilen will, wenn man sie für die Zukunft bewerten will, sie auch von der Seite betrachten, die ich eben jetzt angedeutet habe.
[ 31 ] Über diese Dinge werden wir dann, meine lieben Freunde, am nächsten Freitag um 8 Uhr weitersprechen.
Old and new methods of initiation II
[ 1 ] When one engages in discussions such as those that took place here yesterday, one does not always intend to encourage practice in the direction indicated with a view to attaining higher supersensible knowledge. Of course, this is also inherent in such discussions, but when such things are communicated, it is also a matter of spreading knowledge about what can be attained through such exercises. And anyone who declares that this or that is possible in relation to human development is thereby saying something about the nature of the human being itself. When one hears that a person seeking initiation can detach the soul-spiritual from the physical-corporeal, either in the way I described yesterday, as it happened in the ancient mysteries, or in the way I will now describe in outline, as appropriate for the present time, hears that something like this is possible, then one can know that the soul-spiritual is an independent being that has its existence beyond the physical. So from these communications one gains the knowledge that there is higher knowledge, knowledge about the human being itself, and that is what is essential for the spread of anthroposophical wisdom.
[ 2 ] Yesterday I described how the physical was treated in the ancient mysteries so that it could release the soul in two different directions. I said that the two essential things that mattered in the ancient mysteries were: the drink of forgetfulness on the one hand, and the evocation of fearful, terrifying states on the other. The potion of forgetfulness did indeed cause people to erase from their memory everything that was initially stored there from their ordinary earthly life. But this negative aspect was not the main thing, I said, but rather that the brain was, in a sense, physically softened during the process of gaining knowledge of the mysteries, and that as a result the spiritual, which is otherwise held back, was not held back by the brain, but was allowed to pass through, and that the human being thus became aware: Yes, I have an eternal soul-spiritual being that existed before my birth or conception.
[ 3 ] The other thing is that the rest of the organism became, as it were, frozen under the influence of the frightening fact. But when the organism freezes, it does not absorb the soul-spiritual as it normally does, insofar as this is expressed through the will. The frozen physical body withdraws, so to speak, from the soul-spiritual, and the soul-spiritual becomes perceptible to the human being. Through the softening of the brain, the thought aspect of the soul became perceptible to the ancient mystery students. Through the paralysis of the rest of the organism, the will aspect became perceptible. And in this way, through initiation, human beings gained an idea of their soul-spiritual nature. But this conception had a thoroughly dreamlike character. For what was it that became free, on the one hand, on the side of thought, and on the other hand, on the side of the will? It was that which descends from the spiritual-soul worlds and connects itself with the physical-bodily aspect of the human being. Only through the possession of the body does it become capable of using the senses and the intellect, for the body is necessary for this. Without making use of the body, it remains dreamlike, completely dull and dim. So that when human beings detached their soul and spirit through the processes described above, they received something dreamlike, but a dreamlike state that in a certain sense contained a purely mental element.
[ 4 ] I said yesterday that if human beings were to do this again today, or even do it as they did in the past, it would lead to a pathological state. For since the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings have essentially advanced in their organization to such an extent that intellectual life has become stronger than the earlier, instinctive states of knowledge. This particular strengthening of intellectual life has come upon humanity especially since the 15th century. It is extremely significant that even throughout the Middle Ages, people knew that if they wanted to attain higher knowledge, if they wanted to lead a higher human life in a certain sense, it was necessary to detach the soul from the body.
[ 5 ] We would probably have a work of fiction in German literature about this medieval knowledge of the supersensible, about this medieval relationship to the supersensible, if Schiller had been able to carry out his planned great drama “Die Malteser” (The Maltese). It is an extremely interesting phenomenon in German intellectual life that Schiller planned to write a drama about the Maltese Order precisely in the years when the Order was destroyed by Napoleon, namely the siege of the island of Malta by the Turks and the defense of the island by the Grand Master of the Order, Lavalette. Schiller was apparently unable to complete this drama. He then wrote “Wallenstein” and abandoned “The Maltese.” If Schiller had completed “The Maltese,” we would have a drama that clearly shows how, in such an order—and the Maltese emerged from the events of the Crusades—which outwardly was actually based on humanitarian actions, community service, charitable work, and so on, there was a prevailing opinion that such a thing could only be accomplished if one simultaneously ascended to a higher life in a certain sense.
[ 6 ] At the time when the Order of the Knights Templar and the Order of St. John — from which the Order of Malta later emerged — were founded, and indeed throughout the Middle Ages, there was a strong feeling that human beings had to transform themselves before they could undertake such a task in the right way. This is a feeling toward human beings that has been completely lost in modern times, and this is due to the fact that the human intellect has become much more intense and powerful, so that modern humans are completely intellectual, with the intellectual aspect being particularly prominent in them.
[ 7 ] In our time, there is once again a strong longing among people to overcome intellectualism. What is evident today in literature, especially in journalism, still expresses the opposite, but among the broad masses there is definitely a longing to overcome the intellectual element. This is particularly evident in the fact that not only is talking about spiritual matters extremely well received in the widest circles today, but also that something like our eurythmy, which is not derived from the intellect but from what imaginatively underlies the human being, even if it is not yet fully understood, is already making an impression on the widest circles today. For it has become clear during recent trips, especially during the last eurythmy trip, that eurythmy makes an extraordinarily strong impression even on those circles who, of course, cannot see it at first glance, at first touch, cannot see its deepest essence, but who feel that there is something that has been brought out from the deeper foundations of human nature, something that is more than mere intellectualism.
[ 8 ] Now, what is the basis of this intellectualism that is so characteristic of human beings today? I would like to clarify this again with a kind of schematic drawing [see $. 78, plate 6]. I said yesterday: If we take the human brain (white), we can imagine that through what has been understood as the drink of forgetfulness, the spiritual-soul element, which otherwise stops at the brain, penetrated the brain (red), and that, in a sense, the spiritual-soul element rose up from within through the prepared brain, through the old initiate. — Today's intellectualism is based on the fact that, compared to older people, say before the mystery of Golgotha, the soul-spiritual has become stronger and more intense within modern human beings. Older people did not have so much intellectualism at all. Their soul-spiritual life did not develop into such sharp lines of thought as is the case with people today. For when one is an intellectual, one thinks everything in straight lines. Older people did not think like that. Older people thought more pictorially, more dreamlike, more softly, I would say. Today's people have angular thoughts with sharp contours. But even though today's people have become more spiritual than in earlier times, they are still unable to grasp these thoughts from a spiritual perspective.
[ 9 ] Let us understand each other correctly, my dear friends. Modern people already have a good deal more spiritual strength than people in earlier times. They no longer dream as people in earlier times dreamed; they discipline their thoughts. Nevertheless, these thoughts would remain muted if only the spiritual had to work in modern people. Actually, people still cannot think from their souls.
[ 10 ] What robs people of their power of thought is the body. When we have a sensory perception, for example, we have it with our soul and spirit. But when we want to think about this sensory perception, the body has to help us. The body is actually the thinker. So today the situation is this: sensory perception acts upon the human being, the soul-spiritual (red above) permeates sensory perception, but the body acts like a mirror and constantly reflects the rays of thought (green arrows). This makes them conscious. So the body is what relieves humans of the effort of thinking, but not of the effort of sensory perception. And if, according to this line of thought, humans today want to strive for initiation, then they must, through the exercises we know from How to Know Higher Worlds and from the second part of The Secret Science in Outline, then he will gradually bring about a state in which this soul-spiritual element becomes so independent within him that it no longer needs the body.
[ 11 ] So let us understand each other correctly: when we think in ordinary life today, it is indeed the soul-spiritual that is active. Above all, it takes in sensory perceptions, but it could not develop the thoughts that are developed today. That is why the body comes and relieves man of the effort of thinking. In ordinary life, we think entirely with the body; the body is the thinking apparatus. When we do the exercises mentioned in the books, the soul becomes so strong through these exercises that it no longer needs the body to think, that it thinks for itself. And this is basically the first stage of development toward higher knowledge, that the soul-spiritual begins to set aside the body as the actual organ of thought for higher knowledge. It must be emphasized again and again that as humans advance to higher knowledge, that is, to imagination, they always remain beside themselves with their healthy common sense as someone who controls and criticizes themselves. So one remains the same person that one is in ordinary life. Only the second human being develops out of the first, who is then able to think no longer with the help of the body, but without the help of the body.
[ 12 ] So what was revealed to the old mystery student as spiritual-soul life came out of the body, penetrated the brain, and in a sense was perceived by the human being as it flowed out. But what the human being perceives today as an initiate is intensified thinking, which does not involve the brain at all. So while the ancient human being drew what he perceived as spiritual-soul out of his organization, the human being today perceives the spiritual-soul on the side of thought in such a way that it penetrates into him, just as sensory perceptions penetrate into him. As they climb this first step of higher knowledge, people have to get used to saying: I am beginning to perceive my own eternal soul-spiritual nature, because it penetrates through my eyes, it penetrates into me from outside.
[ 13 ] I said in a public lecture at the Bernoullianum in Basel: Spiritual science in the anthroposophical sense must regard sensory perception as its ideal. We must go beyond sensory perception. We must not go back to dream-like cognition, but must advance to a clearer cognition than this perception is. Therefore, our own being must come to us as colors and tones come to the senses.
[ 14 ] You see, when the human being descends from the spiritual-soul world to physical embodiment, his soul-spirit is such that it dies, so to speak, for the soul-spiritual world; when a human being is conceived and prepares for birth, he dies for the spiritual world. When a human being dies here for the physical world, he is born into the spiritual world as he passes through the gate of death. These are only relative terms. When one dies for the spiritual world, one is born physically; when one dies for the physical world, one is born spiritually. Death in the physical world means spiritual birth; birth in the physical world means spiritual death. As I said, these are only relative terms. What happens in the soul as it proceeds toward birth is indeed something that could not continue to exist in the spiritual world, something that would disintegrate in the spiritual world and run toward a physical body in order to continue to exist.
[ 15 ] So that if one wanted to draw it schematically, one would have to draw something like this: The spiritual-soul (red from the left) descends from the spiritual-soul world. It has, one might say, arrived at a dead end; it cannot go any further now, it must equip itself with physical materiality (blue). But physical
[ 16 ] materiality actually only works as I have just described, from the brain, not from the rest of the human being. From the rest of the human being, the spiritual-soul element emerges again, which recovers, so to speak, by not being allowed to pass through the brain, by having a counterforce, a support in the brain. This enables the spiritual-soul element to oppose itself through the rest of the human organization, namely through the metabolism of the limbs (red on the right). One could therefore say that what I have drawn here in blue is the head organization. Here then is the limb-metabolism organization (yellow); in the normal state, this absorbs the spiritual-soul element, but only to a certain degree. As we grow up from childhood, the spiritual-soul element actually comes to the fore again and again. At the moment when a human being is conceived, and while he is an embryo, a germ in his mother's womb, the entire spiritual-soul element that comes down from the spiritual-soul world is, in a sense, submerged in the material world. But because it has been given support, this spiritual-soul element recovers. The embryo has a form that already shows this externally: first, the head organization, where the spiritual-soul element finds support (see drawing). Then the rest of the organization takes shape; the spiritual-soul element already wells up again — I have drawn this schematically here.
[ 17 ] As we grow up as children, the spiritual-soul element becomes increasingly independent. In children, this is not yet very strong, but the spiritual-soul element becomes more and more independent. I have described this in detail in my account of child development, including how the spiritual-soul element becomes increasingly independent at the major transition points, such as when the teeth change and when sexual maturity is reached. As we grow up as human beings, we allow the physical element to recede more and more and develop an independent spiritual-soul element. This independence is more intense in modern humans than in older humans. But it cannot think. As I said, it needs the body's help if it wants to think. Otherwise, what grows within us would remain dreamlike.
[ 18 ] So we can say: The older initiate sought to make the brain permeable so that the earlier spiritual-soul life that descended could still flow through it, so that he could still perceive, in a sense, his pre-birth life through the softened brain. The modern initiate does not reflect on this, but reflects on what emerges in the course of life. They awaken this to a higher intensity on the side of thought. The older initiates would not have been able to do this. They would not have been able to grasp so strongly what develops in a dull way in the child as the new spiritual-soul life, which later passes through the ‘gate of death’. He therefore killed off the physical body, so to speak, he paralyzed it so that the old spiritual-soul life that had been there before he was conceived or conceived could come out.
[ 19 ] Today, we grasp more strongly what we develop in a weak way through childhood to adulthood, so that we strengthen what develops as the new spiritual-soul life since birth. In this way, we try to develop an independent spiritual-soul life in relation to the body on the side of thought. So while the old initiate revealed the pre-birth spiritual-soul life by dampening the body, we try to reveal what develops more and more after birth as spiritual-soul life; but we do not reveal it to the degree that we can use it to perceive the spiritual world independently. That is the difference.
[ 20 ] On the side of the will, it is like this: as I said, the old initiate tried to make the organization of the will rigid. This made the spiritual-soul element, which is otherwise absorbed by the organization of the will, perceptible to him again, that is, what was there from the pre-birth state. When the body is rigid, it does not absorb the spiritual-soul element; this makes it manifest in its independence. As modern initiates, we do not do this, but proceed in a different way. Here, the will is strengthened by transforming the power of the will in the manner I have described in the books mentioned above. It would be completely wrong to induce cataleptic states through shocks, states of fear, or states of fright, as was done with the ancient initiates. With modern humans and their highly developed intellect, this would be completely pathological. So this must not be done. On the contrary, through backward exercises, for example, where one does not imagine oneself moving forward, but rather, as in a review, goes through the day's experiences backward, from evening to morning, or through other exercises of the will, the will is transformed in a way that I can characterize as follows: Consider the human eye. How must it be constructed so that we can see? When we become seriously ill, the matter of the eye asserts itself independently. The eye clothes itself with matter, which then becomes opaque. The eye must be selfless, selflessly integrated into the organism if we want to use it for proper seeing; it must be transparent. Our organism is by no means transparent to the will. I have often explained this to you. We can have a thought, let us say that we want to raise our arm, our hand. We grasp the thought: I want to raise my arm, my hand. — But what then happens in our organism when this thought shoots over into the organism and carries out the action? This is just as shrouded in darkness as the events that take place between falling asleep and waking up. We only see the raised arm, the raised hand. So we have a representation again. The initial representation and the final representation come together; what lies in between is a state of sleep. The will unfolds in the unconscious for human beings in the same way that the events of sleep unfold in the unconscious. We can say quite well that, in relation to understanding the will, our organism is as opaque to ordinary consciousness as a seriously diseased eye would be.
[ 21 ] Of course, I do not mean to say that the human organism is sick because of this. It must be opaque to ordinary practical life. That is its normal state. But for higher knowledge it cannot remain so; it must become transparent, spiritually transparent. This happens through the exercises of the will. The organism becomes such that we can see through it, so that we no longer look down into something indefinite when the will unfolds, but it becomes as selfless as the eye in its substantiality is selflessly inserted into the organism so that we can see external objects correctly. Just as the eye itself is transparent, the organism becomes spiritually and soulfully transparent, and the whole organism becomes a sense organ. Through this, we perceive spiritual entities objectively on the side of the will, just as we perceive external physical objects through the external eye. So the exercises of the will do not aim at stiffening the body in order to free the spiritual-soul life, but at developing the spiritual-soul life so that it can see through the physical. That is the essential point. One can only see into the spiritual world by looking through oneself. Just as one sees external objects through the eye only by looking through the eye, so one does not see directly into the spiritual world, but by looking through oneself.
[ 22 ] That is the other side, development according to the will. So, in modern times, all development is based on, first, strengthening the mind so that it becomes independent of the brain, and second, shaping the will so that the whole human being becomes transparent. One cannot see into the spiritual world through the flash of lightning, any more than one can see into the world of colors without the eye. One must see through oneself. But this happens through exercises of the will.
[ 23 ] There you have what can be achieved through initiation for modern human beings. On the one hand, the soul-spiritual can be made independent of the physical through the thinking faculty, and on the other hand, the physical can be overcome in its materiality by becoming spiritually and soulfully transparent. This gives you the spiritual-soul element that has become independent through its own power. That is the great difference between the old and the new initiation. The old initiation changed the body, changed it according to the brain, according to the rest of the organism, and through the body being changed, the soul-spiritual became perceptible in a dull way. The modern initiation changes the spiritual-soul element, makes it stronger within itself toward the side of thought and toward the side of the will, and thereby makes it, on the one hand, independent of the brain and, on the other hand, so strong that it shines through the organism.
[ 24 ] This meant, however, that the old initiates saw what they perceived as ghostly apparitions. After the appropriate procedures had been carried out, what could reveal itself as the essence of the spiritual world appeared in a ghostly form. One saw the spiritual world, I would say, in ethereal forms. And the great concern of the teachers of the ancient mysteries was that the students, even though they saw the perceptions from the spiritual world as ghostly, learned to disregard the ghostly. Again and again, the admonitions of the teachers of the ancient mysteries were to make it clear to the students: You see something that looks material, but you must look at it as images. In what you see, in this ghostly form, you have only the images of the spiritual world. You must not believe that what you see around you like ghosts is true reality — just as the chalk dust on the blackboard when I write something down is not reality, but only the image of what is being depicted. Of course, this was not said in such words, but in a more modern way it could be expressed thus. It was the great concern of the ancient mysteries that the disciples should not take what they saw in a dreamlike, ghostly way as reality, but that they should accept it as images.
[ 25 ] In modern initiation, there is a different concern. There, one can only come to know the higher world by passing through imaginative knowledge. So there one lives in a world of images; there the images are there from the outset in their pictorial character. Thus, one is not exposed to confusion; one has an image character from the outset. But in order to be able to judge these images correctly, to know how to relate them to spiritual reality, one must apply the precise thinking that one has acquired as a modern human being to the world of images, by really thinking in this world of images as one has learned to think in the ordinary physical world. Any thoughtless viewing is detrimental to modern initiation. Everything that one has developed as a modern human being in terms of healthy thinking must be carried over into higher knowledge. Just as one can orient oneself in the ordinary physical world if one can think properly, so one can only orient oneself in the world of the spirit, which one enters through modern initiation, if one is able to apply everything one has gained through imaginative, inspired, intuitive knowledge in the right way with the thinking one has acquired here in the physical world. I have always stated this very clearly in my “Theosophy,” in my “Secret Science,” and also in “How to Know Higher Worlds” as a characteristic feature of modern initiation.
[ 26 ] That is why it is so necessary that everyone who wants to enter the higher worlds in the newer sense learns to think really precisely and practices precise thinking. This is not as easy as people imagine. To make what I actually mean clear, I will say the following: Let us think of something very concise. Let us say that this esteemed company here would be surprised tomorrow — this is, of course, a hypothetical situation — by the appearance of, say, Lloyd George here in the Goetheanum. I am deliberately choosing an extreme example. Now, if Lloyd George were to appear here tomorrow, you would all have certain thoughts, certain feelings. But these thoughts, these feelings that you would have, would not arise merely from the fact that you were following everything you saw from the moment Lloyd George appeared until the moment he left again. In order to follow him, you would not need to know that he was Lloyd George. You would then only be able to perceive in him what one can see in a person who is completely unknown to you. Until you are able to disregard everything you already know and feel from elsewhere about something you perceive in this way, until you are able to follow only what you see, you are not thinking accurately. You will only think accurately when you are able, if Lloyd George appears tomorrow, to think and feel nothing about him other than what the pure impression evokes, from the first moment your eye becomes aware of him to the moment he disappears from your view again. You must shut out everything you knew before. You must shut out everything that annoyed you about him or delighted you about him, and you must grasp only what he presents to you in pure perception. Only in this way can you learn to think accurately in accordance with reality. Think how far humanity is from thinking in accordance with reality! Let something stir in your soul, and you will see how much you allow to rise from the hidden, unconscious, subconscious feelings that live in your soul. It is extremely challenging to limit oneself to what one has merely seen. Try reading something where someone describes something and ask yourself: Are they merely describing what they have seen, or are they evoking hundreds and hundreds of preconceived sensations and feelings that are also speaking within them? And yet, only when you are able to limit yourself purely to what you have seen will you gradually be able to arrive at precise thinking. So, above all, you must strip away everything that has been instilled in you, even through life itself, and really pursue only what presents itself to you in life. If you consider this and meditate a little on what I have just said, you will gradually gain an understanding of what is meant by “precise thinking.” In ordinary life, under present-day conditions, people have hardly any opportunity to practice precise thinking anywhere other than in geometry, or at most in arithmetic. There, people limit themselves to what they see. We do not bring many preconceptions to a geometric figure, to a triangle. We say to ourselves: That is a triangle. I will draw a parallel line here. This angle is equal to that angle, that angle is equal to this angle, and the angle in the middle is equal to itself. That is then a straight angle. So the three angles of the triangle are also equal to a straight angle. I look at what is in front of me. I don't bring with me such colossal prejudices as if Lloyd George were to come tomorrow and I already knew about it in advance. Of course, what I have just said is only to say that truly exact, precise thinking is a good preparation for seeing the higher spiritual worlds correctly. Thinking in which one has the beginning of the thought precisely in one's hand and can really see every step of the thought very clearly is necessary in order to enter the higher worlds, I mean, in order to enter the higher worlds intelligently. Above all, a pronounced conscientiousness of thinking is necessary, an accounting for what one thinks. And ordinary life also holds people back too much in this respect. In most cases, people are not interested in thinking precisely, but rather in thinking in such a way that they like the thought, that the thought is pleasant to them.
[ 27 ] Isn't it true that when you are a Catholic priest and you hear something about anthroposophy, the thought that there might be something right in anthroposophy is terribly unpleasant? So there can be no question of developing precise thinking. You approach the matter with all kinds of antecedents, all kinds of preconceptions and prejudices, and then you decide based on those prejudices. In life, most things are decided based on prejudices. Just think about how strange it sometimes seems when you simply try to characterize something without prejudice. We live here in the Goetheanum. No one would believe that I am any less of an admirer of Goethe than anyone else, but how much have I said against Goethe! How often do I try to characterize Goethe from a limited series of appearances that can be overlooked, while most of the time, when people talk about Goethe, the name Goethe itself already contains a whole sum of evaluations. Just uttering the name Goethe is enough to stir something in the soul. When approaching a new phenomenon, it is impossible to approach it without prejudice if one brings with one the whole colossus of prejudices.
[ 28 ] These things are not usually taken into account, and therefore one very often hears people say: Oh, it is impossible to penetrate into the spiritual worlds! Yes, if the elementary things are not taken into account, then of course it is impossible to penetrate them. And people consider it unreasonable to be asked to take the most elementary things into account.
[ 29 ] Let me paint a picture for you. In the 1890s, I was once in Jena; Bismarck had just been dismissed and gave a great speech. He appeared under a canopy, accompanied by Haeckel, Bardeleben, and other Jena professors. Now imagine the entire colossal crowd that stood in the market square in Jena at that time, who, according to Bismarck, were supposed to follow him as they would follow someone they had just met! That is unthinkable under normal circumstances. And yet, for those who truly want to be initiated into something, it is absolutely necessary to develop the impartiality to view everything they see, even if it has already become firmly established in their minds, as something completely new, as something that has fallen from the sky, so to speak. For that is the peculiarity of the spiritual world, that we must always regain it anew at every moment if we want to have it. To do this, we must prepare ourselves in the appropriate manner.
[ 30 ] But one can say that if one observes the general phenomena of civilization, humanity is moving in such a direction. Only at first does this appear in a negative light: in the fighting of all authority, in the fighting of all traditional judgments, and so on. These things only need to be refined. But humanity is moving in the direction of impartiality, of open-mindedness. It only appears at first from its negative, ugly side. If one wants to judge the development of civilization correctly, if one wants to evaluate it for the future, one must also look at it from the side I have just indicated.
[ 31 ] We will talk more about these things next Friday at 8 o'clock, my dear friends.