Man and the World of Stars
GA 219
The Spiritual Communion of Mankind
30 December 1922, Dornach
IV. The Relation of the Movement for Religious Renewal to the Anthroposophical Movement
I have often said in this place that in more ancient times in the evolution of humanity, science, art, and religion formed a harmonious unity. Anyone who is able in one way or another to gain knowledge of the nature of the ancient Mysteries knows that within these Mysteries, knowledge was sought as a revelation of the Spiritual in picture form, in the way that was possible in those times. That way can no longer be ours, although in this age we must again advance to a knowledge of the spiritual nature of the world. A pictorial knowledge of the Spiritual lay at the foundation of all ancient conceptions of the world. This knowledge came to direct expression, not merely by being communicated in words, but through forms which have gradually become those of our arts—bodily, plastic presentation in the plastic arts and presentation by means of tone and word in the arts of music and speech. But this second stage was followed by the third stage, that of the revelation of the nature of the world in religious cult or ritual, a revelation through which the whole man felt himself uplifted to the divine-spiritual ground of the world, not merely in thought, nor merely in feeling as happens through art, but in such a way that thoughts, feelings and also the inmost impulses of the will surrendered themselves in reverent devotion to this divine-spiritual principle. And the sacred acts and rites were the means whereby the external actions of man's will were to be filled with spirit. Men felt the living unity in science (as it was then conceived), art, and religion. The ideal of the spiritual life of the present day must be, once more to gain knowledge that can bring to realization what Goethe already divined: a knowledge that raises itself to art, not symbolical or allegorical art, but true art—which means creative, formative activity in tones and in words—an art which also deepens into direct religious experience.
Only when anthroposophical Spiritual Science is seen to contain this impulse within it, is its true being understood. Obviously humanity will have to take many steps in spiritual development before such an ideal can be realized. But it is just the patient devotion to the taking of these steps which must bring blessing to the Anthroposophical Movement.
Now I should like, in the series of lectures now being given, to speak from one particular aspect on this impulse in the Anthroposophical Movement to which reference has just been made. Perhaps, my dear friends, at the close of what I have to say, you will understand what is really the deeper cause of my words. Let me say in the first place that already for a long time now the Anthroposophical Movement has not coincided with the Anthroposophical Society, but that the Anthroposophical Society, if it would fulfill its task, must really carry the whole impulse of the Anthroposophical Movement. The Anthroposophical Movement has laid hold of wider circles than merely the Anthroposophical Society. Hence it has come about that in more recent years the way of working had necessarily to be different for the Anthroposophical Movement from what it was when the Anthroposophical Movement was essentially contained within the Anthroposophical Society. But the Anthroposophical Society can only fulfill its real nature when it feels itself as the kernel of the Anthroposophical Movement.
Now in order not to speak merely theoretically but to make what I have just said really intelligible, I must tell you a little about something that has recently taken place in connection with a Movement that is distinct from the Anthroposophical Movement, because, if I did not do this, misunderstanding might easily arise.
I will therefore narrate briefly the manner in which a certain Movement having a religious, cultic character has arisen, a Movement which indeed has much to do with the Anthroposophical Movement, but should not be confused with it: it is the religious movement which calls itself ‘The Movement for Religious Renewal,’ [This Movement was the beginning of The Christian Community as it has since been called.] for the renewal of Christianity. The position of this Movement with respect to the Anthroposophical Movement will become clear if we take our start from the forms in which this Movement for Religious Renewal has developed.
Some time ago a few enthusiastic young theological students came to me. They were about to conclude their theological studies and enter upon the practical duties of ministers of religion. What they said to me was to the following effect: When at the present time a student receives with a really devoted Christian heart the theology offered to him at the universities, he feels at last as if he had no firm ground under his feet for the practical work of a minister that is before him. The theology and religion of our time has gradually assumed forms that do not really enable it to instil into its ministers for their practical work and their care of souls the impulse that must proceed as a living power from the Mystery of Golgotha, from the consciousness that the Christ Being Who formerly lived in spiritual worlds, has since united Himself with human life on earth and now works on further in that life.—I perceived that in the souls of those who came to me there was the feeling that if Christianity is to be kept alive, a renewal of the entire theological impulse and of the entire religious impulse is necessary; otherwise Christianity cannot be the really vital force for our whole spiritual life. And it is indeed clear that the religious impulse only assumes its true significance and meaning when it lays hold of a man so deeply that it pervades everything he brings forth out of his thinking, feeling, and will.
I remarked first of all to those who came to me in this way for help in what they were seeking and could only find where anthroposophical Spiritual Science is making its way into the world today—I pointed out to them that one cannot work from the enthusiasm of a few single individuals, but that it is a question of gathering together, as it were, similar strivings in wider circles, even though the striving may be more or less unconscious. I said to these people that theirs was obviously not an isolated striving; rather was it the case that they were feeling in their hearts—perhaps more intensely than others—what countless human beings of the present day are also feeling; and I showed them that if it is a question of religious renewal, one must start from a broad basis whereon can be found a large number of persons out of whose hearts springs the impulse to strive for that renewal.
After a while the people in question came to me again. They had fully accepted what I had said to them and now they were able to tell me that they had been joined by a considerable number of other young theological students who were in the same position, that is to say, who were dissatisfied with the present theological and religious aims at the universities and yet were about to enter upon the practical duties of ministers of the church; and there seemed every prospect of the circle being increased.
I said: It is quite obvious first of all that it is not only a question of having a band of preachers and ministers, but into such a movement for religious renewal should be drawn not only those who can teach and perform the duties of pastors, but above all those—and they are very numerous—who possess more or less dimly in their hearts a strong religious impulse, a specifically Christian impulse, which, in view of the way in which theological religion has developed, cannot be satisfied. I pointed out, therefore, that there are circles of people in the population who are not within the Anthroposophical Movement, and who, from the whole tenor of their mind and heart, do not immediately find their way to the Anthroposophical Movement.
I remarked further, that for the Anthroposophical Movement it is ultimately a case of seeing clearly and distinctly that we are living in an age when, simply through the world's evolution, a number of spiritual truths, truths regarding the actual spiritual content of the world, can be found by men when they become spiritual researchers. And if men do not become spiritual researchers but strive after the truth in the way in which it must disclose itself to man when he is conscious of his human dignity, then the truths discovered by-spiritual researchers can be understood by such persons by means of their ordinary, sound human intellect—provided it is really sound.
I went on to say that the Anthroposophical Movement is founded upon the principle that he who finds his way into it knows that what is important above all is that the spiritual truths now accessible to humanity should lay hold of men's hearts and minds as knowledge. The essential thing is that knowledge should enter the spiritual life of man. It is of course not the case that one who is in the Anthroposophical Movement need be versed in the various sciences. One may be in the Anthroposophical Movement without possessing any impulse or any inclination towards natural science, for the truths of Anthroposophy are perfectly comprehensible to the human intellect if only it is healthy and unclouded by prejudice. If already at the present time a sufficiently large number of persons out of the natural tendencies of their heart and mind were to find their way to the Anthroposophical Movement, then all that is necessary for religious aims and religious ideals would also gradually develop together with anthroposophical knowledge out of the Anthroposophical Movement. But there are, as I have already said, a great number of people who have the above-mentioned urge towards a renewal of religion, that is to say towards a renewal of Christian religion, and who, simply through being in certain circles of the cultural life, cannot find their way into the Anthroposophical Movement. What is necessary for these people at the present time is that a path suited to them should be found, leading to the spiritual life appropriate to the humanity of the present day.
I pointed out that it was a matter of forming communities; that what is to be reached in Anthroposophy can be attained first of all in the single individual, but that, out of the knowledge thus gained in an individual way, there must flow by an absolute inner necessity the ethical and religious social activity that is requisite for the future of humanity.
It is therefore a question of giving something to those people who are at first unable to set out directly along the path to the Anthroposophical Movement. The spiritual path for them must be sought by forming communities in which heart and soul and spirit work together—a path adapted to human evolution at its present stage.
What I then had to say out of the needs of our human evolution to those persons who came to me may be summed up approximately in the words: it is necessary for the evolution of humanity at the present time that the Anthroposophical Movement should grow more and more, in accordance with the conditions which underlie it, and which consist especially in this—that the spiritual truths which want to come to us from the spiritual world should first of all enter the hearts of men directly, so that men may be strengthened by these spiritual truths. They will then find the way, which will be on the one hand an artistic way, and on the other a religious, ethical, and social way. The Anthroposophical Movement has gone along this path since its inception, and for the Anthroposophical Movement no other path is necessary, if only this path be rightly understood. The need for another path arises for those who cannot directly take this one, but who through community-building and corporate endeavor within the community, must follow a different path, one which only later will join the anthroposophical path.
In this way the prospect was opened for two movements to travel side by side. There is the Anthroposophical Movement, which attains its true aims when it adheres with intelligence and vigor to the meaning and purpose originally contained in it and is not led astray by any special fields of work that are bound to open up as time goes on. Even the field of scientific work, for example, must not encroach upon the impulse of the general Anthroposophical Movement. We must clearly understand that it is the anthroposophical impulse which constitutes the Anthroposophical Movement, and although various fields of scientific work have recently been started within the Anthroposophical Movement it is absolutely necessary that the power and energy of the general anthroposophical impulse should not be weakened. In particular, the anthroposophical impulse must not be drawn into the forms of thinking and ideation prevailing in various fields of science—which ought actually to be vitalized by it—and be colored by them to such an extent that Anthroposophy becomes, let us say, chemical as Chemistry is today, physical as Physics is today, or biological as Biology is today. That must not happen on any account; it would strike at the very heart of the Anthroposophical Movement. What is essential is that the Anthroposophical Movement shall preserve its spiritual purity, but also its spiritual energy. To this end it must embody the essential nature of the anthroposophical spirituality, must live and move in it and bring forth out of the spiritual revelations of the present day everything that seeks to penetrate also into the life of science.
Side by side with this—so I said at that time—there might be such a movement for religious renewal, which of course has no significance for those who find the way into Anthroposophy, but is intended for those who, to begin with, cannot find this way. And as there are numbers of such people, a movement such as this is not only justified, but also necessary.
Taking for granted therefore that the Anthroposophical Movement will remain what it was and what it ought to be, I gave something, quite independently of the Anthroposophical Movement, to a number of persons who, from their own impulse, not mine, wished to work for the Movement for Religious Renewal; I gave what I was in a position to give in respect of what a future theology needs; and I also gave the contents of the ceremonial and ritual required by this new community.
What I have been able to give to these people out of the conditions pertaining to spiritual knowledge at the present time, I have given as a man to other men. What I have given them has nothing to do with the Anthroposophical Movement. I have given it to them as a private individual, and in such a way that I have emphasized with the necessary firmness that the Anthroposophical Movement must not have anything to do with this Movement for Religious Renewal; above all that I am not the founder of this Movement, and I rely upon this being made quite clear to the world; to individuals who wished to found this Movement for Religious Renewal I have given the necessary counsels—which are consonant with the practice of an authentic and inwardly vital cult, filled with spiritual content, to be celebrated in a right way with the forces out of the spiritual world. When I gave this advice I never performed a ritualistic act myself; I only showed, step by step, to those who wished to enact the ceremonies, how they have to be performed. That was necessary. And today it is also necessary that within the Anthroposophical Society this should be correctly understood.
The Movement for Religious Renewal, therefore, was founded independently of me, independently of the Anthroposophical Society. I only gave advice. The one who started it, the one who performed the very first ceremony in this Movement, performed it under my guidance, but I had no part whatever in the founding of this Movement. It is a Movement which originated of itself but received counsel from me because, when advice is justifiably asked in any particular sphere of work, is is a human duty, if one can give the advice, to do so.
Thus it must be understood, in the strictest sense of the word, that alongside the Anthroposophical Movement another Movement has started, founded out of itself (not out of the Anthroposophical Movement), for the reason that outside the Anthroposophical Society there are numbers of people who cannot find their way into the Anthroposophical Movement itself, but who will be able to come to it later on. Therefore strict distinctions must be made between the Anthroposophical Movement, the Anthroposophical Society, and the Movement for Religious Renewal. And it is important that Anthroposophy should not be looked upon as the founder of this Movement for Religious Renewal.
This has nothing to do with the fact that the advice which makes this religious Movement into a real spiritual community in a form suited to the present stage of human evolution, was given in all love and also in all devotion to the spiritual Powers who are able to place such a Movement in the world today. So that this Movement has only originated in the right way when it considers what is within the Anthroposophical Movement as something that gives it a sure ground and when it puts its trust in the Anthroposophical Movement, and seeks help and counsel from those who are within the Anthroposophical Movement, and so on. Taking into account the fact that the opponents of the Anthroposophical Movement today consider every method of attack justifiable, points such as these must be made quite clear, and I must here declare that everyone who is honest and sincere with respect to the Anthroposophical Movement would be obliged to deny any statement to the effect that the Movement for Religious Renewal was founded at Dornach in the Goetheanum and by the Goetheanum. For that is not the case, the facts are as I have just presented them.
Thus in view of the way in which I myself have helped this Movement for Religious Renewal to find its feet, I have necessarily had to picture to myself that this Movement—which puts its trust in the Anthroposophical Movement and regards the Anthroposophical Movement as its forerunner—will look for adherents outside the Anthroposophical Society, and that it would consider it a grave mistake to carry into the Anthroposophical Society the work and aims which are indeed necessary outside that Society. For the Anthroposophical Society is not understood by one who belongs to it unless his attitude is that he can be a counsellor and helper of this religious Movement, but cannot directly immerse himself in it. If he were to do so, he would be working for two ends: firstly, for the ruin and destruction of the Anthroposophical Society; secondly, to make fruitless the Movement for Religious Renewal. All the movements which arise among humanity in a justifiable way must indeed work together as in one organic whole, but this working together must take place in the right way. In the human organism it is quite impossible for the blood system to become nervous system, or for the nervous system to become blood system. The several systems have to work in the human organism distinct and separate from one another; it is precisely then that they will work together in the right way. It is therefore necessary that the Anthroposophical Society, with its content Anthroposophy, shall remain unweakened in any way by the other Movement; and that one who understands what the Anthroposophical Movement is, should—not in any presumptuous, arrogant sense, but as one who reckons with the tasks of the age—be able to see that those who have once found their way into the Anthroposophical Society do not need a religious renewal. For what would the Anthroposophical Society be if it first needed religious renewal!
But religious renewal is needed in the world, and because it is needed, because it is a profound necessity, a hand was extended to aid in founding it. Matters will therefore go on in the right way if the Anthroposophical Society remains as it is, if those who wish to understand it grasp its essential nature and do not think that it is necessary for them to belong to another movement which has taken what it possesses from Anthroposophy—although it is true in a real sense that Anthroposophy has not founded this Movement for Religious Renewal but that it has founded itself.
Anyone therefore who does not clearly distinguish these things and keep them apart, is actually—by becoming lax as regards the essential impulse of the Anthroposophical Movement—working for the destruction of the Anthroposophical Movement and for the removal of the ground and backbone of the Movement for Religious Renewal. If anyone who stands on the ground of the Movement for Religious Renewal thinks he must extend this Movement to the Anthroposophical Movement, he removes the ground from under his own feet. For everything of the nature of cult and ritual is finally bound to dissolve away when the ‘backbone’ of knowledge is broken.
For the welfare of both Movements it is essential that they should be held clearly apart. Therefore in the beginning, since everything depends on our developing the strength to carry out what we have set our will to do, it is absolutely necessary in these early days that the Movement for Religious Renewal should work in all directions in circles outside the Anthroposophical Movement; that therefore, neither as regards the acquisition of material means—in order that the matter be clearly understood I must also speak about these things—should it encroach on sources which in any event only flow with great difficulty for the Anthroposophical Movement, nor, because it does not at once succeed in finding adherents among non-Anthroposophists, should it, for example, make proselytes within the ranks of the Anthroposophists. Were it to do so, it would be doing something that would inevitably lead to the destruction of both Movements. It is really not a matter today of going forward with a certain fanaticism, but of being conscious that we can do what is necessary for man only when we work out of the necessity of the thing itself.
What I am now stating as consequences, were also equally the preliminary conditions for lending my assistance in the founding of the Movement for Religious Renewal, for only under these conditions could I assist it. If these preliminary conditions had not been there, the Movement for Religious Renewal would never have originated through my advice.
Therefore, I beg you to understand that it is necessary for the Movement for Religious Renewal to know that it must adhere to its starting point, that it has promised to look for its adherents outside the sphere of the Anthroposophical Movements, for it is there that they can be found in the natural way, and there they must be sought.
What I have said to you has not been said because of any anxiety lest something might be dug away from the Anthroposophical Movement, and it has certainly not been said out of any personal motive, but solely out of the necessity of the case itself. And it is also important to understand in what way alone it is possible to work rightly in each of these spheres of activity. It is indeed necessary that with regard to important matters we should state quite clearly how the case stands, for there is at the present time far too great a tendency to blur things and not to see them clearly. But clarity is essential today in every sphere.
If therefore someone were to exclaim: The very one who himself put this Movement for Religious Renewal into the world now speaks like this!! ... well, my dear friends, the whole point is that if I had at any time spoken differently about these things, I should not have lent a hand towards founding this Movement for Religious Renewal, it must remain at its starting point. What I am now saying, I am of course saying merely in order that these things may be correctly understood in the Anthroposophical Society and so that it shall not be said (as is reported to have happened already): The Anthroposophical Movement did not get on very well, and so now they have founded the Movement for Religious Renewal as the right thing.
I am quite sure that the very excellent and outstanding individuals who have founded the Movement for Religious Renewal will oppose any such legend most vigorously, and will also sternly refuse to make proselytes within the Anthroposophical Movement.—But, as has been said, the matter must be rightly understood within the Anthroposophical Movement itself.
I know, my dear friends, that there are always some who find it unpleasant to hear explanations such as these—which are necessary from time to time, not in order to complain in one direction or another, nor for the sake of criticism, but solely in order to present something once and for all in its true light. I know there are always some who dislike it when clarity is substituted for nebulous obscurity. But this is absolutely essential for the welfare and growth of the Anthroposophical Movement as well as of the Movement for Religious Renewal. The Movement for Religious Renewal cannot flourish if it in any way damages the Anthroposophical Movement.
This must be thoroughly understood, especially by Anthroposophists, so that whenever it is necessary to stand up for the rights of the matter, they may really be able to do so. When, therefore, there is any question about an anthroposophist's attitude towards religious renewal, he must be clear that his attitude can only be that of an adviser, that he gives what he can give in the way of spiritual possessions, and when it is a case of participating in the ceremonies, that he is conscious of doing so in order to help these ceremonies on their way. He alone can be a spiritual helper of the Movement for Religious Renewal who is himself first a good anthroposophist. But this Movement for Religious Renewal must be sustained, in every direction, by persons who, because of the particular configuration and tendencies of their spiritual life, cannot yet find their way into the Anthroposophical Society itself.
I hope that none of you will now go to someone who is doing active work in the Movement for Religious Renewal and say: This or that has been said against it in Dornach.—Nothing has been said against it. In love and in devotion to the spiritual world the Movement for Religious Renewal has been given counsel from out of the spiritual world, in order that it might rightly found itself. But the fact must be known by Anthroposophists that it has founded itself out of itself, that it has formed—not, it is true, the content of its ritual, but the fact of its ritual, out of its own force and its own initiative, and that the essential core of the Anthroposophical Movement has nothing to do with the Movement for Religious Renewal.
Certainly no wish could be stronger than mine that the Movement for Religious Renewal shall grow and flourish more and more, but always in adherence to the original intentions. Anthroposophical Groups must not be changed into communities for religious renewal, either in a material or in a spiritual sense.
I was obliged to say this today, for, as you know, counsel and advice had to be given for a Cult, a Cult whose growth in our present time is earnestly desired by me. In order that no misunderstanding should arise in regard to this Cult when I speak tomorrow of the conditions of the life of Cult in the spiritual world, I felt it necessary to insert these words today as an episode in our course of lectures.
Elfter Vortrag
Hier an diesem Orte habe ich es öfter ausgesprochen, wie in älteren Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung eine harmonische Einheit umschlossen hat Wissenschaft, Kunst und Religion. Wer auf die eine oder andere Art von dem Wesen älterer Mysterien Kenntnis gewinnen kann, der weiß, daß innerhalb dieser Mysterien das Wissen, die Erkenntnis gesucht worden ist als eine Offenbarung des Geistigen in seiner Bildgestalt auf jene Art, wie man es in älteren Zeiten hat suchen können. Diese Art kann nicht mehr die unsrige sein, aber wir müssen in unserem Zeitalter wiederum bis zur Erkenntnis des geistigen Wesens der Welt vorschreiten.
Allen älteren Weltanschauungen liegt eine bildhafte Erkenntnis des Geistigen zugrunde. Diese Erkenntnis des Geistigen lebte sich aber unmittelbar so aus, daß sie nicht bloß im Worte mitgeteilt wurde, sondern durch diejenigen Mittel, die allmählich zu unseren Kunstmitteln geworden sind: die körperlich-bildhafte Darstellung in den bildenden Künsten, die Darstellung durch Ton und Wort in den musikalischen und redenden Künsten. Aber von dieser zweiten Stufe kam es dann zur dritten Stufe, zu der religiös-kultischen Offenbarung des Wesens der Welt, durch die sich der ganze Mensch zu dem göttlich-geistigen Weltengrunde erhoben fühlte, nicht bloß in einer gedankenmäßigen Art, auch nicht bloß in einer gefühlsmäßigen Art, wie durch die Kunst, sondern so, daß Gedanken und Gefühle und auch der innerste Willensimpuls sich an dieses Göttlich-Geistige hingaben. Und dasjenige, durch welches die äußeren Willenshandlungen des Menschen durchgeistigt werden sollten, waren die Opferhandlungen, die Kultushandlungen. Man fühlte die lebendige Einheit in Wissenschaft, so wie man sie sich damals vorstellte, in Kunst, in Religion.
Das Ideal des gegenwärtigen Geisteslebens muß dahin gehen, wiederum eine Erkenntnis zu gewinnen, welche das verwirklichen kann, was Goethe schon geahnt hat: daß sie sich erhebt zur Kunst — nicht etwa zur symbolischen oder allegorischen Kunst, sondern zur wirklichen Kunst, zum Schaffen und Formen in Tönen, in Worten -, daß sie sich aber auch vertieft zum unmittelbaren religiösen Erleben. Nur wer anthroposophische Geisteswissenschaft so erfaßt, daß er in ihr diesen Impuls sieht, erfaßt sie eigentlich in ihrem wahren Wesen. Es ist selbstverständlich, daß die Menschheit verschiedene Schritte in ihrer Geistesentwickelung wird machen müssen, um zur Verwirklichung eines solchen Ideales zu kommen. Aber in dem geduldigen Sich-Hingeben an diese Schritte liegt dasjenige, was die anthroposophische Bewegung vorzugsweise betätigen muß.
Nun möchte ich innerhalb dieser hier jetzt zu haltenden anthroposophischen Vorträge von einem besonderen Gesichtspunkte aus gerade über diesen jetzt charakterisierten Impuls der anthroposophischen Bewegung sprechen. Wenn ich meine Ausführungen getan haben werde, werden Sie vielleicht sehen, welches eigentlich die tiefere Veranlassung zu diesen Auseinandersetzungen ist. Und ich möchte im voraus bemerken, daß heute schon anthroposophische Bewegung längst nicht mehr zusammenfällt mit Anthroposophischer Gesellschaft, aber daß die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft, wenn sie ihr Wesen verwirklichen will, tatsächlich voll tragen muß den Impuls der anthroposophischen Bewegung.
Die anthroposophische Bewegung hat weitere Kreise ergriffen als bloß die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft. Das machte notwendig, daß in der letzten Zeit die Art des Wirkens für die anthroposophische Bewegung eine etwas andere sein mußte als in derjenigen Zeit, in welcher im wesentlichen die anthroposophische Bewegung in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft beschlossen war. Aber die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft kann nur ihr Wesen erfüllen, wenn sie sich als Kern der anthroposophischen Bewegung fühlt.
Nun muß ich, um nicht bloß theoretisch, sondern real verständlich zu werden, in bezug auf dasjenige, was ich jetzt gesagt habe, Ihnen einiges von dem mitteilen, was sich mit Bezug auf eine andere Bewegung als die anthroposophische es ist, in der letzten Zeit zugetragen hat, weil, wenn ich das nicht täte, leicht Mißverständnisse entstehen könnten. Ich will deshalb heute episodisch erzählen, in welcher Form eine religiös-kultische Bewegung entstanden ist, die mit der anthroposophischen Bewegung allerdings viel zu tun hat, aber nicht mit ihr verwechselt werden sollte: die religiös-kultische Bewegung, welche sich nennt «Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung», zur Erneuerung des Christentums. Die Stellung dieser Bewegung zur anthroposophischen Bewegung wird verständlich werden, wenn zunächst zum Behufe der Herstellung dieses Verständnisses von den Formen ausgegangen wird, in denen sich diese Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung entwickelt hat.
Es ist jetzt eine Zeitlang her, da kamen eine geringe Anzahl begeisterter jüngerer Theologen zu mit, christlicher Theologen, die darinnenstanden, ihr theologisches Studium zu beenden, um ins praktische Seelsorgerwirken überzutreten. Sie kamen zu mir und sagten mir etwa dieses: Derjenige, der heute mit einem wirklich hingebungsvollen christlichen Herzen als Studierender aufnimmt die ihm universitätsmäßig gebotene Theologie, fühlt sich zuletzt, wie wenn er für sein zu erwartendes praktisches Seelsorgerwirken keinen festen Boden unter den Füßen hätte. — Die theologisch-religiöse Bewegung hat allmählich Formen angenommen, die ihr nicht gestatten, dasjenige wirklich hineinzugießen in das Seelsorgerwirken, was lebendig ausgehen muß von dem Mysterium von Golgatha, was lebendig ausgehen muß von dem Bewußtsein, daß durch das Mysterium von Golgatha die Christus-Wesenheit, die vorher in geistigen Welten weilte, sich verbunden hat mit dem menschlichen Erdenleben und im menschlichen Erdenleben weiterwirkt. Man machte mir ungefähr bemerklich, daß in den Seelen derer, die da kamen, die Empfindung lebt, daß eine Erneuerung des ganzen theologischen Impulses und des ganzen religiösen Impulses notwendig sei, wenn das Christentum lebendig erhalten werden soll, wenn das Christentum so erhalten werden soll, daß es auch die wirklich lebendige Kraft für unser ganzes geistiges Leben sein kann. Und es ist klar, daß der religiöse Impuls nur dadurch seine wahre Bedeutung hat, daß er den Menschen in seinem Wesen so tief ergreift, daß er allerdings alles andere, was der Mensch aus seinem Denken, Fühlen und Wollen hervorbringt, durchdringt.
Ich bemerkte zunächst denjenigen, die zu mir kamen, damit ich ihnen helfe in dem, was sie anstrebten und woanders nicht finden konnten als da, wo anthroposophische Geisteswissenschaft heute in die Welt tritt, ich bemerkte zunächst diesen nach einer religiösen Erneuerung suchenden Menschen, daß es notwendig sei, nicht aus irgendeinem Einzelenthusiasmus heraus zu wirken, sondern daß es darauf ankommt, dasjenige, was in weiteren Kreisen ein wenn auch mehr oder weniger unbewußt vorhandenes gleiches Streben ist, gewissermaßen zu sammeln. Ich bemerkte diesen Persönlichkeiten, daß ihr Streben selbstverständlich kein vereinzeltes ist, sondern daß sie vielleicht intensiver als manche andere, aber dennoch nur dasjenige in ihrem Herzen fühlten, was zahlreiche Menschen der Gegenwart fühlen, daß aber, wenn es sich handelt um religiöse Erneuerung, zunächst von der breiten Basis ausgegangen werden muß, innerhalb welcher zu finden sind eine größere Anzahl von Menschen, aus deren Herzen heraus das Streben nach religiöser Erneuerung quillt.
Nach einiger Zeit kamen dann die betreffenden Persönlichkeiten wieder zu mir. Sie hatten das als berechtigt durchaus hingenommen, was ich ihnen gesagt habe, und sie bemerkten mir dann, daß sich zu ihnen gesellt hätte bereits eine größere Anzahl jüngerer Theologen, die in der gleichen Lage wären, aus der Unbefriedigtheit des gegenwärtigen theologisch-religiösen Universitätsstrebens heraus in das Pfarramt, das heißt in die praktische Seelsorge überzutreten, und daß Aussicht vorhanden sei, daß der Kreis sich erweitere. Ich sagte: Es ist ganz selbstverständlich, daß es zunächst nicht allein darauf ankommt, daß gewissermaßen eine Anzahl von Predigern und Seelsorgen da sei, und daß nicht nur diejenigen in die religiöse Erneuerung hineingezogen werden sollten, welche zu lehren und die Seelsorge auszuüben haben, sondern vor allen Dingen diejenigen, die mit dem Charakter des reinen hingebungsvollen Bekenners heute zahlreich vorhanden seien; daß man sich bewußt sein müsse, daß zahlreiche Menschen heute in der Welt leben, die - mehr oder weniger dumpf in ihrem Gemüte einen starken religiösen Trieb haben, und zwar einen spezifisch christlich-religiösen Trieb, daß aber dieser christlich-religiöse Trieb durch dasjenige, was heute nach der Entwickelung, die eben das Theologisch-Religiöse genommen hat, nicht befriedigt werden kann.
Ich deutete darauf hin, wie es also Bevölkerungskreise gibt, die nicht innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung stehen, die auch zunächst keinen Weg finden aus der Verfassung ihrer Seele, aus der Verfassung ihres Herzens heraus zur anthroposophischen Bewegung hin. Ich bemerkte weiter auch, daß für die anthroposophische Bewegung es zunächst darauf ankomme, klar und deutlich das zu durchschauen, daß wir in einem Zeitalter leben, in dem einfach durch die Entwickelung der Welt eine Summe von geistigen Wahrheiten, Wahrheiten über einen wirklichen geistigen Weltinhalt, von den Menschen, wenn sie Geistesforscher werden, gefunden werden könne - wenn sie Geistesforscher werden wollen; daß jedoch, wenn sie nicht Geistesforscher werden wollen, aber nach der Wahrheit streben, wie sie heute dem Menschen sich erschließen muß, wenn er sich seiner menschlichen Würde bewußt ist, von solchen Menschen diese von Geistesforschern gefundenen Wahrheiten verstanden werden können mit dem gewöhnlichen gesunden, aber eben wirklich gesunden Menschenverstand.
Ich bemerkte, daß die anthroposophische Bewegung darauf beruht, daß derjenige, der den Weg findet zur anthroposophischen Bewegung, zunächst weiß, daß es in der Hauptsache darauf ankommt, daß die heute der Menschheit zugänglichen geistigen Wahrheiten die Herzen und die Seelen ergreifen als Erkenntnisse. Alles dasjenige, worauf es im wesentlichen ankommt, ist, daß diese Erkenntnisse zunächst in das menschliche Geistesleben eintreten. Es kommt selbstverständlich nicht darauf an, wie derjenige, der innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung steht, etwa in diesem oder jenem Wissenschaftlichen bewandert ist. In der anthroposophischen Bewegung kann man stehen, ohne daß man irgendwie einen wissenschaftlichen Drang oder eine wissenschaftliche Anlage hat, denn, wie gesagt, für den Menschenverstand, der gesund ist, sind die anthroposophischen Wahrheiten, wenn er sich nur durch kein Vorurteil trüben läßt, durchaus verständlich. Und ich bemerkte: wenn eine genügend große Anzahl von Menschen heute schon aus ihrer Herzens- und Seelenanlage heraus den Weg zur anthroposophischen Bewegung fände, dann würde sich alles dasjenige, was für die religiösen Ziele und religiösen Ideale notwendig ist, mit der anthroposophischen Erkenntnis allmählich auch aus der anthroposophischen Bewegung heraus ergeben.
Aber es gibt sehr zahlreiche Menschen, welche den angedeuteten Drang und Trieb nach einer religiösen Erneuerung haben, namentlich nach einer christlich-religiösen Erneuerung, und die einfach dadurch, daß sie in gewissen Kulturzusammenhängen drinnenstehen, den Weg in die anthroposophische Bewegung nicht finden können. Für diese Menschen ist das heute Notwendige dies, daß auf eine für sie geeignete Weise der Weg in das der heutigen Menschheit gemäße Geistesleben hinein gefunden werde.
Ich bemerkte, daß es dabei ankommt auf Gemeindebilden, daß dasjenige, was erreicht werden soll von dem Anthroposophischen, zunächst allerdings innerhalb der einzelnen Individualität erreicht werden kann, daß aber aus dieser Erkenntnis heraus, die sich auf individuelle Weise ergibt, ganz durch innere Notwendigkeit jenes soziale Wirken, ethisch-religiös soziale Wirken, folgen müsse, welches die Zukunft der Menschheit braucht.
Es kommt also darauf an, denjenigen Menschen etwas zu geben, die zunächst - man muß da die historisch gegebene Notwendigkeit ins Auge fassen — nicht in der Lage sind, unmittelbar den Gang zur anthroposophischen Bewegung anzutreten. Für sie muß durch Gemeindebilden in herzlichem, seelischem und geistigem Zusammen_ wirken der Geistesweg gesucht werden, welcher heute der der menschlichen Entwickelung angemessene ist. So daß dasjenige, was ich damals aus den Notwendigkeiten unserer Menschheitsentwickelung heraus diesen suchenden Persönlichkeiten zu sagen hatte, sich etwa zusammenfassen läßt mit den Worten: Es ist notwendig für die heutige Menschheitsentwickelung, daß die anthroposophische Bewegung immer mehr und mehr wachse, wachse aus ihren Bedingungen heraus, nicht gestört werde in diesem Wachsen aus ihren Bedingungen heraus, die namentlich darinnen bestehen, daß jene geistigen Wahrheiten, die einfach aus der geistigen Welt zu uns wollen, zunächst unmittelbar in die Herzen eindringen, so daß die Menschen durch diese geistigen Wahrheiten erstarken. Dann werden sie den Weg finden, der auf der einen Seite ein künstlerischer, auf der andern Seite ein religiös-ethisch-sozialer sein wird. Diesen Weg geht die anthroposophische Bewegung, seit sie besteht. Für diese anthroposophische Bewegung ist, wenn nur dieser Weg richtig verstanden wird, kein anderer notwendig.
Die Notwendigkeit eines andern Weges ergibt sich für diejenigen Menschen, welche diesen Weg unmittelbar nicht gehen können, welche durch Gemeindebilden, im Zusammenarbeiten innerhalb der Gemeinde, einen andern Weg gehen müssen, der, ich möchte sagen, mit dem anthroposophischen erst später zusammenführt. So daß dadurch die Perspektive eröffnet war für zwei nebeneinanderhergehende Bewegungen: Die anthroposophische Bewegung, die dann ihre wirklichen Ziele erreicht, wenn sie dasjenige, was ursprünglich in ihr lag, wirklich auch sinn- und kraftgemäß verfolgt und sich in dieser Verfolgung nicht beirren läßt durch irgendwelche spezielle Arbeitsgebiete, die sich in ihrem Lauf eröffnen müssen. Auch das wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgebiet darf zum Beispiel nicht beeinträchtigen den Impuls der allgemeinen anthroposophischen Bewegung. Wir müssen uns klar sein darüber, daß der anthroposophische Impuls es ist, der die anthroposophische Bewegung ausmacht, und daß, wenn in der neuesten Zeit diese und jene wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsgebiete innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung geschaffen worden sind, durchaus die Notwendigkeit besteht, daß dadurch die Kraft und Energie des allgemeinanthroposophischen Impulses nicht abgeschwächt werde, daß namentlich nicht in einzelne Wissenschaftsgebiete hinein, in die Denk- und Vorstellungsform einzelner Wissenschaftsgebiete hinein der anthroposophische Impuls so gezogen werde, daß von dem heutigen Wissenschaftsbetrieb, der gerade belebt werden sollte durch den anthroposophischen Impuls, wiederum so viel abfärbt, daß die Anthroposophie etwa chemisch wird, wie die Chemie heute ist, physikalisch wird, wie die Physik heute ist, biologisch wird, wie die Biologie heute ist. Das darf durchaus nicht sein. Das würde an den Lebensnerv der anthroposophischen Bewegung gehen. Es handelt sich darum, daß die anthroposophische Bewegung ihre spirituelle Reinheit, aber auch ihre spirituelle Energie bewahre. Dazu muß sie das Wesen der anthroposophischen Spiritualität verkörpern, muß in ihm leben und weben, muß alles dasjenige tun, was aus den geistigen Offenbarungen der Gegenwart heraus auch zum Beispiel in das wissenschaftliche Leben eindringen soll.
Nebenher, so meinte ich dazumal, könne eine solche Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung gehen, die ganz selbstverständlich für diejenigen, die in die Anthroposophie hinein den Weg finden, keine Bedeutung hat, sondern für diejenigen, die ihn zunächst nicht finden können. Und da diese zahlreich vorhanden sind, ist natürlich eine solche Bewegung nicht nur berechtigt, sondern auch notwendig.
Darauf rechnend also, daß die anthroposophische Bewegung das bleibe, was sie war und was sie sein soll, gab ich, unabhängig von aller anthroposophischen Bewegung, einer Anzahl von Persönlichkeiten, die von sich heraus, nicht von mir aus, für die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung wirken wollten, dasjenige, was ich in der Lage war zu geben in bezug auf den Inhalt desjenigen, was eine künftige 'Theologie braucht: den Inhalt auch des Kultusmäßigen, das eine solche neue Gemeinschaftsbildung braucht.
Was da gegeben worden ist, ist von mir durchaus so gegeben worden, daß ich als Mensch andern Menschen dasjenige gegeben habe, was ich ihnen aus den Bedingungen der geistigen Erkenntnis der Gegenwart geben konnte. Das, was ich diesen Persönlichkeiten gegeben habe, hat nichts zu tun mit der anthroposophischen Bewegung. Ich habe es ihnen als Privatmann gegeben, und habe es so gegeben, daß ich mit notwendiger Dezidiertheit betont habe, daß die anthroposophische Bewegung mit dieser Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung nichts zu tun haben darf; daß aber vor allen Dingen nicht ich der Gründer bin dieser Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung; daß ich darauf rechne, daß der Welt das durchaus klargemacht werde, und daß ich einzelnen Persönlichkeiten, die von sich aus begründen wollten diese Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung, die notwendigen Ratschlüsse gegeben habe, Ratschlüsse, die allerdings geeignet waren, einen gültigen und spirituell kräftigen, spirituell von Wesenheit erfüllten Kultus auszuüben, in rechtmäßiger Weise mit den Kräften aus der geistigen Welt heraus zu zelebrieren. Ich selber habe bei der Erteilung dieser Ratschläge niemals irgendeine Kultushandlung ausgeführt, sondern nur denjenigen, die in diese Kultushandlung hineinwachsen wollten, gezeigt, Schritt für Schritt, wie eine solche Kultushandlung zu geschehen hat. Das war notwendig. Und heute ist es auch notwendig, daß innerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft dies richtig verstanden wird.
Die Bewegung ist also begründet worden, unabhängig von mir, unabhängig von der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, lediglich auf meine Ratschläge hin. Und derjenige, der den Ausgangspunkt gebildet hat, der sozusagen die erste Urkultushandlung begangen hat innerhalb dieser Bewegung, hat sie zwar nach meiner Anleitung begangen, nicht aber bin ich irgendwie an der Gründung dieser Bewegung beteiligt. Sie ist eine Bewegung, die aus sich selbst heraus entstanden ist, und die die Ratschläge von mir bekommen hat aus dem Grunde, weil, wenn jemand berechtigten Rat auf irgendeinem Gebiete fordert, es Menschenpflicht ist, wenn man den Rat erteilen kann, ihn auch wirklich zu erteilen.
So muß im strengsten Sinne des Wortes das verstanden werden, daß sich neben der anthroposophischen Bewegung eine andere Bewegung aus sich selbst heraus, nicht aus der anthroposophischen Bewegung heraus begründet hat, begründet hat aus dem Grunde, weil außerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft zahlreiche Menschen sind, die den Weg in die anthroposophische Bewegung hinein selber nicht finden, die später mit ihr zusammenkommen können.
Daher muß streng unterschieden werden zwischen dem, was anthroposophische Bewegung ist, dem, was Anthroposophische Gesellschaft auch ist, und demjenigen, was die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung ist. Und es ist wichtig, daß man nicht die Anthroposophie für die Begründerin dieser Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung hält.
Das hat nichts zu tun damit, daß in aller Liebe und auch mit aller Hingabe an diejenigen geistigen Mächte, welche eine solche religiöse Bewegung heute in die Welt hereinsetzen können, die Ratschläge erteilt worden sind, welche diese religiöse Bewegung zu einer wirklichen geistigen Gemeinschaftsbildung in heute der Menschenentwickelung gemäßem Sinne machen. So daß diese Bewegung dann in richtiger Weise entstanden ist, wenn sie betrachtet das, was innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung ist, als dasjenige, was ihr vorlaufend ist, was ihr den sicheren Boden gibt, wenn sie sich anlehnt ihrerseits an die anthroposophische Bewegung, wenn sie Hilfe und Rat sucht bei denjenigen, welche innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung stehen und so weiter. Gerade mit Rücksicht darauf, daß die Gegnerschaft der anthroposophischen Bewegung heute so geartet ist, daß ihr jeder Angriffspunkt recht ist, müssen solche Dinge völlig klar sein. Und ich muß schon sagen, daß eigentlich jeder, der es ehrlich meint mit der anthroposophischen Bewegung, überall so etwas zurück weisen müßte, wenn etwa gesagt würde: In Dornach ist im Goetheanum und durch das Goetheanum die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung begründet worden -, wenn geradezu die anthroposophische Bewegung als die Begründerin hingestellt würde. Denn das ist nicht der Fall. Es ist so, wie ich es eben jetzt dargestellt habe.
Und so habe ich mir vorstellen müssen gerade aus der Art und Weise, wie ich selber dieser Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung auf die Beine geholfen habe, daß diese Bewegung bei der anthroposophischen Bewegung ihre Anlehnung sucht, daß sie die anthroposophische Bewegung als ihre Vorläuferin ansieht, daß sie Bekenner sucht außerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, und daß sie es als einen schweren Fehler ansehen würde, wenn sie etwa mit derjenigen Bestrebung, die gerade notwendig ist außerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft hineingreifen würde. Denn die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft wird von demjenigen nicht verstanden, der sich nicht so auffaßt, daß er ein Rater und Helfer sein kann dieser religiösen Bewegung, daß er aber nicht unmittelbar in ihr untertauchen kann. Wenn er dieses tut, so arbeitet er an zweierlei: erstens arbeitet er an der Zertrümmerung und Zerschmetterung der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, zweitens arbeitet er an der Fruchtlosigkeit der Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung. Denn innerhalb der Menschheit müssen doch alle diejenigen Bewegungen, welche in berechtigter Weise entstehen, wie in einem organischen Ganzen zusammenwirken. Das muß aber in der richtigen Weise geschehen.
Es ist für den menschlichen Organismus schlechterdings unmöglich, daß das Blutsystem Nervensystem werde und das Nervensystem Blutsystem werde. Die einzelnen Systeme müssen in reinlicher Trennung voneinander im menschlichen Organismus wirken. Dann werden sie gerade in der richtigen Weise zusammenwirken. Daher ist es notwendig, daß ohne Rückhalt die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft mit ihrem Inhalte Anthroposophie bleibe, ungeschwächt durch die neuere Bewegung; daß derjenige, der versteht, was anthroposophische Bewegung ist, alles das - nun nicht in irgendeinem überheberischen, hochmütigen, sondern in einem mit den Aufgaben unserer Zeit wirklich rechnenden Sinne -, worauf es ankommt, in die Worte zusammenfaßt: Diejenigen, die den Weg einmal in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft gefunden haben, brauchen keine religiöse Erneuerung. Denn was wäre die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft, wenn sie erst religiöse Erneuerung brauchte!
Aber religiöse Erneuerung wird in der Welt gebraucht, und weil sie gebraucht wird, weil sie eine tiefe Notwendigkeit ist, wurde die Hand zu ihrer Begründung geboten. Richtig werden also die Dinge verlaufen, wenn die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft bleibt, wie sie ist, wenn diejenigen, die sie verstehen wollen, wirklich auch ihr Wesen ergreifen und nicht glauben, daß sie es nötig haben, einer andern Bewegung anzugehören, die ja ihren Inhalt hat, trotzdem es in realem Sinne richtig ist, daß nicht die Anthroposophie begründet hat diese religiöse Erneuerungsbewegung; aber die religiöse Erneuerungsbewegung, die sich selbst begründet hat, hat ihren Inhalt von der Anthroposophie her genommen.
Wer also diese Dinge nicht sinngemäß auseinanderhält, arbeitet, indem er für den eigentlichen Impuls der anthroposophischen Bewegung lässiger wird, daran, Boden und Rückgrat auch für die religiöse Erneuerungsbewegung wegzuschaffen und die anthroposophische Bewegung zu zertrümmern. Derjenige, der, auf dem Boden der religiösen Erneuerungsbewegung stehend, etwa meint, daß er diese auf die anthroposophische Bewegung ausdehnen müsse, entzieht sich selber den Boden. Denn dasjenige, was Kultusmäßiges ist, muß zuletzt sich auflösen, wenn das Rückgrat der Erkenntnis aufgehoben wird.
Gerade zum Gedeihen der beiden Bewegungen ist es notwendig, daß sie reinlich auseinandergehalten werden. Daher ist es für den Anfang durchaus notwendig — weil diese Dinge in unserer Zeit, wo alles darauf ankommt, daß wir Kraft entwickeln für dasjenige, was wir wollen -, es ist in der ersten Zeit durchaus notwendig, daß strenge darauf gesehen wird, daß die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung nach allen Richtungen in Kreisen wirkt, die außerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung liegen. Daß sie also weder in bezug auf die Beschaffung ihrer materiellen Mittel - ich muß schon, damit die Dinge verstanden werden, auch über diese Dinge reden - hineingreift in dasjenige, was die heute ohnedies sehr schwierig laufenden Quellen für die anthroposophische Bewegung sind, ihr also gewissermaßen nicht den materiellen Boden abgräbt, noch daß sie aber auf der andern Seite, weil es ihr nicht gleich gelingt, unter Nichtanthroposophen Bekenner zu finden, nun ihre Proselyten innerhalb der Reihe der Anthroposophen macht. Dadurch wird ein Unmögliches getan, dasjenige getan, was zum Untergang der beiden Bewegungen führen müßte.
Es kommt heute wirklich nicht darauf an, daß wir mit einem gewissen Fanatismus vorgehen, sondern daß wir uns bewußt sind, daß wir das Menschennotwendige nur tun, wenn wir aus der Notwendigkeit der Sache heraus wirken. Dasjenige, was ich jetzt als Konsequenzen sage, war zu gleicher Zeit die Voraussetzung für das Handbieten zur Gründung der Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung, denn nur unter diesen Bedingungen konnte man die Hand dazu bieten. Wenn diese Voraussetzung nicht gewesen wäre, so wäre durch meine Ratschläge die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung niemals entstanden.
Daher bitte ich Sie, eben zu verstehen, daß es notwendig ist, daß die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung wisse: daß sie bei ihrem Ausgangspunkte stehenbleiben müsse, daß sie versprochen hat, ihre Anhängerschaft außerhalb der Kreise der anthroposophischen Bewegung zu suchen, weil sie dort auf naturgemäße Weise zu finden ist und weil sie dort gesucht werden muß.
Dasjenige, was ich zu Ihnen gesprochen habe, habe ich nicht aus dem Grunde gesprochen, weil ich etwa besorgt bin, daß der anthroposophischen Bewegung irgend etwas abgegraben werden könnte, ich habe es gewiß nicht gesprochen aus irgendwelchen persönlichen Intentionen heraus, sondern aus der Notwendigkeit der Sache heraus. Mit dieser Notwendigkeit ist auch verbunden, daß verstanden werde, wie allein es möglich ist, in richtiger Weise auf dem einen und auf dem andern Gebiete zu wirken. Es ist schon notwendig, daß für wichtige Dinge klar ausgesprochen wird, um was es sich handelt, denn es besteht gar zu viel Tendenz heute, die Dinge zu verwischen, sie nicht klar zu nehmen. Aber Klarheit ist heute auf allen Gebieten notwendig.
Wenn daher etwa jemand sagen würde: Nun hat der selbst diese Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung in die Welt gesetzt und spricht jetzt so - ja, meine sehr verehrten Anwesenden und lieben Freunde, es handelt sich darum, daß, wenn ich jemals anders hätte gesprochen über diese Dinge, so hätte ich nicht die Hand geboten zur Begründung dieser Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung. Sie muß bei ihrem Ausgangspunkt stehenbleiben. Was ich ausspreche, ist selbstverständlich nur ausgesprochen, damit innerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft die Dinge richtig verstanden werden, damit nicht etwa, wie es vorgekommen sein soll, gesagt werde: Nun ging es mit der anthroposophischen Bewegung nicht, jetzt wurde die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung als das Richtige begründet. — Ich bin zwar überzeugt, daß die ausgezeichneten, hervorragenden Persönlichkeiten, welche die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung begründet haben, jeder solchen Legende mit aller Kraft entgegentreten werden, und daß diese hervorragenden, ausgezeichneten Persönlichkeiten es mit aller Kraft ablehnen werden, innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung ihre Proselyten zu machen. Aber es muß das Richtige innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung verstanden werden.
Ich weiß, wie es immer wiederum einzelne gibt, die solche Auseinandersetzungen, die von Zeit zu Zeit notwendig werden — nicht zur Klage nach der einen oder andern Richtung hin, auch nicht zur Kritik, sondern lediglich zur Darstellung desjenigen, was nun einmal in aller Klarheit erfaßt werden sollte —, ich weiß, daß es immer einzelne gibt, denen das unangenehm ist, wenn man an Stelle der nebulosen Unklarheit die Klarheit setzen will. Aber zum Gedeihen, zur Gesundheit sowohl der anthroposophischen Bewegung wie der Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung ist das durchaus notwendig. Es kann nicht die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung gedeihen, wenn sie irgendwie die anthroposophische Bewegung beeinträchtigen wird.
Das aber müssen insbesondere Anthroposophen ganz gründlich verstehen, damit sie überall da, wo es sich darum handelt, für die Richtigkeit der Sache einzutreten, auch wirklich für diese Richtigkeit der Sache eintreten können. Wenn es sich daher um die Stellung eines Anthroposophen zur religiösen Erneuerung handelt, so kann es nur diese sein, daß er Rater ist, daß er dasjenige gibt, was er geben kann an geistigem Gut, daß er, wenn es sich darum handelt, an den Kultushandlungen sich zu beteiligen, sich immer bewußt bleibt, daß er das tut, um diesen Kultushandlungen auf den Weg zu helfen. Ein geistiger Helfer allein für diese religiöse Erneuerungsbewegung kann derjenige sein, der sich als Anthroposoph versteht. Aber nach jeder Richtung hin muß diese Bewegung für religiöse Ernenerung von Menschen getragen werden, die noch nicht den Weg in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft hinein selber finden können durch die besondere Konfiguration und durch die Anlage ihres Geisteslebens.
Also ich hoffe, daß jetzt nicht irgend jemand geht zu irgend jemandem, der aktiv tätig ist in der religiösen Erneuerungsbewegung, und sagt: In Dornach ist gegen sie dies oder jenes gesagt worden. — Es ist nichts gegen sie gesagt worden; sie ist in Liebe und in Hingebung an die geistige Welt und in berechtigter Weise aus der geistigen Welt heraus mit Ratschlägen so versorgt worden, daß sie sich selbst begründen konnte. Aber von Anthroposophen muß gewußt werden, daß sie sich selbst aus sich heraus begründet hat, daß sie zwar nicht den Inhalt ihres Kultus, aber die Tatsache ihres Kultus aus eigener Kraft heraus, aus eigener Initiative heraus formiert hat; daß das Wesen der anthroposophischen Bewegung nichts zu tun hat mit der Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung. Es gibt ganz gewiß keinen Wunsch, der so groß sein kann, wie der von mir, daß die Bewegung für religiöse Erneuerung unermeßlich gedeihe, aber unter Einhaltung der ursprünglichen Bedingungen. Es dürfen nicht etwa die anthroposophischen Zweige in Gemeinden für religiöse Erneuerung umgestaltet werden, weder in materieller noch in geistiger Beziehung.
Das mußte ich heute aus dem Grunde sagen, weil ja da Ratschläge für einen Kultus gegeben werden sollten, dessen Gedeihen in der Gegenwart sehr, sehr von mir gewünscht wird. Damit nicht Mißverständnisse entstehen, indem man hinblickt auf diesen so gegebenen Kultus, wenn ich nun überhaupt über die Bedingungen des Kultuslebens in der spirituellen Welt morgen sprechen werde, mußte ich dieses heute als Episode einfügen. Es ist eine episodische Betrachtung zum besseren Verständnis desjenigen, was ich morgen in Fortsetzung der gestern gegebenen Auseinandetsetzungen zu sagen haben werde.
Eleventh Lecture
Here in this place I have often said how in the older times of human development science, art and religion were harmoniously united. Whoever can gain knowledge in one way or another of the nature of older mysteries knows that within these mysteries knowledge, insight, was sought as a revelation of the spiritual in its pictorial form in the way in which it could have been sought in older times. This way can no longer be ours, but in our age we must again advance to the realization of the spiritual essence of the world.
All older world views are based on a pictorial knowledge of the spiritual. This knowledge of the spiritual, however, was expressed directly in such a way that it was not communicated merely in words, but through those means which have gradually become our means of art: the physical-pictorial representation in the fine arts, the representation through sound and word in the musical and verbal arts. But from this second stage came the third stage, the religious-cultic revelation of the essence of the world, through which the whole human being felt elevated to the divine-spiritual world-ground, not merely in a thought-like way, nor merely in a feeling-like way, as through art, but in such a way that thoughts and feelings and also the innermost impulse of the will surrendered themselves to this divine-spiritual. And that through which man's outer acts of will were to be spiritualized were the acts of sacrifice, the acts of worship. The living unity was felt in science, as it was then imagined, in art, in religion.
The ideal of contemporary spiritual life must again be to gain a knowledge that can realize what Goethe already sensed: that it rises to art - not to symbolic or allegorical art, but to real art, to creation and form in sounds, in words - but that it also deepens into direct religious experience. Only those who grasp anthroposophical spiritual science in such a way that they see this impulse in it will actually grasp it in its true essence. It is self-evident that humanity will have to take various steps in its spiritual development in order to come to the realization of such an ideal. But in the patient surrender to these steps lies that which the anthroposophical movement must preferably work for.
Now, within the framework of these anthroposophical lectures to be given here, I would like to speak from a particular point of view about this impulse of the anthroposophical movement which I have just characterized. When I have finished my remarks, you will perhaps see what the deeper cause of these discussions actually is. And I would like to note in advance that today the anthroposophical movement has long since ceased to coincide with the Anthroposophical Society, but that the Anthroposophical Society, if it wants to realize its essence, must indeed fully bear the impulse of the anthroposophical movement.
The anthroposophical movement has taken hold of wider circles than just the Anthroposophical Society. This has made it necessary for the anthroposophical movement to work in a somewhat different way in recent times than it did at the time when the anthroposophical movement was essentially decided within the Anthroposophical Society. But the Anthroposophical Society can only fulfill its essence if it feels itself to be the core of the anthroposophical movement.
Now, in order to make what I have just said understandable not just theoretically but in reality, I must tell you some of what has happened recently with regard to a movement other than the anthroposophical movement, because if I did not do this, misunderstandings could easily arise. I would therefore like to give an episodic account today of the form in which a religious-cultic movement has arisen which, although it has much to do with the anthroposophical movement, should not be confused with it: the religious-cultic movement which calls itself the “Movement for Religious Renewal”, for the renewal of Christianity. The position of this movement in relation to the anthroposophical movement will become clear if, in order to establish this understanding, we first consider the forms in which this movement for religious renewal has developed.
A while ago, a small number of enthusiastic younger theologians came to me, Christian theologians who were about to finish their theological studies in order to enter into practical pastoral work. They came to me and told me something like this: The person who today, with a truly devoted Christian heart, takes up the theology offered to him by the university as a student, feels in the end as if he had no firm ground under his feet for his expected practical pastoral work. - The theological-religious movement has gradually taken on forms that do not allow it to really pour into the pastoral work that which must come alive from the Mystery of Golgotha, that which must come alive from the awareness that through the Mystery of Golgotha the Christ-being, which previously dwelt in spiritual worlds, has united with human life on earth and continues to work in human life on earth. It was made clear to me that in the souls of those who came there lives the feeling that a renewal of the whole theological impulse and the whole religious impulse is necessary if Christianity is to be kept alive, if Christianity is to be preserved in such a way that it can also be the truly living force for our whole spiritual life. And it is clear that the religious impulse only has its true meaning when it takes hold of man in his being so deeply that it permeates everything else that man brings forth from his thinking, feeling and willing.
I first remarked to those who came to me to help them in what they were striving for and could not find elsewhere than where anthroposophical spiritual science enters the world today, I first remarked to these people seeking a religious renewal that it was necessary not to work out of some individual enthusiasm, but that it was important to gather together, so to speak, that which is a similar striving in wider circles, even if it is more or less unconsciously present. I remarked to these personalities that their striving is of course not an isolated one, but that they perhaps felt more intensely than some others, but nevertheless only that in their hearts which many people of the present feel, but that, when it is a question of religious renewal, one must first of all start from the broad basis within which a larger number of people are to be found, from whose hearts the striving for religious renewal springs.
After some time, the people in question came back to me. They had accepted what I had told them as quite justified, and they then remarked to me that they had already been joined by a large number of younger theologians who were in the same position of wanting to move out of the dissatisfaction of the current theological-religious university aspirations into the parish ministry, that is, into practical pastoral care, and that there was a prospect that the circle would expand. I said: It is quite self-evident that it is not only important that there should be a certain number of preachers and pastors, and that not only those should be drawn into the religious renewal who have to teach and exercise pastoral care, but above all those who are present in large numbers today with the character of the pure, devoted confessor; that one must be aware that numerous people live in the world today who - more or less dully in their minds - have a strong religious urge, a specifically Christian-religious urge, but that this Christian-religious urge cannot be satisfied by that which today, after the development which the theological-religious has just taken, cannot be satisfied.
I pointed out that there are sections of the population who are not part of the anthroposophical movement, who initially find no way out of the condition of their soul, out of the condition of their heart, towards the anthroposophical movement. I also remarked that it is important for the anthroposophical movement to see clearly and distinctly through the fact that we live in an age in which, simply through the development of the world, a sum of spiritual truths, truths about a real spiritual world content, can be found by people when they become spiritual researchers - if they want to become spiritual researchers; that, however, if they do not want to become spiritual researchers, but strive for the truth as it must be revealed to man today, if he is aware of his human dignity, these truths found by spiritual researchers can be understood by such people with ordinary common sense, but really common sense.
I remarked that the anthroposophical movement is based on the fact that those who find their way to the anthroposophical movement know first of all that the main thing is that the spiritual truths accessible to humanity today take hold of hearts and souls as insights. All that essentially matters is that these insights first enter human spiritual life. Of course, it does not matter how knowledgeable a person within the anthroposophical movement is in this or that scientific field. One can be part of the anthroposophical movement without having any scientific urge or scientific disposition, for, as I said, the anthroposophical truths are quite comprehensible to a healthy human mind, provided it does not allow itself to be clouded by any prejudice. And I remarked: if a sufficiently large number of people today found their way to the anthroposophical movement out of their heart and soul disposition, then everything that is necessary for the religious goals and religious ideals would gradually emerge from the anthroposophical movement along with anthroposophical knowledge.
But there are very many people who have the indicated urge and drive for a religious renewal, namely for a Christian-religious renewal, and who simply because they are inside certain cultural contexts cannot find their way into the anthroposophical movement. For these people, what is necessary today is that they find their way into the spiritual life of today's humanity in a way that is suitable for them.
I remarked that what is important here is community-building, that what is to be achieved by anthroposophy can first of all be achieved within the individual, but that out of this realization, which arises in an individual way, must follow, quite by inner necessity, that social work, ethical-religious social work, which the future of humanity needs.
It is therefore important to give something to those people who at first - and we must bear in mind the historical necessity of this - are not in a position to join the anthroposophical movement directly. For them the spiritual path that is appropriate to human development today must be sought through community building in heartfelt, emotional and spiritual cooperation. So that what I had to say to these searching personalities at that time out of the necessities of our human development can be summarized in the words: It is necessary for the present development of mankind that the anthroposophical movement grows more and more, grows out of its conditions, is not disturbed in this growth out of its conditions, which consist especially in the fact that those spiritual truths, which simply want to come to us from the spiritual world, first penetrate directly into the hearts, so that people grow stronger through these spiritual truths. Then they will find the path that will be artistic on the one hand and religious-ethical-social on the other. The anthroposophical movement has been following this path since its inception. For this anthroposophical movement, if only this path is understood correctly, no other is necessary.
The need for a different path arises for those people who cannot follow this path directly, who have to follow a different path through community building, through working together within the community, which, I would like to say, only later leads together with the anthroposophical path. This opened up the prospect of two movements moving side by side: The anthroposophical movement, which only achieves its real goals when it really pursues what originally lay within it in a meaningful and powerful way and does not allow itself to be deterred in this pursuit by any special fields of work that have to open up in its course. Even the scientific field of work, for example, must not interfere with the impulse of the general anthroposophical movement. We must be clear about the fact that it is the anthroposophical impulse that constitutes the anthroposophical movement, and that if in recent times these and those scientific fields of work have been created within the anthroposophical movement, it is absolutely necessary that the strength and energy of the general anthroposophical impulse should not be weakened by this, and in particular that it should not be allowed to enter into individual fields of science, the anthroposophical impulse into the form of thought and conception of individual fields of science in such a way that so much of today's scientific enterprise, which should be enlivened by the anthroposophical impulse, in turn rubs off that anthroposophy becomes chemical, as chemistry is today, physical, as physics is today, biological, as biology is today. That must not happen. That would go to the very lifeblood of the anthroposophical movement. It is a matter of the anthroposophical movement preserving its spiritual purity, but also its spiritual energy. To do this it must embody the essence of anthroposophical spirituality, it must live and weave in it, it must do everything that should also penetrate scientific life, for example, from the spiritual revelations of the present.
At the same time, I thought at the time, such a movement for religious renewal could go on, which quite naturally has no significance for those who find their way into anthroposophy, but for those who cannot find it at first. And since there are many of these, such a movement is of course not only justified but also necessary.
So, counting on the anthroposophical movement remaining what it was and what it should be, I gave, independently of all the anthroposophical movement, to a number of personalities who wanted to work for the movement for religious renewal on their own initiative, not on my own initiative, what I was able to give with regard to the content of what a future ‘theology’ needs: the content of the cultic aspect that such a new community formation needs.
What was given there was given by me in such a way that I, as a human being, gave to other human beings what I could give them from the conditions of spiritual knowledge of the present. What I have given to these personalities has nothing to do with the anthroposophical movement. I have given it to them as a private person, and I have given it in such a way that I have emphasized with necessary decisiveness that the anthroposophical movement must have nothing to do with this movement for religious renewal; but that above all I am not the founder of this movement for religious renewal; that I am counting on this being made quite clear to the world, and that I have given the necessary advice to individual personalities who wanted to found this movement for religious renewal on their own initiative, advice which was, however, suitable for practising a valid and spiritually powerful cultus, spiritually filled with essence, to be celebrated in a legitimate way with the forces from the spiritual world. In giving this advice, I myself never carried out any kind of ritual act, but only showed those who wanted to grow into this ritual act, step by step, how such a ritual act should be carried out. That was necessary. And today it is also necessary for this to be understood correctly within the Anthroposophical Society.
So the movement was founded independently of me, independently of the Anthroposophical Society, simply on my advice. And the person who formed the starting point, who, so to speak, committed the first primal cult act within this movement, committed it according to my instructions, but I am not somehow involved in the founding of this movement. It is a movement that has arisen of its own accord, and which has received advice from me for the reason that, if someone demands legitimate advice in any field, it is a human duty, if one can give the advice, to actually give it.
This must be understood in the strictest sense of the word, that alongside the anthroposophical movement another movement has established itself out of itself, not out of the anthroposophical movement, has established itself for the reason that outside the Anthroposophical Society there are numerous people who cannot find their own way into the anthroposophical movement, who can later come together with it.
A strict distinction must therefore be made between what the Anthroposophical Movement is, what the Anthroposophical Society is, and what the Movement for Religious Renewal is. And it is important that anthroposophy is not regarded as the founder of this movement for religious renewal.
This has nothing to do with the fact that in all love and also with all devotion to those spiritual powers which can bring such a religious movement into the world today, the advice has been given which makes this religious movement a real spiritual community building in the sense of human development today. So that this movement will have come into being in the right way if it regards what is within the anthroposophical movement as that which leads the way, that which gives it secure ground, if it leans in its turn on the anthroposophical movement, if it seeks help and advice from those who are within the anthroposophical movement, and so on. Precisely in view of the fact that the opposition to the anthroposophical movement today is such that any point of attack is acceptable to it, such things must be absolutely clear. And I must say that anyone who is honest about the anthroposophical movement would have to reject something like this everywhere if it were said: The movement for religious renewal was founded in Dornach in the Goetheanum and through the Goetheanum - if the anthroposophical movement were presented as the founder. For that is not the case. It is as I have just described it.
And so I have had to imagine, precisely from the way in which I myself have helped this movement for religious renewal to get on its feet, that this movement seeks its affiliation with the anthroposophical movement, that it regards the anthroposophical movement as its forerunner, that it seeks confessors outside the Anthroposophical Society, and that it would regard it as a serious mistake if it were to reach into the Anthroposophical Society with that endeavor which is necessary outside the Anthroposophical Society. For the Anthroposophical Society is not understood by those who do not see themselves in such a way that they can be a counselor and helper to this religious movement, but that they cannot immerse themselves directly in it. If he does this, he is working on two things: firstly, he is working on the destruction and shattering of the Anthroposophical Society; secondly, he is working on the fruitlessness of the movement for religious renewal. For within humanity all those movements which arise in a justified way must work together as in an organic whole. But this must be done in the right way.
It is absolutely impossible for the human organism for the blood system to become the nervous system and the nervous system to become the blood system. The individual systems must work in pure separation from each other in the human organism. Then they will work together in just the right way. It is therefore necessary that the Anthroposophical Society with its content should remain Anthroposophy, unweakened by the newer movement; that he who understands what the Anthroposophical movement is, should summarize in the words - not in some supercilious, arrogant sense, but in a sense that really reckons with the tasks of our time - all that is important: Those who have once found their way into the Anthroposophical Society need no religious renewal. For what would the Anthroposophical Society be if it needed religious renewal first!
But religious renewal is needed in the world, and because it is needed, because it is a profound necessity, the hand has been offered to establish it. Things will therefore proceed correctly if the Anthroposophical Society remains as it is, if those who want to understand it really grasp its essence and do not believe that they need to belong to another movement, which has its content, even though it is true in a real sense that anthroposophy did not found this religious renewal movement; but the religious renewal movement, which founded itself, took its content from anthroposophy.
Those who do not keep these things apart in the proper sense are working, by becoming more casual about the actual impulse of the anthroposophical movement, to remove the ground and backbone for the religious renewal movement as well and to shatter the anthroposophical movement. Those who, standing on the ground of the religious renewal movement, think that they must extend it to the anthroposophical movement, for example, are depriving themselves of the ground. For that which is cultic must ultimately dissolve when the backbone of knowledge is removed.
It is precisely for the flourishing of the two movements that they must be kept cleanly apart. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for the beginning - because in our time, when everything depends on us developing strength for what we want - it is absolutely necessary in the first period that strict attention be paid to the fact that the movement for religious renewal works in all directions in circles that lie outside the anthroposophical movement. In other words, it must not interfere with the material resources of the anthroposophical movement - I must talk about these things in order to be understood - or, on the other hand, because it is not immediately successful in finding adherents among non-anthroposophists, it must not make its proselytes within the ranks of anthroposophists. In this way the impossible is done, that which should lead to the downfall of both movements.
What really matters today is not that we proceed with a certain fanaticism, but that we are aware that we only do what is necessary for humanity when we work out of the necessity of the matter. What I am now saying as consequences was at the same time the prerequisite for offering a hand for the founding of the movement for religious renewal, because only under these conditions could one offer a hand. If this precondition had not existed, the movement for religious renewal would never have come into being as a result of my advice.
Therefore I ask you to understand that it is necessary for the movement for religious renewal to know that it must remain at its starting point, that it has promised to seek its followers outside the circles of the anthroposophical movement, because that is where they can be found in a natural way and that is where they must be sought.
I have not said what I have said to you because I am concerned that the anthroposophical movement might be undermined in any way; I have certainly not said it out of any personal intention, but out of the necessity of the matter. This necessity is also connected with the need to understand how alone it is possible to work in the right way in the one and in the other field. It is necessary for important things to be clearly stated, because there is too much tendency today to blur things, not to take them clearly. But clarity is necessary in all areas today.
So if someone were to say: Now he himself has brought this movement for religious renewal into the world and now speaks like this - yes, my dear friends and dear listeners, the point is that if I had ever spoken differently about these things, I would not have offered my hand to justify this movement for religious renewal. It must remain at its starting point. What I say is, of course, only said so that things are understood correctly within the Anthroposophical Society, so that it is not said, as is said to have happened: Now the anthroposophical movement has failed, now the movement for religious renewal has been established as the right thing to do. - I am indeed convinced that the excellent, outstanding personalities who founded the movement for religious renewal will oppose any such legend with all their might, and that these excellent, outstanding personalities will refuse with all their might to proselytize within the anthroposophical movement. But the right thing must be understood within the anthroposophical movement.
I know that there will always be individuals who find such disputes necessary from time to time - not to complain in one direction or another, nor to criticize, but merely to present what should be grasped in all clarity - and I know that there will always be individuals who find it unpleasant when clarity is sought to replace nebulous ambiguity. But this is absolutely necessary for the prosperity and health of both the anthroposophical movement and the movement for religious renewal. The movement for religious renewal cannot flourish if it somehow impairs the anthroposophical movement.
However, anthroposophists in particular must understand this very thoroughly so that wherever it is a matter of standing up for the rightness of the cause, they can really stand up for this rightness of the cause. Therefore, when it comes to the position of an anthroposophist towards religious renewal, it can only be that he is a counselor, that he gives what he can give of spiritual good, that when it comes to participating in cult activities, he always remains aware that he is doing so in order to help these cult activities on their way. A spiritual helper for this religious renewal movement can only be someone who sees himself as an anthroposophist. But in every direction this movement for religious renewal must be carried by people who cannot yet find their own way into the Anthroposophical Society through the particular configuration and disposition of their spiritual life.
So I hope that no one will now go to anyone who is active in the religious renewal movement and say: In Dornach this or that was said against them. - Nothing has been said against it; in love and devotion to the spiritual world and in a justified way it has been provided with advice from the spiritual world in such a way that it has been able to justify itself. But anthroposophists must know that it has founded itself out of itself, that it has not formed the content of its cultus, but the fact of its cultus out of its own strength, out of its own initiative; that the essence of the anthroposophical movement has nothing to do with the movement for religious renewal. There is certainly no wish that can be as great as mine, that the movement for religious renewal should flourish immeasurably, but in compliance with the original conditions. The anthroposophical branches must not be transformed into congregations for religious renewal, neither materially nor spiritually.
The reason why I had to say this today is that I am giving advice for a cult whose flourishing in the present is very, very much desired by me. In order to avoid any misunderstandings, I had to include this as an episode today when I speak about the conditions of cult life in the spiritual world tomorrow. It is an episodic reflection for a better understanding of what I will have to say tomorrow in continuation of the explanations given yesterday.