Donate books to help fund our work. Learn more→

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

Man in the Past, Present, and Future
GA 228

15 September 1923, Stuttgart

Lecture II

Yesterday I used the culture of the Druids—which at the moment is particularly relevant to the development of our Anthroposophical Movement—to illustrate the soul-quality of an earlier age in a particular region. If we go back three or four or five thousand years—it varies in different parts of the Earth—we can always penetrate into a quite different type of soul-quality, and we then find that the whole spiritual and social guidance of human life in a particular period follows the pattern laid down by such a quality. The development to which I am referring is connected with the gradual evolution of human consciousness. It would be true to say that in olden times men were quite different beings from what they are today, and in the future they will again be different. Ordinary history tells little of this and so as soon as we get a few centuries away from the present, ordinary history, as it is presented to us, is to a considerable extent quite illusory as an aid to a real understanding of man.

In the lecture yesterday I pointed out how we should have to study three main stages of human consciousness, though naturally with many different shadings. The states of consciousness with which we are familiar—waking, dreaming and sleeping—are valid only for the present. If we go back into older periods of human evolution we no longer find the sort of waking condition of today, with its logically interrelated concepts. The farther we go back, the more do we fail to find this logical consciousness, which appeared in full development only during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, though it had begun in the later period of Greek culture. In earlier times, on the other hand, we discover a type of consciousness filled much more with living pictures than with abstract concepts; and we find this consciousness in man everywhere.

Natural forces in our sense were quite unknown to an older humanity. In the times I spoke of yesterday, people did not talk of meteorological laws controlling wind and weather, but, as I explained, of beings seen pictorially, of elemental spirits hovering around the plants, or of gigantic spiritual beings active in wind and weather, frost and hail, storm and thunder. All this was living in their observation of Nature without any logical deductions. Everything they saw, including the phenomena of Nature, was a living, weaving, surging of spiritual beings. The whole basis of their inner condition of soul was quite different from ours.

In a sense, men were more self-enclosed, but in a way very different from what we know today; this living in themselves was at the same time a consciousness full of living dream-pictures which led them out into the distant spaces of the Cosmos. Men saw pictures, though not in the way in which today we have thoughts, when the things are outside. While they had these experiences of the giants of frost, storm and fire, of the spirits of root, leaf and flower, they felt themselves united with plant, root, leaf and flower, with thunder and with lightning. Because they experienced the spiritual and spiritual pictures in their own being, they did not therefore feel their soul-life separated from external Nature.

If not in the very oldest periods described in my book Occult Science, at least in those that followed them, one can observe spiritually how this constitution of soul was accompanied by a general mood in the peoples who at the time were the most civilized. There was a time when men had an inner spiritual perception of the real being of man. In these pictures I have just spoken of they saw not only their present existence but their pre-earthly existence as well; just as we can see a perspective of space, they saw a perspective of time. It was not a recollection but an actual seeing; and they saw beyond their birth into a spiritual world from which they had descended into the life of man on Earth. It was quite natural for a member of this older humanity to see into his pre-earthly existence and to feel: I am a spiritual being, since before I assumed this earthly body I rested in the bosom of the spirit and spent my time within it, and there experienced my human destiny—not yet in a physical body but—if I may say so, however paradoxical it may sound—in a spiritual body.

To demand that one should believe in the spirit would have been absurd for this older humanity just as it is absurd to ask modern men to believe in mountains; you don't believe in them, you see them. In those days men saw their pre-natal spiritual life, though of course they saw it with the eyes of the soul. But there came a time when they indeed saw spiritually this inner being of man as the outcome of pre-earthly existence, while external Nature surrounding them became increasingly a sort of riddle. Pure sense-perception made its way gradually into human evolution. In very early times, such as those of ancient India, as I described them in Occult Science, men still saw everything, Nature included, spiritually. It marked a step forward when the vision of the spiritual remained inward, but Nature, if I may put is so, became gradually de-spiritualized. While man still felt inwardly that he was spirit born of spirit, when he looked outward to the blossoming of Nature, to the clouds from which the lightning flashes, to the wind and weather, to the delicate, wonderfully formed crystals, to hill and dale, a mood came over him which can be traced by Spiritual Science over long periods, especially over the times when men were civilized. They might have expressed it as follows: We men are spirit born of spirit; in our pre-earthly existence our being was knit together with the spiritual, but now we are transplanted into the environment of Nature. We behold the lovely flowers, the vast mountains, the mighty power of Nature in wind and weather, but the spirit is withdrawn.

Thus the notion of a purely material Nature in the environment increasingly arose. Men felt—I mean of course those who were the most developed, the men whom we should call civilized in our modern sense—they saw that their body was formed out of the substances of this Nature which for them had lost its divine-spiritual quality. If men nowadays felt anything like this, they would begin to think, to speculate and philosophize about it. It was not so with the men of that earlier time. Without reflection they experienced a great disharmony within themselves: “I come as spirit from a world of spirit, my essential being has descended from divine heights, but I am clothed with substance taken from a Nature which the spirit seems to have abandoned; my spiritual existence is interwoven with something that does not reveal the spirit. My body is made up out of the same substances as the flowers of the field and the water of the clouds and rain, but these substances have lost their divine quality.”

Those men felt as if they had been expelled from the spiritual world and thrust into a world to which in their essential being they did not really belong. It was of course possible to reject or to sleep through this mood, as happens nowadays with various aspects of our civilization. But those who were awake at this time felt it, and it is through moods and feelings like this and not in thoughts and concepts that mankind develops.

Even the way in which our thoughts evolve nowadays is only an episode—as indeed these lectures will show—and anyone who speaks merely in the form of thoughts is speaking in an unreal way. This is particularly true of the way we speak nowadays. The people who pride themselves most on being practical and are filled with conceit about it are basically the worst theorists. We have these theorists in offices, in schools—obviously in schools, but no less in offices and commercial houses—and everything there has a theoretical bias and thoughts run riot. But it is only an episode without any essential truth. These people will attain to some truth in their thinking about life only if they feel once more as men did when they found Nature de-spiritualized, when they feel that they are an outcast race, taken from a divine-spiritual world where they really belong, into one where their inmost human being is a stranger.

One of the ways in which this mood expressed itself was through the feeling that there had been a Fall of man. This idea arose from a change that had come about in human consciousness. Men felt that they had been thrust out of a spiritual world and that the reason for this must lie in some original sin. Thus at a particular epoch the conception of original sin, of the Fall of man, dawned in human consciousness.

If we understand the changes in human consciousness from the past through the present into the future, we shall also be able to understand how this conception of original sin, of a pre-historic Fall of man, arose. And at the same time when this mood came over man, his need was not for some grey theory, but for words through which souls needing comfort could find healing power. And what we have often described as the guidance of mankind in the old centers of ritual and religion, in the Mysteries, can be seen arising at a particular period of time coinciding approximately with ancient Persian and the earliest Chaldean culture in the Near East—it can be seen to coincide with what came from the priests, the great comforters of mankind. Consolation streamed from them and the Mysteries they celebrated; and indeed, human consciousness at that time was greatly in need of consolation. The words of the Mysteries had to contain some quality of soul that could speak to men's hearts with a power of healing and consolation. This is the epoch which exhibited such magnificent creative power (though in a somewhat different form from alter periods) in the spheres of art and religion, and a great deal in our art and in our religious ideas derives from that time, particularly the symbols, pictures and ritualistic ceremonies.

What was the source from which these teachers of the Mysteries drew in order to give this consolation? If the general waking consciousness consisted in the sort of living picture-consciousness I have described, yet at that time too there were three stages of consciousness. Nowadays we have sleeping, dreaming and waking. In those days, as opposed to the waking dream which, as I showed yesterday, was the normal form of waking consciousness, sleep was not as it is today, when it completely damps down our consciousness. Although with these men, too, consciousness was dimmed during sleep, there remained something of it on waking. Yesterday I described this by saying that when men woke after sleep, there remained something of it on waking. Yesterday I described this by saying that when men woke after sleep they had a sort of after-taste. Most people felt, not merely on the tongue or in the mouth, deeply permeated by a certain sweetness of experience which was the after-taste of their sleep. This sweetness they experienced in sleep spread over from their life of sleep into that of waking. This sweetness was to them a test of the healthiness of their life, whereas if other tastes were present it was evidence of illness.

It sounds strange to say that an older humanity experienced the sweet after-effects of sleep in their limbs, the arms, right down into the finger-tips and the other members. But spiritually-scientific investigation shows that it was so; and the genius of language has retained something of this, though in a crude and materialized form. A sleeping-draught was once something spiritual; that is, sleep itself, and it was only later that it became an actual liquid draught in material form. Sleep was then itself a draught of Nature, which extinguished the ordinary memories of day; it was a draught of forgetfulness. What ordinary men had from it was only a vague after-feeling, but Initiation gave the Mystery teachers, who were the leaders of humanity, a more exact consciousness of what really was experienced in sleep. In modern Initiation we ascend from our ordinary ideas to spirit-sight, but in those days, while ordinary men passed from their dream-waking life into sleep, for which they cultivated a consciousness and experienced this after-taste, the Mystery priests had means to feel their way consciously into sleep and so got to know what this after-taste implied. They learned of the water beyond physical existence, the water into which the human soul plunged during sleep each night—the waters of the weaving astrality of the world.

But that was only a second condition beyond the waking and reaming of ordinary life. The third condition was one of which modern humanity has no knowledge at all, a condition deeper than dreamless sleep today. I said yesterday that one might call it a state of being surrounded by the Earth, and this was the condition of man at night during deep sleep. Only the priest of the Mysteries by means of his Initiation could attain consciousness of it and impart the results of this experience, which constituted the knowledge of those days. Men felt themselves embraced by the Earth, but they felt something more; they felt that in the ordinary course of the day they had come into a condition very near death, a death, however, from which there was an awakening. They experienced this third condition of consciousness as if they had actually descended into the Earth and been laid in a grave, yet not one that could be called an earthy grave. I will try to make clear to you in the following way how this grave not only was, but how it had to be, conceived.

Now when the Sun's rays fall on to the Earth, they are not merely reflected from flowers and stars. Farmers know this better than the city dweller does, for during the winter they use the Sun's warmth which has penetrated into the Earth. At that time of the year we have within the Earth what has streamed into it during the summer. Not only the Sun's warmth but other forces stream into the Earth. Yet from the point of view of which I am speaking this was the less important fact; the more important was that the activities of the Moon could also penetrate below the surface of the Earth to a certain extent. It was a pleasant idea of those days, not just a poetical idea but, in a way, a super-poetical one—though of course not held in any logical conception as we should today, but as a picture—when men thought of the light of the Sun streaming down to Earth in the light of the full Moon and penetrating a certain distance into the Earth, then being reflected not just from the Earth's surface but from its interior, after the light had been absorbed by the Earth.

The silver ebb and flow of the moonlight were experienced by man as the rhythmic play of its rays. It was not only a beautiful picture; the priests of the Mysteries knew something definite about this flowing moonlight. They knew that man is subject to gravitation as he lives on the Earth; that gravity holds him to the surface of the Earth, and thus the Earth draws his being to itself, as it were. The forces of the Moon were known to work against this force of gravity. They are in general weaker than the vigorous forces of the Earth's gravity, but they work against those forces. It was known that man is not just a clod held fast by the Earth's gravity, but that he is rather in a sort of balance, drawn to the Earth by gravity and away from it by the forces of the Moon, and that for him as earthly man it is the Earth which holds the upper hand. But as regards his head-activity, the effective influence on it is the negative gravity that draws him away. Thus though man might not be able to fly, at least he could raise his spirit into the starry spaces. By means of this Initiation, through these Moon activities, humanity in those days learnt from their Mystery-priests the effect on earthly man of his starry environment.

This was the astrological Initiation, so much abused nowadays, which was specially prevalent among the people of ancient Chaldea. By its path men could learn not only of the activity of the Moon, but of that of the Sun, Mars, Saturn, and so forth. Nowadays man is—if you will pardon a pictorial way of putting it so, for it is hard to describe such things in strictly logical words—man, as far as his knowledge goes, has become a kind of worm, not even an earthworm but something worse, a worm for whom it never rains so that he never emerges from the soil! Worms do after all emerge periodically when it rains, and then they can enjoy whatever is happening on the Earth's surface: and that is healthy for them. Modern man, with regard to his soul and spirit, is a worm for whom it never rains, and then they can enjoy whatever is happening on the Earth's surface: and that is healthy for them. Modern man with regard to his soul and spirit, is a worm for whom it never rains, and he is entirely encased in the Earth. Thus he believes that the members of this body grow on Earth more or less as stones are formed. He has no idea that the hair on his head is the result of the Sun's activity, for he is a worm which never comes above ground, a creature, that is, which bears the Sun-forces within him but never comes to the surface to investigate them. As the old Mystery-priests well knew, man has not grown out of the Earth like a cabbage; he has been created by the joint activity of the whole cosmic environment. You can see, therefore, how men in those days felt towards their Initiates and Mystery-leaders who could tell them from their training what his cosmic environment signifies for man.

These priests of the Mysteries could thus proclaim something which I shall have to give in an unimaginative form, since we are not nowadays capable of speaking as they did; they clothed all they said in wonderful poetry. The genius of language made that possible then, but nowadays we can no longer speak in such a way, because language is inadequate. If we had to put into words the message of the priests of the Mysteries to their people who came to them for comfort, feeling themselves thrust into a Nature which had lost its spirit, we should have to put it somewhat as follows: As long as you remain in your ordinary waking consciousness, your environment will seem to have been robbed of spirit. But if you plunge consciously into the region embraced by the Earthy, where you can behold the power of the star-gods in the silvery light of the Moon flowing and surging through the Earth, you will come to learn—no longer with the earlier spontaneity but only by human effort—that external Nature is everywhere permeated by spirit-beings and bears the gifts of the gods within herself as spirit-beings and elemental spirits.

This was the consolation which the priests of the Mysteries could give their people in olden days; they made them see that plants are not just beautiful but are really permeated by the weaving of the spirit; that the clouds do not just sail majestically through the air but that divine-spiritual elemental beings are active in them—and so on. It was towards the spirit of Nature that these Initiates led the men who depended on them for guidance.

Thus at a certain point in man's evolution the task of the Mysteries was to make it clear that when Nature appeared to have lost the spirit, this was only an illusion of ordinary waking consciousness. Actually, spirit was to be found everywhere in Nature. You see, there was a time when man lived within the spirituality of existence, and through the Mysteries experienced this spirituality even in the sphere which at first sight seemed to have been robbed of spirit. Man was still dependent on the spirit in all that affected him, whether instinctively when he had inner spiritual perception, or by the Mystery-teachings which showed him that Nature also was permeated by spirit.

If human evolution had stopped there, our consciousness could never have experienced one of the greatest blessings of humanity, perhaps the very greatest—I mean the experience of free-will, of freedom. The old mood of soul, with its instinctively experienced spirituality, had to be damped down. Man had to be led to three other conditions of consciousness. The feeling of being embraced by the Earth, which had enabled the old Initiates to attain their star-wisdom and their knowledge of Nature's spirits, died away completely, and man's soul-condition came to include only dreamless sleep, dreaming and waking. To balance this, there were the beginnings of that sphere of consciousness in which freedom can dawn. What we call today our waking consciousness, which enables us to enjoy our ordinary life and knowledge, was quite unknown to early humanity. Yet through it came the possibility of pure thinking; we may profess doubts about its existence, but in it lies the only possible basis for the impulse of freedom. Had men never attained this pure-thinking—which is actually pure thinking and does not, as such, guarantee the actual reality—they would never have reached the consciousness of freedom.

We might say that as humanity developed, man's earlier association with the spirit was veiled in darkness; on the other hand, he acquired those three states of consciousness which led him from spiritual heights into the depths of the Earth. But out of these depths he was to find the original forces for the unfolding of freedom. This quality of soul, with its waking, dreaming and sleeping, had been developing for close on a thousand years, and men had gone far into that darkness where the light of the spirit does not shine but where the impulse of freedom is to be found. Try to realize what human evolution has really been like. There was a time when man looked up to the starry heavens and the knowledge he still had of the stars showed him that their forces lived within him and that he belonged essentially to the Cosmos. But now, man—as spirit—was thrust down to Earth and the Heavens became, so to speak, dark, for the light, though shining down physically from sun or stars, became impenetrable for him. It was as if a curtain had come down, so that he could no longer find any basis for his existence. He could no longer perceive what lay behind the curtain.

We shall see tomorrow how this curtain has existed for a thousand years, becoming thicker and thicker, and how this expressed itself in man's whole mood. Then a light appeared which did penetrate the curtain and to a certain extent the curtain fell away; it was the light that shone forth on Golgotha. In this way the Deed of Golgotha finds its place in human evolution. This Deed, accomplished on the Earth, was to reopen for man the vision of the spirituality of the world which he had once seen in the wide spaces of the Cosmos. Christ, by passing through the Mystery of Golgotha, was to bring into man's life on Earth what had in earlier times been seen in the Heavens. The divine-spiritual Being of Christ was to descend and live in a human body, so that He might bring this light in a new way to men who could no longer leave the Earth.

We are only just beginning to understand the Mystery of Golgotha, and the future evolution of the Earth must consist in this Mystery being ever more deeply understood, so that the radiance spreading from the Mystery of Golgotha will change more and more from an inward to a cosmic radiance and will gradually irradiate everything perceptible to man.

But we shall be able to talk of this in greater detail only if we lay some further foundations for it today. Now something which was once a living fact in human evolution is, in a sense, returning. The priests of the Mysteries possessed, as I have told you, the power of contemplating the influence of the Moon; the influence of the Moon bore them up to their astrological Initiation. They learnt how it was possible to be initiated into the secrets of the stars by this means. An important point for the candidate for Initiation was that he should feel as though gravity were of less importance to him than it normally was. He felt that he weighed less. But then he was instructed by the older teachers not to give way to this feeling; when he began to feel lighter he must restore his heaviness by a strong exercise of will. The technique of the old Initiation made it possible for the candidate to allow the weight which was lost by the influence of the Moon to be restored by an effort of will; and as a result the wisdom of the stars shone forth. Thus every tendency in man at that time to overcome gravity was used to develop the will to hold fast to the Earth by the power of his own soul. But since this exerting of the will acted as a kindling of an inner light, it shone forth into the Cosmos and he could attain knowledge of cosmic spaces. When Spiritual Science throws its light on these matters, it is possible accurately to describe how this old consciousness came into being.

Now there is always a tendency for what existed in such men to recur; there is a sort of atavism, an inheritance, of things long past. It recurs just because men themselves return; and when this relation to the Moon appears in men who live at a time when, because this deep sleep is a thing of the past, such a relation should not occur, it appears as somnambulism, especially as ordinary sleep-walking. Then they do not combat this increasing sense of lightness by exerting the forces of their soul, but they wander about on roofs or at least get up out of bed. They do with their whole being what only the astral body should properly do. Something which has now become an abnormality was in earlier times an asset which could be used to attain knowledge. It was quite appropriate that popular usage should call such men “moon-struck,” for this condition of man's being is connected with an atavistic relation to the Moon-forces which has survived from older times.

Again, just as man is related, in the way I have described, to Moon-forces, he is also related to Sun-forces. But they are active in a more hidden part of man's being and we find them only indirectly. The Druids of the finest period—not those when decadence had set in—certainly sought their Sun-Initiation in this relation to the Sun-forces. Now whereas astrological Initiation depends on Moon-forces and makes possible a knowledge of the secrets of the Cosmos, this Sun-Initiation makes possible a sort of conversation with the divine-spiritual Beings of the Universe, a kind of Inspiration, whereas the Moon-Initiation gave only Imagination. Sun-Initiation is like a listening to the counsel of the spiritual Beings of the Cosmos—certainly a much deeper vision of the secretes of the world's being than could be given by Moon-Initiation. This may also recur atavistically, for Sun-activity exists in every man. But the constitution of man's soul today is quite different from that of the past, and his eyes are now specially organized to see only the physical rays of the Sun. As I told you yesterday, in the physical rays of the Sun there is an element of soul and spirit. Modern man does not realize or perceive this. In his attitude to the Sun, present-day man behaves as if he met another man who claimed to possess some inner quality of soul, and said to him: “There is no such thing; if you move your arm, it is a mechanical process like that of a lever; the muscles act as cords and when they are drawn tight the lever comes into action. That is the mechanism of it.”

That is really how men behave nowadays in regard to the Sun; they see only the external-physical; that is, the physical light. But when the physical light of the Sun's working penetrates into us, the spirituality of the Sun's being penetrates also. By means of a sort of inner concentration—not acquired in the way described in my book, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds but possessed atavistically like some elemental force—a man can nowadays (and by nowadays I mean our present epoch of history which may of course extend for some thousands of years) cease through inner concentration to be strongly receptive to the physical working of the Sun but may, on the contrary, become receptive to its spiritual activity. Then his sight is changed. When this atavistic capacity appears, he sees differently from the ordinary way. When we look into a mirror, we see the reflection of what stands in front of the mirror. Just because the mirror is not transparent, it can reflect in this way. Now when a man's soul is constituted in such a way that, even when in full possession of all his senses, instead of looking into the Sun and seeing the physical sunlight he sees darkness, the darkness then becomes a sort of mirror which reflects his immediate surroundings. He does not say to himself: Here I have a plant which has a root which sends forth its leaves, flower, fruit and seed; rather, he says: When I look into the lower part of a plant, I see in it an elemental spiritual wisdom which makes it solid and permanent; if then I look further up the plant, I see how that quality is gradually overcome and how the plant strives to create alternatively a contraction and expansion in the formation of leaves, and finally strives upwards in the blossoms, as through transformed by fire. In this way the life of the plant is reflected in the darkness, which is however spiritual light.

Jacob Boehme possessed this atavistic power when he looked a the plant and saw the quality of salt below, the mercurial in the middle and the phosphoric above. Thus we can see in the spirit of a man such as Boehme, who was a natural Sun-Initiate, a capacity belonging to an earlier period of civilization, that primal civilization before there was any reading or writing. You completely misunderstand him if you read works such as the Mysterium Magnum, the De Signatura Rerum or the Aurora and do not see that in this stammering presentation there is something quite similar to what I described in relation to the Druids. Boehme was not initiated in an external sense, but his Sun-Initiation rises within him like a repetition of an earlier earthly existence. We can trace this into the very details of his biography.

There are still deeper forces which can be active in men, the forces of the outermost planet of our solar system. Modern astronomy does not regard it as the outermost since it has added two more—though even orthodox astronomers are worried because the movement of the moons does not properly fit, (The moons of Neptune and Uranus move in the opposite direction to the satellites of other planets,) but since it is the spatial arrangement with which they are concerned, they have added Uranus and Neptune. These, however, cause trouble because their moons are a little crazy compared with the ordered moons of Jupiter and other planets. In reality one must say that, for a living, concrete grasp of the planetary system, Saturn is the outer-most planet. Now just as a man can be under the influence of the Moon-forces which I described in detail, or of the Sun-forces, which I only outlined, he may also be under the influence of Saturn-forces. The activity of Saturn, as it rays into the planetary system and thus also into man, is like a cosmic historical memory. Saturn is, as it were, the memory, the recollection, of our planetary system, and if you want to know anything about the history of that system, you cannot really get it by astronomical speculation. Even external science is becoming rather desperate about all this because nothing fits. But the problem is not rightly tackled.

We have often spoken among ourselves about the so-called theory of relativity and the idea that it is never possible to talk of absolute motion; that there is nothing but relative motion. We can either say that the Sun moves and the Earth stands still, or that the Earth moves and the Sun stands still—as we have done in modern times. It makes no difference which one says, since everything is relative. And on one occasion here in Stuttgart, at a meeting of the Anthroposophical Society when we were talking about relativity, a supporter of the theory showed his audience clearly how it is all the same whether you take a match and strike it on the box, or take the box and move it past the match: in either case you light the match. This was meant as a serious scientific statement, and there is nothing to be said against it. Perhaps some simple soul might have thought of nailing the box to a wall—and then we should have had a little bit of “absolute.” We might somehow have moved the whole house and we should have had relativity again—but this might have been difficult! Yet it one takes the whole physical world, Einstein is quite right in saying that within the world there is nothing absolute, everything is relative. Unfortunately he stops at relativity, and it is just this relativity that ought to lead us on to look for something absolute, not in the physical world but in the spiritual. Everywhere nowadays, science—were it only rightly understood—offers us entry into the spiritual world. It is not a question of amateurish but of genuine exact science, and genuine science—except that it is not thought through to the end even by its experts—will lead to the spirit. Ordinary physical investigation cannot really tell us what this Saturn of our universe is. Saturn is in a sense the memory of our planetary system; everything that has occurred within that system is preserved in Saturn, and a Saturn-Initiate can learn of all those happenings.

Now just as our relation to the Moon can appear in a one-sided form in men as an inheritance of an older period of human evolution, with the result that they become sleep-walkers, or, again, as the spiritual forces of the Sun may emerge so that a man will not see the sunlight with open eyes but will see into the darkness in which Nature is mirrored, and then he will see as Boehme did—in the same way it is possible to experience our relation to the forces of Saturn, which work particularly on the head and implant in the human being a passing memory during his life on the Earth. These Saturn-forces can appear in a peculiar way, and just as we can talk of “Moon-men” who are the ordinary sleep-walkers, and of “Sun-men” such as Boehme, or in a lesser degree, Paracelsus, so we can also speak of a Saturn-man. This is what Swedenborg was. His is another case which should worry ordinary science—though it does not!

Swedenborg was master of the ordinary science of his time and was regarded as an authority. Up to his fortieth year he was thoroughly orthodox in his views and said nothing to which ordinary science might take exception. Then he suddenly became befogged. Actually we ought to say that the Saturn-forces became active in him, though people with an ordinary materialistic outlook say that he went mad. But it ought to make us pause to realize that there are so many surviving works of his which are recognized as scientific and are being published by a Swedish Society. The most distinguished scholars in Sweden are occupied just now in publishing his works—works, that is, written shall we say, before he attained spiritual vision. There is something unpleasant in having to deal with a man who up to his fortieth year was the most brilliant man of his age and after that must, to put it mildly, be called a fool!

Actually Swedenborg did not become a fool, but, at a particular moment, just after he had reached the heights of ordinary science, he began to see into the spiritual world. When this power of vision reached his head—the organ he had developed to so high a level—and when it was influenced by the spirituality of Saturn, he had his own special power of vision, not the vision of Boehme who saw the inner secrets of Nature mirrored in the darkness, but direct vision into the etheric, where the patterns of a higher spirituality appear. And thus he was able to give his own descriptions of them—though he did not actually see what he imagined he had, for the spirit-beings to whom he was referring are different. Nor on the other hand was it a mere earthly reflection of these spirits; he saw etheric forms and the activities of spirits in the etheric. He saw in the ether of the Earth the deeds of the spirits, though not the spirits themselves. Whereas Boehme saw reflection of Nature, Swedenborg saw what was accomplished in the etheric by the spirits whose activity was all he could see. Thus when he describes Angels, it is not Angels whom he sees but etheric forms. Nevertheless, these forms were actually the work of Angels—a picture of the activity of Angels. We must always keep our eyes on the reality of such things. And whereas it would be an error to claim that Swedenborg saw the spiritual world as such (that was not his peculiar power,) yet it was a reality that he saw.

The ordinary sleep-walker does something real, does with his physical body what he ought to do only with his astral body. Boehme saw with his physical body, particularly with his eyes, which were organized in such a way that he could exclude the physical and see into the darkness, but in that darkness he saw the light, the mirroring of Nature-spirits. Swedenborg did not see mirror-pictures, but etheric pictures of a spiritual existence of a higher order. Here we have an upward process from the sleep-walker who, being permeated by spirit, does not see but acts automatically, through what I may perhaps call the natural second sight of Boehme who saw not the external side of Nature but the mirror of his inner side, up to Swedenborg who saw not mirror-pictures but reality in the etheric, the picture of activities which proceed in higher spiritual regions.

You see then in what way we can speak of man's past and present, and how in the so-called abnormal conditions there is a sort of inherited survival which we must try to understand. When we can see the past in this light and see also what survives from the past into the present, we shall be able to get some idea of mankind's future with the help of a deeper understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. This is what we shall attempt in the lecture tomorrow.

Der Mensch In Vergangenheit, Gegenwart Und Zukunft Vom Gesichtspunkt Der Bewusstseinsentwickelung II

Gestern wollte ich an der Entwickelung der unserer anthroposophischen Bewegung gerade im gegenwärtigen Augenblick naheliegenden Druidenkultur gewissermaßen die Seelenverfassung einer älteren Zeit in einer gewissen Gegend illustrieren. Wir können uns, wenn wir eben in der Entwickelung der Menschheit drei, vier, fünf Jahrtausende - es ist verschieden für die verschiedenen Gegenden der Erde — zurückgehen, immer hineinfinden in solche ganz andersartige Seelenverfassungen der Menschen, die natürlich als Seelenverfassungen wiederum bedingen, daß die ganze geistige und soziale Lenkung und Leitung des menschlichen Lebens sich nach den Voraussetzungen einer solchen Seelenverfassung einer Zeitepoche richtet.

Es hängt die Entwickelung, die damit angedeutet ist, zusammen mit der allmählichen Entfaltung des menschlichen Bewußtseins. Die Menschen waren eben in älteren Zeiten ganz andere Wesen als in der Gegenwart, und sie werden in Zukunftszeiten wiederum andere Wesen sein. Die landläufige Geschichte verzeichnet wenig von diesen Dingen. Daher ist auch, wenn man ein paar Jahrhunderte über den historischen Gegenwartsmoment hinausgreift, dasjenige, was als gewöhnliche Geschichte vorliegt, zum großen Teil für eine wirkliche menschliche Auffassung von illusionärer Natur. Und ich habe ja gestern angedeutet, wie wir in der Hauptsache drei Etappen des menschlichen Bewußtseins — natürlich wiederum mit unerläßlich vielen Nuancen — beobachten werden müssen. Das, was wir heute unsere Bewußtseinszustände nennen, Wachen, Träumen, Schlafen, das ist ja eben Gegenwart, allerdings eine Gegenwart, die sich über Jahrhunderte, ja Jahrtausende ausbreitet, aber eben in historischem Sinne Gegenwart. Und wenn wir zurückgehen in ältere Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung, dann haben wir gar nicht den gestern geschilderten heutigen Wachzustand mit den in logischen Zusammenhängen verlaufenden Vorstellungen. Je weiter wir in der Menschheitsentwickelung zunächst zurückgehen, desto mehr finden wir nicht ein solches logisches Bewußtsein, das eigentlich mit aller Strenge erst heraufgekommen ist im 14., 15. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert, das seinen Anfang genommen hat in den späteren Zeiten des Griechentums; in den älteren Zeiten aber finden wir dafür ein viel lebendigeres, von Bildern, nicht von Vorstellungen erfülltes Bewußtsein, und zwar finden wir ein solches Bewußtsein bei der gesamten Menschheit.

Was wir heute Naturkräfte nennen, das kannte ja die ältere Menschheit in der Form gar nicht. Die Zeit, die ich Ihnen gestern geschildert habe, sprach nicht von meteorologischen Gesetzen, die in Wind und Wetter walten, sie sprach, wie ich angedeutet habe, von Bildhaft-Wesenhaftem, von Elementargeistern, die an den Pflanzengrenzen walten, von Riesen, von geistigen Wesenheiten, die in Wind und Wetter, in Frost und Hagel, in Sturm und Donner und so weiter walten. Da war alles in der Naturanschauung lebendig. Da wurden keine logischen Schlüsse gemacht. Da sah man hin auf das Leben und Weben und Wogen und Wellen geistiger Wesenheiten in den Dingen und auch in den elementarischen Naturerscheinungen. Der Grund der inneren Seelenzustände dieser älteren Menschheit war eben ein durchaus anderer als der heutige. Dieser Seelenzustand war so, daß eigentlich der Mensch viel mehr als heute in sich eingeschlossen war. Aber dieses In-sich war eben wieder ein anderes, als wir es jetzt kennen. Dieses In-sich war zu gleicher Zeit ein in lebendigen Traumbildern webendes Bewußtsein, das aber hinausführte in die Weltenweiten. Man sah Bilder, aber man sah diese Bilder nicht so, wie man heute einen Gedanken hat und da draußen sind die Dinge. Nein, was man als Riesenwesen, Frostriesen, Sturmriesen, Feuerriesen empfand, was man als Wurzelgeister, Blattgeister, Blütengeister empfand, in dem fühlte man sich verbunden mit der Pflanze, mit Wurzeln, Blättern, Blüten, mit dem Blitz, mit dem Donner. Man trennte sich nicht, weil man Geistiges, Bildhaft-Geistiges im Innern erlebte, in seinem Seelenleben von der äußeren Natur.

Nicht gerade in den allerältesten Zeiten, die ich in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß» geschildert habe, wohl aber in den Zeiten, die darauf folgten, da kann man geistig beobachten, wie diese Seelenverfassung eine ganz bestimmte Gemütsstimmung in den für die damalige Zeit maßgebenden zivilisierten Völkern hervorrief. Es gab schon eine Zeitepoche, in welcher die Menschen innerlich geistig noch viel wahrnahmen von dem, was eigentlich menschliche Wesenheit ist. Sie schauten in diesen Bildern, die ich eben beschrieben habe, nicht bloß die Gegenwart ihres Daseins, sie schauten das vorirdische Leben, sie schauten hin, wie man jetzt in eine Raumperspektive hineinschaut, in eine Zeitperspektive. Nicht Erinnerung war es, Schau war es. Sie schauten über ihre Geburt hinaus in eine geistige Welt hinein, aus der sie heruntergestiegen waren zum irdischen Menschenleben. Es war dieser älteren Menschheit natürlich, auf dieses vorirdische Dasein hinzuschauen und zu empfinden: Als Mensch bin ich ein geistiges Wesen, denn bevor ich einen irdischen Leib angenommen habe, ruhte ich im Schoße der Geistigkeit, verbrachte dort mein Dasein, erlebte dort mein Menschenschicksal noch nicht in einem physischen Leibe, sondern in einer — wenn ich mich so ausdrücken darf, trotzdem es paradox ist — geistigen Leiblichkeit.

Die Forderung, an den Geist zu glauben, wäre für diese ältere Menschheit ganz absurd gewesen, so wie es heute für den Menschen absurd ist, an Berge zu glauben. Denn Berge sieht man. Das geistige vorgeburtliche Leben sah man damals, allerdings innerlich in Seelenschau, aber man schaute es innerlich. Es kam eine Zeit, in der die Menschen zwar dieses innerlich Menschliche geistig erschauten als die Ereignisse des vorirdischen Daseins, in denen aber immer mehr und mehr die Natur selber, die draußen in ihrer Umgebung war, zu einer Art Rätsel wurde. Ich möchte sagen, es drängte sich allmählich in der Menschheitsentwickelung die reine Sinnesbeobachtung vor.

In ganz alten Zeiten, in Zeiten des Urindertums, wie ich sie in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß» geschildert habe, da sah der Mensch überhaupt alles noch geistig, auch die Natur. Aber ein Fortschritt bestand darin, daß die Schauung des Geistigen innerlich blieb, dagegen die Natur allmählich anfing - wenn ich mich so ausdrücken darf - entgeistigt zu werden. Der Mensch schaute dann hinaus. Während er innerlich fühlte, er ist Geist vom Geiste, schaute der Mensch hinaus auf die blühende Pflanzenflur, auf die Wolke, die den Blitz aus sich heraustreibt, auf Wind und Wetter, auf die zierlichen oder wunderbar gestalteten Kristalle, auf Berg und Tal, auf all das schaute der Mensch. Und da kam eine gewisse Stimmung, die man durch lange Zeitepochen hindurch geisteswissenschaftlich verfolgen kann, gerade über dasjenige, was damals zivilisierte Menschheit war, die Stimmung, die sich etwa ausdrücken läßt auf folgende Art: Wir Menschen sind Geist vom Geiste. Wir waren im vorirdischen Dasein mit der Geistigkeit als Menschenwesen verbunden. Jetzt sind wir in die natürliche Umgebung versetzt. Wir schauen die schönen Blumen, die gigantischen Berge, wir schauen das mächtige Walten der Natur in Wind und Wetter. Aber das ist entgeistigt. - Und immer mehr und mehr kam herauf die Vorstellung bloßer Natur in der Umgebung.

Nun empfand, nun sah aber der Mensch - ich meine natürlich immer den vorgeschrittenen Menschen, den Menschen, den man dazumal einen zivilisieren in unserer Sprache nennen kann -, daß ihm sein Leib herausgebildet wird aus den Substanzen, aus den Stoffen dieser Natur, die entgeistigt, entgöttlicht ist. Wenn so etwas über den modernen Menschen, über den Menschen der Gegenwart kommen würde, dann würde er darüber spekulieren, philosophieren, würde er nachdenken darüber. Das war zunächst bei dem Menschen einer älteren Zeit nicht der Fall. Er dachte nicht nach, aber er empfand eine ungeheure Disharmonie zwischen dem, was er in seinem Inneren erlebte: Ich bin Geist aus Geistesland, meine eigentliche Menschenwesenheit stammt aus göttlichen Höhen, aber ich bin umkleidet mit etwas, was aus der entgeistigt erscheinenden Natur genommen ist, mein geistiges Dasein ist verwoben mit etwas, was mir nicht den Geist zeigt. Aus derselben Substanz, aus der die blühenden Pflanzen auf den Fluren genommen sind, aus derselben Substanz, aus der das Wasser aus den Wolken und Regengüssen ist, aus derselben Substanz ist mein Leib. Diese Substanz ist aber entgöttlicht. - Und der Mensch empfand das wie ein Verstoßensein aus der geistigen Welt, wie ein Herausgestoßensein in eine Welt, der er eigentlich mit seinem Wesen nicht angehört.

Diese Stimmung könnte man, wie das heute mit sehr vielen Kulturstimmungen geschieht, ablehnen, verschlafen. Aber die wachen Leute der damaligen Zeit empfanden sie, und in Stimmungen, in Empfindungen entwickelt sich die Menschheit, nicht in Vorstellungen und Gedanken. Denn selbst unsere Gedankenentwickelung in unserer Zeit ist nur eine episodische Entwickelung - wie wir gerade in diesen Vorträgen sehen werden - und der Mensch, der in Gedanken bloß redet, er redet eigentlich in Unwirklichkeit. Gerade das heutige Reden der Menschen ist ein Reden der Menschen in Unwirklichkeit. Diejenigen, die sich am meisten als Praktiker dünken und in Hochmut vor ihrer Praxis geradezu platzen, diese Menschen sind im Grunde genommen die stärksten Theoretiker. Die Theoretiker sitzen heute in den Büros, natürlich auch auf den Lehrstühlen, da ist es, ich möchte sagen, selbstverständlich; aber sie sitzen auch in den Büros, gehen in der Handelswelt herum. Alles ist theoretisch eingestellt, alles ist in Gedanken aufgefangen. Das ist eine Episode. Die hat zunächst keine Wahrheit. Ihre Wahrheit wird sie erst haben, wenn diese Menschen über dieses Leben in Gedanken empfinden werden, fühlen werden, so wie einstmals die Menschheit gefühlt hat, als die Natur ihr entgeistigt erschien: Wir sind verstoßen, ein verstoßenes Geschlecht; wir sind heraus aus göttlich-geistigen Höhen, wo wir eigentlich hineingehören, sind versetzt in eine Welt, in die wir mit unserem innersten Menschenwesen nicht hineingehören.

Ein Ergebnis dieser Stimmung ist erst dasjenige, was dann aufgekommen ist als Ausdruck, als Offenbarung dieser Stimmung: die Empfindung vom Sündenfall der Menschheit. Diese Vorstellung vom Sündenfall entstand aus einer Bewußtseinswandelung. Man sagte sich: Man ist verstoßen aus der geistigen Welt; das muß aus einer Urschuld kommen. - Und so dämmerte durch das Menschenbewußtsein in einer gewissen Epoche die Anschauung von einer Urschuld, von einem Sündenfall der Menschheit. Auch diese Anschauung von einer Urschuld, von einer vorzeitlichen Schuld, einem vorzeitlichen Sündenfall versteht man, wenn man versteht die Bewußtseinswandelung des Menschengeschlechtes aus der Vergangenheit durch die Gegenwart in die Zukunft. Und was der Mensch brauchte in jener Epoche, indem diese Stimmung über ihn kam, das war nicht eine graue Theorie, das war vor allen Dingen etwas, was so in Worte gekleidet werden konnte, daß die Worte Balsam sein konnten für Seelen, die Trost brauchen. Was wir oftmals als die Führung der Menschheit in den alten Kult- und Religionsstätten, in den Mysterien bezeichnet haben, das sehen wir auftauchen in einem gewissen Zeitalter, das etwa zusammenfällt mit der urpersischen, mit der urchaldäischen, vorderasiatischen Kultur. Wir sehen das Zusammenfallen mit dem, was in den Mysterienpriestern entstand als den großen Tröstern der Menschheit. Tröster wurden sie. Aus den Mysterien strahlte Trost aus. Denn jene Bewußtseinsentwickelung der damaligen Zeit brauchte Trost. Die Worte mußten von etwas Seelenhaftem durchströmt sein, das eben wie Balsam, wie tröstender Balsam zu den Herzen sprach. Es ist die Zeit, die in bezug auf Religions- und Kunstschöpfungen, wenn auch in einer gewissen Beziehung andersartig als die späteren Zeiten, dennoch von einer grandiosen Schöpferkraft war. Vieles von Einzelheiten in unserer Kunst, in unseren religiösen Vorstellungen stammt eben noch aus jener Zeit. Insbesondere Kultsymbole, Kultbilder, Kulthandlungen stammen vielfach aus jenen alten Zeiten.

Woraus sprachen jene Mysterienlehrer, die diesen Trost zu geben hatten? Ja, wenn sozusagen das allgemeine Wachbewußtsein in einem solch lebendigen Bilderbewußtsein bestand, wie ich es beschrieben habe, so gab es doch auch in der damaligen Zeit drei Bewußtseinsstufen. Wie es heute Schlafen, Träumen, Wachen gibt, so gab es eben in der damaligen Zeit auch gegenüber dem Wachträumen, das eben allgemeines waches Menschheitsbewußtsein war, wie ich schon gestern angedeutet habe, das Schlafen nicht so, wie es heute vom gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein ausgeführt wird, daß der Schlaf eigentlich dasjenige ist, was das Bewußtsein vollständig ablähmt. Zwar während des Schlafes war das Bewußtsein sehr dumpf auch bei jener älteren Menschheit, aber beim Erwachen blieb etwas zurück. Ich bezeichnete es gestern damit, daß der Mensch gewissermaßen, wenn er aufwachte, innerlich den Nachgeschmack vom Schlafe hatte. Die meisten Menschen fühlten sich innerlich durchdrungen nicht etwa bloß auf der Zunge oder auf dem Gaumen -, sie fühlten sich innerlich durchdrungen als Nachgeschmack des Schlafes von einer gewissen Süßigkeit des Erlebens. Es strömte die Süßigkeit des Erlebens vom Schlafes- auf das Tagesleben aus. Man erkannte in dieser Süßigkeit gerade den gesunden Zustand des Lebens, während, wenn sich andere Geschmäcke hineinmischten, man dieses als Andeutung von Krankheit empfand. Es klingt dem heutigen Menschen paradox, wenn man ihm sagt, eine ältere Menschheit empfand die süße Nachwirkung des Schlafes in den Gliedern, in den Armen bis in die Fingerspitzen, in den andern Gliedern des Organismus. Aber es war eben so, geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung zeigt das. Der Sprachgenius hat davon manches erhalten, nur hat er es materialistisch vergröbert. Der Schlaftrunk war einstmals etwas Geistiges, nämlich der Schlaf selber. Er wurde erst nachher etwas Materialistisches, was man als Flüssigkeit trank. Der Schlaf selber war ein Trunk aus der Natur, ein Trunk, durch den die gewöhnliche Tageserinnerung hinschwand. Er war zugleich ein Vergessenheitstrunk.

Nun, es war ein unbestimmtes Nachgefühl, was der gewöhnliche Mensch hatte, aber die Einweihung, die Initiation gab dem Mysterienlehrer, dem Führer der Menschheit ein genaueres Bewußtsein von dem, was da der Mensch eigentlich während des Schlafes erlebte. Und so, wie wir heute in der modernen Initiation hinaufsteigen vom gewöhnlichen Vorstellen zum Geist-Erschauen, so stieg gewissermaßen die Menschheit der damaligen Zeit hinab vom Traumwachen in den Schlafzustand, für den sie sich aber Bewußtsein aneignete, so daß der gewöhnliche Mensch den Nachgeschmack hatte, der Mysterienpriester in einer bewußten Art hineinfühlte, hineinempfand in den Schlaf selber und sozusagen dasjenige kennenlernte, was dann im Nachgeschmack das ergab, was ich beschrieben habe. Er lernte kennen die Wasser jenseits des physischen Daseins, die Wasser, in die die Menschenseele eintaucht während des Schlafes, die Wasser, in die die Seele untertauchte, die Wasser, in die sie in jeder Nacht getaucht wird: die Wasser des astralischen Weltenwebens und Weltenwesens. Es war aber gegenüber dem Wachträumen eben nur der zweite Zustand.

Der dritte Zustand war dann der, von dem die heutige Menschheit überhaupt nichts mehr weiß, ein Zustand, tiefer als der traumlose Schlaf heute. Ich habe gestern gesagt, man möchte ihn die Erdenumfassung nennen. Darinnen war jeder Mensch in der Mitte des Tiefschlafes während der Nacht, aber nur der Mysterienpriester konnte durch seine Einweihung ein Bewußtsein erlangen von dem, was da war, konnte mitteilen die Ergebnisse dieses Bewußtseins als die damalige Wissenschaft. Dann sagte der Mensch nicht bloß: Ich bin von der Erde umfangen. — Ja, das sagte er auch, aber er sagte noch etwas anderes dazu. Er sagte sich: Ich bin von der Erde umfangen, - aber er empfand das schon so, wie wenn er im gewöhnlichen Tageslauf in einen Zustand gekommen wäre, der eigentlich schon dem "Tode immer sehr nahe ist, aber einem Tode, aus dem es doch ein Erwachen gibt. Es empfand sich der Mensch in diesem dritten Bewußtseinszustande so, wie wenn er eigentlich untergetaucht wäre in die Erde, wie wenn er schon in ein Grab gekommen wäre, aber in ein Grab, das eigentlich nicht ein Erdengrab war. Wie dieses Grab nicht nur vorgestellt wurde, sondern vorgestellt werden mußte, das werde ich Ihnen auf folgende Art anschaulich machen können.

Sehen Sie, die Sonnenstrahlen fallen ja nicht bloß auf die Erde und erglänzen von den Blumen, erglänzen von den Sternen, der Bauer weiß das besser als der Städter, denn er benützt das Eindringen der Sonnenwärme in die Erde auch in der Winterszeit. Da hat man gerade dasjenige, was während des Sommers in die Erde hineingeströmt ist, im Erdboden drinnen. So strömt nicht nur die Wärme, so strömen andere Kräfte der Sonne in die Erde hinein. Aber das war von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus, von dem ich jetzt spreche, sogar das weniger Wichtige. Das Wichtigere war, daß auch die Mondenwirkungen in die Erde eindringen konnten, die Mondenwirkungen gewissermaßen untertauchten unter die Oberfläche der Erde. Ich möchte sagen, eine schöne Vorstellung der alten Zeit, die nicht bloß poetisch, die eher überpoetisch war, war diese, daß die Menschen sich wiederum im Bilde, nicht in einer logischen Anschauung, wie wir das heute tun, sondern im Bilde vorstellten, wie das silberne Sonnenlicht herniederströmte im Vollmondschein zur Erde, dann aber hineindringt in die Erde, wie dieses Mondensilber eine gewisse Strecke weit in die Erde hineindringt, und dann wiederum, gewissermaßen nachdem es von der Erde aufgenommen war, vom Innern der Erde - nicht von der Oberfläche - zurückstrahlt. Dieses Silberwogen und Silberwellen des Mondes empfand der Mensch als Ein- und Ausstrahlen, Ein- und Auswogen. Es war aber nicht bloß ein schönes Bild, sondern man wußte als Mysterienpriester über dieses wogende wellende Mondenlicht etwas ganz Bestimmtes.

Man wußte, daß der Mensch, wenn er auf der Erde steht, Schwere hat. Die Gravitation, die Schwere hält ihn an dem Erdboden, die Erde zieht gewissermaßen ihre Wesen an sich in der Schwere. Von den Mondenkräften wußte der Mensch, daß sie der Schwere entgegenwirken. Sie sind nur im allgemeinen schwächer als die grobrobuste Erdenschwere, aber sie sind das, was entgegenwirkt den Erdenschwerekräften. Das wußte man. Man wußte, daß der Mensch nicht bloß ein Klotz ist, der von der Erdenschwere festgehalten wird, sondern daß er sich in einer Art Gleichgewichtslage befindet, von der Erde angezogen, vom Mond hinweggezogen wird, nur daß die Erdenschwere für den Erdenmenschen die Oberhand behält. Aber für dasjenige, was im Haupt des Menschen tätig ist, macht sich diese, ich möchte sagen, negative Schwere, diese wegziehende Schwere geltend. Konnte man durch sie auch schon nicht fliegen, so konnte man doch den Geist hinauferheben in die Sternenräume. Und durch diese Initiation, also auf dem Umweg über die Mondenwirkungen, lernte die Menschheit der damaligen Zeit durch ihre Mysterienpriester die Wirkungen der Sternenumgebung auf den Menschen der Erde kennen.

Das war die heute so viel mißbrauchte astrologische Initiation, die insbesondere in der chaldäischen Bevölkerung so ausgeprägt war. Man wußte auf diesem Umwege etwas, und zwar nicht bloß über die Mondenwirkungen, sondern auch über Sonnen-, Mars-, Saturnwirkungen und so weiter. Der Mensch ist ja heute - verzeihen Sie, wenn ich das auch in einem Bilde ausdrücke, aber solche Dinge lassen sich schwer logisch charakterisieren —, der Mensch ist ja heute ein Regenwurm geworden in bezug auf sein Wissen, nein, nicht einmal ein Regenwurm, etwas Schlimmeres, er ist ein Regenwurm geworden, für den es niemals regnet, der niemals herauskommt aus der Erde. Die Regenwürmer kommen ja zu gewissen Zeiten, wenn es regnet, heraus aus der Erde, und da genießen sie dasjenige, was über der Erdoberfläche vorgeht, und das ist zum Heil der Regenwürmer. Aber in geistig-seelischer Beziehung ist heute der Mensch ein Regenwurm, für den es niemals regnet. Er ist ganz eingekapselt in bezug auf das Irdische. Er denkt zum Beispiel: Was ich an mir habe als meine Leibesglieder, das wächst halt auf der Erde so, wie ungefähr die Steine auch sich bilden. - Daß zum Beispiel die Haare, die Haupteshaare, Ergebnisse von Sonnenwirkungen sind, das weiß natürlich der heutige Mensch nicht und so weiter, weil er eben ein Regenwurm ist, für den es niemals regnet, das heißt ein Wesen, das zwar innerlich die Wirkungen der Sonne in sich trägt, aber nicht an die Oberfläche kommt, um so etwas zu erforschen. Ja, der Mensch ist eben — das wußten diese alten Mysterienpriester — nicht wie ein Kohlkopf aus der Erde herausgewachsen, sondern er ist entstanden unter der Mitwirkung der gesamten kosmischen Sternenumgebung. Und so sehen Sie, wie der Mensch der Vergangenheit seinen initiierten Mysterienführern gegenüberstand, die in der Art, wie ich es eben angedeutet habe, initiiert wurden, so daß sie wußten, was für den Menschen die kosmische Erdenumgebung zu bedeuten hat.

Dadurch aber konnten diese Mysterienpriester den Menschen etwas sagen, was ich in etwas triviale Worte kleiden will, weil wir ja heute zunächst nicht in der Lage sind, in derselben Form zu sprechen wie jene alten Mysterienpriester, die das gleichzeitig damals in wunderbare Poesien kleideten. Das gab der Genius der damaligen Sprache her, man kann heute nicht so sprechen, weil es die Sprache nicht hergibt. Heute könnte man das, was diese Mysterienpriester zu denjenigen sagten, die Trost bei ihnen suchten für die entgeistigte Natur, in die sich der Mensch verstoßen fühlte, so aussprechen: Ja, solange ihr im Leben verbleibt in den Zuständen des gewöhnlichen Wachbewußtseins, so lange erscheint euch eure Umgebung als entgeistigt. — Wenn man aber bewußt untertaucht in die Region der Erdenumfassung, wo man im silbernen Mondenglanze, der die Erde durchwellt und durchwogt, das Walten der Sternengötter erschaut, wenn man das kann, dann lernt man erkennen - allerdings jetzt nicht von selbst, wie es in älterer Zeit der Fall war, sondern durch menschliche Anstrengung -, daß doch auch diese äußere Natur überall von Geistwesen durchsetzt ist, Göttergaben als Geistwesenheiten, als Geistelementarwesen in sich trägt. Und so bestand der Trost, den in jenen alten Zeiten die Mysterienpriester den Menschen gaben, darinnen, daß sie sie aufmerksam machten: Die Pflanzen sind nicht nur schön, die Pflanzen sind auch wirklich vom geistigen Weben und Wesen durchzogen; die Wolken ziehen nicht nur majestätisch durch den Luftraum dahin, es walten in ihnen göttlich-geistige Elementarwesen und so weiter. - Zum Geist der Natur führten diese Eingeweihten durch ihre Initiation gerade die Menschheit, die sie zu führen hatten.

In einer gewissen älteren Epoche der Menschheitsentwickelung bestand eben die Aufgabe der Mysterien darin, den Menschen zu sagen: Das Entgeistigtsein der Natur ist nur eine Illusion des gewöhnlichen Wachträumens. In Wahrheit ist überall in der Natur Geist zu finden.

So war einmal eine menschliche Vergangenheit vorhanden, in der in dieser Art der Mensch eigentlich in der Geistigkeit des Daseins darinnenlebte und, durch die Einrichtung der Mysterien, von der Geistigkeit des Daseins auch für dasjenige Gebiet erfuhr, das ihm zunächst entgeistigt vorkam. Alles, was so an den Menschen herankam, sei es durch den Instinkt, wie die Schauung des inneren Geistwesens, sei es durch Mysterienbelehrung, wie die Durchgeistigung des Naturdaseins, alles das machte den Menschen doch abhängig, abhängig von der Geistigkeit. Wäre es so geblieben in der Menschheitsentwickelung, es hätte niemals in das Bewußtsein eindringen können dasjenige, was wir heute als eines der größten Güter der Menschheit, ja vielleicht als das Zentralgut anerkennen müssen: die Empfindung des freien Willens, die Empfindung der Freiheit.

Diese Art der Seelenverfassung mit einer instinktiv empfundenen Geistigkeit, sie mußte hinabdämmern. Der Mensch mußte zu drei anderen Bewußtseinszuständen geführt werden. Die Erdenumfangenheit, aus der die alten Initiierten ihre Sternenweisheit und damit die Geistigkeit von der Natur geschöpft haben, die kam vollständig in Verfall. In der menschlichen Seelenverfassung sind nur noch der traumlose Schlaf, das Träumen, das Wachen. Es setzte sich gewissermaßen an der andern Seite an jene Bewußtseinsregion, in der eben die Freiheit aufdämmern kann. Was wir heute unser Wachbewußtsein nennen, mit dem wir heute unser gewöhnliches Leben und die Wissenschaft betreiben, ist etwas, was eine ältere Menschheit gar nicht kannte. Aber in ihr erstand eben die Möglichkeit des reinen Denkens, an dessen Dasein wir verzweifeln können, aber aus dem wir einzig und allein herausholen können die Impulse der Freiheit. Denn wären wir als Menschheit niemals zu diesem reinen Denken, das nicht zugleich das Dasein verbürgt, aber reines Denken ist, gekommen, dann wären wir als Menschen auch niemals zum Bewußtsein der Freiheit gekommen.

Man möchte sagen: Hinter der Menschheitsentwickelung schloß sich in Finsternis an dasjenige, was einmal die Verbindung des Menschen mit der Geistigkeit war. Dafür wurden ihm diese drei Bewußtseinszustände, die ihn eigentlich aus geistigen Höhen in Erdentiefen führten. Aber aus diesen Erdentiefen sollte er die ureigene Kraft der Freiheitsentfaltung gerade finden. Und es war die Morgenröte dieser Seelenverfassung des Wachens, Träumens und Schlafens schon im Grunde genommen ein Jahrtausend da. Die Menschheit war schon sehr weit in eine gewisse Finsternis hineingegangen, jene Finsternis, in der zwar der Impuls der Freiheit ist, in der aber nicht das Licht der Geistigkeit erglänzt. Empfinden Sie es nur einmal recht, wie das eigentlich war in der Menschheitsentwickelung. Wenn man da in eine alte Zeit hineinschaut, da blickte doch der Mensch hinauf in den Sternenhimmel, und er konnte sich sagen aus dem, was er wußte von diesem Sternenhimmel: Was in mir lebt, sind die Kräfte dieses Sternenhimmels, ich gehöre diesem Kosmos an. — Als Geist war der Mensch heruntergedrängt auf die Erde. Finster wurde es sozusagen am Himmel, denn das Licht, wenn es selbst das Sonnenlicht oder Sternenlicht war, was auf physische Weise herunterglänzte, das durchschaute ja der Mensch nicht. Es ist wie ein vorgeschobener Vorhang, bei dem der Mensch nicht irgendwie Stützen für sein Dasein finden kann. Zu dem, was hinter diesem Vorhang ist, kann er jetzt nicht mehr schauen.

Nun werden wir morgen sehen, wie eben tatsächlich dieser Vorhang seit einem Jahrtausend schon da war, wie dieser Vorhang immer dichter und dichter wurde und sich diese Dichtigkeit des Vorhanges in der ganzen Menschenstimmung wiederum ausdrückte. Da kam ein Licht durch diesen Vorhang, der Vorhang fiel gewissermaßen auseinander. Und dieses Licht ist das Licht, das auf Golgatha aufgehellt war. So fällt in die Menschheitsentwickelung herein das Ereignis von Golgatha. In diesem Ereignis, das nun ein Ereignis auf der Erde war, sollte dem Menschen wiederum aufgehen dasjenige, was er einstmals in den Weiten des Kosmos als die Geistigkeit der Welt gesehen hatte. Christus sollte durch sein Durchgehen durch das Mysterium von Golgatha in das Erdenleben hereinbringen, was früher in den Himmeln gesehen worden ist. Heruntersteigen sollte das göttlich-geistige Wesen Christus und wohnen in einem Menschenleib, um der Menschheit, die jetzt nicht heraus konnte aus der Erde, auf eine andere, auf eine neue Art dieses Licht zu bringen.

Wir sind als Menschheit heute erst im Anfange des Verstehens dieses Mysteriums von Golgatha, und die Zukunft der Erdenentwickelung wird darinnen zu bestehen haben, daß dieses Mysterium von Golgatha immer reifer und reifer von der Menschheit verstanden wird, daß dieser Glanz, der ausgeht von dem Mysterium von Golgatha, immer mehr und mehr aus einem inneren Glanze ein kosmischer Glanz wird und anfängt, alles zu überstrablen, in das der Mensch hineinschauen kann. Doch das genauer zu besprechen, wird erst möglich sein, wenn wir heute noch einige Bausteine dazu beitragen.

Was einmal lebendig war in der Erdenentwickelung der Menschheit, es kommt in einer gewissen Beziehung wieder. Und so war in den Mysterienpriestern lebendig, wie ich Ihnen gerade geschildert habe, dieses Hineinschauen in die Mondenwirkungen. Die Mondenwirkungen trugen sie hinauf zu ihrer astrologischen Initiation. Sie lernten, wie man durch die Mondenwirkungen in die Sternengeheimnisse des Kosmos eingeweiht werden konnte. Ein Wesentliches bestand bei dieser Initiation darinnen, daß den, der also initilert, der so eingeweiht werden sollte, daß den etwas überkam, wie wenn er in sich selbst plötzlich fühlte, die Schwere habe für ihn eine geringere Bedeutung als sonst. Er fühlte sein Gewicht weniger. Und er wurde wiederum durch die älteren Lehrer angewiesen, dem nicht nachzugeben, sondern wenn er so fühlte, wie er gewissermaßen leichter wurde, nun sich durch eine starke Willensanstrengung selber die Schwere zu geben. Das gehörte gewissermaßen in die Kunst der alten Einweihungen, das, was man durch den Einfluß der Mondenkräfte an naturhafter Schwere verlor, durch den Willen in sich einströmen zu lassen. Dadurch glänzte eben jene Sternenweisheit auf. Und so wurde jede Anlage in dem Menschen der damaligen Zeit zu einem solchen Überwinden der Schwere dazu benützt, in ihm den Willen zu entwickeln, nun seelisch sich an der Erde festzuhalten. Dadurch aber, daß dieses seelische Festhalten wirkte wie das Anzünden eines inneren Seelenlichtes, leuchtete es hinaus in die kosmischen Weiten, und der Mensch bekam die Kenntnis dieser kosmischen Weiten.

Wenn Geisteswissenschaft in diese Dinge hineinleuchtet, kann man genau beschreiben, wie dieses alte Bewußtsein zustandekam. Aber das, was in solchen Menschen war, das kommt ja immer wiederum. Es gibt einen Atavismus, eine Vererbung des Alten. Es tritt wieder auf, weil ja die Menschen auch wiederkommen. Und indem gerade die Verwandtschaft mit den Mondenkräften in späteren Menschen, die in einer Zeit leben, in der das eigentlich nicht mehr da sein sollte, weil dieser tiefe Schlaf verschwunden ist, wiederum auftaucht, wird es zum Somnambulismus, insbesondere zur gewöhnlichen Mondsüchtigkeit. Und diese Menschen, die bekämpfen dann, wenn dieser Zustand über sie kommt, nicht durch die Seele das Leichterwerden, sondern sie spazieren auf den Dächern herum, oder gehen wenigstens aus dem Bette heraus. Sie machen mit ihrer Menschenwesenheit dasjenige, was eigentlich nur dem astralischen Leib zu machen gebührt. Was in einer solchen späteren Zeit gewissermaßen eine Abnormität ist, es war in früheren Zeiten ein Vorzug, den man benützen konnte, um zu Erkenntnissen zu kommen. Und daß man solche Menschen «mondsüchtig» im Volksmund nannte, das hat seinen guten Sinn, denn dieser Zustand der Menschheitsverfassung hängt mit der atavistischen Verwandtschaft mit den Mondenkräften zusammen, die aus alten Zeiten geblieben ist.

Geradeso aber, wie der Mensch in dem, was ich Ihnen geschildert habe, mit den Mondenkräften verwandt ist, so ist er ja auch verwandt mit den Sonnenkräften. Nur daß sie in einem verborgeneren Teil der Menschenwesenheit spielt, diese Verwandtschaft mit den Sonnenkräften, daß man erst sehr mittelbar daraufkommt. Diese Verwandtschaft mit den Sonnenkräften, aus ihr haben ganz gewiß die Druidenpriester der Blütezeit, nicht der Verfallszeit, ihre Sonneninitiation gesucht. Diese Sonneninitiation, die gibt einen Zustand, in dem man jetzt nicht nur gewissermaßen angeregt durch die Mondenkräfte hinaufschaut, um in der astrologischen Initiation etwas zu wissen von den Geheimnissen des Kosmos, sondern diese Sonneninitiation gibt schon etwas von einer Art Zwiegespräch mit den göttlich-geistigen Wesen des Weltenalls, gibt eine Art Inspiration, während die Mondeninitiation nur eine Art Imagination gibt. Es ist die Sonneninitiation eine Art Hören der Ratschläge der geistigen Wesenheiten des Kosmos, jedenfalls aber ein Hineinschauen in viel tiefere Geheimnisse des Weltendaseins, als sie sich ergeben der Mondeninitiation.

Auch das kann später atavistisch wieder auftauchen. Es ist in jedem Menschen ja doch vorhanden. Sonnenwirkungen sind da in jedem Menschen. Aber wie der Mensch jetzt ist in seiner Seelenverfassung, so ist er nicht mehr der Mensch der Vergangenheit, so ist er ja so, daß vor allen Dingen seine Augen daraufhin konstituiert sind, die physischen Sonnenstrahlen aufzunehmen. Ich habe es gestern angedeutet: In diesen physischen Sonnenstrahlen ist Geistig-Seelisches. Das sieht nur der Gegenwartsmensch nicht. Und so benimmt sich eigentlich der Gegenwartsmensch der Sonne gegenüber gerade so, wie sich einer benehmen würde, der einem anderen Menschen begegnete, und der andere Mensch machte den Anspruch, ein Innerlich-Seelisches zu haben, und der sagte ihm: Es ist nichts mit dem Seelischen. Wenn du deinen Arm bewegst, das ist ein Hebelvorgang, da sind Schnüre, die Muskeln daran, wenn die angezogen werden, dann wird der Hebel angezogen. Das ist ein Mechanismus. — So benimmt sich ja die heutige Menschheit gegenüber den Sonnenwirkungen. Sie sieht nur das äußere Physische, was in diesem Fall nur das physische Licht ist. Aber während das physische Licht der Sonnenwirkung in uns eindringt, dringt die Geistigkeit der Sonnenwesenheit zugleich in den Menschen ein. Der Mensch kann dann durch eine gewisse Art innerer Konzentration, die er jetzt nicht so, wie ich es im Buche «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» schilderte, sondern die er durch Atavismus wie eine Elementarkraft hat, so kann der Mensch heute eben durch eine innere Konzentration seines Organismus aufhören - mit «heute» meine ich den historischen Zeitraum, der kann sich natürlich durch einige Jahrtausende erstrecken -, er kann aufhören, stark empfänglich zu werden für die physischen Sonnenwirkungen, dafür aber empfänglich werden für das Geistig-Sonnenhafte. Dann sieht der Mensch anders. Wo dieses Atavistische auftritt, sieht man anders, als man im gewöhnlichen Leben heute sieht. Wenn Sie in einen Spiegel schauen, dann wird Ihnen das, was vor dem Spiegel steht, zurückgeworfen. Gerade weil der Spiegel nach hinten undurchsichtig ist, wird das, was vor dem ‚Spiegel ist, zurückgeworfen. Wenn nun ein Mensch die Seelenkonstitution hat, daß er, trotzdem er bei vollen Sinnen ist, statt in die Sonne hineinzuschauen, das physische Sonnenlicht nicht sieht, sondern die Finsternis sieht, dann wird diese Finsternis zum Spiegel, und es erscheint ihm gespiegelt seine unmittelbare Umgebung, die Natur. Und er sagt dann nicht: Ich habe hier eine Pflanze, die hat eine Wurzel, da treibt sie die Blätter heraus, die Blüte, die Frucht, den Keim, - sondern er sagt: Ich sehe da hin, in dem unteren Teile der Pflanze, da sehe ich dasjenige, was Elementargeistigkeit der Weisheit ist, was etwas Konservierendes hat, was etwas Verfestigendes hat. Und dann schaue ich weiter in der Pflanze hinauf, da sehe ich, wie dieses Verfestigende, dieses Konservierende überwunden wird, und wie die Pflanze mehr strebt, sich nicht zu verfestigen, sondern abwechselnd sich zu verfestigen und aufzulösen in der Blattbildung, und endlich, wie ein Kochen durch die Feuerwirkung, sehe ich die Pflanze nach oben zu streben. Und dann wird gespiegelt das Pflanzenleben an der Finsternis, die aber geistige Helligkeit ist, so wie etwa atavistisch Jakob Böhme die Pflanze gesehen hat, indem er unten das Salzhafte, in der Mitte das Merkuriale und oben das Phosphorige geschaut hat. Und so sehen wir hereinspielen in einen solchen Geist wie Jakob Böhme, der ein naturhaft Sonneninitierter war, dasjenige, was in alten Zeiten zur menschlichen Zivilisation gehörte, zur Urzivilisation, in der man noch nicht lesen und schreiben konnte. Und kann man, wenn man so ein Werk von Jakob Böhme hernimmt — das «Mysterium magnum», «De Signatura rerum», «Aurora oder Morgenröte im Aufgang» und so weiter -, dieses Werk gewissermaßen nicht so lesen, daß man eigentlich aus diesem stammelnden Darstellen Jakob Böhmes etwas herausliest, was so ganz ähnlich war wie das, was ich Ihnen von den Druidenpriestern geschildert habe, dann liest man Jakob Böhme eben falsch. Er war nicht äußerlich initiiert, sondern so, daß in seinem inneren Wesen, wie eine Wiederholung eines früheren Erdendaseins, heraufquillt diese Sonneninitiation. Das ist bis in die Biographie Jakob Böhmes hinein zu verfolgen.

Noch tiefere Kräfte, die dann im Menschen wirken können, sind die Kräfte des zunächst äußersten Planeten unseres Planetensystems. Für die heutige Astronomie ist es nicht der äußerste, weil ja zwei dazugekommen sind, die selbst der heutigen physischen Astronomie manche Sorgen machen, weil die Bewegungsgesetze der Monde nicht recht stimmen und so weiter. Aber da man die Hauptsache auf die räumliche Anordnung gibt, und da nun schon einmal zu dem Sonnensystem der Uranus und der Neptun sich dazugesellt haben, rechnet man sie dazu. Aber wie gesagt, sie machen manche Schmerzen, weil ihre Monde «verrückt» geworden sind gegenüber dem, was andere ordentliche Monde vom Jupiter und so weiter tun. In Wirklichkeit kann man eben doch sagen: Saturn ist schon für das lebendige konkrete Ergreifen des planetarischen Weltsystems der äußerste der Planeten. Und so wie der Mensch unter dem Einfluß der Ihnen genauer geschilderten Mondenwirkung stehen kann, oder der skizzenhaft geschilderten Sonnenwirkung stehen kann, kann er auch stehen unter dem Einfluß dieser Saturnwirkungen. Der Saturn wirkt durch dasjenige, was er geistig ausstrahlt in das Planetensystem und dadurch in den Menschen herein, wie das kosmisch historische Gedächtnis. Der Saturn ist wie das Gedächtnis, wie die Erinnerung unseres Planetensystems, und will man über das Geschehen des Planetensystems etwas wissen, kann man das eigentlich nicht durch eine astronomische Spekulation herauskriegen.

Diese Dinge fangen heute auch schon an, die äußere Wissenschaft desparat zu machen, weil eigentlich nichts mehr recht stimmt. Aber man faßt alles verkehrt an. Sehen Sie, wir haben ja auch schon in unseren Kreisen oftmals gesprochen von der sogenannten Relativitätstheorie, daß man in der physischen Welt eigentlich niemals von einer absoluten Bewegung sprechen kann, sondern eigentlich immer sprechen muß bloß von relativer Bewegung. So wie man davon sprechen kann: Die Sonne bewegt sich, die Erde steht still, so hat man später gesprochen: Die Erde bewegt sich, die Sonne steht still. Das alles ist eigentlich nur relativ, man kann das eine oder andere sagen. Wie hier einmal in Stuttgart bei einer Tagung der anthroposophischen Bewegung von der Relativitätstheorie gesprochen worden ist, da hat in sehr einfacher Weise ein Anhänger dieser Relativitätstheorie den Zuhörern klargemacht, wie es einerlei ist, ob man ein Zündholz nimmt und an einer Schachtel anstreift, indem man die Schachtel festhält und das Zündholz vorbeibewegt, oder ob man das Zündholz festhält und die Schachtel bewegt: Da fängt es auch zu brennen an. Das ist sehr ernsthaft wissenschaftlich gemeint und wurde selbstverständlich dazumal höchst ernsthaft vorgebracht, und es läßt sich dagegen nicht einmal etwas sagen. Es hätte sich ein naives Gemüt finden können und das Zündholzschächtelchen .annageln können, dann wäre schon ein Stück Absolutheit hineingekommen. Man hätte unter Umständen das ganze Haus - es war damals in der Landhausstraße 70 — zurückschieben können, dann wäre die Relativität doch wieder dagewesen. Es wäre nur etwas schwer gegangen. Aber wenn man das auf das ganze physische Weltenall ausdehnt, dann kann man mit Einstein sagen: Innerhalb der physischen Welt läßt sich nichts Absolutes finden, da ist schon alles relativ. - Nur bleibt man bei der Relativität stehen. Gerade die Relativität der physischen Welt muß dahin führen, das Absolute nicht in der physischen Welt zu suchen, sondern in der geistigen Welt. Überall bietet heute die Wissenschaft schon Einlaß in die geistige Welt, wenn sie nur richtig verstanden wird. Man braucht heute nicht Dilettant zu sein, sondern man kann exakter, echter Wissenschafter sein, dann wird man von der echten Wissenschaft, die nur nicht zu Ende gedacht wird, auch von ihren Koryphäen nicht, hinein in den Geist geführt. Und so kann man überhaupt innerhalb der physischen Forschung auch über so etwas, was der Saturn unseres Weltenalls ist, nichts sagen. Er ist gewissermaßen die Erinnerung, das Gedächtnis für unser Planetensystem. In ihm ist alles aufbewahrt, was schon geschehen ist im Planetensystem. Er erzählt demjenigen, der Saturninitiation hat, was in diesem planetarischen System geschehen ist.

Geradeso wie einseitig auftreten können im Menschen, wie ein Erbstück älterer menschlicher Entwickelung, wie ein Erbstück des Menschen der Vergangenheit, die Verwandtschaft mit dem Monde, und der Mensch da ein Nachtwandler wird, wie auftauchen können die geistigen Sonnenwirkungen, und der Mensch dann, statt wie sonst mit offenen Augen in das Licht, eigentlich in die Finsternis hineinschaut, in der sich die Natur spiegelt, daß er sie so sieht wie Jakob Böhme, so kann man auch die Verwandtschaft mit den Saturnwirkungen erleben, die insbesondere auf das menschliche Haupt wirken und im Menschen die vorübergehende Erinnerung im Erdenleben eigentlich einpflanzen. Diese Saturnwirkungen können besonders auftreten.

So daß man sprechen kann von Mondenmenschen, den gewöhnlichen Somnambulisten, und von Sonnenmenschen, wie Jakob Böhme, selbst Paracelsus, wenn auch in geringerem Grade. Man kann auch sprechen von Saturnmenschen. Und ein Saturnmensch war gerade Swedenborg. Swedenborg ist ja auch wiederum einer, der der gewöhnlichen Gelehrsamkeit, ja, man kann nicht einmal sagen, Kopfzerbrechen macht, sondern eigentlich Kopfzerbrechen machen sollte. Denn dieser Swedenborg war in der gewöhnlichen Wissenschaft auf der Höhe seiner Zeit, war wirklich eine Autorität. Bis in seine Vierzigerjahre war er auch leidlich anständig für unsere Wissenschaft, sagte nichts als das, worin die äußere Wissenschaft mitgehen konnte. Nur dann, dann wurde er allmählich benebelt. Wir müssen sagen, die Saturnkräfte wurden in ihm besonders rege. Die Menschen, die auf materialistischem Boden stehen, sagen, er sei verrückt geworden. Aber es ist halt doch etwas, was nachdenklich machen sollte, daß es so viele nachgelassene Werke von Swedenborg gibt, die jetzt sogar von einer schwedischen Gesellschaft herausgegeben werden und die anerkannt werden als wissenschaftliche Werke. Die bedeutendsten Gelehrten in Schweden befassen sich jetzt damit, den Swedenborg herauszugeben. Das sind aber die Werke, die er vor seiner Geistesschau wollen wir jetzt sagen - verfaßt hat. Es ist unangenehm, zu sprechen von einem Menschen, der sozusagen der gescheiteste Mensch seines Zeitalters war bis in die Vierzigerjahre, und dem gegenüber man in späteren Jahren eigentlich sagen muß: Das ist ein Tor, gelinde gesprochen. - Aber Swedenborg ist durchaus nicht dümmer geworden, sondern in einem gewissen Momente, gerade nachdem er auf die Höhe der gewöhnlichen Wissenschaft seiner Zeit hinaufgeklommen war, fing er an, hineinzuschauen in die geistige Welt. Und da sozusagen sein Hineinschauen seinen Kopf ergriff, dasjenige Organ, das er- er nun wirklich - ganz besonders ausgebildet hatte, da das nun ergriffen wurde von Geistigkeit, von saturnhafter Geistigkeit, konnte er auf seine Art hineinschauen - nicht wie Jakob Böhme, der gespiegelt bekam an der Finsternis die inneren Geheimnisse der Natur - in den unmittelbaren Äther, da, wo die Abbilder höherer Geistigkeit im Äther erscheinen. Und er beschrieb diese geistige Welt so, wie sie eben Swedenborg beschrieben hat. Es ist nicht dasjenige von ihm geschaut worden, was er sich vorgestellt hat. Die Geistwesen sind anders, auf die er anspielt. Er sah aber auch nicht bloß eine Erdenspiegelung von diesen Geistern, sondern er sah die Wirkungen der Geister im Äther, ersah Äthergestaltungen. Das waren die Taten der Geister - die allerdings selbst nicht geschaut wurden - im Erdenäther. Während Jakob Böhme Spiegelbilder der Natur sah, sah er dasjenige, was im Erdenäther bewirkt wurde von diesen Geistern, deren Wirkungen er nur sah. Wenn also Swedenborg Engel beschreibt, so sind das nicht Engel, sondern Äthergestalten. Aber das, was ihm als Engel erschien, als Äthergestaltungen, das ist von Engeln bewirkt, das ist ein Abbild dessen, was der Engel tut. Und so muß man eben auf die Realität solcher Dinge immer hinschauen. Es ist natürlich ein Fehler, wenn man sagt: Swedenborg schaute die geistige Welt als solche, denn das war ihm eben nicht eigen. Aber er schaute eine Wirklichkeit.

Der gewöhnliche Somnambule, der Mondsüchtige tut eine Wirklichkeit. Er tut so mit seinem physischen Leib, wie er nur mit seinem Astralleib tun sollte. Jakob Böhme erst sah mit seinem physischen Leib, vor allen Dingen mit der Einrichtung seiner Augen so, daß er das Physische ausschloß, in die Finsternis schaute, aber in der Finsternis das Licht schaute, die Spiegelung der Naturgeister. Swedenborg schaute nicht Spiegelbilder, sondern die Ätherbilder des übergeordneten geistigen Daseins. Das ist eine Stufenfolge: Vom nichtgeschauten automatischen geistig Durchdrungensein des Mondsüchtigen über das, ich möchte sagen naturhafte «second sight» von Jakob Böhme, der nicht die Außenseite der Natur sah, sondern die Spiegelung der Innenseite, bis hinauf zu Swedenborg, der nicht die Spiegelbilder, sondern die Realität im Äther sah, die Abbilder nicht Spiegelbilder -, Wirkungsbilder desjenigen, was oben in den höheren geistigen Regionen vor sich geht.

Und so sehen wir, wie wir sprechen können von Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der Menschen, wie aber die Vergangenheit im deutlichen Zeichen noch in der Gegenwart herinnen steht, wie eine Erbschaft da ist, in sogenannten abnormen Zuständen, die man begreifen muß. Und gerade wenn man so hinschauen kann auf die Vergangenheit und auf dasjenige, was aus der Vergangenheit noch in die Gegenwart hereinragt, wird man mit Hilfe eines durchgreifenden Verständnisses des Mysteriums von Golgatha auch auf die Menschenzukunft ahnend hinweisen können. Das soll dann im morgigen Vortrage noch geschehen.

The Human Being in the Past, Present and Future from the Point of View of the Development of Consciousness II

Yesterday I wanted to use the development of the Druid culture, which is close to our anthroposophical movement at the present moment, to illustrate to a certain extent the state of soul of an older time in a certain region. If we go back three, four, five millennia in the development of humanity - it is different for the various regions of the earth - we can always find ourselves in such completely different soul constitutions of human beings, which of course as soul constitutions in turn require that the whole spiritual and social guidance and direction of human life is based on the prerequisites of such a soul constitution of a time epoch.

The development that is indicated here is connected with the gradual unfolding of human consciousness. In older times men were quite different beings from those of the present, and in future times they will again be different beings. Common history records little of these things. Therefore, even if one reaches a few centuries beyond the historical present, what is available as ordinary history is largely illusory in nature for a real human conception. And yesterday I indicated how we will have to observe three main stages of human consciousness - again, of course, with an indispensable number of nuances. What we today call our states of consciousness, waking, dreaming, sleeping, is the present, albeit a present that extends over centuries, even millennia, but the present in a historical sense. And if we go back to older times in the development of mankind, then we do not have the present waking state described yesterday with the ideas that run in logical contexts. The further back we go in the development of mankind, the more we do not find such a logical consciousness, which actually only emerged with all rigor in the 14th, 15th century after Christ, which had its beginning in the later times of Greek civilization; in the older times, however, we find a much more lively consciousness filled with images, not ideas, and indeed we find such a consciousness in all of mankind.

What we call natural forces today were not known in this form to older mankind. The time that I described to you yesterday did not speak of meteorological laws that govern wind and weather, it spoke, as I have indicated, of pictorial beings, of elemental spirits that rule on the borders of plants, of giants, of spiritual beings that rule in wind and weather, in frost and hail, in storm and thunder and so on. Everything was alive in the view of nature. No logical conclusions were drawn. There one looked at the life and weaving and waves and undulations of spiritual beings in things and also in the elementary phenomena of nature. The reason for the inner state of the soul of this older humanity was quite different from that of today. This state of soul was such that man was actually much more enclosed within himself than today. But this inner self was different from what we know today. At the same time this within-self was a consciousness weaving in vivid dream images, but which led out into the world. One saw images, but one did not see these images in the way one has a thought today and there are things out there. No, what one perceived as giant beings, frost giants, storm giants, fire giants, what one perceived as root spirits, leaf spirits, flower spirits, one felt connected with the plant, with roots, leaves, blossoms, with lightning, with thunder. One did not separate oneself from external nature because one experienced spiritual, pictorial-spiritual things within, in one's soul life.

Not exactly in the very oldest times, which I have described in my “Secret Science in Outline”, but certainly in the times that followed, one can spiritually observe how this state of soul evoked a very specific mood of mind in the civilized peoples who were decisive for that time. There was already an epoch in which people inwardly and spiritually still perceived much of what is actually human essence. In these images that I have just described, they did not merely see the present of their existence, they saw the pre-earthly life, they looked as one now looks into a spatial perspective, into a time perspective. It was not memory, it was vision. They looked beyond their birth into a spiritual world from which they had descended to earthly human life. It was natural for this older humanity to look at and feel this pre-earthly existence: As a human being, I am a spiritual being, because before I took on an earthly body, I rested in the bosom of spirituality, spent my existence there, did not yet experience my human destiny in a physical body, but in a - if I may put it this way, although it is paradoxical - spiritual physicality.

The demand to believe in the spirit would have been quite absurd for this older humanity, just as it is absurd for people today to believe in mountains. For mountains can be seen. The spiritual pre-natal life was seen at that time, albeit inwardly in soul vision, but it was seen inwardly. There came a time when people saw this inner humanity spiritually as the events of pre-earthly existence, but when nature itself, which was outside in their surroundings, became more and more of a mystery. I would like to say that pure sensory observation gradually advanced in the development of mankind.

In very ancient times, in times of primitive India, as I have described in my “Secret Science in Outline”, man still saw everything spiritually, including nature. But progress consisted in the fact that the vision of the spiritual remained inward, whereas nature gradually began - if I may express myself so - to become de-spiritualized. Man then looked outwards. While he felt inwardly that he was spirit of the spirit, man looked out at the blossoming plants, at the cloud that drives the lightning out of itself, at wind and weather, at the delicate or wonderfully formed crystals, at mountain and valley, man looked at all this. And then a certain mood arose, which can be traced through long epochs of spiritual science, precisely over what was then civilized humanity, the mood that can be expressed in the following way: We humans are spirit of the spirit. In the pre-earthly existence we were connected with spirituality as human beings. Now we are transferred to the natural environment. We see the beautiful flowers, the gigantic mountains, we see the mighty workings of nature in wind and weather. But this is de-spiritualized. - And more and more the idea of mere nature in the surroundings came up.

Now, however, man felt, now saw - of course I always mean the advanced man, the man who at that time can be called a civilized man in our language - that his body is formed out of the substances, out of the materials of this nature, which is de-spiritualized, de-divinized. If such a thing were to come over modern man, over contemporary man, then he would speculate about it, philosophize about it, he would think about it. This was not initially the case with the man of an older time. He did not think about it, but he felt a tremendous disharmony between what he experienced within himself: I am spirit from spirit-land, my actual human essence comes from divine heights, but I am clothed with something that is taken from nature that appears de-spiritualized, my spiritual existence is interwoven with something that does not show me the spirit. My body is made of the same substance from which the blossoming plants in the fields are taken, from the same substance from which the water from the clouds and rain showers is made. But this substance is deified. - And man felt this like being cast out of the spiritual world, like being thrust out into a world to which he does not actually belong with his being.

As is the case with many cultural moods today, one could reject this mood, sleep it off. But the awake people of that time felt it, and humanity develops in moods, in feelings, not in ideas and thoughts. For even our development of thought in our time is only an episodic development - as we shall see in these lectures - and the man who merely speaks in thought, he actually speaks in unreality. Today's human speech is precisely human speech in unreality. Those who think of themselves most as practitioners and are almost bursting with pride before their practice, these people are basically the strongest theorists. The theoreticians today sit in the offices, of course also in the chairs, there it is, I would say, a matter of course; but they also sit in the offices, go around in the commercial world. Everything is theoretical, everything is caught up in thought. This is an episode. It has no truth at first. It will only have its truth when these people will feel about this life in their thoughts, will feel as mankind once felt when nature appeared to them to be de-spiritualized: We are outcast, an outcast race; we are out of divine-spiritual heights, where we actually belong, are transferred into a world into which we do not belong with our innermost human nature.

A result of this mood is only that which then arose as an expression, as a revelation of this mood: the perception of the fall of mankind. This idea of the fall of mankind arose from a change of consciousness. One said to oneself: One is cast out of the spiritual world; this must come from a primal sin. - And so, in a certain epoch, the view of a primordial sin, of a fall of mankind, dawned in human consciousness. This view of a primal sin, of a prehistoric guilt, of a prehistoric fall into sin, can also be understood if one understands the change in consciousness of the human race from the past through the present into the future. And what man needed in that epoch, when this mood came over him, was not a gray theory, it was above all something that could be clothed in words in such a way that the words could be balm for souls in need of consolation. What we have often described as the guidance of humanity in the ancient places of worship and religion, in the Mysteries, we see emerging in a certain age that coincides with the Ur-Persian, the Ur-Chaldean, Near Eastern culture. We see the coincidence with what emerged in the Mystery priests as the great comforters of humanity. They became comforters. Consolation radiated from the Mysteries. For the development of consciousness at that time needed consolation. The words had to be imbued with something soulful that spoke to the heart like a balm, like a comforting balm. In terms of religious and artistic creations, it was a time which, although in certain respects different from later times, was nevertheless characterized by a grandiose creative power. Many of the details in our art, in our religious ideas, originate from that time. In particular, cult symbols, cult images and cult acts often originate from those ancient times.

What did those mystery teachers speak of who had to give this consolation? Yes, if the general waking consciousness, so to speak, consisted of such a living consciousness of images as I have described, then there were also three levels of consciousness in those times. Just as today there is sleeping, dreaming and waking, so in those days, in contrast to waking dreaming, which was the general waking consciousness of mankind, as I already indicated yesterday, there was not sleeping as it is carried out today by ordinary consciousness, that sleep is actually that which completely paralyzes consciousness. It is true that during sleep the consciousness was very dull even in that older humanity, but on awakening something remained. I described it yesterday by saying that when a person woke up, he had an inward aftertaste of sleep. Most people felt inwardly permeated not merely on the tongue or on the palate - they felt inwardly permeated as an aftertaste of sleep by a certain sweetness of experience. The sweetness of experience flowed out from sleep into daytime life. One recognized in this sweetness precisely the healthy state of life, whereas when other tastes were mixed in, this was perceived as an indication of illness. It sounds paradoxical to people today when they are told that an older humanity felt the sweet after-effects of sleep in the limbs, in the arms right down to the fingertips, in the other limbs of the organism. But it was just like that, spiritual scientific research shows that. The genius of language has preserved much of it, only it has coarsened it materialistically. The sleeping draught was once something spiritual, namely sleep itself. It only later became something materialistic, which was drunk as a liquid. Sleep itself was a drink from nature, a drink through which the ordinary memory of the day faded away. It was also a drink of oblivion.

Well, it was a vague after-feeling that the ordinary person had, but the initiation gave the mystery teacher, the leader of humanity, a more precise awareness of what the person actually experienced during sleep. And just as we today in modern initiation ascend from ordinary imagination to spirit-seeing, so to a certain extent mankind of that time descended from dream-waking into the state of sleep, but for which they acquired consciousness, so that the ordinary man had the aftertaste, the mystery priest felt into it in a conscious way, felt into sleep itself and got to know, so to speak, that which then resulted in the aftertaste of what I have described. He came to know the waters beyond physical existence, the waters into which the human soul dives during sleep, the waters into which the soul is immersed, the waters into which it is immersed every night: the waters of the astral world-weaving and world-being. But it was only the second state compared to waking dreams.

The third state was the one of which mankind today knows nothing at all, a state deeper than dreamless sleep today. I said yesterday that it is called the earthly envelope. In it every man was in the middle of deep sleep during the night, but only the Mystery Priest, through his initiation, could attain a consciousness of what was there, could communicate the results of this consciousness as the science of that time. Then man did not merely say: I am encompassed by the earth. - Yes, he said that too, but he also said something else. He said to himself: I am surrounded by the earth, - but he already felt this as if he had come into a state in the ordinary course of the day, which is actually already very close to "death, but a death from which there is nevertheless an awakening. In this third state of consciousness the human being felt as if he had actually been submerged in the earth, as if he had already entered a grave, but a grave that was not actually an earthly grave. How this tomb was not only imagined, but had to be imagined, I will be able to illustrate to you in the following way.

You see, the sun's rays do not just fall on the earth and shine from the flowers, shine from the stars, the farmer knows this better than the city dweller, because he also uses the penetration of the sun's warmth into the earth in wintertime. There you have precisely what has flowed into the earth during the summer inside the soil. So not only the heat flows into the earth, but other forces of the sun flow into the earth. But from the point of view of which I am now speaking, that was less important. The more important thing was that the lunar effects could also penetrate the earth, the lunar effects could, as it were, submerge beneath the surface of the earth. I would like to say that a beautiful idea of ancient times, which was not merely poetic, but rather over-poetic, was that people again imagined themselves in the image, not in a logical view, as we do today, but in the image, how the silver sunlight streamed down to the earth in the full moonlight, but then penetrated into the earth, how this moon silver penetrated a certain distance into the earth, and then again, so to speak after it had been absorbed by the earth, radiated back from the interior of the earth - not from the surface. This silver rippling and silver waves of the moon were perceived by man as a radiation in and out, in and out. However, it was not just a beautiful image, but as mystery priests we knew something very specific about this undulating, waving moonlight.

They knew that man, when he stands on the earth, has gravity. Gravitation, gravity, holds him to the ground, the earth draws its beings to itself in gravity, so to speak. Man knew from the lunar forces that they counteract gravity. They are only generally weaker than the gross gravity of the earth, but they are that which counteracts the earth's gravitational forces. That was known. It was known that man is not merely a block held down by the earth's gravity, but that he is in a kind of equilibrium, attracted by the earth, drawn away by the moon, except that the earth's gravity retains the upper hand for the earthman. But for that which is active in the head of man, this, I would like to say, negative gravity, this pulling away gravity, asserts itself. Even if one could not fly through it, one could still lift the spirit up into the starry spaces. And through this initiation, i.e. in a roundabout way via the effects of the moon, mankind at that time learned through its mystery priests about the effects of the starry environment on people on earth.

This was the astrological initiation which is so much abused today and which was particularly pronounced in the Chaldean population. In this roundabout way something was known, and not only about the effects of the moon, but also about the effects of the sun, Mars, Saturn and so on. Man today - forgive me if I express this in an image, but such things are difficult to characterize logically - man today has become an earthworm in terms of his knowledge, no, not even an earthworm, something worse, he has become an earthworm for whom it never rains, who never comes out of the earth. The earthworms come out of the earth at certain times when it rains, and there they enjoy what happens above the surface of the earth, and that is to the earthworms' benefit. But in spiritual and mental terms, man today is an earthworm for whom it never rains. He is completely encapsulated in relation to the earthly. He thinks, for example: What I have in me as the members of my body simply grows on the earth in the same way as the stones are formed. - That, for example, the hair, the hair of the head, is the result of the effects of the sun, is of course not known to man today, and so on, because he is an earthworm for whom it never rains, that is, a being who carries the effects of the sun within himself, but who does not come to the surface to investigate such things. Yes, man - as these ancient mystery priests knew - did not grow out of the earth like a cabbage, but came into being with the cooperation of the entire cosmic starry environment. And so you see how man of the past faced his initiated mystery guides, who were initiated in the way I have just indicated, so that they knew what the cosmic earth environment meant for man.

Through this, however, these mystery priests were able to tell people something that I want to put into somewhat trivial words, because today we are not initially able to speak in the same form as those ancient mystery priests, who at the same time clothed it in wonderful poetry. The genius of the language of that time made it possible; we cannot speak like that today because the language does not allow it. Today one could say what these mystery priests said to those who sought comfort from them for the de-spiritualized nature into which man felt cast: Yes, as long as you remain in life in the states of ordinary waking consciousness, your surroundings will appear to you as de-spiritualized. - But when one consciously immerses oneself in the region of the earth's surroundings, where one beholds the activity of the star gods in the silvery moonlight that waves and undulates through the earth, if one can do so, then one learns to recognize - though now not by oneself, as was the case in older times, but through human effort - that even this outer nature is everywhere permeated by spirit beings, that it bears within itself gifts of the gods as spirit beings, as spirit elemental beings. And so the consolation that the mystery priests gave people in those ancient times was that they made them aware of this: Plants are not only beautiful, plants are also really permeated by spiritual weaving and beings; clouds do not only move majestically through the air, divine-spiritual elemental beings rule in them, and so on. - Through their initiation, these initiates led the very humanity they had to guide to the spirit of nature.

In a certain older epoch of human development, the task of the Mysteries was precisely to tell people that the de-spiritualization of nature is only an illusion of ordinary waking dreams. In truth, spirit can be found everywhere in nature.

So there was once a human past in which man actually lived in the spirituality of existence in this way and, through the institution of the Mysteries, also learned of the spirituality of existence for that area which initially seemed to him to be de-spiritualized. Everything that came to man in this way, be it through instinct, like the vision of the inner spiritual being, be it through the teaching of the Mysteries, like the spiritualization of the natural existence, all this made man dependent, dependent on spirituality. Had it remained so in the development of mankind, that which we today must recognize as one of the greatest goods of mankind, indeed perhaps as the central good, could never have penetrated the consciousness: the feeling of free will, the feeling of freedom.

This kind of constitution of the soul with an instinctively felt spirituality, it had to dawn. Man had to be led to three other states of consciousness. The earthly embrace, from which the ancient initiates drew their starry wisdom and thus the spirituality of nature, came into complete decay. All that remains in the human soul is dreamless sleep, dreaming and waking. The region of consciousness in which freedom can dawn, so to speak, is located on the other side. What we today call our waking consciousness, with which we conduct our ordinary life and science, is something that an older humanity did not know at all. But in it arose the possibility of pure thinking, the existence of which we can despair of, but from which we can only extract the impulses of freedom. For if we as humanity had never come to this pure thinking, which does not guarantee existence but is pure thinking, then we as human beings would never have come to the awareness of freedom.

One might say: Behind the development of mankind that which was once the connection of man with spirituality closed in darkness. For this he was given these three states of consciousness, which actually led him from spiritual heights to earthly depths. But it was from these earthly depths that he was to find the very own power of the unfolding of freedom. And the dawn of this soul state of waking, dreaming and sleeping had already been there for a millennium. Humanity had already gone very far into a certain darkness, that darkness in which the impulse of freedom is present, but in which the light of spirituality does not shine. Just for once, feel what it was like in the development of mankind. If you look back to an ancient time, man looked up into the starry heavens, and he could say to himself from what he knew of this starry sky: What lives in me are the forces of this starry sky, I belong to this cosmos. - As a spirit, man was forced down to earth. The sky became dark, so to speak, because man could not see through the light, even if it was sunlight or starlight, which shone down in a physical way. It is like a curtain that has been pushed in front of us, where we cannot find any kind of support for our existence. He can no longer see what is behind this curtain.

Now we will see tomorrow how this curtain has actually been there for a millennium, how this curtain became denser and denser and how this denseness of the curtain was expressed in the whole human mood. A light came through this curtain, the curtain fell apart, so to speak. And this light is the light that was brightened on Golgotha. Thus the event of Golgotha falls into the development of mankind. In this event, which was now an event on earth, that which he had once seen in the vastness of the cosmos as the spirituality of the world was to dawn on man again. By passing through the Mystery of Golgotha, Christ was to bring into earthly life what had once been seen in the heavens. The divine-spiritual being Christ was to descend and dwell in a human body in order to bring this light to humanity, which was now unable to leave the earth, in a different, new way.

We as mankind are today only at the beginning of understanding this Mystery of Golgotha, and the future of earth's development will have to consist in this, that this Mystery of Golgotha is understood by mankind more and more maturely, that this radiance, which emanates from the Mystery of Golgotha, becomes more and more from an inner radiance a cosmic radiance and begins to outshine everything into which man can look. However, it will only be possible to discuss this in more detail if we add a few more building blocks today.

What was once alive in the earthly development of mankind will return in a certain relationship. And so, as I have just described to you, this looking into the effects of the moon was alive in the mystery priests. The lunar effects carried them up to their astrological initiation. They learned how to be initiated into the starry secrets of the cosmos through the lunar effects. An essential part of this initiation was that the one who was thus initiated, who was to be initiated in this way, was overcome by something, as if he suddenly felt within himself that the heaviness had less significance for him than usual. He felt his weight less. And he was again instructed by the older teachers not to give in to this, but when he felt himself becoming lighter, as it were, to give himself the heaviness through a strong effort of will. To a certain extent, this was part of the art of the old initiations, to allow that which one lost in natural heaviness through the influence of the lunar forces to flow into oneself through the will. In this way the wisdom of the stars shone forth. And so every disposition in the human being of that time to overcome this heaviness was used to develop in him the will to hold on to the earth in his soul. But through the fact that this spiritual clinging acted like the lighting of an inner soul light, it shone out into the cosmic expanses, and man received the knowledge of these cosmic expanses.

When spiritual science shines its light into these things, it is possible to describe exactly how this ancient consciousness came about. But what was in such people always comes back. There is an atavism, an inheritance of the old. It reappears because people also reappear. And precisely because the relationship with the lunar forces reappears in later people who live in a time when it should no longer be there because this deep sleep has disappeared, it becomes somnambulism, especially the usual lunar addiction. And these people, when this state comes over them, do not fight the lightening through the soul, but they walk around on the roofs, or at least get out of bed. They do with their human being that which is really only for the astral body to do. What is to a certain extent an abnormality in such later times, was in earlier times an advantage that could be used to gain knowledge. And the fact that such people were popularly called “moonstruck” makes good sense, for this state of the human condition is connected with the atavistic relationship with the lunar forces that has remained from ancient times.

But just as man is related to the lunar forces in what I have described to you, so he is also related to the solar forces. It is only that this kinship with the solar forces takes place in a more hidden part of the human being, that one only comes upon it very indirectly. The Druid priests of the golden age, not the time of decay, certainly sought their solar initiation from this relationship with the solar forces. This solar initiation gives a state in which one now not only looks up, as it were stimulated by the lunar forces, in order to know something of the secrets of the cosmos in the astrological initiation, but this solar initiation already gives something of a kind of dialogue with the divine-spiritual beings of the universe, gives a kind of inspiration, whereas the lunar initiation only gives a kind of imagination. The sun initiation is a kind of listening to the advice of the spiritual beings of the cosmos, but in any case it is an insight into much deeper secrets of the world's existence than is revealed by the moon initiation.

This can also reappear atavistically later on. After all, it is present in every human being. Solar effects are there in every human being. But as man is now in the constitution of his soul, he is no longer the man of the past, so he is such that above all his eyes are constituted to receive the physical rays of the sun. I hinted at it yesterday: in these physical rays of the sun there is spiritual-soul. It is only the present person who does not see this. And so the present person actually behaves towards the sun in exactly the same way as someone would behave if he met another person, and the other person claimed to have an inner soul, and he told him: "There is nothing spiritual about it. When you move your arm, it's a lever action, there are cords, the muscles on it, when they are pulled, the lever is pulled. It's a mechanism. - This is how mankind behaves towards the effects of the sun today. It only sees the outer physical, which in this case is only the physical light. But while the physical light of the sun's effect penetrates us, the spirituality of the sun's essence penetrates the human being at the same time. Man can then, through a certain kind of inner concentration, which he does not now have in the way I described in the book “How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?”, but which he has through atavism like an elemental force, man can today, through an inner concentration of his organism - by “today” I mean the historical period, which can of course extend over several millennia - cease to be strongly receptive to the physical effects of the sun, but can instead become receptive to the spiritual-solar. Then man sees differently. Where this atavistic appears, one sees differently than one sees in ordinary life today. When you look into a mirror, what is in front of the mirror is reflected back to you. Precisely because the mirror is opaque towards the back, what is in front of the mirror is reflected back. Now if a person has the soul constitution that, despite his full senses, instead of looking into the sun, he does not see the physical sunlight, but sees the darkness, then this darkness becomes a mirror, and his immediate surroundings, nature, appear reflected to him. And then he does not say: I have a plant here, it has a root, there it puts forth the leaves, the blossom, the fruit, the germ, - but he says: I look there, in the lower part of the plant, there I see that which is the elemental spirituality of wisdom, which has something preserving, which has something solidifying. And then I look further up in the plant, there I see how this solidifying, this preserving is overcome, and how the plant strives more not to solidify, but alternately to solidify and dissolve in the formation of leaves, and finally, like a boiling through the effect of fire, I see the plant striving upwards. And then the plant life is reflected in the darkness, which is spiritual brightness, just as Jakob Böhme saw the plant atavistically, for example, by seeing the saltiness below, the Mercurial in the middle and the phosphorous above. And so we see playing into such a spirit as Jakob Böhme, who was a natural sun-initiate, that which belonged to human civilization in ancient times, to the primeval civilization in which one could not yet read and write. And if you take one of Jakob Böhme's works - the “Mysterium magnum”, “De Signatura rerum”, “Aurora oder Morgenröte im Aufgang” and so on - and do not read this work in such a way that you actually read something out of this stammering presentation of Jakob Böhme that was quite similar to what I have described to you about the Druid priests, then you are reading Jakob Böhme incorrectly. He was not initiated outwardly, but in such a way that this sun initiation wells up in his inner being, like a repetition of an earlier earthly existence. This can be traced right into Jakob Böhme's biography.

Even deeper forces that can then work in man are the forces of the initially outermost planet of our planetary system. For today's astronomy, it is not the outermost planet, because two have been added that cause some concern even for today's physical astronomy, because the laws of motion of the moons are not quite right and so on. But since the main thing is the spatial arrangement, and since Uranus and Neptune have now been added to the solar system, they are included. But as I said, they cause some pain because their moons have gone “crazy” compared to what other regular moons of Jupiter and so on do. In reality, one can say that Saturn is the outermost of the planets for the living concrete grasp of the planetary world system. And just as man can be under the influence of the lunar effect described to you in more detail, or the solar effect described in outline, he can also be under the influence of these Saturnian effects. Saturn works through that which it spiritually radiates into the planetary system and thus into man, like the cosmic historical memory. Saturn is like the memory, like the memory of our planetary system, and if you want to know something about the events of the planetary system, you cannot actually find out through astronomical speculation.

These things are already beginning to make external science disparate, because nothing is really right any more. But everything is being approached the wrong way. You see, we have often spoken in our circles about the so-called theory of relativity, that in the physical world one can never actually speak of absolute motion, but must always speak of relative motion. Just as one can speak of it: The sun is moving, the earth is standing still: The earth moves, the sun stands still. All this is actually only relative, you can say one thing or another. Once, at a conference of the anthroposophical movement here in Stuttgart, the theory of relativity was discussed, and a supporter of this theory of relativity explained to the audience in a very simple way how it makes no difference whether you take a match and touch a box by holding the box and moving the match, or whether you hold the match and move the box: it also starts to burn. This is meant very seriously scientifically and was of course put forward very seriously at the time, and there is not even anything to be said against it. A naive mind could have been found and the matchbox could have been nailed on, then a bit of absoluteness would have come into it. It might have been possible to push the whole house back - it was in Landhausstrasse 70 at the time - and then relativity would have been there again. It would just have been a bit difficult. But if you extend that to the entire physical universe, then you can say with Einstein: nothing absolute can be found within the physical world, everything is relative. - But we are stuck with relativity. It is precisely the relativity of the physical world that must lead us to seek the absolute not in the physical world, but in the spiritual world. Everywhere today science already offers access to the spiritual world, if only it is understood correctly. Today one need not be a dilettante, but one can be an exact, genuine scientist, then one is led into the spirit by genuine science, which is only not thought through to the end, not even by its luminaries. And so within physical research nothing can be said about something like Saturn in our universe. It is, so to speak, the memory, the memory of our planetary system. Everything that has already happened in the planetary system is preserved in it. It tells those who have Saturn initiation what has happened in this planetary system.

Just as one-sidedly can occur in man, as an heirloom of older human development, as an heirloom of man of the past, the relationship with the moon, and man there becomes a night-walker, as the spiritual effects of the sun can appear, and man then, instead of as otherwise with open eyes into the light, into the darkness in which nature is reflected, so that he sees it as Jakob Böhme does, one can also experience the relationship with the effects of Saturn, which have a particular effect on the human head and actually implant the temporary memory in the human being in earthly life. These effects of Saturn can occur in particular.

So that one can speak of moon people, the usual somnambulists, and of sun people, such as Jakob Böhme, even Paracelsus, albeit to a lesser degree. One can also speak of Saturnians. And Swedenborg in particular was a Saturnian. Swedenborg, in turn, is someone who gives ordinary scholarship a headache, indeed, one cannot even say that he should give it a headache. For this Swedenborg was at the height of his time in ordinary scholarship, was truly an authority. Until his forties he was also reasonably decent for our science, saying nothing but what external science could go along with. Only then did he gradually become befuddled. We must say that the forces of Saturn became particularly active in him. People who stand on materialistic ground say that he went mad. But it is something to think about that there are so many of Swedenborg's works left behind, which are now even being published by a Swedish society and are recognized as scientific works. The most important scholars in Sweden are now engaged in publishing Swedenborg. But these are the works that he wrote before he wrote his Spiritual Vision. It is unpleasant to speak of a man who was, so to speak, the cleverest man of his age until the forties, and to whom one must actually say in later years: That's a fool, to put it mildly. - But Swedenborg did not become any more stupid, but at a certain moment, just after he had climbed to the heights of the ordinary science of his time, he began to look into the spiritual world. And since, so to speak, his looking into it took hold of his head, that organ which he - he now really - had developed in a very special way, since it was now seized by spirituality, by Saturn-like spirituality, he was able to look into it in his own way - not like Jakob Böhme, who had the inner secrets of nature reflected in the darkness - into the immediate ether, where the images of higher spirituality appear in the ether. And he described this spiritual world as Swedenborg had just described it. He did not see what he had imagined. The spiritual beings he alludes to are different. Nor did he see merely an earthly reflection of these spirits, but he saw the effects of the spirits in the ether, saw ether formations. These were the deeds of the spirits - which, however, were not seen themselves - in the earth ether. While Jakob Böhme saw mirror images of nature, he saw that which was brought about in the earth ether by these spirits, whose effects he only saw. So when Swedenborg describes angels, they are not angels, but ether figures. But that which appeared to him as angels, as ether-forms, is brought about by angels, it is an image of what the angel does. And so one must always look at the reality of such things. It is of course a mistake to say that Swedenborg saw the spiritual world as such, for that was not his own. But he saw a reality.

The ordinary somnambulist, the moon addict, does a reality. He does with his physical body what he should only do with his astral body. Jakob Böhme first saw with his physical body, above all with the arrangement of his eyes, in such a way that he excluded the physical, looked into the darkness, but in the darkness he saw the light, the reflection of the nature spirits. Swedenborg did not see mirror images, but the ether images of the superior spiritual existence. This is a sequence of stages: from the unseen automatic spiritual penetration of the moon addict via the, I would like to say, natural “second sight” of Jakob Böhme, who did not see the outside of nature, but the reflection of the inside, up to Swedenborg, who did not see the mirror images, but the reality in the ether, the images not mirror images - images of the effects of that which takes place above in the higher spiritual regions.

And so we see how we can speak of the past and present of human beings, but how the past is still present in the present in a clear sign, how there is an inheritance in so-called abnormal states that must be understood. And it is precisely when we can look at the past in this way and at that which still projects from the past into the present that we will also be able, with the help of a thorough understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha, to foreshadow the future of mankind. This will be done in tomorrow's lecture.