World History in the Light of Anthroposophy
and as a Foundation for Knowledge of the Human Spirit
GA 233
1 January 1924, Dornach
Lecture IX
As we are together for the last time during this Christmas Meeting which should be a source of strength and of vital importance for the Anthroposophical Movement, you will allow me to give this lecture as a supplement to the many vistas opened for us by the series of lectures just finished, while also giving tentative indications concerning the future of anthroposophical strivings.
When we look at the world to-day—and it has been the same for years now—destructive elements on a colossal scale are everywhere in evidence. Forces that are actively at work enable us to have forebodings of the abysses into which Western civilisation will continue to steer. When we think of those individuals who are outwardly the spiritual leaders in various domains of life, we shall perceive that these men are in the throes of an ominous, universal sleep. They think, or at least most of them were still thinking only a short time ago, that until the nineteenth century mankind was childish and primitive in respect of understanding and conceptions of the world. Then modern science appeared in its many branches and now—so it is thought—there exists something that must through all eternity be cultivated as the truth.
The people who think this are really giving way to extreme arrogance, only they are not aware of it. On the other hand there sometimes arises, even in men to-day, a premonition that things are not, after all, as I have described.
Some little time ago it was still possible for me to give lectures in Germany organised by the Wolff Bureau. They attracted extraordinarily large audiences so that the existence of a desire for Anthroposophy became obvious to many people. Among the many nonsensical utterances of opponents there was one voice which to be sure was not much cleverer than the others in respect of content but which nevertheless indicated a remarkable premonition. It consisted in a newspaper report of one of the lectures I had given in Berlin. The notice was to this effect: When one listens to something of this kind, one becomes attentive to the fact that something is going on not only on the Earth—I am quoting the notice approximately—but in the whole Cosmos something is happening which summons men to adopt a spirituality different from what existed previously. Now, the forces of the Cosmos—not only earthly impulses—demand something from men. A kind of revolution is taking place in the Cosmos, the result of which must be the striving for a new spirituality.
Such utterances were constantly to be heard and were very worthy of note. The fact of the matter is this: the impulse that must be working in what is now to go out from Dornach must—as I emphasised from every possible point of view during the Meeting itself—be an impulse originating in the spiritual world, not on the Earth. Our striving here is to develop the strength to follow impulses from the spiritual world. That is why, in the evening lectures during this Christmas Meeting, I spoke of manifold impulses at work in the course of historical evolution in order that hearts could be opened for the reception of the spiritual impulses which have yet to stream into the earthly world, which are not derived from that world itself. Everything for which the earthly world hitherto has rightly been the vehicle, proceeded from the spiritual world. And if we are to achieve anything fruitful for the earthly world, the impulses for it must be brought from the spiritual world.
This prompts the assertion that the impulses we ought rightly to take with us from the Meeting for our further activity must be connected with great responsibility.
Let us think for a short time of the responsibility laid upon us by that Meeting. Anyone with a sense of the reality of the spiritual world could encounter many personalities during recent decades, and observing them spiritually experience bitter feelings regarding the future destiny of humanity on Earth. One could encounter one's fellow men on the Earth in the way that is possible spiritually and observe these human beings during their sleep while they are in the spiritual world with Ego and astral body, having left their physical and etheric bodies. During recent decades, explorations connected with the destinies of Egos and astral bodies during the sleep of human beings have resulted in knowledge calling for great responsibility on the part of those who possess it. One often saw souls, who had left their physical and etheric bodies during sleep, approaching the Guardian of the Threshold.
In the course of evolution the Guardian of the Threshold has been brought to men's consciousness in very many different ways. Many a legend, many a saga—for it is in this form, not in the form of historical tradition that things of the greatest importance are preserved—many a legend tells of how, in earlier times, this or that personality met the Guardian of the Threshold and was instructed by him how to enter the spiritual world and return again into the physical world. Every legitimate entry into the spiritual world must include the possibility of being able at any and every minute to return into the physical world and to live there as a practical, thoughtful human being, not as a visionary or as an ecstatic mystic.
Fundamentally speaking, it was this that was demanded by the Guardian of the Threshold through all the ages of human endeavours to enter the spiritual world. But notably in the last third of the nineteenth century hardly any human beings who succeeded in approaching the Guardian of the Threshold in waking consciousness were to be seen. In our present time, when it is historically incumbent upon the whole of mankind to encounter the Guardian of the Threshold in some form, one finds how souls during sleep approach the Guardian of the Threshold as Egos and astral bodies, and the pictures that are revealed are full of significance. The stern Guardian of the Threshold has around him groups of human souls in the state of sleep, souls who in waking consciousness lack the strength to approach this Guardian of the Threshold. They approach him while they sleep.
When one watches the scene presented there, a thought connected with what I have called the seed of great and essential responsibility comes to one. The souls approaching the Guardian of the Threshold during the state of sleep plead with the consciousness then prevailing—in the waking state everything remains unconscious or subconscious—plead to be admitted into the spiritual world, to be allowed to cross the threshold. And in numberless cases one then hears the voice of the stern Guardian of the Threshold saying: For your own well-being you may not cross the threshold. You may not be allowed to enter the spiritual world. You must go back!—For if the Guardian of the Threshold were to permit such souls to enter the spiritual world, they would cross the threshold and enter that world with the concepts imparted to them by the schools, education and civilisation of to-day, with the concepts and ideas with which the human being is obliged to grow up from about the age of six to basically the end of his life on Earth.
The intrinsic character of these concepts and ideas is such that what a man has become through them in modern civilisation and education means that he enters the spiritual world paralysed in soul. Moreover, he would return to the physical world empty-headed in respect of thoughts and ideas. If the Guardian of the Threshold were not to reject many human souls of the modern age but allow them to enter the spiritual world, they would feel on awakening: I am incapable of thinking, my thoughts do not connect with my brain, I am obliged to go through the world void of thoughts. For such is the effect of the abstract ideas which man applies to everything to-day. With these ideas he can enter the spiritual world but not come forth from it again. And when one witnesses this scene which is experienced during sleep by more souls than is usually imagined, one feels: Oh! if only it were possible to protect these souls from having also to experience at death what they experience during sleep. For if the condition that is experienced in the presence of the Guardian of the Threshold were to be repeated for a sufficient length of time, if civilisation were to remain long enough under the sway of what current education provides, then the souls of men would pass through the gates of death into the spiritual world but would be unable to bring any mental vigour into the next earthly life. With the thoughts prevailing to-day it is possible for a man to enter the spiritual world but he can only come out of it again paralysed in soul.
You see, modern civilisation adopts the form of spiritual life that has for so long been cultivated, but real life does not allow this. Civilisation as it now is might continue to progress for a time. During waking life souls would have no inkling of the existence of the Guardian of the Threshold and during sleep would be rejected by him in order to avoid mental paralysis; and this would finally result in a race of men being born in the future with no understanding, no possibility of applying ideas in their future earthly life; and all thinking, all ideation would vanish from the Earth. A diseased, purely instinctive human race would people the Earth. Evil feelings and unbridled emotions without the guiding power of ideas would take hold of the evolution of humanity. It is not only through observation of the souls confronting the Guardian of the Threshold—souls which can gain no entrance to the spiritual world—it is not only through observing this that a sorrowful picture is presented to the seer, but in a different connection there is another factor as well.
If on the journey of which I have spoken, when the souls of sleeping human beings confronting the Guardian of the Threshold can be observed, one is accompanied by a human being belonging not to Western but to Oriental civilisation, a terrible reproach of the whole of Western civilisation may be heard from him, to this effect: If things continue as they now are, when the human beings living to-day appear on Earth in new incarnations, the Earth will become barbaric. Human beings will live devoid of ideas, in instincts only. You Westerners have brought things to this pass because you have abandoned the ancient spirituality of the East.
A glimpse into the spiritual world such as I have described may well give rise to a sense of great responsibility. And here in Dornach there must be a place where for those human beings who have ears to hear, direct and significant experiences in the spiritual world can be described. Here there must be a place where sufficient strength is generated not merely to indicate in terms of the dialectic-empirical mentality of to-day that here or there little traces of spiritual reality exist. If Dornach is to fulfil its task, actual happenings in the spiritual world must be spoken of openly. Men must be able to hear of the impulses in the spiritual world which then pour into and control the natural world and Nature itself. In Dornach men must be able to hear of actual experiences, actual forces, actual Beings of the spiritual world. Here there must be the High School of true Spiritual Science. Henceforth we must not draw back when confronted by the shallowness of the scientific thoughts of to-day which, as I have described, lead in the state of sleep to the stern Guardian of the Threshold. In Dornach the strength must be acquired to confront and experience the spiritual world in its reality.
There must be no dialectical tirades from here on the subject of the inadequacy of modern scientific theory. I was obliged, however, to call attention to the position in which human beings are placed when confronting the Guardian of the Threshold on account of these scientific theories and their offshoots in the orthodox schools of to-day. If what has been said at this Christmas Meeting is sincerely applied in the life of soul, the Meeting will be a forceful impulse which the soul can then apply in the activity that is needed in this age so that in their next incarnations men may be able to confront the Guardian of the Threshold in the right way. This will ensure that civilisation in its own right can enable men to face and hold their own when confronting the Guardian of the Threshold.
Just compare the civilisation of to-day with that of earlier times during all of which men's thoughts and concepts were directed primarily to the super-sensible world, to the Gods, to the world of productive, generative, creative forces. With concepts that were concerned primarily with the Gods, men were able to contemplate the earthly world and also to understand it in the light of these concepts and ideas. If with these concepts—worthy of the Gods as they were—a man came before the Guardian of the Threshold, the Guardian would say to him: You may pass, for you bring over the threshold into the super-sensible world thoughts that were already directed to the super-sensible world during your earthly life in a physical body. Thus when you return into the physical world of the senses you will have enough strength to protect you from being paralysed by the spectacle of the super-sensible world.
To-day man develops concepts and ideas which in accordance with the genius of the age he wants to apply only to the material world. These concepts and ideas are concerned with every possible aspect of weight, measure and the like, but they have nothing to do with the Gods and are not worthy of the Gods. Hence to souls who have completely succumbed to materialistic ideas that are unworthy of the Gods, the voice of the Guardian of the Threshold thunders when they pass before him in the state of sleep: Do not cross the threshold! You have squandered your ideas on the world of the senses. Hence you must remain with them in the world of the senses. If you do not wish to be paralysed in your life of soul you may not enter the world of the Gods as long as you hold such ideas.
These things must be said, not in order to be the subject of argument but because every individual should let his mind and soul be permeated by them and thus develop the attitude of mind that should have been generated in him by this solemn Christmas Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society. For more important than anything else we take with us is the recognition of the spiritual world which gives the certainty that in Dornach there will be created a living centre of spiritual knowledge.
Hence a really splendid note was struck this morning when Dr. Zeylmans spoke in connection with the sphere of medicine, saying that it is no longer possible to-day for bridges to be built from orthodox science to what it is our aim to found in Dornach. If we were to speak of what it is hoped to develop in the sphere of medicine here by boasting that our products can stand the test of all modern clinical requirements, then we should never reach any definite goal. For then other people would simply say: That is just a new remedy; and we too have produced plenty of new remedies!
It is of essential importance that a branch of practical life such as medicine should be taken in the real sense into anthroposophical life. That is what I certainly understood to be Dr. Zeylmans' wish when he said this morning that an individual who becomes a doctor to-day really longs for something that gives impulses from a new corner of the world. In the domain of medicine this is just what will be done from here in the future, together with many another branch of genuine anthroposophical activity. It will be worked out now, with Dr. Wegman as my helper, as a system of medicine based upon Anthroposophy. It is a dire need of humanity and will soon be available. It is also my intention to establish as soon as possible a close relationship between the Goetheanum and the Clinic in Arlesheim that is proving to be so beneficial. The work there will be orientated entirely towards Anthroposophy. That is also Dr. Wegman's intention.
In speaking as he did, Dr. Zeylmans also indicated what attitude the Vorstand in Dornach will adopt in all spheres of anthroposophical activity. In future we shall know exactly how matters stand. We shall not say: let us bring Eurythmy to this or that town, for if people first see Eurythmy without hearing anything about Anthroposophy, Eurythmy will please them. Then, later on perhaps, they will come to us, and because they have liked Eurythmy and have heard that Anthroposophy is behind it, Anthroposophy too may please them! Or again, it may be said: In the practice of medicine people must be shown that ours are the right remedies and then they will buy them; later on they may discover that Anthroposophy is behind them and then they will come to Anthroposophy!
We must have the courage to realise that such procedure is dishonest and must be abandoned. Anthroposophy will then find its way in the world. Our striving for truth here in Dornach will in the future be without fanaticism, will be advocated honestly and candidly. Perhaps in this way we can make reparation for principles that have been gravely sinned against in recent years.
We must leave this Meeting, which has led to the Founding of the General Anthroposophical Society, not with trifling but with solemn thoughts. But I think that nobody need have experienced any pessimism as a result of what took place here at Christmas. We had, it is true, to pass the tragic ruins of the Goetheanum every day but I think that all those who climbed the hill and passed the ruins during the Meeting will have become aware of what our friends have understood in their hearts and that the following thought will have become a reality to them: Spiritual flames of fire will go forth from the new Goetheanum that will come into being in the future, for the blessing of mankind, will come into being through our activity and devotion. And the greater the courage with which to conduct the affairs of Anthroposophy that we take with us from this Meeting, the more effectively have we grasped the spiritual impulse of hope that has pervaded the Meeting.
The scene that I have described to you—the scene that is so often to be seen of modern man with the results of his civilisation and education facing the Guardian of the Threshold—this scene does not actually occur among perceptive Anthroposophists. But it does sometimes happen that this warning is necessary: You must develop the resolute courage to become aware of and avow your obedience to this voice from the spiritual world, for you have begun to wake. Courage will keep you wakeful; lack of courage—that and that alone could cause you to sleep.
The voice of exhortation to unfold courage and wakefulness—that is the other variant for Anthroposophists in the life of modern civilisation. Non-Anthroposophists hear the voice which says: Remain outside the spiritual world, for you have misused the ideas which are coined for purely earthly objects; you have amassed no ideas that are worthy of the Gods. Hence you would be paralysed on your return into the physical world of the senses. To the souls who are truly anthroposophical souls, however, it is said: You have now to be tested in respect only of your courage to avow adherence to the voice which because of the trend and inclination of your souls and hearts you can certainly hear and understand.
Yesterday, a year ago, we were watching the flames that were destroying the old Goetheanum, but just as we did not allow ourselves then to be interrupted in our continuation of the work, so to-day we are justified in hoping that when a physical Goetheanum will again be there, it will be merely the symbol of our spiritual Goetheanum which we will bear with us as idea when we now again go out into the world.
Over the Foundation Stone laid here will be erected the building in which the single stones will be the work achieved in every one of our Groups all over the world. We will now turn our thoughts to this work and become conscious of the responsibility of the men of to-day when they are standing before the Guardian of the Threshold who is obliged to forbid them entrance into the spiritual world.
Quite certainly it will never occur to us to feel anything except, the deepest pain and sorrow for what happened to us a year ago. But of one thing we may be sure—everything in the world that has achieved some measure of greatness is born from pain. May our own pain be applied in such a way that a vigorous, light-filled Anthroposophical Society will come into being as the result of your work, my dear friends.
To this end we will ponder deeply on the words with which I began the Christmas Meeting and with which I want to end it. May it become for us a festival of consecration not only of a year's beginning but of the beginning of a turning-point of worlds, to which we will dedicate ourselves in selfless cultivation of the spiritual life:
Soul of Man!
Thou livest in the Limbs
Which bear thee through the world of Space
Into the ocean-being of the Spirit.
Practise Spirit-Recollection
In the depths of soul.
Where in the wielding
World-Creator-Life
Thine own I
Comes to being
Within the I of God.
Then in the All-World-Being of Man
Thou wilt truly live.For the Father-Spirit of the Heights holds sway
In Depths of Worlds begetting Life.
Spirits of Strength!
Let this ring out from the Heights
And in the Depths be echoed,
Speaking:
From God, Mankind has Being.
The Spirits hear it in East and West and North and South:
May human beings hear it!Soul of Man!
Thou livest in the beat of Heart and Lung
Which leads thee through the rhythmic tides of Time
Into the feeling of thine own Soul-being.
Practise Spirit-Mindfulness
In balance of the soul,
Where the surging
Deeds of the World's Becoming
Do thine own I
Unite
Unto the I of the World.
Then 'mid the weaving of the Soul of Man
Thou wilt truly feel.
For the Christ-Will in the encircling Round holds sway
the Rhythms of the Worlds, blessing the Soul.
Spirits of Light!
Let this be fired from the East
And through the West be formed,
Speaking:
In Christ, Death becomes Life.
The Spirits hear it in East and West and North and South:
May human beings hear it!Soul of Man!
Thou livest in the resting Head
Which from the ground of the Eternal
Opens to thee the Thoughts of Worlds.
Practise Spirit-Vision
In quietness of thought,
Where the eternal aims of Gods
World-Being's Light
On thine own I
Bestow
For thy free Willing.
Then from the ground of the Spirit in Man
Thou wilt truly think.For the Spirit's Universal Thoughts hold sway
the Beings of all Worlds, craving for Light.
Spirits of Soul!
Let this be prayed in the Depths
And from the Heights be answered,
Speaking:
the Spirit's Universal Thoughts, the Soul awakens.
The Spirits hear it in East and West and North and South:
May human beings hear it!
At the turning-point of Time
The Spirit-Light of the World
Entered the stream of Earthly Being.
Darkness of Night
Had held its sway;
Day-radiant Light
Poured into the souls of men;
Light that gives Warmth
To simple Shepherds' Hearts,
Light that enlightens
The wise Heads of Kings.O Light Divine,
O Sun of Christ!
Warm Thou
Our Hearts
Enlighten Thou
Our Heads,
That good may become
What from our Hearts we would found
And from our Heads direct
With single purpose.
And so, my dear friends, carry out into the world your warm hearts in which you have laid the Foundation Stone for the Anthroposophical Society, carry out into the world these warm hearts which promote strong, health-giving activity in the world. And help will be vouchsafed to you, enlightening your heads in what you would fain direct with single purpose. We will set about this with all possible strength. And if we prove to be worthy of this aim we shall see that a good star will hold sway over what is willed from here. Follow this good star, my dear friends! We shall see whither the Gods will lead us by the light of this star.
O Light Divine,
O Sun of Christ!
Warm Thou
Our Hearts
Enlighten Thou
Our Heads.
Neunter Vortrag
Da wir nun zum letzten Mal in dieser Tagung, von der Kraftvolles, Wichtiges für die anthroposophische Bewegung ausgehen soll, zusammen sind, lassen Sie mich wohl den letzten Vortrag so gestalten, daß er sich innerlich, dem Impulse nach, anschließt an die mancherlei Ausblicke, die uns diese Vortragsreihe gegeben hat, daß aber auch auf der anderen Seite in einer gewissen Weise, ich möchte sagen empfindungsgemäß, auf die Zukunft, namentlich die Zukunft des anthroposophischen Strebens dadurch hingewiesen werde.
Wenn man heute in die Welt hinaussieht, so bietet sich, zwar seit Jahren schon, außerordentlich viel Zerstörungsstoff. Kräfte sind am Werk, die ahnen lassen, in welche Abgründe die westliche Zivilisation noch hineinsteuern wird. Aber man möchte sagen: Wenn man gerade nach denjenigen Menschen sieht, welche gewissermaßen äußerlich die geistige Führerschaft auf den verschiedensten Gebieten des Lebens innehaben, dann wird man bemerken, wie diese Menschen in einem furchtbaren Weltenschlafe befangen sind. - Sie denken ja ungefähr so, noch vor kurzer Zeit dachten die meisten vielleicht so: Bis ins 19. Jahrhundert herein war die Menschheit in bezug auf ihre Einsichten und Anschauungen kindlich, primitiv. Dann ist die neuere Wissenschaft auf den verschiedensten Gebieten gekommen, und nun sei etwas da, was wohl in alle Ewigkeit als die Wahrheit weitergepflegt werden müsse.
Die Menschen, die so denken, leben eigentlich in einem ungeheuren Hochmut, wissen es nur nicht. Demgegenüber erscheint manchmal doch innerhalb der heutigen Menschheit diese oder jene Ahnung, daß die Dinge doch nicht so sind, wie ich sie eben als in der Meinung der meisten liegend dargestellt habe.
Während ich vor einiger Zeit jene Vorträge halten konnte in Deutschland, die vom Wolffschen Büro organisiert waren und die eine außerordentlich reiche Zuhörerschaft gebracht haben, so daß schon mancher aufmerkte, wie Anthroposophie eigentlich begehrt wird, da zeigte sich unter so vielen albernen gegnerischen Stimmen eine, die ja inhaltlich nicht viel gescheiter als die anderen war, die aber dennoch eine merkwürdige Ahnung verriet. Sie bestand in einer Zeitungsnotiz, die anknüpfte an einen der Vorträge, die ich in Berlin zu halten hatte. Da sagte eine Zeitungsstimme: Wenn man sich so etwas anhört — wie ich es dazumal in jenem Berliner Vortrage vorgebracht habe -, dann würde man doch aufmerksam darauf, daß nicht nur auf der Erde - ich zitiere ungefähr, wie die Notiz war -, sondern im ganzen Kosmos etwas vorgeht, was die Menschen zu einer anderen Geistigkeit aufruft, als sie vorher da war. Man sehe, daß jetzt sozusagen die Kräfte des Kosmos, nicht bloß die irdischen Impulse, von den Menschen etwas fordern; eine Art Revolution im Kosmos, deren Ergebnis eben das Streben nach neuer Geistigkeit sein müsse.
Solch eine Stimme war immerhin da, und sie war eigentlich recht bemerkenswert. Denn wahr ist es ja: Was in richtiger Art impulsieren muß dasjenige, was nunmehr von Dornach ausgehen soll, das muß, wie ich in diesen Tagen von den verschiedensten Gesichtspunkten aus betonte, ein Impuls sein, nicht auf der Erde entsprossen, sondern ein Impuls, entsprossen in der geistigen Welt. Wir wollen hier die Kraft entwickeln, Impulsen aus der geistigen Welt zu folgen. Deshalb habe ich in diesen Abendvorträgen während dieser Weihnachtstagung von mannigfaltigen Impulsen, die in der geschichtlichen Entwickelung da waren, gesprochen, damit die Herzen aufgehen können für das Aufnehmen geistiger Impulse, die erst einströmen sollen in die irdische Welt, die nicht von der irdischen Welt selber genommen sein sollen. Denn alles, was bisher die irdische Welt in richtigem Sinne getragen hat, war aus der geistigen Welt entsprungen. Und sollen wir etwas für die irdische Welt Fruchtbares leisten, so müssen die Impulse dazu aus der geistigen Welt geholt werden.
Das, meine lieben Freunde, regt an, hinzuweisen darauf, wie die Antriebe, die wir mitnehmen sollen aus dieser Tagung in unser ferneres Wirken, verbunden sein müssen mit einer großen Verantwortung.
Lassen Sie uns einmal einige Minuten verweilen bei dem, was uns auferlegt ist durch diese Tagung als eine große Verantwortung. Man konnte in den letzten Jahrzehnten mit einem Sinn für die geistige Welt an mancherlei Persönlichkeiten vorbeigehen, geistig beobachtend und bittere Gefühle empfangend aus dieser geistigen Beobachtung für das kommende Schicksal der Erdenmenschheit. Man konnte vorbeigehen an den Mitmenschen der Erde auf jene Art, wie man es eben im Geiste kann, und diese Menschen beobachten, wenn sie schlafend ihren physischen und Ätherleib verlassen haben und mit ihrem Ich und mit ihrem astralischen Leib in der geistigen Welt weilen. Ja, Wanderungen anzustellen über die Schicksale der Iche und astralischen Leiber in den letzten Jahrzehnten, während die Menschen schliefen, das war schon die Veranlassung zu Erfahrungen, die auf schwere Verantwortlichkeiten für den, der diese Dinge wissen kann, hinweisen. Diese Seelen, die vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen ihren physischen Leib und ihren Ätherleib verlassen hatten, diese Seelen sah man dann öfter herankommen an den Hüter der Schwelle.
Dieser Hüter der Schwelle in die geistige Welt ist ja im Laufe der Menschheitsentwickelung den Menschen in der mannigfaltigsten Weise vor das Bewußtsein getreten. Manche Legende, manche Sage denn in solcher Form erhalten sich ja die wichtigsten Dinge, nicht in der Form der geschichtlichen Überlieferung -, manche Legende, manche Sage weist eben darauf hin, wie in älteren Zeiten diese oder jene Persönlichkeit dem Hüter der Schwelle begegnet ist und von ihm die Unterweisung bekommen hat, wie sie hineinkommen soll in die geistige Welt und wiederum zurück in die physische Welt. Denn alles richtige Hineinkommen in die geistige Welt muß begleitet sein von der Möglichkeit, in jedem Augenblicke wiederum zurückkehren zu können in die physische Welt und in ihr wirklich auf beiden Beinen zu stehen als ein durchaus praktischer, besonnener Mensch, nicht als ein Schwärmer, nicht als ein schwärmerischer Mystiker.
Das wurde im Grunde genommen gegenüber dem Hüter der Schwelle durch all die Jahrtausende des Menschenstrebens in die geistige Welt hinein verlangt. Aber insbesondere im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts, da sah man kaum Menschen, die im wachen Zustande an den Hüter der Schwelle herangelangten. Um so mehr aber in unserer Zeit, wo es der ganzen Menschheit historisch auferlegt ist, in irgendeiner Form am Hüter der Schwelle vorbeizukommen, um so mehr findet man, wie gesagt, bei entsprechenden Wanderungen in der geistigen Welt, wie die schlafenden Seelen als Iche und astralische Leiber an den Hüter der Schwelle herankommen. Das sind die bedeutungsvollen Bilder, die man heute bekommen kann: der ernste Hüter der Schwelle, um ihn herum Gruppen von schlafenden Menschenseelen, die im wachenden Zustande nicht die Kraft haben, an diesen Hüter der Schwelle heranzukommen, die an ihn herankommen, während sie schlafen.
Dann, wenn man die Szene sieht, die sich da abspielt, dann bekommt man einen Gedanken, der gerade verbunden ist mit dem, was ich das Aufkeimen einer notwendigen großen Verantwortung nennen möchte. Die Seelen, die so im schlafenden Zustande an den Hüter der Schwelle herankommen, sie fordern mit demjenigen Bewußtsein - für das wache bleibt es unbewußt oder unterbewußt -, das der Mensch im Schlafe hat, den Einlaß in die geistige Welt, das Hinüberwandern über die Schwelle. Und in zahllosen Fällen hört man dann die Stimme des ernsten Hüters der Schwelle: Du darfst zu deinem eigenen Heile nicht hinüber über die Schwelle. Du darfst nicht den Einlaß gewinnen in die geistige Welt. Du mußt zurück. Denn würde der Hüter der Schwelle solchen Seelen ohne weiteres den Einlaß in die geistige Welt gewähren, sie würden über die Schwelle hinübergehen, sie würden in die geistige Welt hineinkommen mit den Begriffen, die ihnen die heutige Schule, die heutige Bildung, die heutige Zivilisation überliefert, mit den Begriffen und Ideen, mit denen der Mensch heute aufwachsen muß zwischen dem sechsten Jahre und im Grunde genommen dem Ende seines Erdenlebens.
Diese Begriffe und Ideen, sie haben die Eigentümlichkeit: wenn man mit ihnen, so wie man mit ihnen geworden ist dutch die gegenwärtige Zivilisation und Schule, in die geistige Welt eintritt, wird man seelisch paralysiert. Und man würde zurückgelangen in die physische Welt in Gedanken- und Ideenleerheit. Würde der Hüter der Schwelle nicht ernst diese Seelen zurückstoßen, viele Seelen der gegenwärtigen Menschen zurückstoßen, würde er sie hinüberlassen in die geistige Welt, dann würden sie, wenn sie wiederum aufwachend zurückkommen, beim entscheidenden Aufwachen zurückkommen, das Gefühl haben: Ich kann ja nicht denken, meine Gedanken ergreifen mein Gehirn nicht, ich muß gedankenlos durch die Welt gehen. - Denn so ist die Welt der abstrakten Ideen, die der Mensch heute anknüpft an alles: man kann mit ihnen hinein in die geistige Welt, aber nicht wieder mit ihnen heraus. Und wenn man diese Szene sieht, die wirklich heute im Schlafe mehr Seelen erleben, als man gewöhnlich glaubt, dann sagt man sich: Oh, wenn es nur gelänge, diese Seelen davor zu behüten, daß, was sie im Schlafe erleben, sie nicht auch im Tode erleben müssen. - Denn wenn der Zustand, der so erlebt wird vor dem Hüter der Schwelle, lange genug fortdauern würde, das heißt, wenn die menschliche Zivilisation lange unter demjenigen bliebe, was man heute in den Schulen aufnehmen, durch die Zivilisation überliefert erhalten kann, dann würde aus dem Schlafe Leben werden. Die Menschenseelen würden hinübergehen durch die Pforte des Todes in die geistige Welt, aber nicht wieder eine Kraft der Ideen in das nächste Erdenleben bringen können. Denn man kann hinein mit den heutigen Gedanken in die geistige Welt, nicht aber mit ihnen wieder heraus. Man kann nur seelisch paralysiert wieder herauskommen.
Sehen Sie, die Zivilisation der Gegenwart läßt sich begründen mit dieser Form des geistigen Lebens, die eben seit so langer Zeit gepflegt worden ist, aber das Leben läßt sich damit nicht begründen. Diese Zivilisation könnte eine Zeitlang fortgehen. Die Seelen würden eben während des Wachens nichts ahnen von dem Hüter der Schwelle, während des Schlafens von ihm zurückgewiesen werden, damit sie nicht paralysiert würden, und zuletzt würde das bewirken, daß ein Menschengeschlecht in der Zukunft geboren würde, welches keinen Verstand, keine Möglichkeit, Ideen im Leben anzuwenden, in diesem künftigen Erdenleben zeigte, und das Denken, das Leben in Ideen würde von der Erde verschwinden. Ein krankhaftes, bloß instinktives Menschengeschlecht würde die Erde bevölkern müssen. Schlimme Gefühle und Emotionen allein, ohne die orientierende Kraft der Ideen, würden Platz greifen in der Menschheitsentwickelung. Ja, es ist so, daß nicht nur in der schon geschilderten Weise sich durch die Beobachtung der vor dem Hüter der Schwelle stehenden Seele, die keinen Einlaß gewinnen kann in die geistige Welt, daß nicht nur dadurch ein trauriges Bild sich darbietet dem geistig Schauenden, sondern auch noch in einer anderen Beziehung.
Nimmt man eine Menschenwesenheit, die nun nicht aus westlicher Zivilisation, sondern aus östlicher Zivilisation entsprungen ist, mit auf jener Wanderung, die ich charakterisiert habe, auf der man beobachten kann die schlafenden Menschenseelen vor dem Hüter der Schwelle, nimmt man eine solche östliche Menschenwesenheit mit, dann kann man von ihr die Geistworte wie einen furchtbaren Vorwurf gegenüber der gesamten westlichen Zivilisation erheben hören: Seht ihr, wenn das so fortgeht, wird schon, wenn die Menschen, die heute leben, neuerdings in einer Inkarnation auf Erden erscheinen, die Erde barbarisiert sein. Die Menschen werden ohne Ideen, nur noch in Instinkten leben. So weit habt ihr es gebracht, weil ihr abgefallen seid von der alten Spiritualität des Morgenlandes.
In der Tat, für dasjenige, was Aufgabe des Menschen ist, kann gerade ein solcher Blick in die geistige Welt hinein, wie ich ihn geschildert habe, von einer starken Verantwortlichkeit zeugen. Und hier in Dornach muß eine Stätte sein, wo für diejenigen Menschen, die es hören wollen, gesprochen werden kann von allen wichtigen, unmittelbaren Erlebnissen in der geistigen Welt. Hier muß eine Stätte sein, wo die Kraft gefunden wird, nicht bloß in ausspintisierender, dialektisch-empirischer Wissenschaftlichkeit der Gegenwart hinzudeuten darauf, daß es da oder dort solche kleinen Spuren des Geistigen gibt, sondern wenn Dornach seine Aufgabe erfüllen will, dann muß hier offen von dem, was in der geistigen Welt vorgeht geschichtlich, was in der geistigen Welt vorgeht als Impulse, die dann in das natürliche Dasein hineingehen und die Natur beherrschen, es muß in Dornach von wirklichen Erlebnissen, von wirklichen Kräften, von wirklichen Wesenheiten der geistigen Welt der Mensch hören können. Hier muß die Hochschule der wirklichen Geisteswissenschaft sein. Und wir dürfen fortan nicht zurückweichen vor den Anforderungen heutiger Wissenschaftlichkeit, die die Menschen so, wie ich es geschildert habe, schlafend vor den ernsten Hüter der Schwelle führt. Man muß sozusagen in Dornach Kraft gewinnen können, sich - geistig sei es gemeint — Auge in Auge der geistigen Welt wirklich gegenüberzustellen, von der geistigen Welt zu erfahren.
Daher soll auch hier nicht in dialektischen Tiraden von dem Ungenügenden der heutigen Wissenschaftstheorie gesprochen werden, sondern ich mußte darauf aufmerksam machen, in welche Lage der Mensch gegenüber dem Hüter der Schwelle durch diese Wissenschaftstheorien mit ihren Ausläufern in die gewöhnliche Schule kommt. Wenn man sich jetzt bei dieser Tagung hier einmal dies ernsthaftig gegenüber der eigenen Seele eingestanden hat, dann wird diese Weihnachtstagung einen kräftigen Impuls in die Seelen hineinsenden, der dann diese Seelen hinaustragen kann zu kräftigem Wirken, wie es die Menschheit heute braucht, damit die nächste Inkarnation die Menschen so finde, daß sie wirklich dem Hüter der Schwelle begegnen können, das heißt, daß die Zivilisation so werde, daß sie selbst als Zivilisation vor dem Hüter der Schwelle bestehen kann.
Vergleichen Sie die heutige Zivilisation mit früheren Zivilisationen. In allen früheren Zivilisationen gab es Ideen, Begriffe, die zuerst hinaufgingen nach der übersinnlichen Welt, nach den Göttern, nach der Welt, wo gezeugt, geschaffen wird, hervorgebracht wird; dann konnte man mit den Begriffen, die vor allem den Göttern gehörten im Aufblicke, herabblicken auf die irdische Welt, um diese irdische Welt nun mit den götterwürdigen Begriffen und Ideen auch zu verstehen. Kam man mit diesen Ideen, die götterwürdig und götterwert ausgebildet waren, vor den Hüter der Schwelle, dann sagte einem der Hüter der Schwelle: Du kannst passieren, denn du bringst hinüber in die übersinnliche Welt dasjenige, was schon während deines Erdenlebens im physischen Leibe nach der übersinnlichen Welt gerichtet ist. Dann bleibt dir bei der Rückkehr in die physisch-sinnliche Welt noch genug der Kraft übrig, um nicht gelähmt zu werden durch den Anblick der übersinnlichen Welt. Heute entwickelt der Mensch Begriffe und Ideen, die er nach dem Genius der Zeit nur anwenden will auf die physisch-sinnliche Welt. Diese Begriffe und Ideen handeln von allem möglichen Wägbaren, Meßbaren und so weiter, nur nicht von den Göttern. Sie sind nicht götterwürdig, sie sind nicht götterwert. Deshalb donnert es den Seelen, die nun schon ganz verfallen sind dem Materialismus der götterunwerten und götterunwürdigen Ideen, deshalb donnert es ihnen, wenn sie schlafend den Hüter der Schwelle passieren, entgegen: Tritt nicht über die Schwelle! Du hast deine Ideen mißbraucht für die Sinneswelt. Du mußt mit ihnen deshalb in der Sinneswelt bleiben, kannst mit ihnen nicht, wenn du nicht seelisch paralysiert werden willst, in die Götterwelt eintreten.
Sehen Sie, solche Dinge müssen gesagt werden, nicht, damit man über sie spintisiert, sondern sie müssen gesagt werden, damit man sein Gemüt von ihnen durchströmen und durchdringen läßt und in die rechte Stimmung kommt, die man mitnehmen soll von dieser so ernsten Weihnachtstagung der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft. Denn wichtiger als alles übrige, was wir mitnehmen, wird sein die Stimmung, die wir mitnehmen, die Stimmung für die geistige Welt, die Gewißheit gibt: In Dornach wird ein Mittelpunkt geistiger Erkenntnis geschaffen werden.
Deshalb klang es heute vormittag wirklich schön, als gesprochen worden ist für ein Gebiet, das hier in Dornach gepflegt werden soll, für das Gebiet der Medizin, von Dr. Zeylmans, daß heute nicht mehr Brücken gebaut werden können von der gewöhnlichen Wissenschaft aus in dasjenige, was hier in Dornach begründet werden soll. Wenn wir dasjenige, was auf unserem Boden medizinisch erwächst, so beschreiben, daß wir den Ehrgeiz haben: Unsere Abhandlungen können bestehen vor den gegenwärtigen klinischen Anforderungen -, dann, dann werden wir niemals mit den Dingen, die wir eigentlich als Aufgabe haben, zu einem bestimmten Ziele kommen, denn dann werden die anderen Menschen sagen: Nun ja, das ist ein neues Mittel; wir haben auch schon neue Mittel gemacht. Dasjenige, um was es sich handelt, ist doch, daß tatsächlich hereingenommen werde in das anthroposophische Leben solch ein Zweig der Lebenspraxis, wie es die Medizin ist. Das habe ich wohl als eine Sehnsucht von Dr. Zeylmans heute vormittag richtig verstanden. Denn zu diesem Ziele sagte er doch: Derjenige, der heute Arzt geworden ist, sagt: Ich bin eben Arzt geworden -, aber er sehnt sich nach etwas, was aus einer neuen Weltenecke heraus Impulse gibt. Und sehen Sie, auf dem Gebiete der Medizin soll das in eindeutiger Weise in der Zukunft von Dornach aus hier so gemacht werden, wie mancher andere Zweig des anthroposophischen Wirkens, der im Schoße des Anthroposophischen geblieben ist, eben gewirkt hat und wie jetzt mit Frau Dr. Wegman als meiner Helferin ausgearbeitet wird gerade jenes ganz aus der Anthroposophie herauskommende medizinische System, das die Menschheit braucht und das demnächst vor die Menschheit treten wird. Ebenso wird es meine Absicht sein, eine engste Beziehung zu dem ja so segensreich wirkenden Klinisch-Therapeutischen Institut in Arlesheim, eine möglichst intime Verbindung des Goetheanum mit diesem Institute in möglichster Bälde, in kurzer Zukunft herzustellen, so daß tatsächlich dasjenige, was da gedeiht, in der wirklichen Orientierungslinie der Anthroposophie liegen wird. Das ist auch dasjenige, was Frau Dr. Wegmans Absicht ist.
Nun, damit aber hat ja Dr. Zeylmans hingewiesen für ein Gebiet auf dasjenige, was sich der Vorstand von Dornach nun auf allen Gebieten des anthroposophischen Wirkens zu seiner Aufgabe machen wird. Man wird daher in der Zukunft wissen, wie die Dinge stehen. Man wird nicht sagen: Bringen wir dorthin Eurythmie; wenn die Leute zuerst Eurythmie sehen und nichts hören von Anthroposophie, da gefällt ihnen die Eurythmie. Dann vielleicht kommen sie später und weil ihnen die Eurythmie gefallen hat und sie erfahren, daß hinter der Eurythmie die Anthroposophie steht, dann gefällt ihnen die Anthroposophie auch. - Oder: Man muß den Leuten zuerst die Praxis der Heilmittel zeigen, man muß ihnen zeigen, daß das richtige Heilmittel sind; dann werden die Leute das kaufen. Dann werden sie später einmal erfahren, da stecke die Anthroposophie dahinter, und dann werden sie auch da an die Anthroposophie herankommen.
Wir müssen den Mut haben, solch ein Vorgehen verlogen zu finden. Erst wenn wir den Mut haben, solch ein Vorgehen verlogen zu finden, es innerlich verabscheuen, dann wird Anthroposophie ihren Weg dutch die Welt finden. Und in dieser Beziehung wird schon gerade das Wahrheitsstreben dasjenige sein, was in der Zukunft von Dornach hier ohne Fanatismus, sondern in ehrlicher, gerader Wahrheitsliebe verfochten werden soll. Vielleicht können wir gerade dadurch eben manches gut machen, was in den letzten Jahren in so schwerer Weise versündigt worden ist.
Mit nicht leichten, sondern ernsten Gedanken müssen wir diese Tagung, die zur Begründung der Allgemeinen Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft geführt hat, verlassen. Aber ich denke, daß es für niemanden nötig geworden ist, aus dem, was sich hier abgespielt hat an Weihnachten, Pessimismus mitzunehmen. Zwar gingen wir jeden Tag vorbei vor der traurigen Goetheanum-Ruine, aber ich denke, in jeder Seele, die hier, zu der Tagung auf diesen Hügel heraufsteigend, an dieser Ruine vorbeiging, ging zu gleicher Zeit durch dasjenige, was hier verhandelt worden ist, was hier, wie man sichtlich hat bemerken können, von unseren Freunden wohl in ihren Herzen verstanden worden ist, aus alledem ging doch der Gedanke hervor: Es wird geistige Feuerflammen geben können, die gerade als wahres Geistesleben aus dem wiedererstehenden Goetheanum zum Segen der Menschheit in der Zukunft hervorgehen sollen, hervorgehen sollen durch unseren Fleiß, hervorgehen sollen durch unsere Hingabe. Und je mehr wir mit Mut zur Führung der anthroposophischen Angelegenheiten von hier weggehen, desto besser haben wir vernommen, was immerhin wie ein hoffnungsvoller Geisteszug in diesen Tagen durch unsere Versammlung gegangen ist. Denn gerade die Szene, die ich Ihnen geschildert habe, die so oftmals zu sehen ist: Der heutige Mensch mit der dekadenten Zivilisation und Schule, schlafend vor dem Hüter der Schwelle — der ist eigentlich in den Kreisen der empfindenden Anthroposophen doch nicht vorhanden. Da ist doch dasjenige vorhanden, das unter Umständen nur die eine Ermahnung braucht, die eine Ermahnung, die da lautet: Du mußt zu dem Vernehmen der Stimme aus dem Geisterland den starken Mut, dich zu dieser Stimme zu bekennen, entwickeln, denn du hast begonnen zu wachen. Der Mut wird dich wach erhalten; die Mutlosigkeit allein könnte dich zum Einschlafen führen.
Die mahnende Stimme zum Mut, die mahnende Stimme durch den Mut zum Wachsein, das ist die andere Variante, die Variante für Anthroposophen im gegenwärtigen Zivilisationsleben. Die Nicht-Anthroposophen hörten: Bleibe draußen aus dem Geisterland, du hast mißbraucht die Ideen für die bloß irdischen Gegenstände, du hast keine Ideen gesammelt, die götterwert und götterwürdig wären. Daher würdest du paralysiert werden beim Wieder-Zurückkommen in die physisch-sinnliche Welt. - Denjenigen Seelen, die Anthroposophenseelen sind, denen aber wird gesagt: Ihr sollt nur noch erprobt werden in eurem Mute zum Bekenntnis dessen, was ihr als Stimme ja durch die Neigung eures Gemütes, durch die Neigung eures Herzens wohl vernehmen könnt.
Meine lieben Freunde, wie es gestern Jahresfrist war, daß wir hinschauten auf die züngelnden Flammen, die uns das alte Goetheanum verzehrten, so dürfen wir schon heute - da wir, selbst als die Flammen draußen brannten, uns hier nicht stören ließen in der Fortsetzung der Arbeit vor einem Jahre -, so dürfen wir schon heute wohl darauf hoffen, daß wir, wenn das physische Goetheanum dastehen wird, so gearbeitet haben werden, daß das physische Goetheanum bloß das äußere Symbolum ist für unser geistiges Goetheanum, das wir mit als Idee nehmen wollen, wenn wir jetzt in die Welt hinausgehen.
Den Grundstein haben wir hier gelegt. Auf diesem Grundstein soll das Gebäude errichtet werden, dessen einzelne Steine sein werden die Arbeiten, die in allen unseren Gruppen nun von den einzelnen draußen in der weiten Welt geleistet werden. Auf diese Arbeiten wollen wir hinschauen im Geiste jetzt und uns bewußt werden der Verantwortung, von der heute gesprochen worden ist gegenüber dem vor dem Hüter der Schwelle stehenden Menschen der Gegenwart, dem der Einlaß in die geistige Welt verwehrt werden muß. Ganz gewiß darf es uns niemals einfallen, anders als den tiefsten Schmerz und die tiefste Trauer zu empfinden über dasjenige, was uns vor Jahresfrist passiert ist. Aber alles in der Welt - dessen dürfen wir auch eingedenk sein -, alles in der Welt, was eine gewisse Größe erreicht hat, ist aus dem Schmerz heraus geboren. Und so möge denn unser Schmerz so gewendet werden, daß aus ihm eine kräftige, leuchtende Anthroposophische Gesellschaft durch Ihre Arbeit, meine lieben Freunde, entstehe.
Zu diesem Zwecke haben wir uns vertieft in jene Worte, mit denen ich begonnen habe, in jene Worte, mit denen ich schließen möchte diese Weihnachtstagung, diese Weihnachtstagung, die eine Weihenacht, ein Weihefest für uns sein soll für nicht nur einen Jahresanfang, sondern für einen Welten-Zeitenwende-Anfang, dem wir uns widmen wollen zu hingebungsvoller Pflege des geistigen Lebens:
Menschenseele!
Du lebest in den Gliedern,
Die dich durch die Raumeswelt
Im Geistesmeereswesen tragen:
Übe Geist-Erinnern
In Seelentiefen,
Wo in waltendem Weltenschöpfer-Sein
Das eigne Ich
Im Gottes-Ich
Erweset;
Und du wirst wahrhaft leben
Im Menschen-Welten-Wesen.Denn es waltet der Vater-Geist der Höhen
In den Weltentiefen Sein-erzeugend.
Seraphim, Cherubim, Throne,
Lasset aus den Höhen erklingen,
Was in den Tiefen das Echo findet;
Dieses spricht:
Ex deo nascimur.
Das hören die Elementargeister
Im Osten, Westen, Norden, Süden:
Menschen mögen es hören.Menschenseele!
Du lebest in dem Herzens-Lungen-Schlage,
Der dich durch den Zeitenrhythmus
Ins eigne Seelenwesenfühlen leitet:
Übe Geist-Besinnen
Im Seelengleichgewichte,
Wo die wogenden Welten-Werde-Taten
Das eigne Ich
Dem Welten-Ich
Vereinen;
Und du wirst wahrhaft fühlen
Im Menschen-Seelen-Wirken.Denn es waltet der Christus-Wille im Umkreis
In den Weltenrhythmen Seelen-begnadend.
Kyriotetes, Dynamiis, Exusiai,
Lasset vom Osten befeuern,
Was durch den Westen sich gestaltet;
Dieses spricht:
In Christo morimur.
Das hören die Elementargeister
Im Osten, Westen, Norden, Süden:
Menschen mögen es hören.Menschenseele!
Du lebest im ruhenden Haupte,
Das dir aus Ewigkeitsgründen
Die Weltgedanken erschließet:
Übe Geist-Erschauen
In Gedanken-Ruhe,
Wo die ew’gen Götterziele
Welten-Wesens-Licht
Dem eignen Ich
Zu freiem Wollen
Schenken;
Und du wirst wahrhaft denken
In Menschen-Geistes-Gründen.Denn es walten des Geistes Weltgedanken
Im Weltenwesen Licht-erflehend.
Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi,
O lasset aus den Tiefen erbitten,
Was in den Höhen erhöret wird;
Dieses spricht:
Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.
[Das hören die Elementargeister
Im Osten, Westen, Norden, Süden: Menschen mögen es hören.] 1Die in Klammern [| stehenden Worte des Spruches wurden laut Stenogramm hier nicht gesprochen.
In der Zeiten Wende
Trat das Welten-Geistes-Licht
In den irdischen Wesensstrom;
Nacht-Dunkel
Hatte ausgewaltet;
Taghelles Licht
Erstrahlte in Menschenseelen;
Licht,
Das erwärmet
Die armen Hirtenherzen;
Licht,
Das erleuchtet
Die weisen Königshäupter.Göttliches Licht,
Christus-Sonne Erwärme
Unsere Herzen;
Erleuchte
Unsere Häupter;
Daß gut werde,
Was wir aus Herzen
Gründen,
Aus Häuptern
Zielvoll führen wollen.
So, meine lieben Freunde, traget hinaus Eure warmen Herzen, in denen Ihr hier eingegründet habt den Grundstein für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft, traget hinaus diese warmen Herzen zu kräftigem, heilkräftigem Wirken in die Welt. Und Hilfe wird Euch werden, daß erleuchtet Eure Häupter dasjenige, was Ihr jetzt alle wollt zielvoll führen können. Das wollen wir uns heute in aller Kraft vornehmen. Wir werden doch sehen: Wenn wir uns dessen würdig erzeigen, wird ein guter Stern walten über demjenigen, was von hier aus gewollt wird. Folget, meine lieben Freunde, diesem guten Stern. Wir wollen sehen, wohin uns die Götter durch das Licht dieses Sternes führen werden.
Göttliches Licht,
Christus-Sonne,
Erwärme
Unsere Herzen,
Erleuchte
Unsere Häupter!
Ninth Lecture
Since we are now together for the last time in this conference, from which powerful and important things for the anthroposophical movement are to emanate, let me organize the last lecture in such a way that it connects inwardly, in terms of impulse, with the various perspectives that this series of lectures has given us, but that on the other hand it also points in a certain way, I would like to say sensitively, to the future, especially the future of anthroposophical striving.
If one looks out into the world today, there is, and has been for years, an extraordinary amount of destructive material. Forces are at work that foreshadow the abysses into which Western civilization is heading. But one might say that if one looks at those people who are, so to speak, the outward spiritual leaders in the most diverse areas of life, then one will notice how these people are caught up in a terrible world sleep. - After all, this is roughly how they think; only a short time ago, perhaps most people thought this way: Until the 19th century, mankind was childlike and primitive in its insights and views. Then came the newer science in the most diverse fields, and now there is something that must be cultivated for all eternity as the truth.
People who think this way are actually living in a tremendous state of arrogance, they just don't know it. On the other hand, sometimes this or that inkling appears within today's humanity that things are not as I have just described them as lying in the opinion of most people.
While I was giving those lectures in Germany some time ago, which were organized by Wolff's office and which attracted an extraordinarily rich audience, so that many people were already paying attention to how anthroposophy is actually desired, there appeared among so many silly opposing voices one that was not much more clever than the others in terms of content, but which nevertheless betrayed a strange suspicion. It consisted of a newspaper note that followed on from one of the lectures I had to give in Berlin. A newspaper voice said: If one listens to something like that - as I said at that time in the Berlin lecture - then one would realize that not only on earth - I quote roughly what the note said - but in the whole cosmos something is going on that calls people to a different spirituality than was there before. One can see that now, so to speak, the forces of the cosmos, not just the earthly impulses, are demanding something from people; a kind of revolution in the cosmos, the result of which must be the striving for a new spirituality.
At least there was such a voice, and it was actually quite remarkable. For it is true that what is now to emanate from Dornach must give impetus in the right way, as I have emphasized these days from the most diverse points of view, it must be an impulse that has not sprouted on earth, but an impulse that has sprouted in the spiritual world. We want to develop the strength here to follow impulses from the spiritual world. That is why I have spoken in these evening lectures during this Christmas conference of the manifold impulses that have been there in the historical development, so that hearts can open up for the reception of spiritual impulses, which should first flow into the earthly world, which should not be taken from the earthly world itself. For everything that has hitherto carried the earthly world in the right sense originated from the spiritual world. And if we are to achieve something fruitful for the earthly world, the impulses for this must be taken from the spiritual world.
This, my dear friends, suggests that we should point out how the impulses that we should take with us from this conference into our future work must be linked to a great responsibility.
Let us dwell for a few minutes on what this conference imposes on us as a great responsibility. In the last few decades we have been able to pass by many personalities with a sense for the spiritual world, spiritually observing and receiving bitter feelings from this spiritual observation for the coming fate of earthly humanity. One could pass by fellow human beings on earth in the same way as one can in the spirit and observe these people when they have left their physical and etheric bodies asleep and dwell in the spiritual world with their ego and their astral body. Yes, wandering about the destinies of the egos and astral bodies in the last decades, while people were asleep, was already the cause of experiences that point to heavy responsibilities for those who can know these things. These souls, who had left their physical body and their etheric body from the time they fell asleep until they woke up, these souls were then often seen approaching the Guardian of the Threshold.
This guardian of the threshold into the spiritual world has come to people's consciousness in the most varied ways in the course of human development. Many a legend, many a saga - for it is in this form that the most important things are preserved, not in the form of historical tradition - many a legend, many a saga indicates how in older times this or that personality met the Guardian of the Threshold and received instruction from him as to how he should enter the spiritual world and then return to the physical world. For all correct entry into the spiritual world must be accompanied by the possibility of being able to return to the physical world at any moment and to really stand on both feet in it as a thoroughly practical, level-headed person, not as a raving mystic.
This was basically required of the Guardian of the Threshold throughout all the millennia of human striving into the spiritual world. But especially in the last third of the 19th century, one hardly ever saw people who approached the Guardian of the Threshold in an awake state. All the more so, however, in our time, when it is historically imposed on all mankind to pass the Guardian of the Threshold in some form or other, one finds, as I said, during corresponding wanderings in the spiritual world, how the sleeping souls approach the Guardian of the Threshold as egos and astral bodies. These are the meaningful images you can get today: the serious Guardian of the Threshold, around him groups of sleeping human souls who in their waking state do not have the strength to approach this Guardian of the Threshold, who approach him while they are asleep.
Then, when you see the scene that takes place there, you get a thought that is just connected with what I would like to call the germination of a necessary great responsibility. The souls that approach the guardian of the threshold in a sleeping state demand admission to the spiritual world, the crossing over the threshold, with that consciousness - for the awake it remains unconscious or subconscious - which man has in sleep. And in countless cases one then hears the voice of the earnest guardian of the threshold: "You must not cross over the threshold for your own salvation. You must not gain entrance into the spiritual world. You must go back. For if the Guardian of the Threshold were to allow such souls to enter the spiritual world without further ado, they would cross over the threshold, they would enter the spiritual world with the concepts that today's school, today's education, today's civilization has handed down to them, with the concepts and ideas with which man today must grow up between the age of six and basically the end of his life on earth.
These concepts and ideas, they have the peculiarity: if one enters the spiritual world with them, as one has become with them through the present civilization and school, one becomes mentally paralyzed. And one would return to the physical world in emptiness of thoughts and ideas. If the guardian of the threshold did not seriously push back these souls, many souls of the present people, he would let them cross over into the spiritual world, then when they come back waking up, when they come back at the decisive awakening, they would have the feeling: I can't think, my thoughts don't take hold of my brain, I have to go through the world without thinking. - For such is the world of abstract ideas that man today attaches to everything: you can enter the spiritual world with them, but you cannot leave it with them. And when one sees this scene, which more souls really experience in sleep today than one usually believes, then one says to oneself: Oh, if only it were possible to protect these souls from having to experience in death what they experience in sleep. - For if the state thus experienced before the Guardian of the Threshold were to continue long enough, that is, if human civilization were to remain long below that which can be received in the schools today and handed down through civilization, then sleep would become life. Human souls would pass through the gate of death into the spiritual world, but would not be able to bring a power of ideas into the next life on earth. For one can enter the spiritual world with today's thoughts, but not leave with them again. You can only come out again paralyzed in spirit.
You see, the civilization of the present can be justified with this form of spiritual life, which has been cultivated for such a long time, but life cannot be justified with it. This civilization could go on for a time. During waking hours the souls would suspect nothing of the guardian of the threshold, during sleep they would be rejected by him so that they would not be paralyzed, and in the end this would have the effect that a human race would be born in the future which would show no intellect, no possibility of applying ideas in life, in this future life on earth, and thinking, life in ideas, would disappear from the earth. A morbid, merely instinctive human race would have to populate the earth. Bad feelings and emotions alone, without the guiding power of ideas, would take hold in the development of mankind. Indeed, it is not only in the way already described that a sad picture presents itself to the spiritual observer through the observation of the soul standing before the guardian of the threshold, which cannot gain entry into the spiritual world, but also in another respect.
If you take a human being, who has now not sprung from Western civilization but from Eastern civilization, on that journey which I have characterized, on which you can observe the sleeping human souls before the guardian of the threshold, if you take such an Eastern human being with you, then you can hear the spirit words from it as a terrible reproach against the entire Western civilization: You see, if this continues, by the time the people who are alive today appear on earth in a new incarnation, the earth will be barbarized. People will live without ideas, only in instincts. You have come this far because you have fallen away from the old spirituality of the Orient.
In fact, such a view into the spiritual world as I have described can testify to a strong sense of responsibility for that which is man's task. And here in Dornach there must be a place where all important, direct experiences in the spiritual world can be spoken about for those people who want to hear it. Here must be a place where the power is found, not merely to point out in the dialectical-empirical scientificity of the present that there are such small traces of the spiritual here or there, but if Dornach wants to fulfill its task, then here must be openly told of what goes on in the spiritual world, what goes on in the spiritual world historically, what goes on in the spiritual world as impulses which then enter into natural existence and dominate nature, man must be able to hear in Dornach of real experiences, of real forces, of real entities of the spiritual world. Here must be the college of real spiritual science. And from now on we must not retreat from the demands of modern science, which, as I have described, leads people asleep before the serious guardian of the threshold. One must be able to gain strength in Dornach, so to speak, to really face the spiritual world eye to eye, to experience the spiritual world.
This is why I do not want to speak here in dialectical tirades about the inadequacy of today's theory of science, but I had to draw attention to the situation in which man finds himself in relation to the Guardian of the Threshold through these theories of science with their offshoots into the ordinary school. If at this conference one has now seriously admitted this to one's own soul, then this Christmas conference will send a powerful impulse into the souls, which can then carry these souls out to powerful work, as humanity needs it today, so that the next incarnation will find people in such a way that they can really meet the Guardian of the Threshold, that is, that civilization will become such that it can itself exist as civilization before the Guardian of the Threshold.
Compare today's civilization with earlier civilizations. In all earlier civilizations there were ideas, concepts, which first went up to the supersensible world, to the gods, to the world where things are begotten, created, brought forth; then one could look down on the earthly world with the concepts which belonged above all to the gods, in order to understand this earthly world with the concepts and ideas worthy of the gods. If you came before the Guardian of the Threshold with these ideas, which had been formed in a way worthy of the gods and of the gods, then the Guardian of the Threshold would tell you: "You can pass through, for you are bringing over into the supersensible world that which has already been directed towards the supersensible world during your life on earth in the physical body. Then, when you return to the physical-sensible world, you will still have enough strength left to avoid being paralyzed by the sight of the supersensible world. Today man develops concepts and ideas which, according to the genius of time, he only wants to apply to the physical-sensual world. These concepts and ideas deal with everything that can be weighed, measured and so on, but not with the gods. They are not worthy of the gods, they are not worthy of the gods. That is why it thunders at the souls, who have already completely fallen into the materialism of ideas unworthy of God and unworthy of God, that is why it thunders at them when they sleepily pass the guardian of the threshold: Do not cross the threshold! You have misused your ideas for the sensual world. You must therefore remain with them in the world of the senses, you cannot enter the world of the gods with them if you do not want to become mentally paralyzed.
You see, such things must be said, not so that one can spin about them, but they must be said so that one can let them flow through and permeate one's mind and get into the right mood, which one should take with one from this so serious Christmas meeting of the Anthroposophical Society. For more important than anything else that we take with us will be the mood that we take with us, the mood for the spiritual world that gives certainty: A center of spiritual knowledge will be created in Dornach.
That is why it sounded really beautiful this morning when Dr. Zeylmans spoke about a field that is to be cultivated here in Dornach, the field of medicine, that bridges can no longer be built today from ordinary science into that which is to be founded here in Dornach. When we describe what is growing medically on our soil, we have the ambition to do so: Our treatises can stand up to the present clinical demands - then, then we will never reach a certain goal with the things that we actually have as our task, because then other people will say: Well, that is a new remedy; we have already made new remedies too. What is at stake is that such a branch of life practice as medicine is actually incorporated into anthroposophical life. I must have understood this correctly as a longing of Dr. Zeylmans this morning. For he said about this goal: "The person who has become a doctor today says: I have just become a doctor - but he longs for something that gives impulses from a new corner of the world. And you see, in the field of medicine this is to be done here from Dornach in a clear way in the future, just as many other branches of anthroposophical work, which have remained in the womb of anthroposophy, have worked and are now being worked out with Dr. Wegman as my helper, precisely that medical system which comes entirely out of anthroposophy, which humanity needs and which will soon appear before humanity. It will also be my intention to establish the closest possible relationship with the Clinical Therapeutic Institute in Arlesheim, which is working so beneficially, and to establish as intimate a connection as possible between the Goetheanum and this Institute as soon as possible, in the near future, so that what flourishes there will actually lie in the true line of orientation of Anthroposophy. That is also what Dr. Wegman's intention is.
Now, however, Dr. Zeylmans has pointed to an area that the Dornach Board will now make its task in all areas of anthroposophical work. We will therefore know in the future how things stand. We will not say: Let's bring eurythmy there; if people first see eurythmy and hear nothing about anthroposophy, they will like eurythmy. Then perhaps they come later and because they liked the eurythmy and they learn that behind the eurythmy is anthroposophy, then they also like anthroposophy. - Or: first you have to show people the practice of the remedies, you have to show them that these are the right remedies; then people will buy them. Then they will find out later that anthroposophy is behind it, and then they will also come to anthroposophy.
We must have the courage to find such an approach dishonest. Only when we have the courage to find such an approach dishonest, to abhor it inwardly, will anthroposophy find its way through the world. And in this respect, the striving for truth will be the very thing that will be championed here in Dornach in the future without fanaticism, but with an honest, straightforward love of truth. Perhaps it is precisely in this way that we can make amends for some of the grave sins of recent years.
We must leave this conference, which led to the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society, with serious rather than light thoughts. But I do not think it is necessary for anyone to take pessimism away from what happened here at Christmas. Although we walked past the sad ruins of the Goetheanum every day, I think that in every soul that walked past these ruins on the way up to the conference on this hill, the thought emerged at the same time from what was discussed here, from what was clearly understood by our friends in their hearts: There will be spiritual flames of fire that will emerge from the resurrected Goetheanum as true spiritual life for the blessing of humanity in the future, that will emerge through our diligence, that will emerge through our dedication. And the more we leave here with the courage to lead anthroposophical affairs, the better we have heard what has gone through our assembly like a hopeful spiritual procession in these days. For the very scene I have described to you, which is so often to be seen: today's man with his decadent civilization and school, asleep before the Guardian of the Threshold - that is not actually present in the circles of sentient anthroposophists. There is that which, under certain circumstances, only needs the one admonition, the one admonition that says: You must develop the strong courage to confess this voice from the spirit land, because you have begun to awaken. Courage will keep you awake; despondency alone could lead you to fall asleep.
The admonishing voice for courage, the admonishing voice through the courage to be awake, that is the other variant, the variant for anthroposophists in the present life of civilization. The non-anthroposophists heard: Stay out of the spirit land, you have misused the ideas for mere earthly objects, you have not gathered ideas that would be worthy and worthy of the gods. Therefore you would be paralyzed when you returned to the physical-sensual world. - But those souls who are anthroposophical souls are told: You are only to be tested in your courage to confess that which you can well hear as a voice through the inclination of your mind, through the inclination of your heart.
My dear friends, as it was a year ago that we looked at the flickering flames that consumed the old Goetheanum, so we may already today - since even as the flames burned outside we did not allow ourselves to be disturbed here in the continuation of the work of a year ago -, so we may well hope today that when the physical Goetheanum stands, we will have worked in such a way that the physical Goetheanum is merely the outer symbol for our spiritual Goetheanum, which we want to take with us as an idea when we now go out into the world.
We have laid the foundation stone here. The building is to be erected on this foundation stone, the individual stones of which will be the work that is now being done in all our groups by individuals out in the wide world. Let us now look at this work in the spirit and become aware of the responsibility that has been spoken of today towards the man of the present standing before the Guardian of the Threshold, who must be denied entry into the spiritual world. It must certainly never occur to us to feel anything but the deepest pain and sorrow over what happened to us a year ago. But everything in the world - and we must remember this - everything in the world that has reached a certain magnitude is born out of pain. And so may our pain be turned in such a way that a strong, radiant Anthroposophical Society emerges from it through your work, my dear friends.
To this end we have immersed ourselves in the words with which I began, in the words with which I would like to conclude this Christmas conference, this Christmas conference, which is to be a consecration night, a consecration festival for us, not only for the beginning of a new year, but for the beginning of a new world, to which we want to dedicate ourselves to the devoted cultivation of the spiritual life:
Human soul!
You live in the limbs,
Which carry you through the space world
In the spiritual sea:
Practice spirit-remembering
In the depths of the soul,
Where in reigning world-creator-being
The own I
In the God-I
Is awakened;
And you will truly live
In the human-world-being.For the Father-Spirit of the heights rules
In the depths of the world, creating being.
Seraphim, cherubim, thrones,
Let sound from the heights,
What finds the echo in the depths;
This speaks:
Ex deo nascimur.
The elemental spirits hear this
In the east, west, north, south:
Men may hear it.Soul of man!
You live in the heart-lung beat,
Which leads you through the rhythm of time
Guides you into the feeling of your own soul:
Practice spirit contemplation
In the balance of the soul,
Where the surging world-becoming-deeds
The own I
To the world-I
Unite;
And you will truly feel
In the working of the human soul.For the will of Christ rules in the circumference
In the rhythms of the world, pardoning souls.
Kyriotetes, Dynamiis, Exusiai,
Let the East fire you,
What shapes itself through the West;
This speaks:
In Christo morimur.
The elemental spirits hear this
In the east, west, north, south:
Men may hear it.Soul of man!
You live in the resting head,
Which for reasons of eternity
The world's thoughts open to you:
Practice spirit-seeing
In peace of mind,
Where the eternal goals of the gods
World-being-light
To the own I
To free will
Give;
And you will truly think
In human-spirit-grounds.For the spirit's worldly thoughts rule
In the world-being light-infused.
Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi,
O let us ask from the depths,
What is heard in the heights;
This speaks:
Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.
[This is heard by the elemental spirits
In the east, west, north, south:
Men may hear it]. 1The words of the saying in brackets [|] were not spoken here according to the stenogram.
In the turning of the times
Entered the world-spirit-light
Into the earthly stream of beings;
Night-darkness
Had unfolded;
Day-bright light
Shone in human souls;
Light,
That warms
The poor shepherds' hearts;
Light,
That enlightens
The wise heads of kings.Divine light,
Christ-Sun Warm
Our hearts;
Enlighten
Our heads;
That good may come,
What we from our hearts
Reasons,
From heads
Purposefully want to lead.
So, my dear friends, carry out your warm hearts, in which you have laid the foundation stone for the Anthroposophical Society, carry these warm hearts out into the world for powerful, healing work. And you will be helped so that your heads will be enlightened and able to lead purposefully that which you now all want. This is what we want to do today with all our strength. We shall see: If we prove ourselves worthy of it, a good star will rule over what is wanted from here. Follow this good star, my dear friends. Let us see where the gods will lead us by the light of this star.
Divine light,
Christ-Sun,
Warm
Our hearts,
Enlighten
Our heads!