Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation
GA 233a
12 January 1924, Dornach
V. Occult Schools in the 18th and First Half of the 19th Century
We have seen how the old knowledge that was once acquired by means of instinctive clairvoyance gradually faded into a kind of evening twilight. It is difficult to find any trace of that old wisdom in modern times, particularly after the eighteenth century, for what I have told you is really true, namely that in recent times what has persisted—or rather, to put it more correctly, what has only recently made its appearance, is the external observation of Nature, Logic, the sequence of abstract thoughts. But neither with external observation of Nature nor with the mere sequence of abstract logical thoughts can a bridge be built for man whereby he may attain to reality. Much of the ancient wisdom has nevertheless maintained a sort of existence in traditional form and may be found even as late as the middle of the nineteenth century. And in order that we may orientate ourselves rightly to the important subjects with which we shall have to deal, I should like today to speak further about some of the ideas that were still to be found in the first half of the nineteenth century and are really survivals of the ancient wisdom.
I relate these things to you in order that you may see how in a time that does not lie so very far back, the whole manner of thinking was nevertheless entirely different from what it is today. As I said before, it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at these things, for it is single individuals—living all alone, or having around them at the most a small circle of pupils—who carried on the ancient wisdom, preserving it in secret, often without themselves understanding its wonderfully deep foundation. A similar picture has really to be made of the conditions as they were in still earlier times, for it is quite certain that the two characters who are familiar to you under the names of Faust and Paracelsus encountered in the course of their wanderings such lonely individuals—cave-dwellers of the soul we may call them—and learned a great deal from them; learned from them what they themselves afterwards developed and elaborated through an inner faculty of their own, a faculty that was in their cases, too, of a rather instinctive nature.
What I am now going to relate to you was however much later, it was in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Once more we find a small group—call it a school if you will—a lonely school of Central Europe. There, in this little circle, was to be found a deep and penetrating teaching concerning Man. A long time ago, on a spiritual path, I became aware that at a certain place in Central Europe there existed such a small company of men who had knowledge. As I have said, I learned to know of it on a spiritual path; I was not able at that time to make observations in the physical world, since I was not then in the physical world, but in a spiritual way it became known to me that a little company of this kind existed.
I should, however, not speak of what was taught within this little company, had not the essence of what was hidden in it subsequently again disclosed itself to research made independently through Spiritual Science; I should not speak of it, had I not myself, so to speak, found the things anew. For it is just in the refinding that one obtains the right orientation to the wisdom that has survived from olden times, and that is truly overpowering in its greatness. From this little company of which I speak, a tradition goes right back in history, back through the whole of the Middle Ages into the times of antiquity that I described to you in the lectures given at the Christmas Meeting, the times, that is to say, of Aristotle. The tradition does not, however, come directly from Greece; it comes from Asia, by way of what was brought over to Asia from Macedonia by Alexander.
Within this little company is known and taught in all exactness a deep and penetrating teaching concerning Man, in respect especially of two human faculties. We may see there a spiritual scientist—he may truly be so called—who is a fully developed Master, instructing his pupils. The symbols by which he teaches them consist in certain geometrical forms, let us say for example a form such as this—(Two intersecting triangles)—and at the points are generally to be found some words in Hebrew. It was impossible to find any direct connection with such symbols, one could do nothing with them directly. And the pupils of this master knew through the instructions they received that what, for example, Eliphas Levi gives later on, is in reality nothing more than a talking around the subject, for the pupils were at that time still able to learn how the true meaning of such symbols is only arrived at when these symbols are rediscovered in the nature and being of the human organisation itself.
We find in particular one symbol that played a great part for this little company of men. You get the symbol when you draw apart this “Solomon's Key,” so that the one triangle comes down and the other is raised up. The symbol thus obtained played, as I said, a significant part even as late as the nineteenth century, within this little community or school.
The Master then made the members of his little circle of pupils take up a certain attitude with their bodies. They had to assume such a position that the body itself as it were inscribed this symbol. He made them stand with their legs far apart, and their arms stretched out above. Then by lengthening the lines of the arms downwards, and the lines of the legs upwards, these four lines came to view in the human organism itself. A line was then drawn to unite the feet, and another line to unite the hands above. These two joining lines were felt as lines of force; the pupil became conscious that they do really exist. It became clear to him that currents pass, like electro-magnetic currents, from the left fingertips to the right fingertips, and again from the left foot to the right foot. So that in actual fact the human organism itself writes into space these two intersecting triangles.
The next step was for the pupil to learn to feel what lies in the words: “Light streams upwards, Weight bears downwards.” The pupil had to experience this in deep meditation, standing in the attitude I have described. Thereby he gradually came to the point where the teacher was able to say to him: “Now you are about to experience something that was practised over and over again in the ancient Mysteries.” And the pupil attained then in very truth to this further experience, namely that he experienced and felt the very marrow within his bones.
You will be able to obtain some feeling for these things if you will bring what I am saying into connection with something I said to you only yesterday. I told you then, in another connection, that if men continue only to think so abstractly as has become the custom in the course of time, then this living in abstract thoughts remains something external; man as it were externalises himself. It is the exact opposite that occurs when, in this way, a consciousness of the bones from inside is attained.
But now there is something else that will help you to come to an understanding of the matter. Paradoxical as it may sound, it is yet true that such a book as my Philosophy of Spiritual Activity cannot be grasped by mere Logic, it must be understood by the whole human being. And in point of fact you will not understand what is said in that book concerning Thinking, unless you know that in reality man experiences Thought by means of the inner knowledge and feeling of his skeleton. A man does not really think with the brain, he thinks with his skeleton, when he thinks in sharply defined thoughts. And when thought becomes concrete, as is the case in the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, then it passes over into the whole human being.
But now the pupils of this Master went further still; they learned to feel the inside, the inner nature, of the bones. Therewith they were able to experience a last example of what was practised in manifold ways in the ancient Mystery Schools, they learned to experience symbols by making their own organism into these symbols; for only so can symbols be really and truly experienced. Explanation and interpretation of symbols is really nonsense; so too is all theorising about symbols. The true attitude to symbols is to make them and actually experience them. It is the same as with fables and legends and fairy tales.—These should never be received merely abstractly, one must identify oneself with them. There is always something in man whereby he can enter into all the figures of the fairy tale, whereby he can make himself one with the fairy tale. And so it is with these true symbols of olden times, which come originally from spiritual knowledge; I have expressed it by writing these words in your own language.
In modern times there is little sense if Hebrew words are written, words that are no longer fully understood; for then the man who reads them is not inwardly quickened to life, he has not an inward experience of the symbol, rather he is cramped by it. It is as though his bones were broken. And that is what really happens—spiritually of course—when one studies seriously such writings as those of Eliphas Levi.
Thus, then, did these pupils learn to experience the inside of their bones. But, my dear friends, when you begin to experience the inside of the bones, you are really no longer in your body. If you hold something in your finger a few inches in front of your nose, the object you are holding is not in you; just as little is what you experience within your bones really in you. You go inwards, it is true, but nevertheless you go out of yourself. And this going out of oneself, this going to the Gods, this going into the spiritual world, is what the pupils of that lonely school learned to grasp and understand. For they learned to know the lines which from the side of the Gods were drawn into the world, the lines that were drawn by the Gods to establish and found the world. They found in one direction, namely through Man, the path to the Gods.
And then the teacher put into words what the pupil was experiencing.—He expressed it in a sentence that will naturally appear ludicrous and paradoxical to many people today but that holds nevertheless, as You will be able to recognise, a deep truth:—
that is, the Awakener of man in the Spirit, The Being who brings man into connection with the world of the Gods.Behold the man of bone,
And thou beholdest Death.
Look within the bones
And thou beholdest the Awakener—
Now in the time of which we are speaking, not very much could be attained on this path; something however could be attained. Something of the teaching concerning the evolution of the Earth through different metamorphoses became clear to the pupils. Through being able to place themselves into the Spirit-being of Man, they learned to look back into Atlantean times and even farther. As a matter of fact very many things that were not in those times written down or printed but were related by word of mouth concerning the evolution of the Earth, had their origin in a knowledge and insight that came about in this way.
Such was one of the teachings given in this school.
Another teaching is also very interesting. This teaching brought to light in a practical manner the higher position of Man in respect to the animals. Facts that we put to practical use in various ways and that are of great value to us, were known and understood even as late as the nineteenth century by men who based their knowledge on good old traditions of knowledge and insight. We are proud today that we have police-dogs who are able to track out all kinds of wrongdoing in life. This practical use had not been thought of in olden times. But the faculty of dogs, for example, in this direction was even better known than it is today. Man had insight to perceive around the human being, a very fine substance, finer than anything that can be seen or smelt or sensed in any way. And it was known that there is a fine fluid belonging also to the world as a whole. It was recognised as a special differentiation of warmth-currents, in union with all manner of other currents, which were looked upon as electro-magnetic; and the scent of the dog was connected with these currents of warmth and electro-magnetism. The pupils of that little school of which I have been telling you, had their attention drawn to the same kind of faculty in other animals too. It was shown to them how this sense for a fine fluid flowing through the world was present in a very great many animals. And then it was pointed out to them how that which in the case of the animal develops downwards in the direction of the coarse and material, develops in man upwards into a quality of soul. And now we come to something taught in this school that is of the very greatest interest. It was taught by reference to facts of external anatomy, but a deeply spiritual truth was indicated. It was said to the pupil: “Behold, Man is a Microcosm; he imitates in his organism what takes place in the great structure of the Universe.” Nor was Man regarded as a microcosm, as a little world, only in respect of the processes that go on within him. What shows itself plastically in man, in plastic forms and structures—this too was referred back to processes in the external world.
Thus, profound and solemn attention was given in this school to the passage of the Moon through First Quarter, Full Moon, Last Quarter, New Moon; they learned to watch how the Moon in this way goes through twenty-eight to thirty phases. They watched out in the Cosmos the passage of the Moon through her phases. They watched the Moon as she moves within her orbit. They saw how she describes her twenty-eight to thirty curves or turns and they understood how Man has in his spinal column these twenty-eight to thirty vertebrae and how the development of the spinal column in the embryo corresponds with the movements and forces of the Moon. They saw in the form and shape of the human spinal column the copy of the monthly movement of the Moon. And in the twenty-eight to thirty nerves that go out from the spinal column into the whole organism, they saw a copy of the streams that the Moon sends down continually upon the Earth, sending them down at the various stages of her path in the heavens. Actually and literally, in these continuations of the vertebrae they saw a reflection of the inpouring of the Moon-streams. In short, in what the human being bears within him in the nerves of the spinal marrow together with the spinal marrow itself, they saw something that unites him with the Cosmos, that brings him into living connection with the Cosmos.
All this that I have indicated to you was presented to the pupil. And he was then made to observe something else. It was said to him: “Look at the optic nerve: watch how it goes from the brain across into the eye. You will see that in the course of its passage into the eye it is divided into very fine threads. How many threads? The threads that go from the optic nerve into the inside of the eye are exactly as many in number as the nerves that go out from the spinal marrow; there are twenty-eight to thirty of them. So that we may say, a spinal marrow system in miniature goes from the brain through the optic nerve into the eye.”
Thus has Man—so said the teacher to his pupils—thus has man received this thirty-membered system of nerves and spinal marrow from the Gods, who in primeval antiquity formed and shaped his existence; but Man himself has fashioned, in his eye, in his sense-world-beholding eye, a copy of the same; there, in the front of the head-organism he has fashioned for himself a copy of what the Gods have made of him.
After this, the pupil's attention was directed to the following. The organisation of the spinal marrow stands, as we have seen, in connection with the Moon. But on the other hand, through the special relationship that the Moon has to the Sun, we have a year of twelve months; and from the human brain twelve nerves go out to the various parts of the organism, the twelve chief nerves of the brain. In this respect, Man, in his head organisation, is a microcosm, in respect, namely, of the relationship between Sun and Moon. In the whole form and figure of Man is expressed an imitation of the processes out yonder in the Cosmos.
Again, the pupil was taught to observe something more. He has seen how in the optic nerve, through the way the optic nerve is split up into thirty divisions, Man imitates the Moon system of the spine. And he has seen how twelve nerves go out from the brain. But now again, when the particular part of the brain that sends the olfactory nerve into the nose is examined the fact is disclosed that, there, in that little portion of the brain the whole big brain is imitated. Just as in the eye the system of nerves and spinal marrow is imitated, so in the organ of smell the whole brain is imitated, inasmuch as the olfactory nerve enters the nose in twelve divisions, in twelve strands. So that Man has an actual, miniature human being in front, here, in his head. And then the pupil was made to observe that anatomically this miniature human being is no more than a mere indication. Things grow different; only the most minute anatomical investigation could avail here; although on the other hand, as it were in compensation, they express themselves especially strongly in the astral body. Having however only bare indications of them, they cannot be made use of in ordinary life. Yet we can learn to do so. And even as the pupil was shown how to experience the inside of his bones, so was he shown how to experience, in a really living way, this particular part of his being.
And here we come to something that is in truth more akin to the whole Western outlook than are many other things that come over to us from the East. For the East too speaks of this concentration on the root of the nose, this concentration on the point between the eyebrows. (This is how the exact spot is defined.) But in truth this concentration is a concentration on the miniature man that is situated in this spot and can be grasped astrally. A meditation can actually be so formed as to enable one to apprehend something in the region like a miniature man in embryonic development. The pupil in that school received this guidance: he learned to apprehend, in intensely concentrated thought, a kind of embryonic development of a miniature human being.
By this means did the pupils who had the faculties for it, develop the two-petaled lotus-flower. [Footnote: see Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment by Rudolf Steiner] And then it was said to them: The animal develops this faculty downwards, to the fluid of warmth and of electro-magnetism. Man on the other hand develops into the astral what has its place here in the head and nose. At first sight it appears to be merely a sense of smell, but the faculty, the activity of the eye plays over into it. Man develops this into the astral. He acquires the faculty whereby he is able, not merely to follow that fluid as do the animals, but to evoke continual interchange with the astral light, and to perceive by means of the two-petaled lotus-flower what he is continually writing into the astral light his whole life long. The dog scents only that which has remained, that which is there present. Man has a different experience. Inasmuch as he moves with his two-petaled lotus-flower, even when he cannot perceive with it, he is forever writing everything that is in his thoughts into the astral light; and now he acquires the faculty that enables him to follow what he has written; and to perceive at the same time something else, namely, the true difference between Good and Evil.
In this manner echoes of ancient primeval treasures of wisdom were still present, of which the rudiments were still taught in later days, even practically. And we can see how very much has been lost under the influence of the materialistic streams that began to work so forcibly about the middle of the nineteenth century. For such things as I have been indicating to you were still, to a certain degree at least, experienced and known in certain circles, isolated and hermit-like though they were. And in the most varied domains of life knowledge was still derived from such hidden sources, knowledge that was later entirely disregarded, and that many today long to find again. But on account of the crude methods that prevail in our time, external cognition cannot regain it.
Now together with all else that was taught to the pupils of that little circle, there was one special and definite teaching. It was shown to the pupil how when he makes use of the organ that is really an organ of smell raised up into the astral light, then he learns to know the true substance of all things, he learns to know Matter. And when he comes to a knowledge of the inside of his bony system, and thereby learns to know the true and authentic World Geometry, to know the way in which the forces have been inscribed into the world by the Gods, then he learns to understand the Forms that work in the things of the world. Thus if you would learn to know Quartz in its substance—so it was said to the pupil—then look at it in the two-petaled lotus-flower. If you would learn to know its crystal form, how the substance is given shape and form, then you must apprehend this form out of the Cosmos with the power of apprehension that you can gain by living experience of the inside of the bony system.
Or again, the pupil was taught as follows.—If you use your head-organ, then you learn to know how a plant is fashioned in respect of Substance. If You learn to experience the inside of your bony system, then you learn to know how a certain plant grows, why it has this or that form of leaf, this or that arrangement of its leaves, why it unfolds its blossoms in this or that manner.
Everything that is Form had to be understood in the one way, everything that is Substance in the other way. And it is really interesting to find, when we go back to Aristotle, how he makes this distinction in respect of everything that exists, the distinction between Form and Substance. In later times, of course, it was taught in a merely abstract way.
In the stream that came from Greece to Europe the abstractness with which these things were set forth in books was enough to drive one to despair; this went on throughout the Middle Ages, and in still more recent times has gone from bad to worse. But if you go back to Aristotle, you find that, with him, Forms really lead back to the experience I described, you find with him the true insight into things that is able to see in every head that which he calls the Matter or Substance in the things. This insight possessed by Aristotle was the aspect of his teaching that was carried into Asia.
But now the inner knowledge—that is to say, the knowledge that is in accord with the Akashic Records—the inner knowledge of the philosophy taught in Greece, points us to something of which I could naturally only give quite an external indication in my Riddles of Philosophy, where I showed how Aristotle held the view that in Man, Form and Matter flow into one another; in Man, Matter is Form and Form Matter. You will find this where I am speaking of Spirit in Riddles of Philosophy.
Aristotle himself, however, taught it in quite a different way. Aristotle taught that when you approach the minerals, you experience in the first place their Form by means of the inside of the bones of the lower leg, and you experience their Substance in the organ of the head. The two are far apart. Man holds them apart, Form and Substance; in the mineral kingdom itself they come together in crystallisation. When man comes to an understanding of the plant, then he experiences its Form by means of his experience of the inside of the thigh-bone, its Substance once more by means of the organ of the head, the two-petaled lotus-flower. The two experiences have already come a little nearer. And when man experiences the animal, then he feels the animal in its Form through the experience he has of the inside of the bones of the lower arm, and again he feels its Substance through the organ of the head—this time the two are very near together. And if now man experiences Man himself, then he experiences the Form of Man through the inside of the upper arm that is connected with the brain by way of the speech formation. I have often spoken of this in my introductory words on Eurhythmy. There the two-petaled lotus-flower unites with what goes from the inside of the upper arm to the brain. And particularly in speech we experience our fellow human being no longer divided as to Form and Content, but as one in Form and Content.
This teaching still survived in all its concreteness in the time of Aristotle. And as we have said, a trace of it can still be found as late as the nineteenth century. But there we come to an abyss. In the ‘forties of the nineteenth century these things were utterly and completely lost. And the abyss lasted until the end of the nineteenth century when the coming of the Michael Age gives the possibility for these truths to be found again. When, however, men step over this abyss, they are really stepping over a threshold. And at the threshold stands a Guardian. Men were not able to see this Guardian when they went past him between the years 1842 and 1879. But now they must, for their own good, look back and take note of him. For to continue not heeding him and to live on into the following centuries without heeding him would bring terrible trouble upon mankind.
Fünfter Vortrag
Wir haben ja gesehen, wie allmählich in eine Abenddämmerung hinein das alte, von der Menschheit durch instinktives Hellsehen erlangte Wissen sich entwickelt hat. Es ist außerordentlich schwierig in der neueren Zeit, namentlich nach dem 18. Jahrhundert, noch Spuren jenes alten Wissens irgendwie zu finden, denn es war ja wirklich so, wie ich Ihnen gesagt habe: Dasjenige, was sich erhalten hat oder eigentlich was neu heraufgekommen ist, das ist äußere Naturbeobachtung und Logik, abstrakte Gedankenfolge. - Weder mit äußerer Naturbeobachtung, Sinnesbeobachtung, noch mit der bloßen abstrakten logischen Gedankenfolge kann man die Brücke hinüberschlagen vom Menschen zu der wahren Wirklichkeit. Aber in einem gewissen Sinne traditionell hat sich doch bis in die neuesten Zeiten herein, man kann sagen, bis um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts manches von dem alten Wissen erhalten. Und damit wir jetzt in den Betrachtungen, die wichtig sein werden und die uns bevorstehen, in der richtigen Weise uns mit unserer Seele werden verhalten können, möchte ich doch heute noch einiges sprechen von gewissen Vorstellungen, die sogar noch in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts wie Überreste von altem Wissen vorhanden waren.
Ich erzähle Ihnen diese Dinge heute aus dem Grunde, damit Sie sehen, wie in einer noch gar nicht so weit zurückliegenden Zeit die Denkungsart der Menschen doch ganz anders war, als sie heute ist. Aber wie gesagt, es ist eigentlich schwierig, auf diese Dinge zu kommen, denn es ist schon so, wie ich Ihnen gesagt habe: Einzelne einsam lebende Menschen, höchstens mit einem kleinen Schülerkreise, haben sich da oder dort erhalten und haben wirklich ganz im Geheimen manches von dem alten Wissen fortgesetzt, ohne daß sie selbst die ganz tiefen Gründe davon verstanden haben. Man muß ja auch für ältere Zeiten so etwas voraussetzen, denn es ist ganz gewiß, daß sowohl diejenige Persönlichkeit, die Ihnen bekannt ist unter dem Namen des Faust, wie auch die andere, die Ihnen bekannt ist unter dem Namen des Paracelsus, daß diese beiden Persönlichkeiten auf ihren Wanderungen an solche einsamen, man möchte sagen, seelische Höhlenbewohner gestoßen sind und von ihnen manches erfahren haben, was sie dann durch eine innere Fähigkeit, die auch gerade bei diesen Persönlichkeiten mehr instinktiv war, weiter ausgebildet haben.
Dasjenige aber, was ich Ihnen jetzt erzählen will, das war noch in den ersten Jahrzehnten des 19. Jahrhunderts vorhanden, wiederum in einer solch einsamen - man könnte es Schule nennen, wenn man es wollte -, in einer solch einsamen Schule Mitteleuropas. Da gab es in einem ganz kleinen Kreise eine sehr eindringliche Lehre von dem Menschen. Es ist seit langem auf einem geistigen Wege mir bewußt geworden, daß es in einem gewissen Orte Mitteleuropas eine solche kleine wissende Gemeinschaft gegeben hat. Wie gesagt, auf geistigem Wege ist es mir bekannt geworden. Ich konnte ja dazumal nicht in der physischen Welt Beobachtungen anstellen, da ich ja damals nicht in der physischen Welt war, aber auf geistigem Wege ist mir dies bewußt geworden, daß es eine solche kleine Gemeinschaft gegeben hat. Ich würde aber nicht sprechen über dasjenige, was innerhalb dieser kleinen Gemeinschaft gelehrt worden ist, wenn sich mir nun nicht nachträglich durch die eigene Forschung der Geisteswissenschaft gerade Wesentlichstes von dem, was da geborgen war, wiederum enthüllt hätte, wenn ich nicht sozusagen selber die Dinge wieder gefunden hätte. Denn gerade durch solches Wiederfinden bekommt man ja erst die richtige Stellung zu demjenigen, was sich aus alten Zeiten wirklich wie eine überwältigend große Weisheit erhalten hat. Und von der kleinen Gemeinschaft, von der ich sprechen möchte, zieht sich eigentlich dann nach vorne in der Geschichte durch das ganze Mittelalter hindurch bis in das Altertum hinein, bis in die Zeiten, die ich Ihnen geschildert habe während der Weihnachtstage, bis in die Zeiten des Aristoteles hinein eine Tradition, eine Tradition, die aber allerdings nicht direkt über Griechenland gekommen ist, sondern über Asien herein durch dasjenige, was von Makedonien aus durch Alexander nach Asien gebracht worden ist.
Da findet man gerade innerhalb dieser kleinen Gemeinschaft, wie eine eindringliche Lehre vom Menschen in bezug auf zwei menschliche Fähigkeiten mit einer großen Genauigkeit noch vorhanden ist. So kann man vernehmen, wie da ein wirklich meisterhaft durchgebildeter, man kann schon sagen, Geheimwissenschafter seine Schüler darin unterrichtet, daß man mit den alten Symbolen, mit jenen Symbolen, die aus uralten Mysterien erhalten sind, die da bestehen aus gewissen geometrischen Formen, sagen wir zum Beispiel solch einer Form (siehe Zeichnung Seite 71, links) - an den Enden finden sich dann gewöhnlich irgendwelche hebräischen Worte -, daß man mit diesen Symbolen so unmittelbar nichts anfangen könne. Und die Schüler dieses Meisters wußten durch ihre Unterweisung, wie eigentlich dasjenige, was zum Beispiel Eliphas Levi gibt, bloß eine Art Herumreden ist um die Sache. Denn das konnten diese Schüler noch lernen, daß man auf die eigentliche Bedeutung solcher Symbole nur dann kommt, wenn man sie im Wesen der eigenen menschlichen Organisation wiederfindet.
Und so war es namentlich ein Symbolum, welches in dieser Gemeinschaft eine große Rolle spielte. Sie bekommen dieses Symbolum, wenn Sie diesen Salomonischen Schlüssel - so wird er gewöhnlich vorgeführt - auseinanderziehen, wenn Sie ihn so gestalten, verschieben, daß das hinunterkommt und das hinaufgeschoben wird (Zeichnung, Seite 71 rechts). Gerade dieses Symbolum, das spielte innerhalb jener kleinen Gemeinschaft, wie gesagt, auch noch im 19. Jahrhundert eine bedeutsame Rolle. Und jener Meister ließ dann die Angehörigen seines kleinen Schülerkreises eine bestimmte Attitüde ihres Leibes annehmen. Er ließ sie die Attitüde des Leibes annehmen, durch die gewissermaßen der Leib selber hinschrieb dieses Symbolum. Er ließ sie sich so stellen, daß sie die Beine etwas auseinanderspreizten und die Arme nach oben in dieser Weise einstellten. Dadurch kamen, wenn man die Arme nach unten verlängerte und die Beine nach oben verlängerte, eben diese vier Linien (starker Strich) am menschlichen Organismus selber zum Vorschein. Diese Linie verbindet dann die Füße, diese verbindet die Hände oben. Die anderen beiden kamen zum Bewußtsein als wirklich vorLicht strömt handene Kraftlinien, indem dem Schüler klar wurde: Es gehen Strömungen wie elektromagnetische Strömungen dann von der linken Fingerspitze zur rechten Fingerspitze und wiederum von dem linken Fuß zu dem rechten Fuß. So daß tatsächlich der menschliche Organismus selber diese ineinander verschlungenen Triangeln in den Raum hineinschrieb. Und dann handelte es sich darum, daß der Schüler empfinden lernte, was da liegt in den Worten: Licht strömt aufwärts, Schwere lastet abwärts. Dann mußten die Schüler dieses in tiefer Meditation erleben, in der Attitüde, die ich eben beschrieben habe. Dadurch kamen sie allmählich dahin, daß ihnen der Lehrer sagen konnte: Jetzt werdet ihr etwas erleben, was tatsächlich in alten Mysterien immer wieder und wiederum geübt worden ist. - Und sie erlebten wirklich dies, daß sie in ihren Arm- und Beinknochen das Mark erlebten, das Knochenmark erlebten, das Innere des Knochens erlebten.
Sehen Sie, diese Dinge können nachempfunden werden dadurch, daß ein Zusammenhang hergestellt wird zwischen etwas, das ich Ihnen gestern gesagt habe, und dem, was ich Ihnen jetzt sage. Ich sagte Ihnen in einem gewissen Zusammenhange, daß der Mensch, wenn er wirklich nur so sich verhält, wie das im Laufe der Zeit üblich geworden ist, wenn er sich bloß abstrakt denkend verhält, daß das dann äußerlich bleibt, daß er gewissermaßen sich veräußerlicht. Gerade das Gegenteil tritt ein, wenn auf diese Art ein Bewußtsein von dem Knocheninnern auftritt.
Nun gibt es aber noch etwas anderes, wodurch Sie zum Verständnis dieser Sache geführt werden können. Sehen Sie, so paradox es Ihnen klingen wird, so muß ich doch sagen, daß ein solches Buch wie meine «Philosophie der Freiheit» nicht durch die bloße Logik begriffen werden kann, sondern durch den ganzen Menschen verstanden werden muß. Und in der Tat, was in meiner «Philosophie der Freiheit» über das Denken gesagt wird, wird man nicht verstehen, wenn man nicht weiß, daß der Mensch eigentlich das Denken erlebt durch die innerliche Erkenntnis, durch das innerliche Erfühlen seines Knochenbaues. Man denkt eben nicht mit dem Gehirn, man denkt in Wirklichkeit mit seinem Knochenbau, wenn man in scharfen Denklinien denkt. Wenn das Denken konkret wird, wie es in der «Philosophie der Freiheit» der Fall ist, dann geht es eben in den ganzen Menschen über.
Aber die Schüler dieses Meisters gingen eben noch über das hinaus, und sie lernten erfühlen das Innere der Knochen. Und damit hatten sie ein letztes Beispiel erlebt von demjenigen, was in alten Mysterienschulen vielfach üblich war: Symbole dadurch zu erleben, daß der eigene Organismus zu diesen Symbolen gemacht wurde, denn nur so kann man Symbole wirklich erleben. Das Deuten der Symbole ist eigentlich etwas Unsinniges. Alles Spintisieren über Symbole ist etwas Unsinniges. Das richtige Verhalten zu Symbolen ist das, daß man sie macht und erlebt, so wie man schließlich auch Fabeln, Legenden, Märchen nicht bloß im Abstrakten aufnehmen soll, sondern sich damit identifizieren soll. Es gibt immer etwas im Menschen, wodurch man in alle Gestalten des Märchens hineingehen kann, eins werden kann mit dem Märchen. Und so ist es mit diesen wirklichen, aus geistiger Erkenntnis stammenden Symbolen der alten Zeit. Und ich haben Ihnen solche Worte hier in deutscher Sprache hergeschrieben (siehe Seite 71).
Es ist natürlich für die neuere Zeit mehr oder weniger nur ein Unfug, wenn die nicht mehr voll verstandenen hebräischen Worte dafür hingeschrieben werden, denn dadurch wird der Mensch eigentlich innerlich nicht belebt, er erlebt nicht die Symbole, sondern er wird verrenkt. Es ist etwas, wie wenn ihm seine Knochen gebrochen würden. Und das geschieht einem eigentlich auch, geistig natürlich, wenn man mit Ernst solche Schriften wie die des Eliphas Levi liest.
Nun lernten also diese Schüler das Innere des Knochens erleben. Aber wenn man das Innere des Knochens anfängt zu erleben, dann ist man nicht mehr im Menschen. Geradesowenig wie, wenn Sie Ihren Zeigefinger vierzig Zentimeter vor Ihre Nase halten und da einen Gegenstand haben, so wenig wie dieser Gegenstand in Ihnen ist, so wenig ist in Ihnen dasjenige, was Sie dann innerhalb Ihrer Knochen erleben. Sie gehen nach innen, aber aus sich heraus. Sie gehen wirklich aus sich heraus. Und dieses Aus-sich-Herausgehen, Zu-den-Göttern-Gehen, In-die-geistige-Welt-Hineingehen, das ist dasjenige, was nun die Schüler dieser einsamen kleinen Schule damit begreifen lernten. Denn sie lernten damit die Linien kennen, welche von der Götterseite her in die Welt hineingezeichnet waren, um die Welt zu konstituieren. Sie fanden nach der einen Seite, durch den Menschen hindurch, den Weg zu den Göttern.
Und dann faßte der Lehrer dasjenige, was da die Schüler erlebten, in einen paradoxen Satz zusammen, in einen Satz, der natürlich heute vielen Menschen lächerlich erscheinen wird, aber der, Sie werden es aus dem Angedeuteten erkennen, eine tiefe Wahrheit enthält:
Schau den Knochenmann
Und du schaust den Tod
Schau in’s Innere der Knochen
Und du schaust den Erwecker
- den Erwecker des Menschen im Geiste, das Wesen, das den Menschen in Zusammenhang bringt mit der Götterwelt.
Nun konnte ja in jener Zeit auf diesem Wege nicht gerade außerordentlich viel erreicht werden, aber einiges doch. Und einige von den Lehren über die Evolution der Erde durch verschiedene Metamorphosen hindurch gingen da doch den Schülern auf. Sie lernten gerade dadurch, daß sie sich in dieses Geist-Sein des Menschen versetzen konnten, weit zurückschauen in atlantische Zeiten und noch weiter zurück. Und in der Tat, mancherlei, was dazumal nicht eigentlich geschrieben oder gedruckt wurde, aber was sich die Leute erzählten von der Entwickelung der Erde, stammte aus solchen Einsichten her, die auf diese Weise zustande kamen. Das war eine der Lehren, die in dieser Schule gegeben wurden.
Eine andere ist ebenso interessant. Eine andere wurde gegeben, indem die Höherstellung des Menschen gegenüber den Tieren praktisch zur Einsicht gebracht wurde. Man möchte sagen: Dasjenige, was man heute vielfach zu allerlei Diensten, die heute sogar sehr geschätzt werden, verwendet, das war noch bis ins 19. Jahrhundert herein gerade solchen Menschen bekannt, die auf guten alten Einsichtstraditionen fußten. - Die Menschen sind ja heute stolz darauf, daß sie Polizeihunde haben, die die Spuren von allerlei Unrechtem im Menschenleben verfolgen können. Man hat diese praktische Anwendung in älteren Zeiten nicht gehabt. Aber die Fähigkeit zum Beispiel der Hunde nach dieser Richtung hin hat man noch besser gekannt als heute, und man hatte eine Einsicht darein, daß eben um den Menschen herum auch feinere Substantialität liegt, als diejenige ist, welche gesehen oder von Menschen gerochen und dergleichen wird, und man verstand, daß etwas wie ein feines Fluidum auch der Welt angehört. Man erkannte es als eine besondere Differenzierung von Wärmeströmungen, verbunden mit allerlei Strömungen, die man als elektromagnetische Strömungen ansah, und man brachte den Geruch des Hundes zusammen mit diesen wärme-elektromagnetischen Strömungen, und man machte die Schüler gerade jener kleinen Schule, von der ich Ihnen erzähle, auf solche Dinge auch bei anderen Tieren aufmerksam. Man machte sie aufmerksam, wie dieser Sinn für ein die Welt durchflutendes feines Fluidum weit im Tierreiche vorhanden ist. Und dann wies man darauf hin, wie dasjenige, was beim Tiere sich herunterentwickelt, ins Grob-Materielle sich entwickelt, beim Menschen sich hinauf ins Seelische entwickelt.
Sehen Sie, eines ist ja von ungeheuerstem Interesse, was in dieser kleinen Schule gelehrt wurde. Es wurde gelehrt durch äußere anatomische Tatsachen, aber es war etwas tief Spirituelles damit gemeint. Es wurde dem Schüler gesagt: Sieh einmal, der Mensch ist ein Mikrokosmos. Er imitiert in seiner Organisation dasjenige, was im Weltengebäude vorgeht. - Der Mensch wurde durchaus nicht nur etwa in bezug auf die Stoffe, die er in sich trägt, sondern auch in bezug auf die Vorgänge, die in ihm sich abwickeln, als ein Mikrokosmos, als eine kleine Welt angesehen. Ja, es wurde manches, was in ihm plastisch vorhanden ist, auf Vorgänge in der äußeren Welt zurück.geführt. Und so wurde eine hohe Aufmerksamkeit darauf verwendet, wie der Mond durchgeht durch das erste Viertel, Vollmond wird, letztes Viertel, Neumond, wie der Mond in dieser Art achtundzwanzig bis dreißig Phasen durchmacht. Dieses Durchgehen des Mondes durch seine Phasen, das schaute man im Kosmos. Man schaute dabei den Mond in Bewegung in seiner Bahn. Man schaute, wie er seine Wirbel in seiner Bewegung herumzeichnete, seine achtundzwanzig bis dreißig Wirbel, und dann verstand man, wie der Mensch in seinem Rückgrat diese achtundzwanzig bis dreißig Wirbel hat, und man verstand, wie mit jenen Mondbewegungen und ihren Kräften dasjenige zusammenhängt, was sich im Menschen embryonal als Wirbelsäule ausbildet. Die Nachbildung der Mondenmonatsbewegung sah man in der Gestaltung der menschlichen Wirbelsäule. Und man sah, wenn man die menschliche Wirbelsäule mit ihren Nerven hat (siehe Zeichnung, oben), achtundzwanzig bis dreißig Nerven, die in den ganzen Organismus gehen, man sah in diesen achtundzwanzig bis dreißig Nerven die Abbildungen von Strömungen, die der Mond immer auf den verschiedenen Stufen seiner Bahnen auf die Erde herunterschickt. Man sah förmlich in den Knochenfortsetzungen der Wirbel das Eingreifen der Mondenströmungen. Kurz, man sah in demjenigen, was da der Mensch in sich trägt in seinen Rückenmarksnerven mit dem Rückenmark zusammen, man sah etwas, was einen an den Kosmos band, was einen mit dem Kosmos in einen lebendigen Zusammenhang bringt. Und dieses Ganze, das ich Ihnen jetzt andeutete, das brachte man dem Schüler bei.
Und dann machte man ihn auf etwas anderes aufmerksam. Dann sagte man ihm: Und siehe einmal, wenn du den Sehnerv ansiehst, wie er in das Auge übergeht vom Gehirn aus, so zerfasert er sich beim Übergang in das Auge in sehr feine Fasern. Wie viele solche Fasern sind es? Solcher Fasern, die vom Sehnerv in das Innere des Auges gehen, sind wiederum ebensoviel wie Nerven, die vom Rückenmark ausgehen, achtundzwanzig bis dreißig. So daß also eine kleine Rückenmarksorganisation vom Gehirn aus durch den Sehnerv ins Auge hineingeht (siehe Zeichnung, $. 76 unten). Das ist so, daß der Mensch - so sagte der Lehrer zu den Schülern - von den Göttern, die in uralter Zeit sein Dasein geformt haben, diese Dreißiggliedrigkeit des Rückenmark-Nervensystems erhalten hat. Aber er selber hat in seinem die Sinneswelt anschauenden Auge ein Abbild dessen geschaffen; da vorne im Kopforganismus ein Abbild dessen geschaffen, was die Götter aus ihm gemacht haben.
Und dann machte man den Schüler darauf aufmerksam: So steht die Rückenmarksorganisation mit dem Monde in Beziehung. Aber hinwiederum, durch dieses besondere Verhältnis des Mondes zur Sonne hat das Jahr zwölf Monate, und vom Gehirn des Menschen gehen zwölf Nerven nach den verschiedenen Teilen des Organismus, die zwölf hauptsächlichsten Gehirnnerven. In dieser Beziehung ist der Mensch durch seine Hauptesorganisation ein Mikrokosmos in bezug auf dasjenige, was das Verhältnis der Sonne zum Monde ist. In der Gestaltung des Menschen drückt sich eine Imitation desjenigen aus, was Vorgänge draußen im Kosmos sind.
Und wiederum machte man den Schüler aufmerksam darauf, daß er nun in seinem Haupte im Sehnerv, also durch die Dreißiggliedrigkeit des Sehnervs ins Auge hinein die Mondenorganisation vom Rückgrat nachahmt. Vom Gehirn aus gehen zwölf Nerven. Aber wiederum, wenn man vom Gehirn besonders jene Partie untersucht, die den Riechnerv in die Nase hineinsendet, dann stellt sich die Tatsache heraus, daß da in dem kleinen Teil vom Gehirn das ganze große Gehirn nachgeahmt wird. So wie im Auge das RückenmarkNervensystem nachgeahmt wird, so wird im Geruchsorgan das ganze Gehirn wiederum nachgeahmt, indem der Riechnerv in zwölf Teilen, in zwölf Strängen zur Nase hingeht. So daß also der Mensch, wenn Rückenmark und Kopf hier liegen (siehe Zeichnung S. 78), einen richtigen kleinen Menschen da vorne liegen hat. Und dann machte man den Schüler darauf aufmerksam: Dieser kleine Mensch ist aber anatomisch nur angedeutet. Die Dinge verwachsen; nur eine minuziöse anatomische Untersuchung kann das lehren. Die Dinge verwachsen, doch sie sind so. Aber dafür bilden sie sich ganz besonders im astralischen Leibe aus. Und weil sie sonst nur angedeutet sind, kann der Mensch sie im gewöhnlichen Leben nicht handhaben. Aber er kann sie handhaben lernen. - Und ebenso, wie der Schüler darauf hingewiesen wurde, das Innere seiner Knochen zu erleben, ebenso wurde er hingewiesen darauf, diese besondere Partie lebendig zu erleben.
Sie sehen, etwas anderes tritt da ein, etwas, was nun wirklich dem ganzen abendländischen Anschauen ähnlicher ist als dasjenige, was man oftmals aus dem Morgenlande herübernimmt. Auch das Morgenland hat ja dieses Konzentrieren auf die Nasenwurzel, dieses Konzentrieren auf den Punkt zwischen den Augenbrauen. Damit wird der Ort angegeben. Aber in Wahrheit ist es dieses Konzentrieren auf jenen kleinen Menschen, der da drinnen liegt und der astralisch erfaßt wird. Und wird er astralisch erfaßt, wird tatsächlich eine Meditation so gestaltet, daß man etwas erfaßt in jener Gegend, die damit bezeichnet worden ist, so ist es, wie wenn man in jener Gegend einen kleinen Menschen innerlich wie embryonal ausbilden wollte. Diese Anleitung hat der Schüler bekommen in jener kleinen Schule, tatsächlich eine Art embryonale Ausbildung eines kleinen Menschen in einem stark konzentrierten Gedanken.
Dadurch bekamen die Schüler, die dazu die Fähigkeit hatten, die zweiblättrige Lotusblume ausgebildet. Dann wurde ihnen gesagt: Das Tier bildet die Dinge hinunter zu demjenigen, was ein wärmeelektromagnetisches Fluidum ist. Der Mensch bildet dasjenige, was hier sitzt und was im groben nur als Geruchssinn erscheint, aber in das herüberspielt die Fähigkeit, die Tätigkeit des Auges, der Mensch bildet es aus ins Astralische hinein. Dadurch aber bekommt er die Fähigkeit, nicht bloß jenes Fluidum zu verfolgen, sondern eine fortwährende Wechselwirkung hervorzurufen mit dem Astrallichte und wahrzunehmen mit der zweiblättrigen Lotusblume, was der Mensch fortwährend sein ganzes Leben hindurch ins Astrallicht hineinschreibt. Der Hund riecht nur dasjenige, was geblieben ist, was da ist. Der Mensch verfährt anders, indem er mit seiner zweiblättrigen Lotusblume sich bewegt; auch dann, wenn er mit ihr nicht wahrnehmen kann, schreibt er fortwährend alles dasjenige, was in seinen Gedanken ist, in das Astrallicht hinein. Das Schauen befähigt ihn dann nur, das, was er hineinschreibt, eben zu verfolgen, wahrzunehmen und auch anderes damit wahrzunehmen, namentlich den wahren Unterschied von Gut und Böse.
Auf diese Art waren tatsächlich da noch Nachklänge vorhanden an uralte Weisheitsschätze, die in Rudimenten auch praktisch noch gelehrt wurden. Und das zeigt uns, was eigentlich alles verlorengegangen ist unter dem Einfluß der materialistischen Strömungen, die in der stärksten Weise um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts dann eingesetzt haben. Denn solche Dinge, wie ich sie Ihnen angedeutet habe, sind eben durchaus, wenigstens bis zu einem gewissen Grade, in gewissen, allerdings sehr einsamen und einsiedlerisch lebenden Kreisen empfunden und gewußt worden. Und auf den mannigfaltigsten Gebieten ergaben sich Erkenntnisse aus solchen Untergründen heraus, die ja später gar nicht mehr beachtet wurden, nach denen heute wiederum viele Menschen sich sehnen. Aber wegen der groben Methoden, die heute herrschen, sind ja diese Erkenntnisse zunächst für das äußere Wissen nicht wiederum erlangbar.
Nun knüpfte sich eine ganz bestimmte Lehre an dasjenige, was in dieser Weise in jenem kleinen Kreise von dem Lehrer an die Schüler herangebracht wurde. Dem Schüler wurde klargemacht: Wenn er dieses Organ gebraucht, das ein ins Astrallicht hinaufgehobenes Geruchsorgan ist, dann lernt er die wahre Stofflichkeit aller Dinge erkennen, die wahre Materie. Und wenn er erkennen lernt das Innere seines Knochensystems und dadurch in Echtheit die wirkliche Weltgeometrie, die Art und Weise, wie von den Göttern in die Welt die Kräfte hineingezeichnet werden, dann lernt er erkennen, was als Form in den Dingen wirkt.
Willst du also einen Quarz kennenlernen seinem Stoffe nach - so sagte man dem Schüler -, dann beschaue ihn mit der zweiblättrigen Lotusblume. Willst du kennenlernen, wie seine Kristallform ist, wie der Stoff geformt ist, dann mußt du diese Form aus dem Kosmos heraus begreifen mit demjenigen, was du begreifen kannst, wenn du in das Innere deines Knochensystems lebendig hineinkommst. Oder es wurde dem Schüler klargemacht: Wenn du dein Kopforgan gebrauchst, dann lernst du erkennen, wie die substantielle Beschaffenheit einer Pflanze ist. Wenn du erleben lernst das Innere deines Knochensystemes, dann lernst du erkennen, wie eine gewisse Pflanze wächst, warum sie diese oder jene Blätterform hat, diese oder jene Blätteranordnung, warum sie die Blüten in dieser oder jener Weise entfaltet.
Also alles, was Form ist, sollte auf die eine Art, alles, was Stoff ist, sollte auf die andere Art erfaßt werden. Und es ist nun wirklich interessant, daß, wenn man bis zu Aristoteles zurückkommt, man findet, daß bei ihm unterschieden wird - aber das wurde ja in späterer Zeit nur rein abstrakt gelehrt - in bezug auf alles, was es gibt, die Form und die Materie, Aber das wurde eben in der Strömung, die von Griechenland nach Europa kam, in einer ganz abstrakten Weise gelehrt, so daß man eigentlich verzweifelt an der Abstraktheit, mit der diese Dinge in den Büchern dargestellt werden schon das ganze Mittelalter hindurch, und in der Neuzeit erst, da ist es nicht mehr bloß zum Verzweifeln, da ist es schon um die Wände hinaufzukriechen, wie man die Dinge dargestellt findet. Aber geht man zu Aristoteles zurück, so findet man, daß bei ihm die Formen wirklich zurückführen auf dieses Erleben - nur ist das wiederum nach Asien herübergetragen worden - und diese wirklich innere Einsicht in die Dinge, die mit dem Kopforgan sieht dasjenige, was er die Materie in den Dingen nennt.
Aber nun weist uns die innere Erkenntnis desjenigen, was da in Griechenland gelehrt worden ist als Philosophie, es weist uns die Akasha-Chronik-mäßige Erkenntnis auf etwas hin, was ich ja natürlich nur ganz äußerlich andeuten konnte in meinen «Rätseln der Philosophie», wo ich zeigte, wie Aristoteles durchaus der Ansicht ist: Beim Menschen fließen Form und Materie ineinander, Materie ist Form, Form ist Materie. - Sie können das bei meiner Darstellung des Aristoteles in den «Rätseln der Philosophie» finden.
Aber Aristoteles hat das noch ganz anders gelehrt. Aristoteles hat gelehrt: Wenn man an Mineralien herantritt, dann erlebt man zunächst die Form durch das Erleben des Inneren der Unterschenkelknochen, und man erlebt die Materie eben mit dem Kopforgan. Die beiden sind weit voneinander. Der Mensch hält sie auseinander, Form und Materie, beim Mineralreiche die Kristallisation. Wenn der Mensch aber die Pflanze auffaßt, so erlebt er die Form durch das Erleben des Inneren seiner Oberschenkel, die Materie wiederum durch das Kopforgan, durch die zweiblättrige Lotusblume. Es kommt schon näher. Und erlebt der Mensch das Tier, so erlebt er die Form durch das Erleben des Inneren der Unterarmknochen, wiederum die Materie durch das Kopforgan - sehr nahe beieinander. Und erlebt der Mensch den Menschen selber, dann erlebt er die Form durch das Innere des Oberarms, der auf dem Umwege durch die Sprachbildung mit dem Gehirn selbst zusammenhängt. Ich habe öfter gerade in Einleitungen der Eurythmie davon gesprochen. Da schließt sich zusammen die zweiblättrige Lotusblume mit dem, was von dem Inneren des Oberarmes nach dem Gehirn geht. Und der Mensch erlebt namentlich in der Sprache den anderen Menschen nicht mehr nach Form und Inhalt getrennt, sondern als einen nach Form und Inhalt.
Sehen Sie, in dieser Konkretheit gab es diese Lehre noch zu Aristoteles’ Zeiten. Und eine Spur davon, wie gesagt, war bis ins 19. Jahrhundert vorhanden. Da ist wirklich ein Abgrund. In den vierziger Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts gingen im Grunde genommen diese Dinge wirklich verloren. Es ist der Abgrund da bis zum Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts, wo durch die Michael-Zeit die Dinge wieder gefunden werden konnten. Da aber, indem die Menschen über diesen Abgrund schritten, schritten sie eben eigentlich über eine Schwelle. Und an dieser Schwelle steht ein Hüter. Und die Menschheit konnte ihn zunächst nicht gleichzeitig beobachten, indem sie zwischen dem Jahre 1842 und 1879 an ihm vorbeigegangen ist. Aber sie muß zu ihrem Heil nunmehr zurückschauen und den Hüter beachten. Denn das Nichtbeachten und das Weiterhineinleben in die folgenden Jahrhunderte, ohne ihn zu beachten, würde eben zum alleräußersten Unheile der Menschheit führen.
Davon wollen wir dann morgen weiter reden.
Fifth Lecture
We have seen how the old knowledge acquired by mankind through instinctive clairvoyance has gradually developed into a twilight. It is extraordinarily difficult in more recent times, especially after the 18th century, to find any traces of that ancient knowledge, for it really was as I have told you: That which has survived, or actually that which has emerged anew, is external observation of nature and logic, an abstract sequence of thoughts. - Neither with external observation of nature, observation of the senses, nor with the mere abstract logical sequence of thoughts can one cross the bridge from man to true reality. But in a certain traditional sense, some of the old knowledge has been preserved right up to the latest times, one could say up to the middle of the 19th century. And so that we can now behave in the right way with our souls in the considerations that will be important and that lie ahead of us, I would like to speak today about certain ideas that were still present in the first half of the 19th century, like remnants of ancient knowledge.
The reason I am telling you these things today is so that you can see how, in a time not so long ago, people's way of thinking was quite different from what it is today. But as I said, it is actually difficult to come up with these things, because it is as I told you: Individuals living in solitude, at most with a small circle of disciples, have survived here or there and have really continued some of the old knowledge quite secretly, without themselves understanding the very deep reasons for it. One must also assume something like this for older times, for it is quite certain that both the personality known to you under the name of Faust, as well as the other known to you under the name of Paracelsus, came across such lonely, one might say, spiritual cave dwellers on their wanderings and learned many things from them, which they then developed further through an inner ability that was also more instinctive in these personalities.
But what I want to tell you now was still present in the first decades of the 19th century, again in such a lonely - you could call it a school if you wanted to - in such a lonely school in Central Europe. There was a very insistent teaching of the human being in a very small circle. For a long time I have been aware in a spiritual way that there was such a small, knowledgeable community in a certain place in Central Europe. As I said, I became aware of it by spiritual means. At that time I could not make observations in the physical world, as I was not in the physical world at that time, but I became aware of it spiritually, that there was such a small community. However, I would not be speaking about what was taught within this small community if the essentials of what was hidden there had not subsequently been revealed to me again through my own research into spiritual science, if I had not, so to speak, found things again myself. For it is precisely through such rediscovery that one acquires the right attitude towards that which has really been preserved from ancient times like an overwhelmingly great wisdom. And from the small community of which I would like to speak, a tradition, a tradition which, however, did not come directly via Greece, but via Asia through that which was brought to Asia from Macedonia by Alexander, then actually extends forward in history throughout the Middle Ages and into antiquity, right up to the times I described to you during Christmas, right up to the times of Aristotle.
Within this small community in particular, we find that a forceful doctrine of man still exists with great precision in relation to two human faculties. Thus one can hear how a really masterly educated, one could even say secret scientist, teaches his pupils that one cannot do anything directly with the old symbols, with those symbols which have been preserved from ancient mysteries, which consist of certain geometrical forms, let us say for example such a form (see drawing page 71, left) - at the ends there are usually some Hebrew words - that one cannot do anything directly with these symbols. And the disciples of this master knew through their teaching how actually what Eliphaz Levi, for example, gives is merely a kind of talking around the matter. For these disciples were still able to learn that the actual meaning of such symbols can only be understood when they are found in the essence of one's own human organization.
And so it was one symbol in particular that played a major role in this community. You get this symbolism when you pull apart this Solomon's Key - as it is usually presented - when you shape it, move it in such a way that this comes down and that is pushed up (drawing, page 71 right). It was precisely this symbol that played an important role within that small community, as I said, even in the 19th century. And that master then had the members of his small circle of students adopt a certain attitude towards their bodies. He had them take on the attitude of the body, through which the body itself, so to speak, wrote this symbolism. He had them position themselves in such a way that they spread their legs slightly apart and positioned their arms upwards in this way. Thus, when the arms were extended downwards and the legs extended upwards, these four lines (strong line) appeared on the human organism itself. This line then connects the feet, this line connects the hands at the top. The other two came to consciousness as really existing lines of force, as the student realized: Currents like electromagnetic currents then go from the left fingertip to the right fingertip and again from the left foot to the right foot. So that the human organism itself actually wrote these intertwined triangles into space. And then it was a matter of the pupil learning to feel what lies there in the words: light flows upwards, heaviness weighs downwards. Then the pupils had to experience this in deep meditation, in the attitude I have just described. In this way they gradually came to the point where the teacher could tell them: Now you will experience something that has actually been practiced again and again in ancient mysteries. - And they really did experience this, that they experienced the marrow in their arm and leg bones, experienced the bone marrow, experienced the inside of the bone.
You see, these things can be felt by making a connection between something I told you yesterday and what I am telling you now. I told you in a certain context that if man really only behaves in the way that has become customary in the course of time, if he behaves in a merely abstract way of thinking, that this then remains external, that he externalizes himself to a certain extent. Just the opposite occurs when a consciousness of the inside of the bone arises in this way.
But now there is something else that can lead you to an understanding of this matter. You see, paradoxical as it may sound to you, I must say that such a book as my “Philosophy of Freedom” cannot be understood by mere logic, but must be understood by the whole person. And indeed, what is said about thinking in my “Philosophy of Freedom” will not be understood if one does not know that man actually experiences thinking through inner cognition, through the inner feeling of his bone structure. One does not think with the brain, one actually thinks with one's bone structure when one thinks in sharp lines of thought. When thinking becomes concrete, as is the case in the “Philosophy of Freedom”, then it becomes part of the whole person.
But the disciples of this master went even further, and they learned to feel the inside of the bones. And thus they had experienced a final example of what was common practice in the old mystery schools: to experience symbols by turning one's own organism into these symbols, for only in this way can one really experience symbols. Interpreting symbols is actually something nonsensical. All spinning about symbols is nonsense. The right attitude to symbols is to make and experience them, just as one should not merely absorb fables, legends and fairy tales in the abstract, but identify with them. There is always something in man through which one can enter into all the figures of the fairy tale, become one with the fairy tale. And so it is with these real symbols of ancient times that come from spiritual knowledge. And I have written such words for you here in German (see page 71).
It is of course more or less just nonsense for the newer time when the Hebrew words, which are no longer fully understood, are written down for it, because thereby man is actually not inwardly enlivened, he does not experience the symbols, but he is dislocated. It is as if his bones were broken. And that is what actually happens to you, spiritually of course, when you read writings such as those of Eliphaz Levi in earnest.
So now these disciples learned to experience the inside of the bone. But when you begin to experience the inside of the bone, then you are no longer in the human being. Just as when you hold your index finger forty centimeters in front of your nose and have an object there, just as little as this object is in you, so little is in you that which you then experience within your bones. You go inwards, but out of yourself. You really go out of yourself. And this going out of yourself, going to the gods, going into the spiritual world, that is what the pupils of this lonely little school learned to understand. For they learned to know the lines that were drawn into the world from the side of the gods in order to constitute the world. They found their way to one side, through man, to the gods.
And then the teacher summarized what the students were experiencing in a paradoxical sentence, a sentence that will of course seem ridiculous to many people today, but which, as you will see from the above, contains a deep truth:
Look at the bone man
And you see death
Look inside the bones
And you see the awakener
- the awakener of man in spirit, the being who brings man into connection with the world of the gods.
Now, at that time, not an extraordinary amount could be achieved in this way, but some could. And some of the teachings about the evolution of the earth through various metamorphoses did become clear to the students. They learned to look far back into Atlantean times and even further back, precisely because they were able to place themselves in this spiritual being of man. And indeed, many things that were not actually written or printed at that time, but which people told themselves about the development of the earth, came from such insights that came about in this way. That was one of the teachings that were given in this school.
Another is equally interesting. Another was given in that the superiority of man over the animals was practically brought to light. One could say that what is often used today for all kinds of services, which are even highly valued today, was known until the 19th century to people who were based on good old traditions of insight. - People today are proud of the fact that they have police dogs that can follow the traces of all kinds of wrongdoing in human life. This practical application did not exist in older times. But the ability of dogs, for example, in this direction was better known than it is today, and people had an insight into the fact that there is also a finer substantiality around man than that which is seen or smelled by man and the like, and they understood that something like a fine fluid also belongs to the world. It was recognized as a special differentiation of heat currents, connected with all kinds of currents which were regarded as electromagnetic currents, and the smell of the dog was brought together with these heat-electromagnetic currents, and the pupils of that little school I am telling you about were made aware of such things in other animals as well. They were made aware of how this sense of a fine fluid flowing through the world is present throughout the animal kingdom. And then they pointed out how that which in animals develops downwards, into the gross material, develops upwards into the spiritual in human beings.
You see, what was taught in this small school was of immense interest. It was taught through external anatomical facts, but something deeply spiritual was meant by it. The pupil was told: "Look, man is a microcosm. In his organization he imitates that which takes place in the world structure. - The human being was not only regarded as a microcosm, as a small world, with regard to the substances he carries within himself, but also with regard to the processes that take place within him. Indeed, much of what is vividly present in it was traced back to processes in the outer world. And so a great deal of attention was paid to how the moon passes through the first quarter, becomes full moon, last quarter, new moon, how the moon goes through twenty-eight to thirty phases in this way. This passing of the moon through its phases was observed in the cosmos. The moon was seen moving in its orbit. One saw how it drew its vertebrae in its movement, its twenty-eight to thirty vertebrae, and then one understood how man has these twenty-eight to thirty vertebrae in his spine, and one understood how that which forms embryonically in man as the spinal column is connected with these lunar movements and their forces. The reproduction of the lunar movement was seen in the formation of the human spinal column. And if you look at the human spinal column with its nerves (see drawing above), you see twenty-eight to thirty nerves that go into the whole organism, you see in these twenty-eight to thirty nerves the images of currents that the moon always sends down to the earth at the various stages of its orbits. One could literally see the intervention of the lunar currents in the bony processes of the vertebrae. In short, one saw in that which the human being carries within himself in his spinal nerves together with the spinal cord, one saw something which bound him to the cosmos, which brings him into a living connection with the cosmos. And this whole thing that I have just hinted at was taught to the student.
And then something else was pointed out to him. Then he was told: "And see, if you look at the optic nerve as it passes from the brain into the eye, it frays into very fine fibers as it passes into the eye. How many such fibers are there? There are as many fibers that go from the optic nerve into the interior of the eye as there are nerves that go out from the spinal cord, twenty-eight to thirty. So that a small spinal cord organization goes from the brain through the optic nerve into the eye (see drawing, $. 76 below). This is so that man - so the teacher said to the pupils - has received this thirty-membered spinal cord nervous system from the gods who formed his existence in ancient times. But he himself has created an image of this in his eye, which looks at the sensory world; in the front of the head organism he has created an image of what the gods have made of him.
And then the pupil's attention was drawn to the fact that this is how the spinal cord organization is related to the moon. But again, through this special relationship of the moon to the sun, the year has twelve months, and from the human brain twelve nerves go to the different parts of the organism, the twelve most important cranial nerves. In this respect man, through his main organization, is a microcosm in relation to that which is the relationship of the sun to the moon. In the formation of the human being an imitation is expressed of that which processes are outside in the cosmos.
And again the pupil's attention was drawn to the fact that he now imitates the lunar organization of the backbone in his head in the optic nerve, that is, through the thirty limbs of the optic nerve into the eye. Twelve nerves go out from the brain. But again, if one examines in particular that part of the brain which sends the olfactory nerve into the nose, then the fact emerges that the whole large brain is imitated in that small part of the brain. Just as the spinal cord nervous system is imitated in the eye, so the whole brain is imitated in the olfactory organ, in that the olfactory nerve goes to the nose in twelve parts, in twelve cords. So that when the spinal cord and head are here (see drawing p. 78), the human being has a real little person lying in front. And then the student's attention was drawn to the fact that this small human being is only anatomically indicated. Things grow together; only a meticulous anatomical examination can teach that. Things grow together, but they are like that. But they are especially formed in the astral body. And because they are otherwise only indicated, man cannot handle them in ordinary life. But he can learn to handle them. - And just as the pupil has been instructed to experience the inside of his bones, he has also been instructed to experience this particular part vividly.
You see, something different occurs there, something that is really more similar to the whole occidental view than that which is often taken over from the Orient. The Orient also has this concentration on the root of the nose, this concentration on the point between the eyebrows. This indicates the location. But in truth it is this concentration on that small human being who lies inside and who is astrally grasped. And if it is grasped astrally, if a meditation is actually organized in such a way that something is grasped in the area that has been designated, then it is as if one wanted to train a small human being in that area inwardly as if embryonically. The student received this instruction in that small school, actually a kind of embryonic training of a small human being in a strongly concentrated thought.
Through this, the students who had the ability to do so were given the two-petaled lotus flower. Then they were told: The animal forms things down to that which is a heat-electromagnetic fluid. The human being forms that which sits here and which appears roughly only as a sense of smell, but into which the ability, the activity of the eye, plays over, the human being forms it into the astral. This, however, gives him the ability not merely to follow that fluid, but to bring about a continual interaction with the astral light and to perceive with the two-petaled lotus flower what man continually writes into the astral light throughout his whole life. The dog only smells what has remained, what is there. Man proceeds differently by moving with his two-petaled lotus flower; even when he cannot perceive with it, he continually writes everything that is in his thoughts into the astral light. Seeing then only enables him to follow and perceive what he writes into it and also to perceive other things with it, namely the true difference between good and evil.
In this way, there were indeed still echoes of ancient treasures of wisdom that were still taught in rudimentary form in practice. And this shows us what has actually been lost under the influence of the materialistic currents that began in the strongest form around the middle of the 19th century. For such things as I have indicated to you were definitely felt and known, at least to a certain extent, in certain, albeit very solitary and reclusive circles. And in the most diverse areas, insights emerged from such backgrounds, which were later ignored, but which many people long for today. But because of the crude methods that prevail today, these insights are initially not attainable for external knowledge.
Now a very specific teaching was linked to what was brought to the pupils in this way in that small circle by the teacher. It was made clear to the pupil that if he uses this organ, which is an organ of smell lifted up into the astral light, then he learns to recognize the true materiality of all things, the true matter. And when he learns to recognize the inside of his bone system and thus in authenticity the real geometry of the world, the way in which the gods draw the forces into the world, then he learns to recognize what works as form in things.
So if you want to get to know a quartz according to its substance - so the student was told - then look at it with the two-petaled lotus flower. If you want to know how its crystal form is, how the substance is formed, then you must understand this form out of the cosmos with that which you can understand when you come alive into the interior of your bone system. Or it was made clear to the student: If you use your head organ, then you learn to recognize the substantial nature of a plant. If you learn to experience the inside of your bone system, then you learn to recognize how a certain plant grows, why it has this or that leaf shape, this or that leaf arrangement, why it unfolds the flowers in this or that way.
So everything that is form should be grasped in one way, everything that is matter should be grasped in another way. And it is really interesting that if you go back to Aristotle, you find that he makes a distinction - but in later times this was only taught in a purely abstract way - in relation to everything that exists, form and matter, But this was taught in a completely abstract way in the current that came from Greece to Europe, so that one actually despairs at the abstractness with which these things are presented in the books throughout the Middle Ages, and only in modern times is it no longer merely a matter of despair, it is already a matter of crawling up the walls as one finds things presented. But if we go back to Aristotle, we find that with him the forms really do lead back to this experience - only this has been carried over again to Asia - and this really inner insight into things, which sees with the head organ that which he calls the matter in things.
But now the inner knowledge of that which was taught in Greece as philosophy, the Akashic-Chronicle-like knowledge points us to something that I could of course only hint at quite outwardly in my “Riddles of Philosophy”, where I showed how Aristotle is definitely of the opinion that in man form and matter flow into one another, matter is form, form is matter. - You can find this in my presentation of Aristotle in the “Enigmas of Philosophy”.
But Aristotle taught this in a completely different way. Aristotle taught that when you approach minerals, you first experience form by experiencing the inside of the lower leg bones, and you experience matter with the head organ. The two are far apart. Man keeps them apart, form and matter, in the mineral kingdom the crystallization. But when man perceives the plant, he experiences form through the experience of the inside of his thighs, and matter again through the head organ, through the two-petaled lotus flower. It already comes closer. And if man experiences the animal, he experiences the form through the experience of the inside of the forearm bones, and again the matter through the head organ - very close together. And if man experiences man himself, then he experiences form through the inside of the upper arm, which is connected to the brain itself in a roundabout way through the formation of speech. I have often spoken of this in introductions to eurythmy. The two-petaled lotus flower is connected with what goes from the inside of the upper arm to the brain. And in language, in particular, the human being no longer experiences the other human being separately according to form and content, but as one according to form and content.
You see, this doctrine still existed in this concrete form in Aristotle's time. And, as I said, there was a trace of it right up to the 19th century. There really is an abyss. In the 1940s, these things were basically really lost. The abyss was there until the end of the 19th century, when things could be found again through Michael's time. But by stepping over this abyss, people were actually stepping over a threshold. And at this threshold stands a guardian. And humanity was initially unable to observe him at the same time, as it passed him by between the years 1842 and 1879. But for its salvation it must now look back and observe the guardian. For ignoring him and continuing to live in the following centuries without paying attention to him would lead to the utmost misfortune of mankind.
We will talk about this further tomorrow.