Karmic Relationships IV
GA 238
5 September 1924, Dornach
Lecture I
[ 1 ] Many friends have come here to-day for the first time since the Christmas Foundation Meeting and I must therefore speak of it, even if only briefly, by way of introduction. Through this Christmas Foundation the Anthroposophical Society was to be given a new impulse, the impulse that is essential if it is to be a worthy channel for the life which, through Anthroposophy, must find embodiment in human civilisation. Since the Christmas Foundation an esoteric impulse has indeed come into the Anthroposophical Society. Hitherto this society was as it were the administrative centre for Anthroposophy. From its beginning onwards, Anthroposophy was the channel for the spiritual life that has been accessible to mankind since the last third of the 19th century. Our conception of the Anthroposophical Movement, however, must be that what takes its course on earth is only the outer manifestation of something that is accomplished in the spiritual world for the furtherance of the evolution of humanity. And those who wish to be worthily connected with the Anthroposophical Movement must also realise that the spiritual impulses are also at work in the sphere of the Anthroposophical Society itself.
[ 2 ] What does it really amount to when a man has a general, theoretical belief in a spiritual world? To believe in theory in a spiritual world means to receive it into one's thoughts. But although in their own original nature thoughts represent the most spiritual element in modern man, the thoughts themselves are such that in their development as inner spirit during the last four to five centuries, they are adapted only to receive truths relating to material existence. And so people to-day have a spiritual life in thoughts, but as members of contemporary civilisation they fill it with a material content only. Theoretical knowledge of Anthroposophy also remains a material content until there is added to it the inner, conscious power of conviction that the spiritual is concrete reality; that wherever matter exists for the outer eyes of men, not only does spirit permeate this matter, but everything material finally vanishes before man's true perception, when this is able to penetrate through the material to the spiritual.
[ 3 ] But such perception must then extend also to everything that is our own close concern. Our membership of the Anthroposophical Society is such a concern; it is a fact in the outer world. And we must be able to recognise the spiritual reality corresponding to it, the spiritual movement which in the modern age unfolded in the spiritual world and will go forward in earthly life if men do but keep faith with it. Otherwise it will go forward apart from earthly life; its link with earthly life will be maintained if men find in their hearts the strength to keep faith with it.
[ 4 ] It is not enough to acknowledge theoretically that spiritual reality hovers behind mineral, plant, animal and man himself; what must penetrate as deep conviction into the heart of every professed Anthroposophist is that behind the Anthroposophical Society too—which in its outward aspect belongs to the world of maya, of illusion—there hovers the spiritual archetype of the Anthroposophical Movement. This conviction must take real effect in the work and activity of the Anthroposophical Society. Before the Christmas Foundation Meeting I often said that a distinction must be made between the Anthroposophical Movement and the Anthroposophical Society, which was an exoteric administrative centre for anthroposophical esotericism. Since Christmas, the opposite holds good. In all previous years I considered myself to be the teacher of Anthroposophy apart altogether from the affairs of administration, and I adhered strictly to this principle. The Anthroposophical Society as such was directed by others. What devolved upon me was to present Anthroposophy to the Groups who wished for this.
[ 5 ] In the course of the lectures now being given, or in some other way, friends will be able to understand what it means to present on the earthly plane- what is revealed in the spiritual world to-day; and the difficulties that arise when external administrative requirements are added to this connection with the spiritual world should be realised. At Christmas there was this eventuality: either the Spiritual Powers who endow us with Anthroposophy would take exception to the outer administrative business being connected in some way with esotericism itself, or something different would result. Hence the decision that had then to be taken was an extremely difficult one. For it might well have happened that the stream of spiritual life that has been vouchsafed to us would have been endangered as a result.
[ 6 ] Nevertheless, the decision was essential if Anthroposophy was to remain connected with the Anthroposophical Society. In future the Anthroposophical Society itself must be the centre through which the esoteric life flows, and must be conscious of it.
[ 7 ] The esoteric Vorstand had then to be created at the Goetheanum. It was necessary to recognise that an esoteric task devolves upon this Vorstand as a whole and that in the future everything that flows through the Anthroposophical Society must not only be material to be assimilated but that Anthroposophy, as well as being a teaching, must be put into effect in all external measures.
[ 8 ] It was necessary that there should be recognition of those forces which .must unite the individual personalities in the Society. Such forces cannot be the subject of any programme or abstractly formulated statements. Human relationships in the truly esoteric sense can provide the only foundation for the Anthroposophical Society. In the future, therefore, everything must be based upon real human relationships in the widest sense, upon concrete, not abstract, spiritual life. . .
[ 9 ] It is a matter of grasping the reality of the spiritual life as such and putting it into practice in every detail of existence. Let me speak of one small matter. We decided to issue a new membership card to each of our members, of whom there are now twelve thousand. It was therefore a matter of preparing this number of membership cards, and in spite of an objection made by several people, I was obliged to decide to sign each card myself. This was naturally a task that took several weeks. But what does it mean? It means that my eyes have rested upon the name of the one who receives the card of membership. This is not the outcome of anything like arrogance, nor is it a purely administrative matter. It is the expression of a human relationship, perhaps a seemingly unimportant one at first, but for all that it is a human relationship.
[ 10 ] In this way, human relationships—which are facts— differ from administrative regulations and statements contained in programmes and paragraphs. The content of Anthroposophy cannot be formulated in sentences and clauses but must be life, real life, which alone can assimilate esotericism.
[ 11 ] And so it must be emphasised that since the Christmas Foundation, Anthroposophy and the Anthroposophical Society are no longer to be distinguished from each other, for they have become one. What matters above all is that every single member shall be conscious of this. [ 12 ] It may seem to you that this is a natural matter of course, but if you think about it you will find that it is by no means an easy matter; it is actually extremely difficult to act in accordance with it every minute of one’s life.
[ 3 ] Anxiety is inevitable as to whether, under these conditions, spiritual life will continue to flow through the Anthroposophical Society as it did through the Anthroposophical Movement. [ 14 ] However, now that we have been living for many months under the influence of the Christmas Foundation, endeavouring to be true to what was intended in the laying of the spiritual Foundation Stone of the Anthroposophical Society, we may justifiably say to ourselves that what has been flowing to us for years is flowing in even greater abundance. It may also be said that hearts have been even more receptive wherever the more esoteric trend, which since the Christmas Foundation has pervaded all anthroposophical work. [ 15 ] Take the whole significance of what I have said as the result of the experiences of recent months, into your hearts, my dear friends. Such a conception will in the future contribute in many ways to the provision of the right soil for that spiritual Foundation Stone which was laid for the Anthroposophical Society at the time of the Christmas Meeting.
[ 16 ] And this brings me to speak of what I shall have to say to you in the coming days, for which this introductory lecture is intended to provide guiding lines. I want to show how at this serious point in its existence the Anthroposophical Movement is actually returning to its own germinal impulse. When at the beginning of the century the Anthroposophical Society came into being out of the framework of the Theosophical Society, something very characteristic was foreshadowed. While the Anthroposophical Society—then the German Section of the Theosophical Society—was in process of formation, I gave lectures in Berlin on Anthroposophy. Therewith, at the very outset, my work was given the hallmark of the impulse which later became an integral part of the Anthroposophical Movement.
[ 17 ] Apart from this, I can remind you to-day of something else.—The first few lectures I was to give at that time to a very small circle were to have the title, “Practical Exercises for the Understanding of Karma.” I became aware of intense opposition to this proposal. And perhaps Herr Guenther Wagner, now the oldest member of the Anthroposophical Society, who to our great joy is here to-day and whom I want to welcome most cordially as an Elder of the society, will remember how strong was the opposition at that time to much that from the beginning onwards I was to incorporate in the Anthroposophical Movement.
Those lectures were not given. In face of the other currents emanating from the Theosophical Movement it was not possible to proceed with the cultivation of the esotericism which speaks unreservedly of the reality of what was always there in the form of theory.
[ 18 ] Since the Christmas Foundation, the concrete working of karma in historical happenings and in individual human beings has been spoken of without reserve in this hall [The temporary lecture-hall in the “Schreinerei” (workshop) at the Goetheanum.] and in the various places I have been able to visit. And a number of Anthroposophists have already heard how the different earthly lives of significant personalities have run their course, how the karma of the Anthroposophical Society itself and of the individuals connected with it has taken shape. Since the Christmas Foundation these things have been spoken of in a fully esoteric sense; but since the Christmas Foundation, also, our printed Lecture-Courses have been accessible to everyone interested in them. We have thus become an esoteric and at the same time a completely open society.
[ 19 ] Thus we return in a certain sense to the starting-point. What must now be reality was then intention. As many friends are here for the first time since the Christmas Foundation, I shall be speaking to you in the coming lectures on questions of karma, giving a kind of introduction to-day by speaking of things which are also indicated, briefly, in the current News Sheet for members of the society.
[ 20 ] As is clear from our anthroposophical literature, the development of human consciousness is bound up with the attainment of those data of knowledge which point to facts and beings of the spiritual world and with penetration into these facts. We shall hear how this spiritual world, the penetration into which has become possible through the development of human consciousness, can then be intelligible to the healthy, unprejudiced human intellect. It must always be remembered that although actual penetration into the spiritual world requires the development of other states of consciousness, the understanding of what the spiritual investigator brings to light requires only the healthy human intellect, the healthy human reason that endeavours to put prejudice aside.
[ 21 ] In saying this, one immediately meets stubborn obstacles in the modern life of thought. When I once said the same thing in Berlin, a well-meaning article appeared on the subject of the public lecture I had given before a large audience. This article was to the following effect: Steiner maintains that the healthy human intellect can understand what is investigated in the spiritual world. But the whole trend of modern times has taught us that the healthy human intellect can know nothing of the super-sensible world, and that if it does, it is certainly not healthy!
It must be admitted that in a certain sense this is the general opinion of cultured people at the present time. What it means, translated into bald language, is this: If a man is not mad, he understands nothing of the super-sensible world; if he does, then he is certainly mad! That is the same way of speaking about the subject, only put rather more plainly.
[ 22 ] We must try to comprehend, therefore, how far the healthy human intellect can gain insight into the results of spiritual investigation achieved through the development of states of consciousness other than those we are familiar with in ordinary life. For centuries now we have been arming our senses with laboratory apparatus, with telescopes, microscopes and the like. The spiritual investigator arms his outer senses with what he himself develops in his own soul. Investigation of nature has gone outwards, has made use of outer instruments. Spiritual investigation goes inwards, makes use of the inner instruments evolved by the soul in steadfast activity of the inner life.
[ 23 ] By way of introduction to-day I want to help you to understand the evolution of other states of consciousness, first of all simply by comparing those that are normal in present-day man with those that were once present in earlier, primitive—not historic but prehistoric—conditions of human evolution.
[ 24 ] Man lives to-day in three states of consciousness, only one of which, really, he recognises as a source of knowledge. They are: Ordinary waking consciousness; Dream consciousness; and Dreamless sleep consciousness.
[ 25 ] In ordinary waking consciousness we confront the outer world in such a way that we accept as reality what can be grasped through the senses, and allow it to work upon us; we grasp this outer, material world with the intellect that is bound to the brain, or at any rate to the human organism, and we form ideas, concepts, emotions and feelings, too, about what has been taken in through the senses. Then in this waking consciousness we grasp the reality of our own inner life—within certain limits. And through all kinds of reflection, through the development of ideas, we come to acknowledge the existence of a super-sensible element above material things. I need not further describe this state of consciousness; it is known to everyone as the state he recognises as pertaining to his life of knowledge and of will here on earth.
[ 26 ] For the man of the present time, dream consciousness is indistinct and dim. In dream consciousness he sees things of the outer world in symbolic transformations which he does not always recognise as such. A man lying in bed in the morning, still in the process of waking, does not look out at the rising sun with fully opened eyes; to his still veiled gaze the sunlight reveals itself by shining in through the window. He is still separated as by a thin veil from what at other times he grasps in sharply outlined sense-experiences and perceptions. Inwardly, his soul is filled with the picture of a great fire; the heat of the fire in his dream symbolises the shining in of the rising sun upon eyes not yet fully opened.
[ 27 ] Or again, someone may dream that he is passing through lines of white stones placed along each side of a roadway. He comes to one of the stones and finds that it has been demolished by some force of nature or by the hand of man. He wakes up; the toothache he feels makes him aware of the decayed state of a tooth. The two rows of teeth have been symbolised in his dream-picture; the decayed tooth, in the image of the demolished stone.
[ 28 ] Or we become aware of being, apparently, in an overheated room where we feel discomfort. We wake up: the heart is thumping vigorously and the pulse beating rapidly. The feverish movement of the heart and pulse is symbolised in the overheated room. Inner and outer conditions are symbolised in dream; reminiscences of the life of day, transformed and elaborated in manifold ways into whole dream-dramas, absorb the sleeper's attention. Nor does he by any means always know to what extent things are elaborated in the miraculous arena of his life of soul. And concerning this dream-life, which may play over into waking life when consciousness is dimmed in any way, he often labours under slight illusions.
[ 29 ] A scientist is passing a bookshop in a street. He sees a book about the lower animal species—a book which in view of his profession has always greatly interested him. But now, although the title indicates a content of vital importance to a scientist, he feels not the faintest interest: and then, suddenly, as he is merely staring at what otherwise he would have seen with keen excitement, he hears a barrel-organ in the distance playing a melody which at first entirely escapes his memory ... and he becomes all attention.—Just think of it: the man is looking at the title of a scientific treatise; he pays no attention to it but is gripped by the playing of a distant barrel-organ which in other circumstances he would not have listened to for a moment. What is the explanation? Forty years ago, while still quite young, he had danced for the first time in his life, with his first partner, to the same tune; he is reminded of this by the tune which he has not heard for forty years, played on the barrel-organ! Because he has remained very matter-of-fact, the scientist remembers the occasion pretty accurately.
[ 30 ] The mystic often comes to the stage of inwardly transforming a happening of this kind to such an extent that it becomes something entirely different. One who with deep and sincere conscientiousness embarks upon the task of penetrating into the spiritual life must also keep strictly in mind all the deception and illusion that may arise in the life of the soul. In deepening his life of soul a man can very easily believe that an inner path has been discovered to some spiritual reality, whereas in fact it is no more than the transformed reminiscence of a barrel-organ melody! This dream-life is full of wonder and splendour, but can be rightly understood only by one who is able to bring spiritual insight to bear upon the appearances of human life.
[ 31 ] Of the life of deep, dreamless sleep, man has in his ordinary consciousness nothing more than the remembrance that time continues to flow between the moment of falling asleep and the moment of waking. Everything else he has to experience again with the help of his waking consciousness. A dim, general feeling of having been present between the moments of falling asleep and waking is all that remains from dreamless sleep.
[ 32 ] Thus we have to-day these three states of consciousness: waking consciousness, dream consciousness, dreamless sleep consciousness. If we go back into very early ages of human evolution—not, as I said, in historic times but prehistoric times accessible only to those means of spiritual investigation of which we shall be speaking here in the coming days—then we also find three states of consciousness, but essentially different in character. What we experience to-day in our waking hours was not experienced by the men of those primeval times; instead of material objects and beings with clear shapes and sharp edges, they saw all the physical boundaries blurred.
[ 33 ] In those times a man who might have looked at you all sitting here would not have seen the sharp outlines demarcating you as human beings to-day; he would not, like a man to-day, have seen these contours bound by so many lines, but for his ordinary waking consciousness the forms would have been blurred; they would have lacked definition. Everything would have been seen with less precision, would have been pervaded by an aura, by a spiritual radiance, a glimmering, glistening iridescence extending far beyond the circumference that is perceived to-day. The onlooker would have seen how the auras of all of you sitting here are interwoven. He would have gazed into these glimmering, sparkling, iridescent auras of the soul-life of those in front of him. It was still possible in those days to gaze into the life of soul because the human being was bathed in an atmosphere of soul-and-spirit.
[ 34 ] To use an analogy: if in the evening of a bright, dry day we are walking through the streets, we see the lights of the street-lamps in definite outlines. But if the evening is misty, we see these same lights haloed by all sorts of colours—colours which modern physics interprets quite wrongly, regarding them as subjective phenomena, whereas in truth they give us an experience of the inmost nature of these lights, connected with the fact that we are moving through the watery element of the fog. The men of ancient times moved through the element of soul-and-spirit; when they looked at other men they saw their auras—which were not subjective phenomena but a real and objective part of the human being. Such was one state of consciousness in these men of old.
[ 35 ] Then they had a state of consciousness which linked on to this, just as with us the sleep that is invaded by dreams links on to the waking state; again it was not the same as our present dream condition, but everything that was material around it disappeared, vanished away. For us, sense-impressions become symbols in the state of dream consciousness: sunshine becomes fiery heat, the rows of teeth become two lines of stones, dream-memories become earthly or also spiritual dramas. The sense-world is always there; the world of memories remains. It was different for the consciousness of one who lived in primeval times of human evolution—and we shall realise by and by that this applies to all of us, for those sitting here were present then in earlier earthly lives. In those times, when the sun's light by day grew weaker, man did not see symbols of physical things, but the physical things vanished before his eyes. A tree standing before him vanished; it was transformed into the spiritual and the spirit-being belonging to the tree took its place.—The legends of tree-spirits were not the inventions of folk-fantasy; the interpretation of these legends, however, is an invention of the fantasy of scholars who are groping in a morass of fallacy.—And it was these spirits—the tree-spirit, the mountain-spirit, the spirit of the rocks—who in turn directed the eyes of the human soul into that world where man is between death and a new birth, where he is among spiritual realities just as here on earth he is among physical realities, where he is among spiritual beings as on earth he is among physical beings.—This was the second state of consciousness. We shall presently see how our ordinary dream consciousness can also be transformed into this other consciousness in a man of modern time who is a seeker for spiritual knowledge.
[ 36 ] And there was a third state of consciousness. Naturally, the men of ancient times also slept; but when they awoke they had not merely a dim remembrance of having lived through time, or a dim feeling of continuous life, but a clear remembrance of what they had experienced in sleep. And it was precisely out of this sleep that there came the impressions of past earthly lives with their connections of destiny, together with the knowledge, the vision, of karma.
[ 37 ] Modern man has waking consciousness, dream consciousness, dreamless sleep consciousness. Early humanity had also three states or conditions of consciousness: the state of consciousness in which he perceived reality pervaded by spirit; the state in which he had insight into the spiritual world; and the state in which he had the vision of karma. In primeval humanity, consciousness was essentially in a condition of evening twilight.
[ 38 ] This evening twilight consciousness has passed away, has died out in the course of the evolution of mankind. A morning dawn consciousness must arise—into which modern spiritual investigation has already found its way. And by strengthening his own soul-forces man must learn to look at every tree or rock, every spring or mountain, or at the stars, in such a way that the spiritual fact or spiritual being behind every physical thing is revealed to him.
[ 39 ] It can become an exact science, a source of exact knowledge (although people scoff at it to-day as if it were craziness or sheer delusion) so that when a genuine knower looks at a tree, the tree, although it represents a physical reality, becomes a void, as it were leaving the space free before his gaze, and the spirit-being of the tree comes to meet him. Just as the sun's light is reflected to our physical eyes from all outer, physical objects, so will humanity come to perceive that the spiritual essence of the sun, pervading the world with its life, is also a living reality in all physical beings. As the physical light is reflected back to our physical eyes, so from every earthly being there can be reflected back as a reality to our eyes of soul, the divine-spiritual, all-pervading essence of the sun. And as man now says: “The rose is red” ... the underlying truth being that the rose is giving back to him the gift he himself receives from the physical-etheric sun-nature ... he will then be able to say that the rose gives back to him what it receives from the soul-and-spiritual essence of the sun which streams through the world with its quickening life.
[ 40 ] Man will again find his way into a spiritual atmosphere, will know that his own being is rooted in this spiritual atmosphere. He will come to realise that within the dream consciousness, which to begin with can yield only chaotic symbolisations of the outer life of the senses, there lie the revelations of a world of spirit through which we pass between death and a new birth; furthermore, that in the consciousness of deep sleep there weaves and lives in us as an actual and real nexus of forces that which, after waking, leads us into connection with the working out of our destiny, of our karma. What we live through in our waking hours as destiny, notwithstanding all freedom, is spun during our life of sleep, when with the soul and spirit, which have left the physical and etheric, we lead a life together with divine Spirits; with those divine Spirits, too, who carry over the fruits of earlier lives into this present life. And one who through the development of the corresponding forces of soul succeeds in penetrating with vision into the life of dreamless sleep, discovers therein the connections of karma. Moreover it is only in this way that the historical life of humanity acquires meaning, for it is woven out of what men carry over from earlier epochs, through the life between death and rebirth, into new life, into new epochs. When we look at some personality of the present or some other age, we understand him rightly only when we include his past earthly lives.
[ 41 ] During the coming days, then, we shall be speaking of that spiritual investigation which, while concerning itself first with personalities in history but then also with everyday life, leads from the present life, or a life in some other age to earlier earthly lives.
Erster Vortrag
[ 1 ] Es sind heute viele Freunde versammelt, welche seit der Weihnachtstagung zum ersten Male hier sind, und daher obliegt es mir, wenn auch mit wenigen Worten, einleitend auf die Weihnachtstagung hinzuweisen. Durch diese Weihnachtstagung sollte ja die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft einen neuen Impuls bekommen, und zwar denjenigen, der ihr eigen sein muß, wenn wirklich durch sie dasjenige Leben in würdiger Art fließen soll, das mit der Anthroposophie dem menschlichen Zivilisationsleben einverleibt werden soll. Es ist durchaus seit dieser Weihnachtstagung ein esoterischer Impuls in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft gekommen. Diese Anthroposophische Gesellschaft war ja bisher sozusagen die Verwaltungsstätte für Anthroposophie. Anthroposophie war von ihrem Anfange an dasjenige, durch das fließt das spirituelle Leben, das heute und seit dem letzten Drittel des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts der Menschheit zugänglich ist. Diese anthroposophische Bewegung muß aber so aufgefaßt werden, daß, was von ihr hier auf Erden abläuft, eigentlich nur die äußere Erscheinung von etwas ist, das in der geistigen Welt sich vollzieht für die Entwickelung der Menschheit. Und wer in würdiger Weise der anthroposophischen Bewegung zugeneigt sein will, der muß sich schon auch damit bekannt machen, daß für das Gebiet der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft selber die spirituellen Impulse gelten.
[ 2 ] Was hat es denn für eine Bedeutung, meine lieben Freunde, wenn der Mensch im allgemeinen theoretisch an eine geistige Welt glaubt? Theoretisch an eine geistige Welt glauben heißt, diese geistige Welt in die Gedanken aufnehmen. Aber die Gedanken der Menschen der Gegenwart sind heute selber so, wenn sie auch ihrer ureigensten Natur nach für den heutigen Menschen das Geistigste darstellen, daß sie zunächst so, wie sie sich als innerer Geist des Menschen ausgebildet haben im Laufe der letzten vier bis fünf Jahrhunderte, nur geeignet sind, Wahrheiten über das Materielle aufzunehmen. Und so hat die heutige Menschheit ein spirituelles Leben in Gedanken, erfüllt aber als allgemeine Zivilisations-Menschheit dieses spirituelle Gedankenleben nur mit materiellem Inhalte. Materieller Inhalt bleibt auch dasjenige, was man theoretisch über Anthroposophie weiß, bis hinzutritt die wirkliche innere, bewußte Überzeugungskraft: daß das Geistige ein konkretes Wirkliches ist, daß überall da, wo für den äußeren Menschensinn Materie lebt, Geist diese Materie nicht nur durchzieht und durchströmt, sondern daß zuletzt vor dem menschlichen wahren Blicke alles Materielle verschwindet, wenn er imstande ist, durch das Materielle zum Geistigen, zum Spirituellen durchzudringen.
[ 3 ] Dann aber muß ein solches Anschauen auch ausgedehnt werden auf alles dasjenige, was uns zunächst selber angeht. Selber geht uns an unsere Zugehörigkeit zur Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft. Für diese in der äußeren Sinneswelt bestehende Tatsache, für diese unsere Zugehörigkeit zur Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft müssen wir in der Lage sein, anzuerkennen das entsprechende Spirituelle, die spirituelle Bewegung, die in der geistigen Welt sich in der neueren Zeit entwickelte und im Erdenleben fortbestehen wird, wenn die Menschen ihr treu bleiben können. Sie wird fortbestehen sonst abseits vom Erdenleben. Sie wird fortbestehen zusammenhängend mit dem Erdenleben, wenn die Menschen in ihren Herzen die Kraft finden, ihr treu zu bleiben.
[ 4 ] Daß aber nicht nur unsere theoretische Überzeugung dahin geht, daß hinter Mineralien, Pflanzen, Tieren und dem Menschen selber ein Geistiges schwebt, sondern daß auch hinter der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, die im Äußeren zur Maja, zur Illusion gehört, schwebt das spirituelle Urbild der anthroposophischen Bewegung, das ist dasjenige, was eindringen muß als tiefe Überzeugungskraft in das Herz jedes sich zur Anthroposophie Bekennenden. Und das muß in dem Wirken und in dem Arbeiten der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft real werden. Oftmals habe ich gesagt, meine lieben Freunde, vor der Weihnachtstagung, man müsse unterscheiden zwischen anthroposophischer Bewegung, von der immer dasselbe gesagt werden müßte wie heute, und zwischen der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, die eine äußere exoterische Verwaltungsstätte für den anthroposophischen Esoterismus war. Seit Weihnachten ist das Gegenteil der Fall. Zur Weihnachtszeit trat die schwierige Entschliessung heran, ob ich selber Vorsitzender der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft werden soll. Ich betrachtete in allen vorangehenden Jahren des Bestandes der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft mich als den nicht mit der Verwaltung verknüpften Lehrer der anthroposophischen Sache, und ich habe in den verschiedensten Dingen, die in Betracht kommen, das strenge durchgeführt. Die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft wurde als solche von anderen geleitet. Mir oblag, innerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, insofern es der einzelne oder ihre Gruppen wollten, die anthroposophische Sache zur Geltung zu bringen.
[ 5 ] Unsere Freunde werden ja im Laufe dieser Vorträge oder aber sonst Gelegenheit haben, erkennen zu lernen, was es heißt, in tätiger Weise auf dem Erdenplane dasjenige auszuarbeiten, was sich heute in der spirituellen Welt offenbaren will. Und die Schwierigkeiten sollten eingesehen werden, welche damit verknüpft sind, wenn sozusagen zu diesem Verhältnis zur geistigen Welt eine äußere Verwaltung hinzutreten soll. Und es lag durchaus um die Weihnachtszeit die Eventualität vor: Entweder werden diejenigen geistigen Mächte, welche uns die Anthroposophie geben, Anstoß nehmen daran, daß die äußere Verwaltung nun herangezogen wird an die Esoterik selber, oder aber es wird etwas anderes eintreten. Daher war der Entschluß der denkbar schwierigste, der damals zu fassen war. Denn es konnte durchaus auch die Möglichkeit da sein, daß die Ströme geistigen Lebens, die uns zugeflossen sind, gerade durch einen solchen Entschluß hätten gefährdet werden können.
[ 6 ] Dennoch mußte der Entschluß gefaßt werden, weil die Vorbedingungen so lagen, daß nunmehr das Gegenteil eintreten mußte von dem, was ich eben vorhin charakterisiert habe, wenn die anthroposophische Sache weiter mit der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft in Verbindung bleiben sollte. Es mußte für die Zukunft die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft selber diejenige Stätte sein, durch die unmittelbar das esoterische Leben fließt und die selber esoterisch wirkt und sich ihres esoterischen Wirkens bewußt wird.
[ 7 ] Dazu mußte der esoterische Vorstand geschaffen werden am Goetheanum. Dazu mußte anerkannt werden, daß diesem Vorstande in seiner Ganzheit eine esoterische Aufgabe obliegt und daß in der Zukunft alles dasjenige, was durch die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft fließt, nicht nur anthroposophische Substanz ist, die aufzunehmen ist, sondern daß für die Zukunft außerdem, daß Anthroposophie gelehrt wird, Anthroposophie getan werde, das heißt, in allen äußeren Maßnahmen Anthroposophie wirkt.
[ 8 ] Dazu bedarf es der Anerkennung jener realen Kräfte, welche verbinden müssen die einzelnen in der Gesellschaft vereinigten Persönlichkeiten. Diese Kräfte können keine Kräfte sein, die unter irgendeinem Programm oder Satze stehen, die durch abstrakte Sätze zusammengefaßt werden. Allein dasjenige kann im esoterischen Sinne die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft begründen und halten, was als reale menschliche Beziehungen vorhanden ist. So muß in der Zukunft alles auf die realen menschlichen Beziehungen im weitesten Sinne begründet sein, auf das konkrete, nicht auf das abstrakte geistige Leben.
[ 9 ] Man muß nur in der Lage sein, dieses konkrete geistige Leben als solches aufzufassen und es in den geringsten Einzelheiten des Lebens zu sehen. Ich möchte eine recht winzige Einzelheit anführen. Wir haben beschlossen, als dieser Impuls aufgenommen wurde, jedem unserer Mitglieder ein neues Mitglieds-Zertifikat zu geben. Da die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft mittlerweile bis zu zwölftausend Mitgliedern angewachsen ist, handelte es sich nun darum, diese zwölftausend Mitglieder-Zertifikate auszustellen, und ich mußte trotz des Einwandes, den viele gemacht haben, den Entschluß fassen — wie gesagt, es ist eine winzige Sache —, jedes einzelne Mitglieds-Zertifikat selber zu unterschreiben. Das ist natürlich eine Arbeit von vielen Wochen. Was bedeutet sie aber? Nicht irgendeinen Eigensinn, nicht irgendeine äußere Verwaltungsmaßregel, sondern das bedeutet sie, daß meine Augen geruht haben auf dem Namen desjenigen, der das Mitglieds-Zertifikat empfängt. Es ist eine menschliche Beziehung, allerdings zunächst winzigen Inhaltes, aber es ist eine menschliche Beziehung.
[ 10 ] So unterscheiden sich menschliche Beziehungen, die Tatsachen sind, von dem, was bloße Verwaltungsmaßregeln sind, was bloß in Programmen und Paragraphen steht. Nichts von dem, was real durch die Anthroposophie fließt, darf in Satzungen und Paragraphen stehen, sondern alles muß wirkliches Leben sein. Allein wirkliches Leben kann die Esoterik aufnehmen.
[ 11 ] So muß gesagt werden, seit der Weihnachtstagung sind anthroposophische Sache und Anthroposophische Gesellschaft nicht mehr zu unterscheiden, sind eines geworden. Daß das im Bewußtsein jedes einzelnen Mitgliedes ist, das ist dasjenige, um was es sich handelt.
[ 12 ] Es könnte Ihnen vorkommen, meine lieben Freunde, das sei eine Selbstverständlichkeit. Denken Sie darüber nach, und Sie werden finden, daß die völlig herzliche Durchführung davon nicht eine Selbstverständlichkeit ist, sondern daß es sogar recht schwierig ist, die Sache in jedem Augenblick seines Lebens durchzuführen.
[ 13 ] Nun handelt es sich darum, ich möchte sagen, unter der wirklichen Sorge zunächst zu stehen: Wird spirituelles Leben weiter unter diesen Bedingungen durch die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft fließen, wie sie durch die anthroposophische Bewegung geflossen ist?
[ 14 ] Das aber darf gesagt werden, nachdem wir jetzt viele Monate unter den Wirkungen der Weihnachtstagung stehen, uns bemühen, treu zu bleiben dem, was wir dazumal mit der spirituellen Grundsteinlegung der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft gemeint haben, das dürfen wir uns sagen: Dasjenige, was geflossen ist seit Jahren, es fließt in reicherem Maße weiter. Und wir dürfen auch sagen, daß die Herzen sich noch mehr aufgeschlossen haben allüberall, wo der mehr esoterische Zug, der seit der Weihnachtstagung durch alles, was anthroposophische Arbeit ist, fließt, wo dieser mehr esoterische Zug eben da ist.
[ 15 ] Fassen Sie die ganze Bedeutung dieses Wortes, wie ich es aus den Erfahrungen der letzten Monate heraus zu sprechen habe, in Ihrem Herzen auf, meine lieben Freunde! Ein solches Auffassen wird in der Zukunft vielfach mit beitragen, den rechten Boden jenem spirituellen Grundstein zu geben, den wir zur Zeit der Weihnachtstagung für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft gelegt haben.
[ 16 ] Und damit komme ich auf das zu sprechen, was auch orientierend heute in diesem Einleitungsvortrage auf dasjenige hinweisen soll, was ich Ihnen in den nächsten Tagen zu sagen haben werde, hinweisen soll darauf, wie die anthroposophische Bewegung jetzt in diesem ernsten Augenblicke im Grunde genommen zu ihrem Keime zurückkehrt. Als aus dem Schoße der Theosophischen Gesellschaft heraus im Beginne des Jahrhunderts in Berlin die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft begründet worden ist, da spielte sich etwas sehr Eigentümliches ab. Während der Begründung der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, das heißt der deutschen Sektion der Theosophischen Gesellschaft, hielt ich in Berlin Vorträge über «Anthroposophie». Damit war von vornherein meinem Wirken derjenige Impuls aufgedrückt, der später die anthroposophische Bewegung ausgemacht hat.
[ 17 ] Aber noch etwas anderes ist es, an das ich heute erinnern darf. Das erste, was ich dazumal einem ganz kleinen Kreise ankündigte, trug für ein paar Vorträge den Titel: «Praktische Karma-Übungen». Ich fühlte den allerlebhaftesten Widerstand gegen die Ausführung dieses Vorhabens dazumal. Und vielleicht wird sich das allerälteste Mitglied der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, das zu unserer groBen Freude heute wiederum hier ist — Herr Günther Wagner, den ich aufs herzlichste wie eine Art von Senior der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft hier begrüßen möchte —, daran erinnern, wie stark dazumal der Widerstand gegen vieles war, was vom Anfange an von mir der anthroposophischen Bewegung einverleibt werden sollte. Es kam nicht zu diesen Vorträgen. Es kam nicht dazu, jene Esoterik zu pflegen gegenüber den Strömungen, die sonst da waren aus der theosophischen Bewegung heraus, jene Esoterik zu pflegen, die in ganz unverhohlener und unbefangener Weise in Wahrheit von dem spricht, was eigentlich theoretisch immer da war.
[ 18 ] Seit der Weihnachtstagung wird hier in diesem Saale, wird an den verschiedenen Orten, an denen ich sprechen durfte, in ganz unverhohlener Weise vom konkreten Wirken des menschlichen Karma in geschichtlichen Erscheinungen, in einzelnen Menschen gesprochen. Und heute sind eine Anzahl unserer Anthroposophen bereits unterrichtet, wie die verschiedenen Erdenleben bedeutsamer Persönlichkeiten verlaufen sind, wie das Karma der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft selber und das mit ihr verbundene einzelner Persönlichkeiten sich gestaltet hat. Seit der Weihnachtstagung wird über diese Dinge ganz esoterisch gesprochen. Seit der Weihnachtstagung sind unsere Zyklen öffentlich, jedem, der dafür Interesse hat, zugänglich. So sind wir eine esoterischere und zu gleicher Zeit völlig öffentliche Gesellschaft geworden.
[ 19 ] Damit kehren wir in einem gewissen Sinne zu dem Ausgangspunkt zurück. Damals war Absicht, was jetzt Wirklichkeit werden soll. Da viele unserer Freunde seit der Weihnachtstagung jetzt zum erstenmal hier sind, werde ich gerade die Karma-Frage vor Ihnen hier in den nächsten Tagen behandeln. Dazu werde ich mir nur erlauben, heute eine Art von Einleitung zu geben, indem ich von denjenigen Dingen spreche, die auch in den dieswöchigen «Mitteilungen», wenn auch skizzenhaft, angedeutet sind.
[ 20 ] Zur Erlangung — das geht ja aus unserer anthroposophischen Literatur hervor — derjenigen Erkenntnisse, die in der geistigen Welt auf Tatsachen und Wesenheiten dieser geistigen Welt deuten, zur Erforschung dieser Tatsachen gehört die Entwickelung des menschlichen Bewußtseins. Wir werden schon hören, wie diese durch die Entwickelung des menschlichen Bewußtseins erforschte geistige Welt dann dem unbefangenen gesunden Menschenverstande begreiflich werden kann. Das muß immer berücksichtigt werden: Zur Erforschung der geistigen Welt gehört die Entwickelung anderer Bewußtseinszustände; zum Auffassen, zum Verstehen dessen, was der Geistesforscher zutage bringt, gehört nur der gesunde Menschensinn, der gesunde Menschenverstand, der wirklich unbefangen sich entfalten will.
[ 21 ] Damit stößt man allerdings sogleich, indem man dieses ausspricht, auf harte Widerstände im Denkleben der Gegenwart. Als ich in Berlin dasselbe, was ich jetzt sagte, einmal aussprach, da erschien ein wohlwollender Artikel über meinen öffentlichen, vor einer großen Zuhörerschaft gehaltenen Vortrag. Dieser Artikel besagte: Herr Steiner habe gesagt, der gesunde Menschenverstand könne einsehen, was in den spirituellen Welten erforscht wird. Aber die ganze Entwickelung der neueren Zeit habe uns gelehrt, daß derjenige Verstand, der gesund ist, nichts vom Übersinnlichen einsieht und daß derjenige Verstand, der etwas vom Übersinnlichen einsieht, ganz gewiß nicht gesund ist. — Man muß schon sagen: In einer gewissen Beziehung ist das die allgemeine Ansicht der gebildeten Leute der Gegenwart. Ist man nicht verrückt — so heißt es in nüchternes Deutsch übersetzt —, so versteht man nichts von der übersinnlichen Welt; versteht man etwas von der übersinnlichen Welt, so ist man ganz gewiß verrückt! — Das ist ja dieselbe, nur etwas deutlichere Art, über die Sache zu sprechen.
[ 22 ] Daher muß man sich schon damit beschäftigen, einzusehen, inwieferne der gesunde Menschenverstand die Ergebnisse der Geistesforschung, die durch Entwickelung anderer Bewußtseinszustände erlangt wird, einsehen kann. Wir bewaffnen seit Jahrhunderten unsere äußeren Sinne mit Instrumenten, mit Teleskop, mit Mikroskop. Auch der Geistesforscher bewaffnet seine äußeren Sinne mit dem, was er in seiner Seele selber entwickelt. Die Naturforschung ist nach außen gegangen, hat sich der äußeren Werkzeuge bedient. Die Geistesforschung geht nach innen, bedient sich der inneren Werkzeuge, die die Seele in treulichem Seelenleben ausbildet.
[ 23 ] Nun möchte ich Ihnen heute einleitend die Entfaltung anderer Bewußtseinszustände dadurch nahebringen, daß ich die Bewußtseinszustände, die die gewöhnlichen der Menschen der Gegenwart sind, zusammenstelle, zunächst bloß zusammenstelle mit denjenigen Bewußtseinszuständen, die einmal in älteren, nicht historischen, aber vorhistorischen primitiven Entwickelungszuständen der Menschheit vorhanden waren.
[ 24 ] Der Mensch lebt heute in drei Bewußtseinszuständen, von denen eigentlich nur der eine von ihm als die Quelle von Erkenntnissen anerkannt wird: Der Mensch lebt in den Zuständen des gewöhnlichen Wachseins, er lebt in dem Zustande des Traumbewußtseins, und er lebt in dem Zustande des traumlosen Schlafbewußtseins.
[ 25 ] Im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein, im Wachbewußtsein, stellen wir uns zur Außenwelt so, daß wir alles, was wir dutch die Sinne erfassen können, für eine Wirklichkeit hinnehmen und auf uns wirken lassen, daß wir dieses äußere Sinnliche mit unserem an das Gehirn gebundenen Verstand, oder wenigstens an den Menschen gebundenen Verstand erfassen, uns Vorstellungen, Begriffe, auch wohl Gefühle und so weiter über das durch die Sinne Aufgenommene bilden. Wir erfassen dann in gewissen Grenzen unser eigenes Innenleben innerhalb dieses wachen Bewußtseins. Und wir kommen durch allerlei Erwägungen, Ideenentwickelungen dazu, ein Übersinnliches anzuerkennen über diesem Sinnlichen. Ich brauche diesen Bewußtseinszustand nicht weiter zu beschreiben; er ist ja jedem als derjenige, den er eigentlich für sein Erkenntnis- und Willensleben auf Erden anerkennt, bekannt.
[ 26 ] Das Traumbewußtsein, es ist für den Menschen der Gegenwart ein undeutliches, ein dämmerhaftes. Der Mensch schaut im Traumbewußtsein das, was in der Außenwelt ist, in einer symbolischen Umgestaltung, der er sich nicht immer bewußt wird. Wir liegen des Morgens im Bette noch im Aufwachezustand, so daß wir nicht durch unsere vollgeöffneten Augen auf die aufgehende Sonne hinausblicken, sondern dem noch umflorten Blicke offenbart sich das Sonnenlicht hereinscheinend zum Fenster. Der Mensch ist noch wie durch einen dünnen Schleier getrennt von dem, was er sonst in scharf konturierten Sinnesempfindungen, scharf konturierten Sinneswahrnehmungen auffaßt: innen wird die Seele angefüllt mit der Vorstellung einer mächtigen Feuersbrunst. Die mächtige Feuersbrunst, von der der Mensch träumt, ist das Symbolum für das, was im Sonnenaufgange herleuchtet auf das noch nicht vollständig erschlossene Auge.
[ 27 ] Oder aber der Mensch träumt, er ginge durch eine Allee von weißen Steinen, die eine Straße begrenzen, hindurch. Er kommt an einen der Steine; er findet ihn durch irgendeine Naturerscheinung oder durch Menschen oben zerstört. Der Mensch wacht auf: An dem Zahnschmerz, den er hat, nimmt er die Schadhaftigkeit eines Zahnes wahr. Die zwei ganzen Zahnreihen haben sich symbolisiert in dem, was der Mensch im Traume gesehen hat; der schadhafte Zahn an dem schadhaften Pflock.
[ 28 ] Wir nehmen wahr, wir seien in einem überheizten Zimmer, in dem wir uns unbehaglich fühlen. Wir wachen auf: Das Herz pocht kräftig, der Puls schlägt schnell. Die Feurigkeit der Herzbewegung und des Pulses symbolisieren sich in dem überhitzten Zimmer. Innere und äußere Zustände symbolisieren sich uns im Traume; Reminiszenzen des Tageslebens, in mannigfaltigster Weise umgestaltet, zu ganzen Traumdramen ausgebildet, erfüllen den Menschen. Er weiß nicht immer, wie die Dinge sich in dem wunderbaren Umfange seines Seelenlebens ausgestalten. Und oftmals ist der Mensch gerade über dieses Traumesleben, das ja auch ins Wachleben hereinspielen kann, wenn das Bewußtsein nur irgendwie herabgedämpft ist, in einem leichten Wahne befangen.
[ 29 ] Ein Naturforscher geht durch eine Straße an einer Buchhandlung vorbei. Er sieht ein Buch über niedere Tierwelt, ein Buch, das ihn immer außerordentlich interessiert hat, denn er ist ja ein Naturforscher. Jetzt aber, trotzdem der Titel ankündigt, daß etwas für einen Naturforscher außerordentlich Wichtiges drinnensteht, interessiert ihn das gar nicht, sondern plötzlich, indem er nur hinstarrt auf das, was er sonst immer mit dem höchsten Interesse angeschaut hätte, hört er in der Ferne einen Leierkasten eine ihm zunächst ganz entfallene Melodie abspielen. Er wird ganz aufmerksam. Denken Sie: Der Naturforscher sieht auf dem Titel eines Buches eine naturwissenschaftliche Abhandlung. Er wird nicht aufmerksam darauf, sondern das Spielen eines entfernten Leierkastens, den er sonst gar nicht gehört hätte, ist, was ihn fesselt. Was ist es? Vor vierzig Jahren, als er noch ganz jung war, tanzte er zum ersten Male in seinem Leben mit seiner ersten Tänzerin nach derselben Melodie, die jetzt der Leierkasten abspielt. Die Leierkastenmelodie, die er seit vierzig Jahren nicht gehört hat, erinnert ihn an dieses Ereignis. Der Naturforscher ist nüchtern geblieben, daher erinnerte er sich ziemlich genau an die Sache.
[ 30 ] Der Mystiker kommt oftmals dazu, solch ein Ereignis innerlich so umzugestalten, daß es etwas ganz anderes wird. Gerade derjenige, der mit aller innerer Gewissenhaftigkeit an die Erforschung des geistigen Lebens geht, muß sich auch alles, was an Wahn und Illusion auftritt innerhalb des menschlichen Seelenlebens, ganz genau vor Augen stellen können. Man kann sehr leicht glauben, indem man sich in das Seelenleben sozusagen vertieft, einen innerlichen Weg zu dem oder jenem Geistigen gefunden zu haben; aber man hat nur die umgestaltete Reminiszenz einer Leierkastenmelodie. Dieses Traumleben ist etwas Wunderbares, etwas Großartiges, aber es ist vom Menschen richtig aufzufassen nur dann möglich, wenn er wirklich geistdurchbildet vor den Erscheinungen des menschlichen Lebens stehen kann.
[ 31 ] Und wenn wir das tiefe Schlafesleben betrachten, das traumlos ist, so hat ja der Mensch von diesem tiefen Schlafesleben im gewöhnlichen heutigen Bewußtsein nichts anderes als die Erinnerung, daß etwa die Zeit verlaufen sein kann zwischen seinem Einschlafen und Aufwachen. Alles übrige muß er wiederum mit Hilfe seines Wachzustandes erleben. Ein allgemeines dumpfes Fühlen, wie man dagewesen ist zwischen dem Einschlafen und Aufwachen, das ist alles, was aus dem traumlosen Schlaf zurückbleibt.
[ 32 ] Jedoch wir haben heute schon diese drei Bewußtseinszustände: das Wachbewußtsein, das Traumbewußtsein, das traumlose Schlafbewußtsein. Gehen wir aber zurück in Urzeiten menschlicher Entwickelung — wie gesagt, nicht in historische, sondern in vorhistotische Zeiten, die nur mit jenen Mitteln der Geistesforschung durchdrungen werden können, von denen hier in den nächsten Tagen gesprochen werden soll —, dann finden wir auch drei Bewußtseinszustände des Menschen, aber ganz anderer Art. Dasjenige, was wir heute im wachen Tagesbewußtsein erleben, erlebte man damals nicht, sondern man erlebte in uralten Zeiten menschlicher Entwickelung statt scharf konturierter materieller, festbegrenzter Tatsachen: Wesenheiten, verschwommene physische Grenzen.
[ 33 ] In solchen Zeiten würde ein Mensch, der Sie alle hier gesehen hätte, wie Sie hier sitzen, nicht die scharfen Konturen, die heute Ihre Menschenwesenheit bedingen, so als Linie gesehen haben, wie er sie heute sieht, sondern die Gestalt wäre verschwommen gewesen für das gewöhnliche Wachbewußtsein; überall durchdrungen wäre dasjenige gewesen, was man heute sieht und was damals undeutlicher gewesen wäre, von einem Aurischen, von einem geistigen Leuchten und Glänzen und Schimmern und Schillern, das weit über den Umfang, den man heute sieht, hinausgegangen wäre. Alle, die Sie hier sitzen, würden Ihre Auren für den Auffassenden ineinandergehend gezeigt haben. Und ein solcher Auffassender hätte hineingeschaut in diese schillernden, glänzenden, scheinenden, glitzernden Auren des Seelischen derjenigen, die vor ihm sind. Noch hineinschauen konnte man in das Seelische, denn der Mensch lebte in der Atmosphäre des Seelisch-Geistigen.
[ 34 ] Wenn ich einen Vergleich gebrauchen darf: Gehen wir heute nach einem heiteren, trockenen Tag abends durch die Straßen, dann sehen wir nach einem solchen Tage die Straßenlaternen so, daß sie uns die scharfen Konturen der Lichter zeigen. Gehen wir an einem nebeligen Abend durch die Straßen, so zeigen uns dieselben Laternenlichter um sich herum allerlei farbige Gebilde, die die heutige Physik ganz mißversteht, indem sie sie für subjektive Erscheinungen hält, die aber in Wahrheit dasjenige sind, was erlebt wird aus der Wesenheit dieser Flammen heraus im Zusammenhange damit, daß der Mensch durch das wässrige Element des Nebels schreitet. Die alten Menschen schritten durch das Element des Geistig-Seelischen; sie sahen die Auren, die nicht subjektiv waren, sondern objektiv zu den Menschenwesenheiten gehörten, am Menschen. Das war ihr einer Bewußtseinszustand.
[ 35 ] Dann hatten sie einen Bewußtseinszustand, der sich an diesen anschloß, wie bei uns der traumbeseelte Schlaf sich an den Wachzustand anschließt, der wiederum nicht der unseres heutigen Traumzustandes war, sondern der verschwinden um sich sah alles das, was sinnlich ist. Für uns werden die sinnlichen Eindrücke gegenüber dem Traum zu Sinnbildern: Sonnenschein zu einer Feuersbrunst, die inneren Zahnreihen zu zwei Reihen von Pflöcken und so weiter, Erinnerungsträume zu irdischen oder auch vergeistigten Dramen, Traumdramen. Die Sinneswelt ist immer da; die Erinnerungswelt bleibt da. Für denjenigen, welcher in uralten Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung sein Bewußtsein hatte — wir werden ja sehen, daß wir es alle damals hatten, denn alle, die hier sitzen, waren damals in früheren Erdenleben da —, für den war die Sache anders. Da sah der Mensch, wenn der Sonnenschein am Tage schwächer wurde, nicht Symbole der physischen Dinge, sondern die physischen Dinge verschwanden vor seinem Blicke. Der Baum, der vor einem stand, verschwand; er verwandelte sich in Geistiges — die Sagen von den Baumgeistern, sie sind ja nicht ausgedacht von der Volksphantasie, nur ihre Interpretation ist ausgedacht von der im Irrtum wandelnden Gelehrtenphantasie —, der Geist, der dem Baum zugehörte, trat an die Stelle. Und diese Geister — der Baumgeist, der Berggeist, der Felsengeist — sie waren es wieder, die weiter den Seelenblick hinlenkten in diejenige Welt, in der der Mensch ist zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, wo er ebenso unter geistigen Tatsachen ist wie hier auf der Erde unter physischen Tatsachen, wo er ebenso unter geistigen Wesenheiten ist wie hier auf Erden unter physischen Wesenheiten. Das war der zweite Bewußtseinszustand. Wir werden demnächst sehen, wie sich unser gewöhnliches Traumbewußtsein für den heutigen, nach dem geistigen Erkennen hinstrebenden Menschen auch in diesen Bewußtseinszustand verwandeln kann.
[ 36 ] Und ein dritter Bewußtseinszustand war da. Die Menschen schliefen natürlich damals auch. Aber wenn sie aufwachten, hatten sie nicht bloß die dunkle Erinnerung, Zeit durchlebt zu haben, oder ein dumpfes Lebensgefühl, sondern wenn sie aufwachten, hatten sie eine deutliche Erinnerung an das, was sie im Schlafe erlebt hatten. Und gerade aus diesem Schlafe heraus kamen die Eindrücke über vergangene Erdenleben mit dem Schicksalszusammenhange des Menschen, mit der Erkenntnis, mit dem Durchschauen des Karma.
[ 37 ] So hat der heutige Mensch Wachbewußtsein, Traumbewußtsein, traumloses Schlafbewußtsein. So hatte eine Vormenschheit drei Bewußtseinszustände: den Bewußtseinszustand für die geistdurchtränkte Wirklichkeit, den Bewußtseinszustand für den Einblick in die geistige Welt, den Bewußtseinszustand für das Durchschauen des Karma. Es war im wesentlichen bei der Urmenschheit eine Art Dämmerungsbewußtsein des Abends.
[ 38 ] Dieses Dämmerungsbewußtsein des Abends ist vergangen, verglommen in der Menschheitsentwickelung. Ein Dämmerungsbewußtsein des Morgens muß heraufziehen. Die heutige Geistesforschung findet sich schon in dasselbe hinein. Und in die Lage kommen muß der Mensch, hinzuschauen auf den Baum, auf den Fels, auf die Quelle, auf den Berg, auf die Sterne, in die Lage kommen muß er, hinzuschauen und in der Erkraftung seiner eigenen Seelenkräfte, in der Verstärkung seiner eigenen Seelenkräfte es dazu bringen, daß ihm erscheint aus jeglichem physischen Dinge die dahinterstehende geistige Tatsache oder geistige Wesenheit.
[ 39 ] Exakte Wissenschaft, exakte Erkenntnis kann es werden — worüber man heute noch wie über eine Verrücktheit, über einen Wahnsinn spottet —, daß der wirklich Erkennende hinschaut auf den Baum, der Baum vor seinem Blicke, trotzdem er das Materielle darstellt, wie aussparend den Raum, zum Nichtigen wird, und entgegenkommt dem Menschen die geistige Wesenheit des Baumes. Wie unseren physischen Augen das Sonnenlicht von allen äußeren physischen Wesen in der Reflexion entgegenleuchtet, so wird die Menschheit dazu kommen — und Anthroposophie nimmt voraus dieses Dazukommen -, einzusehen, daß die geistige Sonnenwesenheit, die die Welt durchwebt und durchlebt, auch in allen physischen Wesenheiten lebt. Wie das physische Licht in unser physisches Auge zurückstrahlt, so kann in unser Seelenauge zurückstrahlen von einem jeglichen irdischen Wesen als eine Tatsache das göttlich-geistige Sonnenwesen, das alles durchdringt. Und wie der Mensch jetzt sagt: Die Rose ist rot —, und dem zugrunde liegt, daß die Rose ihm die Gabe zurückgibt, die er selber von dem physisch-ätherischen Sonnenwesen bekommen, so wird er dann sagen können: Die Rose gibt ihm dasjenige zurück, was sie von dem geistig-seelischen Sonnenwesen bekommt, das die Welt durchwellt und durchlebt.
[ 40 ] Der Mensch wird sich wiederum einleben in eine Geistatmosphäre, wird wissen, daß er mit seinem eigenen Wesen in dieser geistigen Atmosphäre wurzelt. Dann aber wird ihm aufgehen, wie in diesem Traumbewußtsein, das zunächst nur die chaotischen Symbolisierungen des äußeren Sinneslebens geben kann, darinnen liegen die Offenbarungen einer Geistwelt, die wir durchmachen zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt; wie in dem TiefSchlafesleben in uns webt und lebt als realer Kräftezusammenhang das, was uns dann nach dem Aufwachen hingehen lässt zu demjenigen, mit dem sich unser Schicksal, unser Karma abspinnt. Was wir trotz aller Freiheit als unser Schicksal in unserem Tagesleben durchmachen, es wird gesponnen und gewoben während unseres Schlafeslebens da, wo wir mit unserem Seelisch-Geistigen, das aus dem Physisch-Ätherischen heraußen ist, ein Leben führen mit göttlichen Geistern, auch mit denjenigen göttlichen Geistern, die die Ergebnisse früherer Erdenleben in dieses Leben herübertragen. Und derjenige, dem es durch die Entwickelung der entsprechenden Seelenkräfte gelingt, hineinzuschauen in das traumlose Schlafesleben, der entdeckt darinnen die karmischen Zusammenhänge. Dadurch aber erst bekommt das geschichtliche Leben der Menschheit auch einen Sinn: Es wird gewoben aus dem, was Menschen aus früheren Epochen durch das Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt in neue Leben, in neue Epochen hinübertragen. Wenn wir hinschauen auf eine Persönlichkeit der Gegenwart oder sonst irgendwie in der Zeit, wir verstehen sie doch erst, wenn wir ihre vergangenen Erdenleben begreifen.
[ 41 ] Von jener Forschung, welche zunächst bei historischen Persönlichkeiten, dann aber auch im alltäglichen Leben aus dem gegenwärtigen oder irgendeinem zeitlichen Leben in frühere Erdenleben führt, wollen wir dann in den nächsten Tagen sprechen.
First Lecture
[ 1 ] There are many friends gathered here today who are here for the first time since the Christmas Conference, and it is therefore incumbent upon me, albeit in a few words, to make an introductory reference to the Christmas Conference. This Christmas Conference was intended to give the Anthroposophical Society a new impulse, namely the impulse that must be its own if the life that is to be incorporated into human civilization through Anthroposophy is really to flow through it in a worthy manner. An esoteric impulse has certainly entered the Anthroposophical Society since this Christmas Conference. Until now, the Anthroposophical Society has been the administrative center for anthroposophy, so to speak. Anthroposophy, from its beginnings, has been that through which flows the spiritual life that is accessible to humanity today and has been since the last third of the nineteenth century. This anthroposophical movement, however, must be understood in such a way that what takes place here on earth is actually only the outward manifestation of something that is taking place in the spiritual world for the development of humanity. And anyone who wants to be worthily inclined towards the anthroposophical movement must also familiarize himself with the fact that the spiritual impulses apply to the field of the Anthroposophical Society itself.
[ 2 ] What is the significance, my dear friends, if man in general theoretically believes in a spiritual world? To believe theoretically in a spiritual world means to take this spiritual world into one's thoughts. But the thoughts of people today are themselves such, even if by their very nature they represent the most spiritual for people today, that they are initially, as they have developed as the inner spirit of man in the course of the last four to five centuries, only suitable for absorbing truths about the material. And so humanity today has a spiritual life in thought, but as a general civilization humanity only fills this spiritual life of thought with material content. What is known theoretically about anthroposophy also remains material content until the real inner, conscious power of conviction is added: that the spiritual is a concrete reality, that wherever matter lives for the outer human sense, spirit not only permeates and flows through this matter, but that ultimately everything material disappears before the true human gaze when it is able to penetrate through the material to the spiritual, to the spiritual.
[ 3 ] But then such a view must also be extended to all that which first concerns us ourselves. We ourselves are concerned with our membership of the Anthroposophical Society. For this fact existing in the outer sense world, for this our belonging to the Anthroposophical Society, we must be able to recognize the corresponding spiritual, the spiritual movement that has developed in the spiritual world in recent times and will continue to exist in earthly life if people can remain faithful to it. Otherwise it will continue to exist apart from earthly life. It will continue to exist in connection with earthly life if people find the strength in their hearts to remain faithful to it.
[ 4 ] However, it is not only our theoretical conviction that behind minerals, plants, animals and man himself hovers a spiritual being, but also that behind the Anthroposophical Society, which outwardly belongs to Maja, to illusion, hovers the spiritual archetype of the anthroposophical movement, that is what must penetrate as a deep power of conviction into the heart of every person who professes anthroposophy. And this must become real in the work of the Anthroposophical Society. I have often said, my dear friends, before the Christmas Conference, that a distinction must be made between the anthroposophical movement, of which the same must always be said as today, and the Anthroposophical Society, which was an external exoteric administrative center for anthroposophical esoterism. Since Christmas the opposite has been the case. At Christmas time the difficult decision arose as to whether I myself should become chairman of the Anthroposophical Society. In all the previous years of the Anthroposophical Society's existence, I regarded myself as the teacher of the anthroposophical cause, unconnected with the administration, and I have carried this out strictly in the most diverse matters that come into consideration. The Anthroposophical Society as such was led by others. It was my responsibility to promote the anthroposophical cause within the Anthroposophical Society, insofar as the individual or their groups wished to do so.
[ 5 ] Our friends will, in the course of these lectures or otherwise, have the opportunity to learn to recognize what it means to work out in an active way on the earth plane that which wants to reveal itself today in the spiritual world. And the difficulties should be recognized which are connected with it, if an outer administration is to be added to this relationship to the spiritual world, so to speak. And the eventuality was certainly present around Christmas time: Either those spiritual powers that give us anthroposophy will take offense at the fact that the external administration is now being drawn into esotericism itself, or something else will happen. That is why the decision was the most difficult imaginable to take at that time. For it was quite possible that the streams of spiritual life that flowed to us could have been endangered by such a decision.
[ 6 ] However, the decision had to be taken because the preconditions were such that the opposite of what I have just characterized had to happen if the anthroposophical cause was to remain connected with the Anthroposophical Society. For the future, the Anthroposophical Society itself had to be the place through which the esoteric life would flow directly and which would itself work esoterically and become aware of its esoteric work.
[ 7 ] To this end the esoteric Executive Council had to be created at the Goetheanum. For this it had to be recognized that an esoteric task was incumbent upon this Board in its entirety and that in the future all that flows through the Anthroposophical Society is not only anthroposophical substance to be absorbed, but that for the future, moreover, anthroposophy is taught, anthroposophy is done, that is, anthroposophy works in all external measures.
[ 8 ] This requires the recognition of those real forces which must unite the individual personalities united in society. These forces cannot be forces that stand under some program or set of abstract propositions. Only that which exists as real human relationships can establish and maintain the Anthroposophical Society in the esoteric sense. Thus in the future everything must be based on real human relationships in the broadest sense, on the concrete, not the abstract spiritual life.
[ 9 ] One must only be able to grasp this concrete spiritual life as such and to see it in the smallest details of life. I would like to mention a very small detail. When this impulse was taken up, we decided to give each of our members a new membership certificate. As the Anthroposophical Society has now grown to twelve thousand members, it was now a question of issuing these twelve thousand membership certificates, and I had to take the decision - as I said, it's a tiny thing - to sign each individual membership certificate myself, despite the objections that many people raised. This is, of course, a job that takes many weeks. But what does it mean? Not some stubbornness, not some external administrative measure, but it means that my eyes have rested on the name of the person who receives the membership certificate. It is a human relationship, albeit at first minute in content, but it is a human relationship.
[ 10 ] This is how human relationships, which are facts, differ from what are mere administrative measures, what are merely written in programs and paragraphs. Nothing of what really flows through anthroposophy must be written in statutes and paragraphs, but everything must be real life. Only real life can absorb esotericism.
[ 11 ] So it must be said that since the Christmas Conference the anthroposophical cause and the Anthroposophical Society can no longer be distinguished, they have become one. That this is in the consciousness of each individual member is what it is all about.
[ 12 ] It may seem to you, my dear friends, that this is a matter of course. Think about it, and you will find that to carry it out completely heartily is not a matter of course, but that it is even quite difficult to carry it out in every moment of one's life.
[ 13 ] Now it is a matter, I would say, of being under the real concern first: Will spiritual life continue to flow through the Anthroposophical Society under these conditions, as it has flowed through the anthroposophical movement?
[ 14 ] But this may be said after we have now been under the effects of the Christmas Conference for many months, endeavoring to remain faithful to what we meant at that time with the laying of the spiritual foundation stone of the Anthroposophical Society, we may say to ourselves: That which has flowed for years continues to flow in greater abundance. And we can also say that hearts have opened up even more everywhere where the more esoteric tide that has been flowing through all anthroposophical work since the Christmas Conference is present.
[ 15 ] Build up the whole meaning of this word in your heart, my dear friends, as I have to speak it from the experiences of the last few months! Such an understanding will contribute in many ways in the future to laying the right ground for the spiritual foundation stone that we laid for the Anthroposophical Society at the time of the Christmas Conference.
[ 16 ] And this brings me to what this introductory lecture today is also intended to point to as an orientation for what I will have to say to you in the next few days, to point to how the anthroposophical movement is now, at this serious moment, basically returning to its germ. When the Anthroposophical Society was founded in Berlin at the beginning of the century out of the bosom of the Theosophical Society, something very peculiar took place. During the founding of the Anthroposophical Society, i.e. the German section of the Theosophical Society, I gave lectures on “Anthroposophy” in Berlin. From the outset, my work was imprinted with the impulse that later formed the anthroposophical movement.
[ 17 ] But there is something else I would like to remind you of today. The first thing I announced to a very small circle at that time was entitled “Practical Karma Exercises” for a few lectures. I felt the most vivid resistance to carrying out this project back then. And perhaps the very oldest member of the Anthroposophical Society, who to our great joy is here again today - Mr. Günther Wagner, whom I would like to welcome most warmly as a kind of senior member of the Anthroposophical Society - will remember how strong the resistance was at that time to much of what was to be incorporated by me into the anthroposophical movement from the very beginning. It did not come to these lectures. It did not come to cultivating that esotericism vis-à-vis the currents that were otherwise present in the theosophical movement, that esotericism that speaks in a completely unconcealed and unbiased way in truth of what was actually always there in theory.
[ 18 ] Since the Christmas Conference, here in this hall, in the various places where I have been allowed to speak, the concrete working of human karma in historical phenomena, in individual human beings, has been spoken of in a quite unconcealed manner. And today a number of our anthroposophists are already informed about how the various earth lives of important personalities have passed, how the karma of the Anthroposophical Society itself and that of individual personalities connected with it has developed. Since the Christmas Conference these things have been discussed in a very esoteric way. Since the Christmas Conference, our cycles have been open to the public, to anyone who is interested. So we have become a more esoteric and at the same time completely public society.
[ 19 ] This brings us back to the starting point in a certain sense. The intention then was what is now to become reality. As many of our friends are here for the first time since the Christmas meeting, I will be dealing with the question of karma in the next few days. To this end, I will only take the liberty of giving a kind of introduction today by speaking of those things that are also indicated, albeit sketchily, in this week's “Messages”.
[ 20 ] The development of human consciousness belongs to the attainment - as is evident from our anthroposophical literature - of those insights that point to facts and entities of this spiritual world, to the exploration of these facts. We shall already hear how this spiritual world, explored through the development of human consciousness, can then become comprehensible to the unbiased common sense of man. This must always be taken into account: The development of other states of consciousness belongs to the exploration of the spiritual world; to grasp, to understand what the spiritual researcher brings to light, only the healthy human sense, the healthy human understanding, which really wants to unfold impartially, belongs.
[ 21 ] But in saying this, one immediately encounters stiff resistance in the intellectual life of the present. When I once said what I am about to say in Berlin, a favorable article appeared about my public lecture given in front of a large audience. This article stated that Mr. Steiner had said that common sense could understand what was being researched in the spiritual worlds. But the whole development of recent times has taught us that a healthy mind does not understand anything of the supersensible and that a mind that understands something of the supersensible is certainly not healthy. - It must be said that in a certain respect this is the general opinion of the educated people of the present day. If one is not mad - so it is translated into sober German - then one understands nothing of the supersensible world; if one understands something of the supersensible world, then one is certainly mad! - That is the same, only somewhat clearer, way of speaking about the matter.
[ 22 ] Therefore, one must concern oneself with understanding the extent to which common sense can understand the results of spiritual research, which is achieved through the development of other states of consciousness. For centuries we have armed our outer senses with instruments, with telescopes, with microscopes. The spiritual researcher also arms his outer senses with what he himself develops in his soul. Natural research has gone outwards, using external tools. Spiritual research goes inwards, uses the inner tools that the soul develops in faithful soul life.
[ 23 ] Now I would like to introduce you today to the unfolding of other states of consciousness by putting together the states of consciousness that are the usual ones of people today, first of all merely with those states of consciousness that were once present in older, not historical, but pre-historical primitive states of development of humanity.
[ 24 ] Man today lives in three states of consciousness, only one of which is actually recognized by him as the source of knowledge: Man lives in the states of ordinary wakefulness, he lives in the state of dream consciousness, and he lives in the state of dreamless sleep consciousness.
[ 25 ] In ordinary consciousness, in waking consciousness, we relate to the outside world in such a way that we accept everything we can grasp through the senses as a reality and let it affect us, that we grasp this external sensuality with our brain-bound mind, or at least our human-bound mind, and form mental images, concepts, even feelings and so on about what we perceive through the senses. Within certain limits we then grasp our own inner life within this waking consciousness. And through all kinds of considerations and the development of ideas we come to recognize a supersensible above this sensual. I need not describe this state of consciousness any further; it is known to everyone as the one he actually recognizes for his life of knowledge and will on earth.
[ 26 ] The dream consciousness, for the man of the present, is an indistinct, a dim one. In dream-consciousness man sees what is in the outer world in a symbolic transformation of which he is not always conscious. In the morning we lie in bed still in a waking state, so that we do not look out through our fully opened eyes at the rising sun, but the sunlight shining in through the window reveals itself to our still florid gaze. Man is still separated, as if by a thin veil, from what he otherwise perceives in sharply contoured sensations, sharply contoured sensory perceptions: inside, the soul is filled with the mental image of a mighty conflagration. The mighty conflagration of which man dreams is the symbol of that which shines forth in the sunrise upon the not yet fully opened eye.
[ 27 ] Or else man dreams that he is walking through an avenue of white stones bordering a road. He comes to one of the stones; he finds it destroyed by some natural phenomenon or by people above. The person wakes up: By the toothache he has, he perceives the defectiveness of a tooth. The two whole rows of teeth have symbolized themselves in what the person has seen in the dream; the damaged tooth on the damaged peg.
[ 28 ] We perceive that we are in an overheated room in which we feel uncomfortable. We wake up: The heart pounds vigorously, the pulse beats rapidly. The fieriness of the heart's movement and the pulse are symbolized in the overheated room. Inner and outer states symbolize themselves to us in dreams; reminiscences of daily life, transformed in the most varied ways, formed into entire dream dramas, fill the human being. He does not always know how things develop in the wonderful scope of his soul life. And often man is caught up in a slight delusion about this dream life, which can also play into waking life if his consciousness is only somehow dampened.
[ 29 ] A naturalist walks along a street past a bookshop. He sees a book on the lower animal world, a book that has always interested him greatly, for he is a naturalist. Now, however, although the title announces that there is something extremely important for a naturalist in it, he is not interested at all, but suddenly, just staring at what he would otherwise have always looked at with the greatest interest, he hears an organ grinder in the distance playing a melody that at first completely escapes him. He becomes very attentive. Think about it: the natural scientist sees a scientific treatise on the cover of a book. He does not pay attention to it, but the playing of a distant organ grinder, which he would otherwise not have heard at all, is what captivates him. What is it? Forty years ago, when he was still very young, he danced for the first time in his life with his first dancer to the same melody that the organ grinder is now playing. The organ grinder melody, which he has not heard for forty years, reminds him of this event. The naturalist has remained sober, so he remembered it quite clearly.
[ 30 ] The mystic often comes to reshape such an event inwardly so that it becomes something completely different. It is precisely the person who approaches the exploration of the spiritual life with all inner conscientiousness who must also be able to visualize exactly everything that occurs in delusion and illusion within the life of the human soul. It is very easy to believe, by immersing oneself in the life of the soul, so to speak, that one has found an inner path to this or that spiritual thing; but all one has is the transformed reminiscence of an organ grinder's melody. This dream life is something wonderful, something great, but it can only be properly grasped by man if he can stand before the phenomena of human life in a truly spiritual way.
[ 31 ] And if we consider the deep life of sleep, which is dreamless, then man has nothing of this deep life of sleep in his ordinary present-day consciousness other than the memory that time may have passed between his falling asleep and waking up. Everything else he has to experience with the help of his waking state. A general dull feeling of having been there between falling asleep and waking up is all that remains from dreamless sleep.
[ 32 ] However, today we already have these three states of consciousness: waking consciousness, dream consciousness, dreamless sleep consciousness. But if we go back to primeval times of human development - as I said, not to historical times, but to pre-historic times, which can only be penetrated by those means of spiritual research which will be spoken of here in the next few days - then we also find three states of consciousness in man, but of a quite different kind. That which we experience today in waking day-consciousness was not experienced then, but was experienced in ancient times of human development instead of sharply contoured material, firmly defined facts: Entities, blurred physical boundaries.
[ 33 ] In such times, a person who had seen you all here, as you sit here, would not have seen the sharp contours that today determine your human beingness as a line, as he sees them today, but the form would have been blurred for the ordinary waking consciousness; everywhere that which you see today and which would have been more indistinct then would have been permeated by an auric, by a spiritual glow and gleam and shimmer and iridescence that would have gone far beyond the scope that you see today. All of you sitting here would have shown your auras to the perceiver, one inside the other. And such a perceiver would have looked into these dazzling, shining, shining, glittering auras of the souls of those before him. One could still look into the spiritual, for man lived in the atmosphere of the spiritual.
[ 34 ] If I may use a comparison: If we walk through the streets today in the evening after a bright, dry day, then after such a day we see the streetlights in such a way that they show us the sharp contours of the lights. If we walk through the streets on a foggy evening, the same lantern lights show us all kinds of colored shapes around them, which today's physics completely misunderstands by taking them for subjective phenomena, but which are in truth what is experienced out of the essence of these flames in connection with the fact that man walks through the watery element of fog. The ancient people walked through the element of the spiritual-soul; they saw the auras, which were not subjective, but belonged objectively to the human beings. That was their one state of consciousness.
[ 35 ] Then they had a state of consciousness that followed on from this, just as with us dream-soul sleep follows on from the waking state, which in turn was not that of our present dream state, but which saw everything that is sensual disappear around it. For us, sensual impressions become symbols in relation to the dream: sunshine becomes a conflagration, the inner rows of teeth become two rows of pegs and so on, memory dreams become earthly or spiritualized dramas, dream dramas. The world of the senses is always there; the world of memory remains there. For those who had their consciousness in ancient times of human development - we shall see that we all had it then, for all who sit here were there in earlier earthly lives - the matter was different. Then, when the sunshine became weaker during the day, man did not see symbols of physical things, but the physical things disappeared before his eyes. The tree that stood before him disappeared; it was transformed into something spiritual - the legends of the tree spirits are not invented by popular imagination, only their interpretation is invented by the erring imagination of scholars - and the spirit that belonged to the tree took its place. And these spirits - the tree spirit, the mountain spirit, the rock spirit - it was they again who directed the soul's gaze further into that world in which man is between death and a new birth, where he is just as much under spiritual facts as here on earth under physical facts, where he is just as much under spiritual entities as here on earth under physical entities. That was the second state of consciousness. We will soon see how our ordinary dream consciousness can also be transformed into this state of consciousness for today's man striving for spiritual knowledge.
[ 36 ] And there was a third state of consciousness. Of course, people also slept at that time. But when they woke up, they did not just have the dark memory of having lived through time or a dull feeling of life, but when they woke up, they had a clear memory of what they had experienced in their sleep. And it was precisely out of this sleep that the impressions of past earthly lives came to them with the context of human destiny, with knowledge, with the insight of karma.
[ 37 ] So man today has waking consciousness, dream consciousness, dreamless sleep consciousness. Thus a pre-humanity had three states of consciousness: the state of consciousness for the spirit-soaked reality, the state of consciousness for insight into the spiritual world, the state of consciousness for seeing through karma. It was essentially a kind of twilight consciousness of the evening in primitive mankind.
[ 38 ] This twilight consciousness of the evening has passed, faded away in the development of mankind. A dawn consciousness of the morning must arise. Today's spiritual research is already finding its way into it. And man must be able to look at the tree, at the rock, at the spring, at the mountain, at the stars, he must be able to look and, in the strengthening of his own soul forces, in the strengthening of his own soul forces, bring it about that the spiritual fact or spiritual being behind it appears to him from every physical thing.
[ 39 ] Exact science, exact knowledge can become - which is still mocked today as if it were madness, madness - that the truly cognizing person looks at the tree, the tree before his gaze, although it represents the material, as if omitting space, becomes nothing, and the spiritual essence of the tree comes to meet man. Just as the sunlight of all outer physical beings shines towards our physical eyes in reflection, so humanity will come to realize - and Anthroposophy anticipates this coming - that the spiritual sun entity which weaves and lives through the world also lives in all physical entities. Just as the physical light radiates back into our physical eye, so can the divine-spiritual sun-being, which permeates everything, radiate back into our soul-eye from every earthly being as a fact. And just as the human being now says: The rose is red - and this is based on the fact that the rose gives him back the gift that he himself received from the physical-etheric sun being, so he will then be able to say: The rose gives back to him that which it receives from the spiritual-soulful solar being that undulates and lives through the world.
[ 40 ] The human being will again settle into a spiritual atmosphere, will know that he is rooted with his own being in this spiritual atmosphere. But then he will realize how in this dream-consciousness, which at first can only give the chaotic symbolizations of external sense-life, there lie the revelations of a spirit-world which we pass through between death and a new birth; how in the deep-sleep life within us there weaves and lives as a real connection of forces that which then, after waking up, lets us go to that with which our destiny, our karma, is spun off. What we go through as our destiny in our day life, despite all our freedom, is spun and woven during our sleeping life, where we lead a life with our soul-spiritual, which is out of the physical-etheric, with divine spirits, also with those divine spirits who carry over the results of earlier earth lives into this life. And the one who, through the development of the corresponding soul forces, succeeds in looking into the dreamless life of sleep, discovers the karmic connections therein. But it is only through this that the historical life of mankind also takes on meaning: it is woven from what people carry over from earlier epochs through life between death and new birth into new lives, into new epochs. When we look at a personality in the present or otherwise in time, we only understand them when we understand their past lives on earth.
[ 41 ] In the next few days, we will talk about the research that leads from the present or any temporal life to earlier earthly lives, first in the case of historical personalities, but then also in everyday life.