Karmic Relationships V
GA 239
29 March 1924, Prague
Lecture I
I want to begin these lectures for Members by speaking of how Anthroposophy lifts human consciousness above the earthly and material domain simply through the light it sheds upon the nature and being of man.
It is hardly possible for anyone immersed in modern civilisation to think otherwise than that during his life from birth to death he belongs to the Earth. Membership of a spiritual world is in most cases a mere belief or a dim inkling. Insight into the fact that man belongs to any world other than the Earth is scarcely within the power of human beings whose education and whole upbringing are the outcome of modern civilisation. Nevertheless, to believe that when man is being spoken of earthly conditions alone have to be considered is the great fallacy of all contemporary spiritual life in the West and in Middle Europe. The East alone has preserved a certain consciousness—although in a decadent form—of man's connection with the super-sensible, cosmic powers and forces around the Earth. In olden times man felt himself dependent on the stars as well as on the plants and the animals around him on the Earth; he knew, too, that the Moon is not simply a physical orb revolving in space. Interest in the Moon to-day does not really go much further than attempts to discover whether there are or are not mountains or water there; hypotheses are advanced, but little thought is given to any other aspect of this neighbouring planet. As for the other heavenly bodies, investigation is entirely concerned with their physical conditions. In ancient times it was altogether different. Man was aware of his dependence on the heavenly bodies just as to-day he is aware of his dependence on the Earth.
I will start with something that has a certain scientific importance; it is an example that may perhaps not be to the liking of some people, but it is easy to follow. I have often emphasised in Anthroposophical lectures that the formation of the human embryo in earthly life, even when investigated from the purely scientific point of view, provides the proof in itself that something extra-earthly is at work in the process. Natural science believes the ovum to be the most complex structure that can possibly exist on Earth. Much thought is given to this complex structure of the ovum and recently we have been hearing about the wonders of the atom and the molecule! The structure of a cell is said to be indescribably complex. But this is a fallacy, for the ovum is, in reality, chaos; it is not a complex structure. The chemical physical structure goes to pieces, and before a living being can arise the ovum must have been in a state of chaos. The very purpose of fertilisation is to produce this state of chaos in the ovum, so that within the mother's organism there is matter which has been completely broken down. The processes in the mother's body produce this state of chaos. And now think of a crystal. The Cosmos cannot work in a crystal with its hard, firm edges; neither can the Cosmos work in the substance of a plant, which also has solid form; nor in that of an animal. Fertilisation means that the ovum becomes a chaos. Only then does the whole surrounding Cosmos work in upon this germinating entity and build up the living human form in such a way that the being of soul and spirit coming from earlier earthly lives can enter into it.
According to modern views this is so much nonsense—but it happens to be the truth! What is so deplorable in our time is that when one speaks the truth it is almost inevitably pooh-poohed by contemporary scholarship. Some people may say: “This statement of yours may be based upon occult vision; but is it also capable of proof?” It is indeed—and in more ways than one might imagine. At our Institute for Biological Research in Stuttgart remarkable confirmation of this fact has come to light. Investigations have been made into the function of the spleen. You know, perhaps, that the spleen has always been considered a very enigmatical organ. The story goes that in a viva voce examination the candidate was asked by the professor: “Can you tell me anything about the spleen?” The candidate puzzled his brains and at last blurted out in desperation: “I have forgotten it.” “What a pity!” said the professor. “Nobody has ever known anything about the spleen; you apparently were the only one, and you have forgotten it!”
I indicated a certain method, based on the principles of Spiritual Science, according to which Frau Dr. Kolisko has investigated the function of the spleen. The validity of her results is still being questioned but they will eventually win through, because the investigations were genuinely exact. During the investigations something else came to light. Because of the methods in general use to-day, one is sometimes obliged to adopt procedures that go much against the grain, but we finally decided to excise the spleens of rabbits. It was nothing in the least like vivisection but a quite simple operation; and we did everything that could possibly be done to avoid causing suffering. Unfortunately one of the rabbits died from a chill after the operation because by an oversight it was not taken immediately into the heated room. What result was to be expected from this operation? After the removal of the spleen something developed in the rabbit's body at the same place, something to which the Cosmos could have access. As long as the spleen itself was there the Cosmos could do nothing; but if the spleen is removed, the etheric spleen alone remains, and the etheric spleen adapts itself to the working forces of the Cosmos. It was to be expected, then, that at the place where the spleen had been, something would develop in the form that is a copy of the Cosmos, namely, the spherical form. And this is what we actually found! When we opened the rabbit we found a tiny organic body, spherical in shape; it had been produced by the in-working cosmic forces—when the condition in which the Earth alone works had been removed. This is entirely in line with the contention that the fertilised ovum is a body in which a state of chaos has been induced. And so karma led us to an external proof of something that holds good in another sphere altogether.
In many respects it is the case that if a man's thoughts and feelings are the outcome of contemporary civilisation, his outlook is bound to be limited to the Earth; he is incapable of directing his gaze in any real sense to the Cosmos. Let me remind you of what is said in the book Occult Science, namely that the Moon and the Earth were originally one body, but that the Moon subsequently separated from the Earth. This fact is revealed to seership but it is also to some extent recognised by modern natural science. Particularly in the last few years a certain literary and scientific movement has been speaking—although in an erroneous way—of this relationship of the Moon to the Earth. The Moon in the heavens was once united with the Earth, was then ejected—if I may so express it—and since then has been circling around the Earth.
I must now speak of a second fact, connected with man's spiritual development in earthly existence. Even a purely external survey of what men have achieved on the Earth indicates the existence of a primordial, archetypal wisdom. It was not, of course, imparted in the abstract, intellectual forms demanded to-day, nor was it so closely bound up with the senses. It was imparted in a more pictorial, poetic form. Of this primordial wisdom itself, which existed on the Earth in times long before writing was known, nothing has remained. Echoes have been preserved in sagas and myths, in the wonderful Vedic literature, in the Vedanta and other Eastern texts. Anyone who steeps himself in this literature—not in the style of Deussen who sees only the outermost surface but for all that is an interpreter of great renown—anyone who can get to the depths of what this literature contains will have a profound reverence for the infinite wisdom there expressed in a pictorial, poetic form. He will feel that behind it all there was something unuttered and unwritten, perhaps even greater and more significant a primordial, archetypal wisdom. How was this wisdom attained? Men did not study as we do to-day, imbibing the contents of book after book and so gradually amassing a certain amount of information. Every human being who had developed a certain insight in those ancient times knew what Inspiration is, knew how to read in the world itself—not in books—when he induced in himself the right attitude of soul. He knew the reality of inner illumination; it was as real to him as the reading of books is real to us to-day. The priests in the Mysteries brought him to the stage where he was able to experience this inner illumination and become aware of spiritual reality in the Universe. This indeed was the purpose of the instruction he received in the Mysteries. He did not feel that the illumination came to him from the clouds. If we to-day were listening to someone talking from behind a screen, we should not attribute the voice to some undefined source but to an actual person. Similarly, a man who attained illumination knew: there are Beings on the Earth who, although they are not in physical incarnation, are the great Teachers of humanity. Man knew that he moved among Beings who were not, like himself, incarnate in flesh and blood but who were etheric Beings, imparting the illumination and the content of the primordial wisdom. He knew that the Earth was peopled not only by human beings of flesh and blood but by other Beings too, working and living in etheric bodies.
In studying these things we must get rid of the preconceived notion that humanity has lived on the Earth since the time of which records exist and that this was preceded by undefined conditions leading back to the man ape or the ape man. This is a really ludicrous idea! What the historians say holds good for a few centuries only, namely, that human beings have not changed fundamentally, except that they are supposed to have become cleverer. It is said that the Egyptians were a superstitious people, that they had mummies and other such customs, but apart from cleverness they are thought to have been just like modern men. Nothing is known with any certainty of the long period of previous history, but the view is that it leads back finally to the man ape.
That is a view of evolution which must be abandoned! Man peopled the Earth before the animals, only in a different form; man is the older being, as you can read in Occult Science. The ancient Teachers of the primeval wisdom did not incarnate in physical bodies but lived in spirit bodies, and the men who communed with them, having experienced—as we ourselves experienced—the event of the separation of the Moon, knew that these Beings who had been among them as great Teachers had gone forth into the Cosmos, that they were no longer on the Earth but on the Moon. So that in truth not only the physical substance of the Moon but these spiritual Beings too, separated from the Earth. Once upon a time these Beings—who do not pass through birth and death in the same way as man—withdrew from the Earth and took up their abode on the Moon, although the actual substance of the Moon has been involved for long ages in a constant process of change.
This applies equally to man. In a period of seven to eight years the physical substances in the human body have completely changed. If anyone imagines that the bodies sitting here are the same as they were a few years ago, he is mistaken. The physical substance is entirely different; the soul and spirit has remained. Natural science is aware of this fact but pays no attention to it. The following question was once put to me after a lecture: “It is said that bees, as a hive, have a real link with the beekeeper, that if he has been very devoted to his bees and then dies, the hive is aware of his death and often dies too. How can this possibly happen? The bees as single entities have no faculties for knowing a human being, and the hive is only the sum total of the single bees!”—But this is by no means correct. I answered by using the following analogy. “Twenty years ago, two men were together. One of them goes to America, the other stays behind; after fifteen years the former returns from America and recognises his friend again. Yet not a single particle of the same physical substance has remained!”—And so it is not a question of each individual bee but of the intelligence of the beehive as a unit and that is not really so very different from human intelligence. As men, we are distinct from the cells in our bodies, from our various organs. And just as no single particle of the bodies of those who attended my lectures ten years ago has remained, but only the soul and spirit, so, although the Moon substance which once left the Earth has long since passed away, has been exchanged in the Cosmos, the Beings have remained. How these Beings have continued to participate in the life of earthly humanity is clearly revealed to the vision of Initiation, and to deeper observation of what we call karma. I will begin to speak about this to-day and continue in the following lectures.
When we make the acquaintance of a human being we do not as a rule give sufficient thought to the fact that we have really steered our whole earthly life towards this meeting. Acquaintance with another human being may take two forms. If we pay close attention we shall find more or less the following.—We get to know some person and feel aware of an intimate bond with him, no matter what he is like outwardly—good looking or ugly, intelligent or stupid. We pay no attention to his outer appearance; we feel an inner bond with him. That is the one alternative, in its extreme form. The other alternative is this.—We make the acquaintance of someone without feeling any inner bond, but he makes an intellectual or a moral impression upon us. We can describe him in great detail. Our relationship with the first acquaintance is such that if, after our meeting, we are among other people who also know him, it goes against the grain to talk about him; we feel a kind of embarrassment; there is something essentially inward in our relationship with him. But to talk about the second acquaintance is quite easy. We say that he is intelligent, or that he is a fool; we can describe the very shape of his nose, but we have no inner affinity with him. In the case of some people, no sooner have we made their acquaintance than we are always dreaming about them. We may get to know another person extremely well; we may be with him every day but we never by any chance dream about him because we have not been stirred inwardly. Very rarely indeed will there by anyone like Garibaldi,1Garibaldi, 1807–1882. The maiden name of his Brazilian wife was Anita Riveira de Silva. who felt the inner bond even before there was any direct, personal relationship. Such cases are rare, but they do occur. The circumstances in which Garibaldi met his first wife are very interesting. External life affected him so little that he had no interest whatever in women. On a voyage to the coast of Brazil he happened to look at the land through his telescope and saw a girl standing on the shore. At that very moment he knew that she must become his wife. He hurried his ship to the land where a man greeted him in a friendly way and invited him to a meal at his house. Garibaldi accepted, and this man turned out to be the father of the girl he had seen through the telescope! Even before the meal was served he said to her—he spoke only Italian and she only Portuguese—that she must be his for life. She understood, and a very beautiful relationship was established between them. There you have a telling example of a karmic relationship. There was something heroic in the way the woman behaved. She accompanied Garibaldi on his campaigns in South America and when the news came that he had fallen on the battlefield, she went to search for him there. These were the circumstances in which she gave birth to her child, and in order to keep it warm she was obliged to strap it round her neck. Such experiences helped Garibaldi to find a firmer foothold in life. His wife eventually died and he married another woman whose acquaintance he made in an entirely conventional way; but this marriage lasted only for a day!
These are matters where karma stares us in the face, indicating two ways in which karma comes to expression between one human being and another. The karmic relationships differ entirely according to whether a man feels an inner bond or whether he can describe only the external characteristics of the other person.
When we study karmic experiences like that of an acquaintanceship where beauty or ugliness counts for nothing but where the feeling of kinship wells up entirely from within, we are led to discern the influence of those Beings of whom I have said that they were the original, primeval Teachers of mankind; they have remained active to this day, but now they work from outside, from the Cosmos. Such relationships are of special interest to these Moon Beings and through them they participate in the most intimate way in the evolution of earthly humanity.
Just as there are Beings who belong to the Moon, so there are Beings who belong to the Sun. We have spoken of relationships where we find it easy to describe the other person in a more external way. In these cases it is the Sun Beings who interest themselves in the threads that are woven between soul and soul.
In studying human relationships we are led away from the Earth, first of all to the Sun and the Moon. There are human relationships in which we discern the working of the Moon; others in which we discern the working of the Sun. And so stage by stage we are led from the Earth to the Cosmos.
All that has been possible to-day is to make a beginning and we will continue in the lectures that are to follow.
Erster Vortrag
Ich möchte diese Mitgliedervorträge heute damit beginnen, daß ich Ihnen auseinandersetze, wie Anthroposophie einfach dadurch, daß sie ihre Einsichten an den Menschen heranbringt, das ganze menschliche Bewußtsein heraushebt aus der Erdenschwere. Es ist ja heute kaum einem Menschen, der in der allgemeinen Zivilisation darinsteht, möglich, anders zu denken, als daß er mit seinem Erdenleben zwischen Geburt und Tod auch der Erde angehört. Alles übrige, die Angehörigkeit einer geistigen Welt gegenüber, ist ja zumeist nur ein Glaube, eine Ahnung und dergleichen. Eine Einsicht in die Zusammengehörigkeit des Menschen mit etwas anderem, als was auf der Erde ist, ist ja dem heutigen Menschen, der seine Erziehung, seine ganze Bildung aus der heutigen Zivilisation schöpfen muß, eigentlich kaum möglich. Und dennoch ist das, gerade dieser Glaube, nur mit Erdenverhältnissen zu tun zu haben, wenn man vom Menschen spricht, der große Irrtum unserer Zivilisation, unseres ganzen zeitgenössischen Geisteslebens, ich möchte sagen über die ganze westliche und mittlere Welt hin. Nur der Orient hat sich ein, wenn auch dekadentes, Bewußtsein bewahrt von der Zusammengehörigkeit des Menschen mit den die Erde umgebenden übersinnlichen Weltenmächten und Weltenkräften. Der Mensch in alter Zeit fühlte sich in seinem Menschenwesen abhängig von den Sternen, wie er sich abhängig fühlte von den Pflanzen, von den Tieren,. die auf der Erde wachsen und herumwandeln. Man wußte in alter Zeit, daß der Mond nicht nur ein physischer Weltkörper sei, der im Erdenraum herumschwebt. Um viel mehr kümmert man sich heute ja nicht, höchstens untersucht man, ob es Erhebungen dort gibt oder nicht, oder Wasser, und stellt darüber Hypothesen auf. Aber um sonst etwas kümmert man sich schon beim Mond nicht, der uns am nächsten steht, geschweige denn bei den andern Himmelskörpern, die man ja nur ihren physischen Verhältnissen nach untersucht. Das war in alten Zeiten ganz anders. Da wußte sich der Mensch durchaus abhängig von den Himmelskörpern, wie er sich heute abhängig weiß von der Erde.
Ich will von etwas ausgehen, was eine gewisse wissenschaftliche Bedeutung hat, was vielleicht manchen nicht sympathisch ist, allein es wird etwas Leichtes sein. Ich habe oft in anthroposophischen Vorträgen betont, daß ja der Mensch, auch wenn er rein naturwissenschaftlich untersucht wird, seinem Erdenleben nach den Beweis liefert, daß in seine Bildung etwas eingeht, was außerirdisch ist. Die Naturwissenschaft glaubt, daß der erste Eikeim der komplizierteste Körper ist, der auf der Erde nur sein kann. Man denkt nach über die komplizierte Struktur, die der Eikeim haben kann. Man sagt, das Atom ist in letzter Zeit ein ganz wunderbares Wesen geworden, und nun erst das Molekül! Und nun so etwas wie eine Zelle, das ist etwas furchtbar Kompliziertes! -— Aber das ist eben nicht der Fall beim Eikeim; in Wirklichkeit stellt sich der Eikeim gar nicht als komplizierter Körper dar, sondern der Eikeim stellt sich als ein Chaos dar. Alle chemisch-physikalische Struktur zerfällt, und bevor ein Lebewesen entstehen kann, muß der Eikeim in chaotischen Staub zerfallen sein. Gerade das ist der Sinn der Befruchtung, daß sie den Keim zum Chaos treibt, so daß im mütterlichen Organismus eine vollständig zerklüftete Materie besteht. Das ist der Sinn der Vorgänge im mütterlichen Leibe, daß da ein vollständiges Chaos ist. Wenn Sie einen Kristall haben: der Kosmos kann nicht wirken bei dem Kristall mit den festen Kanten; wenn Sie eine Pflanze haben: die hat auch eine feste Gestalt, da kann der Kosmos auch nicht wirken; beim Tier ist es ebenso. Das ist der Sinn der Befruchtung, daß der Eikeim zum Chaos wird. Erst dann wirkt der ganze Kosmos von seiner Umgebung auf diesen Keim ein, und dann wird der Mensch wirklich aus dem Kosmos heraus gebildet, so daß einziehen kann in ihn das wirkliche Geistig-Seelische, das aus vergangenen Erdenleben kommt. “
Das ist etwas, was gegenüber den heutigen Anschauungen ein Unsinn ist, aber dieser Unsinn ist die Wahrheit. Das ist in unserer heutigen Zeit das Schreckliche, daß man gegenüber den landläufigen Ansichten Unsinn sagen muß, wenn man die Wahrheit spricht. Nun kann man sagen: Das ergibt sich aus dem okkulten Anschauen, was du da behauptest; aber kann man das auch nachprüfen? - Man kann es auch nachprüfen; das können schon mehr Leute, als man gewöhnlich glaubt. Aber es gibt auch einen äußerlichen Beweis für diese Tatsache. Uns hat sich an unserem biologischen Forschungsinstitut in Stuttgart ein merkwürdiger äußerer Beweis ergeben. Es sind da Forschungen gemacht worden über die Funktion der Milz. Sie wissen vielleicht: die Milz ist immer als ganz problematischer Organismus betrachtet worden. Da erzählt man ja von einem Rigorosum, bei dem der Professor den Kandidaten fragt: «Können Sie mir etwas sagen über die Milz?» Der Kandidat besinnt sich und stottert ganz jammervoll heraus: «Das habe ich vergessen.» Da sagt der Professor: «Das ist schade! Kein Mensch hat das jemals gewußt, Sie waren der einzige, und Sie haben es vergessen.»
Nun habe ich eine gewisse Methode angegeben aus der Geisteswissenschaft heraus, nach der von Fran Dr. Kolisko die Funktion der Milz untersucht worden ist. Sie wird zwar noch angefochten, aber es wird sich schon durchsetzen, da sie wirklich exakt ist. Aber nun hat sich etwas anderes herausgestellt. Manches muß man so machen, wie man es seinem Herzen nach nicht machen würde, sondern weil die anderen diese Methoden haben. So haben wir uns entschlossen, Kaninchen die Milz zu exstirpieren. Das ist ja keine Vivisektion, sondern eine einfache Operation, und wir haben alles Mögliche getan, damit die Tiere nicht gequält würden. Aber eines dieser Kaninchen ist gestorben, weil es eine Erkältung bekam; es wurde nämlich nach der Operation nicht in den Warmraum gebracht.
Was mußte man da erwarten? Die Milz hatten wir herausgenommen, dadurch war etwas eingetreten an der Milzstelle, was im Kaninchenorganismus war und nun dem Kosmos exponiert war. Solange die Milz an ihrer Stelle war, konnte der Kosmos nichts machen; nimmt man die Milz heraus, so ist bloß die Äthermilz da. Dadurch ordnet sich die Äthermilz an, wie es dem Hereinwirken des Kosmos entspricht. Was war zu erwarten? Daß an der Stelle der Milzform etwas entsteht in kosmischer Form, daß eine Nachahmung des Kosmischen entsteht: als solche bildet sich heraus eine Kugelform. Und richtig! Als wir das Kaninchen sezierten, fanden wir einen ganz kleinen organischen Körper in Kugelform, der sich nachträglich aus dem Einwirken des Kosmos gebildet hatte - ganz nach der Anschauung, daß sich der Eikeim als ein chaotischer Körper darstellt -, nachdem man die Bedingung, daß bloß die Erde wirkt, weggenommen hatte. So fügte es das Karma, daß wir zu einem äußeren Beweis kamen für das, was auf einem ganz abgesonderten Gebiet behauptet werden muß.
So ist eben wirklich die Sache so, daß heute vielfach der Mensch gar nicht anders kann, wenn er aus der Zeitzivilisation heraus seine Empfindungen entwickelt, als sich auf etwas zu beschränken, was in der Zivilisation der Erde liegt und gar nicht den Blick hinausrichtet in die Weiten der Welt.
Ich muß Sie jetzt, um die Grundlagen für die weiteren Ausführungen zu haben, daran erinnern, wie in meinem Buche «Geheimwissenschaft » ausgeführt ist, daß der heutige Mond sich einmal von der Erde abgespalten hat, nachdem er früher ein Körper mit der Erde war. Das ist etwas, was sich dem Schauen ergibt, was aber auch von der heutigen Naturwissenschaft schon anerkannt wird. Insbesondere in den letzten Jahren zeigte sich eine literarische Bewegung, die mit diesem Verhältnis des Mondes zur Erde, wenn auch in irrtümlicher Art, rechnet. Wir müssen uns bewußt werden, daß der Mond, wie er heute am Himmel erscheint, einmal eine Einheit mit der Erde gebildet hat, daß er von der Erde hinausgeschleudert worden ist, wenn ich so sagen darf, und die Erde seit einer gewissen Zeit umkreist.
Ich muß nun auf eine zweite Tatsache hinweisen. Diese betrifft die seelisch-geistige Entwickelung der Menschen im Erdendasein. Schon eine rein äußerliche Betrachtung desjenigen, was auf der Erde von Menschen geleistet worden ist, zeigt ja, daß schon einmal etwas bestanden hat wie eine Art von Urweisheit. Gewiß, sie ist nicht in den intellektuellen Formen gegeben worden, die heute verlangt werden; so abstrakt in Gedanken und so an die Sinne gebunden, wie es heute verlangt wird, ist sie nicht gegeben worden. Sie ist in mehr bildhaft-poetischer Form gegeben worden. Von der wirklichen Urweisheit, die ja zu einer Zeit auf der Erde bestanden hat, als man noch nicht geschrieben hat, von dieser wirklichen Urweisheit ist ja nichts da. Was aber erhalten geblieben ist, das sind Sagen, Mythen, die wunderbare Veden-Literatur, die Literatur der Vedanta, die morgenländischen Schriften. Derjenige, der sich in sie vertieft - und zwar nicht etwa wie Deussen, der nur das Alleräußerlichste sieht und als berühmter Übersetzer gilt -, wer sich wirklich vertiefen kann in dasjenige, was da ist, bekommt schon eine tiefe Ehrfurcht vor der unendlichen Weisheit, die darinnen liegt, die nur in einer poetischen, bildhaften Form auftritt. Und er bekommt das Gefühl, daß hinter dem etwas nicht Ausgesprochenes und Unaufgeschriebenes gelebt hat, was vielleicht größer und bedeutender war: eine Urweisheit.
Wie hat diese Urweisheit gelebt? So studieren, wie wir heute studieren, indem wir uns hinsetzen, uns Bücher einprägen und dergleichen und dadurch uns allmählich hinaufwinden, etwas zu wissen, so geschah es ja nicht in der Sphäre der Urweisheit. Jeder, der zu einer bestimmten Einsicht gekommen war zu dieser Epoche, hat gewußt, was Inspiration ist, hat zu lesen verstanden in der Welt — nicht in Büchern -, wenn er sich in die nötige Seelenverfassung versetzte. Er wußte, dann kommt es über ihn, dann wird er innerlich erleuchtet. Dieses Innerlich-Erleuchtetwerden, das wurde so real genommen, wie wir heute das Lesen in Büchern real nehmen. Der Mensch erlangte ein Verhältnis zum Geistigen in der Welt dadurch, daß er in den alten Mysterien durch den Einweihungspriester dazu gebracht worden ist, die Erleuchtung in sich erleben zu können. Der Unterricht in den Mysterien bestand ja darin, den Menschen dahin zu bringen, diese innerliche Erleuchtung erleben zu lernen. Er war nicht der Ansicht, irgend etwas aus Wolkenkuckucksheimen erleuchte ihn. Es wäre ungefähr so, wie wenn wir heute irgendwo hinter einer spanischen Wand einem Menschen zuhörten und nicht glaubten, daß da ein: Mensch spricht, sondern daß etwas Unbestimmtes hinter der spanischen Wand uns etwas zuraunt, Ebensowenig wie wir heute glauben würden, wenn wir das hörten, daß da etwas Unbestimmtes spricht, sondern wie wir ein Wesen vermuten würden hinter unserer Wahrnehmung, so wußte derjenige, der zur Erleuchtung kam: Da sind Wesen auf der Erde, die nicht zur physischen Verkörperung kommen, sondern durch die Erleuchtung die großen Lehrer der Menschheit sind. - Der Mensch war sich bewußt: er ist in Fleisch und Blut, er geht herum unter Menschenwesen, die nicht in Fleisch und Blut sind, die aber einen ätherischen Leib haben, die ätherische Wesen sind, die dazu da sind, um die Erleuchtung zu geben, die Inhalt der Urweisheit war. So wußte man: Die Erde wird nicht nur bevölkert von Menschen in Fleisch und Blut, sondern auch von anderen Wesen, die einen ätherischen Leib haben.
Nun muß man sich natürlich, wenn man eine solche Sache betrachtet, freimachen von dem Vorurteil, als ob die Menschheit, so wie sie jetzt ist, auf der Erde gelebt hätte seit der Zeit, in welcher Urkunden da sind; davor setzt man das Unbestimmte und dann, nachdem man durch dieses Unbestimmte durchgeschritten ist, kommt man an die Menschenaffen oder Affenmenschen. Das ist ja eigentlich eine höchst drollige Anschauung! Was der Historiker sagen kann, das gilt für ein paar Jahrhunderte: da waren die Menschen ähnlich, wie sie heute sind, natürlich nicht so gescheit, aber doch so ähnlich, wie sie heute sind. So gescheit wie wir seien die Menschen erst in den letzten Jahrhunderten geworden; aber abgesehen von unserer größeren Gescheitheit seien sie so gewesen, wie wir heute sind. - Die Ägypter waren abergläubisch, haben Mumien gehabt; - aber man stellt sie sich sonst doch im Ganzen so vor, wie die heutigen Menschen, abgesehen von der Gescheitheit! Davor liegt eine Periode, von der man nichts weiß. Aber nachdem die Periode, von der man nichts weiß, lang gedauert hatte, da waren die Menschenaffen da.
Sehen Sie, das ist eine Anschauung, von der man sich freimachen muß. Der Mensch hat die Erde früher bevölkert als die Tiere, nur in anderer Gestalt, er ist das ältere Wesen. Sie können das in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» nachlesen. Und so erlebten dann auch die Menschen, die mit den alten Urlehrern zusammengelebt haben, die noch nicht Menschenkörper angenommen hatten, die in Geistkörpern gelebt haben, daß mit dem Mondenaustritt, den sie ja miterlebt hatten — wir selbst haben ihn miterlebt -, diese Wesen, die unter ihnen gelebt haben als Urlehrer, in den Kosmos hinausgezogen sind und seither eben nicht die Erde, sondern den Mond bewohnen. So daß eigentlich nicht nur die physische Substanz des Mondes, sondern auch die Wesenheiten, die den Mond bisher geistig bewohnten, als von der Erde abgetrennt anzusehen sind. Ja, es ist sogar naturwissenschaftlich so, daß man von diesen Wesen reden kann, daß sie einmal ausgezogen sind — sie unterliegen nicht in derselben Weise Geburt und Tod wie der Mensch - und auf dem Monde wohnen, während der Mond längst seine Substanzen verloren und umgewandelt hat.
Da geht etwas ähnliches vor, wie mit dem Menschen. Ja, denken Sie einmal, daß der Mensch seine physischen Substanzen in sieben bis acht Jahren ganz auswechselt! Wenn jemand glaubt, derselbe Körper sitze da, der vor einigen Jahren dagesessen ist, so ist das nicht so. Die physische Substanz hat sich ausgewechselt, das Geistig-Seelische ist geblieben. In dieser Beziehung weiß man schon die Tatsache in der Naturwissenschaft, aber man achtet nicht auf sie. Ich wurde einmal gefragt bei einem Vortrag: Es wird gesagt, daß die Bienen als Bienenstock eine gewisse Beziehung zum Bienenvater haben, daß es bei seinem Tode, wenn er recht anhänglich an seine Bienen war, vorkommt, daß der Bienenstock es merkt und vielfach auch stirbt. Wie kann das sein? Die einzelnen Bienen haben ja doch keine solchen Fähigkeiten, daß sie den Menschen kennen, und der Bienenstock ist ja nur eine Summe von einzelnen Bienen! — Das aber ist nicht wahr, der Bienenstock ist ja gar nicht die Summe der einzelnen Bienen. Ich gebrauchte folgenden Vergleich: Zwei Menschen waren da vor zwei Jahrzehnten. Der eine ist nach Amerika gegangen, der andere ist dageblieben; der erstere kommt nach fünfzehn Jahren aus Amerika zurück und erkennt seinen Freund wieder. - Es kommt gar nicht an auf die einzelnen Teile; von der ursprünglichen Substanz ist ja nichts geblieben. So kommt es nicht auf die einzelnen Bienen an, sondern auf die Intelligenz des Bienenstockes, und die ist nicht einmal viel anders als beim Menschen. Wir als Menschen sind auch etwas anderes als unsere Zellen, als unsere einzelnen Organe. Und so wie von denjenigen Freunden, die hier vor zehn Jahren meinen Vorträgen beigewohnt haben, nichts mehr physisch da ist, sondern nur das Seelisch-Geistige, so ist auch beim Mond längst nichts mehr von der Substanz da, die einmal von der Erde hinausgegangen ist, die hat sich längst wiederholt ausgetauscht im Kosmos. Dagegen sind die Wesenheiten da. Wie diese Wesenheiten aber trotzdem wirksam geblieben sind für die Erdenmenschheit, das zeigt sich für eine wirkliche Einweihungsbetrachtung ganz deutlich. Das zeigt sich dann, wenn wir etwas genauer eingehen auf dasjenige, was wir das Karma nennen. Ich will heute damit beginnen, wir werden dann diese Betrachtungen in den nächsten Vorträgen fortsetzen.
Wir beachten, wenn wir einem Menschen begegnen, gewöhnlich nicht genügend, wie wir eigentlich unser ganzes Erdenleben hindirigiert haben zu dieser Begegnung. Und bei diesem Kennenlernen eines Menschen begegnen wir einem Zweifachen. Beachten Sie das nur, Sie werden finden, daß in irgendeiner mehr oder weniger abgeschwächten Weise das vorhanden ist, was ich jetzt erzählen will. Man lernt einen andern kennen. Es ist oftmals so, daß wir mit diesem anderen, ganz gleich ob er schön oder häßlich, gescheit oder dumm ist, er kann irgendwie sein, eine innige Verbindung eingehen. Die steigt aus unserem Inneren auf. Wir beachten gar nicht, wie er im Äußeren ist: wir fühlen ein Band zu ihm. Das ist die eine Art im Extrem. Die andere Art ist: Wir lernen einen Menschen kennen, wir fühlen dieses innere Band nicht, sondern wir nehmen Gelegenheit, einen intellektuellen oder moralischen Eindruck von ihm zu bekommen. Wir können ihn gut beschreiben. Über den ersten Menschen zu sprechen, wenn wir nachher in eine Gesellschaft gehen, die ihn auch kennt, ist uns etwas Unangenehmes, wir haben das Gefühl: es ist unangenehm; es ist etwas Innerliches im Verhältnis zu ihm. Den anderen Menschen können wir hübsch beschreiben, wir können sagen: Er ist gescheit oder ein Tor, wir wissen ihn zu beschreiben bis auf die Einzelheiten seiner Nase; aber wir leben ohne innere Teilnahme an ihm. Es gibt Bekanntschaften, die wir machen, kaum haben wir diese Bekanntschaft gemacht, so passiert es uns, daß wir von diesem Menschen träumen, daß uns die Träume gar nicht mehr verlassen. Wir lernen einen anderen noch so gut kennen, sind täglich beisammen: nicht der geringste Traum stellt sich ein. Unser Inneres ist nicht so stark ergriffen, daß wir von ihm träumen. Der Fall, daß jemand so lebt, wie Garibaldi, der das innere Band auch dann fühlt, wenn gar keine unmittelbare persönliche Beziehung da ist, ist selten, aber auch dieser Fall kommt vor. Denn bei Garibaldi ist es sehr interessant, wie er seine erste Frau gefunden hat. In der äußeren Welt war er so wenig darin, daß er gar kein Interesse hatte an Damen. Auf einer Seereise an der brasilianischen Küste richtete er das Fernrohr aufs Land und sah ein junges Mädchen: In diesem Augenblick war er sich klar darüber, daß sie seine Frau werden müsse. Er stürmte ans Land mit seinem Schiff, ein Mann war da, der ihn freundlich empfing und ihn fragte, ob er nicht Mittag bei ihm essen wolle. Garibaldi sagt zu. Es war der Vater des Mädchens, das er auf dem Lande gesehen hatte! Bevor noch das Mittagsmahl aufgetragen wat, sagte er ihr - er sprach nur italienisch und sie nur portugiesisch -, sie müsse sein werden für das Leben. Sie verstand es aber doch, und es wurde eines der schönsten Herzensverhältnisse begründet. Es ist da im extremen Fall gezeigt, daß etwas wie ein karmisches Verhältnis da war. Es war etwas Heldenhaftes im Verhalten der Frau, in der Art, wie sie sich verhielt. Sie begleitete ihn bei seinen Kämpfen in Südamerika, und als die Nachricht kam, er sei auf dem Schlachtfeld gefallen, suchte sie ihn auf dem Schlachtfelde. In dieser Situation gebar sie ihr Kind. Um es zu wärmen, mußte sie es sich um den Hals schnallen.
Durch solche Erlebnisse wuchs Garibaldi mehr in das Leben hinein. Die Frau starb ihm hinweg, er heiratete eine andere. Der näherte er sich auf ganz bürgerliche Weise; aber diese Ehe dauerte nur einen Tag!
Das sind Dinge, wo man so mit der Nase auf das Karma gestoßen wird, die einem zeigen, wenn man sie ins Auge faßt, daß in dieser zweifachen Weise sich der Mensch verhalten kann zu anderen Menschen in bezug auf das Karma. Ganz anders liegen die karmischen Verhältnisse, wenn der Mensch die innere Zusammengehörigkeit fühlt, als wenn er den anderen Menschen nur äußerlich beschreiben kann.
Nun, gerade dann, wenn man hinschaut auf solche karmische Erlebnisse, wie dieses Bekanntwerden mit einem anderen Menschen, wo Schönheit oder Häßlichkeit nichts ausmacht, sondern wo von innen heraus der Impuls der Zusammengehörigkeit entspringt, wird man auf den Einfluß hingewiesen derjenigen Wesenheiten, die ich beschrieben habe als Urlehrer, die heute noch immer tätig geblieben sind, aber von außen, vom Kosmos herein, Solche Verhältnisse interessieren vor allen Dingen diese Mondenwesen, und durch solche Verhältnisse hindurch und über solche Verhältnisse hinweg nehmen sie an der Entwickelung der Erdenmenschheit den innigsten Anteil.
Und wie es Mondenwesenheiten gibt, ebenso gibt es auch Sonnenwesenheiten, die mit der Sonne zusammenhängen. So ist es auch bei denjenigen Verhältnissen, wo wir den anderen Menschen mehr äußerlich beschreiben können. Da interessieren sich die Sonnenwesen für das, was von Menschenseele zu Menschenseele gesponnen wird.
Da werden wir, wenn wir die rein menschlichen Verhältnisse betrachten, von der Erde hinweggeleitet zunächst zu Sonne und Mond. Und da kann man sagen: es gibt menschliche Verhältnisse, in denen wir die Mondenwirksamkeit, und solche, in denen wir die Sonnenwirksamkeit sehen. Und so wird man hinausgeleitet von Stufe zu Stufe: von der Erde zum Kosmos.
Wir konnten diese Betrachtung heute nur beginnen, morgen und in den nächsten Vorträgen wollen wir sie fortsetzen.
First Lecture
I would like to begin these lectures to members today by explaining to you how anthroposophy, simply by bringing its insights to the human being, lifts the whole human consciousness out of the heaviness of the earth. It is hardly possible today for a human being who is part of the general civilization to think otherwise than that he also belongs to the earth with his life on earth between birth and death. Everything else, the affiliation to a spiritual world, is mostly just a belief, a hunch and the like. An insight into the affiliation of man with something other than what is on earth is actually hardly possible for today's man, who has to draw his education, his whole education from today's civilization. And yet it is precisely this belief that we only have to do with earthly conditions when we speak of man that is the great error of our civilization, of our entire contemporary spiritual life, I would say of the entire western and middle world. Only the Orient has preserved a consciousness, albeit a decadent one, of the interconnectedness of man with the supersensible world powers and world forces surrounding the earth. In ancient times, man felt dependent on the stars in his human nature, just as he felt dependent on the plants and animals that grow and move about on earth. In ancient times it was known that the moon was not just a physical world body floating around in earthly space. Today we don't concern ourselves with much more than that, at most we investigate whether or not there are elevations there, or water, and formulate hypotheses about them. But we don't look at anything else, not even the moon, which is closest to us, let alone the other celestial bodies, which we only study according to their physical conditions. It was quite different in ancient times. Man knew himself to be dependent on the celestial bodies, just as he knows himself to be dependent on the earth today.
I want to start from something that has a certain scientific significance, which may not be pleasant to some, but it will be something easy. I have often emphasized in anthroposophical lectures that man, even if he is examined purely scientifically, provides evidence that something extraterrestrial enters into his formation. Natural science believes that the first egg is the most complicated body that can exist on earth. One thinks about the complicated structure that the egg germ can have. They say that the atom has recently become a wonderful being, and now the molecule! And now something like a cell, that's something terribly complicated! -- But that is not the case with the egg germ; in reality, the egg germ is not a complicated body at all, but rather a chaos. All chemical-physical structure disintegrates, and before a living being can come into being, the egg germ must have disintegrated into chaotic dust. This is precisely the purpose of fertilization, that it drives the germ to chaos, so that a completely fissured matter exists in the maternal organism. That is the meaning of the processes in the maternal womb, that there is complete chaos. If you have a crystal: the cosmos cannot work in the crystal with the solid edges; if you have a plant: it also has a solid form, the cosmos cannot work there either; it is the same with the animal. That is the meaning of fertilization, that the egg germ becomes chaos. Only then does the whole cosmos from its environment have an effect on this germ, and then the human being is really formed out of the cosmos, so that the real spiritual-soul that comes from past earthly lives can enter into him.
This is something that is nonsense compared to today's views, but this nonsense is the truth. That is the terrible thing in our day and age, that you have to speak nonsense in the face of popular views when you speak the truth. Now one can say: This is the result of occult observation, what you are claiming; but can it be verified? - It can be verified; more people can do it than is usually believed. But there is also external proof of this fact. At our biological research institute in Stuttgart we have found a strange external proof. Research has been carried out into the function of the spleen. As you may know, the spleen has always been regarded as a very problematic organism. There is a story about a oral examination in which the professor asks the candidate: “Can you tell me something about the spleen?” The candidate comes to his senses and stammers out, “I've forgotten.” The professor says: "That's a shame! No one has ever known that, you were the only one, and you forgot."
Now I have given a certain method from spiritual science, according to which the function of the spleen was investigated by Fran Dr. Kolisko. It is still being contested, but it will prevail because it is really exact. But now something else has emerged. Some things have to be done the way you would not do them in your heart, but because others have these methods. So we decided to extirpate the spleen of rabbits. This is not a vivisection, but a simple operation, and we did everything possible to ensure that the animals were not tortured. But one of these rabbits died because it caught a cold; it was not brought into the warm room after the operation.
What should we have expected? We had removed the spleen, so something had occurred at the spleen site that was in the rabbit's organism and was now exposed to the cosmos. As long as the spleen was in place, the cosmos could do nothing; if the spleen is removed, only the etheric spleen is there. As a result, the ether spleen arranges itself according to the influence of the cosmos. What was to be expected? That something in cosmic form would arise in the place of the spleen form, that an imitation of the cosmic would arise: as such a spherical form emerges. And right! When we dissected the rabbit, we found a very small organic body in spherical form, which had subsequently formed from the action of the cosmos - entirely according to the view that the egg germ presents itself as a chaotic body - after the condition that only the earth acts had been removed. In this way, karma brought us to an external proof of what must be asserted in a completely separate field.
This is how it really is today, when man develops his sensations out of the civilization of time, he often cannot help but limit himself to something that lies within the civilization of the earth and does not look out into the vastness of the world.
I must now remind you, in order to have the basis for the further explanations, as is explained in my book “Secret Science”, that the moon of today once split off from the earth, after it was once one body with the earth. This is something that is obvious to us, but it is also recognized by today's natural science. In recent years in particular, a literary movement has emerged that reckons with this relationship of the moon to the earth, albeit erroneously. We must realize that the moon, as it appears in the sky today, once formed a unity with the earth, that it has been ejected from the earth, if I may say so, and has been orbiting the earth for a certain time.
I must now point out a second fact. This concerns the soul-spiritual development of human beings in their earthly existence. Even a purely external observation of what has been accomplished by human beings on earth shows that something like a kind of primordial wisdom once existed. Certainly, it was not given in the intellectual forms that are demanded today; it was not given as abstractly in thought and as bound to the senses as is demanded today. It was given in a more pictorial-poetic form. There is nothing of the real original wisdom that existed on earth at a time when people did not yet write. What has been preserved, however, are legends, myths, the wonderful Vedic literature, the literature of the Vedanta, the Oriental writings. Those who immerse themselves in them - and not like Deussen, who only sees the most superficial things and is considered a famous translator - those who can really immerse themselves in what is there, already get a deep reverence for the infinite wisdom that lies within, which only appears in a poetic, pictorial form. And he gets the feeling that something unspoken and unwritten lived behind it, which was perhaps greater and more significant: a primordial wisdom.
How did this primordial wisdom live? Studying the way we study today, by sitting down, memorizing books and the like, and thereby gradually working our way up to knowing something, did not happen in the sphere of primordial wisdom. Everyone who had come to a certain insight at that epoch knew what inspiration was, knew how to read in the world - not in books - if he put himself in the necessary state of mind. He knew that then it would come over him, then he would be inwardly enlightened. This inner enlightenment was taken as real as we take reading books as real today. Man attained a relationship to the spiritual in the world through the fact that in the ancient mysteries he was led by the initiating priest to be able to experience enlightenment within himself. The teaching in the Mysteries consisted of bringing the person to learn to experience this inner enlightenment. He was not of the opinion that something from cloud-cuckoo land would enlighten him. It would be like listening to a person somewhere behind a Spanish wall today and not believing that it was a person speaking: Just as we would not believe today, if we heard this, that something indeterminate was speaking, but as we would suspect a being behind our perception, so the one who came to enlightenment knew: There are beings on earth who do not come to physical embodiment, but who are the great teachers of humanity through enlightenment. - Man was aware: he is in flesh and blood, he walks among human beings who are not in flesh and blood, but who have an etheric body, who are etheric beings, who are there to give the enlightenment that was the content of the primordial wisdom. Thus it was known that the earth is not only populated by human beings in flesh and blood, but also by other beings who have an etheric body.
Now, of course, when one considers such a matter, one must free oneself from the prejudice as if humanity, as it is now, had lived on earth since the time in which there are documents; before that one places the indeterminate and then, after one has passed through this indeterminate, one comes to the apes or ape-men. That is actually a most droll view! What the historian can say applies to a few centuries: people were similar to what they are today, not as clever of course, but still as similar as they are today. People only became as clever as we are in the last few centuries; but apart from our greater cleverness, they were like we are today. - The Egyptians were superstitious and had mummies - but apart from their cleverness, we imagine them to have been like people today! Before that lies a period of which we know nothing. But after the period of which we know nothing had lasted a long time, there were the apes.
You see, this is a view from which we must free ourselves. Man populated the earth earlier than the animals, only in a different form, he is the older being. You can read about this in my “Secret Science”. And so the people who lived together with the old primal teachers, who had not yet taken on human bodies, who had lived in spirit bodies, also experienced that with the exit from the moon, which they had witnessed - we ourselves witnessed it - these beings, who had lived among them as primal teachers, moved out into the cosmos and since then have not inhabited the earth but the moon. So that actually not only the physical substance of the moon, but also the beings who have spiritually inhabited the moon up to now, are to be regarded as separated from the earth. Yes, it is even scientifically so that one can speak of these beings that they have once moved out - they are not subject to birth and death in the same way as man - and live on the moon, while the moon has long since lost and transformed its substances.
There something similar happens as with man. Yes, just think that man completely changes his physical substances in seven to eight years! If someone believes that the same body is sitting there that sat there a few years ago, that is not the case. The physical substance has changed, the spiritual-soul substance has remained. In this respect, we already know the fact in natural science, but we pay no attention to it. I was once asked at a lecture: It is said that the bees as a hive have a certain relationship to the bee father, that when he dies, if he was quite attached to his bees, it happens that the hive notices it and often also dies. How can that be? The individual bees do not have such abilities that they know the human being, and the beehive is only a sum of individual bees! - But that is not true, the beehive is not the sum of the individual bees. I used the following comparison: Two people were there two decades ago. One went to America, the other stayed; the former returns from America fifteen years later and recognizes his friend. - It doesn't matter about the individual parts; nothing of the original substance has remained. So it is not the individual bees that matter, but the intelligence of the hive, and that is not even much different from that of humans. We as humans are also something other than our cells, than our individual organs. And just as none of those friends who attended my lectures here ten years ago are physically present any more, but only the soul-spiritual, so the substance that once went out from the earth is no longer present on the moon, it has long since been repeatedly exchanged in the cosmos. On the other hand, the entities are there. But how these entities have nevertheless remained effective for humanity on earth becomes quite clear for a real initiatory observation. This becomes clear when we look a little more closely at what we call karma. I will begin with this today, and we will continue these considerations in the next lectures.
When we meet a person, we usually do not pay enough attention to how we have actually directed our entire life on earth towards this encounter. And when we get to know a person, we encounter a twofold phenomenon. Just observe this, you will find that in some more or less attenuated way what I want to tell you now is present. One gets to know another. It is often the case that we enter into an intimate connection with this other person, regardless of whether he is beautiful or ugly, clever or stupid, he can be anything. It arises from within us. We don't even notice what he is like on the outside: we feel a bond with him. That's one way in the extreme. The other way is: we get to know a person, we don't feel this inner bond, but we take the opportunity to get an intellectual or moral impression of him. We can describe him well. Talking about the first person when we later go into a society that also knows him is something unpleasant for us, we have the feeling that it is unpleasant; it is something inner in our relationship with him. We can describe the other person nicely, we can say: he is clever or a fool, we know how to describe him down to the details of his nose; but we live without inner participation in him. There are acquaintances we make, and as soon as we have made this acquaintance, it happens to us that we dream of this person, that the dreams never leave us. No matter how well we get to know another, we are together every day: not the slightest dream arises. Our inner being is not so strongly moved that we dream of him. The case of someone living like Garibaldi, who feels the inner bond even when there is no direct personal relationship, is rare, but this case also occurs. In Garibaldi's case, it is very interesting how he found his first wife. He was so little involved in the outside world that he had no interest in ladies at all. On a sea voyage along the Brazilian coast, he turned his telescope to the land and saw a young girl: At that moment he realized that she had to become his wife. He stormed ashore with his ship, a man was there who received him kindly and asked him if he would like to have lunch with him. Garibaldi agreed. It was the father of the girl he had seen in the countryside! Before lunch was served, he told her - he only spoke Italian and she only Portuguese - that she had to become his for life. But she understood, and one of the most beautiful relationships of the heart was formed. In an extreme case, it showed that there was something like a karmic relationship. There was something heroic in the woman's behavior, in the way she acted. She accompanied him in his battles in South America, and when the news came that he had fallen on the battlefield, she looked for him on the battlefield. It was in this situation that she gave birth to her child. To keep it warm, she had to strap it around her neck.
Through such experiences, Garibaldi grew more involved in life. His wife passed away and he married another. He approached her in a very civil way; but this marriage lasted only one day!
These are things where you are nudged in the nose by karma, which, if you look at them, show you that a person can behave in this twofold way towards other people in relation to karma. The karmic relationships are quite different when a person feels the inner togetherness than when he can only describe the other person externally.
Now, precisely when one looks at such karmic experiences as this acquaintance with another person, where beauty or ugliness makes no difference, but where the impulse of togetherness arises from within, one is made aware of the influence of those beings, which I have described as primal teachers, which are still active today, but from outside, from the cosmos, such relationships interest these lunar beings above all, and through such relationships and beyond such relationships they take the most intimate part in the development of earth humanity.
And just as there are lunar beings, there are also solar beings that are connected to the sun. It is the same with those relationships where we can describe the other person more externally. There the solar beings are interested in what is spun from human soul to human soul.
When we look at purely human relationships, we are first led away from the earth to the sun and moon. And here we can say: there are human relationships in which we see the moon's activity and those in which we see the sun's activity. And so we are led out from level to level: from the earth to the cosmos.
We have only been able to begin this contemplation today; tomorrow and in the next lectures we want to continue it.