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Karmic Relationships VI
GA 240

28 January 1924, Zurich

Lecture III

(From an incomplete transcript)

When we contemplate the world around us we find as our environment on Earth the beings of the mineral, plant, animal and human kingdoms, and whatever belongs to and is produced from these kingdoms—mountains, rivers, clouds and so forth. We look up to the heavens and as we contemplate the stars and the planets we shall realise as the result of anthroposophical study that, like the Earth, these different celestial bodies have their inhabitants. But as man turns his gaze to his earthly environment and also to the heavens, he finds in this spatial environment Beings who are connected with one part only of himself. We know from Anthroposophy that man is a fourfold being, composed of physical body, etheric body, astral body and Ego, and that in sleep the Ego and astral body separate from the physical and etheric bodies. But the Universe we perceive through our senses is related to our physical body only, not to our astral body or Ego. The only exceptions are two celestial bodies: the Sun and the Moon. The Sun and the Moon are the abodes of spiritual Beings just as the Earth is the abode of man. The other celestial bodies are also peopled by spiritual Beings but during his life between birth and death man is related to them in an indirect way only. In this respect the Sun and Moon are exceptions. They are the two gates or portals through which, in physical life on Earth too, men are linked with the spiritual world. The Sun is connected with our Ego, the Moon with our astral body.

We shall begin to understand this if we turn to what has been said in the different books and lecture-courses.

You know that the Moon, now moving independently through cosmic space, was once united with the Earth; at a certain point of time it liberated itself and went out into the Universe where it now forms a kind of colony of the Earth. This applies not only to the physical Moon but also to the Beings who inhabit it. You know too that the Earth was once inhabited both by men and by certain higher Beings who were the first great Teachers of humanity. They were not incarnated in physical bodies as men are to-day but only in etheric bodies. Nevertheless intercourse between men and these Beings continued until the Atlantean epoch. In those primeval ages on Earth men were exhorted at certain times to maintain complete stillness and calm in their souls, to be oblivious of their physical environment. And then, in those primeval men—we ourselves, in fact, for we were all on Earth in previous lives—it was as if the Great Teachers spoke from within them and they felt this as Inspiration. These Beings did not communicate their messages and teachings to men as we communicate with one another to-day, but in the way I have indicated. Works giving expression to a wonderful, primordial wisdom were the fruits of this intercourse. Modern man is fundamentally arrogant, priding himself on being infinitely clever. And so indeed he is, in comparison with the men of those remote ages. But cleverness by itself leads neither to wisdom nor to real knowledge. Cleverness is due to the intellect and intellect is not the only instrument for acquiring knowledge. It was by deeper forces of the soul that men in primeval times were led to the knowledge which they did not express in intellectual phraseology or in terms of our pedantic grammar—for all grammar is pedantic—but in language that was half poetry. Beings at an advanced stage of evolution, the primeval sages who taught men through Inspiration, were the originators of works of supreme beauty, fragments of which have been preserved to this day. Only the dull-witted could fail to wonder at the Vedic literature, the Yoga and Vedanta philosophy of India, the lore of ancient Persia and Egypt. The more thoroughly we steep ourselves in these records, the more obvious it is that although we of the modern age are far cleverer than those ancient men, the knowledge they presented in a most beautiful, poetic form leads very deeply into world-mysteries. The scripts which fill us with such admiration and astonishment if our hearts are rightly attuned are only the last vestiges of the wonderful, primordial wisdom that once existed in humanity as oral tradition and that Spiritual Science alone is able to investigate. But men have outgrown this wisdom in its primal form. They would not have reached maturity nor achieved freedom in knowledge through their own efforts had they continued at the stage of that ancient wisdom.

The great Teachers, having fulfilled their task, left the Earth together with the Moon which as a physical planet had gone out into the Universe. Today the great Teachers form a kind of spiritual colony on the Moon and a seer who investigates the Moon with the help of Initiation-Science finds it peopled by those wise Beings who were once the companions of men. The wisdom of these Beings can even now be investigated through a higher development of the faculties described in the book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. These Beings have an important task to perform for humanity—a task which it is difficult to describe in earthly words.

The Moon Beings keep the “books,” the records, of the whole past of humanity and of every individual man. These books are not, of course, anything in the least like the volumes in our libraries but this designation is nevertheless justifiable. The “books” contain records of what every individual human being has experienced in his successive earthly lives. When we are descending from the Cosmos to the Earth from the existence stretching between death and a new birth, we come into inner contact with the records of our past in these great “books” kept by the Moon sages. Before we arrive on the Earth, this past is imprinted in the astral body we bring with us into earthly existence and in that astral body are the “entries” made by the Moon Beings.

In ordinary circumstances these entries do not reach the head. During earthly life the head is by no means an organ of outstanding importance, although it is, of course, essential for the concepts and ideas relating to outer, material existence. What is inscribed into man during the final stage of his descent from the Cosmos to the Earth is inscribed—believe it or not as you will—into the part of him we call the spiritual side of the metabolic-limb system. The inscriptions therefore lie deep down in the unconscious, but they are actually there and they pass over into the process of growth, into the health and above all they determine what I will call the “curability” (Heilbarkeit) of a human being when he is ill on Earth. It is obviously important to understand the nature of illness but even more important to understand how to heal. Supersensible knowledge itself is an essential help, for this reveals what has been inscribed from the Akasha Chronicle by the Moon Beings into the forces of the process of growth, into the forces of nourishment, into the forces of breathing, and so on. It is these inscriptions that determine whether a man puts up strong or only slight resistance to the healing of an illness. One individual will be easily healed, another only with difficulty. This is entirely dependent upon how the karma from previous earthly lives makes it possible for the inscriptions to take effect.

When we think about what the Moon, together with the Beings who inhabit it spiritually, means for us on the Earth, we are finally led to say that the Moon is intimately connected with our past, with our previous earthly lives. To understand what the Moon existence out yonder in cosmic space means on Earth is to have intuitive perception of man's past. Destiny is formed out of what we bring over from our previous earthly life, that is to say, from our past, and what we experience during the present life. And out of what can be experienced in the present life, together with our past, our future destiny takes shape.

In its cosmic aspect, therefore, the Moon with its Beings is revealed as the power which carves the pattern of our past in our destiny. You will realise from this how little is known to-day about the true functions of the celestial bodies. Information about the Moon such as we are accustomed to hear from the physical sciences to-day is not knowledge in the true sense. A modern physicist who purports to describe the Moon assumes that the mountain ranges depicted on lunar maps were always there. This is a very naive belief. The Moon Beings themselves were always there, the soul-and-spirit belonging to the Moon was always there, but not the physical substance. You will be able to understand this by thinking of man himself. In the course of a man's earthly life the physical substances in his body are perpetually changing. After a period of seven to eight years, all the substances originally within us have been replaced. What has remained is the soul-and-spirit, and the same applies to the heavenly bodies. The substance of the Moon, although of longer duration than the substance of the human body, has all changed in the course of the ages; spirit-and-soul alone has remained. With these things in mind, our view of the Universe is altogether different from that presented by the material knowledge of to-day. This knowledge is extremely astute, highly intellectual; above all it can calculate with deadly accuracy. The calculations are accurate—but they are not true. Suppose someone makes calculations about the structure of the heart. He scrutinises it to-day and again in a month's time. It has changed, very slightly. After another month the change is again slight, and then he works out to what extent the heart changes in a year. He need only multiply and he has the figure for ten years. He can calculate what the measurements of the heart were three hundred years ago, and what they will be three hundred years from now. The calculations will certainly be correct. Only—the heart did not exist three hundred years ago, nor will it exist three hundred years hence! The same procedure is adopted in other cases. The calculations are invariably correct but they do not tally with the reality! The same applies to the outer substantiality of the heavenly bodies. Their substance changes but the element of soul-and-spirit remains. And in the case of the Moon it is this element of soul-and-spirit that is woven into our destiny by the great Recorders of our past life and therefore constitutes part of the web of our destiny.

So the Moon is in truth one of the portals showing man the way into the spiritual world—the world out of which his destiny is woven by Beings who were once his wise companions of the Earth in times when men themselves wove their destiny instinctively. The weaving of destiny now takes place entirely in the subconscious.

Still another portal leads into the spiritual world: it is the portal of the Sun. When through Initiation-science we acquire knowledge of the Sun, the Beings we encounter are not connected with the Earth in the same way as the Moon Beings; in the Sun sphere we do not encounter Beings who once had their abode on the Earth. The Beings we encounter in the Sun are referred to in the book Occult Science as the Angeloi and the higher Beings of the Hierarchies. When I say “in the Sun,” you must of course picture such Beings in the whole Sun sphere, in the flood of light radiating from the Sun.

The Sun is the abode of the Angeloi, one of whom is always connected with an individual human being. We ourselves, in respect of our Ego are connected with these higher Beings through our Sun existence. The Angeloi are in a certain sense the cosmic prototypes of men, for in future times man will attain their rank. These Beings, with whose nature we ourselves have a certain relationship, have their abode in the Sun sphere. From this you will realise that just as our past is connected with the Moon existence, so is our future connected with the Sun existence. Moon and Sun represent our past and our future. When we know on the one side that the Moon Beings are the “bookkeepers,” the “recorders” of our past, that records of our past earthly lives are inscribed, as it were, on the leaves of their books, Initiation-Science makes it clear that we must turn to the Angeloi when we give any thought to our future. Just as what we have done in the past works on into our present life, the things we do in the present must work on into the future. But this is possible only through the Angeloi who direct their gaze to a man's present deeds and bring them to effect in the future.

It is good and right to take account of this function of the Angeloi. We do many things that ought to bear fruit in the future. Humanity of the present age has become sadly thoughtless about such matters. When a man has performed some deed he should think of his Angelos, saying inwardly: “May my Guardian Spirit receive this my deed as a root and from it bring forth fruit.” The more definite and vivid the imagery used when a man addresses his Angelos in connection with deeds which should subsequently bear fruit, the more abundant this fruit can be in the future.

And so the Moon Beings preserve our past destiny and the Sun Beings weave new destiny for the future. It is not outer, physical light alone that the Sun and Moon send down to the Earth. Being connected as it is with our astral body, the Moon provides the initial impulse whereby everything from our past is woven into our destiny. The Sun is connected with our Ego and through the Beings who are a prototype of our future cosmic existence, has to do with our future destiny. And so the heavenly mirror-pictures of our destiny are images of the relationship between Sun and Moon.

Initiation-Science explains and confirms these facts. When a man has achieved the necessary degree of development as I have described it in the book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, he then sees, when he contemplates the Full Moon, not only what normal consciousness sees. In the light of the Full Moon he perceives his past destiny, the content of his previous earthly life. And when with enhanced spiritual vision he focuses his gaze upon the place occupied by the dark, physically invisible New Moon, its dark shadow becomes for him the great Admonisher formed by his destiny, proclaiming to him what his attitude must be to actions in his previous earthly life in order that he may make compensation for them in the further course of his karma.

It is possible for a man to establish a similar relationship with the Sun. This enables him to have an inkling of future destinies—a general glimpse, at least, without specific details.

If we now turn from the cosmic aspect to man himself, we find that human destiny is woven in a wonderful way out of two kinds of circumstances. When two individuals meet each other, one of them, let us say, in his twenty-fifth year, the other in his thirtieth, it may be the case—not, of course, always—that when the one or the other looks back over his life up to this point he realises with absolute certainty that each of them has pursued his path of life as though they were deliberately seeking for one another. To ignore such things simply denotes lack of thought. The child had already set out upon the path that led inevitably to the other human being and the latter's path too led to the common meeting-point. All this took place in the subconscious realm—but what has been at work there? Think of the one individual as A and the other as B. Before entering into earthly life, A descended through the Moon sphere. The Moon Beings had inscribed in their records and also into his astral body, what he had experienced in common with B in the past earthly life, and these entries made by the Moon Beings in the Akasha Chronicle influenced the paths taken by both A and B. From the moment they meet, the subconscious is no longer all-important, for the two now come face to face and make a certain impression on one another. This is not a case of conservation of the past; it is the present that is now at work. The Angeloi intervene and lead the individuals concerned to further stages. The forces of Sun existence are now operating, so that within a man's inmost being, Sun and Moon together weave his destiny. This can be clearly visualised by thoughtful perception of the course of human life.

When two individuals meet, the impression they make upon each other may be intrinsically different. There are cases where one of the two takes the other right into the sphere of his will, of his feelings. The outer, personal impression has had little influence here. Intellectualists have no understanding of what is going on inwardly in such cases, for one of the most wonderful experiences imaginable is to see what kind of relationship is formed when two human beings come across each other for the first time. It may happen that A takes B into the sphere of his will by saying to himself: What B does I want to do myself; what pleases him, also pleases me.—Now B may be unsightly and unattractive and nobody can conceive that he could possibly be pleasing to A.—You see, the attraction in this case is not caused by the reasoning mind or by the sense-impressions, but by the deeper forces of the soul—by the will and what goes from the will into the heart. However unsightly the other may be, he has become so only in the present earthly life. The origin of the bond between the two lies in the experiences they shared in the previous life. Seen from outside it seems that the two cannot possibly live in harmony, but the fact is that what is present subconsciously in each of them leads their wills together. Even in childhood this often becomes evident. A child tries so hard to be like “him,” to have the same wishes as “he” has, to feel as “he” feels. A karmic connection is certainly present in such circumstances.

That is one kind of meeting between individuals and if they were alive to such happenings—as will inevitably be the case in a by no means distant future, when more attention will be paid to man's inner nature—the working of the will would indicate that past earthly lives have already been spent in company with such individuals; moreover subconscious soul-forces give hints of experiences shared with others in the past incarnation.

The other kind of meeting is this.—One individual comes across another but no relationship whatever is established between their wills; the aesthetic or mental impression is predominant. How often it happens that a man A makes the acquaintance of man B, but does not afterwards refer to him with the warmth or abhorrence with which he speaks of someone with whom he has a karmic connection from earlier times. One may praise an individual with whom there is no karmic tie, one may appreciate him, consider him a splendid fellow, but he makes no effect upon the will—he makes an effect only upon the mind, upon the aesthetic sense.

That is the second kind of meeting between individuals. If the effect made by the two upon each other reaches into the will, into the heart, into the inmost nature, then a karmic connection exists; the two individuals have been led to each other as the result of common experiences in the past earthly life. If an effect made by another person reaches only into the intellect, into the aesthetic sense, this is not an outcome of the Moon's activity, but a situation brought about by the Sun and one that will have its sequel only in the future. And so through a thoughtful, observant study of human life we can learn to perceive the signs of karmic connections.

What I have now told you is a fruit of knowledge attainable through Anthroposophy, and just as nobody need himself be an artist to see beauty in a picture, as little need a man himself be an Initiate to understand these things. They can be understood because the ideas harmonise. There are people who say: The spiritual world is no concern of ours; we shall understand it only when we are actually in it.—They say this because they are accustomed nowadays to accept as proof only what can be confirmed in a material, physical way. Such people are like dunderheads who say: Everything in the wide world must be supported—otherwise it falls down; the Earth, the Moon, the Sun—all have their places in cosmic space but they must have supports to prevent them from falling! Such people do not know that the cosmic bodies mutually support each other. Anthroposophy calls for this kind of understanding. Its ideas cannot be supported by external, physical proofs, but for all that they mutually support each other. When you read an anthroposophical book for the first time, you may lay it aside because you are accustomed to find everything proved up to the hilt and in this book there are no such proofs. But if you read on you will find that like the cosmic bodies the ideas support and sustain each other.

The teachings can be understood even when one is not an Initiate, but through Initiation-Science they become much more concretely real and are experienced differently. Therefore someone who is sufficiently advanced is able to speak in a different way about the web of human destiny that is woven out of the past, the present and the future. The experiences of a person who has reached a certain stage of Initiation become much more concrete.—Suppose that somebody is standing in front of you; he tells you something and you hear it clearly. An Initiate can hear the inner voice as well as the outer; he can hear the spiritual speech which is no less clear than ordinary human speech. A person with whom an Initiate was karmically connected in the past and whom he meets in the present life, speaks to him as clearly and unambiguously as people speak in the ordinary way. The Initiate hears an inner speech. You will say: then an Initiate must have around him a whole collection of people who speak to him with varying degrees of clarity. And that is actually the case. At the same time it is concrete proof of the way in which the previous earthly life has been spent. I have said that the Moon Beings, the great Recorders, register destiny; but immediately an Initiate encounters someone with whom he was karmically connected in the previous earthly life, the light of the Full Moon radiates to him the recorded ‘entries’ of the other individual.

What we think and do in the immediate present does not at once speak to us, but after a certain time, by no means very long, our deeds that have been registered by the Moon Beings become living and, in a sense, articulate. The Akashic pictures are living pictures; if you discover the content of a past earthly life you learn to know both yourself and the other human being concerned. Common experiences of the past incarnation rise up into consciousness; no wonder that we hear them speak both from within ourselves and from within the other individual. We are united inwardly with those with whom we were associated in the previous earthly life.

In the future men must develop a delicate feeling for the stirrings of the will when meeting another person. In about seven to nine thousand years all human beings on the Earth will be able to hear those with whom they are karmically connected, speaking from within.

Now if, after Initiation has been attained, a meeting takes place with someone with whom there is no karmic bond, who is encountered for the first time, again the experience is different. Naturally, an Initiate may also come across individuals with whom he is not karmically connected. In any case his experience will differ from that of others. He has a fine and delicate feeling for new facts revealed by the individual confronting him, in this case, as a cosmic being.

An individual encountered for the first time enables us to see more deeply into the Cosmos. It is a piece of good fortune to meet such a person and recognition that this meeting enlarges our knowledge of the world must develop into fine sensitivity. An Initiate has a certain obligation in connection with every individual with whom he has no karmic connection from the past, whom he encounters for the first time in the Cosmos (the spiritual world). He must link himself with the spiritual Being belonging to the realm of the Angeloi who is the Guardian Spirit of this individual. He must become acquainted not only with the individual himself but with his Guardian Angel as well. The Guardian Angel of this individual speaks unambiguously from within him. Hence when an Initiate encounters different human beings with whom he has no karmic bond, he hears a clear and definite speech. He hears what the Angeloi of these individuals are saying.

This gives a certain character to the intercourse between an Initiate and ordinary men. He takes into himself what the Angelos wishes to say to the person who has come into his ken; he transforms himself as it were into the Angelos of this person and what he can say to the latter is therefore more intimate than it is for ordinary consciousness. The Initiate is actually a different being in all his contacts with individuals whose first meeting with him is in the Cosmos, because he has identified himself with the Angelos of each individual concerned. This is the secret of the faculty of self-transformation possessed by those who with the power bestowed by Initiation come face to face with other men. People to-day have very little feeling for such things compared with the faculty of perception they possessed in centuries by no means very long ago. It might have happened then that a sage, confronting twenty other persons, would have been described quite differently by each of them. The commonplace verdict in such circumstances would be that as each of the twenty descriptions given was quite different from all the rest, none of the twenty writers actually saw the individual in question. But perhaps they all did! He changed in every case by establishing a link with the Angelos of each person concerned.

In this connection a veritable abyss lies between what is accepted usage today and what was taken for granted not so very long ago. A great deal of learning is available in our time but it is communicated in an entirely different way. In the higher training given in an epoch not far behind us, those who were called upon to be leaders of the people as priests or teachers were taught to develop the capacity to unite themselves with the Angelos of a human being. But even remembrance of this has vanished. Knowledge of the Angeloi was indispensable for those who aspired to be leaders of mankind, in order to develop the power of self-transformation.

And now something else.—It will strike you as extraordinary—I have spoken of it in the book Christianity as Mystical Fact—that there are great similarities in biographies of ancient Initiates. Study these biographies and you will find that very many features are alike, for the great Initiates underwent similar experiences in their souls. Biographies of ordinary human beings would never be alike. If those who encountered Zarathustra had all written about him, every characterisation would have been different, because Zarathustra changed every time an individual came before him. What the world was meant to know about the great Initiates was biography inspired by higher Spirits.

When the meeting between an Initiate and some individual takes place for the first time in the Cosmos, the Initiate has to establish contact with the Angelos of that individual. In doing so he acquires a great deal of knowledge about the outer spiritual world. In point of fact one cannot acquire deeper knowledge of other human beings through spiritual faculties without learning to know a host of Angeloi. A true knowledge of man is impossible without knowledge of the Angeloi. Just as human beings not karmically connected with each other acquire knowledge of the surrounding world through ordinary perception, the Initiate gains knowledge of the world of the Angeloi—which is then the bridge between himself and the higher Hierarchies.

There are also other indications of the existence of a karmic connection. We may meet an individual and then have a great deal to do with him, work with him and so on, but we never dream about him. The reason is that the karmic connection is not with our astral body, but only with our Ego.

We may come across someone of whom we have only a fleeting glance and yet he follows us into our very dreams—into our waking dreams too. Our picture of him is quite unconnected with his outward appearance and has arisen entirely in the inner life, because we have a karmic tie with him. Again we may meet someone with whom we are karmically connected and feel impelled to paint him. An artist may paint a portrait in which an uncultured person sees no likeness whatever, whereas an Initiate may recognise a previous incarnation of the individual whose portrait has been painted. We get to know someone with whom we have a karmic connection in the depths of his being although the knowledge may remain subconscious. Through individuals with whom we have had no previous karmic connection, whom we meet for the first time, we enlarge our knowledge of humanity in general.

When you go to a tea-party or some such function, just keep your ears open and listen to the conversation.—If someone has met another individual with whom he is karmically connected, he will say little about the others present, but about this particular individual he will say something of real significance, especially if he is unaware of what is behind it all. At the same kind of tea-party you may get into conversation with someone with whom you have no karmic connection at all. Your interest in him is very superficial and he seems to you to be typical of all the other guests. Such a gathering is very brief as a rule, and a great deal of talk goes on about world affairs, about noted politicians and the like. After listening to these few people we may judge the whole of society by this criterion. The judgement may be erroneous but nevertheless it is through individuals with whom we have no karmic connection that another aspect of the world is presented to us. There was once a traveller who happened to reach Konigsberg Station at midnight. He asked for a cup of coffee and was addressed in very coarse language by the red-headed waiter who had been dozing. The traveller wrote in his diary: “The people of Konigsberg have red hair, are sleepy and coarse.” He was judging all the people of Konigsberg by this night-waiter—someone with whom he had no karmic connection!

Through studies of this kind we learn not only how to assess life and its values, but we get nearer to other human beings and are connected with them in a different way. We learn not only to understand human life—which is the essential task of Anthroposophy—we also learn to know cosmic life. Sun and Moon cease to be the subject of abstract theories and become living realities in the Cosmos—the great counterparts in the Universe of the microcosmic destiny of men on the Earth.

Sun-activity combines with Moon-activity in our life. The light radiating to us from the Moon is connected with our cosmic past and the light of the Sun is connected with our cosmic future.


It was the aim of the Christmas Meeting, when the Anthroposophical Society was given a new foundation, to stress the importance of Anthroposophy for life itself. It was said that esotericism in the true sense of the word must be a living power among us. The Christmas Meeting was not intended merely to be a festive gathering of a number of Anthroposophists, but its efficacy and its impulses were meant to endure. One new plan is to issue a News Sheet—as a matter of fact the first three numbers have already appeared—containing reports of what is going on in the Anthroposophical Society. The Society must become a kind of living, spiritual organism. On my journeys I have constantly found Members in The Hague, for example, saying: “We have no idea what the Members in Vienna are doing, and yet we belong to an Anthroposophical Society!”—I wonder how many here in Zurich could tell me what is going on in the Groups of the Society in Leipzig or Hamburg? But this is what must be possible in future. Members of the New Zealand Group should have a real picture of what is going on in Vienna, and so on. It will be helpful if the Members will send to the editorial office of the News Sheet accounts of their experiences both in the Society and outside it. This material will then be edited, and Members will be able to read about whatever is going on in the Society. I propose in future to include in the News Sheet short, concentrated aphorisms for use in the Group Meetings or on other occasions.

All these measures should instil real life, pulsating life, into the Anthroposophical Society, and every Member should realise that this was the aim of the Christmas Meeting. Moreover it is only because this is how things ought to be, and indeed must be, if Anthroposophy itself is to do justice to its past and future, that I have undertaken the Presidency, associated with an Executive which I know will work fruitfully from the centre at the Goetheanum. I had for many years kept apart from all administrative matters, and had it not been an absolute necessity I should not have thought of starting anew and repeating in old age what one did as a young man. I want to appeal to every Member of the Anthroposophical Society to help in ensuring that through the Christmas Meeting the foundation stone of anthroposophical life shall be laid in the hearts of our Members and that it shall develop as a living seed, so that active life may constantly increase in the Society. If that happens, the Society will also be able to send its impulse out into the world.

Dritter Vortrag

(nach einer unvollständigen Nachschrift)

Wenn wir als Menschen die Welt um uns herum betrachten, dann finden wir als menschliche Umgebung zunächst alles dasjenige, was auf der Erde ist: die Wesen der verschiedenen Reiche der Erde, des mineralischen, des pflanzlichen, des tierischen Reiches, wir finden das Menschenreich, zu dem wir selber gehören, und wir finden alles dasjenige, was zu diesen Reichen hinzugehört, was aus ihnen gebildet wird: Berge, Flüsse, Wolken. Richten wir dann den Blick weiter hinaus in das Weltall, dann finden wir das Weltall übersät mit Sternen, Fixsternen, Planeten, und es wird wohl auch klar durch die anthroposophische Betrachtung, daß diese verschiedenen Sterne, ebenso wie unsere Erde, ihre Bewohner haben. Aber der Mensch findet, indem er zunächst seinen Blick sowohl in seine irdische Umgebung wie auch hinaus in die Weiten des Weltalls wendet, in dieser räumlichen Umgebung Wesenheiten, die nur mit einem Teil seines Selbstes etwas zu tun haben, Wir wissen ja aus den anthroposophischen Betrachtungen, daß wir Menschen gegliedert sind in einen physischen Leib, einen Ätherleib, einen Astralleib und ein Ich. Wir wissen, daß wir im Schlaf mit dem Ich und dem Astralleib uns trennen von dem physischen Leib und Ätherleib. Aber alles, was wir mit unseren Augen sehen, mit unseren Sinnen in der Welt wahrnehmen können, steht nur in Beziehung mit unserem physischen und unserem Ätherleib. Es steht zunächst in keiner Beziehung zu unserem Astralleib und zu unserem Ich. Nur zwei Sterne machen davon eine Ausnahme: die Sonne und der Mond. Die Sonne und der Mond sind ja ebenso von geistig-seelischen Wesenheiten bewohnt wie die Erde mit dem Menschen selbst. Aber auch die anderen Sterne des weiten Weltenalls sind von geistig-seelischen Wesenheiten bewohnt, nur hat der Mensch zu dem eigentlich Geistig-Seelischen der weiten Sterne zunächst nur eine sehr indirekte Beziehung während seines Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod. Nur die beiden genannten Sterne, Sonne und Mond, machen davon eine Ausnahme. Sie sind gewissermaßen für uns Menschen die zwei Tore, durch die wir auch schon während des physischen Erdenlebens im Zusammenhang stehen mit der geistigen Welt. Und sie selbst, Sonne und Mond, stehen mit uns in Beziehung, und zwar so, daß die Sonne in Beziehung steht mit unserem Ich, der Mond mit unserem Astralleib. Wir werden uns nähern dem Verständnis desjenigen, was ich eben gesagt habe, wenn wir ein wenig auf dasjenige hinschauen, was wir in den Büchern und verschiedenen Zyklen ausgeführt finden.

Aus ihnen wissen Sie, daß der Mond, der heute als Begleiter der Erde, aber frei, durch den Weltenraum wandelt, einmal mit der Erde in Verbindung war, daß er mit der Erde einen einzigen Körper dargestellt hat, daß er sich zu einem gewissen Zeitpunkte losgerissen hat von der Erde, hinausgegangen ist in das Weltall und nun im Weltall eine Art Kolonie der Erde bildet. Aber das ist nicht nur der Fall in bezug auf dasjenige, was als Erscheinung des Physischen des Mondes herunterschaut von ihm zu uns, es ist auch der Fall mit den Wesenheiten, die ihn bewohnen. Auch das wissen Sie, daß die Erde einmal bewohnt war nicht nur von Menschen, sondern von einer Art höherer Wesenheiten, welche die ersten großen Lehrer der Menschheit waren. Diese Wesenheiten waren nicht, wie die Menschen jetzt, in einem physischen Leibe, sondern nur in einem feinen ätherischen Leibe. Aber es gab doch einen Verkehr zwischen den Menschen und diesen Wesenheiten noch bis in die atlantische Zeitepoche hinein. Dieser Verkehr bestand darin, daß die Menschen dieser Urzeiten der Erde angehalten wurden, in einer gewissen Weise Stille in ihrem Gemüte walten zu lassen, nichts aus ihrer physischen Umgebung wahrzunehmen, sondern nur mit ruhiger Seele in vollständiger Gemütsruhe zu verharren. Und dann war es diesen Menschen der Urzeiten - uns selber, denn wir waren ja alle in unseren vorigen Erdenleben auf unserer Erde -, als ob von innen heraus diese Wesenheiten sprechen würden, und die Menschen fühlten und empfanden das als die Inspiration. Nicht so, wie wir einander Dinge mitteilen, teilten diese vorgerückten Wesenheiten den Menschen das mit, was sie ihnen mitzuteilen hatten, sondern auf die Art, wie ich es Ihnen angegeben habe. Die Menschen machten aus alledem die Werke einer wunderbaren Urweisheit. Der Mensch der Gegenwart ist ja im Grunde genommen so furchtbar hochmütig, er dünkt sich so grenzenlos gescheit. Er ist es ja auch im Vergleich mit dem Urmenschen, aber Gescheitheit allein führt eben nicht zur Weisheit, führt nicht zum Wissen. Gescheitheit kommt aus dem Verstande, und der Verstand ist nicht das einzige Werkzeug, das zum Wissen führt. Es waren tiefere Kräfte der Seele, welche in den Urzeiten die Menschen zum Wissen führten, das sie auch nicht in Verstandesformeln, nicht einmal in unserer philiströsen Grammatik — denn alle Grammatik ist philiströs — zum Ausdruck brachten, sondern in halb dichterischen Werken. Diese Urweisen, welche die Menschheit lehrten durch Inspiration dieser vorgerückten Wesenheiten, drückten aus in Werken, welche halbe Dichtung waren, in grenzenlos schönen, bildhaften Darstellungen dasjenige, was an äußeren Dokumenten bis auf unsere heutigen Zeiten erhalten geblieben ist. Nehmen wir die Vedenliteratur der Inder, die Jogaphilosophie, die Vedantaphilosophie, die persischen Urkunden, die ägyptischen Urkunden, alles das bewundern wir, und wir sind Toren, wenn wir es nicht bewundern. Je mehr man sich in die Dinge einlebt, je mehr man sich ihnen hingibt, desto mehr sagt man sich: Ja, wir sind heute gescheit, und diese alten Menschen waren nicht so gescheit, aber dasjenige, was sie als Wissen in einer wunderbar schönen poetischen Form dargestellt haben, ist tief, führt tief hinein in die Geheimnisse der Welt. Und die äußeren Dokumente, die wir schon so sehr bewundern, von denen wir erschüttert werden, wenn wir das Herz auf dem rechten Fleck haben, sie sind nur die letzten Reste desjenigen, was einmal durch mündliche Überlieferung in der Menschheit vorhanden war, was nur noch die Geisteswissenschaft ergründen kann an wunderbarer, uralter Urweisheit. Aber die Menschen sind sozusagen herausgewachsen aus dieser Urweisheit. Sie wären unmündig geblieben und nicht zur Freiheit eines Wissens durch eigene Kraft gekommen, wenn sie bei der Urweisheit stehengeblieben wären.

Damit aber hatten jene großen Urlehrer auch keine Aufgabe mehr auf der Erde. Sie verließen die Erde. Geradeso wie das Physische des Mondes in die Weiten des Weltalls hinausgegangen ist, so gingen mit dem Monde hinaus die großen Urlehrer. Sie bilden heute eine Art Weltenkolonie auf dem Monde, und derjenige, der mit Initiationswissenschaft den Mond betrachtet, findet ihn bevölkert von denjenigen weisen Wesenheiten, die einmal Genossen der Menschheit waren. Diese Wesenheiten, man kann ihre Weisheit noch ergründen, wenn man durch eine höhere Fortbildung dessen, was ich beschrieben habe in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?», dazu gelangt, sich mit diesen Mondwesen zu verständigen. Dann aber erfährt man etwas ganz Besonderes: Man erfährt von ihnen, daß sie heute, trotzdem sie nicht auf der Erde sind, für die Erde eine bedeutsame Aufgabe haben. Es ist schwer, mit irdischen Worten, die nicht dafür gebildet sind, auszudrücken, welche für die Menschheit so bedeutsame Aufgabe diese Mondwesen haben. Sie führen gewissermaßen Buch über die ganze Menschheitsvergangenheit, über jeden einzelnen Menschen. Nicht solche Bücher, wie wir sie in unseren Bibliotheken haben, aber doch etwas, was wir Bücher nennen können, und in diesen Büchern ist für jeden einzelnen Menschen dasjenige verzeichnet, was in seinen aufeinanderfolgenden Erdenleben von ihm erlebt worden ist. Den Mond kennenlernen heißt, die menschliche Vergangenheit kennenlernen. Wenn wir aus dem vorgeburtlichen Dasein, in dem wir sind zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, aus den Weltenweiten hinuntersteigen auf die Erde, dann gehen wir durch die Mondensphäre hindurch und dann werden wir innerlich berührt von demjenigen, was in der großen Buchhaltung der Mondweisen über unsere Vergangenheit aufgezeichnet ist. Diese unsere Vergangenheit wird, bevor wir heruntersteigen auf die Erde, unserem astralischen Leibe eingeprägt. In unserem astralischen Leibe, den wir herunterbringen in das irdische Dasein, finden wir die Einzeichnungen dieser Mondenwesen. Das geht unter gewöhnlichen Verhältnissen nicht bis in unseren Kopf herein. Der Kopf ist für die meisten Dinge während seiner Erdenzeit überhaupt kein so außerordentlich wichtiges Organ. Er ist es für die äußeren materiellen Begriffe und Ideen. Dasjenige, was von den Mondenwesen eingezeichnet wird in die menschliche Wesenheit in der letzten Stufe ihres Heruntersteigens vom Weltenall auf die Erde, das ist sogar — der Mensch mag es glauben oder nicht — eingezeichnet in denjenigen Teil unseres menschlichen Wesens, den wir die geistige Seite unseres Gliedmaßen-Stoffwechselmenschen nennen. Ganz im Unterbewußtsein ruht es daher, aber es ist da, geht in das Wachstum über, geht in die Gesundheit über, und namentlich geht es über in dasjenige, was ich nennen möchte die Heilbarkeit eines Menschen, wenn er auf der Erde erkrankt. Es ist ja natürlich eine wichtige Angelegenheit, kennenzulernen, was das Wesen der Krankheit ist, aber eine viel wichtigere Angelegenheit ist es, kennenzulernen, wie man heilt. Nun ist schon übersinnliche Erkenntnis ein wesentliches Hilfsmittel beim Erkennen der Wesenheit der Krankheit; das ist aber die Kenntnis desjenigen, was auf diese Art in Wachstum, in den Ernährungskräften, in den Atmungskräften eingezeichnet liegt aus der Akasha-Chronik der Mondwesen. Das ist dasjenige, was macht, daß der Mensch größeren oder geringeren Widerstand einer Heilung für irgendeine Krankheit entgegensetzt. Der eine Mensch wird leichter, der andere schwerer geheilt. Das hängt ganz davon ab, wie aus seinem Karma heraus, aus seinem vorigen Erdenleben, diese Einzeichnungen getroffen werden.

Sehen Sie, wenn wir hinschauen auf dasjenige, was der Mond da draußen mit seinen Bewohnern für uns Erdenmenschen ist, so kommen wir darauf, zu sagen: Er hängt innig zusammen mit allem demjenigen, was unsere Vergangenheit ist, die zurückreicht auf die vorhergehenden Erdenleben. Das Mondendasein richtig verstehen, wie es da draußen in den Weiten des Weltalls existiert, heißt, auf der Erde fühlen und empfinden die Vergangenheit der Menschen. Nun setzt sich das menschliche Schicksal zusammen aus demjenigen, was wir herübertragen aus dem vorigen Erdenleben, also aus unserer Vergangenheit, und dem, was wir während unseres Lebens in der Gegenwart erfahren können. Und aus demjenigen, was in der Gegenwart erfahren werden kann, zusammen mit unserer Vergangenheit, bildet sich das Schicksal weiter in die Zukunft hinein in die folgenden Erdenleben. Kosmisch betrachtet, erscheint uns also der Mond mit seinen Wesenheiten als dasjenige, was unsere Vergangenheit in unserem Schicksal zimmert.

Sie sehen daraus, wie wenig die gegenwärtige Erkenntnis weiß von dem, was eigentlich die Weltenkörper draußen sind. Die physikalische Erkenntnis des Mondes, an die wir heute gewohnt sind, ist im Grunde eigentlich gar keine Erkenntnis. Derjenige, der den Mond heute physikalisch beschreibt, der denkt sich, daß das, was er auf den Mondkarten als Gebirge abgebildet findet, immer schon dagewesen sei. Es ist naiv, das zu glauben. Die Mondenwesen waren immer da, das GeistigSeelische des Mondes war da, nicht aber die physische Materie. Sie werden es sich klarmachen können, wenn Sie auf den Menschen selber schauen. Der Mensch tauscht im Laufe seines Erdenlebens seine physischen Stoffe fortwährend aus. Nach sieben bis acht Jahren haben wir nichts mehr von dem Stofflichen, was wir in uns tragen, in uns. Es ist alles ersetzt. Was in uns geblieben ist, ist das Geistig-Seelische, und so ist es auch bei den Weltenkörpern. Sie können heute auf den Mond hinaufschauen: Sein Stoff, wenn er auch länger dauernd ist als der menschliche Stoff, ist im Laufe der Zeiten ein ganz anderer geworden; nur das Geistig-Seelische bleibt. Man bekommt eben, wenn man diese Dinge ins Auge faßt, eine ganz andere Ansicht über das Weltall, als man sie hat aus dem, was heute materielle Erkenntnis ist. Diese materielle Erkenntnis ist ja außerordentlich klug, gescheit und verständig, sie kann vor allen Dingen rechnen, und sie rechnet todsicher. Die Rechnungen sind immer richtig, aber sie sind nicht wahr. Sehen Sie, es rechne heute einer aus die Struktur des Herzens. Er beobachtet sie heute, und in einem Monat beobachtet er sie wieder: Sie hat sich verändert, nicht viel. In einem weiteren Monat auch wieder nicht viel, und dann schaut er nach, wieviel sich das Herz verändert hat in einem Jahr. Er braucht nur zu multiplizieren, so hat er es für zehn Jahre. Er kann ausrechnen, wie das Herz vor dreihundert Jahren war, wie es in dreihundert Jahren sein wird, und die Rechnung wird sicher stimmen. Nur war das Herz vor dreihundert Jahren nicht da und wird in dreihundert Jahren nicht da sein. So wird es auch in bezug auf andere Dinge gemacht. Die Rechnungen stimmen immer, aber sie stimmen nicht mit der Wirklichkeit überein. So ist es auch in bezug auf das äußere Substantielle der Himmelskörper. Sie wechseln ihre Substanz, aber das Geistig-Seelische bleibt. Und für den Mond ist dieses Geistig-Seelische dasjenige, was durch die großen Registratoren unseres vergangenen Lebens in unser Schicksal einverwoben wird, was eben zusammenhängt mit einem Teil dieses unseres Schicksalgewebes als Mensch.

So ist der Mond in der Tat das eine der Tore, die den Menschen hinweisen in die geistige Welt, aus der heraus sein Schicksal gewoben wird von Wesenheiten, welche einmal unsere weisen Genossen auf der Erde waren in jener Zeit, wo die Menschen aus einem Instinkt heraus sich selbst ihr Schicksal gewoben haben. Jetzt ist das Weben des Schicksals ganz im Unterbewußten. Wir werden nachher noch weiter darüber hören.

Es gibt noch ein anderes Tor hinüber in die geistige Welt: das ist die Sonne. Wenn man durch Initiationswissenschaft die Sonne kennenlernt, dann trifft man nicht Wesenheiten, welche zusammenhängen mit unserer Erde selber wie die Mondwesenheiten; man trifft nicht Wesenheiten in der Sonne, die einmal die Erde bewohnt haben. Man trifft diejenigen Wesenheiten, die Sie bezeichnet finden in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» als Angeloi und die höheren Wesenheiten in den Hierarchien. Wenn ich sage «in der Sonne», so müssen Sie sich natürlich solche in der ganzen Sphäre der Sonne, in der ganzen Lichtflut, die von der Sonne ausgeht, vorstellen. Die Sonne ist der Wohnsitz der Angeloi, Engel, jener Wesenheiten, von denen je eine immer zusammenhängt mit einem Menschenindividuum. Und wir Menschen hängen schon einmal mit Bezug auf unser Ich mit diesen höheren Individuen zusammen, und wir hängen durch das Sonnendasein mit diesen höheren Individuen zusammen. Die Angeloi sind gewissermaßen die kosmischen Vorbilder des Menschen, denn der Mensch wird einmal die Rangstufe der Angeloi erreichen. Auf der Sonne leben diejenigen Wesenheiten, denen wir uns hinsichtlich ihrer Beschaffenheit selber nähern. Daraus werden Sie schon entnehmen, daß ebenso, wie mit dem Mondendasein unsere Vergangenheit, so mit dem Sonnendasein unsere Zukunft zusammenhängt. Mond und Sonne stellen eine Welt unserer Vergangenheit und unserer Zukunft dar, und wenn wir auf der einen Seite sehen, daß die Mondenwesen die Buchhalter unserer Vergangenheit sind, daß gewissermaßen unsere vergangenen Erdenleben auf den Blättern ihrer Bücher eingezeichnet sind, so wird uns durch die Initiationswissenschaft klar, daß wir zu den Angeloi, Engeln, hinschauen müssen, wenn wir uns um unsere Zukunft kümmern, Wir tun ja fortwährend etwas, vielleicht nicht alle, aber die meisten Menschen müssen ja etwas tun. Geradeso wie dasjenige, was wir in der Vergangenheit getan haben, in unser gegenwärtiges Leben hineinwirkt, so müssen diejenigen Dinge, die wir in der Gegenwart tun, in die Zukunft hineinwirken. Sie können aber nur dadurch in die Zukunft hineinwirken, daß gewissermaßen die Angeloi hinlenken ihre Seelenblicke auf dasjenige, was der Mensch in der Gegenwart tut, und es zur Wirkung bringen in der Zukunft. Es ist eine sehr gute Empfindung, wenn man mit diesem Berufe der Angeloi in der Welt rechnet. Wir vollbringen ja manches, was in der Zukunft Früchte tragen soll. Die Gegenwartsmenschheit ist in bezug auf solche Dinge furchtbar gedankenlos geworden. Sie sollte solche Dinge ins Auge fassen, und wenn der Mensch irgend etwas tut, so soll er an seinen Angelos denken, etwa so: «Mein schützender Geist empfange dasjenige, was meine Tat ist, als eine Wurzel und bringe Früchte daraus hervor.» Je bildlicher, je anschaulicher ein Mensch also anknüpft eine solche Ansprache an seinen Angelos für Taten, die in der Zukunft Früchte tragen sollen, desto mehr wird von diesen Früchten in der Zukunft vorhanden sein können. - So also, wie die Mondenwesen unser vergangenes Schicksal aufbewahren, so weben fortwährend die Sonnenwesen neues Schicksal in die Zukunft hinein. In Wahrheit wird nicht nur das äußere physische Sonnenlicht von der Sonne auf die Erde hinuntergeschickt, nicht nur der äußere Mondenschein; sondern wenn wir mit geistigen Blicken hinschauen zu Sonne und Mond, so wissen wir, daß der Mond in Zusammenhang steht mit unserem astralischen Leibe. Durch diese Beziehung zu unserem astralischen Leibe ist der Mond der Ausgangspunkt für alles dasjenige, was aus unserer Vergangenheit heraus in unser Schicksal hineinverwoben wird. Die Sonne steht in Zusammenhang mit unserem Ich, und durch die Wesenheiten, die uns ein Vorbild sind für unsere kosmische Zukunft, steht die Sonne in Beziehung zu dem, was unser zukünftiges Schicksal ist. So weben sich in Sonne und Mond, die miteinander äußerlich in Lichtwirkung stehen, im Bilde in der Wechselbeziehung von Sonne und Mond die himmlischen Spiegelbilder unseres Schicksals.

Die Initiationswissenschaft liefert in dieser Beziehung eine wirkliche Erklärung dieses Tatbestandes. Wenn derjenige, der wirklich so weit gekommen ist, wie es nötig ist- ich habe es in meinem Buch «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» beschrieben -, den Vollmond betrachtet, dann sieht er nicht nur das, was das menschliche Bewußtsein sieht, sondern er sieht vor allen Dingen im mitgeteilten Lichte sein vergangenes Schicksal, den Inhalt seines vergangenen Erdenlebens. Und wenn er den entsprechenden Geistesblick geschärft hat und er schaut hin an eine Stelle, wo der Neumond ist, den man nicht sieht mit dem physischen Auge, dann wird ihm dasjenige, was ihm jetzt aus dem dunklen Neumond entgegenfinstert, entgegenschattet, der große Mahner aus seinem Schicksal heraus, der ihm zuruft, wie er sich gegenüber Dingen seiner Vergangenheit im vorigen Erdenleben zu verhalten hat, um sie wieder auszugleichen in der karmischen Entwickelung.

In einer ähnlichen Beziehung kann der Mensch zur Sonne stehen. Auch da kann er dasjenige, was ihm winkt an künftigen Schicksalsbestimmungen, wenigstens im allgemeinen, wenn auch nicht im speziellen, ahnen. Wenn wir jetzt vom Kosmischen absehen und hinschauen auf den Menschen selber, dann finden wir ja das menschliche Schicksal wirklich in wunderbarer Weise aus zwei Elementen heraus gewoben.

Wenn zwei Menschen, sagen wir der eine in seinem fünfundzwanzigsten, der andere in seinem dreißigsten Jahre, einander begegnen, so kann der Fall eintreten - er wird es nicht immer -, daß, wenn der eine oder der andere zurückblickt auf sein bisheriges Erdenleben, ihm ganz klar wird: sie haben ihre Lebenswege so durchgemacht, als ob sie einander gesucht hätten. Es ist nur eine Gedankenlosigkeit, wenn wir auf solche Dinge nicht aufmerksam werden. Schon das Kind hat die Richtung des Weges genommen, der es dahin führen mußte, wo es den anderen Menschen trifft, und der andere Mensch hat auch diesen Weg genommen, und alles dasjenige, bis zum gemeinsamen Treffpunkt, es hat sich im Unterbewußten vollzogen. Aber was hat denn im Unterbewußten gewirkt? Wenn der eine der A ist und der andere der B, so ist der A hinuntergestiegen durch die Mondensphäre, bevor er das Erdenleben betreten hat. Die Mondenwesen haben in die Bücher, auch in den astralischen Leib dasjenige eingezeichnet, was er gemeinsam hatte im vergangenen Erdenleben mit dem B, und diese Eintragungen in die Akasha-Mondchronik, die haben den Weg beeinflußt, ebenso bei dem B. Von dem Momente an, wo sich die beiden Menschen treffen, hört das Unterbewußte auf, die alleinige Bedeutung zu haben, denn dann werden die Menschen einander ansichtig. Sie machen aufeinander einen Eindruck. Sie werden einander sympathisch oder antipathisch. Es wirkt nicht mehr eine Konservierung des Vergangenen, es wirkt nun die Gegenwart. Es treten die Angeloi ein und führen die Menschen dann weiter. Da tritt das Sonnendasein in seine Kraft, so daß wirklich im Inneren des Menschen Sonne und Mond zusammen das Schicksal des Menschen weben. Das ist ja, im Grunde genommen, recht genau wahrzunehmen, wenn man nur sinnig auf das Menschenleben hinschaut.

Nehmen Sie einmal zwei Menschen, die sich irgendwo begegnen. Der Eindruck, den sie aufeinander machen, kann sehr verschiedenartig sein. Es gibt Fälle, wo zwei Menschen sich treffen, und es ist wirklich so, daß der eine Mensch den anderen ganz in seinen Willen, in sein Gemüt aufnimmt. Dieses Aufnehmen ins Gemüt, das ist in einem hohen Grade unbeeinflußt von dem persönlichen Eindruck. Bloße Verständlinge haben eben nicht viel Verständnis für dasjenige, was da innerlich vorhanden ist, denn es gehört ja wirklich zum Wunderbarsten, wenn man einmal sieht, wie ein Mensch dem anderen gegenübertritt. Einmal nimmt wirklich der A den B so in seinen Willen auf, daß er sagt: Ich möchte es selber ausführen, was der B tut: Wie es ihm gefällt, so gefällt es auch mir. Nun ist aber der B häßlich, und man kann nicht begreifen, daß der B dem A gefällt. Sehen Sie, die Anziehung von B zum A wird nicht gebildet durch den Verstand, auch nicht durch die Sinneseindrücke, sondern durch die tiefen seelischen Kräfte: durch den Willen und dasjenige, was vom Willen ins Gemüt geht. Da mag der andere noch so häßlich sein, die Häßlichkeit hat er erst im gegenwärtigen Erdenleben bekommen. Dasjenige, was die beiden verbindet, hat seinen Ursprung in demjenigen, was sie gemeinsam durchlebt haben im vorherigen Erdenleben. Beim äußeren Anblick meint man, die beiden Menschen passen doch gar nicht zusammen; aber dasjenige, was sie in ihrem Unterbewußtsein haben, das führt ihre Willen zusammen. Das zeigt sich oftmals schon in der Kindheit. Wie sehr ist man als Kind schon darauf aus, so zu sein wie «er», so zu wollen wie «er», so zu fühlen wie «er». Dann ist eine karmische Beziehung vorhanden.

Dies ist eine Art, wie Menschen im Leben einander begegnen, und würde man auf diese Art recht aufmerksam sein, wie man es einmal in einer gar nicht fernen Zukunft sein wird, wo man wieder mehr auf das Innere des Menschen sehen wird, dann würde in diesen Fällen, in der Art und Weise, wie ein Wille pulsiert, zu erkennen sein, daß man schon mit Menschen vergangene Erdenleben durchgemacht hat, und unterbewußte Seelenkräfte sagen etwas darüber aus, was man mit einem Menschen im vergangenen Erdenleben durchgemacht hat.

Der andere Fall ist der, daß man irgendeinen Menschen trifft, bei dem sich kein solches Verhältnis zwischen den Willen einstellt, sondern gerade ein solches, wo der ästhetische oder der Verstandeseindruck das Maßgebende ist. Wie oft kommt es vor, daß ein A einen B kennenlernt und dann nicht im Tone jener Begeisterung oder des Abscheus von ihm redet, in dem man redet von einem Menschen, mit dem man früher karmisch verbunden war. Man lobt vielleicht einen solchen Menschen, mit dem man nicht karmisch verbunden ist, findet ihn nett, einen Prachtskerl, aber er geht nicht in den Willen hinein, sondern nur in den Verstand, in den ästhetischen Sinn.

Das ist die zweite Art, wie man mit Menschen zusammentrifft. Geht dasjenige, was zwei Menschen als Wirkung aufeinander ausüben, bis in den Willen, in das Gemüt, in den Charakter hinein, dann liegt eine karmische Zusammengehörigkeit vor, dann sind die beiden Menschen zusammengeführt durch gemeinsame Erlebnisse im vergangenen Erdenleben. Geht von einem Menschen ein Impuls aus, der nur bis in den Verstand, den ästhetischen Sinn hineinreicht, so daß uns der Mensch nur gefällt, nur mißfällt, dann liegt nicht etwas vor, was der Mond gemacht hat, sondern was die Sonne erst gegenwärtig macht und was erst eine Fortsetzung in der Zukunft finden wird. So daß man also durch ein sinniges Betrachten des Menschen dazu kommen kann, zu empfinden, wo karmische Beziehungen vorliegen.

Nun sehen Sie, dasjenige, was ich Ihnen erzählt habe, ist eben etwas, was an Erkenntnis der Welt gewonnen werden kann durch Anthroposophie, und geradeso wie man keinesfalls selbst Künstler zu sein braucht, um ein Bild schön zu finden, so wenig braucht man selbst Initiierter zu sein, um die Dinge zu verstehen. Man kann die Dinge verstehen, weil die Ideen miteinander zusammenstimmen. Es gibt Leute, die sagen: Was geht uns die ganze geistige Welt an, man kann sie erst verstehen, wenn man darin ist. - Das sagen die Leute aus dem Grunde, weil sie heute gewohnt sind, einen Beweis nur dasjenige zu nennen, was sich sinnlich-handgreiflich beweisen läßt. Solche Menschen gleichen Toren, die sagen: Alles, was in der Welt ist, muß gestützt werden, sonst fällt es zur Erde. Es könnte ja einer kommen und sagen: Die Erde, der Mond, die Sonne sind im Weltenraum draußen, aber sie müssen doch eine Stütze haben, damit sie nicht herabfallen. Er weiß nicht, daß die Weltenkörper keine Stütze brauchen, weil sie sich gegenseitig stützen. Auf solches Verständnis ist die Anthroposophie angewiesen. Bei ihr können die Ideen nicht gestützt werden durch äußerliche Handgreiflichkeiten, aber gegenseitig stützen sie sich. Lesen Sie zunächst ein einziges anthroposophisches Buch, dann kann es vorkommen, weil Sie gewohnt sind, alles handgreiflich bewiesen zu sehen, daß Sie es weglegen, weil darin nichts bewiesen ist. Lesen Sie aber immer mehr und mehr, so werden Sie finden, daß die Ideen sich gegenseitig stützen und halten wie die Weltenkörper. Man kann schon die Dinge verstehen, auch wenn man nicht ein Initiierter ist, aber durch die Initiationswissenschaft werden die Dinge noch wesentlich dichter. Sie werden in einer anderen Weise erlebt. Daher kann derjenige, der weit genug gekommen ist, auch noch in einer anderen Form sprechen über dieses aus Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft Gewobene des menschlichen Schicksals. Derjenige, der die Initiation auf einer gewissen Stufe durchgemacht hat, bei dem werden die Erlebnisse viel konkreter. Vor Ihnen steht ein Mensch, er spricht zu Ihnen, er erzählt Ihnen etwas, Sie hören es. Der Initiierte kann, wie das Äußere gehört wird, auch das Innere hören, die geistige Sprache, die nicht minder deutlich ist als die menschliche Sprache. Mit aller Deutlichkeit, wie Menschen zu Ihnen sprechen, spricht für den Initiierten der Mensch, mit dem er karmisch in der Vergangenheit verbunden war und den er im gegenwärtigen Leben trifft. Er hört eine innere Sprache. Sie werden sagen, dann hat ja der Initiierte ein ganzes Bündel von Menschen in sich, von denen der eine mehr, der andere weniger deutlich zu ihm spricht. Das ist auch der Fall. Aber es ist das zu gleicher Zeit der anschauliche Beweis für die Art und Weise, wie man das vorherige Erdenleben zugebracht hat. Ich sagte, die großen Registratoren, die Mondwesen tragen das Schicksal ein; aber in dem Augenblick, wo der Initiierte einen anderen Menschen, mit dem er im vorherigen Erdenleben karmisch verbunden war, trifft, wird er wie vom Vollmondslicht beschienen von den Eintragungen des anderen Menschen, mit dem er karmisch verbunden ist. Was wir gegenwärtig denken und tun, das spricht nicht zu uns, aber nach einer gewissen Zeit, nach einer gar nicht so langen Zeit, wird dasjenige, was wir getan haben, was auf dem Monde registriert ist, sprechend und lebendig. Die Akashabilder sind Lebensbilder: trifft man auf den Inhalt eines vergangenen Erdenlebens, lernen Sie sich selber kennen und lernen einen anderen Menschen kennen. Das Gemeinsame des vergangenen Erdenlebens lebt wieder auf, daher ist es kein Wunder, daß man dieses Wiederauflebende auch im anderen Menschen von innen heraus sprechen hört. Man ist innig mit demjenigen zusammen, mit dem man im vorherigen Erdenleben zusammen war. Das wird der Weg der Menschen in die Zukunft hinein sein: Die Menschen werden sich zunächst ein feines Gefühl dafür aneignen müssen, damit ihr Wille erlebt wird im Treffen eines anderen Menschen, so daß sie diesen Menschen fühlen. In einem Zeitraum, der etwa sieben- bis neuntausend Jahre in der Zukunft liegt, werden die Menschen alle auf der Erde die anderen Menschen, mit denen sie karmisch verbunden sind, in ihrem Inneren sprechen hören.

Trifft man nun mit einem Menschen zusammen, mit dem man nicht karmisch verbunden ist, dem man das erste Mal begegnet, so stellt sich auch dies nach Empfang der Initiation anders dar. Der Initiierte kann natürlich auch Menschen in seinem Leben treffen, mit denen er nicht karmisch verbunden ist. Dennoch wird seine Beziehung eine andere sein als diejenige, die für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein vorhanden ist. Er fühlt mit einer gewissen Feinheit neue Tatsachen im kosmischen Menschen.

Man sieht durch einen Menschen, den man zum ersten Mal im Kosmos trifft, tiefer in die Welt hinein. Es ist auch ein Glück, einen Menschen zum ersten Mal zu treffen, und diese Tatsache, daß man durch einen Menschen, den man zum ersten Mal trifft, die Welt besser kennenlernt, muß sich wiederum als ein feines Gefühl entwickeln. Der Initiierte hat sofort, wenn er einen Menschen trifft, mit dem er nicht karmisch verbunden ist, dem er sozusagen das erste Mal im Kosmos gegenübertritt, diesem Menschen gegenüber eine Aufgabe: Er hat gleich die Aufgabe, sich mit dem Schutzgeist aus der Sphäre der Angeloi zu verbinden, der diesem Menschen besonders schützend gegenübersteht. Er darf nicht nur den Menschen kennenlernen, er muß den Schutzgeist des Menschen kennenlernen. Der Engel dieses Menschen spricht auch wieder mit großer Deutlichkeit aus dem eigenen Inneren heraus, und wenn der Initiierte mit verschiedenen Menschen zusammentrifft, mit denen er nicht karmisch verbunden ist, dann hört er von innen heraus laut und deutlich sprechen. Er vernimmt die Worte des Angelos dieser Menschen in seinem Inneren. Das gibt dem Initiierten in seinem Umgang mit den Menschen einen gewissen Charakter. Er nimmt selber etwas an, was der Angelos dem Menschen sagen will, den er kennenlernt: er verwandelt sich in seinen Angelos. Dadurch wird dasjenige, was zu den Menschen gesprochen werden kann, aus einem anderen Grunde intimer, als es für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein wird. Daher kommt es auch, daß der Initiierte für jeden Menschen, der ihm zum ersten Mal im Kosmos entgegentritt, im Grunde ein anderer ist, er ist jeweils etwas von dem Angelos dieser Menschen. Darauf beruht die Verwandlungsfähigkeit derjenigen Menschen, die mit der Kraft der Initiation den anderen Menschen gegenübertreten. Jetzt haben ja die Menschen wirklich nur eine sehr geringe Empfindungsfähigkeit für solche Dinge. Aber es liegen die Jahrhunderte noch gar nicht so lange hinter uns, da hatte die Menschheit noch viel mehr Empfindungsfähigkeit dafür. Da konnte vorkommen, daß ein weiser Mensch einer Reihe von anderen Menschen gegenüberstand, und jeder hat ihn anders beschrieben. Geht man philiströs vor, dann wird man finden: Irgendeine interessante Persönlichkeit ist von zwanzig Menschen beschrieben worden, von jedem anders, also hat ihn keiner genau gesehen. Vielleicht aber haben ihn alle zwanzig Menschen gesehen. Er hat sich für jeden verwandelt, indem er sich in Beziehung setzte mit dem Angelos jedes dieser Menschen. Sehen Sie, in dieser Beziehung herrscht wirklich ein Abgrund zwischen demjenigen, was in der Gegenwart unter Menschen Sitte und üblich ist, und demjenigen, was vor einer kurzen Vergangenheit Sitte und üblich war. Man lernt heute viel, aber man lernt ganz anders, als man es früher gelernt hat. Die höhere Schulung, vor verhältnismäßig noch gar nicht so weit zurückliegender Zeit, gab Anweisung, wie diejenigen, die als Priester oder Lehrer andere Menschen zu führen und zu leiten hatten, die Fähigkeit erreichen konnten, sich mit dem Angelos eines Menschen zu verbinden. Die Menschen haben sogar die Erinnerung daran vergessen. Die Engellehre war eine Wissenschaft für diejenigen, die Führer der Menschheit werden wollten, damit sie die Verwandlungsfähigkeit erlangten.

Noch ein anderes: Es wird Ihnen außerordentlich auffallen - und ich habe ja darüber in meinem «Christentum als mystische Tatsache» gesprochen -, wie die Biographien ausschauen, die erhalten sind von alten Initiierten; es gleicht eine der anderen! Versuchen Sie es nur einmal, die Initiierten-Biographien zu studieren, es gleicht eine der anderen, denn die großen Initiierten haben in bezug auf ihr Seelenleben ähnliche Biographien erlebt. Aber das sind nicht die Biographien, die von Menschen geschrieben sind, denn die gleichen einander nicht. Wenn alle diejenigen, die, sagen wir, den Zarathustra erlebt haben, eine Charakteristik des Zarathustra geschrieben hätten, jeder hätte sie anders geschrieben, weil Zarathustra sich jedem Menschen gegenüber verwandelte. Dasjenige, was die Welt wissen sollte über die Initiierten, es war eine von höheren Geistern inspirierte Biographie.

So kann man sagen: Derjenige, der mit der Kraft der Initiation einem Menschen gegenübertritt, mit dem er karmisch verbunden ist, nimmt dessen Vergangenheit als sein Eigenes wahr, er lernt sie kennen durch das Geistig-Seelische der Mondwesenheiten.

Derjenige, der mit der Kraft der Initiation einem Menschen gegenübertritt, dem er zum ersten Mal im Kosmos begegnet, der bekommt die Aufgabe, sich mit dessen Angelos zu verbinden. Da lernt er vieles von der äußeren Welt kennen. Zwar sprechen die Angeloi im Inneren, und wir sind ja eine Welt draußen. Man kann in Wirklichkeit andere Menschen mit geistigen Kräften gar nicht tiefer kennenlernen, ohne ein Heer von Engeln kennenzulernen. Es ist ganz unmöglich, wirkliche Menschenerkenntnis zu erringen, ohne Engelkenntnis zu haben. Geradeso wie ich sagen mußte, daß schon das gewöhnliche Feinfühlen, wenn es mit Menschen zusammenkommt, die nicht karmisch verbunden sind, die Umwelt kennenlernt, so lernt der Initiierte erst recht die eigentliche Außenwelt, die Engelwelt kennen. Dadurch bekommt er Vermittler für die höheren Hierarchien.

Man kann auch noch durch anderes darauf aufmerksam werden, wie man mit einem Menschen karmisch verbunden ist. Man trifft einen Menschen im Leben, man trifft einen anderen. Man braucht nur aufmerksam zu werden: Man kann einen Menschen treffen, mit ihm viel zu tun haben, mit ihm arbeiten und so weiter, aber man kann nicht träumen von ihm. Man kann nicht träumen von ihm, weil er nicht mit unserem astralischen Leibe, sondern nur mit unserem Ich verbunden ist.

Andere Menschen trifft man, man hat sie nur flüchtig gesehen, und sie folgen einem bis in die Träume nach, auch bis in die wachen Träume. Es ist eine vom Inneren heraus geformte Darstellung, die mit dem ÄAußern des Menschen gar nichts zu tun hat, weil man mit dem Menschen karmisch verbunden ist. Man trifft einen Menschen, mit dem man karmisch verbunden war, und man ist gleich genötigt, sich ein Bild von diesem Menschen zu machen. Ist der Betreffende ein Maler, dann könnte es vorkommen, daß er ein Bild von ihm malt, das ein philiströser Mensch ganz unähnlich findet, während der Initiierte eine vorherige Inkarnation des Menschen findet, den er gemalt hat. Man lernt wirklich in den Tiefen seines Wesens, wenn auch im Unbewußten, den anderen Menschen kennen, mit dem man karmisch verbunden ist. Durch diejenigen Menschen, mit denen man nicht karmisch verbunden war, die man zum ersten Mal im Leben trifft, lernt man die Menschheit im allgemeinen kennen. Die Menschen verhalten sich auch danach. Kommen Sie bei einem Five o’clock tea oder sonstigen ähnlichen Anlässen mit Menschen zusammen, so versuchen Sie einmal hinzuhören auf das Leben: Wenn ein Mensch einen anderen Menschen getroffen hat, mit dem er karmisch verbunden ist, so sagt er nicht sehr viel über die anderen Menschen, aber über diesen Menschen sagt er irgend etwas Bedeutsames. Er weist auf irgend etwas Bedeutsames hin, besonders dann, wenn er in solchen Dingen noch unbewußt ist. Merken Sie auf das Leben: Sie kommen bei einem Fünf-Uhr-Tee mit irgend jemandem in ein Gespräch, mit dem Sie nicht karmisch verbunden sind. Er interessiert Sie doch nur äußerlich, er erzählt Ihnen so, als ob er der Repräsentant der ganzen Five-o’clock-Teegesellschaft wäre. Das ist eine kurzweilige Gesellschaft, man hört da viel von Weltangelegenheiten, von Leuten, die große Politiker sind — Sie hören nur diesen einzigen Menschen, und nach diesem Menschen beurteilen Sie die ganze Gesellschaft vielleicht falsch. Man lernt das andere der Welt kennen durch Menschen, mit denen man nicht karmisch verbunden ist. Ein Reisender, der einmal um Mitternacht die Station Königsberg passiert hat und sich dort einen Kaffee geben ließ, wurde von dem Kellner, den er gerufen hatte und der rote Haare hatte und verschlafen war, furchtbar grob angefahren. Darauf schrieb der betreffende Reisende in sein Tagebuch: Die Königsberger haben rote Haare, sind verschlafen und grob. Nach diesem mitternächtlichen Kellner, mit dem er nicht karmisch verbunden war, beurteilte der betreffende Reisende die Königsberger.

Sehen Sie, durch solche Betrachtungen erwirbt man sich Lebenswerte, kommt den Menschen näher, lernt auf eine andere Art, mit ihnen verbunden zu sein. Man lernt aber nicht nur das Menschenleben kennen, und das soll ja gerade das Wesentliche der Anthroposophie sein, daß sie in das Leben wirklich eingreift, man lernt auch fühlen, empfinden und kennen das kosmische Leben. Sonne und Mond verlieren alles Abstrakte und werden zu etwas Wesenhaftem, auf das man hinschaut im Kosmos und das zu dem kleinen Menschenschicksal hier auf der Erde das entsprechende Große im Weltenall ist.

So ist Sonnenwirksamkeit mit der Mondenwirksamkeit in unserem Leben vereint. Alles dasjenige, was uns vom Monde herunter scheint, hängt zusammen mit unserer kosmischen Vergangenheit, und die Sonne hängt zusammen mit unserer kosmischen Zukunft.

Auf diese lebenswichtige Seite der Anthroposophie, diese Seite, die Lebenswerte liefert, wollte unsere Weihnachtstagung, die die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft neu begründet hat, in besonderem Maße hinweisen. Da sollte gesagt werden und ist gesagt worden, daß wiederum Esoterik im wahren Sinne des Wortes unter uns leben soll. Daher sollte diese Weihnachtstagung nicht etwa eine Festlichkeit sein, an der sich eine Anzahl Anthroposophen getroffen haben, sie sollte fortdauern in ihrer Wirksamkeit und in ihren Impulsen. Es wird die neue Einrichtung eines Mitteilungsblattes geplant - sie ist schon da und die ersten drei Nummern sind bereits erschienen. Ein Mitteilungsblatt zunächst über die Vorgänge in der ganzen Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, über das, was in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft vorgeht. Sie muß in dieser Weise etwas werden wie ein lebendig geistiger Organismus. Mir ist immer wieder auf meinen Reisen entgegengetreten, daß zum Beispiel die Leute in Den Haag gesagt haben: Ja, wir wissen ja nicht, was mit den Leuten in Wien vorgeht, und wir gehören doch zu einer anthroposophischen Gesellschaft! Wie viele könnte ich hier fragen, die mir sagen könnten, was zum Beispiel im anthroposophischen Zweig in Leipzig oder in Hamburg vorgeht? Aber das muß in Zukunft der Fall sein. Es muß so weit gehen, daß derjenige, der Mitglied des Zweiges Neuseeland ist, wirklich eine Vorstellung davon hat, was in Wien vorgeht. Es werden die Mitglieder gut tun, dasjenige, was sie innerhalb und außerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft erleben, der Redaktion des Mitteilungsblattes mitzuteilen. Das wird dann verarbeitet, und man wird immer lesen, was in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft vorgeht. Ich habe vor, in der Zukunft in jeder Nummer kleine, kurze Aphorismen zu bringen, welche wichtige Lebensinhalte kurz zusammenfassen, so daß man solche Aphorismen wird verwenden können in den Zweigen oder bei anderen Gelegenheiten.

Durch alles das soll wirkliches Leben, pulsierendes Leben in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft hineinkommen. Das wollte unsere Weihnachtstagung. Dessen sollte sich jedes einzelne Mitglied bewußt werden. Und nur, weil das so sein soll und eigentlich so sein muß, wenn Anthroposophie selbst in der richtigen Weise ihre Vergangenheit und Zukunft haben soll, habe ich es unternommen, nachdem ich mich jahrelang zurückgezogen hatte, Verwaltung und Vorsitz selbst zu übernehmen, mit einem Vorstand, von dem ich weiß, daß er vom Goetheanum aus fruchtbar arbeiten wird. Ich hätte wahrhaftig in meinem Alter mir nicht vorgenommen, wiederum so zu tun, wie man als ganz junger Kerl getan hat, wieder neu anzufangen, wenn nicht die absolute Notwendigkeit dagewesen wäre. Zu gleicher Zeit möchte ich an jedes Mitglied der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft appellieren, mitzuhelfen, daß diese Weihnachtstagung im Herzen unserer Mitglieder den Grundstein des anthroposophischen Lebens legen möge und nicht aufhöre, wirklich als ein Lebenskeim sich immer weiter und weiter zu entwickeln, so daß ein immer regeres und regeres Leben in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft eintritt. Dann wird die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft auch hinauswirken in die Welt.

Third Lecture

(based on an incomplete transcript)

When we as human beings look at the world around us, we first find as human surroundings everything that is on earth: the beings of the various kingdoms of the earth, the mineral, the vegetable, the animal kingdom, we find the human kingdom to which we ourselves belong, and we find everything that belongs to these kingdoms, that is formed from them: Mountains, rivers, clouds. If we then direct our gaze further out into the universe, we find the universe strewn with stars, fixed stars, planets, and it is probably also clear from anthroposophical observation that these various stars, just like our earth, have their inhabitants. But the human being, by first turning his gaze both into his earthly surroundings and out into the vastness of the universe, finds in these spatial surroundings beings that have something to do with only a part of his self. We know that in sleep we separate ourselves from the physical body and the etheric body with the ego and the astral body. But everything that we can see with our eyes, that we can perceive in the world with our senses, is only related to our physical and etheric bodies. Initially it has no relationship to our astral body and our ego. Only two stars are an exception to this: the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon are inhabited by spiritual-soul entities in the same way as the earth with man himself. But the other stars of the wide universe are also inhabited by spiritual-soul entities, only man initially only has a very indirect relationship with the actual spiritual-soul entities of the wide stars during his life between birth and death. Only the two stars mentioned, the sun and the moon, are an exception to this. For us humans they are, so to speak, the two gates through which we are already connected with the spiritual world during our physical life on earth. And they themselves, the sun and the moon, are related to us in such a way that the sun is related to our ego and the moon to our astral body. We will come closer to understanding what I have just said if we look a little at what we find explained in the books and various cycles.

From them you know that the moon, which today walks through space as a companion of the earth, but free, was once in connection with the earth, that it formed a single body with the earth, that at a certain point in time it broke away from the earth, went out into space and now forms a kind of colony of the earth in space. But this is not only the case with regard to that which looks down from the moon to us as the physical appearance of the moon, it is also the case with the beings that inhabit it. You also know that the earth was once inhabited not only by human beings, but by a kind of higher beings who were the first great teachers of mankind. These beings were not, as human beings are now, in a physical body, but only in a subtle etheric body. But there was still an intercourse between men and these beings right up to the Atlantean epoch. This communication consisted in the fact that the people of these primeval times on earth were instructed to allow a certain kind of stillness to prevail in their minds, to perceive nothing of their physical surroundings, but only to remain with a calm soul in complete peace of mind. And then it was as if these beings spoke from within to these people of primeval times - to us ourselves, for we were all on our earth in our previous earthly lives - and people felt and sensed this as inspiration. It was not in the way we communicate things to each other that these advanced beings communicated to people what they had to tell them, but in the way I have described to you. People made the works of a wonderful primal wisdom out of all this. The man of the present day is basically so terribly arrogant, he thinks he is so infinitely clever. He is so in comparison with primitive man, but cleverness alone does not lead to wisdom, does not lead to knowledge. Cleverness comes from the mind, and the mind is not the only tool that leads to knowledge. It was deeper forces of the soul that led mankind to knowledge in primitive times, which they expressed not in intellectual formulas, not even in our philistine grammar - for all grammar is philistine - but in semi-poetic works. These primal sages, who taught mankind through the inspiration of these advanced beings, expressed in works that were half poetry, in boundlessly beautiful, pictorial representations that which has been preserved in external documents down to our own times. Take the Vedic literature of the Indians, the Yoga philosophy, the Vedanta Philosophy, the Persian documents, the Egyptian documents, we admire all this, and we are fools if we do not admire it. The more one immerses oneself in things, the more one devotes oneself to them, the more one says to oneself: Yes, we are clever today, and those ancient people were not so clever, but what they presented as knowledge in a wonderfully beautiful poetic form is profound, leads deep into the secrets of the world. And the external documents that we admire so much, that we are shaken by if we have our hearts in the right place, they are only the last remnants of that which was once present in humanity through oral tradition, that which only spiritual science can fathom in terms of wonderful, ancient wisdom. But people have, so to speak, outgrown this primal wisdom. They would have remained immature and would not have attained the freedom of knowledge through their own strength if they had stopped at the original wisdom.

But this also meant that those great primal teachers no longer had a task on earth. They left the earth. Just as the physical of the moon went out into the vastness of the universe, so the great primal teachers went out with the moon. Today they form a kind of world colony on the moon, and those who look at the moon with initiatory science will find it populated by those wise beings who were once comrades of mankind. These beings, one can still fathom their wisdom if one reaches a higher development of what I have described in “How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?” to communicate with these lunar beings. But then you learn something very special: you learn from them that although they are not on earth today, they have an important task for the earth. It is difficult to express in earthly words, which are not formed for this purpose, what an important task these lunar beings have for mankind. To a certain extent, they keep a record of the entire history of mankind, of every single human being. Not the kind of books we have in our libraries, but something we can call books, and in these books is recorded for each individual human being what he has experienced in his successive lives on earth. Getting to know the moon means getting to know the human past. When we descend from the pre-birth existence, in which we are between death and a new birth, from the expanses of the world to the earth, we pass through the lunar sphere and then we are touched inwardly by what is recorded about our past in the great bookkeeping of the wise men of the moon. This past is imprinted on our astral body before we descend to earth. In our astral body, which we bring down into earthly existence, we find the inscriptions of these lunar beings. Under normal circumstances this does not reach our head. The head is not such an extraordinarily important organ for most things during its time on earth. It is for the outer material concepts and ideas. That which is inscribed in the human being by the lunar beings in the last stage of their descent from the universe to earth is even - man may believe it or not - inscribed in that part of our human being which we call the spiritual side of our limb-metabolic man. It therefore rests entirely in the subconscious, but it is there, passes over into growth, passes over into health, and in particular it passes over into that which I would like to call the healability of a human being when he falls ill on earth. It is of course an important matter to know what the nature of illness is, but it is a much more important matter to know how to heal. Now supersensible knowledge is already an essential aid in recognizing the essence of illness; but this is the knowledge of that which lies in this way in growth, in the nourishing forces, in the respiratory forces from the Akashic Chronicle of the lunar beings. This is what makes the human being put up greater or lesser resistance to a cure for any illness. One person is healed more easily, another with greater difficulty. This depends entirely on how these markings are made from his karma, from his previous life on earth.

You see, when we look at what the moon out there with its inhabitants is for us earthlings, we come to the conclusion that it is intimately connected with everything that is our past, which reaches back to the previous earth lives. To understand the existence of the moon correctly, as it exists out there in the vastness of space, means to feel and sense the past of human beings on earth. Now human destiny is made up of that which we carry over from the previous life on earth, i.e. from our past, and that which we can experience during our life in the present. And from that which can be experienced in the present, together with our past, destiny is formed further into the future, into the following earth lives. Viewed cosmically, the moon with its beings appears to us as that which shapes our past in our destiny.

You can see from this how little present knowledge knows of what the world bodies outside actually are. The physical knowledge of the moon to which we are accustomed today is basically no knowledge at all. Those who describe the moon physically today think that what they find depicted as mountains on the moon maps has always been there. It is naive to believe this. The lunar beings have always been there, the spiritual soul of the moon was there, but not the physical matter. You will be able to realize this if you look at man himself. In the course of his life on earth, man continually replaces his physical substances. After seven to eight years, we no longer have any of the physical matter that we carry within us. Everything has been replaced. What remains in us is the spiritual-soul, and so it is with the world bodies. You can look up at the moon today: Its substance, even if it lasts longer than the human substance, has become quite different in the course of time; only the spiritual-soul remains. If you look at these things, you get a completely different view of the universe than you get from what is material knowledge today. This material knowledge is, after all, extraordinarily clever, clever and intelligent, it can above all calculate, and it calculates with dead certainty. The calculations are always correct, but they are not true. You see, today someone is calculating the structure of the heart. He observes it today, and in a month's time he observes it again: it has changed, not much. In another month, not much either, and then he looks to see how much the heart has changed in a year. All he has to do is multiply and he has ten years' worth. He can work out what the heart was like three hundred years ago and what it will be like in three hundred years, and the calculation will certainly be correct. But the heart was not there three hundred years ago and will not be there three hundred years from now. It is the same with other things. The calculations are always correct, but they do not correspond to reality. It is the same with the external substance of celestial bodies. They change their substance, but the spiritual-soul remains. And for the moon, this spiritual-mental is that which is woven into our destiny by the great registrars of our past life, which is connected with a part of the fabric of our destiny as human beings.

So the moon is indeed one of the gates that point man into the spiritual world, out of which his destiny is woven by beings who were once our wise comrades on earth in that time when men wove their own destiny out of instinct. Now the weaving of destiny is entirely in the subconscious. We will hear more about this later.

There is another gateway into the spiritual world: that is the sun. When you get to know the sun through initiation science, you do not meet beings who are connected with our earth itself like the moon beings; you do not meet beings in the sun who once inhabited the earth. You meet those beings that you find described in my “Secret Science” as Angeloi and the higher beings in the hierarchies. When I say “in the sun”, you must of course imagine them in the whole sphere of the sun, in the whole flood of light that emanates from the sun. The sun is the abode of the Angeloi, angels, those beings, one of which is always connected to a human individual. And we humans are already connected to these higher individuals in relation to our ego, and we are connected to these higher individuals through our existence in the sun. The Angeloi are to a certain extent the cosmic role models of the human being, because the human being will one day reach the rank of the Angeloi. On the sun live those beings whom we approach in terms of their nature. From this you will already see that just as our past is connected with the existence of the moon, so our future is connected with the existence of the sun. Moon and sun represent a world of our past and our future, and when we see on the one hand that the lunar beings are the bookkeepers of our past, that our past lives on earth are, so to speak, marked on the pages of their books, then it becomes clear to us through initiation science that we must look to the angels when we are concerned about our future, for we are constantly doing something, perhaps not all of us, but most people have to do something. Just as what we have done in the past has an effect on our present life, the things we do in the present must have an effect on the future. But they can only have an effect on the future if the angels direct their soul's gaze to what man does in the present and bring it to fruition in the future. It is a very good feeling to reckon with this calling of the angels in the world. We accomplish many things that will bear fruit in the future. Present-day mankind has become terribly thoughtless with regard to such things. It should consider such things, and when man does anything, he should think of his Angelos, like this: “My protecting spirit receive that which is my deed as a root and bring forth fruit from it.” The more figuratively, the more vividly a person links such an address to his Angelos for deeds that are to bear fruit in the future, the more of these fruits will be available in the future. - Just as the lunar beings store our past destiny, so the solar beings continually weave new destiny into the future. In truth, it is not only the outer physical sunlight that is sent down from the sun to the earth, not only the outer moonlight; but when we look with spiritual eyes at the sun and moon, we know that the moon is connected with our astral body. Through this relationship to our astral body, the moon is the starting point for everything that is woven into our destiny from our past. The sun is related to our ego, and through the entities that are a model for our cosmic future, the sun is related to that which is our future destiny. Thus, in the sun and moon, which are externally in light effect with each other, the celestial mirror images of our destiny are woven in the image in the interrelation of sun and moon.

In this respect, the science of initiation provides a real explanation of this fact. When he who has really come as far as is necessary - I have described it in my book “How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?” - looks at the full moon, he sees not only what the human consciousness sees, but above all he sees in the communicated light his past destiny, the content of his past life on earth. And when he has sharpened the corresponding spiritual vision and he looks at a place where the new moon is, which cannot be seen with the physical eye, then that which now shadows him from the dark new moon becomes the great admonisher from his destiny, which calls out to him how he must behave towards things of his past in the previous earth life in order to balance them out again in the karmic development.

Man can stand in a similar relationship to the sun. There, too, he can sense the future destiny that beckons him, at least in general, if not in particular. If we now look away from the cosmic and look at man himself, then we really do find human destiny woven out of two elements in a wonderful way.

When two people, let us say one in his twenty-fifth and the other in his thirtieth year, meet, it can happen - it will not always happen - that when one or the other looks back on his life on earth so far, it becomes quite clear to him that they have gone through their lives as if they had been looking for each other. It is only thoughtlessness if we do not become aware of such things. The child has already taken the direction of the path that must lead it to where it meets the other person, and the other person has also taken this path, and all this, up to the common meeting point, has taken place in the subconscious. But what worked in the subconscious? If one is the A and the other the B, then the A has descended through the sphere of the moon before he entered life on earth. The lunar beings have marked in the books, also in the astral body, that which he had in common with the B in the past earth life, and these entries in the Akashic lunar chronicle have influenced the path, likewise with the B. From the moment the two people meet, the subconscious ceases to have sole significance, for then the people become aware of each other. They make an impression on each other. They become sympathetic or antipathetic to each other. It is no longer the preservation of the past that is at work, but the present. The Angeloi enter and then lead the people on. Then the sun's existence comes into its own, so that the sun and moon really weave the destiny of man together within him. Basically, this can be perceived quite precisely if one only looks at human life sensibly.

Take two people who meet somewhere. The impression they make on each other can be very different. There are cases where two people meet, and it really is the case that one person absorbs the other completely into his will, into his mind. This absorption into the mind is to a high degree uninfluenced by personal impression. Mere understanding does not have much comprehension for what is there inwardly, for it is really one of the most wonderful things to see how one person confronts another. Once the A really takes the B into his will in such a way that he says: "I would like to carry out myself what the B does: as it pleases him, so it pleases me. But now the B is ugly, and one cannot understand that the B pleases the A. You see, the attraction of B to A is not formed by the intellect, nor by sensory impressions, but by the deep forces of the soul: by the will and that which goes from the will into the mind. No matter how ugly the other may be, he has only acquired his ugliness in the present life on earth. That which connects the two has its origin in what they lived through together in their previous life on earth. At first sight you think that the two people do not fit together at all, but what they have in their subconscious brings their wills together. This is often already apparent in childhood. As a child, how eager you are to be like “him”, to want to be like ‘him’, to feel like “him”. Then there is a karmic relationship.

This is one way in which people meet each other in life, and if one were to be quite attentive in this way, as one will be in the not too distant future, when one will again look more at the inner being of the person, then in these cases, in the way a will pulsates, it would be recognizable that one has already been through past earth lives with people, and subconscious soul forces say something about what one has been through with a person in past earth lives.

The other case is that one meets some person with whom no such relationship between the wills arises, but precisely one where the aesthetic or intellectual impression is the decisive factor. How often does it happen that an A meets a B and then does not speak of him in the tone of that enthusiasm or disgust in which one speaks of a person with whom one was formerly karmically connected. One may praise such a person with whom one is not karmically connected, find him nice, a fine fellow, but he does not enter into the will, but only into the mind, into the aesthetic sense.

This is the second way of meeting people. If the effect that two people exert on each other reaches into the will, into the mind, into the character, then there is a karmic affinity, then the two people are brought together by common experiences in their past life on earth. If an impulse emanates from a person that only reaches into the intellect, the aesthetic sense, so that we only like the person, only dislike him, then it is not something that the moon has made, but something that the sun is only now making and which will only find a continuation in the future. So that through a sensible observation of the human being one can come to feel where karmic relationships are present.

Now you see, what I have told you is precisely something that can be gained in knowledge of the world through anthroposophy, and just as one does not need to be an artist oneself to find a picture beautiful, so little does one need to be an initiate oneself to understand things. You can understand things because the ideas fit together. There are people who say: What is the whole spiritual world to us, you can only understand it when you are in it. - People say this because today they are accustomed to calling proof only that which can be proven by the senses. Such people are like fools who say: Everything that is in the world must be supported, otherwise it will fall to the ground. Someone could come along and say: The earth, the moon and the sun are outside in the universe, but they must have a support so that they do not fall down. He does not know that the world bodies need no support because they support each other. Anthroposophy is dependent on such an understanding. In it the ideas cannot be supported by external tangible things, but they support each other. If you start by reading a single anthroposophical book, it may happen that you put it down because you are used to seeing everything proven in a tangible way, because nothing is proven in it. But if you read more and more, you will find that the ideas support and hold each other like the bodies of the world. You can already understand things even if you are not an initiate, but through initiation science things become much denser. They are experienced in a different way. Therefore, the one who has come far enough can also speak in a different form about this human destiny woven from past, present and future. For those who have gone through initiation at a certain level, the experiences become much more concrete. A person stands before you, he speaks to you, he tells you something, you hear it. The initiate can hear the inner, the spiritual language, which is no less clear than human language, just as the outer is heard. With all the clarity with which people speak to you, the person with whom he was karmically connected in the past and whom he meets in the present life speaks to the initiate. He hears an inner language. You will say that the initiate has a whole bundle of people within him, some of whom speak to him more clearly, others less clearly. That is also the case. But at the same time it is vivid proof of the way in which one has spent the previous life on earth. I said that the great registrars, the lunar beings, register the destiny; but the moment the initiate meets another person with whom he was karmically connected in the previous life on earth, he is illuminated by the registrations of the other person with whom he is karmically connected, as if by the light of the full moon. What we currently think and do does not speak to us, but after a certain time, after a not so long time, what we have done, what is registered on the moon, speaks and comes to life. The Akashic pictures are life pictures: when you encounter the content of a past life on earth, you get to know yourself and get to know another person. What you have in common from your past life on earth comes to life again, so it is no wonder that you can hear this resurgence speaking from within in the other person. One is intimately together with the person with whom one was together in the previous life on earth. This will be the path people take into the future: People will first have to acquire a fine feeling for it, so that their will is experienced in meeting another person, so that they feel this person. In a period of about seven to nine thousand years in the future, all people on earth will hear the other people with whom they are karmically connected speaking within themselves.

If you now meet a person with whom you are not karmically connected, whom you are meeting for the first time, this will also be different after receiving the initiation. The initiate can of course also meet people in his life with whom he is not karmically connected. Nevertheless, his relationship will be different from that which exists for the ordinary consciousness. He feels with a certain subtlety new facts in the cosmic man.

You see more deeply into the world through a human being whom you meet for the first time in the cosmos. It is also a good fortune to meet a person for the first time, and this fact, that one gets to know the world better through a person one meets for the first time, must again develop as a subtle feeling. As soon as the initiate meets a person with whom he is not karmically connected, whom he meets for the first time in the cosmos, so to speak, he has a task towards this person: He immediately has the task of connecting with the protective spirit from the sphere of the Angeloi, who is particularly protective towards this person. He must not only get to know the person, he must get to know the protective spirit of the person. The angel of this person also speaks again with great clarity from within himself, and when the initiate meets various people with whom he is not karmically connected, he hears them speak loudly and clearly from within. He hears the words of the Angelos of these people within himself. This gives the initiate a certain character in his dealings with people. He himself takes on something that the Angelos wants to say to the person he meets: he transforms himself into his Angelos. Thus what can be spoken to people becomes more intimate for a different reason than it is for the ordinary consciousness. This is also the reason why the Initiate is basically different for each person who meets him for the first time in the cosmos; he is something of the Angelos of these people. This is the basis of the transformative ability of those people who face other people with the power of initiation. Now people really only have a very limited capacity for feeling such things. But centuries ago, not so long ago, mankind had much more sensitivity for this. It could happen that a wise person stood opposite a number of other people, and everyone described him differently. If you take a philistine approach, you will find: Some interesting personality has been described by twenty people, each of them differently, so no one has seen him exactly. But perhaps all twenty people have seen him. He has transformed himself for everyone by relating to the Angelos of each of these people. You see, in this relationship there really is an abyss between what is customary and usual among people today and what was customary and usual a short time ago. We learn a lot today, but we learn very differently from the way we learned in the past. The higher training, relatively recently, gave instructions on how those who had to lead and guide other people as priests or teachers could achieve the ability to connect with a person's Angelos. People have forgotten even the memory of it. Angelology was a science for those who wanted to become leaders of humanity so that they could achieve the ability to transform.

Another thing: You will be extremely struck - and I have spoken about this in my “Christianity as a Mystical Fact” - by the biographies that have been preserved of old initiates; one is like another! Just try to study the biographies of the initiates, one resembles the other, because the great initiates have experienced similar biographies with regard to their soul life. But these are not the biographies written by human beings, because they are not alike. If all those who, let us say, experienced Zarathustra had written a characterization of Zarathustra, each one would have written it differently, because Zarathustra transformed himself towards every human being. That which the world should know about the Initiates was a biography inspired by higher spirits.

So one can say: The one who, with the power of initiation, confronts a person with whom he is karmically connected, perceives his past as his own, he gets to know it through the spiritual-soul of the lunar beings.

The one who meets a person for the first time in the cosmos with the power of initiation is given the task of connecting with their Angelos. There he learns much about the outer world. It is true that the Angeloi speak within, and we are a world outside. In reality, it is impossible to get to know other people with spiritual powers without getting to know an army of angels. It is quite impossible to gain real knowledge of human beings without knowledge of angels. Just as I had to say that even ordinary fine feeling, when it comes together with people who are not karmically connected, gets to know the environment, so the initiate gets to know the actual outer world, the angelic world, all the more. This gives him mediators for the higher hierarchies.

Other things can also make you aware of how you are karmically connected to a person. You meet one person in life, you meet another. You only need to become aware: You can meet a person, have a lot to do with him, work with him and so on, but you can't dream about him. You can't dream about them because they are not connected to our astral body, but only to our ego.

You meet other people, you have only seen them fleetingly, and they follow you into your dreams, even into your waking dreams. It is a representation formed from the inside, which has nothing to do with the outside of the person, because you are karmically connected with the person. You meet a person with whom you were karmically connected and you are immediately compelled to form a picture of this person. If the person in question is a painter, then it could happen that he paints a picture of him that a philistine person finds quite dissimilar, while the initiate finds a previous incarnation of the person he has painted. One really gets to know in the depths of one's being, even if unconsciously, the other person with whom one is karmically connected. Through those people with whom you were not karmically connected, whom you meet for the first time in your life, you get to know humanity in general. People also behave accordingly. If you meet people at a five o'clock tea or other similar occasions, try to listen to life: If a person has met another person with whom he is karmically connected, he does not say very much about the other people, but he says something significant about this person. He points to something significant, especially if he is still unconscious in such matters. Notice life: you get into a conversation over a five o'clock tea with someone with whom you are not karmically connected. You are only outwardly interested in him, he tells you as if he were the representative of the whole five o'clock tea party. It's an entertaining society, you hear a lot about world affairs, about people who are great politicians - you only hear this one person, and according to this person you may judge the whole society wrongly. You get to know the other side of the world through people with whom you are not karmically connected. A traveler who once passed the Königsberg station at midnight and asked for a cup of coffee was given a terribly rough ride by the waiter he had called, who had red hair and was sleepy. The traveler in question then wrote in his diary: "The people from Königsberg have red hair, are sleepy and rude. The traveler in question judged the Königsbergers by this midnight waiter, with whom he had no karmic connection.

You see, through such observations one acquires life values, comes closer to people, learns to be connected with them in a different way. But one not only gets to know human life, and that is supposed to be the essence of anthroposophy, that it really intervenes in life, one also learns to feel, sense and know cosmic life. The sun and moon lose everything abstract and become something essential that one looks at in the cosmos and which is the corresponding great thing in the universe to the small human destiny here on earth.

In this way, the effectiveness of the sun is united with the effectiveness of the moon in our lives. Everything that shines down to us from the moon is connected with our cosmic past, and the sun is connected with our cosmic future.

Our Christmas conference, which was newly founded by the Anthroposophical Society, wanted to draw particular attention to this vital side of anthroposophy, this side that provides life values. It was intended to say, and has been said, that esotericism in the true sense of the word should live among us. Therefore, this Christmas Conference should not be a festive event at which a number of anthroposophists have met, but should continue in its effectiveness and impulses. A new newsletter is being planned - it is already here and the first three issues have already appeared. A newsletter, first of all, about what is happening in the Anthroposophical Society as a whole, about what is going on in the Anthroposophical Society. In this way it must become something like a living spiritual organism. On my travels I have repeatedly encountered people in The Hague, for example, who have said: Yes, we don't know what is going on with the people in Vienna, and yet we belong to an anthroposophical society! How many people could I ask here who could tell me what is going on in the anthroposophical branch in Leipzig or Hamburg, for example? But that must be the case in the future. It must go so far that those who are members of the New Zealand branch really have a mental image of what is going on in Vienna. Members will do well to communicate what they experience inside and outside the Anthroposophical Society to the editors of the newsletter. This will then be processed and you will always be able to read what is going on in the Anthroposophical Society. In the future, I intend to include short aphorisms in each issue that briefly summarize important aspects of life, so that such aphorisms can be used in the branches or on other occasions.

Through all this, real life, pulsating life should come into the Anthroposophical Society. That is what our Christmas meeting wanted. Every single member should be aware of this. And it is only because that is how it should be, and actually must be, if anthroposophy itself is to have its past and future in the right way, that I have undertaken, after having withdrawn for years, to take over the administration and chairmanship myself, with a board which I know will work fruitfully from the Goetheanum. At my age I really would not have resolved to do again what I did as a very young man, to start anew, if it had not been absolutely necessary. At the same time I would like to appeal to every member of the Anthroposophical Society to help to ensure that this Christmas Conference lays the foundation stone of anthroposophical life in the hearts of our members and does not cease to develop further and further as a germ of life, so that an ever more active and lively life will come to the Anthroposophical Society. Then the Anthroposophical Society will also work out into the world.