Art as Seen in the Light of Mystery Wisdom
GA 275
31 December 1914, Dornach
IV. Cosmic New Year: the Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson
Our end-of-year festival will begin with Frau Dr. Steiner giving us a recitation of the beautiful Norwegian legend of Olaf Åsteson, of whom we are told that at the approach to Christmas he fell into a kind of sleep which lasted for thirteen days; the thirteen holy days that we have explored in various ways. In the course of this sleep he had significant experiences, that he was able to narrate when he awoke.
During these past days we have examined various things that make us aware that the spiritual-scientific outlook gives us a new approach to an understanding of gems of wisdom which, in past times, people realised belonged to spiritual worlds. Time and again we shall encounter this prehistoric knowledge of the spiritual worlds in one instance or another, and we shall continually be reminded that what was known in former ages, was due to the fact that the human being was so organised at that time that he had the kind of relationship with the whole of the cosmos and its happenings that we would now call being immersed with his human microcosm in the laws or the activities of the macrocosm, and that in this process of immersion in the macrocosm he was able to experience things that deeply concern the life of his soul, but which are hidden from him as long as he lives as microcosm on the physical plane and is equipped only with a knowledge given him by his senses and an intellect bound to the senses.
We know that only a materialistic outlook can believe that man is the only being in the world order equipped with thinking, feeling and willing, whereas a spiritual point of view must acknowledge that just as there are beings below the human level, there are also beings above the human stage of thinking, feeling and willing. The human being can live his way into these beings when, as microcosm, he immerses himself in the macrocosm. However, in this case we should have to speak of the macrocosm not only as a macrocosm of space, but as if the course of time were of significance in cosmic life. Just as in order to kindle the light of the spirit within him when he wants to descend into the depths of his own soul, man has to shut himself off from all the impressions his environment can make on his senses and has, as it were, to create darkness round him by closing off his sense perception, likewise the spirit we can call the spirit of the earth has to be shut off from the impressions of the rest of the cosmos. The outer cosmos has to have least effect on the earth spirit if the earth spirit is to be able to concentrate its forces within. For then the secrets will be discovered that man has to discover in conjunction with the earth spirit, because the earth has been separated as earth from the cosmos.
The time when the outer macrocosm exercises the greatest effect on the earth is the time of the summer solstice, midsummer. And many accounts of olden times connected with festive presentations and rituals remind us that festivals like these take place at the height of summer; that in the midst of summer, the soul, in letting go the ego and merging with the life of the macrocosm, surrenders in a state of intoxication to the impressions from the macrocosm.
On the other hand, the legendary or other kind of presentations of that which could be experienced in olden times remind us that when impressions from the macrocosm have least effect on the earth, the earth spirit, concentrated within itself, experiences within the eternal All, the secrets of the earth's life of soul, and that if man enters into this experience at the point of time when the macrocosm sends least light and warmth to the earth, he learns the most holy secrets. This is why the days around Christmas were always kept so sacred, because whilst man's organism was still capable of sharing in the experience of the earth, man could meet the spirit of the earth during the point of time when it was most concentrated.
Olaf Åsteson, Olaf the son of earth, experiences various secrets of the cosmic All whilst he is transported into the macrocosm during the thirteen shortest days. And the nordic legend which has recently been extricated from old accounts, tells of these experiences Olaf Åsteson had between Christmas and New Year up till the 6th January. We often have reason to remember this former manner in which the microcosm took part in the macrocosm, and we can then take these things further. First of all, however, let us hear the legend of Olaf Åsteson, the earth son, who during the time in which we are now, experienced the secrets of cosmic existence in his meeting with the earth spirit. Let us listen to these experiences.
The Dream Song
I
Come listen to my song!
The song of a nimble youth.Of Olaf Åsteson will I sing,
Who lay and slept so long.II
He laid him down on Christmas Eve
And soon lay deeply sleeping.
Nor could he awaken
Until the people went to church
Upon the thirteenth day.Of Olaf Åsteson will I sing,
Who lay and slept so long.He laid him down on Christmas Eve
And he slept long indeed!
He could not awaken
Until the bird was on the wing
Upon the thirteenth day.Of Olaf Åsteson will I sing,
Who lay and slept so long.Olaf could not awaken
Until the sun shone o'er the peaks
Upon the thirteenth day.
Then saddled he his nimble horse
And rode in haste to the church.Of Olaf Åsteson will I sing,
Who lay and slept so long.The priest was at the altar
Reading holy mass
When Olaf alighted at the gate
To tell the many dreams
That had passed through his soul
When he did sleep so long.Of Olaf Åsteson will I sing,
Who lay and slept so long.Then old and young they all gave heed,
To Olaf's words they harkened
That told them of his dreamsOf Olaf Åsteson will I sing,
Who lay and slept so long.III
‘I laid me down on Christmas Eve
And soon lay deeply sleeping.
Nor could I awaken
Before the people went to church
Upon the thirteenth day.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.I was borne up into the clouds
Thrown down to the ocean's depths,
And whosoever will follow after
Good cheer he will not find.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.I was borne up into the clouds
Then hurled into murky swamps,
And I saw the horrors of hell
And also heaven's light.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.I had to go through deep, dark clefts
Where heaven's rivers rushed and roared.
The power to see them was not mine
Yet I could hear their roaring.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.My coal-black horse he did not neigh,
Nor did my good hounds bark,
The bird of morning did not sing
For a wonder lay on all.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.I had to travel in spiritland
Through stretch on stretch of thorny heath,
My scarlet mantle was torn to shreds
The nails of my feet likewise.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.Then I came to the Gjallar Bridge
Suspended in the windblown heights,
Studded it is with rich red gold
And the nails thereon have sharp points.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.The spirit snake he struck at me
The spirit hound bit me,
And lo! the bull did bar the way.
These are the three beasts of the bridge,
Most wicked are they all.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.The hound he is a snappish beast
The serpent waits to strike,
The bull is ready to attack!
And no one may pass o'er the bridge
Who will not honour truth!The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.I passed o'er the Gjallar Bridge
On dizzy heights and narrow.
I who had waded in the swamps . . . .
Behind me now they lie!The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.I had waded in the swamps
There seemed no foothold I could find
As I passed o'er the Gjallar Bridge
Earth did I feel within my mouth
As the dead who lie in their graves.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.To the waters then I came,
’Twas where the icy masses gleamed
Like unto flames of blue. . . .
And God did guide me in my steps
That I did not come close.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.So I went on the wintry way
And saw on my right hand:
Like unto paradise it was,
Light shining far and wide.The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.God's Holy Mother then I saw
Amidst most wondrous glory!
‘Now take thy way to Brooksvalin,
the place where souls are judged!’The moon shone bright
And all the paths led far away.
IV
In other worlds I tarried then
Through many nights and long;
And God alone can know
The suffering I saw there—In Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.I could see a young man
Who in life had killed a child.
Now he must carry him always
And stand in mud to his kneeIn Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.Also I saw an old man
Wearing a cloak of lead;
Thus was he punished,
The miser on earth,In Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.And men appeared before me
Wearing apparel of fire;
So does their dishonesty
Weigh on their poor soulsIn Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.Children I also saw,
Glowing coals beneath their feet,
In life they did their parents ill,
Now must their spirits feel itIn Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.And to a house I had to go
Where witches toiled in blood;
This was the blood of those
Who had enraged them whilst on earth,In Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.Now there came riding from the North
Wild hordes of evil spooks,
Led by the Prince of Hell,In Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.This horde riding from the North
Was the wickedest ever seen;
And the Prince of Hell rode out in front,
And he rode on his coal-black steedIn Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.Yet now came a host from the South
Bringing holy calm,
And at their head rode Saint Michael
At the side of Jesu ChristIn Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.The souls weighed down by sin
Had to tremble in anguish and fear!
Their tears ran down in streams
To hear of their wicked deedsIn Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.Michael stood in majesty
And weighed the souls of men
Upon his heavenly scales,
And near him, judging, stood
The Lord of Judgment, Jesu ChristIn Brooksvalin, where souls
World judgment undergo.V
Blessed is he who in earthly life
Gives shoes unto the poor;
He does not need, with naked feet,
To walk on the heath of thorn.Thus speaks the Balance,
And World truth
Sounds forth in spirit heights.Blessed is he who in earthly life
Unto the poor gave bread!
For nothing of harm can come to him
From the hounds of spiritland.Thus speaks the Balance,
And World truth
Sounds forth in spirit heights.Blessed is he who in earthly life
Gave corn unto the poor!
The horns of the bull are no threat to him
When he crosses the Gjallar Bridge.Thus speaks the Balance,
And World truth
Sounds forth in spirit heights.Blessed is he who in earthly life
Unto the poor gives clothes!
He need not fear the freezing wastes
Of ice in Brooksvalin.Thus speaks the Balance,
And World truth
Sounds forth in spirit heights.VI
And young and old they all gave heed,
To Olaf's words they harkened
That told them of his dreams.
You have slept long indeed. . . .
Awaken now, O Olaf Åsteson!
My dear friends, we have just heard how Olaf Åsteson fell into a sleep that was to reveal to him the secrets of worlds that are hidden from the world of the senses and ordinary life on the physical plane. This legend brings us tidings of ancient knowledge and insight into the spiritual worlds, which we shall regain once more through what We call the spiritual-scientific world outlook.
You have often heard the words that are included in all proclamations concerning the human soul's entry into the spiritual world, namely, that man beholds the spiritual world only when he experiences the gates of death and then enters into the elements. This means that the elements of earth existence do not surround him in the way they do in ordinary life on the physical plane, in the form of earth, water, air and fire, but that he is lifted above this sensory exterior of the elements and enters into what these elements really are when you know their true nature, where beings exist that have a relationship with man's soul experience.
We could feel that Olaf Åsteson experienced something of this descent into the elements when we come to the part where Olaf reaches the Gjallar Bridge and crosses over it on to the paths of the spiritual world that all led far away. What a vivid description we are given of his experience as he descends into the element of earth. It is described in such detail that he tells us he himself feels earth in his mouth like the dead who lie in their graves. And then there is a clear indication of his going through the element of water, and of all that can be experienced in the watery element when one also experiences its moral quality. Then he also indicates how man meets with the elements of fire and of air.
All this is described in a wonderfully graphic way and centred in the experience of the human soul meeting the secrets of the spiritual world. The legend was found at a later date; it was collected at the place where it lived orally among the people. Parts of the legend in their present form are no longer the same as in the original. No doubt the graphic description of the experiences in the earth realm originally came first and then the experiences in the realm of water. And the experiences in the realms of air and of fire were no doubt far more differentiated than they are in the feeble after-echo that we have today, and which was found centuries later.
The conclusion was undoubtedly also much more impressive and less sentimental, for in its present form it does not in the least remind us of the sublime language of olden times, nor of the capacity to raise one on to a superhuman plane that used to exist in folk legends. The present conclusion merely moves on on a human level, and the reason why it is moving is purely because of its connection with such deep secrets of the macrocosm and of human experience.
If we rightly understand the season of the year in which we now are, we have a strong urge to remember the fact that humanity used to possess a knowledge—even if it was less defined and clear-cut—that has been lost and which has to be regained. And the question can arise in us, that as we surely recognise today that that particular kind of knowledge has to return if mankind is to be made whole, then should we not consider it one of our most urgent tasks to do everything we can to bring knowledge like that into the culture of the present?
Many things will have to happen in order for this change to come about in the right way, in what I would like to call the feeling content of man's world conception. One thing will be particularly necessary—I say one, for it is one among many, but you can only take one at a time—it will be essential for human souls to acquire on the basis of our spiritual-scientific world conceptual stream, reverence and devotion for what was known in ancient times in the old manner about the deep secrets of existence. People must arrive at the feeling that during the materialistic age they have neglected the development of this reverence and devotion.
We must get the feeling of how dried-out and empty this materialistic age is, and how proud of our intellectual knowledge mankind was in the first centuries of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, in face of the revelations of ancient religion and knowledge handed down from former times, which, when approached with the necessary reverence, truly give us the feeling that they contain the most profound wisdom. Fundamentally speaking we have no reverence for the Bible nowadays, either! Disregarding the kind of atrocious modern research that tears the whole Bible to shreds, we have merely to look at the dry and empty way we approach the Bible today armed, as it were, only with the knowledge of the senses and ordinary intellectual powers, and at the way we can no longer muster a feeling for the tremendous greatness of human perception that comes to meet us in some of its passages. I would like to refer to a passage from the second Book of Moses, chapter 33, verse 18:
And Moses said to God, ‘I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.’
And the Lord said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.’
But then the Lord said, ‘Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.’
And the Lord said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I shall put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.’
If you gather together various things we have taken up in our hearts and souls during the years we have been working with spiritual science and then approach this passage, you can have the feeling that infinite wisdom is speaking to us there and how, in the materialistic age, human ears are so deaf that they hear nothing of the infinitely deep wisdom that comes to us from this passage. I would like to take this opportunity to refer you to a booklet that has been published under the title Worte Mosis by Bruns Publishing Co. in Minden, Westphalia, because certain things out of the five Books of Moses have been translated better in this booklet than in other editions. Dr. Hugo Bergmann, the publisher of Worte Mosis, has taken a lot of trouble over the interpretation.
The fact that man, if he wants to penetrate to the spiritual world, has to acquire a totally different relation to the world than that which he has to the sense world, has often been stressed. Man has the sense world all about him. He looks at the sense world and sees it in its colours and forms and hears its sounds. The sense world is there, and we are in the midst of it, feeling its influence, perceiving it and thinking about it. That is how we relate to the sense world. We are passive and the sense world, as it were, works its way into our souls. We think about the sense world and make mental images of it.
Our relationship is quite different when we penetrate into the spiritual world. One of the difficulties consists in getting the right idea of what a person experiences when he enters the spiritual world. I have attempted to characterise some of these difficulties in my booklet Die Schwelle der geistigen Welt (‘The Threshold of the Spiritual World’). We make mental images of the sense world and we think about it. If we go through all a person has to go through if he wants to follow the path of initiation, something occurs that can be described like this: We ourselves relate to the beings of the higher hierarchies in the same way as the things around us relate to us; they make a mental image of us, they think us. We think the objects around us, the minerals, plants and animals; they become our thoughts, whereas we are the conceptions, thoughts and perceptions of the spirits of the higher hierarchies. We become the thoughts of the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai and so on. They take us in, in the same way as we take in the plants, animals and human beings. And we must feel their sheltering protection when we say, ‘The beings of the higher hierarchies think us, they make mental images of us. These beings of the higher hierarchies take hold of us with their souls’. In fact we can actually picture that when Olaf Åsteson fell asleep he became a mental image of the spirits of the higher hierarchies, and in the course of his sleep these beings of the higher hierarchies experienced what the beings of the earth spirit were experiencing (these are, of course, a plurality for us). And when Olaf Åsteson sinks back into the physical world he remembers what the spirits of the higher hierarchies experienced in him.
Let us imagine for a moment that we are setting out on the path of initiation. How can we relate to the spiritual world, which is a host of spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies, into which we wish to enter? How can we relate to them? We can appeal to them and say ‘How can we enter into you, how do you reveal yourselves to us?’ And then, when we have acquired an understanding of the different kind of relationship the human soul has to the higher worlds, there will sound forth to us, as it were from the spiritual worlds, ‘You cannot perceive the spiritual world the same way as you perceive the sense world, the way the sense world appears before you and impinges on your senses. We must think you, and you must feel yourself in us. You must feel the kind of experience in you which a thought you think in the sense world would have if it could experience itself within you. You must surrender yourself to the spiritual world, then the beings of the higher hierarchies who can reveal themselves to you will enter into you. This will stream into your soul and live within it, bringing grace, in the same way as you live in your thoughts when you think about the sense world. If the spiritual world wishes to favour you and have compassion on you, it will fill you with its love!’
But you must not imagine that you can approach spiritual beings in the same way as you approach the sense world. Just as Moses had to creep into the cave, you must go into the cave of the spiritual world. You have to put yourself there. Like a thought lives in you, you must be taken up into the life of the spiritual beings. You yourself must live as a universal thought in the macrocosm. To have experiences there of your own accord is not possible during earthly life between birth and death, but only after you have passed through death. No one can experience the spiritual world in this way before he has died, yet the spiritual world can come close to you, bless you and fill you with its love. And if after, or whilst you are within the spiritual world, you develop your earthly consciousness, the spiritual world will shine into this consciousness.
Just as when an object is outside us we confront it, and when it enters our consciousness it is inside us, the soul of man is within the cave of the spiritual world. The spiritual world passes through him. Here, man confronts things. When man enters the spiritual world the beings of the higher hierarchies are behind him. There, he cannot see their face, just as a thought cannot see our face when it is within us. Our face is in front and the thoughts are behind, so they cannot see our face. The whole secret of initiation is concealed in the words Jehovah speaks to Moses.
And Moses said to God, ‘I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.’
And the Lord said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.’
But then the Lord said, ‘Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live.’—Initiation does indeed bring you to the Gate of Death.
And the Lord said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I shall put thee in a cleft of rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.’
It is the opposite of the way we perceive the sense world. You must muster a lot of the spiritual-scientific effort you have developed over the years, in order to encounter a revelation like this with the right kind of reverence and devotion. Then human souls will gradually acquire more and more of this feeling of reverence towards these revelations; and this reverence, this devotion, is among the many things we need in order that the change we have been speaking of can come about in mankind's spiritual culture.
The time when the macrocosm sends down least influence to the earth, the days from Christmas over New Year until roughly the 6th of January, can be a suitable time not only for remembering the facts of spiritual knowledge, but also for remembering the feelings we have to develop as we take up spiritual science. We are really and truly taken up again into the life of the spirit of the earth, together with whom we form a whole, and in which ancient clairvoyant knowledge lived, as this legend of Olaf Åsteson shows us. Humanity in the materialistic age has in many ways lost this reverence and devotion for spiritual life. It is most essential to see to it that this reverence and devotion come back, for without them we shall not develop the mood to approach spiritual science in the right way. Unfortunately the mood with which spiritual science is spproached to start with is still the same mood we have for ordinary science. A thorough change will have to come about in this respect.
Having lost the understanding for the spiritual world, mankind has also lost the proper relation to the being of man, to humanity. The materialistic world conception produces chaotic feelings about universal existence. These chaotic feelings about the world and humanity were bound to come in the age of materialism. Think of a time—and this is our time, the first centuries of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch—when people no longer had any real awareness that the being of man is threefold: a bodily nature, soul and spirit. For it really is like that. The threefold nature of man, which, to us, is one of the basic elements of spiritual science, was something that people did not have the slightest notion of from the first four centuries of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch right into our time. Man was just man, and any talk of membering his being in the way we do into body, soul and spirit was considered complete nonsense.
You might imagine that these things are valuable only in the sphere of knowledge, but that is not so. They are important not only as knowledge, but for the whole manner in which man faces life. In the fourth century of modern times, or, as we say in our language, during the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period, three great words came to the fore in which people saw, or at least endeavoured to see, the essence of human striving on earth. Important though these words are, what made them significant was the fact that they appeared at a time when mankind knew nothing of the threefold nature of man. Everyone heard of liberty, equality and fraternity.
It was a profound necessity that these words were heard at a certain time in modern civilisation. People will only really understand these words when the threefold membering of the human being is understood, because until then they will not realise the significance these words can have with regard to man's real being. Whilst these words are being approached with the sort of chaotic feelings that are engendered by the thought that man is man, and the threefold membering of man is nonsense, human beings will find no guidance in these three words. For the three words, as they stand, cannot be directly applied to one and the same level of human experience. They cannot be. Simple considerations which do not perhaps occur to you because they seem too simple for such weighty matters, can go to show that if they are taken on the same level, what these three words mean can come into serious conflict.
Let us start by looking at the realm where we find fraternity in its most natural form. Take human blood relationship, the family, where there is no need to instil brotherly love because it is inborn, and just think how it warms the heart to see real genuine brotherhood among a family, to see everyone united in a brotherly way. And yet—without losing any of the wonderful feeling we can have about this brotherly love—let us have a look at what can happen to a family fraternity just because of this brotherliness. Brotherliness is justified within a family, yet a member of a family can be made unhappy by it, and can long to get away from it because he feels he cannot develop his own soul within the family fraternity and must leave it in order to develop in freedom. So we see that freedom, the unfolding in freedom of the life of the soul, can come into conflict with even the best-meant brotherliness.
Obviously a superficial person could maintain that it is not proper brotherliness if it does not agree with a person's freedom. But people can say anything they like. No doubt they can say that everything agrees with everything else. I recently saw a thesis in which one of the articles that had to be proved was that a triangle is a quadrangle. You can of course plead for a thing like that, you can even prove exactly that a triangle is a quadrangle! And you can also fully prove that fraternity and freedom are compatible. But that is not the point. The point is that for the sake of freedom many a realm of brotherliness has to be—and in fact is—forsaken. We could give further examples of this.
If we wanted to count up the discrepancies between fraternity and equality it would take us a long time. Obviously we can say in abstracto that everyone can be equal, and can show that fraternity and equality are compatible. But if we take life seriously it is not a question of abstractions but of looking at reality. The moment we realise that the human being has a bodily nature that lives on the physical plane, a soul nature that actually lives in the soul world, and a spiritual nature that lives in the spiritual world, we have the right perspective for the connection between these profound words. Brotherliness is the most important ideal for the physical world, freedom is for the soul world, and insofar as man enters into the realm of the soul we ought to speak of the freedom of the soul, that is, of the kind of social conditions that fully guarantee the soul its freedom. If we bear in mind that in order to develop the spirit and enter spirit land we, that is, each one of us, has to strive for spirit knowledge from our own point of view, we shall soon see where we would get with our spiritual conceptions if each one of us only went his own way and we all filled ourselves with a different content.
As human beings we can only find one another in life if we seek the spirit, each one for himself, yet can arrive at the same spiritual content. We can speak of the equality of spiritual life. We can speak of fraternity on the physical plane and with regard to everything that has to do with the laws of the physical plane and which affects the human soul from the physical plane; liberty with regard to all that comes to expression in the soul in the way of laws of the soul world; equality with regard to everything that comes to expression in the soul in the way of laws of the spirit land.
So you see, a Cosmic New Year must come about, where there will be a sun that will increase in power to give warmth and to radiate light: a sun that must bring light-filled warmth to many a thing that lived on during the age of darkness, yet was not understood. It is characteristic of our time that many a thing is striven for and expressed in words, yet is not understood.
This, too, can bring us to feel reverence and devotion for the spiritual world. For if we ponder on the fact that many people strove for fraternity, liberty and equality in the fourth century of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch and uttered these words without understanding them properly, it is possible for us to see an answer to the question, ‘Where did these words come from?’ The divine-spiritual universal order implanted them into the human soul at a time when we did not understand them, in order that key words of this kind might lead us on to true universal understanding. We can notice the wise guidance in world evolution even in things like this. We can observe this guidance everywhere, whether in past ages or in more recent times, observing that often we do not notice until afterwards that something we did previously was actually wiser than the wisdom we had at our command at the time. I drew attention to this at the very beginning of my book, The Spiritual Guidance of Man.
However, if you look, for instance, at the fact that in world evolution, in the evolution of man, a part is played by directional words that can only gradually be understood, you might be reminded of an image we can use when we want to characterise this period of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch that is drawing to a close. In many respects it can really be compared with the season of Advent where the periods of daylight grow shorter and shorter. And now in our time, when we can begin to have knowledge of revelations of the spiritual worlds again, evolution is entering the phase that we can picture as the days growing longer and longer, and we can speak of this season really being comparable to the thirteen days and to the time of increasing daylight.
But it goes deeper than this. It would be absolutely wrong if we were only to find bad things to say of the materialistic age of the past four centuries. Modern times were ushered in by the great discoveries and inventions that are called ‘great’ in the materialistic age, sailing round the world, for instance, discovering lands that were not previously known and starting to colonise the earth. That was the beginning of materialistic civilisation. And then the time gradually came when people were almost stifled by materialistic civilisation. The time arrived when all our spiritual forces were applied to understanding and grasping material life. Insights, understanding and visions of the spiritual world existing in ancient knowledge were forgotten more and more, as we have seen.
Yet it is wrong to have nothing but bad things to say about this age. It would be far better to put it this way: ‘The human soul has been thinking materialistically and founding a materialistic science and culture in the part of it that is awake, but this human soul is a totality.’ If I wanted to put it schematically I could say that one part of the human soul founded materialistic civilisation. This part was inactive before that, and people knew nothing about external science and outer material life; at that time the spiritual part was more awake. (He did a drawing.) During the past four centuries the part of the soul was awake that founded materialistic civilisation, and the other part was asleep. And, in truth, during the age of materialistic culture, the seeds were being sown in the sleeping parts of the soul for the forces we can now develop in humanity to bring us to spirituality again. During these centuries mankind was really an Olaf Åsteson as far as spiritual knowledge was concerned. That really was so. And humanity has not yet woken up! Spiritual science must awaken it. A time must come when both old and young must hear the words that are being spoken by the part of the human soul that was asleep in the age of darkness.
The human soul has slept long indeed, but world spirits will approach and call to it, ‘Awaken now, O Olaf Åsteson!’—Only we have to prepare ourselves in the right way, so that it does not happen that we are faced with the call, ‘Awaken now, O Olaf Åsteson!’ and have not the ears to hear it. That is why we are engaged in spiritual science, so that we shall have the ears to hear, when the call to be spiritually awake sounds in human evolution.
It is a good thing if man remembers sometimes that he is a microcosm and that he can be receptive to certain experiences if he opens himself to the macrocosm. As we have seen, the present season is a good one. Let us try to make this New Year's Eve a symbol for the New Year's Eve that has to come to mankind in earth evolution, a New Year's Eve that will herald a new era bringing ever more light, soul light, vision, knowledge of what lives in the spirit and which can stream and flow into the human soul from out of the spirit. If we can bring the microcosm of our experience on this New Year's Eve into connection with the macrocosm of human experience over the whole earth, we shall then have the kind of feelings we ought to experience, sensing as we do the dawning of the great new Cosmic Day of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, at whose beginning we stand, and the midnight of which we want to understand worthily.
The Dream Song: Draumkvaedet, see collection Norske Folkeviser, edited by Thorwald Lammers, Kristiania 1910, by Aschehoug & Co.
Rudolf Steiner spoke about the Norwegian Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson on 1st January 1912, 7th January 1913 and 31st December 1914, and his talks were always accompanied by Marie Steiner-von Sivers reciting the Dream Song. These three lectures or addresses were put together as a volume and published in 1958 as an enlarged new edition of the lecture ‘Cosmic New Year’. Ingeborg Möller-Lindholm, the Norwegian poetess (1878–1964), drew Rudolf Steiner's attention to the old legend, and it is largely due to her initiative that this extraordinary folk epic has acquired such an important place in the anthroposophical movement. Through her help we are in a position to include in this edition the notes she made of her conversation with Rudolf Steiner. We have also included in the references, several points from a lecture Ingeborg Möller-Lindholm gave on the Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson, which she kindly put at our disposal in translation, and which we have attributed accordingly.
Notes on the Dream Song by IngeborgMöller-Lindholm of Lillehammer
In June 1910 Dr Steiner held a cycle of lectures in Oslo entitled The Mission of the Individual Folk Souls in Relation to Teutonic Mythology. As I lived in Oslo and had a large room at my disposal, I invited to tea about forty anthroposophical friends who had come to Oslo for this occasion. Dr Steiner and Frau Marie Steiner had also agreed to come. I asked Dr Steiner the previous day whether he could tell us something about the unusual Norwegian folk epic, ‘The Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson’. Rudolf Steiner smiled amiably and said he would first have to have read or heard it. I saw the point of this. Then he himself made the suggestion that he should arrive the next day an hour before the other guests, so that I could read the song to him and make a rough translation. And that is what happened.
While I read it to him, Dr Steiner sat with his eyes closed and listened intently. He was obviously deeply affected by the unusual content of the song. After tea the Dream Song was read out in Norwegian by a member of the Society, whereupon Dr Steiner gave a short but moving lecture on the song. In particular he dwelt on the fact that these events took place during the time of the twelve holy nights when extraterrestrial influences are at their strongest. He also gave special mention to the name of Olaf Åsteson. Olaf or Olcifr means the ‘one left behind’ after his predecessors have gone. He is the one who passes on the blood of the father of the generations. Ast means love; so he is ‘the Son of Love’.
Dr Steiner asked me to translate the song into German. He himself did not know Norwegian, let alone the old dialect in which the Dream Song had been written down, and which was difficult even for modern Norwegians. To begin with I made the excuse that I did not have a sufficient command of the German language to convey the wonderful musical rhythm. Dr Steiner said that did not matter, I should just translate the song literally word for word, so that he could get an exact picture of the content. I did this in the course of the autumn and sent him the translation, which was very prosaic and in many respects extremely inadequate. Later on Rudolf Steiner put the song into its own characteristic rhythms and gave several lectures on it. It was also used for eurythmic presentation, especially at Christmas time.
Dr Steiner told me in 1913 that I should not think that Olaf the Saint was the original Olaf Åsteson. (St. Olaf, a Norwegian king, died in 1035 at the battle of Stiklestad, championing the cause of Christendom.) There had been several people with the name of ‘Olaf Åsteson’, said Dr Steiner. It was a kind of mystery title.
Dr Steiner was in Norway again after the First World War, in 1921 and 1923. On these occasions he stayed with engineer Ingero. Mrs Ragnhild Ingero, who died a few years ago, told me that Dr Steiner had talked to her about the Dream Song. He had meanwhile gone into it further and discovered new things. One of these was that the song was much older than people believed. It originated about 400 AD. At that time there was a great Christian initiate in this country. He founded a mystery school in Southern Norway; the place was not mentioned. His mystery name was Olaf Åsteson, and the song describes his initiation. Originally, so Dr Steiner says, the song was much longer and had twelve sections, one for each sign of the zodiac. The song describes Olaf Åsteson's journey through the whole zodiac and what he saw and experienced there. Today we only have fragments of the original song. The aforesaid mystery school continued into the early Middle Ages. The leader was always called Olaf Åsteson
Dr Steiner said that in course of time he would publish these facts and other important things connected with the song. However he did not want to do this until he had found certain external proofs of his findings. He thought he would be able to find these . But the burning of the Goetheanum, excessive work and finally illness and death prevented this intention being realised. Now these indications are all we have.
I have given much thought to these findings of Dr Steiner's and have come to the conclusion that this mystery school was possibly in Skiringssal. This place is or rather was in Vestfold, a region in south-western Norway. In old legends it has always been described as a holy place. Vikings who died on foreign soil wished to be buried in Skiringssal. There was also a kaupang there (market). Archaeologists are excavating things at present which they assume to be remains of this market. Up to now, though, nobody has been able to prove conclusively where Skiringssal is. At the time of the mystery school it lay on the coast; however loam deposits have now ‘pushed’ the place further inland. Skiringssal means ‘The Hall of Purification’. Skim means baptism or purification (old Norwegian)
Where did the first Olaf Åsteson come from? It has been historically proved that Irish-Scottish monks were in this country long before Christianity was officially introduced. According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea came to the British Isles as early as the first century AD, and began his missionary work there. There have been mystery centres in Ireland since very early times. The tribes on the neighbouring islands were heathen. The Irish-Scottish Church, also called the Culdee Church, arose as a result of the confluence of the work of the Christian missionaries and ancient Druid wisdom. It flourished in many places as early as 300 to 400 AD. There were churches, schools and monasteries, despite the fact that these were always under attack from powerful heathen tribes of the neighbourhood. Many priests and monks died a martyr's death. This Culdee Church was based in particular on the Gospel of St. John and the preaching of the apostle John. It was like the first communities of Christians and contrasted strongly with the Petrine or Roman Catholic Church. But the latter was victorious. The Culdee Church was destroyed and dissolved in the year 664 AD. It sent a lot of missionaries to various European countries both before and after being externally destroyed. This Church was definitely of an esoteric nature. Many things suggest that the first Olaf Åsteson was a representative of this spiritual stream.
‘Among these Norwegian people, who still possess many things in their popular tongue that approach very closely the threshold of occult secrets, possibilities existed for souls to remain connected longer with everything living and working behind outer material phenomena,’ said Rudolf Steiner in his lecture on Olaf Åsteson in Berlin on 7th January 1913, in Der Zusammenhang des Menschen mit der elementarischen Welt (Man's Connection with the Elemental World), GA 158, 1970.
Vierter Vortrag
Wir beginnen diese Feier unseres Jahresschlusses damit, daß uns Frau Dr. Steiner die schöne norwegische Legende von «Olaf Åsteson» zum Vortrag bringen wird, von jenem Olaf Åsteson, der, als die Weihnachtszeit herannahte, in eine Art von Schlaf verfiel, welcher dreizehn Tage dauerte: die heiligen dreizehn Tage, die wir bei verschiedenen unserer Betrachtungen kennengelernt haben. Während dieses Schlafes hatte er wichtige Erlebnisse, von denen er dann, als er wieder erwachte, zu erzählen wußte.
Wir haben in diesen Tagen verschiedene Betrachtungen angestellt, die uns darauf aufmerksam machen konnten, wie wir durch die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung in einer andern Weise alte Erkenntnisschätze für die menschliche Erkenntnis wiedergewinnen, die in vergangenen Tagen gewußt worden sind von den Menschen als dasjenige, was den geistigen Welten angehört. Immer wieder und wieder werden wir durch das eine oder andere auf dieses vorweltliche Wissen von den geistigen Welten stoßen, und immer wieder werden wir daran erinnert, daß dieses Wissen der Vorzeit darauf beruhte, daß der Mensch vermöge seiner früheren Organisation in einem solchen Zusammenhang stehen konnte mit dem ganzen Weltenall und seinem Geschehen, daß, wie wir uns in unserer Sprache ausdrücken, der menschliche Mikrokosmos eintauchte in die Gesetzmäßigkeit, in das Geschehen des Makrokosmos, und daß er bei diesem Eintauchen in den Makrokosmos Erlebnisse haben konnte über Dinge, die sein Seelenleben innig angehen, die ihm aber verborgen bleiben müssen, solange er auf dem physischen Plane als Mikrokosmos wandelt und nur mit derjenigen Erkenntnis ausgestattet ist, die den Sinnen und dem an die Sinne gebundenen Verstande gegeben ist.
Wir wissen, wie nur eine materialistische Weltanschauung des Glaubens sein kann, daß allein der Mensch innerhalb der Weltenordnung mit einem Erkenntnis-, Gefühls- und Willensvermögen begabt sei, während man anerkennen muß vom Standpunkte einer spirituellen Weltanschauung, daß ebenso, wie es unterhalb der Menschenstufe Wesenheiten gibt, es auch Wesenheiten gibt oberhalb der menschlichen Stufe des Denkens, Fühlens und Wollens. In diese Wesenheiten kann sich der Mensch einleben, wenn er als Mikrokosmos im Makrokosmos untertaucht. Wir müssen aber dann von diesem Makrokosmos so sprechen, wie wenn er nicht nur ein Raumesmakrokosmos sei, sondern wie wenn die Zeit in ihrem Verlaufe Bedeutung habe im Leben des Makrokosmos. Wie der Mensch sich zurückziehen muß von all den Eindrücken, die auf seine Sinne ausgeübt werden können aus seiner Umgebung, wie er gleichsam um sich herum durch das Abschließen seiner Sinneswahrnehmung Finsternis erzeugen muß, um im Inneren sich das Licht des Geistes anzuzünden, wenn er in die Tiefen seiner Seele hinuntersteigen will, so muß derjenige Geist, den wit als den Erdgeist bezeichnen können, abgeschlossen sein von den Eindrücken des übrigen Kosmos. Es muß das geringste Maß von Wirkungen von dem äußeren Kosmos auf den Erdgeist ausgeübt werden, damit der Erdgeist selber sich innerlich konzentrieren, seine _ Fähigkeiten innerlich zusammenziehen kann. Denn dann werden die Geheimnisse entdeckt, die der Mensch deshalb durchzumachen hat mit diesem Erdgeist, weil die Erde als Erde aus dem Kosmos herausgesondert ist.
Solch eine Zeit, wo das größte Maß der Eindrücke vom äußeren Makrokosmos auf die Erde ausgeübt wird, ist die Sommersonnenwendezeit, die Johannizeit. Es erinnern uns daher viele Nachrichten aus alten Zeiten, die an Festesdarstellungen und Festesbegehungen anknüpfen, wie solche Feste inmitten der Sommerzeit stattfanden, wie die Seele in der Mitte des Sommers dadurch, daß sie sich des Ich entäußert und aufgeht im Leben des Makrokosmos, trunken hingegeben ist den Eindrücken des Makrokosmos.
Aber umgekehrt erinnern uns die legendarischen oder sonstigen Darstellungen desjenigen, was in der Vorzeit erlebt werden konnte, dann, wenn das geringste Maß der Eindrücke vom Makrokosmos zur Erde kommt, daran, daß der Erdgeist, in sich konzentriert, die Geheimnisse des Erdenseelenlebens im unendlichen All erlebt, und daß der Mensch, wenn er sich hineinbegibt in dieses Erleben zu der Zeit, in welcher am wenigsten Licht und Wärme gesendet wird aus dem Makrokosmos zur Erde, dann die heiligsten Geheimnisse miterlebt. Daher wurden diese Tage um die Weihnachtszeit herum immer so heilig gehalten, weil der Mensch, als er in seinem Organismus noch die Fähigkeit hatte, mitzuerleben das Erdenerleben in der Zeit, wo es am konzentriertesten ist, mit dem Erdgeist zusammensein konnte. Olaf Åsteson, Olaf der Erdensohn, erlebt in diesen dreizehn kürzesten Tagen, indem er entrückt ist in den Makrokosmos, mancherlei Geheimnisse des Weltenalls. Und die nordische Legende, die in neuerer Zeit wieder ausgegraben worden ist aus alten Nachrichten, berichtet uns von den Erlebnissen, die Olaf Åsteson hatte zwischen der Weihnachts- und Neujahrszeit bis zum 6. Januar. Wir haben wohl Veranlassung, öfter zu gedenken dieser alten Art des Einlebens des Mikrokosmos in den Makrokosmos; unsere Betrachtung wird ja an solche Dinge dann anknüpfen können. Vorerst aber wollen wir hören die Legende von Olaf dem Erdensohn, der in der Zeit, in der wir jetzt sind, die Geheimnisse des Weltendaseins erlebte dadurch, daß er mit dem Erdgeist zusammenlebte. Hören wir also diese Erlebnisse.
Das Traumlied Des Olaf Ästeson
I.
So höre meinen Sang!
Ich will dir singen
Von einem flinken Jüngling:Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief.
Von ihm will ich dir singen.II.
Er ging zur Ruh’ am Weihnachtsabend.
Ein starker Schlaf umfing ihn bald,
Und nicht konnt’ er erwachen,
Bevor am dreizehnten Tag
Das Volk zur Kirche ging.Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief.
Von ihm will ich dir singen.Er ging zur Ruh’ am Weihnachtsabend.
Er hat geschlafen gar lange!
Erwachen konnt’ er nicht,
Bevor am dreizehnten Tag
Der Vogel spreitet die Flügel!Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief.
Von ihm will ich dir singen.Nicht konnte erwachen Olaf,
Bevor am dreizehnten Tag
Die Sonne über den Bergen glänzte.
Dann sattelt’ er sein flinkes Pferd,
Und eilig ritt er zu der Kirche.Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief.
Von ihm will ich dir singen.Schon stand der Priester
Am Altar lesend die Messe,
Als an dem Kirchentore
Sich Olaf setzte, zu künden
Von vieler Träume Inhalt,
Die in dem langen Schlafe
Die Seele ihm erfüllten.Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief.
Von ihm will ich dir singen.Und junge und auch alte Leute,
Sie lauschten achtsam der Worte,
Die Olaf sprach von seinen Träumen.Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief.
Von ihm will ich dir singen.III.
«Ich ging zur Ruh’ am Weihnachtsabend.
Ein starker Schlaf umfing mich bald;
Und nicht konnt’ ich erwachen,
Bevor am dreizehnten Tag
Das Volk zur Kirche ging.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Erhoben ward ich in Wolkenhöhe
Und in den Meeresgrund geworfen,
Und wer mir folgen will,
Ihn kann nicht Heiterkeit befallen.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Erhoben ward ich in Wolkenhöhe
Gestoßen dann in trübe Sümpfe,
Erschauend der Hölle Schrecken
Und auch des Himmels Licht.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Und fahren mußt’ ich in Erdentiefen,
Wo furchtbar rauschen Götterströme.
Zu schauen nicht vermocht’ ich sie,
Doch hören konnte ich das Rauschen.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Es wiehert’ nicht mein schwarzes Pferd,
Und meine Hunde bellten nicht,
Es sang auch nicht der Morgenvogel,
Es war ein einzig Wunder überall.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Befahren mußt’ ich im Geisterland
er Dornenheide weites Feld,
Zerrissen ward mir mein Scharlachmantel
Und auch die Nägel meiner Füße.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Ich kam an die Gjallarbrücke.
In höchsten Windeshöhen hänget diese,
Mit rotem Gold ist sie beschlagen
Und Nägel mit scharfen Spitzen hat sie.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Es schlug mich die Geisterschlange,
Es biß mich der Geisterhund,
Der Stier, er stand in Weges Mitte.
Das sind der Brücke drei Geschöpfe.
Sie sind von furchtbar böser Art.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Gar bissig ist der Hund,
Und stechen will die Schlange,
Der Stier, er dräut gewaltig!
Sie lassen keinen über die Brücke,
Der Wahrheit nicht will ehren!Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Ich bin gewandelt über die Brücke,
Die schmal ist und schwindelerregend.
In Simpfen mußt’ ich waten....
Sie liegen nun hinter mir!Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.In Sümpfen mußt’ ich waten,
Sie schienen bodenlos dem Fuß.
Als ich die Brücke überschritt,
Da fühlt’ ich im Munde Erde
Wie Tote, die in Gräbern liegen.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.An Wasser kam ich dann,
In welchen wie blaue Flammen
Die Eismassen hell erglänzten ...
Und Gott, er lenkte meinen Sinn,
Daß ich die Gegend mied.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Zum Winterpfad lenkt’ ich die Schritte.
Zur Rechten konnt’ ich ihn sehn:
Ich schaute wie in das Paradies,
Das weithin leuchtend strahlte.Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.Und Gottes hohe Mutter,
Ich sah sie dort im Glanze!
Nach Brooksvalin zu fahren,
So hieß sie mich, kündend,
Daß Seelen dort gerichtet werden!Der Mond schien hell
Und weithin dehnten sich die Wege.»IV.
«In andern Welten weilte ich
Durch vieler Nächte Längen;
Und Gott nur kann es wissen,
Wie viel der Seelennot ich sah —In Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Ich konnte schauen einen jungen Mann,
Er hatte einen Knaben hingemordet:
Nun mußte er ihn ewig tragen
Auf seinen eignen Armen!
Er stand im Schlamme so tiefIn Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Einen alten Mann auch sah ich,
Er trug einen Mantel wie von Blei;
So ward gestraft er, daß er
Im Geize auf der Erde lebte,In Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Und Männer tauchten auf,
Die feurige Stoffe trugen;
Unredlichkeit lastet
Auf ihren armen SeelenIn Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Auch Kinder konnt’ ich schauen,
Die Kohlengluten unter ihren Füßen hatten;
Den Eltern taten sie im Leben Böses,
Das traf gar schwer ihre GeisterIn Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Und jenem Hause zu nahen,
Es ward mir auferlegt,
Wo Hexen Arbeit leisten sollten
Im Blute, das sie im Leben erzürnt,In Brooksvalin, wo Seeien
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Von Norden her, in wilden Scharen,
In Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Da kamen geritten böse Geister,
Vom Höllenfürsten geleitet,
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Was aus dem Norden kam,
Das schien vor allem böse;
Voran ritt er, der Höllenfürst,
Auf seinem schwarzen RosseIn Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.Doch aus dem Süden kamen
In hehrer Ruhe andre Scharen.
Es ritt voran Sankt Michael
An Jesu Christi SeiteIn Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.”Die Seelen, die sündenbeladen,
Sie mußten angstvoll zittern!
Die Tränen rannen in Strömen
Als böser Taten FolgenIn Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.In Hoheit stand da Michael
Und wog die Menschenseelen
Auf seiner Sündenwaage,
Und richtend stand dabei
Der Weltenrichter Jesus ChristIn Brooksvalin, wo Seelen
Dem Weltgerichte unterstehen.»V.
«Wie selig ist, wer im Erdenleben
Den Armen Schuhe gibt;
Er braucht nicht mit nackten Füßen
Zu wandeln im Dornenfeld.Da spricht der Waage Zunge,
Und Weltenwahrheit
Ertönt im Geistesstand.Wie selig ist, wer im Erdenleben
Den Armen Brot gereicht!
Ihn können nicht verletzen
Die Hunde in jener Welt.Da spricht der Waage Zunge,
Und Weltenwahrheit
Ertönt im Geistesstand.Wie selig ist, wer im Erdenleben
Den Armen Korn gereicht!
Ihm kann nicht drohen
Das scharfe Horn des Stieres,
Wenn er die Gjallarbrücke überschreiten muß.Da spricht der Waage Zunge,
Und Weltenwahrheit
Ertönt im Geistesstand.Wie selig ist, wer im Erdenleben
Den Armen Kleider reicht!
Ihn können nicht erfrieren
Die Eisesmassen in Brooksvalin.Da spricht der Waage Zunge,
Und Weltenwahrheit
Ertönt im Geistesstand.»VI.
Und junge und auch alte Leute,
Sie lauschten achtsam der Worte,
Die Olaf sprach von seinen Träumen.
Du schliefest ja gar lange...
Erwache nun, O Olaf Åsteson!
Meine lieben Freunde, wir haben gehört, wie Olaf Åsteson entschlief in jenen Schlaf, der für ihn eine Offenbarung werden sollte der Geheimnisse derjenigen Welten, die dem Sinnenleben, dem gewöhnlichen Leben auf dem physischen Plane entzogen sind. Wir haben in der Legende erhalten die Kunde von jenen alten Erkenntnissen, von jenen alten Einsichten in die geistigen Welten, die wiedererrungen werden sollen durch dasjenige, was wir die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung nennen.
Oftmals ist angeführt worden der Ausspruch, der durch alle Kundgebungen hindurchgeht, die von dem Eintritt der Menschenseele in die geistige Welt handeln, und der da besagt, daß der Mensch erst dann die geistige Welt schauen kann, wenn er mit seinem Erleben an die Pforte des Todes kommt und dann untertaucht in die Elemente. So daß er die Elemente des Erdendaseins nicht so um sich herum hat, wie sie im gewöhnlichen Leben des physischen Planes um ihn herum sind als die Erde, das Wasser, die Luft, das Feuer, sondern daß er herausgehoben ist über diese Außenseite, diese sinnliche Außenseite der Elemente und untertaucht in dasjenige, was diese Elemente sind, wenn man sie ihrer wahren Natur, ihrer nächstwahren Natur nach kennenlernt, wo Wesen in ihnen anwesend sind, die im Zusammenhange stehen mit dem Erleben der Menschenseele.
Daß Olaf Åsteson etwas von diesem Untertauchen in die Elemente erlebte, man konnte es noch nachspüren da, wo zunächst erzählt wird, wie Olaf an die Gjallarbrücke kommt, und wie er über die Brücke wandelt in den Wegen der geistigen Welt, die weithin sich dehnen. Wie anschaulich wird uns geschildert das Erlebnis mit dem Erdenelement, wird dargestellt, wie er in das Erdenelement eintaucht. Das wird bis zu jener Anschaulichkeit gebracht, die uns sagt, daß er wie Tote, die in Gräbern liegen, selbst Erde im Munde fühlt. Und deutlich wird uns dann angedeutet, wie er das Wasserelement durchlebt und alles dasjenige, was im Wasserelement erlebt werden kann, wenn man dieses Wasserelement zugleich mit seinem moralischen Inhalt erlebt. Dann wiederum wird angedeutet, wie der Mensch zusammenkommt mit dem Feuerelement, mit dem Luftelement.
Das alles ist in einer wunderbar anschaulichen Weise geschildert und zusammengebracht in dem Erleben des Zusammenseins der Menschenseele mit den Geheimnissen der geistigen Welt. Die Legende ist später aufgefunden worden; sie ist gesammelt worden da, wo sie noch lebte im Munde des Volkes. Und es ist manches in dieser Legende, so wie sie heute ist, nicht mehr so, wie es ursprünglich war. Ursprünglich war ohne Zweifel erst die anschauliche Schilderung der Erlebnisse im Erdengebiete, dann der Erlebnisse im Wassergebiete. Und dann waren die Erlebnisse im Luft- und im Feuergebiete wohl noch viel differenzierter, als es der Fall ist in dem schwachen Nachklange, der nach Jahrhunderten aufgefunden worden ist und der uns heute vorliegt.
Ebenso war zweifellos viel großartiger und weniger sentimental der Schluß, der gar nicht mehr, so wie er heute dasteht, an die ursprünglich ungeheuer grandiose Sprache erinnert, an das übermenschlich Ergreifende, das in solchen Volkslegenden lag, während der heutige Schluß eben nur menschlich ergreifend ist, ergreifend deshalb, weil er mit so tiefen Geheimnissen des Makrokosmos und des menschlichen Erlebens im Zusammenhange steht.
In solchen Zeiten, wie diejenige ist, in der wir jetzt leben, in solchen Jahreszeiten, wenn wir sie richtig verstehen, ist viel Veranlassung gegeben, zu gedenken der Tatsache, daß die Menschheit - allerdings mit einem andersgearteten, mehr dumpfen, dämmerigen Erkennen in der Vorzeit durchdrungen war von einem Wissen, das verlorengegangen ist und das wiedererrungen werden muß. Und da kann vor unsere Seele die Frage wiederum hintreten: Müssen wir es nicht, da wir heute schon erkennen können, wie ein solches Wissen wiederum zum Heil der Menschheit kommen muß, als eine unserer dringendsten Aufgaben betrachten, alles zu tun, was ein solches Wissen herbeiführen kann, was die jetzige Menschheitskultur mit einem solchen Wissen durchdringen kann?
Mancherlei wird notwendig sein, damit in der richtigen Weise dieser eben angedeutete Umschwung im ganzen menschlichen, ich möchte jetzt sagen, Weltanschauungsfühlen eintreten kann. Vor allen Dingen wird eines notwendig sein, eines sage ich, denn es ist eines unter vielen, aber man kann immer nur eines nehmen: notwendig wird sein, daß sich die Menschenseelen aneignen auf dem Boden unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauungsströmung Ehrfurcht und Hingebung gegenüber dem, was in uralten Zeiten in alter Art gewußt worden ist von den großen Geheimnissen des Daseins. Zu der Empfindung wird man gelangen müssen, wie es in den materialistischen Zeiten versäumt worden ist, diese Ehrfurcht und diese Hingebung in der Seele zu entwickeln.
Eine Empfindung wird man davon bekommen müssen, wie trocken und nüchtern diese materialistische Zeit ist, und wie hochmütig auf die Verstandeserkenntnis die Menschheit in den ersten Jahrhunderten der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode dagestanden hat vor den Offenbarungen alter Religions- und alter Wissensüberlieferungen, die wahrhaftig, wenn man mit der nötigen Ehrfurcht ihnen naht, ahnen lassen, daß tiefe, tiefe Weisheit in ihnen ruht. Wie ehrfurchtslos im Grunde genommen stehen wir heute auch vor der Bibel! Ich will gar nicht sprechen von jener Art moderner Greuelforschung, welche die ganze Bibel zerzaust und zerfasert, ich will nur sprechen von der nüchternen, trockenen Art, wie wir heute, gleichsam ausgerüstet nur mit Sinnenerkenntnis und den gewöhnlichen Verstandeskräften, uns der Bibel nahen, und wie wir nicht mehr eine Empfindung aufbringen können für die ungeheure Größe menschlicher Anschauung, die aus manchen Stellen uns entgegentritt. Auf eine Stelle aus dem zweiten Moses-Buche, 33. Kapitel Vers 18, möchte ich hinweisen:
Und Mose sprach zu Gott: «Zeige mir doch die Gestalt deiner Offenbarung.»
Worauf Jahve sprach: «Ich werde vorüberziehen lassen all meine Güte an deinem Angesicht, und ich will rufen den Namen Jahves vor dir und will gnadevoll sein dem, den ich begnaden darf, und will Erbarmen üben mit dem, mit dem ich Erbarmen üben darf.»
Dann aber sprach Jahve: «Du kannst mein Antlitz nicht sehen, denn mich sieht kein Mensch, der dann noch leben bleiben kann.»
Und es sprach Jahve: «Hier ist ein Ort bei mir, stelle dich auf den Felsen. Und wenn meine Herrlichkeit vorüberzieht, so will ich dich in eine Höhlung des Felsens stellen und meine Hand über dich decken, bis ich vorüber bin. Wenn ich dann meine Hand entferne, so wirst du meine Rückseite sehen; aber mein Antlitz kann nicht geschaut werden.»
Wenn man zusammennimmt so manches, was in den verflossenen Jahren unseres geisteswissenschaftlichen Strebens in unsere Seelen und unsere Herzen hineinziehen konnte, und sich naht dieser Stelle, dann kann man die Empfindung haben: Ja, was spricht denn da für eine unendliche Weisheit aus dieser Stelle, und wie taub sind die Menschenohren des materialistischen Zeitalters, daß sie so gar nichts vernehmen können von der unendlich tiefen Weisheit, die aus dieser Stelle spricht. — Ich möchte zugleich die Gelegenheit ergreifen, Sie hinzuweisen auf ein Büchelchen, das erschienen ist mit dem Titel: «Worte Mosis», im Bruns Verlag in Minden in Westfalen, und zwar deshalb, weil manches in diesem Büchelchen aus den Fünf Büchern Moses besser übersetzt ist als in andern Ausgaben. Es hat sich da Dr. Hugo Bergmann, welcher der Herausgeber der «Worte Mosis» ist, für die Interpretation viele Mühe gegeben.
Daß im Grunde genommen der Mensch sich aneignen müsse eine ganz andere Art des Sich-Verhaltens zur Welt, wenn er in die geistigen Welten eintauchen will, als das Verhalten zur Sinneswelt ist, das haben wir öfter hervorgehoben. Die Sinneswelt hat der Mensch um sich. Er schaut hin auf die Sinneswelt, er sieht sie in ihren Farben und Formen, hört ihre Töne. Die Sinneswelt ist da, wir stehen ihr gegenüber, sie wirkt auf uns, wir nehmen sie in der Wahrnehmung auf, wir denken über sie nach. So ist unser Verhalten zur Sinneswelt. Wir sind passiv, sie arbeitet sich gleichsam in unsere Seele hinein. Wir denken über die Sinneswelt, wir stellen die Sinneswelt vor.
Ganz anders ist unser Verhalten, wenn wir uns hinaufleben in die geistige Welt. Darin besteht eine der Schwierigkeiten, richtige Vorstellungen zu gewinnen über das, was der Mensch erlebt, wenn er in die geistige Welt eintritt. Ich habe versucht, einige dieser Schwierigkeiten zu charakterisieren in dem Büchelchen «Die Schwelle der geistigen Welt». Wir stellen die Sinneswelt vor, wir denken über die Sinneswelt. Wenn wir alles das durchmachen, was derjenige durchzumachen hat, der den Pfad der Initiation gehen will, dann tritt etwas ein, was man so charakterisieren kann: Wie die Dinge um uns herum sich zu uns verhalten, so verhalten wit uns selber zu den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien: die stellen uns vor, die denken uns. Wir denken die Gegenstände außer uns, die Mineralien, Pflanzen und Tiere: sie werden unsere Gedanken. Wir wiederum sind die Vorstellungen, Gedanken und Wahrnehmungen der Geister der höheren Hierarchien. Wir werden zu den Gedanken der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai und so weiter. Wir werden aufgenommen von ihnen, wie wir selber aufnehmen die Pflanzen, Tiere und Menschen. Und wir müssen uns geborgen fühlen, indem wir uns sagen können: Es denken uns die Wesen der höheren Hierarchien, sie stellen uns vor. Diese Wesen der höheren Hierarchien ergreifen uns mit ihren Seelen. — Ja, wir können uns geradezu vorstellen, indem jener Olaf Åsteson vor dem Kirchentor einschlief, wurde er eine Vorstellung der Geister der höheren Hierarchien, und während er schlief, erlebten die Wesen der höheren Hierarchien dasjenige, was erleben die Wesen des Erdgeistes, der für uns ja eine Pluralität ist. Und indem Olaf Åsteson wieder heruntersinkt in die physische Welt, erinnert er sich an dasjenige, was die Geister der höheren Hierarchien in ihm erlebt haben.
Stellen wir uns einmal vor, wir begeben uns auf den Pfad der Initiation. Wie können wir uns verhalten zu den geistigen Welten, in die wir, als in eine Summe von geistigen Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien, unseren Einzug halten wollen? Wie können wir uns zu ihnen verhalten? - Wir können sie ansprechen und können zu ihnen sagen: Wie gelangen wir in euch hinein, wie offenbart ihr euch uns? — Und dann, wenn wir Verständnis gewonnen haben für die andere Art des Verhaltens der Menschenseele zu den höheren Welten, wird uns gewissermaßen entgegentönen aus den geistigen Welten: Ja, so wie du die Sinneswelt wahrnimmst, daß sie vor deinem Blicke erscheint, vor deinen Sinnen auftritt, so kannst du die geistige Welt nicht wahrnehmen. Wir müssen dich vorstellen, und du mußt dich in uns empfinden. Du mußt dich so empfinden, wie der Gedanke, den du in der Sinneswelt denkst, sich erleben würde, wenn er sich in dir erleben könnte. Du mußt dich hingeben der geistigen Welt, dann wird in dich einziehen alles das, was sich dir offenbaren kann an Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien. Dann wird es in deine Seele einfließen und gnadevoll in deiner Seele leben, wie du in deinen Gedanken lebst, wenn du über die Sinneswelt denkst. Wenn dich die geistige Welt begnaden will, dann wird sie dich durchdringen mit ihrer Liebe, wenn sie sich deiner erbarmen und dich mit ihrer Liebe durchdringen will!
Aber du mußt nicht glauben, daß du dich den geistigen Wesen so gegenüberstellen kannst wie der sinnlichen Welt. Wie Moses in die Höhlung gehen mußte, so mußt du in die Höhlung der geistigen Welt dich hineinbegeben. Du mußt dich da hineinstellen. Wie der Gedanke in dir lebt, so mußt du dich in die geistigen Wesen hineinleben. Du mußt selber als Weltgedanke in dem Makrokosmos darinnen leben. Das, was du so erlebst, von selbst zu erleben, das kannst du nicht während deines Erdenlebens zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode, das kannst du nur nach dem Tode, wenn du gestorben bist. Niemand kann die geistige Welt so erleben, bevor er gestorben ist, aber vorüberziehen kann an dir die geistige Welt, dich begnaden, dich mit ihrer Liebe durchfluten. Und dann, wenn du nachher oder während du darinnen bist in dieser geistigen Welt, dein Erdenbewußtsein entwickelst, dann erglänzt dir herein in dein Erdenbewußtsein dasjenige, was die geistige Welt ist.
Wie der Gegenstand draußen ist und der Mensch gegenübersteht dem Gegenstande, wie der Gegenstand hineinragt in sein Bewußtsein und dann darinnen ist, so ist der Mensch mit seiner Seele in der Höhlung der geistigen Welt. Die geistige Welt zieht durch ihn durch. Hier ist der Mensch vor den Dingen. Wenn der Mensch eingeht in die geistige Welt, sind die Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien hinter ihm. Da kann er nicht ihr Angesicht sehen, so wie die Gedanken nicht unser Antlitz sehen, wenn sie in uns sind. Das Antlitz ist vorn; die Gedanken sind dahinter, sie sehen nicht das Antlitz. Das ganze Geheimnis der Initiation ruht in den Worten, die Jahve zu Moses spricht.
Und Moses spricht zu Gott: «Zeige mir doch die Gestalt deiner Offenbarung.»
Worauf Jahve sprach: «Ich werde vorüberziehen lassen all meine Güte an deinem Angesicht, und ich will rufen den Namen Jahves vor dir und will gnadevoll sein dem, den ich begnaden darf, und will Erbarmen üben mit dem, mit dem ich Erbarmen üben darf.»
Dann aber sprach Jahve: «Du kannst mein Antlitz nicht sehen, denn mich sieht kein Mensch, der dann noch leben bleiben kann.» — An die Pforte des Todes kommt man ja durch die Initiation.
Und es sprach Jahve: «Hier ist ein Ort bei mir, stelle dich auf den Felsen. Und wenn meine Herrlichkeit vorüberzieht, so will ich dich in eine Höhlung des Felsens stellen und meine Hand über dich decken, bis ich vorüber bin. Wenn ich dann meine Hand entferne, so wirst du meine Rückseite sehen, aber mein Antlitz kann nicht geschaut werden.»
Es ist die entgegengesetzte Art, wie man die Sinneswelt wahrnimmt. Man muß vieles von dem, was man sich durch Jahre hindurch erwirbt an geisteswissenschaftlichem Streben, aufbringen, um in der richtigen Weise in Ehrfurcht und Hingabe vor einer solchen Offenbarung zu stehen. Dann aber kommt allmählich immer mehr und mehr dieses Gefühl der Ehrfurcht gegenüber diesen Offenbarungen in die Menschenseele hinein, und unter dem mancherlei, was wir brauchen, damit der angedeutete Umschwung in der geistigen Menschheitskultur hervortreten kann, ist diese Ehrfurcht, diese Hingebung.
Die Zeit, in welcher das geringste Maß von Eindrücken aus dem Makrokosmos zur Erde kommt, die Zeit von Weihnachten bis über das Neujahr hinaus, ungefähr bis zum 6. Januar, ist wohl geeignet, daß man sich nicht nur erinnere an das Gegenständliche der geistigen Erkenntnis, sondern an die Empfindungen, die wir in uns entwickeln müssen durch das Aufnehmen der Geisteswissenschaft. Wahrhaft leben wir uns also wieder hinein in den Erdgeist, mit dem wir zusammen doch eine Ganzheit bilden, und mit dem lebte das alte, hellseherische Erkennen, wie es uns etwa in dieser Legende von Olaf Åsteson dargestellt ist. Ehrfurcht und Hingebung gegenüber dem geistigen Leben hat die Menschheit des materialistischen Zeitalters vielfach verlernt. Notwendig ist es vor allen Dingen, darauf zu achten, daß diese Ehrfurcht und diese Hingebung wiederum kommt, denn nur dadurch werden wir die Stimmung entwickeln können, die uns auch in der richtigen Weise an die neue Geisteswissenschaft heranbringt. Vorerst ist immer noch jene Stimmung da, welche an diese Geisteswissenschaft so herantritt, wie man an die andere, gewöhnliche Wissenschaft herantritt. In dieser Beziehung muß aber eine gründliche Umkehr stattfinden.
Dadurch, daß der Menschheit verlorengegangen ist die Einsicht in die geistige Welt, ist auch verlorengegangen das richtige Verhältnis des Menschen zum ganzen Menschenwesen, zur Menschheit. Die materialistische Weltanschauung erzeugt chaotische Empfindungen über das Weltendasein. Diese chaotischen Empfindungen über das Welt- und Menschheitsdasein mußten hereinbrechen in der Zeit des Materialismus. Nehmen wir eine Zeit -— und diese Zeit ist die unsrige: es sind die ersten Jahrhunderte der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode -, wo man so gar keine wirkliche Ahnung mehr davon hatte, daß des Menschen Wesen ein dreifaches ist: das leibliche, das seelische und das geistige Wesen. Denn wahrhaftig, so ist es. Dasjenige, was für uns schon zu den ersten Elementen des geisteswissenschaftlichen Erkennens gehören muß: die Dreigliederung des Menschen in Leib, Seele und Geist, es fehlte von den ersten vier Jahrhunderten der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode an bis in unsere Zeit hinein jede Ahnung davon. Der Mensch war eben Mensch, und alles Sprechen über eine menschliche Gliederung von der Art, wie wir sie haben in Leib, Seele und Geist, galt als törichte, phantastische Rederei.
Man könnte glauben, daß diese Dinge nur bedeutsam sind für die Erkenntnis. Das sind sie aber nicht. Sie sind nicht allein bedeutsam für die Erkenntnis, sondern sie sind auch bedeutsam für die ganze Art, wie sich der Mensch in das Leben hineinstellt. Im vierten Jahrhundert der neuzeitlichen Entwickelung oder auch, wie wit in unserer Sprache sagen, der Entwickelung der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode, brachen in diese Zeit hinein drei gewaltige Worte, in denen gewissermaßen verstand oder wenigstens zu verstehen versuchte diese Zeit das Zentrum menschlichen Wollens im Erdenerleben. Drei Worte, die bedeutsam sind, die aber ihre Eigentümlichkeit erhielten dadurch, daß sie in der Zeit in die Menschheit hineinbrachen, in welcher man nichts wußte von der Dreigliederung der menschlichen Natur. Die Menschheit hörte von Freiheit, Gleichheit und Brüderlichkeit.
Daß diese Worte hineintönten in einer bestimmten Zeit in die neuzeitliche Kultur, war eine tiefe Notwendigkeit. Verstehen wird man diese Worte wirklich erst, wenn man die dreifache Gliederung der menschlichen Natur verstehen wird, weil man dann erst wissen wird, welche Bedeutung diese Worte für die Menschennatur, im wahren Sinne des Wortes, haben können. Solange man mit jenen chaotischen Empfindungen diese drei Worte erfüllt, die da ausgehen von dem Gedanken: Mensch ist Mensch, und die Dreigliederung des Menschen ist ein törichtes Wahngebilde, so lange kann der Mensch auch nicht innerhalb des Gebietes der Richtlinie dieser drei Worte sich zurechtfinden. Denn so wie uns die drei Worte entgegentreten, können sie nicht unmittelbar, man möchte sagen, auf gleichen Niveauflächen des menschlichen Erlebens angewendet werden. Das können sie nicht. Einfache Erwägungen, die Ihnen vielleicht deshalb, weil sie so einfach sind, nicht gleich in dem Schwerwiegenden, das sie bedeuten, vor das Seelenauge treten werden, können Ihnen andeuten, wie auf der gleichen Niveaufläche des Lebens das, was diese drei Worte bedeuten, in ernste Lebenskonflikte geraten kann.
Nehmen wir zunächst das Gebiet, in dem uns auf die natürlichste Weise der Welt die Brüderlichkeit entgegentritt. Nehmen wir die menschliche Blutsverwandtschaft, die Familie, wo wir die Brüderlichkeit nicht erst herzustellen brauchen, wo sie dem Menschen naturgemäß angeboren ist, und bedenken wir, wie es zu unseren Empfindungen spricht, wenn wir sehen können, daß in einer Familie echte, wahre Brüderlichkeit herrscht, daß alles brüderlich verbunden ist. Aber jetzt -— ohne daß wir in geringstem Maße etwas zu dämpfen brauchen von der wundervollen Empfindung, die wir von dieser Brüderlichkeit haben können - werfen wir den Blick hinein, um zu sehen, was innerhalb der Brüderlichkeit der Familie entstehen kann, gerade wegen der Brüderlichkeit der Familie. Ein Glied kann in der Familie sein, welches sich gerade wegen der innerhalb der Familie gerechtfertigten Brüderlichkeit nicht wohl fühlt, sich heraussehnt aus der Brüderlichkeit der Familie, weil es fühlt, daß es die Seele nicht entfalten kann in der Brüderlichkeit der Familie, weil es fühlt, daß es heraus muß zur freien Entfaltung der Seele aus der Familie, in der es so brüderlich leben kann. Wir sehen, die Freiheit, die freie Entfaltung des Seelenlebens kann in Konflikt kommen mit der allerbestgemeinten Brüderlichkeit.
Selbstverständlich kann der Oberflächling sagen, das wäre nicht die rechte Brüderlichkeit, die mit der Freiheit einer Seele innerhalb der Brüderlichkeit sich nicht verträgt. Aber sagen kann man alles, was sich vorstellen läßt. Man kann sagen, daß sich alles miteinander verträgt, daran ist gar kein Zweifel. Ich habe neulich einmal eine Dissertation in die Hand bekommen. Unter den Thesen, die da zu verteidigen waren, war die These aufgestellt: Ein Dreieck ist ein Viereck. - Man kann natürlich auch das verteidigen, ja, man kann es sogar streng beweisen, daß ein Dreieck ein Viereck ist! So kann man auch voll beweisen, daß Brüderlichkeit und Freiheit vereinbar sind. Aber darum handelt es sich nicht, sondern es handelt sich darum, wie um der Freiheit willen manches Gebiet der Brüderlichkeit verlassen werden muß und auch verlassen wird. So könnten wir noch manches andere anführen.
Wenn man die Diskrepanzen zwischen Brüderlichkeit und Gleichheit aufzählen wollte, so würde man sehr lange darüber reden müssen. Selbstverständlich, in abstracto kann man sich wieder vorstellen: alle können gleich sein, und kann zeigen, daß sich Brüderlichkeit und Gleichheit vertragen. Aber es handelt sich nicht um Abstraktionen, sondern um die Beobachtung der Wirklichkeit, wenn wir es mit dem Leben ernst und ehrlich nehmen. In dem Augenblicke, wo wir wissen, daß die menschliche Wesenheit aus dem Leiblichen, das auf dem physischen Plane sich auslebt, besteht, aus dem Seelischen, das in der Seelenwelt eigentlich sich auslebt, und aus dem Geistigen, das in der geistigen Welt sich auslebt, eröffnet sich auch die richtige Perspektive für den Zusammenhang der drei gewaltigen Worte, die wir angeführt haben. Brüderlichkeit ist das wichtigste Ideal für die physische Welt, Freiheit für die Seelenwelt, und insofern der Mensch in der Seelenwelt darinnensteht, sollte man sprechen von der Freiheit der Seele, das heißt von einem solchen sozialen Zustande, welcher der Freiheit der Seele volle Gewähr leistet. Und wenn man bedenkt, daß wir, jeder von uns, streben müssen von unserem individuellen Standpunkte aus nach Geist-Erkenntnis, nach der Entwickelung unseres Geistes, um mit dem Geiste im Geisterland darinnenzustehen, so wird uns sehr bald vor das geistige Auge treten, wohin wir kämen mit unserer Geistauffassung, wenn jeder nur auf seinem eigenen Wege suchte und jeder zu einem ganz andern Geistesinhalt käme.
Wir können uns überhaupt als Menschen nur im Leben zusammenfinden, wenn wir, jeder für sich selber, den Geist suchen und zuletzt zu einem gleichen geistigen Inhalte kommen können. Von der Gleichheit des Geisteslebens kann gesprochen werden. Von Brüderlichkeit auf dem physischen Plane und in bezug auf alles das, was mit den Gesetzen des physischen Planes zusammenhängt und in die Menschenseele sich hineinlebt von dem physischen Plane aus. Freiheit in bezug auf alles das, was sich als Gesetze der Seelenwelt in die menschliche Seele hineinlebt; Gleichheit in bezug auf alles, was von den Gesetzen des Geisterlandes in die menschliche Seele sich hineinlebt.
Sie sehen, ein Weltenneujahr muß angehen, in dem eine Sonne wachsen wird in bezug auf ihre wärmende und leuchtende Kraft: jene Sonne, welche für manches, was in der Zeit der Verdunkelung zwar lebt, aber unverstanden lebt, die leuchtende Wärme geben muß. Das ist gerade das Eigentümliche unserer Zeit, daß manches erstrebt, manches ausgesprochen wird, ohne daß es verstanden wird.
Aber auch dieses kann uns zur Ehrfurcht führen und zur Hingebung gegenüber der geistigen Welt. Denn wenn wir bedenken, daß viele im vierten Jahrhundert der fünften nachatlantischen Periode Brüderlichkeit, Freiheit und Gleichheit erstrebten und diese Worte ausgesprochen haben, ohne daß sie im Grunde genommen verstanden wurden, dann haben wir schon die Möglichkeit, zu verstehen und eine Antwort zu finden auf die Frage: Woher also sind diese Worte gekommen? — Die göttlich-geistige Weltenordnung hat sie zunächst im voraus der noch nicht verstehenden Menschenseele eingeimpft, damit sich diese an solchen Leitworten hinaufranke zum wahren Weltverständnis. Selbst in solchen Tatsachen können wir die weisheitsvolle Führung in der Weltenevolution beobachten. In uns mehr oder weniger fern- oder naheliegenden Zeiten können wir überall diese Führung beobachten, beobachten, wie wir oftmals erst hinterher einsehen, daß das, was wir vorher gemacht haben, eigentlich weisheitsvoller war, als wir es mit der damaligen Weisheit, die wir beherrscht haben, hätten machen können. Ich habe darauf aufmerksam gemacht gleich im Beginne meiner Schrift über «Die geistige Führung des Menschen und der Menschheit».
Aber wenn Sie so etwas nehmen wie die Tatsache, daß in die Weltenentwickelung, in die Entwickelung des Menschen hineinfallen Richtungsworte, die erst nach und nach verstanden werden können, dann werden Sie wohl aufmerksam werden auf ein Bild, das man gebrauchen kann, wenn man diese abgelaufene Periode der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturepoche charakterisieren will. Sie ist nämlich wirklich in bezug auf gewisse Dinge zu vergleichen mit der Zeit des Advents, wo die Zeiten des Tageslichtes immer kürzer und kürzer werden. Und nun tritt die Entwickelung in dieser unserer Zeit, in der wir wiederum etwas wissen können von den Offenbarungen der geistigen Welt, in die Phase ein, in der wir die Vorstellung gewinnen können, daß die lichtvollen Zeiten länger und länger werden und wir davon sprechen können, daß uns dieser Zeitenlauf wirklich analog erscheinen kann den dreizehn Tagen und dem Wiederhineinleben in die wieder wachsenden Tage.
Aber die Sache geht noch tiefer. Es ist nicht richtig, ganz und gar nicht richtig, wenn wir nur böse Worte finden für die materialistische Zeit der letzten vier Jahrhunderte. Es kam ja diese neue Zeit dadurch herauf, daß man die großen Entdeckungen und Erfindungen machte, wie man sie eben «groß» nennt im materialistischen Zeitalter, zum Beispiel daß man die Erde umschiffte, Länder entdeckte, die man früher nicht gekannt hat, daß man begann, die Erde zu kolonisieren. Das war der Beginn der materiellen Kultur. Und dann rückte nach und nach die Zeit heran, in der man fast erstickte in der materiellen Kultur. Die Zeit kam herauf, wo man alles, was man an geistigen Kräften hatte, zum Begreifen und Erfassen des materiellen Lebens anwendete. Immer mehr und mehr wurde vergessen, wie wir gesehen haben, dasjenige, was an Einblicken und Einsichten, an Schauungen in die geistige Welt aus alten Erkenntnissen vorhanden war.
Aber es ist nicht richtig, wenn man nur böse Worte für diese Zeit hat. Richtig ist vielmehr ein anderes, richtig ist, wenn man bedenkt, daß diese Menschenseele in ihrem wachen Teile materialistisch gedacht, materialistisch gesonnen hat, daß sie materialistisch die Wissenschaft und die Kultur begründet hat, daß aber diese Menschenseele ein Ganzes ist. Wenn ich schematisch das ausdrücken soll, so könnte ich sagen: Der eine Teil der Menschenseele begründete die materialistische Kultur. Früher war dieser Teil untätig, die Menschen wußten nichts von äußerer Wissenschaft, wußten nichts von äußerlichem, materiellem Leben; da war der spirituelle Teil mehr wach. (Es wurde gezeichnet.) In den letzten vier Jahrhunderten war gerade jener Teil wach, der die materialistische Kultur begründete, der andere aber hat geschlafen, er schlief, dieser andere Teil der Menschenseele. Und wahrhaftig, das, was wir jetzt an Kräften entwickeln in der Menschheit, um uns wieder hinaufzuarbeiten zur Spiritualität, ist veranlagt worden in der Zeit der materialistischen Kultur in den Seelengliedern, die unten geschlafen haben. Die Menschheit war wirklich in bezug auf die Geist-Erkenntnis in diesen Zeiten: Olaf Åsteson. Das war sie wirklich. Nur ist sie noch nicht erwacht, diese Menschheit! Die Geisteswissenschaft muß sie zum Erwachen bringen. Die Zeit muß kommen, wo junge und auch alte Leute Worte hören, die gesprochen werden aus dem Teil der Menschenseele heraus, der geschlafen hat in der finsteren Zeit.
Gar lange hat diese Menschenseele also geschlafen, aber es werden die Weltengeister an diese Menschenseele herantreten und ihr schon zurufen: Erwache nun, O Olaf Åsteson! - Wir müssen uns nur in der richtigen Weise vorbereiten, daß wir nicht vor den Ruf gestellt werden: Erwache nun, o Olaf Åsteson! - und nicht Ohren haben, zu hören. Dazu betreiben wir eben die Geisteswissenschaft, daß wir Ohren haben, wenn der Ruf nach dem spirituellen Wachsein in der Menschheitsentwickelung ertönen wird.
Es ist gut, wenn der Mensch manchmal sich erinnert, daß er ein Mikrokosmos ist und daß ihm manches werden kann an Erlebnissen, wenn er in dem Makrokosmos aufgeht. Und wir haben gesehen: die Zeit, die Jahreszeit ist günstig, in der wir jetzt leben. Versuchen wir einmal, uns diese Neujahrsnacht das Symbolum sein zu lassen für jene der Erdenentwickelung der Menschheit notwendige Neujahrsnacht, in der heranrücken wird die neue Zeitepoche, in der wachsen wird und immer mehr wachsen wird das Licht, das Seelenlicht, das Schauen, das Erkennen desjenigen, was im Spirituellen lebt und von dem Spirituellen aus die Menschenseele durchwallen und durchfluten kann. Bringen wir den Mikrokosmos unseres Erlebens in dieser Neujahrsnacht in Zusammenhang mit dem Makrokosmos des Menschheitserlebens über die Erde hin, dann werden wir erleben können, was wir an Empfindungen erleben sollen, da wir etwas ahnen können von dem Anbruch des neuen großen Weltentages in der fünften nachatlantischen Periode, an dessen Anbruch wir stehen, dessen Mitternacht wir würdig erleben wollen.
Fourth Lecture
We begin this celebration of the end of the year with Dr. Steiner telling us the beautiful Norwegian legend of “Olaf Åsteson,” the Olaf Åsteson who, as Christmas approached, fell into a kind of sleep that lasted thirteen days: the holy thirteen days that we have learned about in various of our reflections. During this sleep, he had important experiences, which he was then able to recount when he awoke.
In recent days, we have made various observations that have drawn our attention to how, through the spiritual scientific worldview, we can regain in a different way the treasures of ancient knowledge for human understanding, which in days gone by were known to people as belonging to the spiritual worlds. Again and again we will encounter this pre-worldly knowledge of the spiritual worlds through one thing or another, and again and again we will be reminded that this knowledge of ancient times was based on the fact that, thanks to their former organization, human beings were able to relate to the entire universe and its events in such a way that, as we express it in our language, the human microcosm was immersed in the laws into the events of the macrocosm, and that in this immersion in the macrocosm he could have experiences of things that deeply affect his soul life, but which must remain hidden from him as long as he walks on the physical plane as a microcosm and is equipped only with the knowledge given to the senses and the mind bound to the senses.
We know how materialistic a worldview of faith can be, believing that only humans within the world order are endowed with the capacity for knowledge, feeling, and will, while from the standpoint of a spiritual worldview, one must acknowledge that just as there are beings below the human level, there are also beings above the human level of thinking, feeling, and willing. Human beings can become attuned to these beings when they immerse themselves as a microcosm in the macrocosm. But then we must speak of this macrocosm as if it were not only a spatial macrocosm, but as if time in its course had meaning in the life of the macrocosm. Just as human beings must withdraw from all the impressions that can be exerted on their senses from their surroundings, just as they must, as it were, create darkness around themselves by shutting off their sensory perception in order to kindle the light of the spirit within themselves when they want to descend into the depths of their soul, so must the spirit that we can call the Earth spirit be shut off from the impressions of the rest of the cosmos. The least possible amount of influence must be exerted by the outer cosmos on the Earth spirit, so that the Earth spirit itself can concentrate inwardly and gather its abilities inwardly. For then the secrets will be discovered that man must go through with this Earth spirit because the Earth as Earth is separated from the cosmos.
Such a time, when the greatest degree of impressions from the outer macrocosm is exerted on the Earth, is the summer solstice, the time of St. John. We are therefore reminded by many reports from ancient times, which are linked to festival depictions and celebrations, how such festivals took place in the middle of summer, how the soul in the middle of summer, by renouncing the ego and immersing itself in the life of the macrocosm, is intoxicated and devoted to the impressions of the macrocosm.
But conversely, the legendary or other depictions of what could be experienced in ancient times, when the slightest degree of impressions from the macrocosm came to Earth, remind us that the Earth spirit, concentrated within itself, experiences the mysteries of the Earth soul life in the infinite universe, and that when human beings enter into this experience at the time when the least light and warmth is sent from the macrocosm to the earth, they witness the most sacred mysteries. That is why these days around Christmas have always been held so sacred, because when humans still had the ability in their organism to experience the Earth's life at the time when it is most concentrated, they could be together with the Earth spirit. Olaf Åsteson, Olaf the Earth Son, experiences many secrets of the universe during these thirteen shortest days, while he is transported into the macrocosm. And the Nordic legend, which has been unearthed in recent times from ancient records, tells us about the experiences Olaf Åsteson had between Christmas and New Year's Eve until January 6. We have good reason to remember more often this ancient way of living in the microcosm within the macrocosm; our contemplation will then be able to connect with such things. But first, let us hear the legend of Olaf, son of the earth, who, in the time in which we now live, experienced the mysteries of the universe by living together with the earth spirit. Let us hear these experiences.
The Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson
I.
So hear my song!
I will sing to you
Of a nimble young man:It was Olaf Åsteson,
Who once slept so long.
Of him I will sing to you.II.
He went to rest on Christmas Eve.
A deep sleep soon enveloped him,
And he could not wake up,
Before on the thirteenth day
The people went to church.It was Olaf Åsteson,
Who once slept so long.
I will sing to you about him.He went to sleep on Christmas Eve.
He slept for a very long time!
He could not wake up,
Before on the thirteenth day
The bird spreads its wings!It was Olaf Åsteson,
Who once slept so long.
I will sing to you about him.Olaf could not wake up,
Before on the thirteenth day
The sun shone over the mountains.
Then he saddled his swift horse,
And hurriedly rode to the church.It was Olaf Åsteson,
Who once slept so long.
I will sing to you about him.The priest was already standing
At the altar reading the mass,
When Olaf sat down at the church door
To proclaim
The content of many dreams,
Which filled his soul
During his long sleep.It was Olaf Åsteson,
Who once slept for so long.
I want to sing to you about him.And young and old alike,
They listened attentively to the words,
Which Olaf spoke of his dreams.It was Olaf Åsteson,
Who once slept so long.
Of him I will sing to you.III.
"I went to rest on Christmas Eve.
A deep sleep soon enveloped me;
And I could not wake up,
Before on the thirteenth day
The people went to church.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.I was lifted up to the height of the clouds
And thrown into the depths of the sea,
And whoever wants to follow me,
Cannot be overcome by cheerfulness.The moon shone brightly
And the roads stretched far and wide.I was lifted up to the height of the clouds
Then thrown into murky swamps,
Beholding the horrors of hell
And also the light of heaven.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.And I had to descend into the depths of the earth,
Where the streams of the gods rush terribly.
I could not see them,
But I could hear the roar.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.My black horse did not neigh,
And my dogs did not bark,
Nor did the morning bird sing,
It was a single miracle everywhere.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.I had to travel through the land of spirits
The wide field of thorny heath,
My scarlet cloak was torn
And so were the nails of my feet.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.I came to the Gjallar Bridge.
It hangs high in the wind,
It is studded with red gold
And has nails with sharp points.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.The ghost snake struck me,
The ghost dog bit me,
The bull stood in the middle of the path.
These are the three creatures of the bridge.
They are of a terribly evil nature.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.The dog is very vicious,
And the snake wants to bite,
The bull is very threatening!
They let no one cross the bridge
Who does not want to honor the truth!The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.I walked across the bridge,
Which is narrow and dizzying.
I had to wade through swamps....
They are now behind me!The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.I had to wade through swamps,
They seemed bottomless to my feet.
When I crossed the bridge,
I felt earth in my mouth
Like dead people lying in graves.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.Then I came to water,
In which, like blue flames,
The ice masses glowed brightly...
And God guided my mind,
So that I avoided the area.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.I directed my steps toward the winter path.
I could see it on my right:
I looked as if into paradise,
Which shone brightly far and wide.The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide.And God's high mother,
I saw her there in splendor!
To go to Brooksvalin,
She told me, announcing,
That souls are judged there!The moon shone brightly
And the paths stretched far and wide."IV.
I dwelt in other worlds
Through many long nights;
And only God can know
How much soul distress I saw —In Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment.I could see a young man
He had murdered a boy:
Now he had to carry him forever
In his own arms!
He stood so deep in the mudIn Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment.I also saw an old man,
He wore a coat as if made of lead;
Thus he was punished for having
Lived on earth in avarice,In Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment.And men appeared,
Wearing fiery garments;
Dishonesty weighs heavily
On their poor soulsIn Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment.I could also see children
Who had coals of fire under their feet;
They had done evil to their parents in life,
Which weighed heavily on their spirits.In Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment.And to approach that house,
It was imposed upon me,
Where witches were to work
In the blood that enraged them in life.In Brooksvalin, where souls
are subject to the Last Judgment.From the north, in wild hordes,
evil spirits came riding,
led by the Prince of Hell,
in Brooksvalin, where souls
are subject to the Last Judgment.What came from the north,
Seemed above all evil;
At the head rode the Prince of Hell,
On his black steedIn Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment.But from the south came
Other multitudes in solemn peace.
Saint Michael rode ahead
At the side of Jesus ChristIn Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment."The souls, burdened with sin,
Had to tremble in fear!
Tears flowed in streams
As the consequences of evil deedsIn Brooksvalin, where souls
Are subject to the Last Judgment.Michael stood there in majesty
In Brooksvalin, where souls
And weighed the souls of men
On his scales of sin,
And judging them was
The judge of the world, Jesus Christ.
Are subject to the Last Judgment.How blessed is he who in earthly life
Gives shoes to the poor;
He need not walk barefoot
Through fields of thorns.Thus speaks the tongue of Libra,
And worldly truth
Resounds in the mind.How blessed are those who in earthly life
Gives bread to the poor!
They cannot hurt him
The dogs in that world.There speaks the tongue of Libra,
And worldly truth
Resounds in the state of mind.How blessed is he who in earthly life
Gives grain to the poor!
He cannot be threatened
By the sharp horn of the bull,
When he must cross the Gjallar Bridge.Thus speaks the tongue of Libra,
And the truth of the world
Resounds in the mind.How blessed are those who in earthly life
Give clothes to the poor!
They cannot be frozen to death
By the ice masses in Brooksvalin.Thus speaks the tongue of Libra,
And world truth
Resounds in the state of mind."VI.
And young and old alike,
They listened attentively to the words
That Olaf spoke of his dreams.
You slept for so long...
Awake now, O Olaf Åsteson!
My dear friends, we have heard how Olaf Åsteson fell into that sleep which was to become for him a revelation of the secrets of those worlds which are hidden from the sensory life, from ordinary life on the physical plane. In the legend, we have received the message of those ancient insights, those ancient insights into the spiritual worlds, which are to be regained through what we call the spiritual scientific worldview.
The saying that runs through all the revelations dealing with the entry of the human soul into the spiritual world has often been quoted, and it says that man can only see the spiritual world when he comes to the gates of death with his experiences and then submerges into the elements. So that he does not have the elements of earthly existence around him as they are in ordinary life on the physical plane, such as earth, water, air, fire, but that they are lifted out of this outer, sensory aspect of the elements and immersed in what these elements are when one gets to know them in their true nature, their next-true nature, where beings are present in them that are connected with the experience of the human soul.That Olaf Åsteson experienced something of this immersion in the elements can still be sensed in the initial account of how Olaf comes to the Gjallar Bridge and how he walks across the bridge into the paths of the spiritual world that stretch far and wide. How vividly the experience with the earth element is described to us, how he immerses himself in the earth element is portrayed. This is brought to such vividness that it tells us that, like the dead lying in their graves, he himself feels earth in his mouth. And then it is clearly indicated to us how he experiences the water element and everything that can be experienced in the water element when one experiences this water element together with its moral content. Then again, it is indicated how the human being comes together with the fire element, with the air element.
All this is described in a wonderfully vivid way and brought together in the experience of the human soul's communion with the mysteries of the spiritual world. The legend was found later; it was collected where it still lived in the mouths of the people. And some things in this legend, as it is today, are no longer as they were originally. Originally, there was undoubtedly first the vivid description of the experiences in the earthly realm, then the experiences in the water realm. And then the experiences in the air and fire realms were probably even more differentiated than is the case in the faint echo that was found after centuries and that we have today.Likewise, the ending was undoubtedly much more magnificent and less sentimental, no longer as it stands today, of the originally tremendously grandiose language, of the superhumanly moving nature of such folk legends, whereas today's conclusion is only humanly moving, moving because it is connected with such deep mysteries of the macrocosm and human experience.
In times such as those in which we now live, in seasons such as these, if we understand them correctly, there is much cause to remember the fact that humanity – albeit with a different, more dull, dim awareness in ancient times – was imbued with a knowledge that has been lost and must be regained. And then the question may arise again in our souls: Since we can already recognize today how such knowledge must once again come to the aid of humanity, should we not consider it one of our most urgent tasks to do everything that can bring about such knowledge, that can permeate the current human culture with such knowledge?
Many things will be necessary to bring about this change in the whole human, I would now say, worldview in the right way. Above all, one thing will be necessary, I say one thing, because it is one among many, but one can only ever take one: it will be necessary for human souls to acquire, on the basis of our spiritual-scientific worldview, reverence and devotion towards what was known in ancient times in the old way about the great mysteries of existence. We will have to develop a feeling for this, as it has been neglected in materialistic times, to develop this reverence and devotion in the soul.
We will have to develop a sense of how dry and sober this materialistic age is, and how arrogantly humanity in the first centuries of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period stood before the revelations of ancient religious and scientific traditions, which, if approached with the necessary reverence, truly give us a sense of the deep, deep wisdom that lies within them. How irreverent we are today when we approach the Bible! I am not even talking about the kind of modern research that tears the Bible to shreds and unravels it, I only want to speak of the sober, dry way in which we approach the Bible today, equipped only with sensory knowledge and ordinary intellectual powers, and how we can no longer muster a feeling for the immense greatness of human insight that confronts us in many passages. I would like to refer to a passage from the second book of Moses, chapter 33, verse 18:
And Moses said to God, “Show me the form of your revelation.”
And Yahweh said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you my name Yahweh, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
But Yahweh said, “You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.”
And Yahweh said, "Here is a place near me; stand on the rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. When I remove my hand, you will see my back, but my face cannot be seen."
When we take together all that has entered our souls and hearts in the past years of our spiritual scientific endeavors and approach this passage, we may have the feeling: Yes, what infinite wisdom speaks from this passage, and how deaf are the ears of people in this materialistic age that they cannot hear anything of the infinitely deep wisdom that speaks from this passage. — I would also like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to a little book that has been published with the title: “Words of Moses,” published by Bruns Verlag in Minden, Westphalia, because some parts of this little book from the Five Books of Moses are better translated than in other editions. Dr. Hugo Bergmann, who is the editor of “Words of Moses,” has put a lot of effort into the interpretation.
We have often emphasized that, in order to immerse themselves in the spiritual worlds, human beings must essentially adopt a completely different way of behaving toward the world than they do toward the sensory world. The sensory world surrounds human beings. They look at the sensory world, they see it in its colors and forms, they hear its sounds. The sensory world is there, we stand before it, it affects us, we take it in through our perceptions, we think about it. This is our behavior toward the sensory world. We are passive; it works its way into our soul, as it were. We think about the sensory world, we imagine the sensory world.
Our behavior is quite different when we ascend into the spiritual world. This is one of the difficulties in gaining a correct understanding of what a person experiences when they enter the spiritual world. I have attempted to characterize some of these difficulties in the booklet “The Threshold of the Spiritual World.” We imagine the sensory world; we think about the sensory world. When we go through everything that someone who wants to walk the path of initiation has to go through, something happens that can be characterized as follows: Just as the things around us relate to us, so we ourselves relate to the beings of the higher hierarchies: they imagine us, they think us. We think the objects outside ourselves, the minerals, plants, and animals: they become our thoughts. We, in turn, are the ideas, thoughts, and perceptions of the spirits of the higher hierarchies. We become the thoughts of the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, and so on. We are taken in by them, just as we ourselves take in plants, animals, and humans. And we must feel secure in being able to say to ourselves: the beings of the higher hierarchies think us, they imagine us. These beings of the higher hierarchies take hold of us with their souls. — Yes, we can imagine that when Olaf Åsteson fell asleep in front of the church gate, he became an idea of the spirits of the higher hierarchies, and while he slept, the beings of the higher hierarchies experienced what the beings of the earth spirit experience, which for us is a plurality. And as Olaf Åsteson sinks back down into the physical world, he remembers what the spirits of the higher hierarchies experienced in him.Let us imagine that we are embarking on the path of initiation. How can we relate to the spiritual worlds into which we, as a sum of spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies, want to enter? How can we relate to them? We can address them and say to them: How do we enter into you, how do you reveal yourselves to us? — And then, when we have gained an understanding of the different way in which the human soul behaves toward the higher worlds, we will hear, as it were, a response from the spiritual worlds: Yes, just as you perceive the sensory world, which appears before your eyes and presents itself to your senses, you cannot perceive the spiritual world. We must introduce you, and you must feel yourself in us. You must feel yourself as the thought you think in the sensory world would experience itself if it could experience itself in you. You must surrender yourself to the spiritual world, then everything that can reveal itself to you in the beings of the higher hierarchies will enter into you. Then it will flow into your soul and live graciously in your soul, just as you live in your thoughts when you think about the sensory world. If the spiritual world wants to bless you, it will permeate you with its love when it takes pity on you and wants to permeate you with its love!
But you must not believe that you can approach spiritual beings in the same way as the sensory world. Just as Moses had to go into the cave, so you must enter the cave of the spiritual world. You must place yourself there. Just as the thought lives within you, so you must live yourself into the spiritual beings. You yourself must live there as a world thought in the macrocosm. You cannot experience what you experience in this way during your earthly life between birth and death; you can only do so after death, when you have died. No one can experience the spiritual world in this way before they have died, but the spiritual world can pass by you, bless you, and flood you with its love. And then, when you develop your earthly consciousness afterwards or while you are in this spiritual world, what the spiritual world is shines into your earthly consciousness.
Just as the object is outside and the human being faces the object, just as the object enters into his consciousness and is then within it, so the human being is with his soul in the hollow of the spiritual world. The spiritual world passes through him. Here the human being is before things. When the human being enters the spiritual world, the beings of the higher hierarchies are behind him. There he cannot see their faces, just as thoughts do not see our faces when they are within us. The face is in front; the thoughts are behind it, they do not see the face. The whole mystery of initiation rests in the words that Yahweh speaks to Moses.
And Moses says to God, “Show me the form of your revelation.”
And Yahweh said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you my name Yahweh, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
But then Yahweh said, “You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.” — One comes to the gates of death through initiation.
And Yahweh said, “Here is a place near me; stand on the rock. And when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face cannot be seen.”
It is the opposite way of perceiving the sensory world. One must bring to bear much of what one has acquired over the years in spiritual scientific endeavors in order to stand in the right way in reverence and devotion before such a revelation. But then, gradually, more and more of this feeling of reverence for these revelations enters the human soul, and among the many things we need in order for the indicated change in spiritual human culture to emerge is this reverence, this devotion.
The time when the slightest degree of impressions from the macrocosm comes to Earth, the time from Christmas to beyond New Year's Day, approximately until January 6, is well suited for remembering not only the concrete aspects of spiritual knowledge, but also the feelings that we must develop within ourselves by taking in spiritual science. We truly live our way back into the Earth spirit, with which we form a whole, and with which the ancient, clairvoyant knowledge lived, as it is presented to us, for example, in this legend of Olaf Åsteson. In this age of materialism, humanity has in many ways forgotten reverence and devotion to spiritual life. Above all, it is necessary to ensure that this reverence and devotion returns, for only then will we be able to develop the mood that will bring us to the new spiritual science in the right way. For the time being, the mood still prevails that approaches this spiritual science in the same way as one approaches other, ordinary science. In this respect, however, a thorough reversal must take place.
Because humanity has lost its insight into the spiritual world, it has also lost the right relationship to the whole human being, to humanity. The materialistic worldview creates chaotic feelings about the existence of the world. These chaotic feelings about the existence of the world and humanity had to break in during the age of materialism. Let us take a period of time — and this period is our own: it is the first centuries of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch — when people no longer had any real idea that the human being is a threefold being: the physical, the soul, and the spiritual being. For truly, this is so. What for us must already belong to the first elements of spiritual scientific knowledge: the threefold division of the human being into body, soul, and spirit, was completely unknown from the first four centuries of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period up to our own time. Human beings were simply human beings, and any talk of a human division of the kind we have into body, soul, and spirit was considered foolish, fantastical rhetoric.
One might think that these things are only significant for knowledge. But they are not. They are not only significant for knowledge, but also for the whole way in which human beings relate to life. In the fourth century of modern development, or, as we say in our language, the development of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period, three powerful words burst into this era, in which this era understood, or at least attempted to understand, the center of human will in earthly experience. Three words that are significant, but which acquired their peculiarity by breaking into humanity at a time when nothing was known about the threefold nature of human beings. Humanity heard about liberty, equality, and fraternity.It was a profound necessity that these words resounded in modern culture at a certain time. These words can only be truly understood when the threefold structure of human nature is understood, because only then will it be known what meaning these words can have for human nature in the true sense of the word. As long as these three words are filled with those chaotic feelings that arise from the idea that Man is man, and the threefold structure of man is a foolish delusion, then man cannot find his way within the realm of the guideline of these three words. For as the three words confront us, they cannot be applied directly, one might say, on the same level of human experience. They cannot do that. Simple considerations, which perhaps because they are so simple will not immediately appear to the soul's eye in the seriousness they signify, can indicate to you how, on the same level of life, what these three words mean can lead to serious conflicts in life.
Let us first take the area in which brotherhood confronts us in the most natural way in the world. Let us take human blood relations, the family, where we do not first have to establish brotherhood, where it is naturally innate to human beings, and consider how it appeals to our feelings when we can see that genuine, true brotherhood reigns in a family, that everything is connected in a brotherly way. But now—without in the least dampening the wonderful feeling we can have from this brotherhood—let us take a look inside to see what can arise within the brotherhood of the family, precisely because of the brotherhood of the family. There may be a member of the family who, precisely because of the brotherhood justified within the family, does not feel comfortable, longs to escape from the brotherhood of the family, because he feels that he cannot develop his soul in the brotherhood of the family, because he feels that he must leave the family, in which he can live so fraternally, in order to develop his soul freely. We see that freedom, the free unfolding of the soul life, can come into conflict with the most well-intentioned brotherhood.
Of course, the superficial person may say that this is not true brotherhood, which is incompatible with the freedom of a soul within brotherhood. But one can say anything that can be imagined. One can say that everything is compatible with everything else; there is no doubt about that. I recently came across a dissertation. Among the theses that were to be defended was the thesis that a triangle is a quadrangle. Of course, one can also defend this, yes, one can even prove rigorously that a triangle is a quadrangle! In the same way, one can also prove conclusively that brotherhood and freedom are compatible. But that is not the point. The point is that, for the sake of freedom, some areas of brotherhood must be abandoned and will be abandoned. We could cite many other examples.
If one wanted to list the discrepancies between brotherhood and equality, one would have to talk about it for a very long time. Of course, in abstracto one can imagine again: everyone can be equal, and one can show that brotherhood and equality are compatible. But we are not dealing with abstractions, but with the observation of reality, if we take life seriously and honestly. The moment we know that the human being consists of the physical body, which lives out its life on the physical plane, the soul, which actually lives out its life in the soul world, and the spirit, which lives out its life in the spiritual world, the correct perspective for the connection between the three powerful words we have mentioned also opens up. Brotherhood is the most important ideal for the physical world, freedom for the soul world, and insofar as human beings stand in the soul world, one should speak of the freedom of the soul, that is, of a social condition that fully guarantees the freedom of the soul. And when we consider that each of us must strive from our individual standpoint for spiritual knowledge, for the development of our spirit, in order to stand with the spirit in the spirit world, it will very soon become clear to our spiritual eye where we would end up with our understanding of the spirit if everyone sought only their own path and everyone arrived at a completely different spiritual content.
We can only come together as human beings in life if we, each for ourselves, seek the spirit and ultimately arrive at the same spiritual content. We can speak of the equality of spiritual life. Of brotherhood on the physical plane and in relation to everything that is connected with the laws of the physical plane and lives into the human soul from the physical plane. Freedom in relation to everything that lives into the human soul as laws of the soul world; equality in relation to everything that lives into the human soul from the laws of the spirit world.
You see, a new world year must dawn in which a sun will grow in terms of its warming and illuminating power: that sun which must give its shining warmth to many things that live in the time of darkness, but live misunderstood. That is precisely what is peculiar to our time, that many things are striven for, many things are spoken without being understood.
But even this can lead us to reverence and devotion to the spiritual world. For when we consider that many in the fourth century of the fifth post-Atlantean period strove for brotherhood, freedom, and equality and spoke these words without them being fundamentally understood, then we already have the opportunity to understand and find an answer to the question: Where did these words come from? — The divine-spiritual world order first instilled them in the human soul, which did not yet understand, so that it could climb up to a true understanding of the world with such guiding words. Even in such facts, we can observe the wise guidance in the evolution of the world. In times more or less distant or close to us, we can observe this guidance everywhere, observing how we often only realize afterwards that what we did before was actually wiser than we could have done with the wisdom we possessed at the time. I pointed this out right at the beginning of my writing on “The Spiritual Guidance of Man and Humanity.”
But if you take something like the fact that words of guidance, which can only be understood gradually, fall into the development of the world and the development of human beings, then you will probably become aware of an image that can be used to characterize this past period of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch. In fact, in certain respects it can be compared to the Advent season, when the days grow shorter and shorter. And now, in our time, when we can once again know something of the revelations of the spiritual world, development is entering a phase in which we can gain the impression that the times of light are becoming longer and longer, and we can say that this passage of time really seems analogous to the thirteen days and the re-living of the days that are growing longer again.
But the matter goes even deeper. It is not right, not right at all, if we only find harsh words for the materialistic era of the last four centuries. This new era came about because people made the great discoveries and inventions that are called “great” in the materialistic age, for example, circumnavigating the earth, discovering countries that were previously unknown, and beginning to colonize the earth. That was the beginning of material culture. And then, little by little, the time came when people were almost suffocating in material culture. The time came when people used all their spiritual powers to understand and grasp material life. As we have seen, more and more was forgotten of what was available in terms of insights and visions into the spiritual world from ancient knowledge.
But it is not right to have only harsh words for this time. It is much more correct to consider that the conscious part of the human soul thought and felt materialistically, that it founded science and culture on a materialistic basis, but that the human soul is a whole. If I were to express this schematically, I could say: one part of the human soul established materialistic culture. Previously, this part was inactive; people knew nothing of external science, knew nothing of external, material life; the spiritual part was more awake. (A drawing was made.) In the last four centuries, it was precisely that part that was awake which founded materialistic culture, but the other part slept, it slept, this other part of the human soul. And truly, what we are now developing in humanity in terms of forces to work our way back up to spirituality was predisposed during the time of materialistic culture in the soul members that slept below. Humanity was truly in relation to spiritual knowledge in those times: Olaf Åsteson. That is what it truly was. Only it has not yet awakened, this humanity! Spiritual science must bring it to awakening. The time must come when young and old alike hear words spoken from that part of the human soul that has been asleep in the dark times.
This human soul has slept for a long time, but the world spirits will approach this human soul and call out to it: Awake now, O Olaf Åsteson! We must only prepare ourselves in the right way so that we are not faced with the call: Awake now, O Olaf Åsteson! and have no ears to hear. To this end, we practice spiritual science so that we will have ears to hear when the call for spiritual awakening in human development sounds.
It is good for human beings to remember sometimes that they are a microcosm and that many things can happen to them when they merge with the macrocosm. And we have seen that the time, the season in which we now live, is favorable. Let us try to let this New Year's Eve be the symbol of that New Year's Eve necessary for the earthly development of humanity, in which the new epoch will approach, in which the light, the soul light, the vision, will grow and grow more and more, the recognition of that which lives in the spiritual and can flow through and flood the human soul from the spiritual. If we connect the microcosm of our experience on this New Year's Eve with the macrocosm of humanity's experience on Earth, then we will be able to experience what we are meant to experience, as we can sense something of the dawn of the new great world day in the fifth post-Atlantean period, the dawn of which we are approaching, the midnight of which we want to experience with dignity.