Art as Seen in the Light of Mystery Wisdom
GA 275
3 January 1915, Dornach
VII. Future Jupiter and its Beings
If you recall the talks we had in connection with the evolution of the Earth through the Saturn, Sun and Moon periods, you will know that at each of these evolutionary stages, one particular kind of being from among what we would now call the higher hierarchies, attained their human level, as it were. We know that during the ancient Saturn period the Spirits of Personality, the Primal Beginnings, the Archai reached their human level, during the Sun period the Archangels, during the Moon period the Angels and during the Earth period, mankind.
You will also have seen from our talks on evolution, that each level of beings that reaches a certain stage of development, received preparation in advance. We know that the human being was being prepared throughout the Saturn, Sun and Moon periods, and that what we nowadays call man's completed physical body has been evolving since the Saturn period, the etheric body since the Sun period, the astral body since the Moon period, and that the ego was only added to these during the Earth period; that is, all the beings that are at a certain level are prepared as a whole.
Now you may be anxious to know whether, in our present period of evolution, beings are being prepared to attain their human level in the Jupiter period. Another thing you know is that during the Saturn, Sun and Moon periods—you can look it up in my book Occult Science—the spirits of the higher hierarchies took part in the preparation of humanity. There is a description of how the Angels, Archangels and Archai were involved in the development of human beings, and therefore an obvious question is whether human beings, during their Earth existence, are possibly involved in preparing the beings who will reach their human level during the Jupiter period?
This question is certainly a vital one for every feeling person, if his feelings have been inspired by spiritual science, as we have been describing. For it could be the case that human behaviour in general during the course of Earth evolution could either help, or omit to help, the beings who might attain their human level on Jupiter. We might say, ‘What could be worse than behaving in such a way during Earth evolution as to make it impossible for proper Jupiter beings to arise through our deeds?’ We must of course take it for granted, if we want to talk about these things, that there is a certain goodwill, for these are truly important secrets of initiation, the kind of initiation secrets that modern science detests as a matter of course. One certainly has to prepare one's feeling to be able to look at the attitude modern science is bound to have to the real truths of life.
In the previous lectures I have already tried to say a little about the way modern science necessarily relates to life. It cannot make direct contact with the secrets of life. It cannot even want to; it must not even pretend to want to reach these secrets of life. It is surely a good thing to make hard-boiled eggs for the people who like eating eggs when they are hard-boiled, and hard-boiled eggs are useful for those who like them. But if someone wanted to go and say that he takes the eggs away from the hens to hard-boil them, and then lets them hatch them after that, he would be doing something absurd. A person does exactly the same thing as far as the cosmos is concerned, if he sets out to solve the secrets of the cosmos and wants to use modern science for it; this is the same attitude as wanting to hatch hard-boiled eggs that have nothing left in them to be hatched out.
I will show you by means of a comparison just how misleading this science is that is bound up with the whole way of modern thinking, particularly when it approaches the real riddles of life. If somebody wants to hold forth about whether science is helpful or harmful he will usually start off by asking, ‘Is science right about this or that?’ And if he can prove that it is right in one or another instance, he will swear by it as a matter of course.
But this is just what we have to get away from, this attaching so much importance to the question of whether what science says is right or not. We must reach the point of seeing that this is not the main thing when it comes to the solving of riddles of life. If someone sees a horse-drawn cart with a man in it, he will be quite right in saying that the horses are pulling this person in the cart, and drawing him along behind them. This is correct, of course. And anyone who wanted to say that the horses were not drawing the cart and the man sitting in it, would obviously be wrong. But it is also true that the man sitting in the cart, through the way he guides the horses, is controlling the direction in which they should pull him; and that is surely the more important aspect from the point of view of the destination. Modern science can be compared to the statement of the person who denies that the man in the cart is guiding the horses, and insists that the horses are drawing the man in the cart.
If you think the comparison through in detail, you will get the right idea about the relation of modern science to modern research into truth. I have to say these things over and over again, because a person who bases himself on our world outlook, must come more and more into the position where he can defend and protect our spiritual-scientific outlook against the attacks of the modern world outlook. But you will be able to do this only if you enlighten yourself as to the relation of modern external science to a genuine research into truth. You must always approach spiritual-scientific questions with a certain attitude and a certain kind of feeling, otherwise you will not make the proper connection with them.
Now our question concerning the beings who will reach the human level on Jupiter is connected in very truth with the deepest questions of man's Earth evolution. There is something in our Earth evolution that has always been a philosophical problem, namely the relation between man's moral behaviour and his natural existence. As an earthly being, man has to decide to what extent he is the kind of being who is ruled by his instincts, has to obey and satisfy them, and is at the mercy of his instincts and their satisfaction, because the laws of nature simply insist on their being satisfied. That is one side of human nature. In this respect we say, ‘We do these things because we have to. We have to eat and we have to sleep.’ But there is another realm of human conduct on this earth, a realm in which we cannot say ‘must’, for it would lose its whole significance if we were to say ‘must’ here. This is the wide realm of ‘shall’, a realm where we feel that we have to follow a purely spiritual impulse as distinct from instinct and everything arising out of ourselves on a natural level. ‘You shall’ never speaks to us from out of our instincts but directs us in a purely spiritual way. ‘You shall’ comprises the realm of our moral obligations.
There are some philosophers who cannot find any connection between what is implied by the ‘you shall’ and ‘you must’. And our present age that is almost bogged down in materialism, especially where moral life is concerned, and will get more and more bogged down, would like to turn all the ‘you shalls’ into ‘you musts’. We are heading for times where, in this respect, the turning of ‘you shall’ into ‘you must’ will be blazoned forth with a certain amount of pride, and actually called psychology. Terrible aspects present themselves if we look at what has begun to develop in the field of criminal psychology. It is already evident that the human being is being conceived of in such a way that people do not ask whether he has overstepped a ‘you shall’, but try to prove that he was driven to one or another destructive act out of the necessity of his nature. Strange experiments are on the increase to define crime merely as a particular case of illness. All these things arise out of a certain materialistic lack of clarity in our times, regarding the relation of ‘you shall’ to ‘you must’.
What does this ‘you shall’, or in other words the categorical imperative, actually signify within the whole framework of human existence? Whoever obeys the ‘you shall’ is known to carry out a moral action. Whoever does not obey the ‘you shall’ commits an immoral action. This is of course a trivial truth. But now let us attempt to look at ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’, not only with regard to the external maya of the physical plane, but with regard to the truth and what is actually behind physical maya. Here the moral element corresponding to the ‘you shall’ appears to initiation science as something that hits you in the eye, spiritually, to put it rather crudely. If you look at a person—these truths which the materialistic outlook detests have to be told sometime—if you look at someone in certain temperature and weather conditions—you see this even better in horses, but we are not speaking about horses now—you will see him breathing out, and the breath becoming visible as vapour in the air. Obviously as far as materialistic science is concerned, this breath a person exhales, disperses and dissolves and has no further significance. But it has significance for a person who follows up the phenomena of life with initiation science, for he sees in the patterns of the breath the exact traces of the moral or immoral conduct of the person. A person's moral or immoral behaviour can be seen in the steamy breath, and the breath of a person who is morally inclined is quite different from the breath of a person who is inclined to immorality. You know, with regard to various things in the human being, the more delicate qualities can only be seen in the more delicate parts of the etheric and astral aura. But man's moral and immoral nature in the ordinary sense of the word is actually visible in the etheric-astral content of the steamy breath. The physical part of it dissolves. But what is incorporated in it does not dissolve; for it contains a genie, which, in the case of steamy breath, has a physical, an etheric and an astral part, only the physical is not earthly, just watery. Something that has an extremely differentiated form can be seen in this breath.
Deeds which arise out of love show something quite different from deeds which are done out of enthusiasm, a creative urge or the urge for perfection, for instance. But in every case the form in the breath reminds one of beings that do not exist on earth at all as yet. These beings are a preparation for the ones that will reach their human stage on Jupiter. Their forms are very changeable and will pass through further changes in the future, for these beings are the first advance shadow images of the beings who will reach the human level on Jupiter.
In a certain way we also owe our existence to the exhalation of the Angeloi on the Moon, and it is one of the moving experiences of spiritual life to know that Jupiter human beings of the future will evolve out of what we breathe out in present ages. If we turn to the Bible with such knowledge in mind, and read the opening words, we can tell ourselves, ‘Now we begin to understand what is meant when it says that the Elohim formed earthly man by breathing into him.’
I will confess that I would never have understood the part about the Elohim breathing the living being of man into his mouth and nose, if I had not known beforehand that the breath of earthly human beings also contains the first germinal beginnings of the beings who will become human on Jupiter. But Jupiter human beings can only arise from the kind of breath that owes its existence to deeds that obey the ‘you shall’, and which are therefore moral actions.
Thus we see that through our earthly morality we take a creative part in the whole cosmic order. It is indeed a creative power, and we can see that spiritual science gives us a strong impulse for moral action by telling us that we are working against the creation of Jupiter human beings, if we do not act in a moral way on earth. This gives morality a very real value and makes its existence worthwhile. Our human conduct is very strongly formed by what we acquire through spiritual science, especially as we become acquainted with real secrets regarding the cosmos.
I have already made references to similar things and mentioned at various times that language also symbolises man's own future creativity. I do not wish to dwell on this today though, but just wanted to show you, to begin with, what significance moral behaviour has in the whole of the cosmos.
You could now ask, ‘What about immoral behaviour?’ Immoral behaviour also comes to expression in the formation of the breath. But immoral behaviour imprints a demonic form on it. Demons are born through man's immoral conduct. Let us look at the difference between the demons that arise through immoral behaviour and the spiritual beings—spiritual in so far as they only have a watery existence on earth—the spiritual forms that are created by moral actions.
These beings that incarnate as far as a transitory watery existence and arise from moral conduct, are the kind of beings that have an astral, an etheric and finally a physical body condensed to the level of wateriness, just as, in the Moon period, we had an etheric, an astral and a physical body, and this physical body was also only condensed to a wateriness. We were more or less like that, even if not exactly the same. And this creature, with a physical body, etheric body and astral body that arises out of moral actions, is predestined to receive an ego, just as in the Moon period our physical, etheric and astral body were predestined to receive an ego. They have the basis for receiving an ego, and beings of this kind are qualified to undergo a regular progressive evolution in the cosmos. The other beings, the demons created out of immoral actions, also have an astral body, an etheric body and a physical body, at the watery stage, of course, but they do not have the basis for developing an ego. They are born without heads, as it were. Instead of taking up the basis for progressing along a regular evolutionary path to the Jupiter existence, they reject this basis. By doing so they fall victim to the fate of dropping out of evolution. But this only increases the hordes of luciferic beings, for they come under their power. As they cannot progress in a regular way they have to become parasites. This is what happens to all the beings that reject their normal path; they have to attach themselves to others in order to move on. These beings that arise through immoral actions have the particular inclination to be parasites in human evolution on earth under Lucifer's leadership, and to seize hold of the evolution of the human being before he makes his physical entry into the world. They attack man during the embryonic period and share his existence between conception and birth. Some of these beings, if they are strong enough, can continue to accompany the human being after birth, as seen in the phenomena of children who are possessed.
What is brought about by the criminal demon parasites attached to unborn children is the cause of the deterioration of the generation succession, which are not as they would be if these demons did not exist. There are various reasons for the decline of families, tribes, peoples and nations, but one of them is the existence of these criminal demon parasites during man's embryonic period.
These things play a great part in Earth evolution as a whole, and they bring us into contact with deep secrets of human existence. This is often the cause of people acquiring certain prejudices and points of view before they are born into earth existence. And people are tormented by doubts and uncertainties in life and all kinds of other things, because of these demonic parasites.
There is not much more these beings can do with the human being once his ego has entered and made itself felt, but they prey on him all the more before he is born or during his earliest years. Thus we see that evil actions have a significant effect in the cosmos, too, and work creatively, but their creativity works in the direction of the ancient Moon existence. For what man passes through in the embryonic period when these demonic beings can prey on him, is basically the heritage of the old Moon period, which makes its appearance in subconscious, instinctive behaviour. Something that even physical science preserves an instinct for is that, in older and better times, man's embryonic period was not calculated according to ordinary months but lunar months, therefore it speaks of ten lunar months, and knows certain other things, too, concerning the connection of embryonic development with the phases of the moon.
So we see that our Earth evolution contains two tendencies: good deeds that contain the impulse to work creatively on Earth in preparation for Jupiter, so that man's successor on the human level can come into being. But evil deeds have also brought into our evolution the tendency to drag the Earth back again to the ancient Moon period and make it dependent on everything to do with the subconscious. If you think about it, you will find a great number of things that are connected with these subconscious impulses; in fact, there are far more of these subconscious impulses in materialistic humanity of modern times, than there were in bygone ages when people were less materialistic.
I believe that the kind of things I have been telling you about again today will make you feel what a deep impression spiritual science can make on your outlook on life, and that it really and truly will not only give you theoretical knowledge but will be capable of giving human life a new direction. A time will come when life will become quite chaotic if people do not use the chance of giving it a new direction out of spiritual-scientific knowledge. Man must get beyond a knowledge that is restricted to the physical body. Our materialistic age does not want knowledge of any other sort than the kind that is restricted to the physical body. But man has to lift his knowledge out of the physical body. And what we know today as the first exercises in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds will gradually—though ‘gradually’ will be quite a long time—they will gradually turn into something he does naturally, something he will feel to be second nature. Particularly what we call thought concentration will come naturally to people.
People will more and more feel the need really to concentrate their thoughts, to focus their whole soul activity on sharply defined thoughts which they place in front of their consciousness. Whilst they would otherwise let their senses roam from one thing or fact to another, they will more and more often direct their thought life to certain things of their own choosing; even if only for a short time, they will concentrate on a definite thought, so as to focus their soul activity on this thought. They will then discover something that a lot of you know very well. Everyone makes a certain discovery in the course of concentrating. If we place a thought in the centre of our consciousness and focus all our soul activity on it, we shall notice the thought growing stronger and stronger. Certainly it does. But then there comes a point where it does not get stronger any more but gets weaker and fades away. This is an experience lots of you will have had. The thought has to fade away, it has, as it were, to die away inside. For the kind of thoughts we have to begin with and the way we think, are through the instrument of the physical body, and we concentrate the kind of thinking we do by means of the instrument of the physical body until the moment the thought dies, then we slip out of the physical body.
We would go into the unconscious altogether if, parallel with this concentration exercise, we did not attempt to do something else to maintain our consciousness when we have slipped out of our physical body. What we have to do to maintain our consciousness when we are outside, is what we call leading a calm and composed life and accepting the things of the world calmly. We can do even more than accept things calmly. We can take seriously a theory we know so well, namely the concept of karma. What do I mean?
A person is not at all inclined, to start with, to take the idea of karma really seriously. If he has only a small mishap that hurts him, or anything at all happens to him, he sometimes gets furious, but at any rate he has antipathy for it. We encounter what we call our destiny with sympathy or antipathy. It cannot be any different in ordinary life, as it is absolutely essential that we feel sympathy for some of the occurrences of destiny and antipathy for others. To us, destiny is something that meets us from outside.
If we take the idea of karma seriously, we must really recognise our ego in our destiny and realise we ourselves are active in what happens to us through destiny; that we are the actual agents. When someone offends us it is certainly difficult to believe we are hidden behind the offender. For it may be necessary in physical life to punish the offence. But we must always keep a corner within us where we admit to ourselves, ‘Even when someone offends you it is you offending yourself, when someone hits you it is you hitting yourself, when unpleasant blows of destiny hit you, it is you, yourself, dealing yourself these blows.’ We forget that we are not only within our skin but are in our destiny; we forget we are within all the so-called chance happenings of our destiny.
It is very difficult really to acquire the attitude that one's own ego brings one one's destiny. But it is true that with our own ego we bring ourselves our destiny, and we get the impulses for this in the life between death and a new birth according to our earlier incarnations, so that we can bring ourselves our destiny. We have to unite with our destiny and, instead of warding off hard blows of destiny with antipathy, tell ourselves more and more often, ‘Through having this blow of destiny, that is, through meeting yourself in this blow of destiny, you are making yourself stronger, more vigorous and robust.’ It is more difficult to form a union with your destiny in this way than to resist it, but what we lose when our thought passes away can only be regained by drawing into ourselves, like this, what is outside us. We cannot stay in what is within our skin if the thought fades when we concentrate on it, but it will carry us out of ourselves if we have taken hold of our destiny, our karma, in the true sense. We thus awaken ourselves again. The thought dies, but we carry forth the identification we have grasped between our ego and our destiny, and it carries us about the world.
This composure with respect to our destiny, this sincere acceptance of destiny, is what gives us existence when we are outside our body. Obviously this does not need to alter our life on the physical plane. We cannot always do that. But the attitude we have to acquire in a corner of our soul must be there, for the moments when we really want to be able to live consciously outside our body.
Two maxims can be our guiding principles and can mean a very great deal to us. The first of these to impress upon our minds is:
Strive for the dying away of the thought in the universe.
For the thought becomes a living force outside, only when it dies away in the universe. Yet we cannot unite ourselves with this living force unless we work at the content of the second maxim:
Strive for the resurrection of destiny in the ‘I’.
If you achieve this, you unite what has been reborn in the thought with the resurrected ego outside you.
There is a great deal in human nature, though, which makes it difficult to progress in the spirit of these maxims. It is particularly hard to look at the relationship between inner and outer in the right way. The more ethics we can learn from spiritual science in this connection, the better. And we can learn ethics from it in so far as certain ethical concepts acquire life and blood for the first time through what spiritual science can bring to them.
For instance, there are people who are perpetually complaining about other people and the awful things they do to them. They go as far as to say that other people persecute them. Everything of this kind is always connected with the other pole of human nature, you only have to observe life in the right way, which means according to spiritual science as properly understood. Of course there is good reason to complain about unkindness, but in spite of this you will always find, if you go through life with vision that has been made somewhat clairvoyant by spiritual science, that most of these complaints come from egoists, and that the suspicion that everyone wants to be nasty to them arises most often in egoistic natures, whereas a loving disposition will not readily suspect persecution, nor that people are trying to harm them in all kinds of ways, and so on.
When it is put into words like this it is easy to agree with it in theory. I am actually convinced that most people will admit to it theoretically, if they stop to think about it. But to live accordingly is what matters.
Now you may ask, ‘How do we live accordingly?’ And again the answer must be, ‘You must actually live with the spiritual science you are striving for, live with it as much as you can.’ That is the point. That is why spiritual science is not given in compendiums or short sketches, but we are trying to make spiritual science a force of life in which we can live, and from which we can constantly draw stimulating impulses.
This was the main reason that led us to make the Goetheanum building a kind of focal point for this living anthroposophical striving, for as I mentioned yesterday, the Goetheanum building, in its form, and in the whole way it has been built, has a bodily, a soul and a spiritual nature in a spiritual-scientific sense. It is itself a token of the fact that we are striving according to impulses from the spiritual world to bring into human evolution what it so badly needs, if the immediate future is to go the way it should. The very fact that you can perceive the being of spiritual science in the forms of the Goetheanum building makes it a sort of centre, a focal point around which the kind of anthroposophical striving can crystallise, that has to become an essential part of the evolution of humanity.
We probably often say that we live in troubled times and that many things exist today which stand out in stark contrast to spiritual science. Yet our karma has allowed us to come so far as to overcome, as it were, the material basis out of which our Goetheanum is built, so that it can be a token of spiritual science even in its external form.
Each one of us can acknowledge this to himself, as I often do, especially in the difficult times we are going through in face of the strong attacks being made on anthroposophy at present. Some people can question how much personal progress we have made on our part towards what ought to be crystallising around the Goetheanum. Even if one or another individual cannot be physically present any more in the work being done on the physical plane, the fact that the building is there, and that our karma has brought it to us, is an important step forward. And if we bear in mind that people with as deep an understanding of spiritual science as Christian Morgenstern, for example, remain united, even after physical death, with what the Goetheanum is intended to be, then our building can also be a token in our time of the kind of activity within our spiritual movement that is not concerned with boundaries between what is usually called life and death.
We can really feel united with this building, and therefore it can stimulate us to think the kind of serious thoughts which it is quite natural for us to think at a time like ours, when materialism is at its peak. Even if this building finds one or another individual co-operating only as a spiritual being, the building will be important for the continuation of our movement. This, you will understand, is said only to show you that our movement has a seriousness that goes beyond life and death.
We have encountered this seriousness to a special degree this week. And if one thing happens, why should not other things be able to happen soon, too? It is extraordinarily difficult to achieve what I have spoken about and mentioned again this time. I have stressed that I give the strictest attention to choosing and finding exactly the right words for which I can be fully answerable to the spiritual worlds. So it is to be desired that these words shall be heard and received in the same spirit.
Times will certainly come when people will be able to be more light-hearted with regard to the anthroposophical movement. But now, right at the beginning, we must get used to taking things very, very seriously. A while ago I talked here about occult research, among other things, because I thought it would be of use to some of you. I was mainly describing facts. I thought these would be of help to one or another of you in understanding our present difficult times. But that which I presented with this intention has not been treated with sufficient caution—there are one or two exceptions, of course, but I am right in saying that not everyone has treated it with the necessary discretion and regard, and it has transpired that it was repeated here and there in a form that conveyed exactly the opposite of what I said here.
If I just think of what has been made out of something that cannot have been misunderstood because it is already in print, regarding the classification of the peoples of Europe according to sentient soul, intellectual or mind soul, consciousness soul and the ego, which was truly not meant to express a superiority; if I think of the statements that have gone out into the world and the opposition and bad feeling they have aroused, it is easy to see that the principle of taking things quite exactly, even in such difficult cases, has not been given due consideration. If, for instance, I have ever said that the ego activity which is there among the European peoples ought to be effective in organising the European population, I would have been talking nonsense. Yet this is one of the things that has been made public, and it creates the most fearful misunderstandings and bad feelings.
So I am duty-bound not to say a word about these things in my lectures for the time being. I must desist from any mention of them, and whereas everybody else is free to speak about it, it has become impossible for me to do so because of the way people have misconstrued what I said.
All these things go to show that we should look at ourselves and see if we cannot take the anthroposophical movement absolutely seriously. For sometimes we completely fail to notice how much feeling of responsibility there is for each sentence of the communications of genuine spiritual research, when the matter is taken seriously. To stir up emotions is certainly not what spiritual science is for, nor to oppose or pacify them. And if anyone says these things are communicated in order to oppose somebody, he ought to ask himself whether the right or wrong use has been made of that which has been communicated with the utmost objectivity and reverent love of truth. These are things which add even more pain to my occult experiences, which are already painful enough. Even if I cannot mention certain important things, and a lot has to be omitted which I thought we could investigate soon, there are still some important and substantial matters left for us to discuss during our time together.
Siebenter Vortrag
Wenn Sie sich erinnern an die Auseinandersetzungen, die gepflogen worden sind im Zusammenhang mit der Entwickelung der Erde über die Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenzeit, so werden Sie wissen, daß auf jeder dieser Stufen der Evolution eine bestimmte Wesensart, die wir heute zu den Wesensarten der höheren Hierarchien rechnen müssen, gewissermaßen die Menschheitsstufe erreichte. Wir wissen, daß während der alten Saturnzeit diejenigen geistigen Wesenheiten die Menschheitsstufe erreichten, die wir nennen die Geister der Persönlichkeit, die Urbeginne, die Archai, daß während der Sonnenzeit ihre Menschheitsstufe erreichten die Archangeloi, während der Mondenzeit die Angeloi und während der Erdenzeit die Menschen.
Nun ersehen Sie aber auch aus all den Betrachtungen, die im Zusammenhange mit den Evolutionen gepflogen worden sind, daß jede Stufe von Wesenheiten, die in der folgenden Zeit eine bestimmte Entwickelung erreichte, vorbereitet worden ist. Wir wissen, daß der Mensch vorbereitet worden ist durch die Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenzeit, daß dasjenige, was wir heute als den vollkommenen physischen Menschenleib bezeichnen, eine Evolution durchgemacht hat schon seit der Saturnzeit, daß der Ätherleib eine Evolution durchgemacht hat seit der Sonnenzeit, der Astralleib seit der Mondenzeit, und daß das Ich erst hinzugekommen ist während der Erdenzeit, so daß also die Gesamtheit einer solchen Wesensart vorbereitet wird.
Es kann Ihnen die Frage gewissermaßen auf dem Herzen liegen: Werden denn auch in unserer Zeit solche Wesenheiten vorbereitet, welche während der Jupiterzeit die Menschenstufe erreichen? - Nun wissen Sie aber auch, daß während der Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenzeit — Sie brauchen nur die Darstellung in meinem Buche «Die Geheimwissenschaft» nachzusehen - an der Vorbereitung zum Menschentum die Geister der höheren Hierarchien teilgenommen haben. Es ist da dargestellt worden, wie die Angeloi, Archangeloi und Archai an dem Zustandekommen der menschlichen Wesenheiten teilgenommen haben, und so liegt es nahe, sich die Frage vorzulegen: Arbeiten vielleicht auch die Menschen durch ihr Erdensein an denjenigen Wesen vorbereitend, die während der Jupiterzeit die Menschheitsstufe erreichen werden?
Das ist eine Frage, die gewiß jedes fühlende Herz - fühlend in dem Sinne, wie wir es in den vergangenen Tagen im Zusammenhang mit den Anregungen durch die Geisteswissenschaft fühlend genannt haben - als eine Lebensfrage betrachten muß. Denn es könnte sein, daß des Menschen Benehmen im ganzen während der Erdenzeit etwas fördern oder verfehlen könnte in bezug auf diejenigen Wesenheiten, welche während der Jupiterzeit die Menschheitsstufe erreichen könnten. Man möchte sagen: Was können wir denn Schlimmeres tun, als während der Erdenevolution uns in einer Weise zu benehmen, die es unmöglich macht, daß aus unseren Taten die richtigen Jupiterwesen hervorgehen? - Nun muß man allerdings einen gewissen guten Erkenntniswillen voraussetzen, wenn man über diese Dinge sprechen will, denn indem man über diese Dinge spricht, berührt man wahrhaftig schon wichtige Geheimnisse der Initiation, solche Geheimnisse der Initiation, welche der heutigen Wissenschaft selbstverständlich ein Greuel sind. Da muß man sich schon vorbereiten dutch sein Gefühl, anzusehen, wie diese heutige Wissenschaft zu den eigentlichen Lebenswahrheiten notwendigerweise stehen muß.
Ich habe schon versucht, in den vorhergehenden Vorträgen einiges zu charakterisieren über das notwendige Verhältnis der heutigen Wissenschaft zum Leben. Sie kann nicht unmittelbar an die Geheimnisse des Lebens heran. Sie kann dies auch nicht wollen; sie muß sich nur nicht anmaßen, an diese Geheimnisse des Lebens herankommen zu wollen. Für diejenigen, welche gern Eier essen, wenn sie hartgesotten sind, ist es sicher gut, wenn man Eier hart siedet, und dann haben hartgesottene Eier einen guten Zweck eben für die, welche sie genießen. Aber wenn jemand hingehen wollte und sagen: Man nehme den Hühnern die Eier weg, um sie hart zu sieden und sie dann nachher von ihnen ausbrüten zu lassen -, so würde ein solcher etwas Absurdes unternehmen. Ganz dasselbe unternimmt in bezug auf den Kosmos derjenige, welcher die Geheimnisse des Kosmos enträtseln will und mit dem heutigen Wissen daran gehen will, sie zu enträtseln, was wirklich dem Verhalten desjenigen entspricht, der hartgesottene Eier ausbrüten lassen will, aus denen sich nichts mehr ausbrüten läßt.
Inwiefern diese Wissenschaft als zusammenhängend mit dem ganzen heutigen Denken in vieler Beziehung gerade für die wahren Rätsel des Lebens irreführend sein muß, kann Ihnen anschaulich werden durch einen Vergleich, den ich jetzt machen möchte. Nicht wahr, wenn jemand sich auslassen will über das Förderliche oder Schädliche der Wissenschaft, so wird er zunächst versuchen, die Frage so zu stellen: Hat diese Wissenschaft da oder dort Recht? -— Und wenn er beweisen kann, daß sie da oder dort Recht hat, so wird er selbstverständlich auf sie schwören.
Ja, aber das ist es gerade, wovon wir abkommen müssen, daß wir diese Frage, ob das, was die Wissenschaft sagt, richtig oder nicht richtig ist, für so wichtig halten. Wir müssen dahinkommen, daß wir diese Frage nicht als die Hauptsache betrachten, wenn es sich darum handelt, die Rätsel des Lebens zu lösen. Wenn jemand einen Wagen sieht, der von Pferden gezogen ist und auf dem ein Mensch sitzt, so wird derjenige, der das sieht, ganz gewiß Recht haben, wenn er sagt: Die Pferde ziehen diesen Menschen auf dem Wagen, sie ziehen ihn nach sich. - Das ist zweifellos richtig. Und derjenige, der behaupten wollte, die Pferde ziehen nicht den Wagen und den, der auf dem Wagen sitzt, der würde selbstverständlich etwas Unrichtiges behaupten. Aber ebenso wahr ist es, daß der Mensch, der darauf sitzt, bewirkt durch die Art, wie er die Pferde dirigiert, wohin die Pferde ihn ziehen sollen, und das ist ganz gewiß das Wichtigere, das Wesentlichere, worauf es ankommt für die Erreichung dessen, was erreicht werden soll. Die heutige Wissenschaft gleicht eben der Behauptung desjenigen, der leugnet, daß der Mann auf dem Wagen die Pferde lenkt, und der nur zugeben will, daß die Pferde den Mann auf dem Wagen ziehen.
Wenn Sie diesen Vergleich sich genauer ausdenken, so werden Sie sich über das Verhältnis der heutigen Wissenschaft zur heutigen Wahrheitsforschung die richtigen Ideen aneignen können. Ich muß diese Dinge immer wieder sagen aus dem Grunde, weil der auf dem Boden unserer Weltanschauung Stehende immer mehr und mehr in die Lage kommen muß, diese unsere geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung gegenüber den Angriffen der heutigen Weltanschauung zu verteidigen, zu sichern. Das kann man aber nur, wenn man wirklich sich aufklärt über das Verhältnis der heutigen äußeren Wissenschaft zu der echten Wahrheitsforschung. Immer muß man mit ganz bestimmten Empfindungen, mit ganz bestimmten Gefühlsnuancen an die Fragen der Geisteswissenschaft herangehen, sonst kommt man mit ihnen nicht zurecht.
Nun hängt die Frage, die wir berührt haben, die Frage nach denjenigen Wesenheiten, welche auf dem Jupiter die Menschenstufe erreichen werden, in der Tat mit den tiefsten Fragen der Erdenevolution des Menschen zusammen. Es gibt in unserer Erdenevolution etwas, demgegenüber immer philosophische Bestrebungen da waren, das ist das Verhältnis des sittlichen, des ethischen Handelns zu dem natürlichen Dasein des Menschen. Der Mensch muß ja unterscheiden als Erdenwesen, inwiefern er ein Wesen ist, das von seinen Trieben beherrscht ist, das seinen Trieben folgt, das diese Triebe befriedigen muß, das gegenüber diesen Trieben und ihrer Befriedigung nichts vermag, weil sie einfach nach Naturgesetzen befriedigt werden müssen. Das ist die eine Seite der menschlichen Natur. Ihr gegenüber sagen wir: Das, was wir tun, müssen wir tun. Wir müssen essen, wir müssen schlafen. -— Aber es gibt ein anderes Gebiet des menschlichen Verhaltens auf der Erde, das ist das Gebiet, demgegenüber wir von einem Müssen nicht reden können, das allen Sinn verlieren würde, wenn wir von einem Müssen sprechen würden. Das ist das weite Gebiet des Sollens, das Gebiet, wo wir gegenüber allen Trieben, gegenüber alldem, was auf naturgemäße Weise aus unserer Natur folgt, empfinden: Wir müssen einem rein geistigen Impulse folgen. - Das «Du sollst» ist niemals etwas, was triebartig zu uns spricht, sondern etwas, was richtunggebend auf rein geistige Art zu uns spricht. Dieses «Du sollst» umfaßt das Gebiet unserer sittlichen Pflichten.
Es gibt Philosophien, die gar nicht finden können den Zusammenhang zwischen dem «Du sollst» und dem «Du mußt». Und unsere im Materialismus gerade dann schon, wenn es sich um das sittliche Leben handelt, fast versumpfende Gegenwart — sie wird noch immer mehr versumpfen -, möchte gleichsam alles «Du sollst» überhaupt in ein «Du mußt» verwandeln. In dieser Beziehung gehen wir Zeiten entgegen, in denen die Verwandlung des «Du sollst» in ein «Du mußt» mit einem gewissen Hochmut geradezu als Psychologie ausposaunt wird. Schlimme Aspekte bieten sich dar, wenn man die Anfänge desjenigen, was sich in Zukunft noch auswachsen wird, zum Beispiel als Kriminalpsychologie, ins Auge faßt. Da sehen wir schon heute, wie angefaßt wird der Mensch so, daß man nicht frägt, hat er ein «Du sollst» übertreten, sondern man sucht nachzuweisen, wie er zu dieser oder jener den Menschen schädigenden Tat durch ein Müssen seiner Natur getrieben, angespornt worden ist. Kuriose Versuche werden immer mehr und mehr angestellt, Verbrechen nur als einen besonderen Krankheitsfall in der Welt zu charakterisieren. Alle diese Dinge gehen hervor aus einer gewissen materialistischen Unklarheit unserer Zeit über die Beziehung des «Du sollst» zu dem «Du mußt».
Dieses «Du sollst», was man auch den kategorischen Imperativ genannt hat, was hat es im gesamten Zusammenhang des menschlichen Daseins eigentlich zu bedeuten? Derjenige, welcher dem «Du sollst» folgt, begeht bekanntlich eine sittliche Handlung. Derjenige, der dem «Du sollst» nicht folgt, begeht eine unsittliche Handlung. Das ist ja eine recht triviale Wahrheit. Aber nun versuchen wir einmal «sittlich» und «unsittlich» nicht nur in bezug auf die äußere Maja des physischen Planes anzusehen, sondern versuchen wir sittlich und unsittlich anzusehen in bezug auf die Wahrheit und in bezug auf dasjenige, was hinter der Maja des physischen Planes eigentlich steht. Da nimmt sich das Moralische, das Ethische, das Sittliche, das, was dem «Du sollst» entspricht, für die Wissenschaft der Initiation eigentlich schon, man möchte sagen, in einem gröberen Sinne genommen als etwas in das geistige Auge Springendes aus. Der Mensch zeigt sich Ihnen - es müssen nun schon einmal auch solche für die materialistische Weltanschauung greulichen Wahrheiten ausgesprochen werden -, wenn Sie ihn bei gewissen Temperatur- und Witterungsverhältnissen betrachten — die Pferde zeigen es noch besser, aber wir reden jetzt nicht von den Pferden -, der Mensch zeigt sich Ihnen dann, wie er aushaucht, und wie der Hauch durch das Eindringen in die Luft sichtbar wird als Dunst. Selbstverständlich ist für die materialistische Wissenschaft dieser Hauch, den der Mensch von sich gibt — bei Pferden kann man es noch besser sehen, aber wir reden jetzt, wie gesagt, nicht von Pferden -, etwas, was verflattert und zerfließt und keine weitere Bedeutung hat. Aber für denjenigen, der mit der Wissenschaft der Initiation die Erscheinungen des Lebens verfolgt, ist dieser Aushauch insofern bedeutsam, als er in seiner Nuancierung genau die Spuren des sittlichen oder unsittlichen Verhaltens des Menschen trägt. Das sittliche oder unsittliche Verhalten des Menschen ist in dem wäßrigwerdenden Hauch zu erkennen, und ganz anders ist der wäßrigwerdende Hauch bei einem zur Sittlichkeit hinneigenden Menschen und anders bei einem zum Unsittlichen hinneigenden Menschen. Sie wissen, daß bei mancherlei, was in der menschlichen Natur ist, die feineren Eigentümlichkeiten der menschlichen Natur auch erst in den feineren Teilen der ätherischen und astralischen Aura beobachtet werden können. Aber dasjenige, was im gewöhnlichen Sinne des Wortes der Mensch als sittliches oder unsittliches Wesen ist, das zeigt sich schon in dem ätherisch-astralischen Einschlag, der in dem wäßrigwerdenden Hauch enthalten ist. Was physisch daran ist, zerflattert, das aber, was sich in dem Hauch verkörpert, das zerflattert nicht, denn das enthält ein dämonisches Wesen, und in dem ist enthalten, wenn der Hauch wässerig wird, ein Physisches, ein Ätherisches und ein Astralisches, nur daß das Physische nicht erdig ist, sondern eben nur wässerig. Also etwas, was in der mannigfaltigsten Weise Gestaltung hat, zeigt sich in diesem Aushauch.
Bei Taten, die aus Liebe entstanden sind, zeigt sich etwas anderes als bei Taten, die zum Beispiel aus Enthusiasmus, aus schöpferischem Drang, aus Vervollkommnungsdrang entstanden sind. Aber immer hat diese Aushauchgestalt etwas, was erinnert an Wesenheiten, die es jetzt noch gar nicht gibt auf der Erde. In diesen Wesenheiten bereiten sich diejenigen vor, welche die Menschheitsstufe auf dem Jupiter erreichen werden. Das sind die ersten, voraneilenden Schattenbilder, die sich verändern und auch fernerhin verändern werden, um auf dem Jupiter dann zur Menschheitsstufe aufzusteigen.
Wir verdanken auch in einer gewissen Weise dem Ausatmungsprozesse der Angeloi auf dem Monde unsere Entstehung, und es gehört wiederum zu den erschütternden Erfahrungen des geistigen Lebens, wenn man von einer solchen Erkenntnis ausgeht, daß sich in dem Aushauch die künftigen Jupitermenschen vorbereiten, daß aus dem, was heute die Menschen aushauchen, sich entwickeln werden die zukünftigen Jupitermenschen. Wenn man mit einer solchen Erkenntnis an die Bibel herangeht und liest die ersten Worte der Bibel, dann kann man sich sagen: Jetzt fängt man an zu verstehen, wie das gemeint ist, wenn da steht, daß Hauche ausgeatmet worden sind von den Elohim, und daß sie durch den Hauch, den sie den Menschen einbliesen, den Erdenmenschen formten.
Ich kann Ihnen das Geständnis machen, daß ich niemals verstanden hätte dieses Einhauchen der Elohim, das Einhauchen in den Mund und die Nase der lebendigen Wesenheit des Menschen, wenn ich nicht vorher gewußt hätte, daß auch im Aushauch des Erdenmenschen die ersten Keime enthalten sind derjenigen Wesen, die auf dem Jupiter erst Menschen werden. Aber Jupitermenschen können nur werden diejenigen Aushauche, die ihr Dasein verdanken den Handlungen, die dem «Du sollst» folgen, die also sittliche Handlungen sind.
So sehen wir, wie wir in die ganze kosmische Ordnung eingreifen mit unserer Erdensittlichkeit. So sehen wir, daß unsere Erdensittlichkeit in der Tat eine schöpferische Macht ist, und wir sehen, daß es in der Geisteswissenschaft einen starken Antrieb gibt zu Impulsen für das sittliche Handeln, denn wir wissen, wir stellen uns entgegen der Schöpfung der Jupitermenschen, wenn wir auf der Erde nicht sittlich handeln. Sittlichkeit, die der Ausdruck ist des «Du sollst», gewinnt so in der Tat einen realen Wert, einen Existenzwert. In einer intensiven Weise formt unser menschliches Verhalten dasjenige, was wir aus der Geisteswissenschaft übernehmen können, wenn wir also real mit dem Kosmos zusammenhängende Geheimnisse erkennen.
Auf ähnliche Dinge ist schon früher aufmerksam gemacht worden, indem da oder dort die Bemerkung gemacht worden ist, was wiederum die Sprache für ein Symbolum ist für das zukünftige Schaffen des Menschen selber. Darauf will ich aber heute nicht eingehen, sondern ich wollte zunächst nur zeigen, welche Bedeutung das sittliche Verhalten im Ganzen des Kosmos hat.
Nun können Sie aber die Frage aufwerfen: Wie ist es nun mit dem unsittlichen Verhalten? — Auch das unsittliche Verhalten spricht sich in der inneren Gestaltung, in der Formierung des Hauches aus. Aber das unsittliche Verhalten prägt dem Hauche eine dämonische Gestalt ein. Dämonen werden geboren durch das unsittliche Verhalten des Menschen. Versuchen wir uns zunächst klarzumachen den Unterschied zwischen den Dämonen, die durch das unsittliche Verhalten entstehen, und den geistigen Wesenheiten — geistig insofern, als sie es auf Erden nur zu einem wäßtigen Dasein bringen -, den geistigen Gestalten, die durch die sittlichen Handlungen geschaffen werden.
Diejenigen Wesenheiten, die bis zu einem vorübergehenden wäßtigen Dasein im Hauche kommen und die aus dem sittlichen Verhalten hervorgehen, sind Wesen, die einen astralischen, einen ätherischen und endlich einen physischen Leib haben, der bis zur Wäßrigkeit verdichtet ist, so wie wir während des Mondendaseins einen ätherischen, einen astralischen und einen physischen Leib hatten, und der physische Leib auch nur bis zu einer Art von Wäßrigkeit verdichtet war. Es war schon auch mit uns so während des Mondendaseins, wenn auch nicht genau so. Und in diesem Gebilde, das da aus den sittlichen Handlungen entsteht und das aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib und Astralleib besteht, ist die Anlage, das Ich aufzunehmen, so wie in unserem physischen, Äther- und Astralleib während der Mondenzeit die Anlage war, ein Ich aufzunehmen. Die Anlage, ein Ich aufzunehmen, ist also darinnen. Solche Wesenheiten sind zum regulär fortschreitenden Dasein im Kosmos berufen, sie gehen einen regulären Weg. Die andern Wesenheiten, die als Dämonen durch die unsittlichen Handlungen geschaffen werden, haben auch selbstverständlich astralischen Leib, ätherischen Leib und den physischen Leib bis zur Wäßrigkeit, aber sie haben nicht die Anlage, ein Ich zu entwickeln. Sie kommen gleichsam geköpft zur Welt. Statt daß sie die Anlage in sich aufnehmen, fortzuschreiten in der regulären Evolution zum Jupiterdasein, lehnen sie diese Anlage ab. Sie verurteilen sich dadurch zu dem Schicksale, aus der Evolution herauszufallen. Dadurch aber vermehren sie die Scharen der luziferischen Wesenheiten. Sie gelangen unter die Gewalt der luziferischen Wesenheiten. Sie müssen dadurch, weil sie zu keinem regelmäßig veranlagten Dasein kommen können, ein Parasitendasein führen. Alle Wesenheiten, welche ein regelmäßig veranlagtes Dasein ablehnen, müssen ein Parasitendasein führen, müssen sich, um fortzukommen, woanders ansetzen. Diejenigen Wesenheiten, die durch unsittliche Handlungen entstehen, haben insbesondere das Bestreben, ein Parasitendasein zu führen, indem sie die menschliche Evolution auf der Erde ergreifen unter der Leitung des Luzifer, dem sie sich untergeordnet haben, indem sie die Evolution beim Menschen ergreifen, bevor dieser physisch zur Welt gekommen ist. Den Menschen in der Embryonalzeit befallen sie und führen bei dem noch ungeborenen Menschen, in dem Leben des Menschen zwischen Empfängnis und Geburt, ein parasitäres Dasein. Manche Wesen, die stark genug sind, können dieses Dasein noch fortsetzen, wenn der Mensch schon zur Welt gekommen ist, und zeigen uns dann die Erscheinungen, die auftreten können bei gewissen besessenen Kindern.
Dieses, was aus dem parasitären Dasein hervorgeht, das die Verbrecherdämonen bei noch ungeborenen Menschen führen, ist dasjenige, was die Generationenfolge verschlechtert, was die Menschen benagt, so daß sie nicht so gut werden können, als sie werden würden, wenn es solche Dämonen nicht gäbe. Alles dasjenige, was mit dem Niedergang der Geschlechter, Stämme, Völker und Nationen zusammenhängt, kommt aus mancherlei Ursachen, aber auch daher, daß die Verbrecherdämonen ein parasitäres Dasein führen beim Menschen in der Periode, von der ich gesprochen habe.
Das sind Dinge, welche eine große Rolle spielen in der ganzen Erdenevolution, und wir berühren mit solchen Dingen, wie gesagt, wirklich tiefe Geheimnisse des menschlichen Daseins. Gewisse Vorurteile, gewisse Anschauungen prägen sich dadurch oftmals den Menschen schon ein, bevor sie noch durch die Geburt ins Dasein getreten sind. Und die Menschen werden auf diese Weise geplagt von Zweifeln, von Unsicherheiten im Leben, von allem möglichen, was damit zusammenhängt, daß solche dämonischen Wesen ein solches Dasein führen.
Mit dem, was der Mensch in sich von dem Momente an entwickelt, wo sein Ich auftritt, können diese Wesenheiten nicht mehr viel machen, aber um so mehr können sie ihr parasitäres Dasein entwickeln in der Zeit, bevor der Mensch geboren ist oder noch in den ersten Kindheitsjahren. So sehen wir, daß auch die bösen Handlungen ihre bedeutsame kosmische Wirkung haben, daß sie schöpferisch sind, aber so schöpferisch sind, daß sie sich hinwenden, ich möchte sagen, zum alten Mondendasein. Denn das, was der Mensch in der Zeit durchmacht, von der eben gesprochen worden ist, wo diese dämonischen Wesen ein parasitäres Dasein führen können, ist im wesentlichen die Erbschaft der alten Mondenzeit, die in allerlei unterbewußtem, instinktivem Verhalten zum Vorschein kommt. Es ist etwas, das aus früheren, besseren Zeiten her selbst die physische Wissenschaft noch unter ihren Instinkten bewahrt hat, indem sie die Embryonalzeit des Menschen auf der Erde nicht nach den gewöhnlichen Monaten, sondern nach den Mondmonaten berechnet und daher von zehn Mondmonaten spricht und manches andere noch weiß von einem Zusammenhang dieser Entwickelung mit dem Verlaufe der Mondenphasen.
So sehen wit, daß in unserer Erdenentwickelung ein Zweifaches enthalten ist: in den guten Handlungen die Tendenz, an der Schöpfung des Irdischen weiterzuarbeiten nach dem Jupiterdasein hin, damit auf dem Jupiter das entstehen könne, was dem Menschen nachfolgen muß als der nächste Mensch. Aber es ist durch die bösen Handlungen zugleich unserer Evolution die Tendenz eingeprägt, die Erde wiederum zurückzubringen in die alte Mondenzeit, sie abhängig zu machen von alledem, was mit den unterbewußten Impulsen zusammenhängt. Wenn Sie nachdenken, so werden Sie vieles, vieles finden, was mit solchen unterbewußten Impulsen zusammenhängt, und viel mehr als in den Zeiten, in denen die Menschen noch nicht so materialistisch waren, ist von solchen Impulsen vorhanden in der materialistisch gewordenen Menschheit der neueren Zeit.
Ich glaube, gerade an Beispielen einer solchen Erkenntnis, wie sie heute wiederum gegeben worden sind, zeigt es sich, daß man fühlen kann, wie tief eingreifend die Geisteswissenschaft in die menschliche Lebensauffassung sein kann, daß sie wahrhaftig nicht nur etwas sein wird, was dem Menschen Theoretisches gibt, sondern daß sie etwas sein wird, was das Leben des Menschen neu zu regeln imstande sein wird. Zeiten werden kommen, in denen dieses Leben ganz chaotisch werden wird, wenn die Menschen nicht die Möglichkeit ergreifen werden, es aus den geisteswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen heraus zu regeln. Hinaus muß der Mensch mit seinen Erkenntnissen aus der Eingeschlossenheit der Erkenntnis, die nur an die physische Leiblichkeit gebunden ist. Unsere materialistische Zeit will keine andern Erkenntnisse als diejenigen, die nur an die physische Leiblichkeit gebunden sind. Aber der Mensch muß hinaus mit seinen Erkenntnissen aus dieser physischen Leiblichkeit. Und dasjenige, was wir heute anerkennen als die ersten Übungen, die erwähnt worden sind in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten ?», wird dem Menschen nach und nach — das «nach und nach» wird allerdings noch eine längere Zeit dauern — etwas Natürliches werden, etwas, was der Mensch mit Selbstverständlichkeit zu seinem Leben rechnen wird. Namentlich dasjenige, was wir als Gedankenkonzentration bezeichnen, wird dem Menschen etwas Natürliches werden.
Der Mensch wird immer mehr und mehr die Notwendigkeit anerkennen, sich wirklich gedankenmäßig zu konzentrieren, zu richten sein ganzes Seelenleben auf scharf umrissene Gedanken, die er sich hinstellt vor sein Bewußtsein. Während er sonst seine Sinne schweifen lassen würde von Ding zu Ding, von Tatsache zu Tatsache, wird er immer mehr und mehr, wenn auch nur für kurze Zeit, das Gedankenleben richten auf bestimmte Dinge, die er sich auswählt, auf einen bestimmten Gedanken wird er sich konzentrieren, um das ganze Seelenleben in diesem Gedanken zusammenzuhalten. Dabei wird der Mensch eine Erfahrung machen, eine Erfahrung, die viele von Ihnen hier schon ganz gut kennen. Im Verlaufe der Konzentration ergibt sich für alle eine bestimmte Erfahrung. Wenn wir einen Gedanken in den Mittelpunkt des Bewußtseins rücken und unser ganzes Seelenleben auf ihn lenken, auf ihn uns konzentrieren, so merken wir, der Gedanke wird immer stärker und stärker. Gewiß. Aber dann kommt ein Punkt, wo er nicht mehr stärker wird, sondern wo er schwächer wird und verblaßt. Das ist eine Erfahrung, die viele von Ihnen kennen. Er muß so verblassen, der Gedanke, er muß gleichsam innerlich ersterben. Denn so, wie wir den Gedanken zunächst haben, wie wir zunächst denken, so denken wir durch das Werkzeug des physischen Leibes, und die Art, wie wir durch das Werkzeug des physischen Leibes denken, die konzentrieren wir, aber erst in dem Momente schlüpfen wir heraus aus dem physischen Leibe, wo der Gedanke, der konzentriert ist, erstirbt.
Wir würden nun überhaupt in das Unbewußte gehen, wenn wir nicht, parallel mit dieser Konzentration, etwas anderes versuchen würden, wodurch wir, wenn wir hinausschlüpfen aus unserem physischen Leibe, uns doch bewußt draußen erhalten. Wir nennen dasjenige, was wir tun müssen, um uns draußen bewußt zu erhalten, ein gelassenes Leben haben, gelassen die Dinge der Welt hinnehmen. Wir können noch mehr tun, als gelassen die Dinge hinnehmen. Wir können es mit dem, was uns ja als Theorie so geläufig ist, wir können es mit der Karma-Idee völlig ernst nehmen. Was heißt das?
Zunächst ist im Leben der Mensch ganz und gar nicht geneigt, es mit der Karma-Idee völlig ernst zu nehmen. Wenn er nur eine kleine Fährlichkeit hat im Leben, die ihn verletzt, oder wenn irgend etwas sonst ihm begegnet, so kann er manchmal wütend werden, es ist ihm jedenfalls antipathisch. Demjenigen, was wir unser Schicksal nennen, stehen wir mit Sympathie oder Antipathie gegenüber. Im gewöhnlichen Leben kann es auch gar nicht anders sein, da ist es ganz notwendig, daß wir gewissen Ereignissen, die wir zum Schicksal rechnen, sympathisch, und daß wir andern derartigen Ereignissen antipathisch gegenüberstehen. Das Schicksal ist für uns etwas, was von außen an uns herankommt.
Wenn wir es ernst nehmen mit der Karma-Idee, dann müssen wir unser Ich in unserem Schicksale wirklich erkennen, wir müssen uns klar sein, daß wir in dem, was uns im Schicksal zustößt, selber tätig sind, daß wir selber die eigentlichen Akteure sind. Es wird uns gewiß schwierig, wenn uns jemand beleidigt, daran zu glauben, daß in dem Beleidiger wir selber darinnenstecken. Denn im physischen Leben kann es nötig sein, die Beleidigung zu ahnden. Aber wir müssen immer ein Kämmerchen in unserem Inneren haben, in dem wir uns doch gestehen: Selbst wenn dich jemand’ beleidigt, so bist du es selbst, der dich beleidigt, wenn dich jemand schlägt, bist du es selbst, der dich schlägt, wenn dich mißliche Schicksalsschläge treffen, so bist du es selbst, der diese Schicksalsschläge an dich heranbringt. - Wir vergessen, daß wir nicht bloß in unserer Haut sind, sondern in unserem Schicksal darinnen sind, wir vergessen, daß wir in allen den sogenannten Zufällen unseres Schicksals darinnen sind.
Es ist sehr schwierig, wirklich die Empfindung zu entwickeln, daß man sein Schicksal mit dem eigenen Ich heranträgt. Wahr ist es aber: wir tragen unser Schicksal mit unserem eigenen Ich heran, und die Impulse bekommen wir nach Maßgabe unserer früheren Inkarnationen in dem Leben zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, so daß wir da unser Schicksal selber an uns herantragen. Und wir müssen danach streben, zusammenzuwachsen mit unserem Schicksal, müssen immer mehr und mehr, statt antipathisch einen schweren Schicksalsschlag abzuwehren, uns sagen: Dadurch, daß dieser Schicksalsschlag dich trifft, das heißt, daß du dich triffst mit dem Schicksalsschlag, dadurch machst du dich in gewisser Beziehung stärker, kräftiger, kraftvoller. - Es ist schwieriger, so mit seinem Schicksal zusammenzuwachsen, als uns dagegen zu wehren, aber das, was wir verlieren, wenn unser Gedanke erstirbt, das können wir nur wiedergewinnen, wenn wir auf diese Weise das, was außer uns ist, in uns hineinziehen. In dem, wasin unserer Haut ist, können wir nicht bleiben, wenn der Gedanke bei der Konzentration in uns erstirbt, aber hinaustragen wird er uns, wenn wir unser Karma, unser Schicksal im wahren Sinne erfaßt haben. Da wecken wir uns wieder auf. Der Gedanke erstirbt, aber das, was wir als Identifizierung erfaßt haben zwischen unserem Ich und unserem Schicksal, das tragen wir hinaus, das trägt uns draußen in der Welt herum.
Diese Gelassenheit gegenüber unserem Schicksal, das wahrhaftige Hinnehmen unseres Schicksals, das ist es, was uns mit Existenz beschenkt, wenn wir außerhalb unseres Leibes sind. Das braucht selbstverständlich unser Leben auf dem physischen Plane nicht zu ändern. Das können wir nicht immer. Aber die Gesinnung, die wir in einem Kämmerchen unserer Seele entwickeln müssen, die muß da sein für die Augenblicke, wo wir wirklich außerhalb unseres Leibes die Möglichkeit finden wollen, bewußt zu leben. Zwei Sätze können Leitsätze für uns sein, können uns außerordentlich wichtig sein. Der erste dieser Sätze, den wir uns so recht tief einschreiben sollten, ist dieser:
Erstrebe des Gedankens Ersterben im All.
Denn nur, wenn der Gedanke erstirbt im All, dann wird er draußen eine lebendige Kraft. Aber wir können uns mit dieser lebendigen Kraft nicht verbinden, wenn wir uns nicht um den Inhalt des zweiten Satzes bemühen:
Erstrebe des Schicksals Auferstehung im Ich.
Wenn du das vollbringst, dann vereinigst du das im Gedanken wiedergeborene mit dem außer dir auferstandenen Ich.
Es ist aber vieles in der menschlichen Natur, was es schwierig macht, eine Evolution zu suchen im Sinne dieser Sätze. Es ist schwierig, denn das Verhältnis des Inneren zum Äußeren in der richtigen Weise anzuschauen, wird den Menschen ganz besonders schwer. Je mehr wir in dieser Beziehung Ethisches lernen können anhand der geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung, desto besser ist es. Ethisches können wir insofern lernen anhand der geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung, als gewisse ethische Begriffe erst Blut und inneres Leben erhalten durch das, was aus der Geisteswissenschaft ihnen zuströmen kann.
So zum Beispiel gibt es Menschen, welche fortwährend über andere Menschen klagen, sich darüber beklagen, daß ihnen andere Menschen dieses oder jenes tun. Bis dahin geht es, daß sie davon sprechen, daß andere Menschen sie verfolgen. Alle solchen Dinge hängen immer zusammen mit dem andern Pol der Menschennatur, man muß nur in der richtigen Weise das Leben betrachten, das heißt in der Weise, die gerade die wirklich verstandene Geisteswissenschaft gibt. Wer durch das Leben geht und sich das Auge etwas hellsichtig hat machen lassen durch die Geisteswissenschaft, der wird immer finden — selbstverständlich gibt es Gründe, um über Lieblosigkeit zu klagen, aber dessen ungeachtet wird man finden -, daß am meisten über Lieblosigkeit geklagt wird von denen, die eigentlich Egoisten sind, und der Glaube, daß alle Menschen ihnen schaden oder Böses zufügen wollen, wird am meisten bei egoistischen Naturen entstehen, während Naturen, die an sich liebevoll und liebefähig sind, nicht leicht zu dem Glauben kommen, daß sie verfolgt werden, daß man ihnen alles mögliche Böse antun wolle und so weiter.
Ja, indem so etwas ausgesprochen wird, ist man leicht geneigt, das theoretisch zuzugeben. Ich bin sogar überzeugt davon, die meisten Menschen werden das theoretisch schon zugeben, nachdem sie ein wenig nachgedacht haben. Es ins Leben einzuführen, das ist es aber, worauf es ankommt.
Nun kann die Frage entstehen: Welches ist der Weg, um diese Dinge in das Leben einzuführen? -— Da muß dann die Antwort wieder gegeben werden: Wirklich mitleben da, wo die Geisteswissenschaft wirklich gesucht wird, mitleben, soviel als man kann. — Das ist dasjenige, um was es sich handelt. Dabei wird die Geisteswissenschaft nicht in Kompendien oder kurzen Abrissen gegeben, sondern es wird versucht, die Geisteswissenschaft zu einer lebendigen Strömung zu machen, in der wir darinnen leben können, so daß wir durch sie fortwährend uns warm erhaltend Anregungen haben können.
Das hat auch im Grunde genommen dazu geführt, für dieses lebendige Streben der Geisteswissenschaft eine Art Mittelpunkt zu suchen in unserem Bau, der so, wie er ist, ich habe es gestern erwähnt, durch seine Formen, durch die Art, in der er durchgeführt ist, das LeiblichSeelisch-Geistige im Sinne unserer Geisteswissenschaft gibt. Er ist selbst ein Wahrzeichen dafür, daß wir suchen, gemäß den Impulsen, die wir aus der geistigen Welt heraus erkennen können, solches der Menschheitsevolution einzufügen, was gerade für die heutige Zeit so notwendig ist, damit die nächste Zukunft sich daraus in wirklich regelrechter Art entwickeln kann. Gerade dadurch, daß der Bau in seinen Formen das enthält, woran man das Wesen der Geisteswissenschaft empfinden kann, wird bewirkt, daß dieser Bau wirklich etwas sein kann wie eine Art Zentrum, wie eine Art Konzentrationspunkt, um den sich herumkristallisiert dasjenige, was als geisteswissenschaftliches Streben notwendig werden soll in der Menschheitsevolution.
Da mag man oftmals sagen: Trübe sind unsere Zeiten, manches lebt in unserer Zeit, was in recht grellem Widerspruch steht mit dem, was eine geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung der Menschheit sein kann. — Auf der andern Seite aber hat unser Karma uns dazugebracht, so weit zu kommen, daß wir gewissermaßen überwinden dürfen in dem Materiale, das unserem Bau dient, dieses Materielle so, daß er auch in den äußeren Formen als Wahrzeichen unserer Geisteswissenschaft dasteht.
Jeder von uns kann sich das sagen, woran ich selber oftmals denken muß, besonders im Angesichte unserer schwierigen Zeit, unter den starken Anfeindungen, die insbesondere das Geisteswissenschaftliche in unserer Zeit erfährt. Mancher kann sich fragen, wie weit wir eigentlich mit unserem eigenen Persönlichen kommen in der Mitwirkung an dem, was sich um unseren Bau herum konzentrieren soll. Selbst für den Fall, daß der eine oder andere nicht mehr physisch dabei sein kann bei dem, was im physischen Leben weiter um unseren Bau herum sich konzentriert: daß der Bau da ist, daß uns unser Karma diesen Bau gebracht hat, das ist ein wichtiger Schritt vorwärts. Und wenn wir bedenken, wie Geisteswissenschaft so tief Verstehende, wie zum Beispiel unser Christian Morgenstern, auch nach dem physischen Tode vereint bleiben mit dem, was unser physischer Bau soll, dann erkennen wir in unserem Bau zugleich ein Wahrzeichen in unserer Zeit des Wirkens innerhalb unserer spirituellen Bewegung, für welches die Grenzen zwischen dem, was man gewöhnlich Leben und Tod nennt, gar nicht in Betracht kommen.
Mit diesem Bau können wir wirklich verwachsen uns fühlen, und er kann so die ernstesten Gedanken anregen, die Gedanken anregen, die ganz natürlich sind in einer solchen Zeit, wie die unsrige es ist, die den Materialismus auf die höchste Spitze bringt. Selbst für den Fall, daß dieser Bau diesen oder jenen nur als geistiges Wesen mitwirkend finden sollte, wird der Bau für den Fortgang unserer Bewegung wichtig sein, wobei wir selbstverständlich dieses nur aussprechen - Sie werden mich verstehen -, um den ganzen, über Tod und Leben hinausgehenden Ernst unserer Bewegung ins Auge zu fassen.
Dieser Ernst tritt uns gerade in diesen Tagen ganz besonders entgegen. Und wenn das eine geschieht, warum sollte nicht auch demnächst manches andere geschehen können? Es ist so außerordentlich schwierig, dasjenige zu erreichen, wovon ich öfter gesprochen habe, auch wiederum gesprochen habe im Verlaufe dieser Vorträge. Ich habe darauf aufmerksam gemacht, wie versucht wird in der strengsten Weise, Worte zu wägen, Worte zu prägen, sie in genauer, streng genauer Weise auszusprechen unter der vollsten Verantwortlichkeit gegenüber den geistigen Welten. So ist es aber auch wünschenswert, daß sie gehört werden, diese Worte, so ist es wünschenswert, daß sie aufgenommen werden.
Es werden gewiß Zeiten kommen, in denen, ich möchte sagen, eine größere Leichtlebigkeit möglich sein wird in bezug auf die Strömung der geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung. Aber heute, wo wir im Anfange derselben stehen, müssen wir uns angewöhnen, die Dinge als sehr, sehr ernst zu nehmen. Ich habe vor einiger Zeit hier mancherlei von okkulten Forschungen und auch anderes gegeben, wovon ich geglaubt habe, daß es manchem nützlich sein könnte. Es wurden im wesentlichen Charakteristiken von Tatsachen gegeben. Man könnte glauben, daß es manchem nützlich sein könnte zum Verständnisse unserer gegenwärtigen, schwierigen Zeit. Gerade dieses aber, was aus diesem Impulse heraus gegeben worden ist, ist nicht in der Weise überall - selbstverständlich berühre ich dabei diese oder jene Ausnahme, aber es ist richtig, was ich sage — mit der nötigen Vorsicht, mit der nötigen Pietät behandelt worden, und es ist da oder dort wieder gesagt worden und, wie sich herausgestellt hat, in einer Form, die geradezu das Gegenteil davon darstellte, was hier gesagt worden ist.
Wenn ich bloß daran denke, was aus dem gemacht worden ist, was eigentlich gar nicht mißzuverstehen ist, weil es schon in einem Zyklus vorliegt, was gemacht worden ist aus der Gliederung der europäischen Menschheit mit Bezug auf die Empfindungsseele, Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele, Bewußtseinsseele und das Ich, was wahrhaftig nicht gegeben worden ist, um eine Superiorität auszudrücken, wenn ich bedenke, was für Sätze in die Welt hinausgegangen sind und was diese Sätze für Oppositionen und Emotionen hervorgerufen haben, so ist wirklich zu ersehen daraus, daß gerade das Prinzip, die Dinge ganz genau zu nehmen, selbst in so schwierigen Fällen, nicht voll beachtet worden ist. Wenn ich jemals zum Beispiel gesagt hätte: Das, was unter der Ich-Wirkung in bezug auf die europäische Bevölkerung vorhanden ist, sollte organisierend wirken innerhalb der europäischen Bevölkerung -, so hätte ich einen Nonsens gesagt. Dennoch ist zum Beispiel dieses hinausgetragen worden in die Welt und es erfährt die schlimmsten Mißverständnisse, ruft die stärksten Emotionen hervor.
Um nun nach dieser Richtung hin meine Pflicht zu erfüllen, ist es mir auferlegt worden für die Zeit, die jetzt kommen wird, gar nichts mehr in meinen Vorträgen in Anknüpfung an diese Dinge zu berühren. Ich muß absehen von jeder Berührung dieser Dinge, so daß also das, was jedem andern zusteht, nämlich, etwas sagen zu dürfen über dieses oder jenes, durch die Art und Weise, wie die Dinge genommen werden, mir zur Unmöglichkeit gemacht wird.
Alle diese Dinge zeigen uns, daß wir wohl in unsere Seele schauen sollen, inwiefern es uns gelingen kann, diese geisteswissenschaftliche Bewegung in ihrem vollen Ernst zu betrachten. Denn wir sind manchmal durchaus nicht aufmerksam darauf, welche Verantwortung, wenn es sich um wirkliche, wahrhaft rechte Geistesforschung und ihre Mitteilungen handelt, gegenüber jedem Satze vorliegt, wenn die Sache ernst genommen wird. Um Emotionen hervorzurufen, dazu ist wirklich die Geisteswissenschaft nicht da, auch nicht, um Emotionen zu bekämpfen oder abzuwenden. Und wenn jemand gesagt hat, diese Dinge werden mitgeteilt, um jemanden zu bekämpfen, so sollte er sich fragen, ob da von solchen Dingen der richtige Gebrauch gemacht worden ist, ob nicht vielmehr ein Mißbrauch vorliegt dieser Dinge, deren Mitteilung in voller Objektivität, in keuscher Wahrheitsliebe gemacht worden ist. Das sind Dinge, die mir zu meinen okkulten Erfahrungen, die ohnehin schon schmerzlich genug sind, einen weiteren Schmerz hinzufügen. Wenn auch Wichtiges dadurch nicht berührt werden kann, wenn auch vieles wegfallen muß von dem, wovon ich glaubte, daß es in der nächsten Zeit betrachtet werden dürfte, so bleibt doch noch Wichtiges und Wesentliches für unsere Zeit zu besprechen.
Seventh Lecture
If you remember the discussions that have taken place in connection with the development of the Earth through the Saturn, Sun, and Moon periods, you will know that at each of these stages of evolution a certain type of being, which we must today count among the beings of the higher hierarchies, reached, so to speak, the human stage. We know that during the ancient Saturn period, those spiritual beings whom we call the spirits of personality, the primordial beginnings, the archai, reached the human stage; that during the Sun period, the archangeloi reached the human stage; during the Moon period, the angeloi; and during the Earth period, human beings.
But you can also see from all the considerations that have been made in connection with the evolutions that each stage of beings that reached a certain development in the following period had been prepared. We know that human beings were prepared by the Saturn, Sun, and Moon periods, that what we today call the perfect physical human body has undergone an evolution since the Saturn period, that the etheric body has undergone an evolution since the Sun period, the astral body since the Moon period, and that the ego was only added during the Earth epoch, so that the entirety of such a type of being is prepared.
You may be wondering: Are such beings also being prepared in our time who will reach the human stage during the Jupiter epoch? - But you also know that during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon epochs — you only need to look at the description in my book “The Secret Science” — the spirits of the higher hierarchies participated in the preparation for humanity. It has been described there how the Angeloi, Archangeloi, and Archai participated in the coming into being of human beings, and so it is natural to ask the question: Are human beings perhaps also working through their earthly existence to prepare those beings who will reach the human stage during the Jupiter epoch?
This is a question that every feeling heart — feeling in the sense that we have described in recent days in connection with the inspiration provided by spiritual science — must certainly regard as a question of life and death. For it could be that human behavior as a whole during the Earth period could promote or hinder something in relation to those beings who could reach the human stage during the Jupiter period. One might say: What worse thing can we do than to behave in such a way during the Earth evolution that it becomes impossible for the right Jupiter beings to emerge from our deeds? Now, of course, a certain willingness to understand must be presupposed if one wants to talk about these things, for in talking about them one truly touches on important secrets of initiation, secrets of initiation which are, of course, an abomination to modern science. One must prepare oneself by considering how modern science necessarily has to relate to the actual truths of life.
In previous lectures, I have already attempted to characterize something of the necessary relationship between modern science and life. It cannot directly approach the secrets of life. Nor can it want to do so; it must not presume to want to approach these secrets of life. For those who like to eat eggs when they are hard-boiled, it is certainly good to boil eggs hard, and then hard-boiled eggs serve a good purpose for those who enjoy them. But if someone were to go and say: Take the eggs away from the chickens in order to boil them hard and then let them hatch them afterwards – such a person would be undertaking something absurd. The same thing is done in relation to the cosmos by those who want to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos and, with today's knowledge, want to set about unraveling them, which really corresponds to the behavior of someone who wants to hatch hard-boiled eggs from which nothing more can be hatched.
The extent to which this science, in many respects connected with all of today's thinking, must be misleading precisely for the true mysteries of life, can be illustrated by a comparison I would now like to make. Is it not true that if someone wants to express an opinion about the benefits or harms of science, they will first try to ask the question: Is this science right here or there? — And if they can prove that it is right here or there, they will naturally swear by it.
Yes, but that is precisely what we must move away from, that we consider this question of whether what science says is right or wrong to be so important. We must come to the point where we do not regard this question as the main thing when it comes to solving the mysteries of life. If someone sees a carriage drawn by horses with a person sitting on it, the person who sees this will certainly be right when they say: The horses are pulling this person on the carriage, they are pulling him behind them. That is undoubtedly correct. And anyone who wanted to claim that the horses are not pulling the carriage and the person sitting on it would, of course, be claiming something that is incorrect. But it is equally true that the person sitting on it, by the way he directs the horses, determines where the horses are to pull him, and that is certainly the more important, the more essential thing that matters for the achievement of what is to be achieved. Today's science is like the assertion of someone who denies that the man on the carriage directs the horses and who only wants to admit that the horses pull the man on the carriage.
If you think about this comparison more carefully, you will be able to form the right ideas about the relationship between today's science and today's search for truth. I must repeat these things again and again because those who stand on the ground of our worldview must increasingly be able to defend and secure our spiritual scientific worldview against the attacks of today's worldview. But this can only be done if one truly enlightens oneself about the relationship between today's external science and genuine truth research. One must always approach the questions of spiritual science with very specific feelings, with very specific nuances of feeling, otherwise one cannot cope with them.
Now, the question we have touched upon, the question of those beings who will reach the human stage on Jupiter, is in fact connected with the deepest questions of human evolution on Earth. There is something in our Earth evolution that has always been the subject of philosophical endeavors, and that is the relationship between moral, ethical action and the natural existence of human beings. As an earthly being, man must distinguish to what extent he is a being ruled by his instincts, who follows his instincts, who must satisfy these instincts, who is powerless against these instincts and their satisfaction, because they simply must be satisfied according to the laws of nature. That is one side of human nature. In contrast to this, we say: What we do, we must do. We must eat, we must sleep. — But there is another area of human behavior on earth, an area in which we cannot speak of a must, which would lose all meaning if we spoke of a must. This is the broad area of ought, the area in which we feel, in contrast to all drives, to everything that follows naturally from our nature: We must follow a purely spiritual impulse. The “you ought to” is never something that speaks to us in an instinctive way, but something that speaks to us in a purely spiritual way, giving us direction. This “you ought to” encompasses the realm of our moral duties.
There are philosophies that cannot find the connection between “you ought” and “you must.” And our present, which is already almost bogged down in materialism, especially when it comes to moral life—and will become even more bogged down—would like to transform everything “you ought” into “you must.” In this regard, we are heading toward times in which the transformation of “you ought” into “you must” is trumpeted with a certain arrogance as psychology. There are some troubling aspects to consider when we look at the beginnings of what will develop in the future, for example, in criminal psychology. We can already see today how people are being treated in such a way that the question is not whether they have transgressed a “thou shalt,” but rather how they were driven or spurred by a compulsion of their nature to commit this or that act harmful to others. Curious attempts are increasingly being made to characterize crime solely as a special case of illness in the world. All these things stem from a certain materialistic confusion in our time about the relationship between “you ought” and “you must.”
This “thou shalt,” which has also been called the categorical imperative, what does it actually mean in the overall context of human existence? It is well known that those who follow the “thou shalt” commit a moral act. Those who do not follow the “thou shalt” commit an immoral act. That is a rather trivial truth. But now let us try to look at “moral” and “immoral” not only in relation to the outer Maya of the physical plane, but let us try to look at moral and immoral in relation to the truth and in relation to what actually lies behind the Maya of the physical plane. Then the moral, the ethical, the moral, that which corresponds to the “thou shalt,” actually stands out for the science of initiation, one might say, in a cruder sense, as something that springs to the spiritual eye. Human beings reveal themselves to you — and now we must speak of truths that are abhorrent to the materialistic worldview — when you observe them under certain temperature and weather conditions — horses reveal this even more clearly, but we are not talking about horses now — human beings reveal themselves to you as they exhale, and as their breath becomes visible as mist when it enters the air. Of course, for materialistic science, this breath that humans exhale — it can be seen even better in horses, but as I said, we are not talking about horses now — is something that dissipates and flows away and has no further significance. But for those who follow the phenomena of life through the science of initiation, this exhalation is significant in that its nuances bear the traces of a person's moral or immoral behavior. The moral or immoral behavior of human beings can be recognized in the watery breath, and the watery breath is quite different in a person inclined toward morality than in a person inclined toward immorality. You know that in many aspects of human nature, the finer characteristics of human nature can only be observed in the finer parts of the etheric and astral aura. But what, in the ordinary sense of the word, makes a person a moral or immoral being is already evident in the etheric-astral influence contained in the watery breath. The physical part of it dissipates, but what is embodied in the breath does not dissipate, because it contains a demonic being, and when the breath becomes watery, it contains something physical, something etheric, and something astral, except that the physical is not earthy, but only watery. So something that has a manifold form reveals itself in this exhalation.
Actions that arise from love reveal something different from actions that arise, for example, from enthusiasm, from a creative urge, from a drive for perfection. But this breath form always has something that reminds us of beings that do not yet exist on Earth. Those who will reach the human stage on Jupiter are preparing themselves in these beings. These are the first, advancing shadow images that are changing and will continue to change in order to ascend to the human stage on Jupiter.
In a certain way, we also owe our existence to the exhalation process of the Angeloi on the Moon, and it is one of the most profound experiences of spiritual life to realize that the future Jupiter humans are preparing themselves in the exhalation, that the future Jupiter humans will develop from what humans exhale today. When one approaches the Bible with such knowledge and reads the first words of the Bible, one can say to oneself: Now one begins to understand what is meant when it says that breaths were exhaled by the Elohim, and that through the breath they breathed into human beings, they formed the earthly human beings.
I can confess to you that I would never have understood this breathing in of the Elohim, the breathing into the mouth and nose of the living being of man, if I had not known beforehand that the first seeds of those beings who will become human beings on Jupiter are also contained in the exhalation of the earthly human being. But only those exhalations that owe their existence to actions that follow the “Thou shalt,” that are moral actions, can become Jupiter humans.
Thus we see how we intervene in the entire cosmic order with our earthly morality. Thus we see that our earthly morality is indeed a creative power, and we see that in spiritual science there is a strong impetus for moral action, for we know that we oppose the creation of Jupiter beings if we do not act morally on earth. Morality, which is the expression of “Thou shalt,” thus gains a real value, an existential value. In an intense way, our human behavior shapes what we can take from spiritual science when we recognize mysteries that are truly connected to the cosmos.
Similar things have been pointed out before, with remarks here and there about what language is a symbol for the future creation of human beings themselves. But I don't want to go into that today. Instead, I just want to show what significance moral behavior has in the cosmos as a whole.Now you may ask: What about immoral behavior? — Immoral behavior also expresses itself in the inner formation, in the shaping of the breath. But immoral behavior imprints a demonic form on the breath. Demons are born through the immoral behavior of human beings. Let us first try to clarify the difference between the demons that arise from immoral behavior and the spiritual beings — spiritual insofar as they only achieve a watery existence on earth — the spiritual forms that are created by moral actions.
Those beings that come into the breath for a temporary watery existence and that arise from moral behavior are beings that have an astral, an etheric, and finally a physical body that is condensed to a watery state, just as we had an etheric, an astral, and a physical body during the Moon existence, and the physical body was also only condensed to a kind of watery state. It was already so with us during the lunar existence, though not exactly in the same way. And in this structure, which arises from moral actions and consists of a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body, there is the capacity to receive the I, just as in our physical, etheric, and astral bodies during the lunar period there was the capacity to receive an I. The capacity to receive a self is therefore present within it. Such beings are called to a regular, progressive existence in the cosmos; they follow a regular path. The other beings, which are created as demons through immoral actions, also have, of course, an astral body, an etheric body, and a physical body down to its watery state, but they do not have the capacity to develop an ego. They come into the world, as it were, decapitated. Instead of taking up the capacity within themselves to progress in the regular evolution toward Jupiter existence, they reject this capacity. They thereby condemn themselves to the fate of falling out of evolution. In doing so, however, they increase the ranks of the Luciferic beings. They come under the power of the Luciferic beings. Because they cannot attain a regular predisposed existence, they must lead a parasitic existence. All beings who reject a regular predisposed existence must lead a parasitic existence and, in order to get ahead, must attach themselves elsewhere. Those beings that arise through immoral actions have a particular desire to lead a parasitic existence by seizing human evolution on earth under the leadership of Lucifer, to whom they have subordinated themselves, by seizing evolution in humans before they are physically born into the world. They infest humans in the embryonic stage and lead a parasitic existence in the unborn human being, in the life of the human being between conception and birth. Some beings that are strong enough can continue this existence even after the human being has been born, and then show us the phenomena that can occur in certain possessed children.
This, which arises from the parasitic existence that criminal demons lead in unborn humans, is what worsens the succession of generations, what gnaws at humans so that they cannot become as good as they would be if such demons did not exist. Everything connected with the decline of families, tribes, peoples, and nations comes from various causes, but also from the fact that criminal demons lead a parasitic existence in humans during the period I have spoken of.
These are things that play a major role in the entire evolution of the earth, and, as I said, we are really touching on deep secrets of human existence with such things. Certain prejudices, certain views, often become ingrained in people before they even come into existence through birth. And in this way, people are plagued by doubts, by uncertainties in life, by all kinds of things related to the fact that such demonic beings lead such an existence. With what humans develop within themselves from the moment their ego appears, these beings can no longer do much, but they can develop their parasitic existence all the more in the time before humans are born or in the first years of childhood. Thus we see that evil deeds also have a significant cosmic effect, that they are creative, but so creative that they turn, I would say, to the old lunar existence. For what human beings go through during the period just mentioned, when these demonic beings can lead a parasitic existence, is essentially the legacy of the old lunar period, which manifests itself in all kinds of subconscious, instinctive behavior. It is something that physical science itself has preserved from earlier, better times among its instincts, in that it calculates the embryonic period of human beings on earth not according to the ordinary months, but according to the lunar months, and therefore speaks of ten lunar months, and knows many other things about the connection between this development and the course of the lunar phases.Thus we see that there is a twofold aspect to our earthly development: in good deeds, the tendency to continue working on the creation of the earthly towards the Jupiter existence, so that what must follow man as the next human being can arise on Jupiter. But at the same time, evil deeds have imprinted on our evolution the tendency to bring the earth back to the old lunar time, to make it dependent on everything connected with the subconscious impulses. If you think about it, you will find many, many things that are connected with such subconscious impulses, and much more than in the times when people were not yet so materialistic, such impulses are present in the materialistic humanity of recent times.
I believe that examples of such insights, as have been given again today, show that one can feel how deeply spiritual science can influence the human view of life, that it will truly not only be something that gives people theory, but that it will be something that will be able to reorganize human life. There will come times when life will become completely chaotic if people do not seize the opportunity to regulate it on the basis of spiritual scientific knowledge. Human beings must go beyond the confines of knowledge that is bound only to physical corporeality. Our materialistic age wants no other knowledge than that which is bound only to physical corporeality. But human beings must go beyond this physical body with their knowledge. And what we recognize today as the first exercises mentioned in “How to Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds” will gradually — although “gradually” will still take a long time — become something natural for human beings, something that they will take for granted in their lives. Namely, what we call concentration of thought will become something natural for human beings.
Human beings will increasingly recognize the necessity of really concentrating their thoughts, of directing their entire soul life toward sharply defined thoughts that they place before their consciousness. Whereas they would otherwise let their senses wander from thing to thing, from fact to fact, they will increasingly, even if only for a short time, direct their thought life toward certain things they choose, concentrating on a particular thought in order to hold their entire soul life together in this thought. In doing so, people will have an experience, an experience that many of you here are already quite familiar with. In the course of concentration, a certain experience arises for everyone. When we place a thought at the center of our consciousness and direct our entire soul life toward it, concentrating on it, we notice that the thought becomes stronger and stronger. Certainly. But then there comes a point where it no longer becomes stronger, but where it becomes weaker and fades away. This is an experience that many of you are familiar with. The thought must fade away, it must die inwardly, as it were. For when we first have the thought, when we first think, we think through the instrument of the physical body, and we concentrate the way we think through the instrument of the physical body, but only at the moment when we slip out of the physical body does the concentrated thought die.
We would now go completely into the unconscious if we did not, parallel to this concentration, try something else, whereby we, when we slip out of our physical body, nevertheless remain conscious outside. We call what we must do to remain conscious outside of ourselves living a serene life, accepting the things of the world with serenity. We can do even more than accept things calmly. We can take what is so familiar to us as a theory, we can take the idea of karma completely seriously. What does that mean?
First of all, in life, people are not at all inclined to take the idea of karma completely seriously. If they encounter even a small danger in life that hurts them, or if anything else happens to them, they can sometimes become angry; in any case, they find it unpleasant. We view what we call our fate with sympathy or antipathy. In ordinary life, it cannot be otherwise; it is quite necessary that we feel sympathy for certain events that we consider to be fate, and antipathy for other such events. For us, fate is something that comes to us from outside.
If we take the idea of karma seriously, then we must truly recognize our ego in our fate; we must be clear that we ourselves are active in what happens to us in fate, that we ourselves are the actual actors. It is certainly difficult for us to believe that we ourselves are involved in the offender when someone insults us. For in physical life it may be necessary to punish the insult. But we must always have a little chamber within ourselves where we admit to ourselves: even if someone insults you, it is you yourself who insults you; if someone hits you, it is you yourself who hits you; if misfortunes befall you, it is you yourself who brings these misfortunes upon yourself. We forget that we are not just in our own skin, but in our own fate; we forget that we are in all the so-called coincidences of our fate.
It is very difficult to truly develop the feeling that one carries one's fate with one's own self. But it is true: we carry our fate with our own self, and we receive the impulses according to our previous incarnations in the life between death and a new birth, so that we carry our fate ourselves. And we must strive to grow together with our destiny, must say to ourselves more and more, instead of antipathetically warding off a heavy blow of fate: By this blow of fate striking you, that is, by your encountering the blow of fate, you make yourself stronger, more powerful, more vigorous in a certain respect. It is more difficult to grow together with our fate in this way than to resist it, but what we lose when our thoughts die can only be regained if we draw what is outside us into ourselves in this way. We cannot remain in what is within our skin when our thoughts die within us through concentration, but they will carry us out when we have truly grasped our karma, our fate. Then we awaken again. The thought dies, but what we have grasped as identification between our ego and our destiny, we carry out, it carries us around in the world.
This serenity toward our destiny, the true acceptance of our destiny, is what gives us existence when we are outside our body. Of course, this does not need to change our life on the physical plane. We cannot always do that. But the attitude we must develop in a little chamber of our soul must be there for those moments when we really want to find the possibility of living consciously outside our body. Two sentences can be guiding principles for us, can be extremely important to us. The first of these sentences, which we should engrave deeply in our minds, is this:
Strive for the death of thought in the universe.
For only when thought dies in the universe does it become a living force outside. But we cannot connect with this living force unless we strive for the content of the second sentence:
Strive for the resurrection of destiny in the self.
If you accomplish this, you will unite what is reborn in thought with the self that has risen outside of you.
However, there is much in human nature that makes it difficult to seek evolution in the sense of these sentences. It is difficult because it is particularly hard for people to view the relationship between the inner and the outer in the right way. The more we can learn about ethics in this relationship on the basis of the spiritual-scientific worldview, the better. We can learn ethics on the basis of the spiritual-scientific worldview insofar as certain ethical concepts only take on blood and inner life through what can flow to them from spiritual science.
For example, there are people who constantly complain about other people, complaining that other people do this or that to them. It goes so far that they talk about other people persecuting them. All such things are always connected with the other pole of human nature; one only has to look at life in the right way, that is, in the way that spiritual science, properly understood, provides. Anyone who goes through life and has their eyes opened to some degree by spiritual science will always find — of course there are reasons to complain about unkindness, but nevertheless one will find — that those who complain most about unkindness are actually egoists, and the belief that all people want to harm them or do them evil arises most in egoistic natures, while natures that are loving and capable of love do not easily come to believe that they are being persecuted, that people want to do them all kinds of evil, and so on.
Yes, when something like this is said, it is easy to admit it theoretically. I am even convinced that most people will admit it theoretically after they have thought about it a little.Yes, when something like this is said, one is easily inclined to admit it in theory. I am even convinced that most people will admit this in theory after thinking about it a little. But putting it into practice is what matters.
Now the question may arise: What is the way to introduce these things into life? — The answer must then be given again: Really live where spiritual science is truly sought, live as much as you can. — That is what it is all about. Spiritual science is not presented in compendiums or short outlines, but rather an attempt is made to make spiritual science a living stream in which we can live, so that we can continually receive warm inspiration through it.
This has also led us to seek a kind of center for this living striving of spiritual science in our building, which, as it is, as I mentioned yesterday, through its forms, through the way in which it is carried out, embodies the physical, soul, and spiritual in the sense of our spiritual science. It is itself a symbol of our quest to incorporate into human evolution, in accordance with the impulses we can recognize from the spiritual world, that which is so necessary for the present time, so that the near future can develop in a truly orderly manner. Precisely because the building's forms contain that which allows us to sense the essence of spiritual science, this building can truly be something like a center, a kind of focal point around which crystallizes that which is necessary for spiritual scientific striving in human evolution.
One may often say: Our times are dark; there are many things in our time that stand in stark contradiction to what a spiritual scientific worldview of humanity can be. — On the other hand, however, our karma has brought us to the point where we can, in a sense, overcome the material that serves our building, so that it also stands as a symbol of our spiritual science in its outer forms.
Each of us can say to ourselves what I myself often have to think about, especially in the face of our difficult times, amid the strong hostility that spiritual science in particular is experiencing in our time. Some may ask themselves how far we can actually go with our own personal involvement in what is to be concentrated around our building. Even if one or the other of us can no longer be physically present for what continues to be concentrated around our building in physical life, the fact that the building is there, that our karma has brought us this building, is an important step forward. And when we consider how those who understand spiritual science so deeply, such as our Christian Morgenstern, remain united even after physical death with what our physical building is meant to be, then we recognize in our building at the same time a symbol of our time of activity within our spiritual movement, for which the boundaries between what is commonly called life and death do not even come into consideration.
We can truly feel at one with this building, and it can inspire the most serious thoughts, thoughts that are quite natural in a time such as ours, which takes materialism to its highest extreme. Even if this building should only be seen by some as a spiritual being, it will be important for the progress of our movement, whereby we are of course only saying this – you will understand me – in order to contemplate the whole seriousness of our movement, which transcends death and life.
This seriousness is particularly evident to us these days. And if this happens, why should not other things also happen in the near future? It is so extraordinarily difficult to achieve what I have often spoken about, and have spoken about again in the course of these lectures. I have pointed out how we try in the strictest manner to weigh our words, to coin them, to express them in a precise, strictly precise manner, with the fullest responsibility toward the spiritual worlds. But it is also desirable that these words be heard, it is desirable that they be received.
There will certainly come times when, I would say, a greater light-heartedness will be possible in relation to the current of the spiritual scientific worldview. But today, when we are at the beginning of it, we must accustom ourselves to taking things very, very seriously. Some time ago, I presented here various occult research findings and other things that I believed could be useful to some. Essentially, characteristics of facts were presented. One might believe that this could be useful to some in understanding our present difficult times. However, precisely what has been given out of this impulse has not been treated everywhere with the necessary caution and reverence – of course, I am referring to this or that exception, but what I am saying is true – and it has been repeated here and there, as it turns out, in a form that was the very opposite of what has been said here.
When I think of what has been made of what is actually impossible to misunderstand, because it is already present in a cycle, what has been made of the structure of European humanity with regard to the sentient soul, the intellectual or emotional soul, the consciousness soul, and the ego, which was truly not given to express superiority, when I consider what kinds of statements have gone out into the world and what opposition and emotions these statements have provoked, it is really clear from this that the principle of taking things very precisely, even in such difficult cases, has not been fully observed. If I had ever said, for example, that what exists under the influence of the ego in relation to the European population should have an organizing effect within the European population, I would have been talking nonsense. Nevertheless, this, for example, has been carried out into the world and is experiencing the worst misunderstandings, evoking the strongest emotions.
In order to fulfill my duty in this regard, I have been instructed not to mention anything related to these matters in my lectures for the time to come. I must refrain from touching on these matters at all, so that what everyone else is entitled to, namely to say something about this or that, is made impossible for me by the way things are taken.
All these things show us that we should look into our souls to see to what extent we can succeed in viewing this spiritual scientific movement with its full seriousness. For we are sometimes completely unaware of the responsibility that exists, when it comes to real, truly correct spiritual research and its communications, towards every sentence, if the matter is taken seriously. Spiritual science is not really there to evoke emotions, nor to combat or avert them. And if someone has said that these things are communicated in order to fight someone, they should ask themselves whether such things have been used correctly, or whether there has been an abuse of these things, which have been communicated in complete objectivity and with a pure love of truth. These are things that add further pain to my occult experiences, which are already painful enough. Even if important matters cannot be addressed as a result, even if much of what I believed could be considered in the near future must be omitted, there are still important and essential matters to be discussed for our time.