The Building at Dornach
GA 288
24 January 1923, Dornach
Lecture II
[ 1 ] Yesterday we considered the Building from the outside, from different aspects. To-day we will approach it from the inside and will try to bring before our mind the idea of the inside architecture. This idea of the inside architecture might be described something in this way. When one approaches the Building as it appears at present from the outside, the idea called up through the impression that one gets, is, that here is an enclosure that in a way is cut off from the rest of the world, and containing an idea in itself which has to be introduced into the present evolution of humanity; something that has a new element to be brought into the evolution of humanity. The outward forms point to this something that is new in the contemplation of the universe. They aim at a new style. If the Goetheanum had been built in the old style of architecture, it would not have been possible to receive this particular impression that I have to emphasise. This inner architecture is now to be shown in contrast to the outer.
[ 2 ] When we come from the terrace through the main entrance and step into the first Hall, turn round and then towards the West side, we see this picture. We have before our view that which shuts off the space above, the first two pillars to the left and the right. As we go a step further we see here the capital of the first column to the right and left, and above that the architrave. If you will notice that which is essential you will mark the progressive development in the configuration in the capitals of the columns as well as in the architrave over the capitals.
[ 3 ] Yesterday I told you that the chief thing about this Building is that everything is felt to be in its place by reason of an inner necessity, exactly as a limb of an organic body is felt to be in the place determined by an inner necessity of the organism. You can see that everything that is included within the Building is an attempt to express the idea which has inspired the Building, so that it does not appear as a habitation constructed with walls in which something arbitrary here and there is placed. No, everything included in the Building itself is in organic union with its spiritual idea, You can be sure when you look at the next picture (1A) that it is in vital in connection with the one that has gone before. This is the organ left (photographed as you see from the model) which will show that also here the organ is built in full harmony with the rest of the architecture, so that you have not the feeling that it has been added but that it is a part of the whole form, as if the organ had actually grown out of the architecture. That is the fundamental principle upon which the whole Building is carried out.
[ 4 ] In the next picture (31) you see the first pillar and I want to call your special attention to the way in which the motive of every pillar develops out of the one that has gone before in a living metamorphosis. In order to do this we must look at the next picture (32) where the second pillar develops out of the first and where also the architrave motive is transformed in a developing metamorphosis, every succeeding form springing after its own law from the form which precedes it. You see here how the second pillar develops itself out of the first—that is to say when you take the forms which reach up from below and those which reach down from above, and when you picture to yourself how each succeeding leaf of a plant issues through metamorphosis out of the foregoing leaf, then you will realise how the form of the second pillar develops out of the form of the first pillar. The whole of it is to be found in continuing metamorphosis.
[ 5 ] If you would really get an understanding of what is meant, then you will of course be wrong if you attach exaggerated importance to the nomenclature which as a matter of fact only—relates to exterior conditions.
The first pillar has been called Saturn, the second pillar Sun and so forth. Well, that is conceivable and that nomenclature is from a certain standpoint justifiable. But to abide by such nomenclature would of course be most inartistic. The essential thing is the relation of the second pillar to the first and the first to the second pillar. The essential thing is the change from one form into another for it is just in this change from one form into the other that the laws of world order are to be found, and ordain the change from Saturn formation into the Sun formation. I do not mean to say that these pillars are symbolic of Saturn and Sun, I simply mean that the law of change from Saturn to Sun is an inward law whose workings can be seen. This inner law whose workings can be seen has been expressed here in the sequence of the form.
We will now see the second pillar by itself.
In the next picture we show the second and third pillars together with their particular architraves.
[ 6 ] You see how in the first place the capitals are pictured in progressive metamorphosis and also how the architrave motif progresses, each form building itself up out, of the form that has gone before. Whenever you see a curve or a turn you must realise that this is not to be considered only as regards its own form but always in relation with the form that has gone before and that which is to come after. Through the entire development here neither a capital nor an architrave motif can be understood by itself. They exist as a sequence. They exist in their relationship one to the other. That is what we chew here. That is the truth which expresses the life element. Now we shall see the third pillar by itself.
[ 7 ] Now then, we will see the third and fourth pillars together with their architraves. We shall see as we continue that things become more and more complicated. That is in accordance with the nature of evolution. Evolution proceeds from the simple forms to the more complicated. You see here that the fourth motif is really very complicated in relation to the one that has gone before and especially the architrave motif is becoming more and more complicated.
We will now see the fourth pillar by itself.
[ 8 ] As I have said before this pillar and this motif must be seen in their relation to all the rest. That is the essential thing in all the ideas expressed in this Building. Whereas elsewhere one finds repetition, here one has a progressive evolution. This is really the essential new element that has been brought into the idea of this Building. Whereas elsewhere the dynamics of Geometry are put before us in repetition so that like balances like here one is concerned with the growth of the one out of the other. Look at them again - this pillar and the following one—together with their own architraves. Here we see how the moss complicated motif will be found in the capital of the 5th pillar and how the architrave motif becomes extremely complicated as it develops from the simple form which was there at the beginning to these very complicated forms.
We will now look at the 5th capital by itself.
[ 9 ] Perhaps the form of this capital suggests to you the staff of Mercury wound about with snakes but you must not regard it as though it stood by itself - you must look at it as though it were veritably a living metamorphosis from that which precedes it—as a composition that has not come into being as an isolated idea.
You will see if you once again change this form according to law and also according to the principle of progressive change the next form will develop out of this one.
We will now see this with the next once more and the contents of its capital. [ 10 ] You have only to notice how certain lines which wind themselves about this Mercury motifs branch out from one another, how the Mercury motif with its small top and its points directed downwards appears to be growing larger, and notice how that which you see there at the edge grows to meet what is underneath it and is united with the Mercury motif. Then you will understand how forms which are in living movement grow through and grow out of each other, and that the succeeding motive is developed from that which has gone before.
[ 11 ] But I must draw your attention to one thing. Just now when we have passed the middle point and we look at the next motive and compare it with the one that has gone before you might be inclined to say that this is more simple than the previous one. This is a point which must be quite clearly stated. If you follow the idea merely intellectually it may seem to you as if evolution consists in the fact that beginning from the most simple forms it proceeds to more and more complicated forms so that the last form will be a perfection of complexity. That is however not the case. A wholly false idea of evolution has come into being in modern times owing to this mistake. It is just when we follow the idea of evolution in Art asp I had to do in order to model these capitals and architraves one from another that VT identify ourselves with the real principle of evolution in nature and indeed in the world. You have then to model things after the pattern of evolution in the world and in nature, then you get an inner vision of what evolution really is. The marvellous and significant thing is that this trend at first is towards the more complicated forms but just about at the centre, just when you have what is most complicated, this trend is reversed. and turns again towards the simple.
Thus it has been shown in an artistic manner out of its own nature that when the most complicated stage has been achieved there come; a return to the simple and the complicated has to appear again in its most simple manifestations
[ 12 ] I should like very specially to explain to you this principle of evolution. Granted we had to follow the course of evolution through any form of metamorphosis we should say this here is a simple form (see drawing 1st form) Now we go a little further and see how a subsequent form can grow out of this one. Now let us understand how the following form grows out of this one. Here we have an illustration of the complicated which has grown out of the simple (the second form).
[ 13 ] The next still more complicated form could be moulded in this way (see 3rd form). Now you have the third form having grown out of the previous one. Follow the development further so that it becomes apparent to you what is organic and growing and in this way you will feel yourself forced from a certain point onward. Through this relationship (or connection) in which you come with the living principle of evolution you feel yourself forced onward to mould not something apparently more complicated but something like this (see drawing 4th form and the next you would feel obliged to mould in this way (see 3th form); that is if you are really immersed in that which in nature is the origin of the principle of evolution and the power of evolution. Then you would get a development which is really modelled from nature—that is, from the simple to the complicated, then again to the simple. [ 14 ] But this simple form which one now achieves has a certain quality It is indeed apparently simple but if you compare this simple form with the simplicity of the first form you will say to yourself “here is a simple roughly drawn line” (referring to the first one) “but here is a change” and one has the feeling that one can see in it what has gone before so that in a certain sense what has gone before is actually included in it and so you feel that out of the complicated comes the simple, in so far as this simple form builds itself up on a mysteriously complicated element (see the red line). So that the later evolution develops its simplicity out of the complicated.
[ 15 ] It is marvellous how if one traces evolution through Art we identify ourselves with what evolution really is in nature. You see how we are led in this way to something that I have often pointed out If we follow the principles of evolution merely intellectually, then it is easy to believe that humanity is the most perfect result in the development of the organic creation and that it is also the most complicated. This is not true. If we contemplate a human organ—say the eye—we find that the human eye as seen from outside is certainly not the most complicated eye. The eyes of certain lower organisms are much more complicated. They grow organs like the sword appendix; the fan of lower organic beings which if; like the continuation of the blood vessels in the eye.
In man these organs have apparently entirely disappeared and the human eye has returned to a simpler form, but simpler according to the principle of that which I have here shown in Art.
[ 16 ] Now as I have said, if one contemplates this simplicity which develops out of the complicated—one has the feeling that this. line has to be completed in thought (dotted line). Simplicity is created from concealed complexity. Simplicity is what is seen outwardly, that is actually to in nature. Man has no appendix in the eye, and apparently no fan but if one could add to the physical eye the etheric, then there should be added that which in the lower organic beings is developed physically. Just in the same way as (see drawing) I had to add, the dotted line here, just as I had to build up that which is externally visible on the foundation of this by the dotted line, so the human eye in its simplicity, in its physical; simplicity is formed out of a complicated etheric eye-formation: the apparently simple physical out of the complicated etheric.
[ 17 ] This is a proof to you that when we really grow into the inner form in the way that the metamorphosis of forms demands, we grow into the creative principle of nature herself. For then we understand for the first time how evolution progresses in nature, and here, dear friend; you can see how necessary it is in order to understand a certain inward power of development that we must learn to know nature not only in intellectual ideas but to grasp her forms with the imagination of the artist. This is the thing that you must realise as most important in every sense of the word. If one is to try in the way that science till now has done to get at nature with ideas and conceptions of an intellectual kind one will never grasp nature in her fullness of evolution. One will, only grasp nature in her fullness of evolution when one has built up in pictures and in imaginations what are otherwise intellectual ideas and so-called natural laws, for nature creates not in intellectual ideas but in pictures and in imaginations. [ 18 ] This is the main impression produced by our Building that it indicates to what kind, of representation we must progress if we would come to a satisfactory view of the world especially, in relation to the social future of mankind. The old world beliefs were developed from imaginations. You know the root of world beliefs is not to be found in intellectual ideas hut in pictures, in legends, in myths, and through pictures and images man sought to understand the forces which work in human life. And pictures and images were transformed into social impulses. All that originally came from the old pictures is to-day in a process of transformation and has to-day changed into intellectual conceptions; and intellectual conceptions cannot suffice for life. From this comes the present conception of the world with its dead element, with its destructive element containing within it the seed of death. And the conceptions of the world which appear new and young make nothing but sentimental and vogue claims.
[ 19 ] Nothing fruitful for the future can develop out of that which today appears in the form of social ideas. Anything fruitful for the future must be born out of an imaginative conception of the forces of growth. These must ever be comprehended in their actual inner reality by means of such simple forms. In this Building the principle that lives and works creatively in nature can be realised from within. It will be seen then from the moulding of isolated forms that so far as this Building is concerned you have before you that which you really need in order to build up a vies of the world and a social life for the future.
[ 20 ] It was of course a drawback that in the beginning the sectarian feelings of a great many people have given a false meaning to that which this building is meant to express, through over much symbolizing; and there have been people who consider it highly important that we should any that this is the Venus column, that the Saturn etc. These things that have a mystical flavour with which the mind can act a pretty play had to come to an end. In our time the task-of humanity is really something quite different from a mystical playing with ideas. And the main thing is that we deal with the clearest conceptions, and act with fullest consciousness—that is with that which transcends everyday consciousness—what I may call the super-consciousness, but which never descends to sub-consciousness. We must overcome all that pertains to day-dreaming, we must overcome all false and deadening mysticism. For higher than this mysticism, my dear friends, stands the everyday consciousness. For example while a raster Eckhardt or a John Tauler were in harmony with their particular time, to-day anyone who turned to this same consciousness which John Tauler or raster Eckhardt had would be entirely out of place in our world order. For the task of to-day is to get further, to awaken, not to go to sleep. There is much too pronounced an attitude among men for the pseudo-mystical, even among those who believe that they are on a better path But they only believe it. But there is still much too much of the idea that if we want to attain to spiritual truth, we can go to sleep a bit, we can dream a little, one can be a sentimental mystic. That is what is most injurious to the culture of our time. Instead of sinking from every-day consciousness into dreams we cannot sufficiently strive to climb out of the everyday consciousness to the more clear, to the super-consciousness.
[ 21 ] For this reason this Building precisely through its artistic side had to make certain claims. Men to-day when they are confronted with Art tend to become a little dreamy and where possible avoid thinking, which is so very exhausting, when we are following our everyday concerns, cooking or tending machines or planning architecture or anything of the kind, and we think we will rest a little when we are enjoying Art; we think we can sleep a little. This Building is not for that kind of sleeping consciousness. People with this kind of sleeping consciousness come into this Building and they say “we do not understand this.” We understand it in the moment we follow with the eye every turn, every curve—where we with the eye of the soul follow the physical eye—where we do not concern ourselves with all the rubbish about names, Saturn or or Sun, Mercury pillar etc.—where we follow the forms and see how one grows out of the other, how everything lives and interweaves, when we leave our false mysticism behind and really exert ourselves to follow these forms.
[ 22 ] We see that everything is not calculated to induce sleep but is for the purpose of awakening, for a shaking-up and not less for a becoming more aware than in ordinary life. This is the thing for instance, which pains me most. It is when I see again and again that people so love sleep even here in the Anthroposophical Society. They would like to pour out rest over everything and this is really the satisfaction of a selfish desire for sleep. Well, here the thing with which we are concerned is to become wider awake than we are in ordinary life. This Building can only be perceived in its Art form - in its inner artistic mobility when as we enter it we allow ourselves to be profoundly stirred and become more awake and aware than we are in everyday conditions. In ordinary life we sleep a great deal to-day, and it is from this sleep that our principle misfortunes come. [ 23 ] That is why every single form must be conceived actively. We must be able to set ourselves inside these forms and this Building is a living protest against all morbid mysticism. The worst of it is that even from well-intentioned people a certain mystical fog has spread itself around this Building through gossip and chatter, so that other people are able to repeat it: If only we could deal with the objections of our enemies with the reply that those who love this Building are concerned with supremely active life' But we must have a desire for this supremely active life. [ 24 ] We must seek here not soul-spiritual indulgence but soul-spiritual activity.
We must grow and not let ourselves be lulled in dreams. This is the thing which I specially wish to say with regard to this Building. If with the whole soul we actively identify ourselves with the living movement, with every single form which has been built into the whole, then we shall see that while this Building gives the impression from the outside, “here within is something which wants to reveal itself to the world,” in the moment when we enter it the forms will so work that the walls themselves in a certain sense will disappear. That is a new thing, viz, the way in which walls have been conceived in regard to this Building. Up to the present time, walls have always been built in such a way that they form an enclosure. The Art principle in these walls is that they roll themselves up so that we have the feeling the walls do not enclose us, the pillars do not stand there in order to define a limit. But the thing that is expressed in the pillars, the thing that is expressed in the walls break through the walls and leads us into living touch with the whole universe.
The Building is shaped out of the universe. Just as the world itself in its living interweaving life, in its spheric harmony, so is this building intended. That is the thing we aspire to in our eurhythmics. Not to allow that kind of sleep to enter into our eurhythmic forms but that a greater awareness shall take place in the action of eurhythmics than takes place in ordinary life, which we never could express in ordinary life. The performer of Eurhythmics should not be overcome in the struggle he has to wage continually against sleepiness in life.
[ 25 ] We will now continue further with the pictures. This is then the pillar by itself in which you can see how when man comes to this perfection he comes outwardly to the perfection of simplicity.
[ 26 ] Now here you see the last two pillars with their architraves. Everything has become simple although it has arrived at perfection. You see the marvellous thing about this is that through the harmony between nature and creative Art other harmonies now manifest themselves that have not been noticed before. If you take the capital of the first pillar you can place that which was convex into the concave form of the last pillar and vice versa. This was not intentional. This is something which has been born out of itself. The convexity of the first Pillar fit into the concavity of the seventh. The convexity of the third pillar in the concavity of the fifth, and the centre pillar with its capital stands quite independently alone. These are things which are born, just as in nature certain realities are born in progressive metamorphosis which do not need to be foreseen at all but seem like a kind of crux of the experiment which one discovers only at last when one has been creating in the same way as nature herself creates.
Here you see also the most perfect, and apparently also the most simple pillar of all.
[ 27 ] We will now let the seven pillars follow one after another so that we can see how one forms. as a metamorphosis emerges out of the other form—from the simple, the imperfect to the most complicated middle one, then back again to the most simple and the most perfect.
[ 28 ] The first pillar. You have only to imagine the principle of growth transforming this pillar and you will get the next, the second pillar, then the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and then the last.
[ 29 ] Now for the next picture. Here you see the last pillar and the point where the great cupola impinges upon the small cupola. So that you have a glimpse here of the meeting point of the two cupolas, where the architrave of the big cupola impinges upon the architrave of the small cupola, only separated by the aperture in which.the curtain will drop. The little cupola is supported in the same way with pillars and architraves of which I can show you only a little. We have not been able to get good photographs of the others, but this juncture we shall see again in the next picture.
We see here another aspect of this juncture where one cupola impinges on the other.
Here we have another aspect of the pillars and architraves of the little cupola. And now you will see a bit of that part which represents an architrave space to the East in the middle of the small cupola.
[ 30 ] You see a bit of what is in the middle; beneath that will be the sculptured group of the Representative of Humanity with Ahriman and Lucifer in the vicinity. Above is the picture of the same.
[ 31 ] When you observe carefully this bit in the small cupola of which only a small portion is shown, you will see that in the forms of this architrave is included—as in a synthesis—everything that is shown in forms on the capitals and the architraves of the small cupola. This is here a comprehensive expression of all that has been expressed in the capitals and architraves of the small cupola. Here is to be found everything repeated again—of course transformed to accord with the place in which it is found. You will find when you compare that which confronts you in the form of the sculptural group showing the Representative of Humanity, Lucifer and Ahriman with all the different curves and forms and surfaces which are found on the capitals and architraves, contains in itself the whole Building in a certain sense. So that this sculptured central group might be conceived of as the synthetic epitome of the whole Building. Just as for example the human head is a repetition of all the rest of the organism, or, if you like it better, the human larynx and its neighbouring organs is an organic repetition of the whole man. Only that everything is put together in its own place out of an inner organic necessity. In the same way this Building must be grasped as a whole for the parts do not exist alone but each must be considered as a part of the whole.
[ 32 ] I want to draw your attention to the way in which this idea with regard to walls is apparent in a still more material way in the glass windows, the reproductions of which I cannot show you here. The glass windows are only works of art when the light of the sun is shining through them. At other times they are only like a musical score. Thus you will see that. these glass windows (about which I shall speak more fully later on but which I cannot show you now) are in themselves an evidence that the building does not stand as a thing by itself but that the light of the sun is imagined as unity with it. And now in the same way everything connected with the form of this Building is imagined as being in unity with the creative powers of the whole universe The Building itself may be likened to a bit of the whole universe.
[ 33 ] The next picture. This gives you the portal of our glass house underneath. You can observe once more how the effect has been made in everything which belongs to the Building to express in every form of truth that I have again and again pointed out. This glass house (and I have called it a glass house because it was originally built in order that the glass windows might be fashioned there) has also two cupolas. It is indeed a metamorphosis of the great cupola of the main Building.
You have to imagine that the two cupolas of equal size are pulled apart, for you could not unite two equally large cupolas in the same way as you can unite a large one and a small one. It would he against the laws of nature. In order to bring the cupolas together as they are brought together in the main building they must be made of different sizes, the one large and the other small. If they are the same size they must be drawn apart and everything else must be adapted in the same way.
You will see in the formation of the steps, how, in every case each individual line in its own place is the outcome of a law of necessity, and how a part is in every case an expression of the whole.
[ 34 ] Now here you,see that which is to many people a monstrosity. It is the. house which is to contain the apparatus for the lighting and heating. If you were to ask me upon what principle this building is designed, I can only say it is fashioned in accordance with the creative principle of nature. It is formed in a way which, as you will see if you look into it, may be compared, for instance, with the way in which the nut shell correspond: to the kernel of the nut. It is true, is it not, that the kernel of the nut has a certain form? The shell of the nut fits itself exactly to the kernel of the nut. The shell cannot be different so long as the kernel has a determinate form which is the effect of quite a different cause. In designing such a building as we have here we have to consider carefully every detail it contains. What purpose does everything serve that is contained herein? For this is a building whose purpose is pure utility. One has to get a conception of what is here contained and of what purpose it serves—that is the nut. Afterwards one has to consider how to build the corresponding shell of this nut. To the “nut” itself belongs the smoke which escapes, this building is only complete when the smoke is rising. It is only a work of art if this chimney really fulfils its purpose. Then only will one see the necessity of these projections. We shall not look at theM as they were leaves of a plane or anything of that sort, but we shall feel ourselves into the shape and then we experience how this shrine is bound by an inner law of necessity to the crake. As the smoke is linked in organic connection with the building and also that which is happening inside the building, so in the same way we shall realise these globes. Imagine what would be there if we had not attempted to create this form. [ 35 ]I will of course admit that we shall be able to carry out these ideas in a more complete way, but a beginning must be made and everything that follows can become more and more perfect. The beginning must be made, first, to demonstrate that a building which is designed for utility must follow some such inner creative principles. Secondly, it must be built with regard to the adaptability of the most modern material: concrete. For every material demands its definite laws of building. When we build in a certain material we have to observe certain quite definite principles, that are bound up with the very nature of the material. The conception of building must give expression to the idea of utility and also to the demands of the particular material.
[ 36 ] You see it is not to be wondered at that these things which are all more or less new are repudiated by many people. Those who are not familiar with these ideas will not easily follow what I mean. But it becomes easier and easier as time goes on. Every idea that has come into the world in this way has experienced at the outset strongest opposition. But we must always take into account that it is exactly with regard to the things that are at present working that we must not sleep. It is also necessary that we make a certain energetic stand for the essential. We shall not succeed for a long time to come with out the energetic stand even if there are only few people who can follow the things with really inner understanding, for you see how things are. We shall take the opportunity tomorrow when we are speaking of the paintings in the cupola, to speak more of many things about, around and in the Building.
I have already said that you can see from all that with which we have been dealing how far this building represents that for which our anthroposophical ideas stand, and how every detail is born out of the way in which we look at the universe. If that could be brought into the world in the same thoroughness, we should have achieved something. For you see my dear friends, it is impossible for us to succeed to-day with these conceptions with which in past years we thought we should be successful.
[ 37 ] I gave you an example a week ago of the unsavoury lying methods which are being used. Why do they use such lying methods? I assure you that this is only the beginning of opposition. There is going to be lying on a much bigger scale. But I can show you how these lies are being systematically spread and the very lies that people are spreading, themselves, they use as further evidence. This systematic campaign will continue. I know there are many people in our Society who will not believe how low is the condition of morality in the world to-day, but it is necessary that we should not blind ourselves to these things. [ 38 ] But we must realise two things. First the intensity of the campaign comes from the fact that people feel, here is reality, they will not let it evolve. If it was a matter of programmes, as has been so much the case in the past, the people would not take so much trouble to slander us. But people will take the trouble to slander what is born of real force. For because they feel that they are face to face with the future they will slander and they will lie. But it is not a matter of convincing liars of the truth; they will not be convinced; they do not want to hear the truth. The thing is to go to the people who are not yet lying and put things before them in the right way. Those who think that they can counter with arguments and proofs that which the Catholic Church is now spreading abroad against us do us very bad service. For to those who are spreading these slanders it is not a question of this or that truth—it is a question of turning minds against us. And if we were confront them with the truth it would be a matter of complete indifference to them, they would only lie the more. But we have to see through it, dear friends, and then adjust ourselves to the position. It is not a question of convincing those who lie but it is a question of showing to the world that is still uncorrupted, in what way these slanders and falsehoods are spread. [ 39 ] I am more and more astonished (and I have to repeat this very often) that:the pernicious tendency shows itself even within our own Society to occupy ourselves with those who slander and lie and to endeavour to meet them directly, while our real task is to explain to the world what kind of human beings these people are. If we are not able to see right through this thing, dear friends, we shall not get very far because it is incumbent upon us, especially those who live here in the vicinity of this building to become objective and to develop interest in the great objective universe, holding ourselves above cliques and personal feelings, and all these commonplace puerilities. If we cannot become objective in relation to this building and what it stands for, then the movement will really not be able to get very far forward. We must subdue the purely personal; we must be able to put ourselves into the big interests of the world. And in everyone of its particular forms this building is a demand upon us that we shall escape from the, narrow personal points of view and rise to the great interests of the world. [ 40 ] For every single form as a matter of fact expresses what is necessary to humanity for the future.
Look at the abuse which is all around in the world. Do you find anything really pertinent to our cause? It is because people cannot find anything against our cause that they become personal. It is for this reason that they try to bring about the destruction of the ideas of this Movement by personal slander. It would be a sad thing if we were not able to look at these things properly and become aware of the things that are going on around us.
[ 41 ] To-morrow we will consider the pictures in the Cupola.
Zweiter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wir haben gestern den Bau aus der Umgebung und von außen betrachtet. Heute wollen wir an das Innere herantreten und versuchen, uns den Gedanken der Innenarchitektur vor die Seele zu führen. Dieser Gedanke der Innenarchitektur kann zunächst einmal so charakterisiert werden: Wenn sich jemand dem Bau von außen nähert, so wie er jetzt ist, so soll durch den Eindruck, den er bekommt - wie ich schon gestern andeutete -, die Vorstellung hervorgerufen werden: Da ist etwas umschlossen, was zunächst abgesondert von der Welt in innerer Sammlung getrieben werden muss, was aber dazu da ist, um in die gegenwärtige Menschheitsentwicklung übergeführt zu werden, was ein neues Element ist, das in diese Menschheitsentwicklung hineinkommen soll. Auf dieses Neue in dem Weltanschauungselemente sollen eben schon die äußeren Formen hinweisen. Sie erstreben einen neuen Stil. Wäre das Goetheanum in einem alten Baustil errichtet, so würde man gerade gegenüber dem, was hier getrieben werden soll, nicht die rechte Vorstellung bekommen. Diesem Äußeren tritt nun das Folgende als Inneres gegenüber.
[ 2 ] Nun ist als erstes Bild (Abb. 28) vorzuführen der Anblick, den man hat, wenn man von der Rampe aus durch das Hauptportal und durch den Vorraum hineingeschritten ist, sich dann gegen die Westseite zu umdreht und vor sich hat dasjenige, was nach oben abschließt den Raum über den beiden Säulen, den beiden ersten Säulen, der linken und der rechten, und das, was in der Mitte liegt. Indem wir weiterschreiten, sehen Sie hier die erste Säule, so wie sie sich links und rechts im Kapitell zeigt, und darüber den Architrav.
[ 3 ] Beachten Sie dasjenige, was das Wesentliche ist: das Fortschreitende in der Konfiguration sowohl der Säulenkapitelle wie desjenigen, was als Architrav über den Säulenkapitellen sich hinzieht. Ich habe gestern gesagt, dass hier an diesem Bau die Hauptsache die ist, dass alles an seinem Orte in seiner Notwendigkeit empfunden wird, alles so empfunden wird, wie irgendein Glied eines organischen Wesens an dem Orte, an dem es sich befindet, in seiner Notwendigkeit gefühlt werden kann. Sie können sehen, wie versucht worden ist, hier alles dasjenige, was im Bau drinnen zu sein hat, auch wirklich mit dem Baugedanken zu umschließen, sodass dieser Bau nicht etwa so erscheint, als ob man eine Wandumschließung einer Behausung hätte und dann etwas Beliebiges da oder dort hingestellt hätte, sondern alles dasjenige, was der Bau umschließen soll, soll zugleich in organischer Verbindung mit dem ganzen Baugedanken sein. Davon können Sie sich überzeugen dadurch, dass Sie das Bild betrachten, das ja in Verbindung mit diesem ist (Abb. 30). Es ist das Orgelmotiv, woraus Sie sehen, wie die Architektur hier so gestaltet ist, dass die Orgel sich in die Architektur voll hineinbilden soll, sodass man nicht etwas Hineingestelltes empfindet, sondern dass man förmlich empfindet, die Orgel sei wie aus der Architektur herausgewachsen. Das ist als Grundprinzip durch den ganzen Bau durchgeführt.
[ 4 ] Im nächsten Bild (Abb. 31) sehen Sie die erste Säule, und ich bitte Sie, Ihr Augenmerk darauf zu richten, wie ein jedes Säulenmotiv aus dem vorhergehenden durch eine organische Metamorphose hervorgeht. Zu diesem Zwecke sollen Sie als nächstes Bild (Abb. 33) sehen, wie die zweite Säule aus der ersten hervorgeht, und wie auch das Architravmotiv in fortschreitender Metamorphose umgebildet ist, wie jede folgende Form aus der vorhergehenden eben seiner Formgestaltung nach herausgeholt ist. Sie sehen hier, wie die zweite Säule aus der ersten sich herausentwickelt, das heißt, wenn Sie die von unten hinaufstrebenden, von oben herunterstrebenden spitzen Formen nehmen und sie so umgestaltet sich denken, wie ein folgendes Pflanzenblatt durch Metamorphose aus dem vorhergehenden entsteht, dann werden Sie die Form der zweiten Säule aus den Formen der ersten Säule hervorgehend finden. Die ganze Säule ist in fortschreitender Metamorphose empfunden.
[ 5 ] Wenn Sie richtig sich vertiefen wollen in dasjenige, was eigentlich vorliegt, so tun Sie natürlich ganz unrecht, wenn Sie Namen, Benennungen, die, ich möchte sagen, aus mehr äußerlichen Gründen stammen, wenn Sie diese besonders respektieren. Man hat sich daran gewöhnt, die erste Säule die Saturnsäule, die zweite Säule die Sonnensäule und dergleichen zu nennen. Gewiss, das kann man, und das hat von einem gewissen Gesichtspunkte aus seine Berechtigung. Allein dabei stehenzubleiben wäre ja das Allerunkünstlerischste, das sich nur denken ließe. Das Wesentlichste, worauf es ankommt, ist das Verhältnis der zweiten Säule zur ersten, der ersten zur zweiten Säule. Das Wesentliche ist der Übergang der einen Form in die andere; denn es liegt zugrunde diesem Übergang der einen Form in die andere dasselbe gesetzmäßige Weltenwerden, das zugrunde liegt dem Übergange der Saturnformungen zu den Sonnenformungen im Weltenall. Nicht, dass etwa diese Säulen symbolische Abdrucke von Saturn und Sonne sind, sondern dasjenige, was Saturn und Sonne zugrunde liegt, das ist eine innere, zu schauende Gesetzmäßigkeit. Und diese innere, zu schauende Gesetzmäßigkeit, die ist auch hier in die Formgebung hinein entwickelt.
Wir wollen nun die zweite Säule für sich sehen.
Nun werden wir im nächsten Bild (Abb. 35) die zweite und dritte Säule zusammen sehen mit dem darüber befindlichen Architrav.
[ 6 ] Sie sehen, wie erstens die Kapitelle in fortschreitender Metamorphose gebildet sind, aber auch wie das Architravmotiv fortschreitet, jedes Folgende aus dem Vorhergehenden heraus gestaltet ist. Wo irgendeine Kurve, eine Biegung da ist, so ist sie durchaus nicht bloß in ihrer eigenen Form zu betrachten, sondern immer mit Bezug auf die Form, die die vorhergehende und nächstfolgende ist. Man versteht an der ganzen Entwicklung hier weder ein Kapitell für sich noch irgendein Architravmotiv für sich. Für sich sind die Dinge gar nichts, sie sind nur etwas in der Aufeinanderfolge, wie sich das eine auf das andere bezieht. Darauf kommt es hier an. Das ist dasjenige, was das Lebendige der Sache ausmacht.
Wir werden jetzt die dritte Säule für sich sehen.
[ 7 ] Jetzt die dritte und vierte Säule zusammen, mit ihren Architraven darüber (Abb. 37). Sie sehen, indem wir fortfahren, wie die Dinge immer komplizierter und komplizierter werden. Das ist das Wesen zunächst einer Entwicklung. Die Entwicklung geht vom Einfachen aus und geht dann zum Komplizierten über. Sie sehen hier das vierte Motiv eigentlich als schon sehr kompliziert in Bezugauf das vorhergehende; insbesondere auch das Architravmotiv wird kompliziert.
Wir werden jetzt die vierte Säule für sich betrachten:
[ 8 ] Also, wie gesagt, jede Säule, jedes Motiv muss mit allen übrigen im Zusammenhang gesehen werden. Das ist das Wesentliche bei diesem Baugedanken. Während man sonst Wiederholungen hat, hat man hier eine fortschreitende Entwicklung. Damit ist eigentlich ein wesentlich neues Element in den Baugedanken gebracht: dass man es zu tun hat da, wo sonst bloß das Geometrisch-Dynamische in Wiederholungen vorliegt oder aber so vorliegt, dass sich gegenseitig das Gleiche trägt, hat man es hier zu tun mit einem Hervorwachsen des einen aus dem anderen. Und betrachten Sie wiederum diese Säule und die folgende zusammen mit den darüber befindlichen Architraven (Abb. 39). Hier sehen Sie, wie sich das komplizierteste Motiv in der fünften Säule ergibt als Kapitell, und wie die Architravmotive sich sehr stark komplizieren von der einfachen Form, die anfangs da war, zu diesen sehr komplizierten Formen.
Wir wollen nun das fünfte Kapitell für sich betrachten:
[ 9 ] Wenn Ihnen das, was da am Kapitell ist, wie ein Merkurstab mit Schlangen umwunden vorkommt, so werden Sie das nicht für sich betrachten, sondern so betrachten, dass es wirklich organisch-metamorphosisch aus dem Vorhergehenden richtig hervorgeht, sodass diese Zusammenstellung hier durchaus nicht als Einzelgedanke entstanden ist, sondern sie hat sich ergeben als eine notwendige metamorphosierte Gestaltung des Vorhergehenden. Und Sie werden sehen, wenn Sie diese Form wiederum ändern, aber innerlich, gesetzmäßig ändern, also nach dem Prinzip der fortschreitenden Metamorphose, so geht die nächste Form aus dieser hervor. Wir werden diese mit der nächsten wiederum zusammen sehen mit den darüber befindlichen Architraven.
[ 10 ] Sie brauchen nur sich zu denken, wie gewisse Ranken, die an diesem Merkurstabmotiv sich winden, wie diese auseinanderstreben, wie das oben noch Kleine des Merkurmotivs, spitz nach unten Gehende, sich auswächst, und wie dasjenige, was dort an der Kante ist, wie das entgegenwächst dem Unteren, sich verschlingt mit dem Merkurmotiv, dann werden Sie sehen, wie rein durch Wachsen und Verwachsen der Formen, die in lebendiger Bewegung sind, das folgende Motiv aus dem vorhergehenden hervorgeht.
[ 11 ] Aber auf etwas mache ich Sie aufmerksam: Wenn Sie jetzt, wo wir über die Mitte hinaus sind, wenn Sie jetzt das nächste Motiv gegenüber dem vorhergehenden Motiv betrachten, so werden Sie sagen: Das ist einfacher als das vorhergehende. Und das ist etwas, auf das hier ganz scharf hingedeutet werden muss. Wenn man äußerlich abstrakt den entsprechenden Gedanken aufnimmt, so kann es so scheinen, als ob Entwicklung darinnen bestünde, dass vom Einfachsten begonnen wird und zum immer Komplizierteren und Komplizierteren fortgeschritten wird, sodass dann das Letzte, Vollkommenste das Komplizierteste nach außen hin wäre. Das ist aber nicht der Fall. Und es ist ein vollständig falscher Entwicklungsgedanke, der durch diese Meinung in der neueren Zeit aufgekommen ist. Gerade wenn man künstlerisch die Entwicklung so verfolgt, wie ich es tun musste, um diese Kapitelle und Architrave auseinander zu gestalten, dann verwächst man mit dem ganzen Prinzip der Entwicklung in der Natur, in der Welt selber. Man muss dann so gestalten, wie wirklich die Entwicklung in der Welt, in der Natur vor sich geht, dann bekommt man eine innerliche Anschauung von dem, was eigentlich Entwicklung ist. Und das Merkwürdige, das Bedeutsame ist, dass dieses Drängen zuerst zum Komplizierten hin - aber nur bis zu der Mitte, die dann das Komplizierteste ist, wird man zum Kompliziertesten hin gedrängt -, dass dieses Drängen zum Komplizierten später wiederum in das Einfachere übergeht. Ganz von selbst hat sich künstlerisch ergeben, dass, nachdem man das Komplizierteste erreicht hatte, man wiederum zu einem Einfacheren, aber nur zu einem Einfacheren nach außen hin, übergehen musste.
[ 12 ] Ich möchte Ihnen dieses Prinzip der Entwicklung noch besonders erklären (Abb. 104). Angenommen, wir hätten die Entwicklung irgendeiner Form metamorphosisch zu verfolgen, dann können wir sagen: Dieses hier wäre ein Einfaches (Zeichnung I). Nun geht man weiter, wie eine folgende Form aus dieser herauswachsen könnte. Nehmen wir an, wir lassen die folgende Form aus dieser herauswachsen, dann haben wir ein Kompliziertes aus einem Einfacheren herauswachsen lassen (Zeichnung II).
[ 13 ] Das Nächste, weiter Komplizierte, könnte dann etwa so gestaltet sein (Zeichnung III). Nun hätten Sie ein drittes Kompliziertes, das herausgewachsen wäre aus dem Vorhergehenden. Verfolgt man jetzt die Entwicklung weiter, so wie sie innerhalb desjenigen vorhanden ist, was organisch, was wachsend ist, so fühlt man sich von einem bestimmten Punkte an gedrängt - wenn man sich wirklich versenkt in dasjenige, was in der Natur als Entwicklungskraft zugrunde liegt, durch diese Verwandtschaft, in die man hineinkommt mit dem lebendigen Entwicklungsprinzip —, man fühlt sich gedrängt, das Nächste nicht etwa nach außen hin komplizierter zu gestalten, sondern vielleicht so zu gestalten (Zeichnung IV); und das Nächste würde man sich gedrängt fühlen, so zu gestalten (Zeichnung V). Dann würde man eine Entwicklung bekommen, die wirklich der Natur nachgebildet ist; vom Einfachen zum Komplizierten, dann aber wiederum zu einem Einfachen.
[ 14 ] Aber dieses Einfachere, zu dem man da gelangt, das hat eine gewisse Eigentümlichkeit. Es ist zwar scheinbar einfach, aber wenn Sie diese Einfachheit hier vergleichen mit der Einfachlieit des Anfanges, so werden Sie sich sagen: Hier (Zeichnung I) ist ein einfacher, brutal gezogener Strich; hier (Zeichnung V) ist aber eine Windung. Und man hat das Gefühl, man muss das Vorhergehende mitfühlen, sodass das vorhergehende Kompliziertere da in einer gewissen Weise mit drinnen ist, und man hat so das Gefühl, dass man aus dem Komplizierten das Einfache bekommt, indem eben dieses Einfache sich aufbaut auf einem Geheimnisvoll-Komplizierten (punktierte Linie). Sodass die spätere Entwicklung ihre Einfachheit auf der Grundlage eines Komplizierten hat.
[ 15 ] Es ist merkwürdig, wie man, wenn man eine Entwicklung solcherart künstlerisch verfolgt, hineinwächst in dasjenige, was in der Natur wirklich Entwicklung ist. Wir werden da geführt zu etwas, was ich hier schon öfter angedeutet habe: Wer abstrakt das Entwicklungsprinzip verfolgt, der könnte leicht glauben, der Mensch ist das Vollkommenste zunächst in der Entwicklung der organischen Wesen, also ist er auch das komplizierteste. Das ist aber nicht wahr, sondern wenn wir ein Glied des Menschen, sagen wir das Auge, betrachten, so ist das menschliche Auge, wie es sich zunächst nach außen hin zeigt, durchaus nicht das komplizierteste Auge. Augen gewisser niedriger organischer Formen sind komplizierter; es wachsen Organe wie der Schwertfortsatz, der Fächer bei niedrigeren organischen Wesen wie Fortsetzungen der Blutgefäße in das Auge hinein. Beim Menschen sind diese Organe scheinbar ganz weg, und das menschliche Auge ist wiederum einfach gestaltet, aber einfach nach dem Prinzip, das ich hier künstlerisch angegeben habe. Nun sagte ich, stellt man sich diese Einfachheit vor, die sich ergibt aus dem Komplizierten, so hat man das Gefühl, man muss dies hier ergänzt denken. Die Einfachheit, die baut sich erst auf einem verborgenen Komplizierten (gepunktete Linie) auf. Die Einfachheit offenbart sich nach außen.
[ 16 ] Ja, das ist in der Natur wirklich so. Der Mensch hat keinen Schwertfortsatz im Auge, äußerlich sichtbar, keinen Fächer; aber wenn man sich zu dem physischen Auge das ätherische Auge hinzufügt, dann ist das hinzuzudenken, was bei dem niedereren organischen Wesen nach außen gebildet ist. Geradeso wie ich hier die punktierte Linie ziehen musste und das, was nach außen sichtbar ist, wie auf der Grundlage dieser punktierten Linie aufbauen musste, so ist das menschliche Auge in seiner Einfachheit, in seiner physischen Einfachheit aus einer komplizierten ätherischen Augenbildung heraus gestaltet; also das Einfache nach außen, das einfache Physische nach außen aus dem komplizierten Ätherische.
[ 17 ] Das, sehen Sie, bezeugt Ihnen, dass, wenn man in innerer Formung wirklich hineinwächst in dasjenige, was die Metamorphose der Formen fordert, und dadurch hineinwächst in das gestaltende Prinzip der Natur selber, man erst dann versteht, wie in der Natur die Entwicklung vor sich geht. Und hier können Sie sehen, dass es notwendig ist, um eine gewisse innere Kräfteentwicklung in der Natur zu verfolgen, die Natur nicht bloß in abstrakten Gedanken kennenzulernen, sondern ihre Gestalten mit künstlerischen Imaginationen zu verfolgen. Das ist dasjenige, was Sie hieraus lernen sollen als etwas im eminentesten Sinne Wichtiges. Wenn man weiter versuchen wird, so wie es die bisherige Wissenschaft getan hat, der Natur nur beikommen zu wollen mit Ideen und Begriffen abstrakter Art- man wird die Natur nie umfassen in ihrer Fülle der Entwicklung. Man wird vielmehr diese Natur nur umfassen in ihrer Fülle der Entwicklung, wenn man gestaltet dasjenige, was sonst abstrakte Gedanken und sogenannte Naturgesetze sind, zu Bildern, zu Imaginationen. Denn die Natur schafft nicht in abstrakten Gedanken, die Natur schafft in Bildern, in Imaginationen.
[ 18 ] Das wird einmal das Wesentliche sein in der Wirkung unseres Baues, dass er zeigen wird, zu welchen Imaginationen, zu welcher Art von Vorstellungen man vorschreiten muss, wenn man überhaupt zu einer für die Zukunft der Menschheit in erkenntnismäßiger und in sozialer Beziehung genügenden Weltanschauung wird kommen wollen. Auch die alten Weltanschauungen sind aus Imaginationen hervorgegangen. Sie wissen: Auf dem Grund der Weltanschauungen stehen nicht abstrakte Begriffe, sondern Bilder in Legenden, in Mythologien; und durch Bilder suchte man zu begreifen, wie das Menschenleben wirkt. Und Bilder sind es, die übergegangen sind in die sozialen Impulse. Alles das, was so aus den alten Bildern stammt, ist heute im Untergange, hat sich heute verwandelt in abstrakte Begriffe, und abstrakte Begriffe können nicht das Leben tragen; daher die heutigen Weltanschauungen mit ihrem toten Elemente, mit ihrem zerstörerischen Elemente, mit dem Todeskeim in sich. Und diejenigen, die sich jung auftun als sogenannte neue Weltanschauungen, kommen zu bloßem gefühlsmäßigem, unbestimmtem Fordern.
[ 19 ] Aus dem, was sich heute als soziale Ideen geltend macht, wird sich nichts Fruchtbares für die Zukunft ergeben können. Das Fruchtbare für die Zukunft kann nur aus einer imaginativen Erfassung der Werdeimpulse selber sich ergeben. Die müssen aber zuerst an solchen einfachen Formen wirklich innerlich anschauend erfasst werden. Man kann an diesem Bau das innerlich erfassen, was in der Natur schaffend lebt und schaffend wirkt. Darauf wurde besonders gesehen bei der Ausgestaltung der einzelnen Formen: dass man wirklich, indem man den Bau betritt, das vor sich hat, was man brauchen wird, um eine Weltanschauung und ein soziales Leben der Zukunft zu bilden.
[ 20 ] Geschadet hat es natürlich, dass im Anfange, solange noch hereingeragt haben in dasjenige, was mit diesem Bau erreicht werden soll, die sektiererischen Empfindungen vieler, manches, was an diesem Bau ist, ins Symbolisierende umgedeutet worden ist; und es haben sich Leute gefunden, die es für besonders wichtig gehalten haben, zu sagen: Das ist die Venus-, das ist die Saturnsäule und so weiter. Diese Dinge, die mystisch scheinen, mit denen man auch ein hübsches Geflunker aufführen kann, diese Dinge müssten endlich verschwinden. In unserer Zeit ist wirklich die Menschheit auf ganz anderes angewiesen als auf mystisches Geflunker. Darauf kommt es heute an, dass man sich zu tun macht mit dem Allerklarsten, mit dem Allerbewusstesten, das heißt mit demjenigen, was über das alltägliche Bewusstsein hinausgeht ins, ich möchte sagen, Überbewusste, was aber nicht hinuntersteigt ins Unterbewusste. Wir müssen über das Träumerische, über das falsch Mystische, über das ertötend Mystische hinauskommen. Denn höher als dieses Mystische steht die Alltagsanschauung, steht das Alltagsbewusstsein. Und während zum Beispiel noch ein Meister Eckhart oder ein Johannes Tauler in ihr Jahrhundert passten, ist heute jemand, der sich zu demselben Bekenntnis hinwenden wollte, wie es Johannes Tauler oder der Meister Eckhart hatten, in unserer Weltanschauung vollständig deplatziert. Denn heute handelt es sich darum, wirklich weiterzuwollen, aufzuwachen, nicht einzuschlafen. Es ist noch viel zu sehr die Stimmung des falsch Mystischen unter den Menschen, auch unter denen, die glauben, eines besseren Willens zu sein; aber sie glauben es nur. Es ist viel zu sehr die Stimmung vorhanden: Will man zum Wahren, zum Geistigen kommen, da muss man so ein bisschen einschlafen, da muss man träumen, da muss man ein träumerischer Mystiker werden. Das ist dasjenige, was unserer Zeitkultur am allermeisten schadet. Wir können gar nicht genug streben, von dem Alltäglichen aus nicht zum Träumen hinunter, sondern zu Klarerem, Überbewusstem hinaufzukommen.
[ 21] Daher musste dieser Bau gerade in seinem Künstlerischen gewisse Anforderungen stellen. Am liebsten mögen die Menschen heute, wenn sie Künstlerischem gegenübertreten, eben ein wenig eingeschläfert werden, womöglich aussetzen können mit dem Denken, das einen ja so sehr anstrengt, wenn man in der alltäglichen Beschäftigung, beim Kochen oder beim Maschinenbedienen oder bei Architekturplänen oder dergleichen ist. Man will etwas ausruhen, wenn man Kunst genießt, man will etwas schlafen können. Für solche schlafende Bewusstseine ist dieser Bau nicht. Solche schlafende Bewusstseine betreten diesen Bau und sie sagen: Das verstehen wir nicht, Man versteht es in dem Augenblicke, wo man mit dem Auge jeder Kurve, jeder Windung folgt, wo man mit dem Seelenauge wiederum dem physischen Auge folgt, wo man sich nicht kümmert um all den Namenplunder «Saturn-, Sonnen-, Merkursäule» und so weiter, sondern wo man die Formen verfolgt, wie eine aus der anderen herauswächst, wie alles lebt und webt, wo man alle falsche Mystik hinter sich lässt und einmal wirklich seinen Menschen anstrengt, dass er mitgeht mit diesen Formen.
[ 22 ] Sehen Sie, alles, was hier getrieben wird, ist wirklich nicht zum Einschlafen, sondern ist zum Aufwachen, ist zum Aufrütteln, ist zum mehr Wachwerden, als man im gewöhnlichen Leben ist, nicht zum weniger Wachsein. Und das ist gerade dasjenige, was mir zum Beispiel am meisten Schmerz macht, wenn ich immer wieder und wieder sehe, dass man den Schlaf so sehr liebt gerade in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, dass man möchte überall Ruhe ausgießen, das heißt egoistische Schlafbedürfnisse befriedigen, während es sich hier darum handelt, wacher zu sein, als man im gewöhnlichen Leben ist. Und dieser Bau kann nur in seiner künstlerischen Gestalt, in seiner inneren künstlerischen Beweglichkeit durchschaut werden, genossen werden, wenn man sich aufrütteln lässt von ihm, wacher zu sein als im Alltäglichen, wenn man hineinkommt. Denn im gewöhnlichen Leben schläft man recht sehr heute. Und von diesem Schlafen kommt unser hauptsächlichstes Unglück.
[ 23 ] Daher muss allerdings jede einzelne Form aktiv verfolgt werden. Man muss sich hineinversetzen in diese Formen. Daher ist dieser Bau ein lebendiger Protest gegen alle ertötende Mystik. Und es ist das Schlimmste, dass auch von gewissen gutwilligen Leuten ein gewisser mystischer Nebel durch Tratsch und Klatsch um diesen Bau herum verbreitet worden ist, sodass das dann die anderen Leute nachsagen können. Während es sich darum handeln würde, dass man gegenüber Anfeindungen gerade antworten könnte, dass diejenigen, die diesen Bau lieben, für das tätige Leben, für das übertätige Leben sind. Dann muss man aber auch eine Neigung haben für dieses tätige, für dieses übertätige Leben. Dann muss man nicht seelisch-geistige Wollust suchen hier, sondern seelisch-geistige Betätigung. Aufwachen, nicht einlullen in Träume, das ist dasjenige, was ich gerade mit Bezug auf diesen Bau sagen möchte.
[ 24 ] Und findet man sich so aktiv, mit seinem ganzen Menschen verfolgend die lebendige Bewegung des Einzelnen hinein in dasjenige, was hier gebaut wird, dann wird man sehen, dass, während von außen der Bau den Eindruck macht: Hier ist etwas drinnen, was sich der Welt offenbaren will, in dem Augenblicke, wo man ihn betritt, die Formen so wirken, dass sich die Wände selber aufheben, dass die Wände gewissermaßen verschwinden. Das ist das Neue der Wandbehandlung bei diesem Baugedanken. Wände sind bisher immer gestaltet worden so, dass sie abschließend sind. Diese Wände sind so in ihrem künstlerischen Prinzip, dass sie sich selber aufheben, sodass man drinnen das Gefühl haben kann: Die Wand schließt einen nicht ab, die Säule steht nicht da, um irgendeine Grenze zu bilden, sondern dasjenige, was in der Säule ausgedrückt ist, was auf der Wand ausgedrückt ist, das durchbricht die Wand und lässt einen in lebendige Beziehung kommen mit dem ganzen Weltenall. Der Bau ist herausgestaltet aus dem Weltenall. Wie die Welt selber in ihrem lebendigen Weben und Leben, in ihrer Sphärenharmonie, soll dieser Bau gestaltet sein. Das ist ja auch dasjenige, was man bei der Eurythmie anstreben möchte, dass nicht ein Einschlafen in den Eurythmieformen eintritt, dass ein größeres Wachsein im eurythmischen Wirken stattfinde, als es im gewöhnlichen Leben ist, dass man niemals erfahren könnte, dass der Eurythmisierende unterliegt in dem Kampfe, den er zu führen hat gegenüber dem Schlaf des Lebens.
[ 25 ] Wir fahren nun mit den Bildern wieder fort (Abb. 42). Das ist also die Säule für sich, wobei Sie sehen, wie man, wenn man zu dem Vollkommeneren kommt, zu dem Einfacheren nach außen hinkommt.
[ 26 ] Nun, hier sehen Sie die beiden letzten Säulen mit den darüber befindlichen Architraven. Alles ist einfach geworden; trotzdem es das Vollkommenste ist, ist alles einfach geworden. Sie sehen, das Merkwürdige an diesen Dingen ist das: Durch den Einklang im künstlerischen Schaffen hier mit der Natur zeigt sich, dass auch andere Regelmäßigkeiten auftreten, die gar nicht beabsichtigt sind. Wenn Sie das Kapitell der ersten Säule nehmen, so können Sie dasjenige, was dort konvex ist, in die konkave Form der letzten Säule hineinlegen, und umgekehrt. Das ist nicht beabsichtigt. Das ist etwas, was sich von selber ergeben hat. Die Konvexität der ersten Säule passt in die Konkavität der siebenten, die Konvexität der dritten in die Konkavität der fünften Säule, und das mittlere Kapitell steht für sich allein da. Das sind Dinge, die sich ergeben, wie in der Natur sich gewisse Realitäten ergeben, die einfach in der fortschreitenden Metamorphose liegen, die gar nicht beabsichtigt zu sein brauchen, die aber sich ausnehmen wie eine Art experimentum crucis, die einen selber erst zuletzt überfallen, wenn man so schafft, wie die Natur selber schafft.
Hier sehen Sie also die vollkommenste, aber scheinbar auch wieder ganz einfache Säule.
[ 27 ] Wir wollen nun die sieben Säulen aufeinander folgen lassen, sodass das Auge verfolgen kann, wie eine Form sich metamorphosisch aus der anderen Form ergibt, vom Einfachen, Unvollkommenen zu dem kompliziertesten Mittleren, dann wiederum zum Einfacheren, Vollkommeneren (Abb. 31-44).
[ 28 ] Erste Säule: Sie brauchen sich nur nach den Wachstumsprinzipien umgestaltet zu denken die Form, so bekommen Sie die nächste zweite Säule, ebenso die dritte Säule, vierte Säule, fünfte Säule, sechste Säule, und die letzte.
[ 29 ] Sie sehen hier die letzte Säule und die Stelle, wo übergeht der große Kuppelraum in den kleinen Kuppelraum, sodass Sie hier einen Blick auf den Zusammenschluss der zwei Kuppelräume haben, wo der Architrav des großen Kuppelraumes in den Architrav des kleinen Kuppelraumes übergeht, getrennt nur durch den Spalt, in dem der Vorhang eingefügt werden wird. Der kleine Kuppelraum ist ebenso mit Säulen und Architraven ausgestattet, von denen ich Ihnen nur ein Weniges zeigen kann. Wir haben keine guten Fotografien von diesen anderen Dingen bekommen. Aber diesen Anschluss werden wir in dem nächsten Bilde noch einmal sehen.
Sie sehen hier diesen Anschluss noch einmal abgebildet, wo der eine Kuppelraum in den anderen übergeht.
Und jetzt habe ich nur noch ein Stück von Säulen und Architraven der kleinen Kuppel. Hier sehen Sie Säulen und Architravgebilde aus dem kleinen Kuppelraum.
[ 30 ] Und nunmehr werden Sie ein Stück desjenigen Teiles bekommen, der gerade im Osten als Architravraum in der Mitte der kleinen Kuppel ist (Abb. 63). Sie sehen hier ein Stück desjenigen, was in der Mitte ist; darunter wird dann die Gruppe stehen, der Menschheitsrepräsentant mit Ahriman und Luzifer in seiner Umgebung. Darüber ist dasselbe im Bilde.
[ 31 ] Sie werden sehen, wenn Sie im kleinen Kuppelraum selber dieses Stück, von dem hier wiederum nur ein Teil abgebildet ist, verfolgen, dass in den Formen dieses Architravs zusammengefasst ist wie in einer Synthese alles dasjenige, was sonst an Formen verteilt ist auf die Kapitelle und Architrave des kleinen Kuppelraumes überhaupt (Abb. 54-59). Dies ist hier eine Zusammenfassung von alledem, was in dem kleinen Kuppelraum an den Kapitellen und Architraven vorhanden ist. Hier findet sich alles noch einmal, selbstverständlich umgestaltet, in Metamorphose für den Ort, an dem es sich befindet. Sie werden überhaupt finden, wenn Sie vergleichen dasjenige, was Ihnen in Form der Hauptgruppe - Menschheitsrepräsentant, Luzifer und Ahriman - entgegentreten wird mit all den verschiedenen Kurven und Formen und Flächen, die verteilt sind auf Kapitelle und Architrave, dass der ganze Bau auseinandergelegt diese Mittelgruppe ist in einer gewissen Weise, sodass man auch diese Mittelpunktsgruppe wiederum als eine synthetische Zusammenfassung des ganzen Baues auffassen kann, wie zum Beispiel das menschliche Haupt auch eine Wiederholung des ganzen übrigen Organismus ist, oder namentlich der menschliche Kehlkopf und seine Nachbarorgane eine organische Wiederholung des ganzen Menschen sind, nur eben für ihren Ort in entsprechender Weise mit innerer organischer Notwendigkeit gebildet. So kann eben dieser Bau nur als ein Ganzes überhaupt verstanden werden, und jede Einzelheit ist nicht für sich, sondern als ein Glied des Ganzen aufzufassen.
[ 32 ] Ich mache Sie darauf aufmerksam, wie, ich möchte sagen, schon mehr physisch diese Wandbehandlung in den Glasfenstern zum Ausdrucke kommt, die ich Ihnen hier nicht in Reproduktion zeigen kann. Die Glasfenster als solche sind ja erst Kunstwerke, wenn das Sonnenlicht durchscheint, sonst sind sie eine Art Partitur. Da sehen Sie aber, dass bei diesen Glasfenstern - über die ich vielleicht auch noch ausführlicher sprechen werde, aber ich kann sie Ihnen nicht zeigen - unmittelbar das sich zeigt, dass der Bau gar nicht für sich dasteht, sondern dass das äußere Sonnenlicht mit dem Bau als eine Einheit gedacht ist. Und so ist auch alles in den Formen mit den inneren Bewegungs- und Wirkungskräften der ganzen Welt als eine Einheit gedacht. Der Bau ist nur gleichsam ein Stück, aus der ganzen Welt herausgeschnitten.
[ 33 ] Das nächste Bild (Abb. 99): Dieses Bild stellt Ihnen dar das Portal unseres Glashauses unten. Sie können daran stu dieren, wie versucht worden ist, bei alledem, was zu diesem Bau gehört, in den Bauformen zum Ausdrucke zu bringen dasjenige, was ich in mehrfacher Weise angedeutet habe. Es ist ja auch dieses Glashaus unten - Glashaus nenne ich es, weil es eigentlich eingerichtet worden ist, damit die Glasfenster dort geschliffen werden können -, es ist dieses Glashaus auch ein Doppelkuppelbau (Abb. 98). Und er ist eigentlich eine Metamorphose des großen Kuppelbaues. Sie können sich einfach dadurch, dass Sie die beiden Kuppeln gleich groß denken, sie sich auseinandergezerrt denken. Man könnte nicht zwei gleich große Kuppeln in derselben Weise zusammenfügen wie die große und die kleine; das würde unorganisch sein. Wenn man Kuppeln so zusammenfügt, wie sie am großen Bau sind, muss man sie in verschiedener Größe machen; die eine muss groß, die andere kleiner sein. Sind sie gleich, so muss man sie auseinanderzerren; und das ganze Übrige muss dann dem angepasst sein. Sie sehen an der Stufenverteilung der Treppen und so weiter überall, wie mit Notwendigkeit jede einzelne Form an ihrem Orte gedacht ist, wie alles Einzelne aus dem Ganzen sich ergeben soll.
[ 34 ] Hier sehen Sie dasjenige, was der Horror einer großen Anzahl Menschen ist. Es ist das Haus, in dem die Beleuchtungsanlagen und Beheizungskörper drinnen sein sollen. Wenn Sie mich fragen, nach welchem Prinzipe dieses Gebäude ausgestaltet ist, so kann ich sagen: Es ist durchaus das Schaffensprinzip der Natur nachgebildet, nachgebildet so, wie Sie es studieren können, wenn Sie zum Beispiel die Nussschale mit der Nussfrucht im Einklange studieren. Nicht wahr, die Nussfrucht hat bestimmte Formen. Die Nussschale passt sich genau dem an, was die Nussfrucht ist. Die Nussschale kann nicht anders sein, als sie ist, wenn die Nussfrucht eben eine gewisse Form hat, die sie aus anderen Gründen haben muss. Formt man ein solches Gebäude, so hat man zunächst darauf Rücksicht zu nehmen: Was ist da drinnen? Wozu dient das, was da drinnen ist? Dies ist ja ein reiner Utilitätsbau. Es handelt sich also darum, dass man den Gedanken fasst, was da drinnen ist und wie das wirkt, was darinnen ist, wie das sich betätigt. Das ist die Nuss. Dann handelt es sich darum, um diese Nuss die entsprechende Schale herum zu gestalten. Zu der «Nuss» gehört natürlich auch der Rauch, der nach oben herausgeht, wie diese Hausform überhaupt erst fertig ist, wenn der Rauch oben herausgeht. Es ist das Kunstwerk erst da, wenn dieser Schornstein raucht. Dann wird man aber auch erst die Notwendigkeit dieser Ausweitungen empfinden. Man wird nicht nachdenken, ob das Pflanzenblätter oder dergleichen sind, sondern wird in die Form sich hineinfühlen und diese Form in ihrer Notwendigkeit mit dem Rauch empfinden. Da der Rauch aber mit dem Gebäude im organischen Zusammenhang ist, mit dem, was drinnen ist, drinnen geschieht, so wird man auch diese Ausbauchungen in entsprechender Weise empfinden. Die Leute sollten bedenken, was da stehen würde, wenn nicht versucht worden wäre, diese Form zu bilden.
[ 35 ] Ich will natürlich zugeben, dass man solche Dinge weiter ausbilden könnte. Zunächst musste ein Anfang gemacht werden, es kann es ja jeder vollkommener machen. Es musste aber ein Anfang gemacht werden, erstens einen solchen Utilitätsbau einmal zu gestalten nach solchen inneren Schaffensprinzipien, zweitens mit Rücksicht auf das modernste Material, den Beton. Jedes Material fordert seine bestimmten Bauprinzipien. Wenn man in einem bestimmten Material baut, so muss man nach ganz bestimmten Prinzipien, die mit der Natur des Materials zusammenhängen, bauen. Der Baugedanke muss ebenso die Utili zum Ausdrucke bringen, wie auch die Anforderungen des Materials.
[ 36 ] Es ist nicht zu verwundern, dass diese Dinge, die alle mehr oder weniger neu sind, von manchen Menschen abgelehnt werden. Außenstehende können sich in diese Dinge nicht so leicht hineinfinden, aber es geht nach und nach, und wird nach und nach gehen. Alles dasjenige, was in dieser Weise in die Welt eingetreten ist, das hat ja zuerst den schärfsten Widerspruch erfahren. Aber immer muss man doch in Rechnung ziehen, dass man gerade gegenüber dem, was in der Gegenwart wirkt, wirklich eigentlich nicht schlafen sollte. Das wäre schon notwendig, dass ein gewisses energisches Eintreten für das Sachliche bei uns Platz greifen könnte. Ohne dieses energische Eintreten, wenn auch nicht allzu vieler Personen, die mit wirklichem inneren Verständnis die Dinge verfolgen können, wird es lange nicht gehen; denn Sie sehen ja, wie die Dinge gehen. Wir werden morgen Gelegenheit nehmen, wo wir dann über das Ausmalen der Kuppelräume sprechen werden, noch von mancherlei an und in dem Bau zu sprechen. In Anknüpfung an das Besprochene möchte ich nur sagen: Sie sehen schon aus alledem, was vorgebracht worden ist, inwiefern das gilt, dass dieser Bau, der ein Repräsentant sein soll unseres anthroposophisch orientierten Weltanschauungswirkens, in jeder Einzelheit aus dieser Weltanschauung herausgeboren ist. Könnte das in der Welt in entsprechend eindringlicher Weise geltend gemacht werden, dann würde damit schon etwas gewonnen sein.
[ 37 ] Denn Sie sehen ja, meine lieben Freunde, mit denjenigen Auffassungen der Sache, mit denen viele glaubten auszukommen in den vergangenen Jahren, ist nicht weiter auszukommen. Ich habe Ihnen vor acht Tagen eine Probe gegeben, mit welchen unsauberen, lügnerischen Mitteln gewirkt wird. Warum wird denn mit solchen lügnerischen Mitteln gewirkt? Ich garantiere Ihnen dafür, dass das erst der Anfang des Wirkens ist; es wird noch viel mehr gelogen werden. Aber ich konnte Ihnen zeigen, dass man diese Lügen zuerst systematisch verbreitet und dann dasjenige, was man selber erst verbreitet hat, aufgreift. Mit dieser systematischen Art wird man fortfahren. Ich weiß, wie viele Personen in unserer Gesellschaft sind, die nicht daran glauben wollen, wie versumpft heute die Moralität der Welt ist. Aber es ist notwendig, dass man diesen Dingen gegenüber nicht schläft.
[ 38 ] Denn bedenken Sie eben das Zweifache: Die Intensität des Kampfes rührt davon her, dass die Leute fühlen: Hier ist Realität, die wollen wir nicht aufkommen lassen. Mit Programmen, mit denen sonst gearbeitet wird, machen sich die Leute nicht so viel Mühe in der Verleumdung. Aber mit dem, was aus realen Kräften heraus wirkt, mit dem machen sie sich die Mühe der Verleumdung. Weil verspürt wird, dass hier Zukunft ist, verleumdet man, lügt man. Aber es handelt sich darum, dass man nicht glaube, man könne die Lügner bekehren. Die wollen ja nicht bekehrt sein, die wollen ja nicht die Wirklichkeit hören. Es handelt sich darum, dass man zu den noch nicht verlogenen Menschen geht und diejenigen in der richtigen Weise vor sie hinstellt, die in dieser Weise lügen. Diejenigen tun uns die schlechtesten Dienste, welche glauben, mit Argumenten, mit Beweisen lasse sich zum Beispiel gegen dasjenige aufkommen, was die katholische Kirche jetzt verbreitet. Die solches verbreiten, denen handelt es sich nicht darum, irgendwelche Wahrheiten zu sagen, denen handelt es sich um Stimmungmachen. Und hält man ihnen die Wahrheit entgegen, so ist ihnen das höchst gleichgültig, so lügen sie eben noch stärker. Aber das muss man durchschauen, muss sich danach richten. Denn nicht um diejenigen, die lügen, zu überzeugen kann es sich handeln, sondern darum kann es sich nur handeln, dass man der noch unbestochenen Welt gegenüber zeigt, wie die Unwahrheiten und die Verleumdungen gesagt werden.
[ 39 ] Ich muss immer wiederum erstaunt sein - ich musste das schon oft und oft sagen -, dass innerhalb unserer Gesellschaft auch die Tendenz, die verderbliche Tendenz auftritt, sich zu befassen mit denen, die verleumden und lügen, und direkt an sie heranzutreten, während man die Aufgabe hat, der Welt zu sagen, was das für Menschen sind. Wenn wir das nicht durchschauen, kommen wir nicht weiter. Denn dasjenige, was uns insbesondere hier in der Umgebung dieses Baues obliegt, das ist, dass wir sachlich werden, dass wir Interesse gewinnen für das große Sachliche, und dass wir uns erheben namentlich hier über das Cliquenhafte und Persönliche, über dasjenige, was im Alltäglichen aufgeht. Wenn wir nicht sachlich werden können mit Bezug auf dasjenige, was von diesem Bau ausgehen soll, dann wird es der Bewegung wirklich nicht gut gehen können. Wir müssen das Persönliche überwinden. Wir müssen uns in die großen Interessen der Welt hineinfinden können.
[ 40 ] Und in jeder seiner einzelnen Formen ist dieser Bau eine Aufforderung dazu, abzusehen von dem eng Persönlichen und sich hineinzufinden in die großen Interessen der Welt. Denn eigentlich spricht jede einzelne Form von dem, was der Menschheit in der Zukunft notwendig ist. Sehen Sie sich all die Schimpfereien an, die in der Welt figurieren. Finden Sie darinnen irgendetwas, was auf unsere Sache bezüglich ist? Die Leute können eben nichts gegen die Sache sagen, daher werden sie persönlich. Daher suchen sie aus persönlichen Verleumdungen her das Verderben dieser Weltanschauungsbewegung herbeizuführen. Schlimm würde es sein, wenn wir in diesen Dingen nicht ordentlich die Sache durchschauen könnten und aufmerksam sein auf das, was um uns herum sich geltend macht.
[ 41 ] Morgen wollen wir die Bilder der Kuppel betrachten.
Second lecture
[ 1 ] Yesterday we looked at the building from the surrounding area and from the outside. Today we will enter the interior and try to visualize the idea behind the interior design. This idea of interior design can be characterized as follows: when someone approaches the building from the outside, as it is now, the impression it makes on them should evoke the idea – as I already hinted at yesterday – that Something is enclosed here that must first be kept separate from the world in inner seclusion, but that is there to be brought into the present development of humanity, that is a new element that is to be introduced into this development of humanity. The outer forms should already point to this new element in the world view. They strive for a new style. If the Goetheanum had been built in an old architectural style, one would not get the right idea about what is to be done here. The following now confronts these exterior forms as an interior.
[ 2 ]The first image to be presented (Fig. 28) is the view one has when one enters through the main portal and the vestibule from the ramp , then turn around to face the west side and look at what concludes the space above the two columns, the first two columns, the left and the right, and what lies in the middle. As we continue walking, you will see the first column here, as it appears on the left and right in the capital, and above it the architrave.
[ 3 ] Please note the essential element: the progression in the configuration of both the column capitals and the architrave above the column capitals. Yesterday I said that the main thing about this building is that everything is felt to be in its place and necessary, everything is felt as any limb of an organic being can be felt in the place where it is located, in its necessity. You can see how everything that is to be included in the building is actually enclosed by the building idea, so that the building does not appear as if the walls of a dwelling had been built around it and then something arbitrary placed here or there, but everything that the building is to enclose is also to be organically connected with the overall building idea. You can see this for yourself by looking at the picture, which is, of course, connected with it (Fig. 30). It is the organ motif, from which you can see how the architecture is designed here so that the organ is fully integrated into the architecture, so that you do not feel as if something has been placed inside, but rather that you feel that the organ has literally grown out of the architecture. This is the basic principle that runs through the entire building.
[ 4 ] In the next picture (Fig. 31) you see the first column, and I ask you to pay attention to how each column motif emerges from the previous one through an organic metamorphosis. To this end, you will see in the next picture (Fig. 33) how the second column emerges from the first, and how the architrave motif is also transformed in progressive metamorphosis, how each following form is extracted from the previous one in terms of its design. You can see here how the second column develops out of the first, that is, if you take the pointed forms striving up from below and down from above and imagine them transformed in this way, as a subsequent plant leaf arises through metamorphosis from the preceding one, then you will find the form of the second column emerging from the forms of the first column. The whole column is conceived in progressive metamorphosis.
[ 5 ] If you want to delve properly into what is actually there, you would naturally be quite wrong to give special respect to names and designations that, I would say, come from more external reasons. We have become accustomed to calling the first column the Saturn column, the second column the Sun column, and so on. Of course we can do that, and from a certain point of view it is justified. But to stop at that would be the most unartistic thing imaginable. What is most important is the relationship of the second column to the first, of the first to the second column. The essential thing is the transition of one form into the other; for this transition of one form into the other is based on the same law-governed cosmic development that underlies the transition from the formations of Saturn to those of the sun in the universe. Not that these columns are symbolic imprints of Saturn and the sun, but that which underlies Saturn and the sun is an inner, observable law. And this inner, visible lawfulness is also developed here into the form.
We will now look at the second column on its own.
In the next picture, we will see the second and third columns together with the architrave above them.
[ 6 ] You can see how the capitals are formed in progressive metamorphosis, but also how the architrave motif progresses, with each successive element being shaped from the previous one. Wherever there is a curve or a bend, it is by no means to be considered merely in its own form, but always in relation to the form that precedes and follows it. In this development, neither a capital nor any architrave motif can be understood in isolation. Things are nothing in themselves, they are only something in the succession of how one refers to the other. That is what matters here. This is what makes the whole thing so lively.
We will now see the third pillar on its own.
[ 7 ] Now the third and fourth columns together, with their architraves above them (Fig. 37). You will see how, as we continue, things become more and more complicated and intricate. This is the essence of a development at first. The development starts from the simple and then moves on to the complicated. You can see here that the fourth motif is actually already very complicated in relation to the previous one; in particular, the architrave motif is also becoming complicated.
We will now look at the fourth column on its own:
[ 8 ] So, as I said, each column, each motif must be seen in context with all the others. That is the essence of this architectural concept. Whereas elsewhere we have repetitions, here we have a progressive development. This actually introduces a fundamentally new element into architectural thinking: where otherwise we are dealing with mere geometric-dynamic repetition, or with repetition in which each part supports the other, here we are dealing with the growth of one part out of the other. And again, look at this column and the following one together with the architraves above them (Fig. 39). Here you can see how the most complicated motif in the fifth column results as a capital, and how the architrave motifs become much more complicated from the simple form that was there at the beginning to these very complicated forms.
We will now look at the fifth capital on its own:
[ 9 ] If what is on the capital looks like a staff of Mercury entwined with snakes, you will not consider it in isolation, but so that it really emerges organically and metamorphosically from what has gone before, so that this combination here has certainly not arisen as an isolated idea, but has emerged as a necessary metamorphosed shaping of what has gone before. And you will see that if you change this form again, but change it internally, in accordance with the law, that is, according to the principle of progressive metamorphosis, the next form emerges from it. We will see this together with the next one, in turn, with the architraves above it.
[ 10 ] Just imagine how certain tendrils that wind around this caduceus motif, how they diverge, how the small top of the caduceus motif, tapering downwards, grows , and how that which is there at the edge, how that grows towards the lower, intertwines with the Mercury motif, then you will see how purely through the growth and intergrowth of the forms, which are in lively motion, the following motif emerges from the preceding one.
[ 11 ] But I would like to draw your attention to something: if you now, when we are beyond the middle, look at the next motif compared to the previous motif, you will say: it is simpler than the previous one. And that is something that must be pointed out very clearly here. If one takes up the corresponding idea in an abstract way, it may appear that development consists of starting with the simplest and progressing to ever more complicated forms, so that the last, most perfect form would be the most complicated on the outside. But that is not the case. And it is a completely false idea of development that has arisen from this opinion in recent times. Particularly when one follows the development artistically, as I had to do in order to shape these capitals and architraves, then one becomes familiar with the whole principle of development in nature, in the world itself. One must then shape in the way that development really takes place in the world, in nature. Then one gains an inner view of what development actually is. And the remarkable, the significant thing is that this urge towards the complicated at first – but only up to the center, which is then the most complicated, one is pushed towards the most complicated – that this urge towards the complicated later transitions into the simpler. It was an artistic necessity that after reaching the most complicated, one had to move on to something simpler, but only to something simpler on the outside.
[ 12 ] I would like to explain this principle of development to you in more detail (Fig. 104). Assuming that we have to follow the development of some form metamorphically, then we can say: This here would be a simple one (drawing I). Now we go further, how a following form could grow out of this one. Let us assume that we let the following form grow out of this one, then we have allowed a more complicated one to grow out of a simpler one (drawing II).
[ 13 ] The next, more complicated form could then be designed something like this (drawing III). Now you would have a third complexity that would have grown out of the previous one. If you now follow the development further, as it exists within that which is organic, that which is growing, then from a certain point onwards you feel impelled – if you really immerse yourself in that which underlies nature as a developmental force, through this relationship one enters with the living principle of development —, one feels impelled not to shape the next one outwardly in a more complicated way, but perhaps to shape it like this (drawing IV); and the next one one would feel impelled to shape it like this (drawing V). Then one would get a development that is really modeled on nature; from the simple to the complicated, but then again to a simple one.
[ 14 ] But this simplicity that one arrives at has a certain peculiarity. It may appear simple, but if you compare this simplicity with the simplicity of the beginning, you will say to yourself: here (drawing I) is a simple, brutally drawn line; but here (drawing V) is a winding line. And you have the feeling that you have to empathize with the previous one, so that the previous more complicated one is in a sense included, and you have the feeling that you get the simple out of the complicated, in that this simplicity is built on a mysterious-complicated (dotted line). So that later development has its simplicity on the basis of a complicated one.
[ 15 ] It is remarkable how, when one follows an artistic development in this way, one grows into that which is real development in nature. We are led to something that I have often hinted at here: if you follow the principle of development in the abstract, you could easily believe that the human being is the most perfect in the development of organic beings, and therefore also the most complicated. But that is not true. If we look at a human limb, say the eye, the human eye, as it first presents itself to the outside world, is by no means the most complicated eye. Eyes of certain lower organic forms are more complicated; organs such as the xiphoid process, the fan of lower organic beings, or extensions of blood vessels grow into the eye. In humans, these organs are apparently no longer present, and the human eye is simple again, but simple according to the principle that I have indicated here artistically. Now, I said, if you imagine this simplicity that arises from the complicated, you get the feeling that you have to think of it as being added here. The simplicity is only built on a hidden complexity (dotted line). The simplicity reveals itself to the outside.
[ 16 ] Yes, that is really so in nature. Man has no xiphoid process in his eye, outwardly visible, no fan; but if you add the etheric eye to the physical eye, then what is formed outwardly in the lower organic being is to be added. Just as I had to draw the dotted line here and build up what is visible on the outside, based on this dotted line, so the human eye in its simplicity, in its physical simplicity, is formed out of a complicated etheric eye formation; thus the simple on the outside, the simple physical on the outside out of the complicated etheric.
[ 17 ] This, you see, testifies to the fact that when one really grows into the inner formation of what the metamorphosis of forms demands, and thereby grows into the formative principle of nature itself, only then does one understand how development takes place in nature. And here you can see that in order to follow a certain development of inner forces in nature, it is necessary not only to get to know nature in abstract thoughts, but to follow its forms with artistic imagination. This is what you should learn from this as something eminently important. If we continue to try, as science has done so far, to approach nature only with ideas and concepts of an abstract kind, we will never comprehend nature in its fullness of development. Rather, we will only grasp nature in its fullness of development if we shape what are otherwise abstract thoughts and so-called natural laws into images, into imaginations. For nature does not create in abstract thoughts; nature creates in images, in imaginations.
[ 18 ] This will one day be the essence of the effect of our building: it will show the kind of imagination and conceptualization that is needed if we are to arrive at a worldview that is sufficient for the future of humanity in both cognitive and social terms. The old world views also emerged from imaginations. You know that world views are not based on abstract concepts, but on images in legends and mythologies; and people sought to understand how human life works through images. And it is images that have been transformed into social impulses. Everything that comes from the old images is now in decline, has now been transformed into abstract concepts, and abstract concepts cannot sustain life; hence today's worldviews with their dead elements, with their destructive elements, with the germ of death within them. And those that open up young as so-called new worldviews come to mere emotional, indefinite demands.
[ 19 ] Nothing fruitful for the future will arise out of the social ideas that are asserting themselves today. What is fruitful for the future can only arise out of an imaginative grasp of the impulses of development themselves. But these must first be inwardly comprehended in such simple forms. In this building, one can inwardly grasp what lives and works creatively in nature. Particular attention was paid to this when designing the individual forms: when one enters the building, one really has before one what will be needed to form a worldview and a social life for the future.
[ 20 ] It was of course damaging that in the beginning, while the sectarian feelings of of many, some of what is in this building has been reinterpreted into the symbolic; and there were people who thought it particularly important to say: This is the Venus Column, that is the Saturn Column, and so on. These things, which seem mystical, with which one can also perform a pretty tale, these things must finally disappear. In our time, humanity really depends on something completely different than on mystical tales. What matters today is to concern ourselves with the very clearest, with the very most conscious, that is to say with that which goes beyond everyday consciousness into, I would say, the superconscious, but which does not descend into the subconscious. We must go beyond the dreamy, the false mystical, the deadening mystical. For higher than this mysticism stands the everyday view of life, stands everyday consciousness. And while, for example, a Meister Eckhart or a Johannes Tauler still fit into their century, today someone who wants to turn to the same confession as Johannes Tauler or Meister Eckhart had is completely out of place in our world view. Because today it is about really wanting to move forward, to wake up, not to fall asleep. There is still far too much of a false sense of mysticism among people, even among those who believe they are of a better will; but they only believe it. There is far too much of a mood: if you want to get to the truth, to the spiritual, you have to doze off a bit, you have to dream, you have to become a dreamy mystic. This is what does the most harm to our modern culture. We cannot aspire enough to ascend from the everyday to the realm of dreams, but to the clearer, the superconscious.
[ 21 ] Therefore, this building had to make certain demands, especially in its artistic aspect. What people like best today, when they encounter art, is to be lulled to sleep a little, to be able to stop thinking, which is so exhausting when you are engaged in everyday activities, cooking or operating machines, or dealing with architectural plans or the like. You want to rest a little when you are enjoying art, you want to be able to sleep a little. This building is not for such sleeping minds. Such sleeping minds enter this building and they say: “We don't understand that.” You understand it in the moment when you follow every curve, every twist with your eye, when you follow the physical eye with the eye of your soul, when you don't care about all the name nonsense “Pillar of Saturn, of Mercury, of the Sun” and so on, but where one follows the forms, how one grows out of the other, how everything lives and weaves, where one leaves all false mysticism behind and really makes an effort to go along with these forms.
[ 22 ] You see, everything that is being done here is really not to fall asleep, but to wake up, to shake up, to become more awake than you are in ordinary life, not to be less awake. And that is precisely what causes me the greatest pain, for example, when I see again and again that people love sleep so much, especially in the Anthroposophical Society, that they want to pour calm everywhere, that is, satisfy selfish needs for sleep, whereas what is at stake here is to be more awake than one is in ordinary life. And this structure can only be understood, enjoyed, in its artistic form, in its inner artistic mobility, if one allows oneself to be shaken up by it, to be more alert than in everyday life, when one enters it. Because in ordinary life one sleeps quite a lot today. And from this sleeping comes our most significant misfortune.
[ 23 ] Therefore, every single form must be actively pursued. One must put oneself into these forms. Therefore, this building is a living protest against all deadening mysticism. And the worst thing is that certain well-meaning people have also spread a certain mystical fog around this building through gossip and rumor, so that other people can repeat it. While it would be a matter of being able to answer hostility by saying that those who love this building are in favor of active life, of super-active life. But then you also have to have an inclination for this active, for this over-active life. Then you are not seeking mental-spiritual voluptuousness here, but mental-spiritual activity. Waking up, not lulling into dreams, that is what I would like to say with regard to this building.
[ 24 ] And if you find yourself so active, with your whole being following the living movement of the individual into what is being built here, then you will see that, while from the outside the building gives the impression that something inside wants to reveal itself to the world, the forms work in such a way that the walls themselves are suspended, that the walls virtually disappear. That is the novelty of the treatment of the wall in this architectural concept. Until now, walls have always been designed to be closed. These walls are so conceived artistically that they cancel themselves out, so that inside one can have the feeling: The wall does not enclose, the column does not stand there to form some boundary, but what is expressed in the column, what is expressed on the wall, that breaks through the wall and allows one to come into a living relationship with the whole universe. The building is shaped out of the universe. Like the world itself in its living weaving and life, in its harmony of the spheres, this building should be shaped. That is also what one would like to strive for in eurythmy: that one does not fall asleep in the eurythmy forms, that a greater awakening takes place in eurythmic work than in ordinary life, that one could never experience that the eurythmist succumbs in the struggle he has to wage against the sleep of life.
[ 25 ] We now continue with the pictures again (Fig. 42). This is therefore the column by itself, where you can see how, when you come to the more perfect, you arrive at the simpler on the outside.
[ 26 ] Now, here you see the last two columns with the architraves above them. Everything has become simple; even though it is the most perfect, everything has become simple. You see, the strange thing about these things is this: through the harmony in the artistic creation here with nature, it shows that other regularities also occur that are not intended at all. If you take the capital of the first column, you can place what is convex there into the concave shape of the last column, and vice versa. That is not intentional. It is something that has emerged by itself. The convexity of the first column fits into the concavity of the seventh, the convexity of the third into the concavity of the fifth column, and the central capital stands alone. These are things that arise, as certain realities arise in nature, that simply lie in the progressive metamorphosis, that need not be intended at all, but which look like a kind of experimentum crucis, which only emerge at the end when one creates as nature itself creates.
Here you see the most perfect, but seemingly also very simple column,
[ 27 ] We now want to let the seven columns follow one another so that the eye can follow how one form metamorphosically emerges from the other, from the simple, imperfect to the most complicated middle, then again to the simpler, more perfect (Figs. 31-44).
[ 28 ] First column: You just need to think of the form transformed according to the growth principles, and you get the next second column, and so on for the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and last column.
[ 29 ] Here you can see the last pillar and the point where the large dome space merges into the small dome space, so that you have a view of the where the architrave of the large domed room merges into the architrave of the small domed room, separated only by the gap where the curtain will be inserted. The small dome room is also equipped with columns and architraves, of which I can only show you a few. We did not get any good photographs of these other things. But we will see this connection again in the next picture.
The next picture (Fig. 53): Here you can see this connection again, where one domed room leads into the other.
The next picture (Fig. 54): And now I only have a piece of columns and architraves of the small dome. Here you can see columns and architrave structures from the small dome room.
[ 30 ] And now you will get a piece of the part that is currently in the east as the architrave space in the center of the small dome (Fig. 63). Here you see a piece of what is in the center; below it will be the group, the Representative of Humanity with Ahriman and Lucifer in his surroundings. Above it is the same in the picture.
[ 31 ] You will see, if you follow this piece in the small domed room itself, of which only a part is shown here, that in the forms of this architrave, everything that is otherwise distributed in forms among the capitals and architraves of the small domed room is summarized in a synthesis (Figs. 54-59). Here we have a summary of everything that is present on the capitals and architraves in the small domed room. Everything is repeated here, of course in a transformed, metamorphosed form for the place where it is located. If you compare what you will encounter in the form of the main group – the Representative of Humanity, Lucifer and Ahriman – with all the different curves and forms and surfaces distributed across the capitals and architraves, you will find that the whole structure is laid out around this central group in a certain way, so that this central group can also be seen as a synthetic summary of the whole building, just as the human head, for example, is also a repetition of the whole rest of the organism, or, to be more precise, the human larynx and its neighboring organs are an organic repetition of the whole human being, only formed in a corresponding way with inner organic necessity for their location. Thus, this structure can only be understood as a whole, and each detail is to be understood not in itself but as a link in the whole.
[ 32 ] I would like to draw your attention to the way in which, I might say, this treatment of the wall is expressed even more physically in the glass windows, which I cannot show you here in reproduction. The glass windows as such are only works of art when the sunlight shines through them; otherwise they are a kind of musical score. But you can see that with these glass windows – which I will perhaps talk about in more detail, but I cannot show you – it is immediately apparent that the building does not stand alone, but that the external sunlight and the building are intended to form a unity. And so everything in the forms is conceived as a unity with the inner forces of movement and action of the whole world. The building is only a piece, as it were, cut out of the whole world.
[ 33 ] The next picture (Fig. 99): This picture shows you the portal of our glass house below. You can see how an attempt has been made to express in the building forms, in everything that belongs to this building, what I have indicated in several ways. This glass house below – I call it a glass house because it was actually set up so that the glass windows could be cut there – is also a double-domed structure (Fig. 98). And it is actually a metamorphosis of the large dome structure. You can simply imagine that the two domes are of the same size and imagine them being pulled apart. You could not combine two domes of the same size in the same way as the large and small ones; that would be inorganic. If you combine domes in the way they are on the large building, you have to make them in different sizes; one must be large, the other smaller. If they are the same, they have to be pulled apart; and all the rest must then be adapted to that. You can see from the stepped arrangement of the stairs and so on everywhere how each individual form is necessarily thought of in its place, how everything individual is to be derived from the whole.
[ 34 ] Here you see what is a horror for a large number of people. It is the house in which the lighting and heating fixtures are supposed to be inside. If you ask me what principle this building is designed according to, I can say: it is modeled entirely on the creative principle of nature, modeled in such a way that you can study it if you study, for example, the nutshell with the nut fruit in unison. The nut fruit has certain shapes. The nutshell adapts exactly to what the nut fruit is. The nutshell cannot be different from what it is if the nut fruit has a certain shape, which it must have for other reasons. If you design a building like this, you first have to consider: What is inside? What is the purpose of what is inside? This is a purely utilitarian building. So the idea is to understand what is inside and how it works, how it is used. That is the nut. Then it is a matter of designing the appropriate shell around this nut. The “nut” naturally also includes the chimney, which exits upwards; this shape of building is only complete when the chimney exits upwards. The work of art is only complete when this chimney smokes. But only then will one also feel the necessity of these extensions. One will not think about whether these are plant leaves or the like, but will feel one's way into the form and sense this form in its necessity with the smoke. But since the smoke is organically connected with the building, with what is inside and what happens inside, one will also feel these bulges in the appropriate way. People should consider what would be standing there if no attempt had been made to create this shape.
[ 35 ] I am, of course, willing to concede that such things could be further developed. First, a start had to be made; anyone can make it more perfect. But a start had to be made, first of all to design such a utility building according to such inner creative principles, and secondly with regard to the most modern material, concrete. Each material demands its own particular building principles. When building with a certain material, one must build according to very specific principles that are related to the nature of the material. The building idea must express both the utilitarian and the requirements of the material.
[ 36 ] It is not surprising that some people reject these things, which are all more or less new. Outsiders cannot easily find their way into these things, but it is possible, and will gradually become more so. Everything that has entered the world in this way has, of course, initially met with the sharpest contradiction. But one must always take into account that one should not really sleep, especially when it comes to what is working in the present. It would be necessary for a certain vigorous advocacy of the factual to take hold here. Without this vigorous advocacy, even if it is only by a few people who can follow events with real inner understanding, it will not work for a long time; because you can see how things are going. Tomorrow, when we talk about the painting of the cupola rooms, we will take the opportunity to talk about many other things in and about the building. In connection with what has been discussed, I would just like to say: you can already see from all that has been said to what extent this building, which is intended to represent our anthroposophically oriented world view work, is born out of this world view in every detail. If this could be asserted to the world in a suitably forceful way, then something would already have been gained.
[ 37 ] For you see, my dear friends, that the views of the matter with which many believed to get along in the past years, are no longer sufficient. Eight days ago I gave you a sample of the dirty, lying means used to achieve this. Why are such lying means used? I can guarantee you that this is only the beginning of the work; there will be much more lying. But I was able to show you that these lies are first spread systematically and then what has been spread is taken up. This systematic approach will continue. I know how many people there are in our society who refuse to believe how mired the world's morality is today. But it is necessary not to sleep when faced with these things.
[ 38 ] Because you have to consider two things: the intensity of the fight comes from the fact that people feel: this is reality, we don't want it to happen. With programs that are otherwise used to work, people don't bother so much with defamation. But with what works out of real forces, they make the effort of slander. Because it is felt that this is the future, people slander and lie. But the point is not to think that you can convert the liars. They don't want to be converted, they don't want to hear the truth. The point is to go to people who have not yet been lied to and present those who lie in this way in the right way. Those who believe that arguments and evidence can be used to refute what the Catholic Church is spreading now are doing us the worst disservice. Those who spread such things are not concerned with telling any truths, they are concerned with stirring up sentiment. And if you confront them with the truth, they are utterly indifferent to it, so they just lie even harder. But you have to see through that, you have to act accordingly. Because it cannot be about convincing those who lie, but it can only be about showing the still uncorrupted world how the untruths and slanders are told.
[ 39 ] I must always be amazed – I have had to say this over and over again – that within our society there is also the tendency, the pernicious tendency, to deal with those who slander and lie, and to approach them directly, while it is our task to tell the world what kind of people they are. If we do not see this, we will not make any progress. For what we have to do here in the vicinity of this building, in particular, is to become objective, to take an interest in the great objective, and to rise above the cliquish and personal, above that which is absorbed in everyday life. If we cannot become objective with regard to what should proceed from this structure, then the movement will really not be able to do well. We must overcome the personal. We must be able to find our way into the great interests of the world.
[ 40 ] And in each of its individual forms, this building is an invitation to look beyond the narrowly personal and to find one's way into the great interests of the world. For actually every single form speaks of what is necessary for humanity in the future. Look at all the slander that exists in the world. Do you find anything in it that relates to our cause? People have nothing to say against the cause, so they become personal. Therefore, they seek to bring about the downfall of this world-view movement through personal defamation. It would be bad if we could not see through these things properly and be attentive to what is going on around us.
[ 41 ] Tomorrow we want to look at the pictures of the dome.