Lectures to Priests: The Apocalypse
GA 346
7 September 1924, Dornach
Lecture III
[ 1 ] Yesterday we referred to the important turning point in human evolution at the beginning of the third mystery epoch, when man's participation in the cosmic things in transubstantiation and in the act of consecration of man began to occur in the astral body. This is that member of the human being which leaves the physical body as far as ordinary consciousness is concerned, and which is unreceptive for percepts from the environment during the time of the separation.
[ 2 ] Let's try to get a clear idea of how this astral body functions in present-day man. It is the member which transmits the thoughts which enable us to understand the world. For thoughts about one's environment disappear as soon as one's astral body leaves the physical and etheric bodies.
[ 3 ] We can round out this idea if we realize that the ego-organization—the actual ego in man as he is today—is the receiver of sense impressions. However, the latter are obliterated when the ego-organization leaves the physical and etheric bodies.
So that we can say: here are the physical and etheric bodies of the human being, and during sleep the astral body and ego-organization are outside. The ego-organization gives us our sense percepts and sensations when we are awake. There is no sense perception during sleep, because the ego-organization is not in the physical and etheric bodies and because the ego is not receptive for impressions from the environment during that time. Likewise, the astral body gives us thoughts when it is in the physical and etheric bodies, but when it is outside it is not sensitive to things in the world and it gives us no impressions.
[ 4 ] However, it was this astral body which became receptive for what I described to you, during the third mystery epoch when man was to connect himself with divine, spiritual beings through cultic words and through everything the priest did in the way of preparatory exercises. It became receptive for the elaboration of the transubstantiation in itself during communion, and after the transubstantiation was elaborated it became receptive for apocalyptic things.
[ 5 ] The same kind of thing has to happen in the ego-organizations of people from the present epoch on. Even though this ego-organization can only experience sense impressions in ordinary consciousness, it must be constituted in such a way that it experiences transubstantiations and in such a way that it can participate in apocalyptic things through the latter.
[ 6 ] People can really become receptive for these things today, that is, someone can really become a priest if he takes in ideas which are true spiritual copies of the supersensible world. Therewith we have described the esoteric or inner connection between the esotericism which rightfully exists today and what must live in a priest's soul. We have described what can make the Christian Community a bearer of an important part of the new mysteries. We must only consider how the Anthroposophy which is approaching human beings today is really constituted.
[ 7 ] I have often used an analogy. I said that people are inclined to accept things which are supported by outer perceptions and experiments today, but they don't want to accept things which are not supported in this way. However, anyone who has this attitude is like a person who says: every rock on earth must be supported so that it won't fall down and therefore the planets in the universe must also be supported so that they won't fall down. Of course, since it's taught in a traditional and authoritative way, people believe that the planets in the universe mutually carry each other without supports. However, many people doubt that Anthroposophical truths support and carry each other, and that they don't have to be supported by outer observations and experiments.
[ 8 ] As soon as one sees that Anthroposophical truths are valid because they all support each other, so that the truths mutually support each other, in that moment one will stop saying: I can't see anything in the spiritual world yet and therefore I can't understand the content of Anthroposophy. Instead one will begin to understand Anthroposophy through the fact that its truths mutually support each other, and one will then work one's way further into it.
[ 9 ] The main thing which can and must put this body of priests on its inner path today is the task of penetrating what is given about the spiritual world. If it does tread this path, we should make it clear to ourselves that the attitude of soul which someone gets into if he takes possession of Anthroposophy in an honest way enables him to approach the Apocalypse. It enables one to approach it in such a way that one can say: It's true that the Apocalypse exists, but if I let it work upon me, each one of its images or Imaginations becomes united with my own ego. And then comes the moment where this Apocalypse can be a creation of the human ego and not just a personal experience. However, we must try to approach the Apocalypse in an Anthroposophical way. There's no other context which leads to it today.
[ 10 ] We will now try to grasp a few of the main points in the Apocalypse in a spiritual way, if I may put it that way. [ 11 ] “I am Alpha and Omega.” Expressed in an ancient form: one only understands alpha or A if one knows that a sound or letter as a component of a word was not the abstract, separate and meaningless thing back then, that we experience today. A sound was something which deserved to have a name. Mankind has treated The sounds of language which really enclose a great mystery in a peculiar way.
[ 12 ] Mankind has treated the sounds of language in the way that a policeman treats a criminal. A long time ago it numbered the letters in the way that we give numbers to criminals when they are put into their cells, so that they lose their names and get numbers. Sounds have lost their identity through the numbering process. This is a pictorial way of putting it, but a true one nevertheless.
[ 13 ] For if we go back before the late Hebraic period when they first gave numbers to the sounds, we find that mankind was fully aware that it is quite right for a sound to have a name, and that one can say alpha to it because it is a divine, supersensible being. If we want to find out what this first letter alpha of the so-called alphabet really is, we will have to go through a kind of spiritual development or conceptual development.
[ 14 ] You know that Anthroposophy goes back in earth evolution through Moon, Sun to Saturn. It tries to dig up things in the world which are connected with the evolution of man. We find the first cosmic human germ on Saturn, which became the present human body after manifold transformations during Sun, Moon and earth. Man was present on Saturn in his first, germinal form.
[ 15 ] For anyone who honestly and seriously wants to see the true state of affairs in this area, it's no doubt quite important to ask what men really experienced on old Saturn. Man experienced successive conditions of warmth. Man absorbed various states of warmth and cold. He existed in states which really only told him something about warmth conditions in the cosmos, for although they also told him many spiritual things, they only disclosed a limited region of the spirit through differentiated warmth and cold.
[ 16 ] If we go on from Saturn to Sun, we find that man's organism has become differentiated. During Sun existence man lives in a physical body which is differentiated into warmth ether and air. Differentiation also occurs within as man becomes filled with a richer content. He not only perceives the differentiated warmth like on old Saturn, but something like an inner life emerges. Man perceives the warmth on the Sun with his old perception and he also perceives an inner breathing rhythm in himself which in turn is an expression and a reflection of cosmic secrets.
[ 17 ] Just look at how the human being becomes richer as he evolves from Saturn to Sun. He also gets richer as he evolves from Sun to Moon and from Moon to Earth. And he will continue to get richer as he develops on Jupiter and up to Vulcan.
[ 18 ] Let's ask ourselves what the relation of man to the world is on ancient Saturn. On old Saturn man's relation to the world is such that he perceives a very large number of different warmths, but qualitatively he perceives very little. Not much of the world is in man. Man is present as man and he is just a man, as it were; not much of the world is in him yet. As he moves forward through Sun, Moon, earth and on to Jupiter his inner life becomes filled with the world more and more, and therefore it is richer. We already have a large part of the world in us here on earth. And when the earth gets to the stage where it will pass away again, man will have elaborated a large part of the macrocosm and he will bear it in him as earthly copies.
[ 19 ] We bear it within us already, but people are not usually aware of this. When a human being moves upwards through Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition to a knowledge of the spirit, his inner soul life becomes ever more magnificent. Look at how little man knows about the human eye in his ordinary consciousness. But this eye is a whole cosmos, and like the macrocosm all of its details are marvelous and great. Every single organ in man becomes unveiled in a wonderful way in his physical body already. So that when an initiate looks around him he sees a world with the elements down below and its sun, moon and stars up above. If he looks into himself he sees that the eye, ear, lung, liver and every other organ is a world in itself, and that man's physical body is a marvelous interaction of worlds. Some of these worlds are finished, others are just beginning, some are sensory, others are half supersensible or entirely supersensible. Man really bears ever more worlds in himself as he works his way through one evolution after another.
[ 20 ] Thus we can distinguish man at the start of old Saturn evolution, where he is just beginning, where he is man, although he doesn't bear the world in himself yet. The first thing which man acquired during old Saturn evolution was a perception of the circumference of the warmth body which he felt that he was. So that in a schematic way we can say that man feels that he is warmth on old Saturn, but after he has felt that he is a warmth mollusk he gradually feels something like an accumulation of warmth, like an outer skin, a warmth skin, a somewhat cooler sheath than the warmth which is in him. He feels manifold degrees or intensities of warmth within him, and the warmth skin is the coolest.
[ 21 ] We express this in our present language, but this language is abstract and it doesn't conjure up the greatness of such a mental image before our soul, if we look into the course of time and we want to go back to old Saturn. However, people who are moved by a perception of these things at all are also moved by the awe with which such things were looked upon in the ancient mysteries. In the ancient Greek chthonic mysteries, they still spoke of Saturn men who didn't have a warmth skin yet, and then of men who had taken the first part of the world into their warmth skins; for the latter had a certain structure and form which imitated the world. This was the first thing from the world.
[ 22 ] What do man's experiences which he had while he was still a warmth man look like from a subjective, psychic viewpoint? They are like absolute amazement about the world. If one wants to describe them, one has to call them complete amazement. For one cannot grasp warmth in any other way than as sheer amazement. Outwardly it is warmth and inwardly it is complete astonishment. It's only because people have become as blockheaded as old Kant was, that they speak of a thing in itself which can't be explained. The thing in itself of warmth is astonishment;' and Saturn man is astonishment just as much as he is warmth. He lived in amazement or astonishment about his own existence, for he was just entering into this existence. This is alpha; the Saturn warmth man who is living in amazement. And the first thing which man experiences as the housing of the world, namely his skin, is beta,—building, this building or house. Man was a man in his house, and the house or temple or skin was the first thing from the world: beta.
[ 23 ] If we go through the alphabet like this, we go through the whole world. When man gradually absorbs everything which the world was and unites it with his being, until by Vulcan he will become united with the whole wide world to which he belongs, he will be the one he was at the beginning of Saturn evolution plus the whole world. He will be alpha and everything else too. But everything else amounts to the whole world. This is omega—man and everything in him which is the world. The “I am alpha and omega” describes what man will be at the end of the Vulcan period. At the end of Vulcan evolution, man will be able to say: I am alpha and omega. [ 24 ] Let's look at the Mystery of Golgotha from the vantage point of what we have placed before ourselves as the beginning, middle and end of human evolution. At the Mystery of Golgotha or approximately the halfway point in world evolution, we have the being who dwelt in Jesus' body at the stage of development that man will be in at the end of Vulcan evolution. We have a being as god which man will be at the end of Vulcan evolution.
[ 25 ] What is the difference between God's existence and man's existence? The difference between a god's existence and a man's existence is that the god already is what the human being will be later on in time. Don't say that this brings the god down to the human level and makes him into a human being. It doesn't. Because for supersensible perception, time is a simultaneous reality, if you'll permit me to use this paradoxical expression. The difference between man and God is the one which existed at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. One shouldn't relate different times or beings from different times when one looks at these things.
[ 26 ] A great deal of what is in writings like the Apocalypse is expressed in the language which was used in the mysteries, and it can only be understood if it is deciphered. On the other hand, one shouldn't blame the author of the Apocalypse for speaking in mystery language, for it was customary for people to do this at that time. People still knew that sounds are supersensible beings and that alpha is the supersensible human being when he was first created, and that when one goes from alpha to beta one is turning away from man and towards the world, including the divine world, and that if one goes through all the sounds to omega one has the entire divine world in omega.
[ 27 ] It's rather shocking that we're surrounded by experiences today which we consider to be trivialities. For instance, all the sounds are basically trivialities for us. Someone who only knows the alphabet doesn't know very much. The ABCs are trivialities. However, these trivialities point to divine, spiritual beings at the starting point, and our trivial letters are the descendents of what were once divine, spiritual beings for mankind. The whole alphabet was a number of such divine spiritual beings. Sounds were gods who assailed men from all sides with their din. The sounds AB were man in his house, and so on. Man with the whole world was alpha to omega. When someone uttered a sound he felt that it permeated him with spirituality.
[ 28 ] A last remnant of this life of a divine, spiritual element in sounds still existed in the intonation of cultic language during the third mystery epoch. They still understood this completely in very ancient times. When someone successively intoned what has now become our abstract, traditional alphabet, he was intoning the cosmic word. He intoned everything which exists and he connected himself with all the gods: In the beginning was the word. And when Christ says “I am alpha and omega,” he could say “I am the word” and mean the same thing.
[ 29 ] You can see that the Apocalypse is written in a mystery language, and it uses terms which remind us of the long period during which man felt that the macrocosm was a speaking universe. We have obscured the sounds of our language and made them trivial, whereas men used to know that they were something very spiritual. We must be able to feel what happened there. What happened? The sounds exist, but the gods are no longer in them as far as men are concerned. The gods have left the sounds. Our sounds contain Ahrimanic beings in a demonic way. The popular idea that the fixed sounds of our language are connected with black magic is not entirely unfounded. This idea of the people is a healthy one. For our sounds are now Ahrimanic gods. The gods who were once in them left, and Ahrimanic beings moved in. People will permeate language with more and more Ahrimanic powers if they don't find their way back to the gods in this sphere.
[ 30 ] We must approach the Apocalypse with such feelings about, language. This is the only way that the real greatness and power of what is placed, before our souls in the Apocalypse can become manifest to us. For what does the author of the Apocalypse want to do? He wants to do the same thing that all those who speak out of a true knowledge of the Christ want to do. [ 31 ] He wants to place the Christ before mankind. He draws attention to the fact that he is there. He begins by saying that he exists. For if one takes the first words of the Apocalypse and translates them into our language in accordance with their real meaning, they read: Look at the manifestation of Christ Jesus: Look over there; I want to show you the vision of Jesus Christ which God has given.
[ 32 ] Thus the first thing which is pointed out is that the author of the Apocalypse wants to let Christ appear to humanity in an apocalyptic way. But he also points out that he doesn't just want to report about the appearance or the Imagination of Jesus Christ, which presupposes vision, but he also wants to indicate that the divine world power which placed this phenomenon into the world and made it visible also expressed it in words.
[ 33 ] God has sent these words by his angel unto his servant John, and they are like an interpretation of the vision of Jesus Christ. This is how we must read the beginning of the Apocalypse.
[ 34 ] Two things are really being said here. An Imaginative element in Christ is mentioned, and something is said about what Christ's tidings are. And what John affirms and testifies to in his second sentence is the vision of Christ and the interpretation of this vision. The Christ in a picture and the Christ in words. The author of the Apocalypse wants to place the Christ before human beings in a picture and in words.
[ 35 ] Therewith we are also made aware of something which was quite obvious to people at that time, although most people today have lost sight of it completely. Our impoverished psychologists speak of sense percepts and ideas. To make the thing as poor as possible, people let the sense percepts arise through the senses and they say that ideas are created within. Everything is subjective and there is nothing cosmic there at all; they make a Kantian world out of a rich one, and they completely forget that man is standing in the whole world.
[ 36 ] The intuitive element in our words has shriveled into impoverished ideas: the second thing or so-called supersensible percept which John affirms, testifies to and tells us about is what the Apocalypticer places there as the manifestation of Christ. So that we have to say [ 37 ] “Behold the manifestation of Jesus Christ which is given by God, for this is how God must be shown to you [ 38 ] (I will interpret this later). [ 39 ] He has put it into words and has sent it to his servant John via his angel. John has affirmed God's words and the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the way that he saw it. [ 40 ] He wants to give mankind what he has seen and a letter he received from God.”
[ 41 ] We must approach Christian writings in this concrete way again. If you really want to become priests out of the deepest and most honest impulses in your heart you will have to see to it that these writings become concrete. For the fact is that people are basically dishonest when they say they understand the gospels the way they are translated today. The Apocalypse begins in the way that I said. One translation of the beginning of the Apocalypse reads, “This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show his servants, and he has interpreted it and sent it to his servant John by his angel;” this is how it reads. And then the whole world is told that this is what the Apocalypse says. But no one can really make any sense out of these words. The same goes for most of the gospels, because one wants to explain things to people with wording which doesn't tell one what's really there anymore. This is why the idea gradually arose that one shouldn't penetrate very deeply into the gospels. For how can one really do that? No matter what modern language one reads the gospels in, one can't really read them if one is honest about it. For the modern versions tell one nothing.
[ 42 ] One has to go back to what is really there, just as we did this for the first two sentences and as we will continue to do it. Or some people might say that one has to go back to the Greek for certain parts of the gospels. Now, with all due respect to our contemporaries, who take great pains to understand Greek, the fact is that no one understands Greek any more today, because we don't have the same things in us which the Greeks had when they spoke or listened.
We're basically like sacks of flour when we listen to someone or when we speak ourselves. We remain just as quiet inwardly as flour in a sack should, if it is packed properly. This was not the case with the Greeks. The consciousness of a Greek vibrated when he listened to someone. He became alive inwardly and he spoke out of this vitality. The words which he heard and spoke were alive; they were still living bodies. Not to speak of oriental people. The latter are decadent today but unlike European people they can still perceive and understand things inwardly in a vital way when they speak or hear.
Just listen to an ordinary oriental like Rabindranath Tagore and watch how he presents the inner weaving and life which can exist in language.
[ 43 ] Today one has language in such a way that one even thinks one has it if one takes a dictionary and a German word stands on one side and the English word on the other. People very calmly place the English words where the German words are. They are blissfully unaware that one steps over an abyss here and that one comes into an entirely different world, and that one really has to treat what lives in language as something which is divine.
[ 44 ] People have to become aware of this again. Then they will decide to go back to what vibrates out of writings like the Apocalypse, which conjures up a vision of Jesus Christ before our soul. If we can see this mighty vision it's as if the clouds, which could give us wonderful things, suddenly became concentrated and took on human and angelic forms, and the past, present and future welled out of the clouds' substances as they go past and revealed the world's content of spiritual substances, which includes human beings. This is how the manifestation of Jesus Christ is presented.
[ 45 ] The vision is there and we fall silent before it, so that we become united with the world and are no longer conscious of ourselves, and so that we confront the vision until nothing but the vision remains, while we become insignificant.
Then when we perceive the Father God who has given the vision we find that he holds back the inspiring words behind the vision. The words are the interpretation of the vision and they are his secret; but the time is at hand and God gives the secret to an angel, and he brings it down to men as an epistolary message from God on the path on which Inspirations from God generally come down.
[ 46 ] As soon as a man becomes quiet and disappears and becomes immersed in the vision and begins to be not in himself, and he takes in God's letter, which he first has to open, which is sealed with seven seals, which he takes in as a letter with seven seals which has been sent to him by the godhead—as soon as he does this he becomes the letter, because he gets to the point where he looks upon the contents of the letter as his own ego-being. Then he stands before the vision with God's ideas and concepts and with spiritual mental images.
[ 47 ] If you imagine John the priest in this way, with the vision of Jesus Christ before him, disappearing selflessly, if you see him receiving the letter of God that is sealed with seven seals from the angels there, and if you see the resolve arising in him to unseal God's letter and to communicate its contents to mankind—you have the picture or Imagination which stands at the beginning of the Apocalypse. For we must interpret the words which stand there in what we receive in such a way that it is like the Imagination I described. This is what the author of the Apocalypse wants to say. That is why he says, “Blessed is he that reads and hears the words in the macrocosm and who takes in and preserves what is written in the book, when he understands it. For the time for this has come.”
[ 48 ] It has come. It is not just chance that we're discussing the Apocalypse in this context; it lies in the karma of the community for Christian renewal.
Dritter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wir haben gestern hingewiesen auf den bedeutenden Einschnitt, der dadurch in der Menschheitsentwickelung entstanden ist, daß ja von der dritten Mysterienepoche an die Teilnahme des Menschen am Kosmischen innerhalb der Menschenweihehandlung, die Transsubstantiation, sich vollzieht im astralischen Leibe. Das ist in demjenigen Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit, welches für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein während des Schlafes herausgeht aus dem physischen Leibe, und das während der Zeit des Getrenntseins vom physischen Leibe nicht empfänglich ist für Wahrnehmungen aus der Umgebung.
[ 2 ] Nun machen wir uns einmal klar, wie dieser astralische Leib eigentlich im heutigen Menschen wirkt. Er ist es ja, der eigentlich die Gedanken über die Umgebung, die Gedanken, durch die wir die Welt begreifen, dem Menschen vermittelt. Denn in dem Augenblick, wo der astralische Leib aus dem physischen und dem ätherischen Leib fort ist, sind Gedanken über die Umgebung nicht mehr da.
[ 3 ] Wir können diesen Gedanken noch dadurch ergänzen, daß wir uns klarmachen, daß die Ich-Organisation, das eigentliche Ich im Menschen, wie er heute ist, der Empfänger der Sinneseindrücke ist. Die Sinneseindrücke ersterben wiederum, wenn die Ich-Organisation herausschlüpft aus dem physischen und dem Ätherleib. So daß wir zeichnen können: Hier ist der physische Leib des Menschen (Tafel 2), hier ist der Ätherleib des Menschen. Der Tafel 2 astralische Leib und die Ich-Organisation sind ja während des Schlafes außerhalb. Diese Ich-Organisation liefert die Sinnesempfindungen, die Sinneswahrnehmungen, wenn der Mensch wacht. Die Sinneswahrnehmungen sind daher nicht da im Schlaf, weil die Ich-Organisation nicht im physischen und im Ätherleib ist, und weil, während der Mensch schläft, die Ich-Organisation nicht für die Eindrücke der Umgebung empfänglich ist. Der astralische Leib liefert die Gedanken nur, wenn er im physischen und im Ätherleib ist. Wenn er aus diesen heraus ist, ist er unempfindlich für die Dinge der Welt und liefert keine Eindrücke.
[ 4 ] Dieser astralische Leib war es aber, der in der dritten Mysterienepoche - als der Mensch durch das Kultuswort sich in Verbindung setzen sollte mit den göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten — durch alles dasjenige, was der Priester durchmachte an vorbereitenden Übungen, empfänglich wurde für das, was ich Ihnen beschrieben habe, empfänglich wurde dafür, in der Kommunion die Transsubstantiation selber in sich zu verarbeiten, und nach Verarbeiten dieser Transsubstantiation empfänglich zu werden für das Apokalyptische.
[ 5 ] Dieselbe Art des Vorganges muß nun von unserer gegenwärtigen Epoche an stattfinden bei den Menschen in der Ich-Organisation. Diese Ich-Organisation muß so beschaffen werden, daß die Transsubstantiation von ihr erlebt werden kann, obwohl im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein durch die Ich-Organisation nur Sinneseindrücke erlebt werden können; und sie muß so beschaffen sein, daß sie durch die Transsubstantiation teilnehmen kann an dem Apokalyptischen.
[ 6 ] Dafür kann der Mensch wirklich heute empfänglich werden, das heißt, es kann der Mensch wirklich zum Priester werden, wenn er diejenigen Vorstellungen in sich aufnimmt, die wahrhaft spirituelle Abbilder der übersinnlichen Welt sind. Und damit haben wir im Grunde den inneren Zusammenhang gekennzeichnet zwischen der heute zu Recht bestehenden Esoterik und demjenigen, was in der Priesterseele leben muß. Wir haben das gekennzeichnet, was die Christengemeinschaft zum Träger eines wesentlichen Teils der neuen Mysterien machen kann. Wir müssen nur bedenken, wie eigentlich das beschaffen ist, was heute als Anthroposophie an die Menschen herantritt.
[ 7 ] Ich habe oftmals ein Bild gebraucht. Ich sagte: Der Mensch ist ja heute geneigt, alles das als Inhalt der Erkenntnis in sich aufzunehmen, was irgendwie durch die äußere Wahrnehmung, durch das äußere Experiment gestützt ist. Er will aber alles das nicht als Erkenntnis aufnehmen, was nicht durch äußere Wahrnehmung oder durch Experiment gestützt ist. Wer sich so verhält, der gleicht aber einem Menschen, der sagte: Auf der Erde muß jeder Stein, damit er nicht herunterfällt, gestützt werden; also müssen auch die Planeten im Weltall gestützt werden, damit sie nicht herunterfallen. - Daß die Planeten sich ohne Stützen gegenseitig tragen im Weltall, ist heute selbstverständlich, weil es traditionell und autoritativ gelehrt wird. Daß die anthroposophischen Wahrheiten auch solche sind, die nicht durch äußere Beobachtung oder durch das Experiment gestützt zu werden brauchen, sondern sich gegenseitig stützen und tragen, das wird vielfach bezweifelt.
[ 8 ] In dem Augenblick, wo man gewahr werden kann, anthroposophische Wahrheiten gelten dadurch, daß eine Wahrheit die andere stützt, so daß diese Wahrheiten sich gegenseitig stützen, in dem Augenblick fängt man auch an, die übliche Redensart nicht mehr zu gebrauchen: Ich sehe noch nicht selber hinein in die geistige Welt und kann daher nicht begreifen, was Inhalt der Anthroposophie ist. - In dem Augenblick beginnt man damit, Anthroposophie zu verstehen durch das gegenseitige Sich-Stützen ihrer Wahrheiten und kann sich dann weiter hineinarbeiten.
[ 9 ] Diese Aufgabe, das, was durch die Anthroposophie gegeben wird an Erkenntnissen über die geistige Welt, zu durchdringen, das ist es ja, was die Priesterschaft zunächst auf ihren inneren Weg bringen kann, auch bringen muß. Wir brauchen ja nur uns klarzumachen, daß die Seelenverfassung, die Seelenstellung, in die der Mensch wirklich hineinkommt, wenn er in ehrlicher Weise Anthroposophie zu seinem Besitz macht, geeignet ist, an so etwas wie die Apokalypse heranzutreten, so daß man sich sagen kann: Zwar ist die Apokalypse einmal vorliegend, aber diese Apokalypse, indem ich sie auf mich wirken lasse, wird in jedem ihrer Bilder, in jeder Imagination, eins mit meinem eigenen Ich. - Und es kommt dann der Augenblick, wo diese Apokalypse nicht nur eigene Erfahrung, sondern eigenes Erzeugnis des menschlichen Ichs sein kann. Wir müssen nur versuchen, an die Apokalypse in einem anthroposophischen Sinn heranzutreten. Einen anderen Zugang zu ihr gibt es heute nicht.
[ 10 ] Nun werden wir einmal versuchen, zunächst einige Hauptpunkte der Apokalypse spirituell zu begreifen.
[ 11 ] Den Satz «Ich bin das Alpha und das Omega» (Apk. 1, 8) versteht man nur, wenn man weiß, daß der Laut A - Alpha - in alten Zeiten nicht jener abstrakte, gesonderte, nichtsbedeutende Bestandteil des Wortes war, als den wir ihn heute empfinden, sondern der Laut war wirklich wert, eine Benennung zu tragen.
[ 12 ] Die Menschheit hat ja die Laute der Sprache, die eigentlich ein so großes Mysterium umschließen, in einer merkwürdigen Weise behandelt. Die Menschheit hat die Laute der Sprache behandelt wie ein Polizeisoldat einen Verbrecher behandelt. Sie hat die Laute der Sprache numeriert, wie wir die Verbrecher numerieren, wenn sie in ihre Zelle kommen. Und wie sie da ihre Namen verlieren und Nummern bekommen, so haben auch die Laute durch die Numerierung ihre Wesenheit überhaupt verloren. Es ist das bildlich gesprochen, aber es ist eine volle Wahrheit
[ 13 ] Denn gehen wir zurück hinter jene römisch-lateinische Zeit, in der man die Laute numeriert hat, dann finden wir in der Menschheit das volle Bewußtsein davon — was ja im Hebräischen durchaus der Fall war —, daß der Laut mit vollem Recht einen Namen tragen kann, daß man zu ihm sagen kann: Alpha - oder Aleph im Hebräischen -, weil er eine Wesenheit ist, weil er ein Göttliches ist, ein übersinnlich Wesenhaftes. Und schauen wir uns diesen ersten Laut des sogenannten Alphabets an, so haben wir schon eine Art von geistiger Begriffsentwickelung durchzumachen, wenn wir darauf kommen wollen, was das Alpha eigentlich ist.
[ 14 ] Sie wissen, Anthroposophie geht zurück bei der Darstellung der Evolution des Irdischen zu den vorirdischen planetarischen Daseinsstufen Mond, Sonne, bis zum Saturnzustand, und es wird versucht, dasjenige heraufzuholen innerhalb der Betrachtung der Weltentwickelung, was mit der Evolution des Menschen zusammenhängt. Denn auf dem alten Saturn finden wir den ersten kosmischen Menschenkeim, der dann, nach den mannigfaltigsten Transformationen durch die Daseinsstufen von Sonne, Mond und Erde, der heutige physische Menschenleib geworden ist. Der Mensch ist schon auf dem alten Saturn in seiner ersten Keimanlage vorhanden.
[ 15 ] Vielleicht ist für denjenigen, der mit ernster Ehrlichkeit die Wahrheit auf diesem Gebiete durchschauen will, doch von großer Bedeutung, einmal die Frage aufzuwerfen: Wie war das Erleben dieses Menschenkeimes auf dem alten Saturn? Das Leben auf dem alten Saturn war in Wärmezuständen verlaufend. Wärme- und Kältedifferenzen nahm der Mensch in sich auf. Der Mensch lebte in solchen Zuständen, die ihm von den Wärmeverhältnissen des Kosmos viel sagten, die ihm auch viel Geistiges sagten, die ihm aber nur ein gewisses Gebiet des Geistigen erschlossen, das wirkte in Wärme- und Kältedifferenzen.
[ 16 ] Wenn wir dann vorschreiten von dem alten Saturn zur alten Sonne, so finden wir, daß nun der Mensch innerhalb seines physischen Körpers so lebte, daß dieser physische Körper nun differenziert istin Wärme und Luft, so daß der Mensch im Sonnendasein einen aus Wärmeäther und dem Luftelement bestehenden Organismus hatte. Wir haben da schon im Menschen selber eine Differenzierung. Der Mensch wird innerlich reicher. Er nimmt nicht nur Wärmedifferenzen wahr, wie er es während des Saturnzustandes der Erde erlebte, sondern es taucht auch etwas auf, was man ein Innerliches nennen kann. Was Wärme ist, nimmt der Mensch auf der Sonne wahr, aber er nimmt auch einen innerlichen Atmungsrhythmus in sich wahr, der wiederum Geheimnisse des Kosmos ausdrückt, der ein Spiegelbild ist von Geheimnissen des Kosmos.
[ 17 ] Wir brauchen nur darauf hinzuschauen, wie die menschliche Wesenheit reicher wird, indem sie sich entwickelt in der Zeit vom Saturnzustand zum Sonnenzustand der Erde, und wiederum reicher wird, während die Erde vom Sonnenzustand zum Mondzustand sich entwickelt, und vom Mondzustand zur Erde. Und noch reicher wird die menschliche Wesenheit werden, indem sie sich weiterentwickelt durch die zukünftigen planetarischen Zustände hindurch bis zum Jupiter und weiter bis zum Vulkan.
[ 18 ] Fragen wir uns: Wie war das Verhältnis des Menschen zur Welt auf dem alten Saturn? Das Verhältnis des Menschen zur Welt war auf dem alten Saturn so, daß er von der Welt zwar quantitativ unendlich viel in Wärmedifferenzen wahrnahm, aber qualitativ zunächst noch wenig. Noch wenig Welt war in dem Menschen. Der Mensch war zwar als Mensch vorhanden, aber er war sozusagen bloß Mensch, es war noch nicht viel Welt in ihm. Indem er vorrückt durch Sonne, Mond, Erde, bis zum Jupiter, wird sein Inneres mehr und mehr von Welt erfüllt. Immer reicher wird sein Leben an Welt. Hier auf der Erde haben wir schon ein großes Stück Welt in uns. Und wenn einst die Erde angekommen ist in dem Stadium, wo sie wieder vergehen wird, dann wird der Mensch ein großes Stück Makrokosmos in irdischen Abbildern verarbeitet in sich tragen.
[ 19 ] Wir tragen schon einen Teil des Kosmos in uns, aber mit dem gewöhnlichen Erkennen weiß man es nicht. Indem der Mensch aufrückt durch Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition zum GeistErkennen, wird zugleich sein inneres Erleben immer großartiger und großartiger im Seelischen. Ach, was ist das Auge des Menschen, wie es heute das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein kennt! Aber dieses Auge des Menschen ist in jeder seiner Einzelheiten ein Kosmos, großartig und gewaltig wie der Makrokosmos. Wunderbar enthüllt sich jedes einzelne Organ im Menschen schon im physischen Leib als eine Welt. So daß der Mensch, wenn er um sich blickt als Initiierter, eine Welt sieht, eine Welt da unten mit ihren Elementen, oben mit den Sternen, mit Sonne und Mond. Schaut er in sich: Jedes Organ, Auge, Ohr, Lunge, Leber und so weiter ist für sich eine Welt, und ein großartiges Ineinanderwirken von Welten ist dieser physische Leib des Menschen: Welten, die fertig sind, Welten, die erst im Keime sind, Welten, die sinnlich sind, die halb übersinnlich, die ganz übersinnlich sind. Der Mensch trägt wahrhaft, indem er sich durch Evolutionen hindurch entwickelt, immer mehr Welten in sich.
[ 20 ] So können wir unterscheiden den Menschen im Beginn der alten Saturnentwickelung, wo er ganz im Anfang des Menschseins ist, aber noch nicht Welt in sich trägt. Das erste, was der Mensch während der alten Saturnentwickelung erhalten hat, war die Empfindung, daß er Wärmekörper war, daß er den Umfang dieses Wärmekörpers wahrnahm. So daß wir sagen können, schematisch: Der Mensch empfand sich auf dem alten Saturn als Wärme, aber er empfand nach und nach, nachdem er sich zuerst als eine Art Wärmemolluske gefühlt hatte, etwas wie eine Ansammlung von Wärme, dann etwas wie eine äußere Haut, eine Wärmehaut, eine etwas kältere Umhüllung, als die Wärme in ihm war. Das Innere fühlte er etwas wärmer, in mannigfaltiger Differenzierung, außen die Wärme von der geringsten Intensität als Wärmehaut.
[ 21 ] Wir sprechen das in unserer Sprache heute aus, aber unsere Sprache hat etwas Abstraktes, unsere Sprache zaubert nicht das Großartige einer solchen Vorstellung vor unsere Seele, wenn wir hineinsehen in die vergangenen Zeitenläufe bis zum alten Saturn zurück. Aber diejenigen, die nur ein wenig von dieser Anschauung berührt werden, werden wiederum berührt von der heiligen Scheu, in der diese Dinge angesehen wurden in den alten Mysterien. Noch in den altgriechischen chthonischen Mysterien sprach man von diesen Dingen so, daß man in einer gewissen Weise den Saturnmenschen kannte, der noch nicht die Wärmehaut hatte, und man wußte von diesem Saturnmenschen, daß er als erstes von der umgebenden Welt die Wärmehaut angenommen hat, die in ihrer Konfiguration die Welt nachahmte. Das war das erste, was der Mensch von der Welt angenommen hat.
[ 22 ] Wie schaute damals seelisch-subjektiv das aus, was der Mensch, als er noch ein Wärmemensch war, in sich erlebte? Er erlebte in sich reine Verwunderung über die Welt. Wenn es ausgedrückt werden soll, was er erlebte, so war es reine Verwunderung. Denn man kann die Wärme nicht anders begreifen denn als reine Verwunderung. Äußerlich ist es Wärme, innerlich wird es empfunden als reine Verwunderung. Bloß weil die Menschen so unendlich tolpatschig geworden sind mit ihren Begriffen, sprechen sie von der Unerklärbarkeit des «Dinges an sich» wie der alte Kant. Das «Ding an sich» der Wärme ist Verwunderung; und der Mensch war als Saturnmensch ebensogut Verwunderung, wie er Wärme war. Er lebte in Verwunderung, in Staunen über sein eigenes Dasein, denn er kam nun erst in dieses Dasein. Das ist Alpha: Der in Verwunderung lebende Wärmemensch, der Saturnmensch. Und das erste, was der Mensch als Welt, als das Gehäuse der Welt empfand, die Haut, das ist Beta, das Haus, dieses Haus des Men Tafel 2 schen. Der Mensch in seinem Haus, in seinem Tempel. Und das Haus war das erste, was der Mensch von der Welt bekommen hat; die Haut — Beta,
[ 23 ] Und gehen wir so durch das Alphabet, so gehen wir damit durch die Welt. Indem der Mensch alles, was Welt ist, nach und nach aufnimmt und mit seinem ganzen Wesen vereint, bis er dereinst auf dem Vulkan den ganzen Umfang der Welt, dieses ganze große All, zu dem er gehört, mit sich vereinigt haben wird, da wird er derjenige sein, der er war im Beginn der Saturnentwickelung und die ganze Welt. Er wird sein Alpha und Omega, der Mensch, und in ihm alles vereinigt, was Welt ist. Mit dem «Ich bin das Alpha und das Omega» der Apokalypse des Johannes haben wir das bezeichnet, was der Mensch sein wird am Ende der Vulkanzeit. Am Ende der Vulkanentwickelung wird auch der Mensch sagen dürfen: Ich bin das Alpha und das Omega.
[ 24 ] Schauen wir von dem aus, was wir uns vorgestellt haben als Anfang, Mitte und Ende der Menschheitsevolution, zu dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Wir haben jene Wesenheit, die in Jesus sich verkörperte durch das Mysterium von Golgatha, ungefähr in der halben Weltzeit der menschlichen Entwickelung auf dem Standort in der Weltenevolution, auf dem der Mensch am Ende der Vulkanentwickelung sein wird. Wir haben da die Wesenheit als Gott, die der Mensch als Mensch am Ende der Vulkanentwickelung sein wird.
[ 25 ] Worin besteht das Gott-Sein gegenüber dem Menschsein? Das Gott-Sein gegenüber dem Menschsein besteht darin, daß in der Zeitenreihe der Gott vorher das ist, was der Mensch später sein wird. Sagen Sie nicht, dadurch würde der Gott zum Menschen heruntergeholt oder zum Menschen gemacht. Das wird er nicht. Denn für die übersinnliche Anschauung ist zwar die Zeit - wenn ich mich des paradoxen Ausdruckes bedienen darf - gleichzeitige Realität. Der Abstand zwischen dem Menschen und Gott aber erscheint in dem, was zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha stattfindet. Man darf, wenn man diese Verhältnisse ins Auge fassen will, nicht verschiedene Zeiten und nicht Wesen verschiedener Zeiten miteinander in ein Verhältnis bringen.
[ 26 ] Sehen Sie, in solchen Schriften, wie die Apokalypse des Johannes eine ist, ist vieles noch ausgedrückt in der Mysteriensprache und kann nur verstanden werden, wenn es aus der Mysteriensprache herausgeholt wird. Und es darf durchaus nicht überraschen, daß der Verfasser der Apokalypse in der Mysteriensprache spricht, denn in seiner Zeit war das den Menschen noch geläufig. Sie wußten damals noch, daß die Laute übersinnliche Wesenheiten sind, daß Alpha der Mensch als übersinnliche Wesenheit an seinem Anfang ist, und daß, wenn man vom Alpha zum Berta kommt, man sich vom Menschen zur Welt, das heißt auch zur göttlichen Welt wendet, und daß, wenn man durch alle Laute des Alphabets hindurch bis zum Omega kommt, man die ganze göttliche Welt in sich schließt.
[ 27 ] Das ist im Grunde genommen das Erschütternde, daß wir heute die Laute nur so erleben, daß sie für uns Trivialitäten sind. Denn was sind alle die Laute anderes für uns als Trivialitäten? Wer nur das Abc kennt, kennt nicht viel. Das sind Trivialitäten. Aber diese Trivialitäten, sie weisen im Ausgangspunkt hin auf göttlich-geistige Wesenheiten, und unsere trivialen Buchstaben sind die Abkömmlinge von dem, was für die Menschheit einstmals göttlich-geistige Wesenheiten waren. Das ganze Alphabet war eine Summe von solchen göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten. Götter waren die Laute, die von allen Seiten an den Menschen herantönten. Die Laute A, B - Alpha, Beta -: der Mensch, der Mensch in seinem Haus und so weiter. Alpha und Omega: der Mensch mit der ganzen Welt. Die Laute empfand der Mensch als dasjenige, was — wenn er es aussprach - ihn durchdrang mit Geistigkeit.
[ 28 ] Was in dem Intonieren der Kultussprache in der dritten Mysterienepoche noch da war, das war der letzte Rest dieses Lebens des Göttlich-Geistigen in den Lauten. Das wurde in den allerältesten Zeiten noch voll verstanden. Wenn der Mensch nacheinander das intonierte, was heute unser abstraktes traditionelles Alphabet ist, da intonierte er das Weltenwort. Durch das, was er intonierte, verband er sich mit allen Göttern: Im Urbeginne war das Wort. Das heißt dasselbe, wie wenn der Christus sagt: Ich bin das Wort —, oder wenn er sagt: Ich bin das Alpha und das Omega.
[ 29 ] Sehen Sie, die Apokalypse ist noch in der Mysteriensprache abgefaßt und sie bedient sich noch solcher Bezeichnungen, die an die große Zeit erinnern, wo der Mensch den Makrokosmos als sprechendes Weltall gefühlt hat. Wir haben heute das, was in alten Zeiten ein höchstes Geistiges war für die Menschen, die Laute der Sprache, abgeschattet zur Trivialität. Wir müssen fühlen können, was da geschehen ist. Was ist denn geschehen? Die Laute sind da, aber die Götter sind für den Menschen nicht mehr in den Lauten da. Die Götter haben die Laute verlassen. Und die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten stecken auf dämonische Art in unseren Lauten. Die Volksvorstellung, daß die Laute unserer Sprache, wenn sie nurmehr fixiert werden, etwas von schwarzer Magie in sich enthalten, ist durchaus nicht unbegründet. Darin ist eine gesunde Volksvorstellung enthalten. Denn die göttlichen Laute von ehemals sind ahrimanisiert. Die Götter von ehemals haben die Laute verlassen, ahrimanische Wesenheiten sind eingezogen. Und wenn wir nicht wieder den Weg zurück finden auf diesem Gebiet, dann wird der Mensch schon durch die Sprache sich immer mehr mit ahrimanischen Mächten durchdringen.
[ 30 ] So fühlend gegenüber der Sprache müssen wir an die Apokalypse herantreten. Dann wird uns erst in aller Größe und Gewalt dasjenige erscheinen, was in der Apokalypse vor unsere Seele gestellt ist. Denn was will der Verfasser der Apokalypse? Er will das, was auch alle anderen wollen, die zu Recht von Christus so sprechen, daß sie aus der Erkenntnis heraus sprechen.
[ 31 ] Johannes will den Christus vor die Menschheit hinstellen. Er macht aufmerksam darauf, daß der Christus da ist. Er beginnt die Apokalypse damit, daß der Christus da ist. Denn nimmt man die ersten Worte der Apokalypse und übersetzt sie sinngemäß in unsere Sprache, so heißt es nicht anders als: Sieh die Erscheinung Jesu Christi! Sieh hin, ich will sie dir zeigen, diese Erscheinung Jesu Christi, die Gott gegeben hat!
[ 32 ] Zuerst also wird durch den Verfasser der Apokalypse in seiner Art, eben auf apokalyptische Art, darauf hingewiesen, daß der Christus vor der Menschheit erscheinen will. Aber er macht zugleich darauf aufmerksam, daß er nicht bloß von der Erscheinung, von der Imagination Jesu Christi, die gewissermaßen ein Schauen voraussetzt, berichten will, sondern er will auch darauf aufmerksam machen, daß die göttliche Weltenmacht, die diese Erscheinung hereingestellt hat in die Welt, dasjenige, was sie in die Sichtbarkeit gestellt hat, auch in Worten zum Ausdruck bringt.
[ 33 ] Diese Worte, die von Gott selbst sind, sie sind die Interpretation der Erscheinung Jesu Christi und Gott hat sie geschickt durch einen Engel an seinen Diener Johannes. So müssen wir den Anfang der Apokalypse auffassen.
[ 34 ] Es ist da eigentlich von einem Zweifachen die Rede: Es ist die Rede von einem Imaginativen, von einem Bilde des Christus, und von dem, was die Botschaft des Christus ist. Und das, wovon in dem zweiten Satz gesprochen wird, daß es von Johannes bekräftigt und bezeugt wird, das ist die Erscheinung des Christus und die Interpretation dieser Erscheinung: Der Christus im Bilde und der Christus im Worte. Den Christus im Bilde und den Christus im Worte will der Verfasser der Apokalypse vor den Menschen hinstellen.
[ 35 ] Damit werden wir zugleich auf etwas hingewiesen, was dazumal den Menschen ganz selbstverständlich war, was aber heute vollständig für den Menschen verlorengegangen ist. Wir sprechen heute in unserer ärmlichen Psychologie von Sinneswahrnehmung und von Vorstellung. Und damit die Sache möglichst arm wird, lassen die Leute die Sinneswahrnehmung durch die Sinne entstehen, und die Vorstellung läßt man den Menschen im Innern machen. Alles ist nur subjektiv, es ist gar nichts von Kosmischem da. Die Leute machen aus einer reichen Welt eine «kantige», und es wird vollständig vergessen, daß der Mensch im Weltall darinsteht.
[ 36 ] Das, was bei uns zur Armut der Vorstellung zusammengeschrumpft ist, ist das intuitive Element des Wortes: das zweite, was Johannes bekräftigt, wovon er Zeugnis gibt, Mitteilung macht. Das, was wir Wahrnehmung mit Bezug auf Übersinnliches nennen, stellt der Apokalyptiker als die Erscheinung des Christus hin. So daß wir sagen müssen:
[ 37 ] Sieh die Erscheinung Jesu Christi, gegeben von Gott, dessen Dienern zu zeigen, was im Laufe kurzer Zeiten geschehen soll;
[ 38 ] Ich werde das Wort später deuten.
[ 39 ] Gott hat sie ins Wort gebracht und gesandt durch seinen Engel an den Diener Johannes. Dieser hat bekräftigt Gottes Wort und die Erscheinung Jesu Christi, die er gesehen hat.
[ 40 ] Das, was Johannes im Brief von Gott empfangen hat, und das, was er gesehen hat, das will er den Menschen geben.
[ 41 ] Es ist notwendig, daß wir in dieser Weise wieder konkret auf das Schrifttum des Christentums eingehen. Und es ist Ihre Aufgabe als Priester, die das nun wiederum aus dem tiefsten ehrlichsten Impuls ihrer Herzen sein wollen, darauf zu dringen, daß Konkretheit in das Schrifttum hineinkommt. Denn es ist doch so, daß der Mensch, wenn er mit dem, was heute seine Sprache ist, die Evangelien liest, er im Grunde genommen unehrlich zu Werke geht, wenn er sagt, er verstehe sie. Das, was ich Ihnen gesagt habe, steht so im Beginn der Apokalypse.
[ 42 ] «Dies ist die Offenbarung Jesu Christi» — so steht es in einer Übersetzung -, «die ihm Gott gegeben hat, seinen Knechten zu zeigen, was in der Kürze geschehen soll; und hat sie gedeutet und gesandt durch seinen Engel zu seinem Knechte Johannes.» — So steht es da, und es wird in aller Welt dies als Wortlaut der Apokalypse den Leuten gesagt. Aber niemand kann in Wirklichkeit sich darunter etwas vorstellen. Und so ist es bei dem größten Teil der Evangelien. Weil man mit dem Wortlaut, der nichts mehr gibt von dem, was ursprünglich dasteht, den Leuten klarzumachen versucht, daß dieser Wortlaut etwas sei, dadurch ist allmählich die Vorstellung entstanden, daß man überhaupt nicht tiefer eindringen solle in die Evangelien. Denn wie sollte man das auch machen? Wenn man die Evangelien in irgendeiner modernen Sprache liest, so versteht man, wenn man ehrlich ist, nichts mehr. Denn was da in den modernen Sprachen steht, drückt nichts mehr aus. Man muß erst wieder zurückgehen auf das, was ursprünglich da ist, wie wir es in bezug auf die zwei ersten Sätze gemacht haben und wie wir es für weitere machen werden.
[ 43 ] Man sagt auch, für gewisse Partien der Evangelien müsse man zum Griechischen zurückgehen. - Nun, ich habe allen schuldigen Respekt vor dem Griechisch-Können unserer Zeitgenossen, die sich redlich Mühe geben mit dem Verständnis des Griechischen. Aber die Wahrheit ist, daß heute kein Mensch mehr richtig Griechisch versteht, weil wir überhaupt nicht mehr das in uns haben, was der Grieche in sich hatte, wenn er sprach oder wenn er zuhörte. Wenn wir jemandem zuhören oder selbst sprechen, sind wir ja im Grunde genommen wie Mehlsäcke. Wir bleiben innerlich so ruhig, wie das Mehl im Sack ruhig bleibt, wenn es ordentlich verpackt ist. Das war bei dem Griechen nicht der Fall. In dem Griechen vibrierte sein Bewußtsein, wenn er zuhörte, er wurde innerlich lebendig, und aus der Lebendigkeit heraus sprach er. Die Worte, die er hörte und die, die er sprach, waren für ihn noch lebendige Körper, sie waren für ihn lebendig. Gar nicht zu reden von den orientalischen Völkern. Heute sind sie zwar in der Dekadenz, aber sie sind nicht so wie der europäische Mensch, der nicht mehr innerlich lebendig vernehmen kann, wenn er spricht oder zuhört. Hören Sie nur einem Orientalen zu, wie Sie es zum Beispiel bei Rabindranath Tagore tun können, hören Sie zu, wie diese Menschen selbst in ihren wenig bedeutenden Exemplaren das innere Weben und Leben darstellen, das in der Sprache lebt.
[ 44 ] Heute ist es so, daß man sogar meint, man hätte die Sprache, wenn man ein Lexikon nimmt, in dem auf der einen Seite das englische Wort und auf der anderen Seite das deutsche Wort steht. In vollkommener Ruhe setzen die Menschen die deutschen Worte so hin, wie die englischen Worte dastehen. Gar keine Ahnung haben die Menschen, daß man da über einen Abgrund schreitet, daß man in eine ganz andere Welt hineinkommt, und daß wirklich das, was in der Sprache lebt, behandelt werden muß als ein Göttliches.
[ 45 ] Das muß dem Menschen wieder zum Bewußtsein kommen. Dann wird er innerlich die Forderung stellen, zurückzukehren zu dem, was herausschwingt aus solchen alten Mitteilungen wie zum Beispiel der Apokalypse, die vor unsere Seele hinzaubert die Erscheinung Jesu Christi. Wie eine gewaltige Erscheinung wird sie vor uns stehen, wenn wir sie so schauen können, wie wenn das ganze Wolkenelement sich plötzlich konzentrierte und uns ganz wunderbare Herrlichkeit hergäbe, Menschengestalt und Engelgestalt annähme. Wie wenn Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft aus der Wolkensubstanz herauswellte und offenbarte den spirituellen Substanzgehalt der Welt, die den Menschen in sich einschließt, so ist da hingestellt die Erscheinung Jesu Christi.
[ 46 ] Die Erscheinung, sie ist zunächst so da, daß wir vor ihr verstummen, daß wir eins mit der Welt werden und aufhören, für unser Bewußtsein da zu sein. Wir stehen der Erscheinung so gegenüber, daß die Erscheinung allein da ist und wir selber nichtig werden. Darauf gewahren wir hinter der Erscheinung den offenbarenden Gott, den Vatergott, der die Erscheinung gegeben hat: Er hält hinter der Erscheinung das inspirierende Wort. Das Wort, das die Interpretation der Erscheinung ist, es ist sein Geheimnis. Aber es ist die Zeit da, in welcher das Geheimnis von Gott einem Engel gegeben wird, der es als die briefliche Botschaft Gottes herunterbringt zu den Menschen, auf dem Wege, auf dem die Inspiration von Gott zu den Menschen kommt.
[ 47 ] Sobald der Mensch verstummt ist, verschwunden ist, aufgegangen ist in der Erscheinung und beginnt, nicht nur in sich selbst zu sein, sondern innerlich aufnimmt den göttlichen Brief, den er nur erst zu entsiegeln hat, der mit sieben Siegeln verschlossen ist, den er aufnimmt als den ihm mit sieben Siegeln von der Gottheit übersandten Brief, dann wird er das selber, was in dem Brief steht. Dann kommt er dazu, das als seine eigene Ich-Wesenheit zu sehen, was in dem Brief steht. Dann steht er mit den göttlichen Ideen, mit dem göttlichen Begriff, mit der geistigen Vorstellung vor der Erscheinung.
[ 48 ] Wenn Sie sich den Priester Johannes so vorstellen, die Erscheinung Jesu Christi vor sich, so selbstlos für sich verschwindend, wenn Sie ihn so von den Engeln empfangen sehen den siebenfach versiegelten Brief Gottes, und wenn Sie entstehen sehen den Entschluß, den Brief des Gottes selbst zu entsiegeln und den Inhalt der Menschheit mitzuteilen -, dann haben Sie das Bild, die Imagination, die am Ausgangspunkt der Apokalypse steht. Denn im Aufgenommenen müssen wir das Wort, das dasteht, deuten, daß es so ist, wie ich es in der Imagination beschrieben habe. - Das will der Verfasser der Apokalypse sagen. Deshalb spricht er: Selig ist, wer da lieset und höret die Worte des Makrokosmos, und der da aufnimmt und in sich bewahrt, was geschrieben ist in dem Buch - wenn der Mensch es versteht —, denn die Zeit ist gekommen.
[ 49 ] Sie ist gekommen. Es ist nicht bloße Willkür, es liegt im Karma der Gemeinschaft für christliche Erneuerung, daß wir uns jetzt in diesem Zusammenhang über die Apokalypse besprechen.
Davon dann morgen.
Third Lecture
[ 1 ] Yesterday we pointed out the significant turning point that occurred in the development of humanity due to the fact that, from the third mystery epoch onwards, the human being's participation in the cosmic within the human consecration, transubstantiation, takes place within the astral body. This is in that part of the human being that, for ordinary consciousness, leaves the physical body during sleep and is not receptive to perceptions from the environment during the time it is separated from the physical body.
[ 2 ] Now let us try to understand how this astral body actually works in today's man. It is he who actually conveys thoughts about the environment, the thoughts through which we understand the world, to man. Because the moment the astral body is gone from the physical and etheric bodies, thoughts about the environment are no longer there.
[ 3 ] We can supplement this thought by realizing that the 'I' organization, the actual 'I' in the human being as he is today, is the recipient of the sense impressions. The sensory impressions in turn die away when the ego organization slips out of the physical and etheric bodies. So we can draw: here is the physical body of the human being (plate 2), here is the etheric body of the human being. The astral body and the ego organization are outside during sleep. This ego organization provides the sensations and perceptions when the person is awake. The sensory perceptions are therefore not there during sleep because the ego organization is not in the physical and etheric bodies, and because, while the person is sleeping, the ego organization is not receptive to impressions from the environment. The astral body only delivers thoughts when it is in the physical and etheric bodies. When it is out of these, it is insensitive to the things of the world and delivers no impressions.
[ 4 ] But it was this astral body that, in the third mystery epoch - when man was to connect with the divine spiritual beings through the cultic word - through everything that the priest underwent in the way of preparatory exercises, became receptive to what I have described to you, receptive to processing the transubstantiation itself in communion, and after processing this transubstantiation, to become receptive to the apocalyptic.
[ 5 ] From our present epoch onwards, the same kind of process must now take place in people with an ego organization. This ego organization must be created in such a way that transubstantiation can be experienced by it, although in ordinary consciousness only sense impressions can be experienced by the ego organization; and it must be created in such a way that it can participate in the apocalyptic through transubstantiation.
[ 6 ] Man can truly become receptive to this today, that is, man can truly become a priest when he takes up those ideas that are truly spiritual images of the supersensible world. And with that, we have basically characterized the inner connection between today's esotericism and what must live in the soul of the priest. We have characterized what can make the Christian community the bearer of an essential part of the new mysteries. We only have to consider what is actually involved when anthroposophy approaches people today.
[ 7 ] I have often used an image. I said: People today are inclined to accept as content of knowledge everything that is somehow supported by external perception, by external experiment. But they do not want to accept as knowledge anything that is not supported by external perception or experiment. But anyone who behaves in this way is like a person who said: On earth, every stone must be supported so that it does not fall; so the planets in space must also be supported so that they do not fall. - The fact that the planets support each other in space without support is taken for granted today because it is traditionally and authoritatively taught. But there are many who doubt that anthroposophical truths are also truths that need no support from outer observation or experiment but support and sustain each other reciprocally.
[ 8 ] The moment one becomes aware that anthroposophical truths hold good because one truth supports another, so that these truths support each other, one also begins to no longer use the usual saying: I cannot yet see into the spiritual world myself and therefore cannot grasp what the content of anthroposophy is. – At that moment one begins to understand anthroposophy through the mutual support of its truths and can then work one's way further into it.
[ 9 ] This task of penetrating the knowledge of the spiritual world that is provided by anthroposophy is what can and must first set the priesthood on its inner path. We need only realize that the state of soul that a person truly enters into when they honestly make anthroposophy their own is akin to the Apocalypse, so that one can say: The Apocalypse is there, but by letting it take effect in me, each of its images, each of its imaginations becomes one with my own self. And then the moment comes when this Apocalypse can be not only one's own experience, but one's own product of the human ego. We just have to try to approach the Apocalypse in an anthroposophical sense. There is no other approach to it today.
[ 10 ] Now we will try to understand some of the main points of the Apocalypse spiritually.
[ 11 ] The sentence “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Apocalypse 1, 8) can only be understood if one knows that the sound A - Alpha - was not in ancient times that abstract, separate, meaningless part of the word, as we perceive it today, but the sound was really worthy of a name.
[ 12 ] Humanity has treated the sounds of language, which actually contain such a great mystery, in a strange way. Mankind has treated the sounds of language like a police officer treats a criminal. It has numbered the sounds of language as we number criminals when they are put in their cells. And just as they lose their names and are given numbers, so too have the sounds lost their essence altogether through numbering. This is a figurative language, but it is a complete truth.
[ 13 ] For if we go back beyond the Roman-Latin period in which the sounds were numbered, we find in humanity the full awareness — which was certainly the case in Hebrew — that a sound can justifiably bear a name, that one can say of it: Alpha - or Aleph in Hebrew - because it is an essence, because it is divine, a supersensible entity. And if we look at this first sound of the so-called alphabet, we already have to undergo a kind of spiritual conceptual development if we want to come to an understanding of what the Alpha actually is.
[ 14 ] You know that in presenting the evolution of the earthly, anthroposophy goes back to the pre-earthly planetary stages of existence, from the moon and the sun to the state of Saturn, and attempts to bring up what is connected with the evolution of man within the contemplation of world development. For on ancient Saturn we find the first cosmic human germ, which then, after the most manifold transformations through the stages of existence of sun, moon and earth, has become the present physical human body. Man is already present in his first germinal form on ancient Saturn.
[ 15 ] Perhaps it is of great importance for anyone who seriously and honestly wants to understand the truth in this area to raise the question: What was the experience of this human germ on ancient Saturn? Life on ancient Saturn proceeded in states of warmth. The human being absorbed differences in warmth and cold. Man lived in such conditions that told him much about the heat conditions of the cosmos, that also told him much of the spiritual, but that only opened up a certain area of the spiritual that worked in differences of heat and cold.
[ 16 ] If we then move on from the old Saturn to the old sun, we find that man now lived within his physical body in such a way that this physical body is now differentiated into warmth and air, so that in the sun's existence man had an organism consisting of warmth ether and the air element. We already have a differentiation in man himself. Man becomes richer inwardly. He not only perceives differences in warmth, as he experienced during the Saturn state of the earth, but something also emerges that can be called an inwardness. Man perceives what warmth is on the sun, but he also perceives an inner breathing rhythm in himself, which in turn expresses secrets of the cosmos, which is a reflection of secrets of the cosmos.
[ 17 ] We need only look at how the human being becomes richer as it develops from the Saturn state to the Sun state of the Earth, and becomes richer again as the Earth develops from the Sun state to the Moon state, and from the Moon state to the Earth. And still richer will the human entity become by evolving through the future planetary states up to Jupiter and further to Vulcan.
[ 18 ] Let us ask ourselves: What was the relationship of man to the world on old Saturn? The relationship of man to the world on ancient Saturn was such that, although he perceived an infinite amount of the world in terms of heat differences, he still perceived little of it in qualitative terms. There was still little world in man. Man was present as a human being, but he was, so to speak, merely human; there was not much world in him yet. As he advances through the sun, moon, and earth to Jupiter, his inner being becomes more and more filled with world. His life becomes more and more enriched with the world. Here on earth we already have a great deal of the world within us. And when the earth has once arrived at the stage where it will cease to exist, then the human being will carry within him a large part of the macrocosm, processed in earthly images.
[ 19 ] We already carry a part of the cosmos within us, but we are unaware of this with ordinary cognition. As man advances through imagination, inspiration, and intuition to spirit-knowledge, his inner experience becomes ever more magnificent and wonderful in the soul. Ah, what is the eye of man as it is known today to ordinary consciousness! But this eye of man is a cosmos in every detail, magnificent and powerful like the macrocosm. Every single organ in the human being is wonderfully revealed as a world in the physical body. So that when a person looks around him as an initiate, he sees a world, a world down there with its elements, up there with the stars, with the sun and moon. If he looks within himself: every organ, eye, ear, lung, liver and so on is a world in itself, and this physical body of man is a magnificent interweaving of worlds: worlds that are complete, worlds that are only in the germ, worlds that are sensual, half supersensible, completely supersensible. Man truly carries, as he develops through evolutions, more and more worlds within himself.
[ 20 ] Thus we can distinguish the human being at the beginning of the old Saturn development, where he is at the very beginning of being human, but does not yet carry a world within himself. The first thing the human being received during the old Saturn development was the sensation that he was a body of warmth, that he perceived the extent of this body of warmth. So that we can say, schematically: Man sensed himself on ancient Saturn as warmth, but he sensed little by little, after he had first sensed himself as a kind of warm mollusk, something like a collection of warmth, then something like an outer skin, a warm skin, a somewhat colder covering than the warmth within him. He felt the inside to be a little warmer, in manifold differentiation, with the warmth of the slightest intensity as a warm skin.
[ 21 ] We express this in our language today, but our language is somewhat abstract; it does not conjure up the splendor of such a vision before our soul when we look back into the past to the times of Saturn. But those who are only slightly touched by this contemplation are in turn touched by the sacred awe with which these things were regarded in the ancient mysteries. Even in the ancient Greek chthonic mysteries, these things were spoken of in such a way that one knew in a certain way the Saturn man, who did not yet have the skin of warmth. One knew from this Saturn man that he was the first to take on the skin of warmth from the surrounding world, which imitated the world in its configuration. That was the first thing man took on from the world.
[ 22 ] What did man experience in his soul when he was still a warm man? He experienced pure wonder at the world within him. If what he experienced is to be expressed, it was pure wonder. For one cannot grasp warmth other than as pure wonder. Outwardly it is warmth, inwardly it is felt as pure wonder. Just because people have become so endlessly clumsy with their concepts, they speak of the inexplicability of the “thing in itself” like old Kant. The “thing in itself” of warmth is wonder; and man, as a Saturn man, was just as much wonder as he was warmth. He lived in wonder, in amazement at his own existence, for he was only now coming into this existence. That is Alpha: the warmth-human being living in wonder, the Saturn human being. And the first thing that the human being perceived as the world, as the shell of the world, the skin, that is Beta, the house, this house of the human being. The human being in his house, in his temple. And the house was the first thing that the human being received from the world; the skin – Beta,
[ 23 ] And if we go through the alphabet, we go through the world. By gradually absorbing everything that is in the world and uniting it with his whole being, until one day, on Vulcan, he will have united with himself the whole extent of the world, this whole great universe to which he belongs, he will be what he was at the beginning of the Saturn development and the whole world. He will be the Alpha and the Omega, the human being, and in him everything that is world will be united. With the “I am the Alpha and the Omega” of the Apocalypse of John, we have designated what the human being will be at the end of the Vulcan period. At the end of the Vulcan evolution, the human being will also be allowed to say: I am the Alpha and the Omega.
[ 24 ] From what we have imagined as the beginning, middle and end of human evolution, let us turn to the Mystery of Golgotha. We have the entity that embodied itself in Jesus through the Mystery of Golgotha, at about the halfway point in the world period of human development, at the point in the evolution of the world where man will be at the end of the Vulcan evolution. We have the entity as God that man will be as man at the end of Vulcan evolution.
[ 25 ] What is the difference between being God and being a human being? The difference between being God and being a human being is that in the succession of time, God is what the human being will later be. Do not say that this brings God down to the human level or makes him human. He will not. For in supersensible contemplation time is simultaneous reality, if I may use the paradoxical expression. But the distance between man and God appears in what takes place at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. If one wants to consider these conditions, one must not bring different times and beings of different times into a relationship with each other.
[ 26 ] You see, in writings such as the Apocalypse of John, much is still expressed in mystery language and can only be understood if it is taken out of mystery language. And it should not be surprising that the author of the Apocalypse speaks in mystery language, because in his time people were still familiar with it. They still knew that the sounds are supersensible entities, that Alpha is man as a supersensible entity at his beginning, and that when one goes from Alpha to Berta, one turns from man to the world, that is, also to the divine world, and that when one goes through all the sounds of the alphabet to the Omega, one includes the whole divine world in oneself.
[ 27 ] This is basically the most distressing thing, that we experience sounds only as trivialities. For what are all the sounds for us but trivialities? He who only knows the ABCs does not know much. These are trivialities. But these trivialities, they point in the starting point to divine-spiritual entities, and our trivial letters are the descendants of that which was once divine-spiritual entities for humanity. The whole alphabet was a sum of such divine-spiritual entities. The gods were the sounds that came to man from all sides. The sounds A, B - Alpha, Beta -: man, man in his house and so on. Alpha and Omega: man with the whole world. Man experienced the sounds as that which - when he pronounced them - permeated him with spirituality.
[ 28 ] What still remained in the intonation of the cult language in the third mystery epoch was the last remnant of this life of the divine-spiritual in the sounds. This was still fully understood in the very oldest times. When man successively intoned what is today our abstract traditional alphabet, he intoned the world word. Through what he intoned, he united with all the gods: In the beginning was the Word. This means the same as when Christ says: I am the Word —, or when he says: I am the Alpha and the Omega.
[ 29 ] You see, the Apocalypse is still written in the language of mystery and still uses such terms that remind us of the great time when man felt the macrocosm as a speaking universe. Today, the sounds of speech, which in ancient times were of the highest spiritual value for people, have become trivialized. We must be able to feel what has happened. What has happened? The sounds are there, but the gods are no longer there for people in the sounds. The gods have left the sounds. And the Ahrimanic entities are stuck in our sounds in a demonic way. The popular belief that the sounds of our language, when they are fixed, contain something of black magic, is not without foundation. There is a grain of truth in this popular belief. For the divine sounds of the past have become ahrimanized. The gods of old have left the lute, Ahrimanic beings have moved in. And if we do not find our way back in this area, then through language alone, the human being will increasingly imbue himself with Ahrimanic powers.
[ 30 ] We must approach the apocalypse with the same feeling towards language. Only then will the full magnitude and power of what is presented to our soul in the apocalypse appear to us. For what does the author of the apocalypse want? He wants what everyone else wants who rightly speak of Christ in such a way that they speak out of knowledge.
[ 31 ] John wants to present Christ to humanity. He draws attention to the fact that the Christ is here. He begins the Apocalypse with the fact that the Christ is here. Because if you take the first words of the Apocalypse and translate them into our language in a manner consistent with their meaning, they say nothing other than: Behold the appearance of Jesus Christ! Look, I will show you this appearance of Jesus Christ, which God has given!
[ 32 ] So first of all, the author of the Apocalypse points out in his own way, in an apocalyptic way, that the Christ wants to appear before humanity. But at the same time, he draws attention to the fact that he does not just want to report on the appearance, on the imagination of Jesus Christ, which to a certain extent presupposes a vision, but he also wants to draw attention to the fact that the divine world power, which has brought this appearance into the world, that which has brought it into visibility, also expresses it in words.
[ 33 ] These words, which are from God Himself, are the interpretation of the appearance of Jesus Christ and God sent them through an angel to His servant John. This is how we must understand the beginning of the Apocalypse.
[ 34 ] There are actually two things mentioned: the first is an imaginative image of Christ, and the second is what Christ's message is. And what is spoken of in the second sentence, that it is confirmed and witnessed by John, that is the appearance of Christ and the interpretation of this appearance: the Christ in the image and the Christ in the word. The author of the Apocalypse wants to present the Christ in the image and the Christ in the word to people.
[ 35 ] This also draws our attention to something that was quite natural to people in those days, but which has been completely lost on people today. Today, in our poor psychology, we speak of sensory perception and of imagination. And to make things as poor as possible, people let sensory perception arise through the senses, and imagination is left to people to do internally. Everything is only subjective, there is nothing of the cosmic. People turn a rich world into an “edgy” one, and it is completely forgotten that man stands in the universe.
[ 36 ] What we have reduced to a poor concept is the intuitive element of the word: the second thing that John affirms, of which he bears witness, makes known. What we call perception with regard to the supernatural is presented by the apocalyptic as the appearance of Christ. So we must say:
Behold the appearance of Jesus Christ, given by God, to show his servants what must shortly take place;
[ 37 ] I will interpret the word later.
[ 38 ] God has put it into words and sent it through his angel to the servant John. This has confirmed God's word and the appearance of Jesus Christ, which he has seen.
[ 39 ] What John has received from God and seen, he wants to give to the people.
[ 40 ] It is necessary that we again concretely engage the writings of Christianity in this way. And it is your task as priests, who now want to do this again out of the deepest, most honest impulse of their hearts, to insist that concreteness be brought into the writings. Because the fact is that if a person reads the Gospels in the language of today, he is basically being dishonest when he says he understands them. What I have told you is at the beginning of the Apocalypse.
[ 41 ] “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place, and sent by his angel to his servant John.” This is how it is written, and this is what people all over the world are told is the wording of the Apocalypse. But in reality no one can really imagine anything from it. And so it is with the greater part of the Gospels. Because people try to make it clear to people that this wording is something, by using the wording, which no longer gives anything of what originally stands there, the idea has gradually arisen that one should not penetrate deeper into the Gospels at all. For how could one do that? If you read the Gospels in any modern language, you understand nothing more if you are honest. Because what is said in modern languages no longer expresses anything. You first have to go back to what is originally there, as we have done with regard to the first two sentences and as we will do for others.
[ 42 ] It is also said that for certain parts of the Gospels one has to go back to Greek. - Well, I have all due respect for the Greek skills of our contemporaries, who honestly make an effort with their understanding of Greek. But the truth is that no one today really understands Greek anymore, because we no longer have within us what the Greeks had within them when they spoke or when they listened. When we listen to someone or speak ourselves, we are basically like sacks of flour. We remain as calm on the inside as the flour in the sack remains calm when it is properly packed. This was not the case with the Greeks. In the Greek, consciousness vibrated when he listened; he came to life inwardly and spoke out of this liveliness. The words he heard and those he spoke were still living bodies for him; they were alive for him. Not to mention the oriental peoples. Today they may be in a state of decadence, but they are not like the European, who can no longer perceive inwardly when he speaks or listens. Just listen to an Oriental, as you can for example with Rabindranath Tagore. Listen to how these people, even in their less significant specimens, represent the inner weaving and life that lives in language.
[ 43 ] Today, it is even thought that one has the language when one takes a dictionary in which the English word is on one side and the German word on the other. People sit there quietly and write the German words in the order in which the English words appear. They have no idea that they are treading on a precipice, that they are entering a completely different world, and that what lives in language must truly be treated as divine.
[ 44 ] Man must become aware of this again. Then he will inwardly demand to return to that which vibrates out of such ancient communications as, for example, the Apocalypse, which conjures up before our soul the appearance of Jesus Christ. It will stand before us like a mighty apparition, if we can see it in such a way, as if the whole element of clouds suddenly concentrated and gave us quite wonderful glory, took on human form and angelic form. As if past, present and future surged out of the cloud substance and revealed the spiritual substance of the world, which includes man in itself, so the appearance of Jesus Christ is presented.
[ 45 ] The appearance is at first such that we are dumbfounded by it, that we become one with the world and cease to exist for our consciousness. We stand before the appearance in such a way that the appearance alone is there and we ourselves become void. Then we perceive behind the appearance the revealing God, the Father-God, who has given the appearance: He holds the inspiring word behind the phenomenon. The word, which is the interpretation of the phenomenon, is his secret. But the time has come when the secret is given by God to an angel, who brings it down to men as the written message of God, on the way in which inspiration comes from God to men.
[ 46 ] As soon as the human being falls silent, disappears, and is absorbed in the phenomenon, and begins not only to be within himself, but also inwardly receives the divine , which he has only to unseal, which is closed with seven seals, which he receives as the letter sent to him with seven seals by the Godhead, then he himself becomes what is in the letter. Then he comes to see this as his own ego-being, what is written in the letter. Then he stands with the divine ideas, with the divine concept, with the spiritual conception before the appearance.
[ 47 ] If you can visualize Priest John in this way, the appearance of Jesus Christ before him, selflessly fading away, if you see him receive the sevenfold sealed letter of God, and when you see the decision to arise to unseal the letter of God Himself and to communicate the contents to mankind - then you have the image, the imagination that stands at the starting point of the Apocalypse. For in what has been received, we must interpret the word that stands, that it is as I have described it in the imagination. That is what the author of the Apocalypse wants to say. Therefore he says: Blessed is he who reads and hears the words of the macrocosm, and who receives and keeps within himself what is written in the book - if man understands it - for the time has come.
[ 48 ] It has come. It is not mere arbitrariness, it is in the karma of the Christian Renewal Community that we are now discussing the Apocalypse in this context.
More about that tomorrow.