Mystery Knowledge & Mystery Centers
GA 232
7 December 1923, Dornach
7. The Mysteries Of Hibernia I
In the last lecture I spoke to you about the Ephesian Mysteries of Artemis, in order to draw attention to certain connections between knowledge that has come to light during the course of evolution and the knowledge that can be acquired today through clairvoyant insight into the spiritual world.
In order to supplement themes we have already studied, I want to speak today of other Mysteries which can also be said to stand at the starting-point of modern spiritual life. Although these Mysteries had taken over a great deal from earlier spiritual Movements in which the primeval wisdom of humanity was still contained, they were nevertheless an effective impulse in the spiritual Movement of the modern age.
I propose to speak to you about the influential Mysteries once centred in the troubled island of Ireland to the West of England, and mentioned in my Mystery Plays.1See The Portal of Initiation. Scene 7.
Speaking comparatively, it is much more difficult than in other cases to approach these ancient Hibernian Mysteries in what I have called in many of my writings, the Akashic Record. It is much more difficult for later vision to find in that eternal Record the pictures of these Mysteries which have remained there, than those of other Mystery centres, for in trying to approach the Hibernian Mysteries the impression is that the pictures contain extraordinarily powerful forces which repel and thrust one back. Even if the pictures are approached with a certain courage of vision—a courage which in other cases meets with less resistance than is experienced here—the opposition is so intense that it may give rise to a kind of stupefaction. Knowledge of what I am about to describe to you is therefore fraught with hindrances, as you will realise during the next lectures.
Naturally, in the Hibernian Mysteries too there were Initiates who had preserved much of the ancient wisdom of mankind and who, stimulated and inspired by this wisdom, were able to achieve a degree of seership themselves. There were also pupils, candidates for Initiation, who by the special methods in vogue there, were to be prepared to approach the secrets of the Cosmic Word. Now the preparation given to those who were to be initiated in Hibernia, was twofold. Firstly, all the difficulties attendant upon the acquisition of knowledge were brought home to the pupils; they were made inwardly aware of everything that can be called anguish on the path of knowledge which does not yet penetrate into the depths of existence but which consists in exerting to the utmost possible extent all the powers of the soul belonging to ordinary-level consciousness. The pupils were compelled to experience every doubt, every torment, every inner struggle with its frequent aberrations, being deceived by no matter how excellent logic or dialectic—all this they had to endure and to experience the difficulties that make themselves felt when one has actually attained knowledge and then wishes to bring it to expression. It will be clear to you that there are two aspects here: to have struggled to attain a truth and then to bring it to expression, to formulate it in words. Indeed when the path of knowledge has been earnestly followed, there is always the feeling that what can be compressed into words is something that is no longer absolute truth, something that surrounds the truth with all kinds of stumbling-blocks and pitfalls.
The pupil was made acquainted with experience undergone only by one who has valiantly and genuinely struggled to attain knowledge.
Secondly, the pupil was led to experience in his life of soul how little everything that may become knowledge on the ordinary path of consciousness can, in the last resort, conduce to human happiness, how little human happiness can be promoted by logic, dialectic or rhetoric. On the other hand, it was also made clear to the pupil that if a man is to maintain his bearings in life, he must also approach those things which can in a certain way bring him joy or happiness. And so on the one side the pupil was driven to the verge of an abyss, and this always caused him to doubt: should he wait until a bridge was built by which he could cross it? He had already been so deeply initiated into the doubts and difficulties connected with the attainment of knowledge that when at last he was guided from these preparatory stages to the actual approach to the cosmic secrets, he had come to this resolution: if it needs must be I will forgo even knowledge; I will deny myself everything that cannot contribute to true human happiness.
In these ancient Mysteries, individual pupils were subjected to such severe tests that they came to the point where, in the most natural and elementary way, they developed feelings which ordinary pedantic reason regards as baseless. But it is easy to say: nobody would wish to forgo knowledge; it goes without saying that one wants to gain knowledge, however great the difficulties may be.—That, of course, is the attitude of people who do not know what the difficulties are and who have not been deliberately led to experience them, as was the case with the pupils in the Mysteries of Hibernia. On the other hand it is also easy to say: we will deny ourselves both inner and outer happiness and tread a path of knowledge only. But to one who knows the truth of these things, both declarations, so often made, appear utterly superficial.
When the pupils had been prepared to the appropriate degree, they were led before two gigantic statues, two enormous, majestic statues. One of them was majestic by reason of its external, spatial dimensions, while the other, of equal size, was impressive because of its special character. The former statue was a male figure, the other, a female figure. The intention was to make the pupils aware of the approach of the Cosmic Word. In a certain way the two statues were to be the letters by means of which the pupils were to begin to decipher the Cosmic Secret confronting humanity.
One pillar-statue, the male figure, was made of a substance that was elastic throughout. It could be indented anywhere by pressure. The pupils were exhorted to press and so make indents all over this statue. This revealed that it was inwardly hollow. It was really only the ‘skin’ of a statue, but made of an elastic material so that wherever it was indented the form was immediately restored. Above this statue, above its head, which seemed to be particularly characteristic of the whole figure, was something which seemed to resemble the Sun. The whole head was of such a nature that the pupils could see that it was meant to be something like an eye of the soul; as such it was intended to be a microcosmic representation of the whole Macrocosm. This manifestation of the Macrocosm was meant to be expressed in this colossal head by the Sun.
(Dr. Steiner here made sketches on the blackboard.) The immediate impression given by the male statue was this: the Macrocosm works through the Sun and fashions the human head which has knowledge of the impulses of the Macrocosm and forms itself inwardly and outwardly in accordance with these macrocosmic impulses.
In the case of the other statue, the pupil’s eyes fell, to begin with, upon something that seemed to be composed of luminous bodies radiating inwards, and in this framework the pupil saw a female form which was everywhere under the influence of these rays. And the feeling came to him that the head was produced out of the rays. The form of the head itself was somewhat indistinct. This statue was composed of a different material; it was plastic, not elastic, and extremely soft. The pupil was exhorted to press this statue too. Wherever he pressed it, the indent remained. Each time the pupil was tested before these statues, the pressure marks he had made were repaired before the next test. So that whenever the pupils were taken to the ceremony in front of this statue, it was again intact. The statue made of elastic substance always returned of itself to its original form.
With the second statue the impression was received that it was entirely under the influence of the Moon-forces which permeate the organism and enable the head to emerge. These experiences made a most profound impression upon the pupils. As I said, the form of the female statue was always restored. From time to time, at not very long intervals, a group of pupils would be led to this statue, and to begin with absolute silence reigned. The pupils were led to the statue by those who were already initiated, and were left there. The door of the Temple was closed and the pupils were left in isolation.
Then came a time when each pupil was taken in separately and exhorted first of all to touch the one statue and feel its elasticity and then the other in order to feel its plasticity in which the indentation remained. He was then left quite alone with the impressions which, as I have said, worked with such suggestive power upon him. Through everything he had previously undergone along the path I have described to you, he experienced all the difficulties of knowledge, the difficulties also of bliss—as I must call it. Such experiences mean far more than can be expressed in the mere words in which I am describing them—such experiences meant that the pupil passed through a whole gamut of feelings. And as a result, when he was led before the two statues he was filled with the most intense longing to penetrate what appeared to him as a tremendous riddle; he longed intensely that his soul might in some way solve this riddle, might discover what this enigma meant. On the one hand the enigma itself lay in the fact that he was being compelled to undergo such experiences; and on the other hand there was the enigma of what was contained in the statues themselves, and in the question of his attitude towards them. All this made a deep impression upon the pupils. And as they confronted these statues, in their souls they faced something like a tremendous question. In their souls they appeared to themselves as a colossal question. Their reason questioned, their hearts questioned, their will questioned, their whole being questioned.
The man of today can still learn from these experiences which in earlier times were presented visually; nowadays they cannot and need not be so presented for the purpose of Initiation. He can learn how wide a gamut of feelings must be passed through in order to come near the truth which then leads to the Cosmic Mysteries. For although it is right for the pupil of today to develop along an inner path that is not dependent upon visual perception, nevertheless he must still pass through the same gamut of feelings, must experience them through intense meditative effort. So the scale of feelings to be lived through today can be ascertained from knowledge of the experiences undergone in the ancient rites by those who were to be initiated.
The Hibernian pupils then lived through a certain period of probation during which their experiences on the path of ordinary knowledge and of happiness were to be combined with what had now arisen within them as a great question.
And now, when the effects of this were inwardly experienced by the pupils, cosmic secrets relating to the Microcosm and the Macrocosm were expounded to them as far as was possible in those days, also something of what had formed the content of the Artemis Mysteries of Ephesus and already touched upon in these lectures. Part of this was presented to the pupils during their time of probation. But now, in consequence of this, the great question that had arisen in their souls was still further intensified. The result of the stupendous inner deepening experienced and endured by the individual pupil was that he was led to the threshold of the spiritual world. He entered the region experienced by the soul when it feels: Now I am standing before the Power which guards the Threshold.
In ancient times there were many different kinds of Mysteries, and individuals were led in a variety of ways to the experience arising when the feelings are compressed into words such as these: Now I am standing at the Threshold of the spiritual world. I know why this spiritual world is guarded from everyday consciousness and I realise the essential nature of its Guardian Power, the Guardian of the Threshold.
When this time of probation was over, the pupils were again led to the statues. And then a most remarkable impression came to them, an impression that stirred the very depths of their being. I can only give you an idea of this impression by rendering in modern German the utterance that it was customary to make in the language of that ancient time.
When the pupils had reached the stage I have described, each one singly was again conducted to the statues. But now the initiating priest remained in the temple with him. And after the pupil had been able to listen in deep silence to what his own soul could tell him after all his preparations and trials—and this listening lasted for a considerable time—he saw the initiating priest rising as it were above the head of the one figure. The Sun seemed to have receded and in the space now intervening between the statue and the Sun, the head of the priest appeared, as though covering the Sun; [the other stood below]. The statues were of an enormous height, so that the priest appeared small in comparison; his head alone showed above the statue and covered the Sun. Then, as though resounding from musical harmony—for the ceremony began with music—the words of the Initiator rang out. In the state in which the pupil now found himself, it seemed to him as though the words which sounded from the lips of the Initiator were spoken by the statue itself. And the words were these:
I am the image of the World,
Behold, how I lack Being.
I live in thy Knowledge,
I now become in thee Avowal.
This too, as you may imagine, made a profound impression upon the pupil, for he had been prepared to experience the power confronting him in the figure of this statue, which said of itself:
I am the image of the World,
Behold, how I lack Being.
I live in thy Knowledge,
I now become in thee Avowal.
The difficulties accompanying the ordinary path of knowledge had prepared the pupil to see in this image something that released him from these difficulties, although he could not conquer his doubts in regard to knowledge itself. Indeed he had reached the point of feeling that he was incapable of conquering it. Because of all the experiences he had undergone, he was inwardly prepared to cling to this image with his whole soul, to live with the Cosmic Power symbolised by it, to surrender himself to it. He was ready to do this because what came from the lips of the priest made the statue seem to be the lettering which conveyed to him the meaning contained in these four lines.
When the priest had withdrawn the pupil was once again left alone in absolute silence, and after some time another Initiator entered. He then appeared above the second statue. And again, resounding as though in musical harmony, came the voice of this second Initiator, speaking the words I can render somewhat as follows:
I am the image of the World,
Behold, how I lack Truth.
If thou wilt dare to live with me,
I will be thy Comfort.
And now the pupil, who after all his preparation had been led to know inner happiness, inner fulfilment—instead of ‘happiness’ (Gluck) which does not give the right meaning in German, I should rather say ‘joyful inner fulfilment’— now that he had experienced all this, when he heard these words sounding from the second statue he felt inwardly urged to regard the Cosmic Power which spoke through the statue as the Power to which he would surrender his whole being.
Again the Initiator disappeared, and again the pupil was left alone. And during this lonely silence, each one—at least it seems to be so—each one felt something which may perhaps be expressed in the following words: I stand at the threshold of the spiritual world. Here, in the physical world, man speaks of something called ‘knowledge’, but it has no value in the spiritual world. And the fact that here, in the physical world, man has difficulties with it is only the physical reflection of the worthlessness of the knowledge that can be acquired in this world concerning the supersensible, spiritual world.—And in the same way the pupil felt: Many things tell us in the physical world that we must forgo inner fulness of joy and take an ascetic path in order to come into the spiritual world. But that is illusion, deception. For that which appears in this statue expressly says of itself: Behold, how I lack Truth.
Thus on the threshold of the spiritual world the pupil almost came to the point of feeling that joy and happiness of soul must be achieved by excluding what here, in the physical world, is longed for as Truth by feeble human striving fettered to the physical body. The pupil was already aware that the world on yonder side of the Threshold must be very different from the world on this side and that many things of value on this side are worthless over yonder; that even Knowledge and Truth have altogether different appearances beyond the Threshold.
All such feelings and perceptions to some extent awakened consciousness in the pupil that he had left behind him many of the deceptions and disenchantments of the physical world. But there were also feelings that from time to time had the effect of burning flames. The pupil felt as though he were being consumed by inner fire, were being inwardly destroyed. His soul vacillated from one feeling to the other and back again. He was tested on the scales of knowledge and of joy. And during these experiences it seemed to him as though the statues themselves were speaking. He had now himself achieved something like perception of the inner Word, and hence the statues themselves seemed to be speaking. The first statue said:
I am Knowledge.
But what I am is not real being.
And then the pupil had a feeling that rayed out sheer fright. The feeling was that ideas are only ideas and that there is no real being in them. The pupil felt that if the human head is strenuously exerted, ideas will certainly come, but nowhere is there any real being. Ideas are only appearance, they have no being.
And then the other statue seemed to speak. It said:
I am Phantasy,
But what I am has no Truth.
Thus the two statues stood before the pupil, the one impressing upon him what ideas are without being, and the other, what the pictures of phantasy are without truth.
I beg you to take these things as they should be taken, for there is no question of dogma here or of formulating sentences to express items of knowledge in a particular way; it is a matter of describing the experiences undergone by the pupils in the sacred sanctuaries of Hibernia. It is not the actual content of these sentences that should be taken as the announcement of a truth but the object is to place on record what the pupils of Hibernian Mysteries experienced in the process of their Initiation.
All these experiences were lived through by each individual pupil in absolute isolation. The experiences became so intense that his power of sight ceased to function and after a time he no longer saw the statues. But at the place to which his gaze had been directed he read as though written in flames, something that was not physically there but that he nevertheless perceived with utmost clarity. Where he had previously seen the head of the statue of Knowledge, he read the word ‘SCIENCE’ and where he had seen the head of the other statue, he read the word ‘ART’.
After this he was led out of the temple and again beside the exit stood the two Initiators. One of them took the pupil’s head in his hands and turned it towards something to which the other Initiator was pointing: this was the Figure of Christ. The priest who directed his gaze to this Figure then spoke these words of admonition:
Take the Word and the Power of this Being
Into your heart
And the other priest said:
And receive from Him
What the two statues wished to give you:
Science and Art.
Such were the first two acts in the Hibernian Initiation and in this way the pupils in Hibernia were guided to perception of the essence and nature of Christianity. The experience impressed itself deeply into the souls and hearts of the pupils and now they could start on their future path of development. What can be said about this we shall be studying in connection with other matters during the next few days.
Siebenter Vortrag
Das letzte Mal mußte ich Ihnen sprechen von den ephesischen Mysterien der Artemis, um Sie aufmerksam zu machen auf gewisse Zusammenhänge zwischen dem, was sich im Laufe der Menschheitsentwickelung als Erkenntnis ergeben hat, und demjenigen, was heute wiederum gefunden werden kann durch den Einblick, durch das Schauen in die geistige Welt. Heute möchte ich, um manches, was mit den angeschlagenen Themen zusammengehört, aufzubauen, von einer anderen Mysterienstätte sprechen, die auch im Ausgangspunkte des neueren Geisteslebens in einer gewissen Weise dadurch steht, daß sie diese neuere Geistesbewegung impulsiert hat, aber doch wiederum noch manches herübergenommen hat aus älteren Geistesbewegungen, in denen noch die Urweisheit der Menschen verankert war. Ich möchte Ihnen heute sprechen von jener Mysterienstätte und ihren tonangebenden Impulsen, die einmal bestanden hat auf der irischen Insel, in Irland, auf die auch hingedeutet ist in meinen Mysterien: von der Mysterienstätte Hyberniens.
Es ist verhältnismäßig viel schwieriger, aus dem, was ich öfter vor Ihnen in meinen Schriften die Akasha-Chronik genannt habe, heranzukommen gerade an die alte Mysterienstätte Hyberniens, der vielgeprüften Insel im Westen von England; es ist verhältnismäßig viel schwerer, im nachträglichen Schauen heranzukommen an die Bilder, die in der ewigen Chronik davon geblieben sind, als an andere Mystetienstätten. Denn man bekommt eigentlich, wenn man sich nähern will anschaulich gerade dieser Mysterienstätte, den Eindruck, daß die Bilder dieser Mysterienstätte mit außerordentlich starken Abstoßungskräften versehen sind, die einen zurückstoßen, und die sogar auch dann, wenn man, ich möchte sagen mit einem gewissen Mut an solche Dinge herangeht, durch den Mut nicht so stark zu dämpfen sind, wie das in anderen dergleichen Fällen ist, sondern die auch einem mutvollen Schauen Widerstand entgegensetzen, der sich äußert, ich möchte sagen sogar bis in eine Art Betäubung herein. So daß man nur mit Hindernissen des Erkennens herankommen kann an das, was ich nun beschreiben will. Sie werden in den nächsten Tagen schen, warum solche Hindernisse des Erkennens gerade da bestehen.
Es gab natürlich auch in dieser Mysterienstätte einweihende Initiierte, die das alte Urwissen der Menschheit herübergenommen hatten, und die bis zu einem gewissen Grade, angeregt und impulsiert durch dieses Urwissen, zu einer Art eigenem Schauen hingelangen konnten. Und es gab Schüler, Einzuweihende, welche gerade in der besonderen Art, die dort gepflegt wurde, sozusagen an das Weltenwort herangebracht werden sollten. Nun, wenn man auf die Vorbereitung hinschaut, die zunächst den dort in Hybernia Einzuweihenden zugekommen ist, so bestand diese Vorbereitung in zwei Dingen. Das erste war, daß diese Vorzubereitenden an alle Schwierigkeiten des Erkennens überhaupt seelisch herangeführt wurden. Alles, was, ich möchte sagen Qual des Erkenntnisweges sein kann, jenes Erkenntnisweges, der noch nicht in die Tiefe des Daseins hineingeht, sondern der einfach darin besteht, daß man die gewöhnlichen Seelenkräfte, die man im alltäglichen Bewußtsein hat, so stark anstrengt, alsnur irgend möglich ist: die Schwierigkeiten, die sich auf diesem Erkenntniswege des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseinsergeben, die wurden diesen Schülern seclischnahegebracht. Sie mußten alle die Zweifel, alle die Plagen, all das innere Ringen und das oftmalige Scheitern dieses inneren Ringens, das Enttäuschtwerden durch, sagen wir, eine wenn auch noch so gute Logik und Dialektik, das alles mußten sie durchmachen. Sie mußten durchmachen alles, was man an Schwierigkeiten empfindet, wenn man nun schon wirklich einmal eine Erkenntnis errungen hat und diese dann aussprechen will.
Sie werden fühlen, meine lieben Freunde, das ist durchaus zweierlei: eine Wahrheit errungen haben und sie auszusprechen, zu formulieren. Man hat ja, wenn man in ernster Weise seinen Erkenntnisweg geht, immer das Gefühl, daß dasjenige, was man in die Worte drängen kann, eigentlich schon etwas nicht mehr ganz Wahres ist, etwas die Wahrheit mit allen möglichen Klippen und Fallen Einfassendes ist.
All das, was man da durchmachen kann, was eben nur derjenige kennt, der wirklich das Ringen nach Erkenntnis geübt hat, all das wurde diesen Schülern nahegebracht.
Und dann das Zweite, was ihnen nahegebracht wurde, das war, daß sie wiederum seelisch erfuhren, wie wenig eigentlich dasjenige, was auf diesem gewöhnlichen Bewußtseinswege Erkenntnis werden kann, wie wenig das irgendwie zuletzt doch zum menschlichen Glück beitragen kann, wie wenig Logik, Dialektik, Rhetorik zum menschlichen Glück beitragen können. Auf der anderen Seite aber wurde diesen Schülern klar gemacht, daß der Mensch eben doch, wenn er sich aufrecht erhalten will im Leben, herantreten muß an dasjenige, was ihm in einer gewissen Weise Freude, Glück bringt. Und so wurden sie getrieben auf der einen Seite bis nahe an einen Abgrund, und auf der anderen Seite auch bis nahe an den anderen Abgrund und immer veranlaßt zu zweifeln, als ob sie warten sollten, bis man ihnen eine Brücke baut über jeden einzelnen Abgrund. Und sie sind schon so stark in die Zweifel und Schwierigkeiten der Erkenntnis eingeweiht worden, daß sie eigentlich dann, wenn sie übergeleitet wurden von dieser Vorbereitung zu dem wirklichen Herantreten an die Weltengeheimnisse, sogar bis zu dem Entschluß kamen: Wenn es so sein muß, dann wollen wir verzichten auf Erkenntnis, dann wollen wir verzichten auf alles das, was den Menschen nicht Glück bringen kann.
Es war durchaus in diesen alten Mysterien so, daß eben die Menschen so starken Prüfungen unterworfen wurden, und daß sie tatsächlich bis zu Punkten gebracht wurden, wo sie in natürlichster, elementarster Art Gefühle entwickelten, die der gewöhnliche philiströse Verstand natürlich als unbegründet ansieht. Aber es ist leicht, zu sagen: Kein Mensch wird ja doch auf Erkenntnis verzichten wollen, selbstverständlich will man Erkenntnis haben, wenn sie auch noch so große Schwierigkeiten macht! - Das sagen eben die Leute, die diese Schwierigkeiten nicht kennen, und die nicht systematisch in diese Schwierigkeiten eingeführt worden sind wie die Schüler dieser Mysterien in Hybernia. Auf der anderen Seite sagt man wiederum leicht: man will auf das innere Glück ebenso verzichten, wie auf das äußere Glück, und nur einen Erkenntnisweg gehen. Aber dem, der die Dinge kennt, wie sie sind, dem erscheinen eben diese beiden Aussprüche, die einem so oft begegnen, als etwas durchaus Philiströses.
Dann also, wenn die Schüler bis zu dem angedeuteten Grade vorbereitet waren, dann wurden sie geführt vor zwei kolossale Bildsäulen, vor zwei große, gewaltige, majestätische Bildsäulen. Die eine war mehr majestätisch durch ihre äußere räumliche Größe, die andere war ebenso groß, aber sie war außerdem noch eindrucksvoll durch die besondere Art, wie sie war. Die eine Bildsäule war eine männliche Gestalt, die andere Bildsäule war eine weibliche Gestalt.
An diesen Bildsäulen sollten sie erleben in ihrer Art das Herankommen des Weltenwortes. Gewissermaßen sollten ihnen diese beiden Bildsäulen die äußeren Buchstaben sein, mit denen sie beginnen sollten, das Weltengeheimnis, das sich vor den Menschen hinstellt, zu entziffern.
Die eine Bildsäule, die männliche Bildsäule, sie war aus einem ganz elastischen Material. Und sie war so, daß sie an jeder Stelle eingedrückt werden konnte. Die Schüler wurden dazu veranlaßt, an jeder Stelle sie einzudrücken. Dadurch erwies sie sich innen als hohl. Also es war im Grunde genommen nur die Haut einer Bildsäule, aber aus durchaus elastischem Material, so daß, wenn sie drückten, sich die Form sofort wieder herstellte. Über dieser Bildsäule, über dem Kopf dieser Bildsäule, der besonders charakteristisch war, war etwas, was sich darstellte wie die Sonne. Der ganze Kopf war so, daß man sah, er sollte eigentlich ganz sein wie ein seelisches Auge; er sollte wie ein seelisches Auge mikrokosmisch darstellen den Inhalt des ganzen Makrokosmos. ‚Aber durch die Sonne sollte diese Manifestation des ganzen Makrokosmos in diesem Kolossalhaupte zum Ausdrucke kommen.
Ich kann Ihnen natürlich hier in der Geschwindigkeit nicht die beiden Bildsäulen aufzeichnen, ich will es also nur schematisch tun. Das war also die eine Bildsäule, von der man den unmittelbaren Eindruck hatte: da wirkt der Makrokosmos durch die Sonne, gestaltet das menschliche Haupt, das weiß, wie die Impulse des Makrokosmos sind, das sich selbst innerlich und äußerlich gestaltet nach diesen Impulsen des Makrokosmos.
Die andere Bildsäule war so, daß zuerst die Augen des Schülers fielen auf etwas, das in einer Art von Leuchtekörpern angebracht war und einen Schein zeigte, nach innen gehend. Und in dieser Umrahmung sah dann der Schüler eine weibliche Gestalt, die überall unter dem Einflusse dieser Strahlungen stand. Und er bekam das Gefühl, daß das sn Haupt erzeugt werde aus diesen Strahlungen heraus. Das Haupt hatte etwas Undeutliches an sich. Diese Statue war aus einer anderen Substanz. Sie war aus einer Substanz, die plastisch war, also nicht elastisch, sondern plastisch und außerordentlich weich. Der Schüler wurde veranlaßt, auch da zu drücken. Alles, was er hineindrückte, blieb bestehen. Es wurden nur immer zwischen dem einen Male, wo der Schüler geprüft wurde an diesen Statuen, und dem nächsten Male die Eindrücke, die von den Schülern verursacht wurden, wiederum ausgebessert. So daß immer, wenn die Schüler zu der entsprechenden Zeremonie vor diese Statue geführt werden sollten, die Statue wieder intakt hergestellt war. Bei der anderen, bei der elastischen, stellte sich immer alles von selber wieder her.
Es war die zweite Statue so, daß man den Eindruck bekam: sie steht ganz unter dem Einfluß von Mondenkräften, die den Organismus durchdringen, und die aus dem Organismus das Haupt hervorwachsen lassen. Die Schüler bekamen einen außerordentlich mächtigen Eindruck von dem, was sie da erlebten. Diese Statue wurde ihnen immer wiederum ausgebessert. Und sie wurden oftmals, eine Gruppe von Schülern, in nicht zu großen Zeiträumen vor diese Statue geführt. Wenn sie vor diese Statue geführt wurden, herrschte rings herum zunächst bei den ersten Malen eine lautlose Stille. Sie wurden bis vor diese Statue von den schon Initiierten geführt, wurden dann verlassen, das Tor wurde hinter dem Tempel zugemacht; sie wurden ihrer Einsamkeit überlassen.
Dann kam eine Zeit, wo jeder Schüler für sich hineingeführt wurde und veranlaßt wurde zunächst, die Statue zu prüfen, um hier das Elastische zu fühlen, hier, an der anderen Statue, das Plastische zu fühlen, in dem seine Eindrücke bewahrt blieben. Dann wurde er allein für sich gelassen mit dem Eindruck desjenigen, was ja, wie ich schon andeutete, mächtig, ganz mächtig auf ihn wirkte. Und durch alles das, was er erst durchgemacht hatte auf dem Wege, den ich Ihnen ja gekennzeichnet habe, durchlebte der Schüler alle Schwierigkeiten der Erkenntnis, alle Schwierigkeiten der Glückseligkeit, will ich es nennen. Ja, solches zu durchleben bedeutet eben mehr, als in den Worten bloß ausgedrückt wird, in denen man es in der Weise, wie ich es jetzt tue, charakterisiert; solches Erleben bedeutete, daß man durch eine ganze Skala von Empfindungen durchging. Und diese Empfindungen machten es, daß der Schüler die lebendigste Sehnsucht hatte, indem er hingeführt wurde vor diese beiden Statuen, das, was ihm da als ein großes Rätsel erschien, in irgendeiner Weise in seiner Seele aufzulösen, dahinterzukommen, was dieses Rätselhafte eigentlich will: auf der einen Seite das Rätselhafte, daß man mit ihm überhaupt so etwas machte, auf der anderen Seite das Rätselhafte, das in den Gestalten selber lag und inder ganzen Art, wie man sich selber nur zu diesen Gestalten verhalten konnte. Das alles wirkte in tiefer, ungemein tiefer Weise auf die Schüler. Und sie waren vor diesen Statuen eigentlich, möchte man sagen, in ihrer ganzen Seele und in ihrem ganzen Geiste wie eine kolossale Frage. Sie kamen sich vor in ihrem Seelenerlebnis wie eine kolossale Frage. Alles war an ihnen Frage. Der Verstand fragte, das Herz fragte, der Wille fragte, alles, alles fragte. Der heutige Mensch kann von diesen Dingen, die in alten Zeiten anschaulich vorgeführt wurden, die heute nicht mehr in dieser Art zur Initiation anschaulich vorgeführt werden können und brauchen, immerhin lernen, welche Empfindungsskala man durchmachen muß, um sich der Wahrheit wirklich zu nähern, der Wahrheit, die dann in die Geheimnisse der Welt hineinführt. Denn wenn es auch für den heutigen Schüler das Richtige ist, diese Dinge in einem inneren, äußerlich unanschaulichen Entwickelungsweg durchzumachen, so bleibt doch das bestehen, daß auch der moderne Schüler dieselbe Empfindungsskala durchmachen sollte, diese Empfindungen durch innerliches meditatives Erleben in sich durchringen sollte. Also die Skala der Empfindungen selber kann an dem gelernt werden, was innerhalb des äußeren Kultusartigen in jenen alten Zeiten von den Menschen, die eingeweiht werden sollten, durchgemacht worden ist.
Dann, wenn dieses durchgemacht war, dann wollte man die Schüler zu einer Art von Probezeit führen, durch die beides zusammenwirken konnte: auf der einen Seite das, was sie überhaupt vorher in der Vorbereitung durchgemacht hatten auf dem gewöhnlichen Erkenntnis- und Glückseligkeitswege, und das, was in ihnen geworden war wie eine große Frage des Gesamtgemütes, ja, des Gesamtmenschen. Das sollte nun zusammenwirken.
Und jetzt, indem ihr Inneres dies zusammen empfand, indem in ihrem Inneren dies zusammen in seinen Wirkungen gegenwärtig war, jetzt wurden ihnen, soweit es in der damaligen Zeit möglich war, vorgetragen die Weltengeheimnisse über den Mikrokosmos, über den Makrokosmos, etwas von jenen Zusammenhängen, die wir gerade in diesen Vorträgen jetzt berührt haben, die auch den Inhalt bildeten der Artemis-Mysterien zu Ephesus. Ein Teil davon wurde hier während einer Art von Probezeit vorgetragen. Dadurch wurde aber das, was wie eine große Frage im Gemüte dieser Schüler war, noch weiter erhöht. So daß der Schüler wirklich, ich möchte sagen in dieser Frageform durch die ungeheure Vertiefung, die das Gemüt im Erleben und im Ertragen durchmachte, in diesem ungeheuren Erleben, herangeführt wurde an die geistige Welt. Er kam tatsächlich mit seinem Empfinden hinein in jene Region, die eben die Seele erlebt, wenn sie in sich fühlt: Jetzt stehe ich vor der die Schwelle behütenden Macht.
Es gab ja in den älteren Zeiten der Menschheit die verschiedensten Arten von Mysterien, und in der verschiedensten Weise wurden die Menschen herangeführt an das, was man empfinden muß, wenn man dann seine Empfindungen zusammendrängt in die Worte: Jetztsteheich an der Schwelle zur geistigen Welt. Ich weiß, warum diese geistige Welt für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein behütet wird, und worinnen eigentlich das Wesen der behütenden Macht, des Hüters der Schwelle, liegt.
Und wenn dann die Schüler diese Probezeit durchgemacht hatten, dann wurden sie neuerdings vor diese Statuen geführt. Und dann bekamen sie einen ganz merkwürdigen Eindruck. Dann bekamen sie einen Eindruck, der tatsächlich ihr ganzes Inneres aufrüttelte. Ich kann Ihnen den Eindruck nur dadurch vergegenwärtigen, daß ich Ihnen das, was in jener alten Sprache üblich war, eben in der heutigen deutschen Sprache wiedergebe.
Wenn die Schüler so weit gekommen waren, wie ich es Ihnen chatakterisiert habe, dann wurden sie wiederum, jeder einzeln, vor die Statuen geführt. Jetzt blieb aber der einweihende Priester, der Initiator, bei dem Schüler in dem Tempel drinnen. Und jetzt sah der Schüler, nachdem er erst wiederum in lautloser Stille hatte lauschen können auf dasjenige, was ihm die eigene Seele sagen konnte nach all diesen Vorbereitungen und Prüfungen, nachdem das längere Zeit gedauert hatte, wie aufsteigend seinen initiierenden Priester über dem Haupte dieser einen Gestalt zunächst. Und es erschien dann so, wie wenn die Sonne eben weiter rückwärts wäre, und in dem Raume, der da als Zwischenraum war zwischen der Statue und der Sonne, erschien der Priester, wie die Sonne bedeckend. Die Statuen waren sehr groß, so daß der Priester eigentlich in einer gewissen Kleinheit hier über der Statue nur dem Haupte nach erschien, gewissermaßen die Sonne bedeckend; mit dem anderen stand er unten. Dann kam wie aus einem Musikalisch-Harmonischen heraus wirkend — mit einem Musikalisch-Harmonischen begann die Zeremonie — die Sprache des Initiators. Und so, wie eben einmal der Schüler war in diesem Stadium, erschien es ihm so, wie wenn die Worte, die nun von den Lippen des Initiators ertönten, von der Statue gesagt wurden. Und zwar tönten ihm die Worte entgegen:
Ich bin das Bild der Welt,
Sieh, wie das Sein mir fehlt.
Ich lebe in deiner Erkenntnis,
Ich werde in dir nun Bekenntnis.
Auch das machte wiederum, wie Sie sich denken können, einen mächtigen Eindruck auf den Schüler. Denn er war dazu vorbereitet, jene Macht zu erleben, die ihm entgegentrat in dem Bilde dieser Statue, und die von sich sagte: Sich, wie das Sein mir fehlt. Ich bin das Bild der Welt. Ich lebe in deiner Erkenntnis.
Der Schüler war durch das, was in ihm vorbereitet war in bezug auf die Schwierigkeit des gewöhnlichen Erkenntnisweges, sozusagen nun auch vorbereitet, dieses Bild wie etwas zu nehmen, was ihn von diesen Schwierigkeiten erlöste, wenn er auch die Zweifel an der Erkenntnis in sich nicht besiegen konnte. Und er wurde dazu gebracht, das Gefühl zu haben, daß er diese Erkenntniszweifel nicht besiegen könne. Er war, indem das alles durch seine Seele durchgegangen war, innerlich bereit, sich gewissermaßen mit seiner ganzen Seele an dieses Bild anzuklammern, mit dem, was die Weltenmacht war, die durch dieses Bild symbolisiert wurde, zu leben, ihr sich sozusagen zu übergeben. Dazu war er bereit, indem er das empfand, was nun aus dem Munde des Priesters kam, was so erschien, wie wenn diese Statue eben der Buchstabe wäre, der diesen Sinn, der in den vier Zeilen hier liegt, vor den Schüler hinstellte.
Nachdem der Priester wiederum zurückgestiegen war, der Schüler wiederum in lautlose Stille versetzt war, der Priester hinausgegangen war, den Schüler allein gelassen hatte, kam nach einiger Zeit ein zweiter Initiator. Der erschien dann über der zweiten Statue. Und wiederum erklang nun wie aus Musikalisch-Harmonischem heraus die Stimme dieses Priester-Initiators, und die ergab die Worte, die ich Ihnen so wiedergeben kann:
Ich bin das Bild der Welt,
Sieh, wie Wahrheit mir fehlt.
Willst du mit mir zu leben wagen,
o werd’ ich dir zum Behagen.
Und dem Schüler kam es jetzt nach allen Vorbereitungen vor, nachdem er ja dazu geführt war, das innerliche Glück, die innerliche Fülle zu ersehnen - ich müßte besser sagen statt Glück, weil das im Deutschen nicht die richtige Bedeutung gibt: freudvolle innerliche Fülle -, nachdem er durch alles das, was er erlebt hatte, dazu gekommen war, die Notwendigkeit zu empfinden, daß der Mensch zu dieser freudevollen inneren Fülle einmal komme, er war jetzt wiederum daran, indem er von der zweiten Bildsäule dieses hörte, nicht nur beinahe daran, sondern wirklich daran, nun auch die Weltengewalt, die durch diese zweite Bildsäule sprach, als diejenige zu betrachten, der er sich ergeben wollte.
Wiederum verschwand der Initiator. Wiederum wurde der Schüler allein gelassen. Und während dieser einsamen Stille empfand eigentlich jeder — wenigstens scheint das so, daß jeder es empfand - etwas, was sich vielleicht in den folgenden Worten ausdrücken läßt: Ich stehe an der Schwelle zur geistigen Welt. Hier in der physischen Welt nennt man etwas Erkenntnis, aber das hat eigentlich keinen Wert in der geistigen Welt. Und daß man hier in der physischen Welt Schwierigkeiten damit hat, das ist nur das physische Abbild von der Wertlosigkeit der Erkenntnis, die man hier in der Welt erwerben kann, für die übersinnliche, für die geistige Welt. Und ebenso hatte der Schüler die Empfindung: Manches sagt einem hier in der physischen Welt, du sollst der inneren freudevollen Fülle entsagen, eine Art asketischen Weg gehen, um in die geistige Welt hineinzukommen. Das aber ist eigentlich Illusion, das ist eigentlich Täuschung. Denn das, was in dieser zweiten Bildsäule erscheint, sagt ausdrücklich von sich: Sieh, wie Wahrheit mir fehlt.
Also der Schüler war nahe daran, an der Schwelle der Erkenntnis zu der Empfindung zu kommen, man müsse die innere freudevolle Fülle der Seele, des Gemütes mit Ausschluß von dem erringen, was hier in der physischen Welt durch das schwache, an den physischen Leib gebundene Menschenstreben als Wahrheit ersehnt wird. Es hatte der Schüler schon die Empfindung, daß es jenseits der Schwelle eben anders aussehen müsse, als hier diesseits der Schwelle, daß vieles von dem, was hier diesseits der Schwelle wertvoll ist, wertlos wird jenseits der Schwelle, und daß sogar solche Dinge wie Erkenntnis und Wahrheit jenseits der Schwelle ein ganz anderes Gesicht darstellen.
Das alles waren Empfindungen, die zum Teil in dem Schüler das Bewußtsein hervortiefen, er sei über manche Täuschungen und Enttäuschungen der physischen Welt hinausgelangt. Es waren aber auch Empfindungen, die bisweilen wiederum wie innerlich wirkende Feuerflammen waren. So daß man sich wie verzehrt von innerem Feuer, wie innerlich vernichtet fühlte. Und die Seele schwankte von der einen Empfindung zur anderen herüber und wiederum zurück. Und der Schüler wurde sozusagen auf der Erkenntnis-Glückswaage geprüft. Und während er so dieses Innerliche durchmachte, war es ihm, als ob die Bildsäulen selber sprechen würden. Er hatte nun etwas wie das innere Wort erlangt, und es war so, wie wenn die Bildsäulen selber sprechen würden. Und es sagte die eine Bildsäule:
Ich bin die Erkenntnis.
Aber was ich bin, ist kein Sein.
Und jetzt bekam der Schüler dieses ganze, man möchte sagen, schreckausstrahlende Gefühl: Was man an Ideen hat, ist ja alles eben nur Idee, da ist kein Sein darinnen. Strengt man den menschlichen Kopf an - so hatte der Schüler das Gefühl -, so kommt man zwar zu Ideen, aber nirgends ist ein Sein. Ideen sind Schein, kein Sein. Und die andere Bildsäule war wie sprechend; sie sagte:
Ich bin die Phantasie,
Aber was ich bin, hat keine Wahrheit.
So stellten sich vor den Schüler hin die beiden Bildsäulen, wovon die eine ihm vergegenwärtigte, was die Ideen sind ohne Sein, und die andere, was die Bilder der Phantasie sind ohne Wahrheit.
Bitte, fassen Sie das in der richtigen Weise auf. Es kommt nicht darauf an, jetzt hier Dogmen zu geben, es kommt nicht darauf an, Sätze zu prägen, die irgendwie Wahrheiten oder Erkenntnisse ausdrücken, sondern es kommt darauf an, Erlebnisse der Schüler aus den Heiligtümern Hyberniens zu geben. Was diese Schüler erlebten, das zu geben, darauf kam es an. Nicht der Inhalt dessen, was da in diesen Sätzen steht, soll wie eine Wahrheit verkündet werden, sondern das, was in diesem Augenblicke der Initiation die Schüler der Mysterien Hyberniens erlebten, das sollte eben hingeschrieben werden.
Und das alles erlebte ja der einzelne Schüler in absoluter Einsamkeit. Sein innerliches Erleben wurde so stark, daß sein äußerliches Gesicht nicht mehr wirkte. Es wirkte nicht mehr. Nach einiger Zeit sah er die Statue nicht mehr. Aber er las wie mit Flammenschrift an dem Orte, wo er hinschaute, etwas, was ja nicht äußerlich-physisch da war, was er aber mit erschütternder Deutlichkeit sah. Er las da, wo er früher das Haupt der Erkenntnisstatue gesehen hatte, das Wort Wissenschaft, und da, wo er das Haupt der anderen Statue geschen hatte, las er das Wort Kunst.
Und nachdem er dieses durchgemacht hatte, wurde er durch den Ausgang des Tempels zurückgeführt. Beim Tempel standen wiederum die beiden Initiatoren. Der eine nahm sein Haupt und richtete es gegen dasjenige, was ihm der andere Initiator zeigte: die Gestalt des Christus. Und dabei fielen Worte der Mahnung. Der eine Priester, der das Christusbild ihm vorwies, sprach zu ihm:
Nimm das Wort und die Kraft dieses Wesens
In dein Herz auf.
Und der andere Priester sprach:
Und von ihm empfange,
Was dir die beiden Gestalten geben wollten:
Wissenschaft und Kunst.
Das waren sozusagen die ersten zwei Akte der hybernischen Einweihung, der besonderen Art, wie in Hybernia die Schüler zu der wirklichen Empfindung des innersten Wesens des Christentums hingeleitet wurden. Und dies prägte sich nun ganz tief in die Seelen, in die Gemüter dieser Schüler ein. Und nun konnten sie, nachdem sie sich dieses eingeprägt hatten, an ihren weiteren Erkenntnisweg gehen.
Was von diesem zu sagen ist und gesagt werden kann, werden wir nun in den nächsten Tagen im Zusammenhange mit anderen Dingen betrachten.
Seventh Lecture
Last time I had to speak to you about the Ephesian mysteries of Artemis to draw your attention to certain connections between what has emerged as knowledge in the course of human development and what can be found again today through insight, through looking into the spiritual world. Today, in order to build on some of the topics that have been discussed, I would like to talk about another mystery center, which is also in a certain way at the starting point of the newer spiritual life in that it has given impulses to this newer spiritual movement, but has also taken on board some ideas from older spiritual movements in which the original wisdom of mankind was still anchored. Today I would like to speak to you about the mystery center and its guiding impulses that once existed on the island of Ireland, in Ireland, and which is also referred to in my mysteries: the mystery center of Hybernia.
It is relatively more difficult to get from what I have often called the Akasha Chronicle in my writings to to get to the ancient mystery site of Hybernia, the much-tried island in the west of England; it is relatively much more difficult to get to the images that have remained in the eternal chronicle of it in retrospective vision than to other mystery sites. For when one wants to approach this mystery site, one actually gets the impression that the images of this mystery site are endowed with extraordinarily strong repulsive forces that push one back, and that even when one approaches such things, I would say with a certain courage, the forces are not so strongly dampened by the courage as they are in other such cases, but which also offer resistance to a courageous looking that expresses itself, I would like to say, even to the point of a kind of stupor. So that one can only approach what I now want to describe with obstacles to knowledge. You will see in the next few days why such obstacles to knowledge exist here.
Of course, there were also initiates in this mystery center who had inherited the ancient wisdom of mankind and who, to a certain extent, inspired and impelled by this wisdom, were able to achieve a kind of insight of their own. And there were students, initiates, who were to be introduced to the Word of the World, so to speak, in the particular way that was cultivated there. Now, if we look at the preparation that was initially given to those to be initiated there in Hybernia, this preparation consisted of two things. The first was that those to be prepared were introduced, in their souls, to all the difficulties of knowledge. Everything that can be, I might say, the agony of the path of knowledge, that path of knowledge which does not yet go into the depths of existence, but which simply consists in exerting as much as possible the ordinary powers of the soul that one has in everyday consciousness. the difficulties that arise on this path of knowledge of ordinary consciousness were brought to these students. They had to go through all the doubts, all the torments, all the inner struggle and the frequent failure of this inner struggle, the being disappointed by, say, a logic and dialectic, however good it may be. They had to go through all that. They had to go through all the difficulties that one experiences when one has really gained knowledge and then wants to express it.
You will feel, my dear friends, that there is a world of difference between having gained a truth and formulating it. When one follows the path of knowledge in earnest, one always has the feeling that what one can express in words is no longer completely true, that the truth is surrounded by all sorts of pitfalls and traps.
All that one can go through, which only those who have truly practiced the struggle for knowledge know, was made accessible to these students.
And then the second thing that was brought home to them was that they experienced emotionally how little that which can become knowledge through this ordinary path of consciousness can actually contribute to human happiness, how little logic, dialectics, rhetoric can contribute to human happiness. On the other hand, however, it was made clear to these students that if a person wants to sustain himself in life, he must approach that which, in a certain way, brings him joy and happiness. And so they were driven on the one hand to the brink of an abyss, and on the other hand also to the brink of the other abyss, and always caused to doubt, as if they were supposed to wait until a bridge was built for them over each individual abyss. And they have already been so thoroughly initiated into the doubts and difficulties of knowledge that when they were led over from this preparation to the real approach to the secrets of the world, they even came to the decision: If it must be so, then we will renounce knowledge, we will renounce everything that cannot bring happiness to man.
It was quite common in these ancient mysteries for people to be subjected to such severe tests, and for them to actually be brought to the point where they developed feelings in the most natural, elementary way, which the ordinary philistine mind naturally regards as unfounded. But it is easy to say: No human being will want to renounce knowledge, of course one wants knowledge, even if it causes great difficulties! - That is what people say who do not know these difficulties and who have not been systematically introduced to these difficulties like the students of these mysteries in Hybernia. On the other hand, it is easy to say that one wants to renounce inner happiness as well as outer happiness, and to follow only the path of knowledge. But to him who knows things as they are, these two sayings, which one encounters so often, appear to be something thoroughly philistine.
Then, when the disciples had been prepared to the degree indicated, they were led before two colossal statues, before two great, mighty, majestic statues. One was more majestic in its outward spatial size, the other was equally large, but it was also impressive because of the special way it was. One of the statues was of a male figure, the other of a female figure.
In these statues they were to experience in their own way the approach of the Word of the World. In a sense, these two statues were to be the outer letters with which they were to begin to decipher the mystery of the world that presents itself to man.
The one statue, the male statue, was made of a very elastic material. It was so made that it could be pressed in at any point. The students were encouraged to press it in at every point. This proved that it was hollow inside. So basically it was just the skin of a statue, but made of a very elastic material, so that when they pressed it, the shape was immediately restored. Above this statue, above the head of this statue, which was particularly characteristic, there was something that looked like the sun. The whole head was such that one saw that it was actually supposed to be like an eye of the soul; like an eye of the soul, it was supposed to represent the content of the whole macrocosm in microcosmic form. 'But it was through the sun that this manifestation of the whole macrocosm was to be expressed in this colossal head.
Of course, I cannot draw you both columns here in a rush, so I will only do it schematically. So that was the one statue, the immediate impression of which was: the macrocosm is working through the sun, shaping the human head, which knows what the impulses of the macrocosm are, and which shapes itself inwardly and outwardly according to these impulses of the macrocosm.
The other statue was such that the student's eyes first fell on something that was placed in a kind of luminous body and showed a glow going inwards. And in this setting, the student then saw a female figure who was everywhere under the influence of these radiations. And he got the feeling that the sn head was being generated out of these radiations. The head had something indistinct about it. This statue was made of a different substance. It was a plastic substance, not elastic, but plastic and extremely soft. The pupil was also made to press there. Everything he pressed in remained. Only the impressions caused by the pupils were always repaired between the time when the pupil was tested on these statues and the next time. So that whenever the pupils were led to the corresponding ceremony in front of this statue, the statue was restored to its original state. With the other, the elastic one, everything always restored itself by itself.
The second statue gave the impression of being completely under the influence of lunar forces, which permeate the organism and cause the head to grow out of the organism. The students were extraordinarily impressed by what they experienced. This statue was always repaired for them. And often a group of students were led to stand before this statue at not too great intervals of time. When they were led to stand before this statue, at first there was a soundless silence all around during the first times. They were led to stand before this statue by those who had already been initiated, and then they were left alone, the gate was closed behind the temple; they were left to their solitude.
Then there came a time when each disciple was led in by himself and was first made to test the statue, in order to feel the elasticity here, and here, at the other statue, to feel the plasticity in which his impressions were preserved. Then he was left alone with the impression of the one thing, which, as I have already indicated, made a powerful, quite powerful impression on him. And through all that he had first gone through on the way that I have already indicated to you, the disciple lived through all the difficulties of knowledge, all the difficulties of bliss, I will call it. Yes, to live through such a thing means more than is expressed in the words in which I am characterizing it in the way I am doing now; such an experience meant going through a whole gamut of feelings. And these feelings made it so that the pupil had the most vivid longing, as he was led before these two statues, to somehow resolve in his soul what seemed to him to be a great mystery, to understand what this mystery actually wants: on the one hand, the mystery of being subjected to such treatment, and on the other hand, the mystery that lay in the figures themselves and in the whole way one could relate to these figures. All of this had a deep, incredibly deep effect on the students. And they were actually, one might say, like a colossal question in front of these statues, in their whole soul and in their whole spirit. They felt like a colossal question in their soul experience. Everything about them was a question. The intellect questioned, the heart questioned, the will questioned, everything questioned. Today's human being can still learn from these things, which were vividly demonstrated in ancient times and which can no longer be vividly demonstrated in this way for initiation today, but which can and do lead to the secrets of the world. For even if it is right for the present-day pupil to go through these things in an inner, outwardly unillustrated path of development, it still remains the case that the modern pupil should also go through the same scale of sensations, should wrestle with these sensations through inner meditative experience. Thus the scale of feelings itself can be learned from what was experienced within the outer cult-like in those ancient times by the people who were to be initiated.
Then, when this had been undergone, the students were led to a kind of probationary period, through which both could interact: on the one hand, what they had previously undergone in preparation for the ordinary path of knowledge and bliss, and what had become in them like a great question of the whole mind, indeed, of the whole human being. This was now to interact.
And now, as their inner being sensed this together, as its effects were present together in their inner being, now, as far as was possible at that time, the secrets of the microcosm and macrocosm were revealed to them, something of those interrelations that we have just touched on in these lectures, which also formed the content of the Artemis Mysteries at Ephesus. Some of this was presented here during a kind of probationary period. But as a result, what was like a big question in the minds of these students was further increased. So that the student was really, I would like to say, introduced to the spiritual world in this question form through the tremendous deepening that the mind underwent in experiencing and enduring this tremendous experience. He actually came with his feelings into that region that the soul experiences when it feels within: Now I stand before the power guarding the threshold.
In the early days of humanity, there were the most diverse kinds of mysteries, and in the most diverse ways people were introduced to what one must feel when one then condenses one's feelings into the words: Now I stand at the threshold to the spiritual world. I know why this spiritual world is guarded for the ordinary consciousness, and what the nature of the guarding power, the Dweller of the Threshold, actually is.
And when the students had gone through this probationary period, they were led before these statues again. And then they received a very strange impression. Then they received an impression that actually shook their entire being. I can only bring the impression to mind by expressing what was usual in that ancient language in today's German.
When the students had progressed as far as I have described to you, they were again led individually before the statues. But now the inaugurating priest, the initiator, remained with the pupil in the temple. And now the pupil, after he had been able to listen in silent silence to what his own soul could tell him after all these preparations and tests, after that had lasted for a long time, saw his initiating priest rising above the head of this one figure. And then it appeared as if the sun had just moved further back, and in the space that was between the statue and the sun, the priest appeared as if covering the sun. The statues were very large, so that the priest actually appeared in a certain smallness here above the statue only in the head, so to speak covering the sun; with the other he stood below. Then, as if coming from a musical harmony – the ceremony began with a musical harmony – the language of the initiator began. And just as the disciple was in this stage, it seemed to him as if the words that now sounded from the lips of the initiator were spoken by the statue. And the words sounded to him:
I am the image of the world,
See how I lack being.
I live in your knowledge,
I now become confession in you.
This, too, made a powerful impression on the student, as you can imagine. For he was prepared to experience that power which confronted him in the image of this statue and which said of itself: I am the image of the world. I live in your knowledge.
The student was, through what had been prepared in him in relation to the difficulty of the ordinary path of knowledge, so to speak, now also prepared to take this image as something that redeemed him from these difficulties, even if he could not conquer the doubts about knowledge within himself. And he was led to feel that he could not conquer these doubts about knowledge. When all this had passed through his soul, he was inwardly ready to cling with his whole soul, as it were, to this image, to live with what was the power of the world symbolized by this image, to surrender to it, so to speak. He was ready for this by feeling what now came from the priest's mouth, which seemed as if this statue were the letter that presented this meaning, which lies in the four lines here, to the disciple.
After the priest had descended again, the disciple had been restored to soundless silence, and the priest had gone out, leaving the disciple alone, a second initiator came after some time. He then appeared above the second statue. And again, as if from a musical harmony, the voice of this priest-initiator was heard, and it yielded the words that I can reproduce to you like this:
I am the image of the world.
See how I lack truth.
If you dare to live with me,
I will become your pleasure.
And now, after all the preparations, after he had been led to long for inner happiness, inner abundance – I should say, rather than happiness, because that does not give the right meaning in German: joyful inner abundance – after he had come through everything he had experienced, had come to feel the necessity for man to arrive at this joyful inner fullness, he was now again in the process of hearing about it from the second pillar, not only almost in the process, but really in the process of now also regarding the world power that spoke through this second pillar as the one to whom he wanted to surrender.
Again the initiator disappeared. Again the student was left alone. And during this lonely silence, everyone actually felt – at least it seems that everyone felt it – something that can perhaps be expressed in the following words: I stand at the threshold of the spiritual world. Here in the physical world, something is called knowledge, but it actually has no value in the spiritual world. And the fact that one has difficulties with it here in the physical world is only the physical reflection of the worthlessness of the knowledge that one can acquire here in the world, for the supersensible, for the spiritual world. And in the same way, the disciple had the feeling: Many things here in the physical world tell you to renounce the inner joyful abundance, to go a kind of ascetic way in order to enter the spiritual world. But that is actually an illusion, that is actually a deception. Because what appears in this second pillar of the image explicitly says of itself: See how I lack truth.
So the disciple was close to coming to the perception at the threshold of knowledge, that one must attain the inner joyful fullness of the soul, of the mind, to the exclusion of what is longed for as truth here in the physical world through the weak human striving bound to the physical body. The disciple already had the feeling that beyond the threshold it must look different than on this side of the threshold, that much of what is valuable on this side of the threshold becomes worthless beyond the threshold, and that even things like knowledge and truth beyond the threshold present a completely different face.
All these were feelings that in part awakened in the disciple the awareness that he had gone beyond some of the deceptions and disappointments of the physical world. But there were also feelings that were sometimes like flames of fire working inwardly. So that one felt consumed by inner fire, as if one were being destroyed inwardly. And the soul wavered from one sensation to the other and back again. And the disciple was, so to speak, tested on the scales of knowledge and bliss. And while he was going through this inward experience, it was as if the statues themselves were speaking. He had now attained something like the inner word, and it was as if the statues themselves were speaking. And the one statue said:
I am knowledge.
But what I am is not being.
And now the student had this whole, one might say, horrifying feeling: what you have in ideas is just an idea, there is no being in it. If you use your human head – that's how the student felt – you can come up with ideas, but there is no being in them. Ideas are appearance, not being. And the other statue was as if speaking; it said:
I am imagination,
but what I am has no truth.
So the two statues stood before the disciple, one of which visualized to him what ideas are without being, and the other what images of fantasy are without truth.
Please understand this in the right way. It is not a matter of giving dogmas here, it is not a matter of formulating sentences that somehow express truths or insights, but it is a matter of giving experiences of the students from the sanctuaries of Hybernia. What these pupils experienced, that was what was important. It is not the content of what is written in these sentences that should be proclaimed as truth, but what the pupils of the mysteries of Hybernia experienced in this moment of initiation should be written down.
And all this was experienced by the individual pupil in absolute solitude. His inner experience became so strong that his outward appearance was no longer effective. It was no longer effective. After some time he no longer saw the statue. But he read as if with flaming writing in the place where he looked, something that was not outwardly physically there, but which he saw with harrowing clarity. He read the word science where he had previously seen the head of the statue of knowledge, and he read the word art where the head of the other statue had been.
And after he had gone through this, he was led back through the exit of the temple. The two initiators were again standing by the temple. One of them took his head and pointed it towards what the other initiator showed him: the figure of Christ. And words of admonishment were spoken. The one priest who presented the image of Christ to him spoke to him:
Take the word and the power of this being
into your heart.
And the other priest said:
And receive from him
what the two figures wanted to give you:
science and art.
These were, so to speak, the first two acts of the Hybernian initiation, the special way in which students in Hybernia were led to a real sense of the innermost essence of Christianity. And this was now deeply imprinted in the souls and minds of these students. And now, having memorized this, they were able to continue on their path of knowledge.
What can be said about this, we will now consider in the next few days in connection with other things.