Reading the Pictures of the Apocalypse
GA 104a
1 May 1907, Munich
Lecture I-II
Eight days ago began with a presentation to help us understand the language of John. We considered how the Apocalypse is to be read and what is hidden behind some of the mysterious expressions, for example, behind the lamb as the beast with seven eyes and seven horns. We also sought to explain the beast with two horns and considered the number 666 as an example of how we must live into this mysterious book. Today, we again seek to find the meaning of this book.
The record of the New Testament is a record of initiation. Using individual images as examples we have seen how deep their meaning really is. All the images have shown us that the Gospels express, in pictorial form, the deepest imaginable meaning of the evolution of the world. It could occur to someone to ask why there are contradictions in the individual Gospels, why they do not correspond to each other. What needs to be said concerning this is already laid out in my book, Christianity as Mystical Fact.1Rudolf Steiner, Christianity as Mystical Fact (Hudson, N.Y.:Anthroposophic Press, 1993). The Gospels are not records of the biography of Christ Jesus, but rather records concerning initiation. And the Apocalypse is the profoundest record. Augustine said: What is now called the “Christian religion” is the ancient true religion. What was the true religion, now is called the Christian religion.2Actual words: “For what is now called the Christian religion existed even among the ancients and was not lacking from the beginning of the human race until ‘Christ came in the flesh.’ From that time, true religion, which already existed, began to be called Christian.” Augustine, The Retractions Book I, chapter 12, section 3, trans. Mary Inez Bogan in The Fathers of the Church (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1968).
We understand what is meant by this statement when we consider the fundamental assertion of Christianity: “Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.” John 20:29) In this way something entirely new has come into the world. The teachings are already contained in other religious systems. Among those who understood who “Christ” is the main emphasis was never placed on the content of this teaching. One can also find this content in records from earlier times. What is important with Christ is what this individual means for humankind. We can acquire an understanding for this most readily if we take a look at the ancient mystery centers.
Until the time of Christ only a few specially chosen people were initiated. After severe testing they were permitted to learn the teachings that can now be found in my book Theosophy.3Steiner, Theosophy (GA 9) (Hudson, N.Y.: Anthroposophic Press, 1993). One had to wait a long time until the higher degrees of vision were permitted. Only the most initiated knew the tradition of how to carry out an initiation. If someone wanted to become a pupil, as a first step they had to do this, as a second step, that, and so forth. The initiation concluded when the pupil had gone through the preparatory stages and was led by the wise ones into the mysteries themselves. That took place in a state of consciousness called “ecstasy,” a state of existence outside the physical body. It was connected with a diminution of consciousness, but at the same time with a vision of the spiritual world. An inner schooling consisting of certain will impulses, meditations, and a purification of the desires brought the pupil to a point where the last step was possible. Then the pupil was put by the initiator into a state that lasted three and a half days, a state like the one we enter when we fall asleep at night. External sense impressions disappeared. When we are asleep, nothing enters into the place where the sense impressions of sight and sound have disappeared, but with those being initiated a new world appeared. They were surrounded by a new world, a world of astral light, not the darkness, nothing of what today's human being experiences in the night appeared to them. The darkness was permeated by spiritual light and beings that are incarnated within the spiritual light. These beings became visible in the astral light. Then, after awhile, the astral world full of flowing light began to resound with the music of the spheres. What had merely been seen earlier began to be heard; it was a pure, spiritual music. External music is only a shadow-like reflection of the sounds of the spheres the seer hears, the seer who also perceives the inside of spiritual beings. Suppose we enter a large room filled with people; only when they begin to speak do they reveal their inner life to us. That is how it is in the spiritual world. First the beings become visible, then the inner life of the beings speaks to us. That is the harmony of the spheres.
Then, when the initiates were led back to vision of the physical world, they experienced themselves fully transformed into new human beings. Everyone who returned in this way then typically expressed: “My God, my God, how you have glorified me!” (Compare Matt. 27:46 and Mark 15:34)4Compare lecture of September 12, 1910 in The Gospel of St. Matthew (GA 123) (Hudson, N.Y.: Anthroposophic Press. 1965).
And so they returned, knowledgeable concerning the spiritual world out of their own experience. They were then seen as messengers from the spiritual world. What they had experienced up to the point of entering the spiritual world was prescribed precisely, stage by stage.
Although the rites of initiation were not recorded exactly, still there were canons of initiation containing prescriptions for all the steps. Everywhere, whether in the Egyptian schooling of Hermes, or in the Persian school, or in the Greek mysteries, or with the Druidic or Drotten mysteries, there were typical, traditional rules concerning what was to be experienced by anyone wanting to become an initiate.
Typical, similar characteristics appear wherever the lives of the great apostles of religions or world-views are described. The lives of Orpheus, Pythagoras, Hermes, and Buddha have many features in common, features that are important for all religious heroes. Why is this? Superficial researchers have believed that one borrowed from the other. But that is not true. Nevertheless, all of these typical religious heroes passed through these steps up to the highest stage of initiation. There were no biographies in ancient times that took into consideration the external conditions of a person's life. The further back we go before the turning point of time, the less value we find ascribed to the externals of life. Absolutely nothing was said concerning what the very greatest heroes of humankind experienced externally on the physical plane. Their lives were entirely dedicated to initiation. Telling the story of their initiation meant telling the story of their life. The main thing about a Hermes or a Buddha was what he had experienced until the initiation. Since the stages of initiation were similar everywhere, one heard a spiritual description of the life of the great initiates.
What in the past had been experienced only in secret became historical fact in Christianity. What could be described of Herme' experience took place in inner mysteries, at locations far removed from profane eyes.
In Christianity, for the first time, something was experienced as an external physical event that otherwise only took place in the mystery centers. The course Christ's life followed is the same as that experienced by all initiates when, to begin with, they had their etheric bodies lifted out of their physical. Everything that Christ Jesus experienced physically, on the physical plane, they had experienced in the etheric realm. Their last words were also, “My God, my God, how you have glorified me!” They had experienced earlier in the etheric body what Christ experienced in a physical body. In this way the prophecies of the prophets were fulfilled. This one time only experience of Christ represents the greatest decisive turning point in our world history and separates it into two parts.
The evangelists did not write ordinary biographies, but took rather the existing canonical initiation books. All four Gospels are to be seen as initiation writings, each presented from a different perspective. Since, however, initiation is described everywhere in the same way, the Gospels are in agreement on the most important things. We can describe the life of an initiate if we consider it as a life dedicated wholly to initiation. It would have seemed unholy to the evangelists to give an ordinary, external, historical biography of Christ Jesus. They had to take the building blocks for their writings from books derived from the mysteries. Hence, to a certain extent, what the prophets had said was fulfilled.
In a certain sense the Apocalypse represents a new kind of initiation; it shows how the old mysteries were transformed into Christian mysteries. When we look back at the old mysteries we find in them a more or less unified feature. It consisted of the following: Whether we go to Egypt, or to Persia, or to India, whether we are deepened in the Orphic or the Eleusinian mysteries, we find there complete agreement in one feature: a prophecy concerning the One who is to come.5Compare the lecture cycle Wonders of the World, Ordeals of the Soul, and Revelations of the Spirit (GA 129) (London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1963); Mystery Centers (GA 232) (London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1973); and World History in the Light of Anthroposophy (GA 233) (London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1977). This trait is also found in the Northern European mysteries. There was an initiate in the most ancient times who was signified by the name “Sig.” The Drotten mysteries, which were in Russia and Scandinavia, the Druidic mysteries in Germany all derived from an initiate with the name Sig, who was the founder of the northern mysteries. What happened in the mysteries has been preserved in the various myths and legends of the German nation and other Germanic peoples. The myths and legends are pictorial representations of what was experienced. In the Siegfried legend6Compare the lecture of October 21, 1904: “Die Siegfriedsage” in Esoterik und Weltgeschichte in der grieschischen und germanischen Mythologie [“The Legend of Siegfried” in Esoteric and World History in Greek and German Mythology] (Dornach, Switzerland: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1955). we see most clearly that feature that seeks for an end. This feature is expressed in mythological terms in the “Gotterdammerung,” the twilight of the gods.7Compare the lecture of August 14. 1908 in the lecture cycle Universe, Earth and Man (GA 105) (London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1987). This is characteristic of all the northern mysteries.
In all mysticism the image of the feminine is used for the soul; this image is also used by Goethe in his “chorus mysticus,” in the concluding scene of the second part of Faust. It is the eternal in the human being, the divine soul that draws the human being forward. Just as initiation was described in ancient Egypt and Persia as the union of the soul with the spiritual, so was it also described here in the north. Here in the north it was understood best that a man proved his worth on the field of battle. Those who counted for something in the north were honored as fighters who fell in the field of battle; those were the ones who entered into eternal life; the others died in their sleep. The fallen fighters were received by the Valkyries,8he virgin heroines of Germanic mythology. their own soul; union with the Valkyries was union with the eternal. It was said of Siegfried that he had already united with the Valkyries here on earth; that shows he was an initiate. The meaning of the story, that Siegfried had already experienced union with the Valkyries here on earth, is that he was an initiate. This legend tells us something with the death of Siegfried. When experiencing initiation in the ancient mysteries the initiate is told: We can only bring you to a certain point ... further than this only another can bring you—this other one is Christ Jesus—all that we can give you will be darkened when he comes, the One who will bring the new initiation. Siegfried is vulnerable to Hagen9One of the main heroes of the Nibelungen saga: he treacherously suffocates Siegfried after a hunt while Siegfried is drinking at a fountain. on his back because the cross has not yet been placed on the back of the one who will take over from the ancient initiation. This part of the body will one day be made invulnerable when the cross has been laid across it. In this way the northern mysteries alluded to Christ Jesus.
All the ancient mysteries looked toward him who was to come, who will live on the physical plane so as to found a new world order. The new initiation is what will occur through the impulses he gave. We find a portrayal of this in the Apocalypse. It tells us how initiation will proceed until Christ Jesus comes again in a new form. The Apocalypse refers to the time when an organ for receiving Christ will be developed. The time until Christ Jesus again will approach is described in the Apocalypse. We will understand the individual words if we adopt the way of thinking of one who has experienced such an initiation. We remember here the words of Christ—if we understand them we will also understand the Apocalypse—“Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58) Christ directs his view from the past over to the present because for him there is an eternal present.
If we wish to understand what is meant by this we need only remember the fourfold human being who consists of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and I. When the I lights up in the course of evolution then the astral and etheric bodies are changed; and then finally the physical body too. The I is here for eternity; it is born out of the womb of a higher spirituality. Whether we look into the past or into the future, this I is what is eternal. If we observe an individual we can ask the question: What transformation has this person's I gone through? If we look back to the great Atlantean flood and then further back we do not find the I in a body such as exists today. At that time we were in a state wherein we could not think as well as we can now. When we look into the future we find the I in bodies ever more perfect, bodies having a perfection that we today with our thinking cannot even imagine. We cannot now imagine the perfection of thinking, the purity of feeling, and so forth in the future bodies of humankind. Initiates must make use of the form the human body has at any given time. Christ, too, had to use the ordinary form of the human body in his time. Still, when we look deeper we see in him a stage of evolution that humankind will only achieve in the distant future. Christ Jesus was the first born among those who could overcome death.
Let us compare the two ways of developing. The human being is born, goes through a life on earth, dies, goes through an astral condition, through devachan, and is then born again. When we go back to the beings who were present before the Lemurian age we have beings who do not die and are not reborn. They are constantly exchanging sheaths, as we do between physical birth and death. Then a certain revolution enters in. Today, human beings alternate between spiritual and physical life. With the group souls of animals it happens this way: Individual animals discard their bodies but the group souls themselves never die.
If we try to imagine the very highest being, the one who was as highly developed at the beginning as others will be at the end of evolution, then we have the image of Christ. He was the I that was as highly developed at the beginning as the human being will be at the end. “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come ...” (Rev. 1:4) He is the first and the last.
The one who gives the Revelation to John is thus described. It is a Christian book; that is proven by the passage that reads: “... and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first born of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev. 1:5,6)
Christianity represents the greatest possible individualization of the human being, the freedom of the human being as an individual. At the beginning of the human race we see small communities held together by blood ties. Love was limited to those of the same blood. Now Christ Jesus comes and expands all ethnic groups and communities to include all of humanity. All ethnic religions are overcome through him. Christianity is the religion of the world. Within it there are only human beings; Christianity knows only human beings. Christianity would never be able to speak of the community of religions, but only of community of human beings. An age began when the secret mysteries became accessible to everyone through the mystery of Golgotha, which was placed in the center of the world. The chosen priests and kings gradually cease to exist. A final state is pointed to wherein everyone is a priest and a king, a state wherein all distinctions are swept away and all human beings are made equal. Therefore, the Apocalypse speaks of: “... a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father.” (Rev. 1:6)
The book portrays a real initiation, an ascent, to begin with, through learning on the physical plane. This step is portrayed in the words concerning the seven letters to the seven communities. The seven letters present what must first be learned. Then a number of pictures lead us to the astral plane. We see groups of beings undergoing transformation in the astral light: “... and he who sat there appeared like jasper and carnelian, and, round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.” (Rev. 4:3) “And before the throne there is as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.” (Rev. 4:6) The quality and being of the astral light is indicated by the transparency. In the astral light we can see through objects; they appear like glass. The entire astral world is like a glass sea.
The four living creatures then follow; they are to represent the human group souls. They were full of eyes within and without and had no peace day or night. There is constant movement in the astral world—astral eyes are everywhere and everything is transparent to them, both within and all around.
We see how, at first, the mysteries of the physical plane are described and then, out of the sealed book, the astral imaginations. They approach us in pictures.
After the seer has perceived the spiritual beings in the astral light for awhile, they begin to sound forth. This is described in the resounding of the trumpets when the sixth seal is opened. That is the condition of devachan. The seer becomes “clairaudient,” able to hear spiritual sounds—the spiritual ear is opened.
The stage then follows when the seer expands his consciousness over the entire earth. This is indicated in the swallowing of the book. It expresses the ascent into the higher regions of the spiritual worlds.
Zweiter Vortrag
Vor acht Tagen haben wir zunächst einiges vorgebracht zum Verständnis der Sprache des Johannes: wie die Apokalypse zu lesen ist, was sich hinter manchem geheimnisvollen Ausdruck verbirgt, zum Beispiel hinter dem Lamm als dem Tier mit den sieben Augen und den sieben Hörnern. Dann haben wir zu erklären versucht das Tier, welches zwei Hörner und die Zahl 666 hat, als Beispiel dafür, wie wir uns hineinleben müssen in dieses geheimnisvolle Buch. Heute wollen wir uns noch einmal den Sinn dieses Buches vor Augen rücken.
Die Urkunden des Neuen Testamentes sind Initiationsurkunden. An dem Beispiel einzelner Gleichnisse haben wir gesehen, was für einen tiefen Sinn sie enthalten. An all den Gleichnissen hat sich uns gezeigt, daß der denkbar tiefste Sinn über Weltentwickelung in bildlicher Form in den Evangelien ausgesprochen ist. Es könnte jemandem einfallen zu fragen, warum Widersprüche in den einzelnen Evangelien sind, warum sie nicht einander gleichen. In meinem Buche «Das Christentum als mystische Tatsache» ist bereits das darüber Nötige ausgeführt. Die Evangelien sind nicht Urkunden der Biographie des Christus Jesus, sondern Urkunden über die Einweihung. Die Apokalypse aber ist die tiefste Urkunde. Ein Wort, das Augustinus gebraucht hat, ist: Dasjenige, was man jetzt die «Christliche Religion» nennt, ist die uralte wahre Religion. Was die wahre Religion war, das nennt man jetzt christliche Religion.
Wir verstehen dieses Wort, wenn wir uns den Kernsatz des Christentums vor Augen rücken: «Selig sind, die nicht sehen, und doch glauben.» (Joh. 20, 29) Dadurch ist durch das Christentum etwas ganz Neues in die Welt gekommen. Die Lehren sind auch in anderen Religionssystemen enthalten. Aber niemals wurde in den Kreisen, die verstanden, was der «Christus» ist, auf den Inhalt der Lehre der Hauptwert gelegt. Man kann den Inhalt der Lehre auch nachweisen aus anderen Urkunden früherer Zeiten; es handelt sich beim Christus gerade darum, was diese Individualität der Menschheit bedeutet. Wir verschaffen uns am leichtesten Verständnis dafür, wenn wir einen Blick hineinwerfen in die alten Initiationsstätten.
Bis zur Zeit des Christus Jesus waren es nur wenige Auserwählte, die initiiert wurden. Nach schweren Proben wurden sie zugelassen zu den Lehren von den höheren Welten, wie sie jetzt in meinem Buch «Theosophie» stehen. Lange mußte man verweilen, bis man hineingeführt wurde in die höheren Grade des Schauens. Nur die Allereingeweihtesten kannten die Tradition vom Vollzug der Einweihung. Wenn jemand Schüler werden sollte, mußte er als ersten Schritt diesen tun, als zweiten Schritt diesen und so weiter. Die Einweihung schloß damit ab, daß der Schüler durchgemacht hatte die vorbereitenden Stadien und durch den Weisen hinaufgeführt wurde in die Mysterien selbst. Das geschah in einer Art Bewußtseinszustand, den man «Ekstase» nannte, in einem Verweilen außerhalb des physischen Leibes. Er war verknüpft mit einer Herabdämpfung des Bewußtseins, aber zugleich verknüpft mit einem Schauen der geistigen Welten. Durch eine innere Schulung, die durch Willensimpulse, Meditationen, Läuterung der Leidenschaften herbeigeführt wurde, war der Schüler so weit gebracht, daß er den letzten Schritt tun konnte. Dann wurde er von dem Initiator dreiundeinhalb Tage lang in einen Zustand versetzt, wie er bei uns eintritt, wenn wir des Abends einschlafen. Die äußeren Sinneseindrücke verschwanden. Bei uns tritt abends nichts an Stelle dessen, was da verschwindet an Seh- und Hör-Eindrücken; es trat aber bei dem Einzuweihenden eine neue Welt auf. Er war umgeben von einer neuen Welt, einer Welt des astralen Lichtes. Nicht das Dunkle, nichts von dem, was der heutige Mensch während des Schlafes empfindet, trat da auf. Das Dunkle war durchsetzt von einem geistigen Lichte und Wesen, die sich innerhalb des geistigen Lichtes verkörpern. Diese Wesen wurden sichtbar im Astrallicht. Dann, nach einiger Zeit, fing die von Licht durchflossene astralische Welt an, in der Sphärenharmonie zu erklingen. Was früher bloß geschaut werden konnte, das fing an, gehört zu werden; es war eine rein geistige Musik. Die äußere Musik ist nur ein schattenhaftes Abbild der Sphärenklänge, welche der Seher vernimmt, der auch das Innere der geistigen Wesenheiten wahrnimmt. Wenn wir in einen Saal treten und Menschen da sind, die dann anfangen zu sprechen, verraten sie uns ihr Inneres. So ist es in geistigen Welten. Zuerst werden die Wesen sichtbar, dann spricht das Innere der Wesen zu uns. Das ist die Sphärenharmonie.
Dann, wenn der Initiierte zum physischen Schauen zurückgeführt wurde, dann empfand er sich völlig verwandelt als ein neuer Mensch. Jeder, der so zurückkehrte, hat dann einen bestimmten Satz geäußert, der typisch war. Er lautete: «Mein Gott, mein Gott, wie hast du mich verherrlicht!» (Vgl. Mt. 27, 46 u. Mk. 15, 34)
So kam er wieder, ein Künder der geistigen Welt aus eigener Erfahrung, aus eigenen Erlebnissen heraus. Er wurde dann angesehen als ein Bote aus den geistigen Welten. Was sie erlebt hatten, bis sie eintraten in geistige Welten, war Stufe für Stufe genau vorgeschrieben.
Wenn auch die Einweihungsriten nicht genau aufgeschrieben waren, so gab es doch solche Einweihungskanons, worin all die Stufen vorgeschrieben waren. Ob nach der ägyptischen Hermesschulung, ob nach der persischen Schule, ob nach den griechischen Mysterien, ob bei den Druiden- oder Drottenmysterien, überall waren typische, traditionelle Vorschriften über das, was der zu erleben hatte, der ein Eingeweihter werden sollte: Erleben sollte er nämlich, daß das Leben im Geiste den Tod besiegen wird. Diese Einweihungsbücher enthielten das, was durchzumachen war.
Wo das Leben der großen Religions- und Weltanschauungs-Apostel geschildert wird, treten immer typische, ähnliche Züge auf. Das Leben des Orpheus, des Pythagoras, des Hermes, des Buddha, haben viele gemeinsame Züge, auf die es ankommt bei allen großen Religionshelden. Woher kommt das? Die äußeren Forscher haben geglaubt, daß einer von den anderen entlehnt habe. Aber so war es nicht. Jedoch alle diese typischen Religionshelden hatten diese Stufen durchgemacht bis zur höchsten Einweihungsstufe. In alten Zeiten gab es keine Biographien, wo man auf das äußere Leben Rücksicht nimmt. Je weiter wir hinter die Zeitenwende zurückgehen, desto weniger finden wir Wert gelegt auf das Äußere. Bei den allergrößten Helden der Menschheit erzählte man überhaupt nicht, was sie äußerlich auf dem physischen Plan erlebten. Ihr Leben war ganz und gar der Einweihung gewidmet. Erzählte man die Einweihung, so erzählte man ihr Leben. Die Hauptsache bei einem Hermes, einem Buddha war dasjenige, was er bis zur Einweihung erlebte. Da die Stufen der Einweihung sich überall ähnlich waren, mußte man eine geistige Beschreibung des Lebens der großen Eingeweihten bekommen.
Was früher nur erlebt war im Geheimen, das war im Christentum geschichtliche Tatsache geworden. Hermes hatte durchlebt, was man von ihm beschreiben konnte, in den inneren Mysterien, in Stätten, die sich dem profanen Blick entzogen.
Im Christentum war nun zum ersten Male erlebt worden als ein äußeres physisches Ereignis, was sich sonst in den Mysterienstätten vollzogen hatte. Der Christus-Lebensgang ist derselbe Lebensgang, der von allen Eingeweihten erlebt worden war, als sie zuerst den Ätherleib aus dem physischen Leibe herausgehoben gehabt hatten. Alles das, was physisch erlebt wurde von dem Christus Jesus auf dem physischen Plan, hatten sie im Ätherischen erlebt. Die letzten Worte waren auch bei diesen: «Mein Gott, mein Gott, wie hast du mich verherrlicht!» Sie hatten früher im Ätherleib das erlebt, was der Christus Jesus nun im physischen Leibe erlebte. So war es geschehen, daß die Weissagungen der Propheten erfüllt waren. Dieses einmalige Freignis bildet den größten Einschnitt in unsere Weltgeschichte und teilt sie in zwei Teile.
Die Evangelisten haben nicht eine äußere Biographie geschrieben, sondern die vorhandenen kanonischen Einweihungsbücher genommen. Alle vier Evangelien sind als Initiationsschriften anzusehen, von vier verschiedenen Seiten her. Da aber die Initiation überall gleich geschildert ist, stimmen die vier Evangelien in den wichtigsten Dingen überein. Das Leben des Eingeweihten können wir beschreiben, wenn wir es betrachten als ein Leben, das der Einweihung gewidmet war. Unheilig wäre es den Evangelisten erschienen, von dem Christus Jesus eine äußere historische Biographie zu geben. Die Bausteine zu ihren Schriften mußten sie nehmen aus den Mysterienbüchern selber. So war in gewissem Grade erfüllt, was die Propheten hatten voraussagen können.
Die Apokalypse stellt in einer gewissen Beziehung eine neue Art der Einweihung dar, stellt dar, wie die alten Mysterien verwandelt wurden in die christlichen. Wenn wir in die alten Mysterien zurückblicken, so sehen wir in ihnen einen mehr oder weniger einheitlichen Zug. Der bestand in folgendem: Ob wir hinübergehen nach Ägypten, oder nach Persien, oder nach Indien, ob wir uns vertiefen in die orphischen oder die eleusinischen Mysterien, wir finden da Übereinstimmung in einem Zug: einen prophetischen Hinweis auf Einen, der kommen soll. Auch bei den nordischen europäischen Mysterien war dieser Zug: Es war ein uralter Eingeweihter, den man dort mit dem Namen «Sig» bezeichnete. Die Drottenmysterien, die in Rußland und Skandinavien waren, die Druidenmysterien in Germanien, alle stammten ab von einem Eingeweihten mit dem Namen Sig, der da war der Begründer der nordischen Mysterien. Was in den Mysterien geschehen ist, hat sich erhalten in den verschiedenen Mythen und Sagen des deutschen Volkes und anderer germanischer Völker. Die Mythen und Sagen sind bildliche Darstellungen von dem, was das erlebt worden ist. In der Siegfriedsage zeigt sich am ausgeprägtesten jener Zug, der hinzielt nach einem Ende. Er drückt sich aus, mythologisiert, in der Götterdämmerung. Das ist der Zug in allen nordischen Mysterien.
In aller Mystik wurde für die Seele das Bild des Weiblichen gebraucht, das Goethe auch gebraucht im «Chorus mysticus». Es ist das Ewige im Menschen, die göttliche Seele, die den Menschen hinanzieht. Wie im alten Ägypten und Persien die Einweihung beschrieben wurde als die Vereinigung der Seele mit dem Geistigen, so wurde es auch hier im Norden geschildert. Hier im Norden verstand man am besten, daß der Mensch seinen Mann auf dem Kampffelde stellt. Bei denen, die etwas galten im Norden, war es so, daß man sie ehrte als Krieger, die auf dem Kampffelde fielen; das waren die, die ins ewige Leben eingingen, die anderen starben den Strohtod, Die gefallenen Krieger wurden empfangen von den Walküren, der eigenen Seele; die Vereinigung mit der Walküre war die Vereinigung mit dem Ewigen. Von Siegfried nun erzählt man, er habe sich hier auf Erden schon mit der Walküre vereinigt; das zeigt an, daß er ein Eingeweihter war. Der Sinn der Erzählung, daß Siegfried die Vereinigung mit der Walküre schon auf Erden erlebt, ist, daß er ein Eingeweihter war. Eines kündet uns diese Sage bei dem 'Tode Siegfrieds. Wenn man in den alten Mysterien die Einweihung erlebte, wurde einem gesagt: Wir können dich bis zu einem gewissen Punkt bringen... weiter kann dich nur ein anderer bringen — dieser andere ist der Christus Jesus -; alles, was wir dir geben können, wird verdunkelt werden, wenn der kommt, der die neue Einweihung bringt. — Siegfried ist auf dem Rücken verwundbar für Hagen, weil da noch nicht dasjenige gelegen hat, was an jener Stelle liegen wird bei dem, der ablösen wird die alte Einweihung. Diese Stelle wird einst unverwundbar gemacht werden, wenn das Kreuz darauf gelegen haben wird. So wies man in den nordischen Mysterien auf den Christus Jesus hin.
In allen alten Mysterien sah man hin auf den, der da kommen sollte, der da leben wird auf dem physischen Plan, um eine neue Weltordnung zu begründen. Was geschehen sollte durch die Impulse, die er gegeben hat, das ist die neue Einweihung. Davon finden wir eine Darstellung in der Apokalypse. Sie sagt, wie die Einweihung sich abspielen wird, bis der Christus Jesus wiederkehren wird in einer neuen Gestalt. Die Apokalypse ist ein Hinweis auf die Zeit, wo das Organ für die Aufnahme des Christus entwickelt sein wird. Die Zeit bis zu dem wiederherankommenden Christus Jesus wird geschildert in der Apokalypse. Wir verstehen die einzelnen Worte, wenn wir uns versetzen in die Gesinnung dessen, der eine solche Einweihung erlebt hat. Erinnern wir uns hier an das Christus-Wort — wenn wir das verstehen, dann werden wir auch die Apokalypse verstehen -, es ist das Wort: «Ehe Abraham ward, bin ich.» (Joh. 8, 58) - Der Christus richtet seinen Blick von der Vergangenheit zur Gegenwart hinüber, weil für ihn eine ewige Gegenwart besteht.
Wenn wir verstehen wollen, was damit gemeint ist, brauchen wir uns nur an den viergliedrigen Menschen zu erinnern. Der besteht aus den vier Gliedern: dem physischen Leib, dem Ätherleib, dem Astralleib und dem Ich. Wenn das Ich aufglänzt im Laufe der Entwickelung, dann verändert sich der Astralleib und der Ätherleib und zuletzt auch der physische Leib: dieses Ich ist für die Ewigkeit da; es ist herausgeboren aus dem Schoß der höheren Geistigkeit. Ob wir in die Vergangenheit oder in die Zukunft blicken, dieses Ich ist das Ewige. Betrachten wir den einzelnen Menschen, so können wir uns fragen: Welche Wandlungen hat wohl sein Ich durchgemacht? Wenn wir zurückblicken zur großen atlantischen Flut, und dann weiter zurück, finden wir nicht das Ich in einem solchen Leibe, wie der jetzige ist; es war damals ein Zustand, in dem wir noch nicht so gut denken konnten wie jetzt. Wenn wir in die Zukunft blicken, so finden wir das Ich in immer vollkommeneren Leibern, die wir uns jetzt durch unser Denken noch gar nicht in ihrer Vollkommenheit vorstellen können. Von der Vollkommenheit des Denkens, der Reinheit des Fühlens und so weiter in den zukünftigen Leibern können wir uns jetzt keine Vorstellung machen. Diejenigen, die Eingeweihte sind, müssen ja die Gestaltung des Menschen benützen, so wie sie gerade zu der Zeit ist. Auch der Christus mußte die Gestalt benutzen, die damals die übliche war; doch wenn wir tiefer dahinter blicken, so sehen wir in ihm eine Entwickelungsstufe, welche die Menschheit erst in ferner Zukunft erreichen wird. Der Christus Jesus war der Erstgeborene unter denen, die den Tod überwinden können.
Vergleichen wir die zwei Entwickelungsarten. Jetzt wird der Mensch geboren, geht durch einen Lebenslauf hindurch, stirbt, geht durch einen astralen Zustand hindurch, durch das Devachan, und wird dann wiedergeboren. Wenn wir zu den Wesen zurückgehen, die vor der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit da waren, so sind es Wesen, die nicht sterben und wiedergeboren werden. Sie tauschen fortwährend die Hüllen um, wie wir es tun zwischen der physischen Geburt und dem physischen Tode. Dann tritt eine gewisse Revolution ein. Es wechselt das geistige und das physische Leben ab beim jetzigen Menschen. Bei den Gruppenseelen der Tiere ist es so, daß sie die einzelnen Tiere abwerfen, sie selbst vergehen aber nicht.
Wenn wir das allerhöchste Wesen, dasjenige, welches im Anfang so hoch entwickelt war, wie die andern am Ende der Entwickelung sein werden, uns vorzustellen suchen, dann haben wir das Bild des Christus: Er war das Ich, das schon im Anfang so vollkommen war, wie es der Mensch am Ende sein wird. «Gnade sei mit euch, und Friede von dem, der da ist, und der da war, und der da kommt...» (Apk. 1, 4) Er ist der Erste und der Letzte.
So wird der beschrieben, der die Offenbarung dem Johannes gibt. Es ist ein christliches Buch; das beweist jene Stelle, die da heißt: «...und von Jesu Christo, welcher ist der treue Zeuge und Erstgeborne von den Toten und der Fürst der Könige auf Erden. Der uns geliebet hat und gewaschen von den Sünden mit seinem Blut, und hat uns zu Königen und Priestern gemacht vor Gott und seinem Vater, demselbigen sei Ehre und Gewalt von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit! Amen.» (Apk. 1,5 u. 6)
Das Christentum stellt dar die höchstmögliche Individualisierung des Menschen, die Freiheit des Menschen als Individuum. Am Anfang des Menschengeschlechtes erblicken wir kleine Gemeinschaften, die durch Blutsbande verbunden sind. Was gleiches Blut hat, das liebt sich. Nun kommt der Christus Jesus und dehnt alle Volksgemeinschaften aus über die ganze Menschheit. Alle Volksreligionen werden durch ihn überwunden. Das Christentum ist Weltreligion. In ihm gibt es nur Menschen; das Christentum kennt nur Menschen. Das Christentum würde niemals sprechen können von der Gemeinschaft der Religionen, sondern von der Gemeinschaft der Menschen. Es fing eine Zeit an, wo allen zugänglich wurden die geheimen Mysterien durch das Mysterium von Golgatha, das hingestellt ist in den Mittelpunkt der Welt. Es hören allmählich auf zu bestehen alle diejenigen, die als auserwählte Priester und Könige da sind. Es wird hingewiesen auf einen Endzustand, in dem jeder Priester und König ist, auf einen Zustand, der alle Unterschiede hinwegfegt, der die Menschen einander gleich macht. Deshalb spricht die Apokalypse davon: «... und hat uns zu Königen und Priestern gemacht vor Gott und seinem Vater...» (Apk. 1, 6)
Das Buch stellt eine wirkliche Einweihung dar, ein Hinaufsteigen zunächst durch Lernen auf dem physischen Plan. Diese Stufe wird dargestellt, wo gesprochen wird von den sieben Briefen an die sieben Gemeinden. Die sieben Briefe stellen dar, was man zuerst zu lernen hat. Dann folgt eine Anzahl von Bildern; die führen uns hin auf den Astralplan. Dann sieht man Gruppen von Wesenheiten, die sich im Astrallicht verwandeln: «...und der da saß, war gleich anzusehen wie der Stein Jaspis und Sarder; und ein Regenbogen war um den Stuhl, gleich anzusehen wie ein Smaragd.» (Apk. 4, 3) - «Und vor dem Stuhl war ein gläsern Meer, gleich dem Kristall...» (Apk. 4, 6) Durch das Transparente wird angedeutet das Wesen des Astrallichtes. Im Astrallicht sieht man durch die Gegenstände hindurch, sie erscheinen gläsern. Die ganze Astralwelt ist wie ein gläsernes Meer.
Dann folgen die vier Tiere; die sollen darstellen die menschlichen Gruppenseelen. Sie waren außen und inwendig voll Augen und hatten keine Ruhe Tag und Nacht...: weil im Astralen fortwährende Bewegung ist und weil die astralen Augen überall sind und alles durchsichtig ist für sie, inwendig und ringsherum.
Wir sehen also, wie zunächst die Geheimnisse des physischen Planes geschildert werden und dann aus dem verschlossenen Buche heraus die astralen Imaginationen. Sie treten uns in Bildern entgegen.
Wenn der Seher die geistigen Wesenheiten eine Zeitlang im Astrallicht wahrgenommen hat, dann fangen sie an zu tönen. Als das sechste Siegel eröffnet wird, wird das geschildert in dem Ertönen der Posaunen. Das ist der devachanische Zustand: Der Seher wird hellhörend, sein hellhörendes Ohr wird aufgeschlossen.
Dann folgt die Stufe, wo der Schauende sein Bewußtsein über die ganze Welt erweitert. Dies wird angedeutet im Verschlingen des Buches. Es drückt aus das Hinaufsteigen in die Region der höheren geistigen Welten.
Second Lecture
Eight days ago, we began by presenting some ideas for understanding the language of John: how to read the Apocalypse, what lies behind some of its mysterious expressions, for example, behind the lamb as the beast with seven eyes and seven horns. Then we tried to explain the beast with two horns and the number 666 as an example of how we must immerse ourselves in this mysterious book. Today we want to once again focus on the meaning of this book.
The documents of the New Testament are initiation documents. Using individual parables as examples, we have seen what a profound meaning they contain. All the parables have shown us that the deepest possible meaning of world development is expressed in pictorial form in the Gospels. Someone might ask why there are contradictions in the individual Gospels, why they are not the same. In my book Christianity as Mystical Fact, I have already explained what is necessary in this regard. The Gospels are not documents of the biography of Jesus Christ, but documents of initiation. The Apocalypse, however, is the deepest document. Augustine used the following words: What we now call the “Christian religion” is the ancient true religion. What was the true religion is now called the Christian religion.
We understand this word when we consider the central statement of Christianity: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29). Through Christianity, something entirely new has come into the world. The teachings are also found in other religious systems. But in the circles that understood what “Christ” is, the main value was never placed on the content of the teachings. The content of the teachings can also be proven from other documents of earlier times; Christ is precisely what this individuality of humanity means. We can most easily understand this by taking a look at the ancient initiation centers.
Until the time of Christ Jesus, only a few chosen ones were initiated. After severe trials, they were admitted to the teachings of the higher worlds, as they now stand in my book “Theosophy.” One had to wait a long time before being introduced to the higher degrees of vision. Only the most initiated knew the tradition of the initiation process. If someone wanted to become a disciple, they had to take this first step, then this second step, and so on. The initiation was completed when the disciple had gone through the preparatory stages and was led up by the wise man into the mysteries themselves. This happened in a kind of state of consciousness called “ecstasy,” in a state of being outside the physical body. It was associated with a dulling of consciousness, but at the same time with a vision of the spiritual worlds. Through inner training brought about by will impulses, meditation, and purification of the passions, the student was brought to the point where he could take the final step. Then, for three and a half days, the initiator put him into a state similar to the one we enter when we fall asleep in the evening. The external sensory impressions disappeared. In our case, nothing replaces the visual and auditory impressions that disappear in the evening, but a new world appeared to the initiate. He was surrounded by a new world, a world of astral light. Not the darkness, nothing of what modern man experiences during sleep, appeared there. The darkness was permeated by a spiritual light and beings who embody themselves within the spiritual light. These beings became visible in the astral light. Then, after some time, the astral world, flooded with light, began to resound in the harmony of the spheres. What could previously only be seen began to be heard; it was pure spiritual music. Outer music is only a shadowy reflection of the sounds of the spheres, which are heard by the seer who also perceives the inner being of spiritual entities. When we enter a room and there are people there who begin to speak, they reveal their inner selves to us. It is the same in spiritual worlds. First the beings become visible, then the inner being of the beings speaks to us. This is the harmony of the spheres.
Then, when the initiate was brought back to physical vision, he felt completely transformed, like a new person. Everyone who returned in this way uttered a certain phrase that was typical. It was: “My God, my God, how you have glorified me!” (cf. Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).
Thus he returned, a herald of the spiritual world from his own experience, from his own adventures. He was then regarded as a messenger from the spiritual worlds. What they had experienced until they entered the spiritual worlds was precisely prescribed, step by step.
Even if the initiation rites were not precisely written down, there were initiation canons in which all the steps were prescribed. Whether according to the Egyptian Hermetic teachings, the Persian school, the Greek mysteries, the Druid or Drotten mysteries, everywhere there were typical, traditional rules about what had to be experienced by those who wanted to become initiates: namely, they had to experience that life in the spirit will conquer death. These initiation books contained what had to be gone through.
Wherever the lives of the great apostles of religion and worldview are described, typical, similar traits always appear. The lives of Orpheus, Pythagoras, Hermes, and Buddha have many common traits that are important in all great religious heroes. Where does this come from? External researchers have believed that one borrowed from the other. But that was not the case. However, all these typical religious heroes had gone through these stages up to the highest stage of initiation. In ancient times, there were no biographies that took the outer life into account. The further back we go in time, the less value we find placed on the outer. In the case of the greatest heroes of humanity, nothing was said at all about what they experienced outwardly on the physical plane. Their lives were entirely devoted to initiation. When their initiation was recounted, their lives were recounted. The main thing about a Hermes or a Buddha was what he experienced up to the point of initiation. Since the stages of initiation were similar everywhere, it was necessary to obtain a spiritual description of the lives of the great initiates.
What had previously only been experienced in secret had become historical fact in Christianity. Hermes had lived through what could be described about him in the inner mysteries, in places hidden from the profane gaze.
In Christianity, what had previously taken place in the mystery centers was now experienced for the first time as an external physical event. The life of Christ is the same life that had been experienced by all the initiates when they first lifted their etheric bodies out of their physical bodies. Everything that was physically experienced by Christ Jesus on the physical plane, they had experienced in the etheric. The last words were also these: “My God, my God, how have you glorified me!” They had previously experienced in the etheric body what Christ Jesus now experienced in the physical body. Thus it came about that the prophecies of the prophets were fulfilled. This unique event forms the greatest turning point in our world history and divides it into two parts.
The evangelists did not write an external biography, but took the existing canonical initiation books. All four Gospels are to be regarded as initiation writings from four different perspectives. But since the initiation is described in the same way everywhere, the four Gospels agree on the most important points. We can describe the life of the initiate if we regard it as a life dedicated to initiation. It would have seemed unholy to the evangelists to give an external historical biography of Christ Jesus. They had to take the building blocks for their writings from the mystery books themselves. In this way, what the prophets had foretold was fulfilled to a certain extent.
The Apocalypse represents, in a certain sense, a new kind of initiation, showing how the ancient mysteries were transformed into the Christian ones. When we look back at the ancient mysteries, we see in them a more or less uniform feature. It consisted in the following: whether we go to Egypt, Persia, or India, whether we delve into the Orphic or Eleusinian mysteries, we find agreement in one feature: a prophetic reference to One who is to come. This trait was also present in the Nordic European mysteries: there was an ancient initiate who was called “Sig.” The Drotten mysteries in Russia and Scandinavia and the Druid mysteries in Germania all originated from an initiate named Sig, who was the founder of the Nordic mysteries. What happened in the mysteries has been preserved in the various myths and legends of the German people and other Germanic peoples. The myths and legends are pictorial representations of what was experienced. The Siegfried saga most clearly reveals the trait that points toward an end. It is expressed, mythologized, in the Twilight of the Gods. This is the trait found in all Nordic mysteries.
In all mysticism, the image of the feminine was used for the soul, which Goethe also uses in the “Chorus mysticus.” It is the eternal in man, the divine soul, that draws man upward. Just as in ancient Egypt and Persia, initiation was described as the union of the soul with the spiritual, so it was also described here in the North. Here in the North, it was best understood that man proves himself on the battlefield. Those who were respected in the North were honored as warriors who fell on the battlefield; they were the ones who entered eternal life, while the others died a straw death. The fallen warriors were received by the Valkyries, their own souls; union with the Valkyrie was union with the eternal. Now, it is said that Siegfried had already united with the Valkyrie here on earth; this indicates that he was an initiate. The meaning of the story that Siegfried experienced union with the Valkyrie already on earth is that he was an initiate. This legend tells us something about the death of Siegfried. When one experienced initiation in the ancient mysteries, one was told: We can bring you to a certain point... only another can bring you further — this other is Christ Jesus —; everything we can give you will be obscured when he comes who brings the new initiation. Siegfried is vulnerable to Hagen on his back because what will be there in that place when the one who will replace the old initiation comes has not yet been placed there. This place will one day be made invulnerable when the cross has been placed there. This is how the Nordic mysteries pointed to Christ Jesus.
In all ancient mysteries, people looked to the one who was to come, who would live on the physical plane to establish a new world order. What was to happen through the impulses he gave is the new initiation. We find a description of this in the Apocalypse. It tells how the initiation will take place until Christ Jesus returns in a new form. The Apocalypse is a reference to the time when the organ for receiving Christ will have been developed. The time until the return of Christ Jesus is described in the Apocalypse. We understand the individual words when we put ourselves in the mindset of someone who has experienced such an initiation. Let us remember here the words of Christ—if we understand them, we will also understand the Apocalypse—the words: “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58) — Christ directs his gaze from the past to the present, because for him there is an eternal present.
If we want to understand what this means, we need only remember the fourfold human being. It consists of four members: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the I. When the I shines forth in the course of evolution, the astral body and the etheric body change, and finally the physical body also changes: this I is there for eternity; it is born out of the womb of higher spirituality. Whether we look into the past or into the future, this I is the eternal. If we consider the individual human being, we may ask ourselves: What changes has his ego undergone? If we look back to the great Atlantean flood, and then further back, we do not find the ego in a body like the one we have now; at that time, it was in a state in which we were not yet able to think as well as we do now. When we look into the future, we find the I in ever more perfect bodies, which we cannot yet imagine in their perfection through our thinking. We cannot now form any idea of the perfection of thinking, the purity of feeling, and so on in future bodies. Those who are initiated must use the form of the human being as it is at the present time. Even Christ had to use the form that was customary at that time; but when we look deeper behind it, we see in him a stage of development that humanity will only reach in the distant future. Christ Jesus was the firstborn among those who can overcome death.
Let us compare the two types of development. Now man is born, goes through a life cycle, dies, passes through an astral state, through Devachan, and is then reborn. If we go back to the beings that existed before the middle of the Lemurian period, they are beings that do not die and are not reborn. They continually change their shells, as we do between physical birth and physical death. Then a certain revolution takes place. The spiritual and physical life alternate in the present human being. With the group souls of animals, it is so that they shed the individual animals, but they themselves do not perish.
When we try to imagine the highest being, the one who was as highly developed in the beginning as the others will be at the end of their development, we have the image of Christ: He was the I that was already as perfect in the beginning as man will be at the end. “Grace be with you, and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come...” (Rev. 1:4) He is the first and the last.
This is how the one who gives the revelation to John is described. It is a Christian book; this is proven by the passage that says: “...and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. He loved us and washed us from our sins with his blood, and made us kings and priests to God and his Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” (Rev. 1:5-6)
Christianity represents the highest possible individualization of man, the freedom of man as an individual. At the beginning of the human race, we see small communities bound together by blood ties. Those who share the same blood love one another. Then Jesus Christ comes and extends all communities of people to the whole of humanity. All folk religions are overcome by him. Christianity is a world religion. In it there are only human beings; Christianity knows only human beings. Christianity could never speak of a community of religions, but only of a community of human beings. A time began when the secret mysteries became accessible to all through the mystery of Golgotha, which is placed at the center of the world. All those who are there as chosen priests and kings are gradually ceasing to exist. Reference is made to a final state in which everyone is a priest and a king, to a state that sweeps away all differences and makes people equal to one another. That is why the Apocalypse says: “... and has made us kings and priests before God and his Father...” (Rev. 1:6)
The book represents a real initiation, an ascent, initially through learning on the physical plane. This stage is represented by the seven letters to the seven churches. The seven letters represent what must first be learned. Then follows a number of images that lead us to the astral plane. Then we see groups of beings transforming themselves in the astral light: “...and he who sat there was like a jasper stone, and a rainbow was around the throne, like an emerald stone.” (Rev. 4:3) - “And before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal...” (Rev. 4:6) The transparency indicates the nature of astral light. In astral light, one sees through objects; they appear glassy. The entire astral world is like a sea of glass.
Then follow the four beasts, which represent the human group souls. They were full of eyes, both inside and out, and did not rest day or night...: because there is constant movement in the astral world and because the astral eyes are everywhere and everything is transparent to them, both inside and around them.
We see, then, how first the secrets of the physical plane are described, and then the astral imaginations emerge from the closed book. They appear to us in images.
When the seer has perceived the spiritual beings in the astral light for a while, they begin to sound. When the sixth seal is opened, this is described in the sounding of the trumpets. This is the devachanic state: the seer becomes clairaudient, his clairaudient ear is opened.
Then follows the stage where the seer expands his consciousness over the whole world. This is indicated by the devouring of the book. It expresses the ascent into the region of the higher spiritual worlds.