The Ego: The God Within and the God of External Revelation
GA 117
4 December 1909, Munich
I. Group-soulness and Ego-hood.
Today we shall occupy ourselves with a general theme, and indeed with the question of the significance and the tasks of anthroposophically orientated spiritual science in the present, and then, on Tuesday, with a more individual theme concerning individual destiny and being.
We have indeed often emphasised that Anthroposophy has a special task and significance for mankind in the present age. Whoever occupies himself with anthroposophy as a thinking human being must put this question again and again to himself: What aims does this spiritual movement pursue, and how are they related to the other tasks of our age? These tasks can be illuminated from the most diverse points of view, as we have often done. Today we will try to grasp the evolutionary path of mankind at that point on which we ourselves stand, to look a little into the future, and then ask ourselves: What task has anthroposophy with especial reference to the evolutionary stage of mankind at which we stand at present?
We know that since the great Atlantean Catastrophe, which entirely transformed the earth as man's dwelling-place, up to our own time, five great epochs of civilisation are to be distinguished. We have often designated these five epochs of culture as the old Indian, old Persian, the Chaldaic-Egyptian, the Greco-Latin epoch, and then the epoch in which we ourselves stand, the fifth, which prepared itself in—let us say—the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries, and in the middle of which we now are. We must be clear that such divisions are naturally not meant as if any one epoch of evolution sharply came to an end, and then a new one began, but that the one gradually and slowly passes over into the other, and long before one such epoch has run its course, the new one already prepares itself within it.
Thus we can say of our own epoch of culture, of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch: there is already now being prepared, and indeed in a very significant way, that which will constitute the real characteristic of the sixth epoch of civilisation. And in general, human beings of our present age will separate themselves into two parts: those who today form no idea of all this, who know nothing of the preparation of the sixth epoch, who live as it were blindly, for the day, and those who form ideas for themselves that something new is preparing, and who also know that what is being prepared is fundamentally something which must be accomplished through human beings, must be prepared by mankind. We can in a certain connection place ourselves in the time as a human being and say we are doing what is generally the custom, what the others do, what our parents have educated us for, or, we can so place ourselves that we know consciously the following: “If you will consciously be a link in the chain of humanity, then you must do something—either in yourself or in your environment—which contributes to what must come, i.e., to prepare the sixth period of culture as much as in you lies.” The possibility of thus making preparations for the sixth period of culture can only be understood by entering a little into the character of our own epoch. For this, the comparative method offers itself as the best.
We know that these epochs of time are essentially different from each other, and in the course of years, in our anthroposophical movement, we have brought forward various characteristics whereby they are distinguished. We have pointed to the old Indian Period of civilisation, and have shown that the soul-qualities of man then were different from what they later were, how man then was still endowed to a high degree with clairvoyant consciousness. And we have shown that evolution through the following epochs consisted in man losing this clairvoyance ever more and more, and having to limit his power of perception and understanding more and more to the physical world. We have seen how the fourth epoch of civilisation was slowly prepared, in which man, as it were, appeared entirely in the physical world, so that that Being Whom we call Christ Jesus could incarnate in the physical world as a being, as a human being of the physical world. We have then seen how since that time, through a certain stream, the following appeared: how all human powers strengthened themselves still further in the physical world, how indeed the materialistic tendency of our age, the whole urge of man only to hold as valid what offers itself in the physical surrounding world, is connected with a further descent of man into the physical world. But by no means should things remain thus in evolution. Humanity must ascend again into the spiritual world, ascend with all the attainments men have acquired, with all the fruits of the physical world. And Anthroposophy should be just that which can bring to people the possibility of again ascending into the spiritual world.
Now we can say: “Immediately after the great Atlantean catastrophe, there were numerous human beings who knew through their direct powers of perception: Around us is a spiritual world. We live in a spiritual world.” Fewer and fewer became the human beings who knew this; more and more were the powers of man limited to the perception of the senses. But if, on the one hand, today, the power of perception for the spiritual world is the least conceivable, yet, on the other hand, something is preparing in our age which is so significant that already for a great number of people, quite different faculties will exist in that incarnation which follows the present one. As the faculties of man have changed during the five epochs of culture, so they will also change into the sixth, and a great number of people today will clearly show already in their next incarnation through their whole mood of soul, that their faculties have essentially changed. Today, we will make clear to ourselves how different these souls of human beings will be in the future, with a great number already in the next incarnation, with others, in the incarnation following.
We could also look back in another way into past epochs of human evolution. Then we would see that the farther we go back to the ancient clairvoyance, at the same time, the more we have united with the human soul, what one can call the character of group-soulness [Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit]. It has often been pointed out to you that the consciousness of the group-soulness was existing in the ancient Hebrew people in an eminent degree. He who felt himself—really consciously felt himself as a member of the ancient Hebrew people—said to himself—especial attention has been drawn to this—” As an individual man I am a transitory phenomenon, but in me lives something that has an immediate connection with all the soul-being which has streamed down since the racial father Abraham.” A member of the old Hebrew people felt that. We can indeed esoterically admit as a spiritual phenomenon what was thus felt by the old Hebrew people. We understand better what then happened if we keep the following in mind.
Let us consider an old Hebrew initiate. Although initiation was not so frequent among the ancient Hebrews as among other peoples, we could not characterise such a real initiate otherwise—not merely one initiated into the theories and the Law, but an initiate really seeing in the spiritual worlds—than by taking into consideration the entire racial peculiarity. It is the custom today in external science, which busies itself with documents without any misgiving, to take everywhere what stands in the Old Testament, to test it by all kinds of external records, and then find it unsubstantiated. We shall have occasion to point out that the Old Testament gives the facts more faithfully than external historical records. In any case, spiritual science shows that a blood relationship of the Hebrew people can really be demonstrated back to the racial father Abraham, and that the assumption of Abraham as racial father is fully justified. This was something especially known in the old Hebrew secret schools: Such an individuality, such a soul-being as that of Abraham, was not merely incarnated as Abraham, but is an eternal being, who remained existing in the spiritual world. And in truth a real initiate was inspired by the same spirit, as he who inspired Abraham, and he could testify for him of himself, that he was permeated by the same soul-nature as Abraham. There was a real connection between every initiate and the racial father Abraham. We must hold that fast: that expressed itself in the feeling of membership of the old Hebrew people. That was a kind of group-soulness. One felt what expressed itself in Abraham as the group-soul of the people. One felt group-souls similarly in the rest of humanity. Mankind in general goes back to group-souls. The farther we go back in human evolution, the less do we find expressed the single individuality. That which we still find today in the animal kingdom: that a whole group belongs together—that was existing among mankind, and appears ever clearer and clearer, the farther we go back to ancient times. Groups of human beings then belonged together, and the group-soul was essentially stronger than what constituted the individual soul in the single human being.
We can now say: Today in our time, the group-soulness of people is still not yet overcome, and whoever believes that it is completely overcome does not keep in mind certain finer phenomena of life. Whoever keeps it in mind will very quickly see that certain human beings not only appear alike in their physiognomy, but that also the soul-qualities are similar in groups of human beings: that one can, as it were, divide human beings into categories. Each person can still today be reckoned into a certain category; with reference to this or the other quality, he will belong perhaps to different categories, but a certain group-soulness is not only valid because the races exist, but also in other connections. The boundaries drawn between the single nations fall away more and more; but other groupings are still perceptible. Certain basic characteristics stand so connected in some people, that he who will only look, can still today perceive the last relics of the group-soulness of man.
Now we, in our present age, are living in the most eminent sense, in a transition. All group-soulness has gradually to be stripped off. Just as the gaps between single nations gradually disappear, as the single parts of different nations understand each other better, so also will other group-soul qualities be shed, and the individual nature of each single person come to the foreground more and more.
We have therewith characterised something quite essential in evolution. If we want to grasp it from another side, we can say: That idea whereby the group-soulness chiefly expresses itself loses meaning ever more and more in the evolution of mankind, i.e., the idea of race. If we go back beyond the great Atlantean catastrophe, we see how the human races are prepared. In the old Atlantean age human beings were grouped according to external characteristics in their bodily structure, far more strongly than today. What we call races today are only the relics of those important distinctions between human beings as were customary in old Atlantis. The idea of race is only really applicable to old Atlantis. Since we deal with a real evolution of mankind, we have never employed the idea of race in the most eminent sense for the post-Atlantean age. We do not speak of an Indian race, a Persian race, etc., because that is no longer correct. We speak of an old-Indian period of civilisation, of an old-Persian period of civilisation, etc. And it would be utterly devoid of sense if we would speak of our time preparing a sixth race. If relics of the old Atlantean distinctions, of their group-soulness, are still existing in our time, so that one can still say the racial division continues to work on—that which is preparing for the sixth period of time consists just in the character of race being stripped off. That is the essential. Therefore it is necessary that that movement which is called the anthroposophical movement, which should prepare the sixth period of time, adopts in its basic character this stripping off of the character of race—that especially it seeks to unite people out of all “races,” out of all nations, and in this way bridges over these differences, these distinctions, these gaps, which are existing between various groups of human beings. For the old racial standpoint had in a certain connection a physical character, whereas what will fulfil itself in the future will have a much more spiritual character. Therefore it is so urgently necessary to understand that our anthroposophical movement is a spiritual one, which looks to the spirit, and overcomes just that which arises from physical distinctions, through the force of a spiritual movement, It is, of course, thoroughly comprehensible that any movement has, as it were, its childish illnesses, and that in the beginning of the theosophical movement, matters were so represented as if the earth fell into seven periods of time—they were called Root-races—and each of these Root-races into seven sub-races, and that would always repeat itself, so that one could always speak of seven races, and seven sub-races, etc. But one must get beyond the illnesses of childhood, and be clear that the idea of race ceases to have any meaning, especially in our age.
Something else, in addition, is being prepared—something connected with the individuality of man in a quite special way—in man becoming ever more and more individual. It is only a question of this occurring in the right sense, and the anthroposophical movement should serve to this end, that human beings become individualities—or we could also say personalities—in the right sense. How can it do this?
Here we must look to the most striking new quality of man's soul, which is preparing. The question is often put: Well, if reincarnation exists, why does a person not remember the former incarnations? That is a question which I have often answered. Such a question appears as when one brings along a four-year-old child, and because it is a human being, and cannot reckon, one would say: Man cannot reckon. But let the child become ten years old, and then it will reckon. It is thus with the human soul. If today it cannot remember, yet, the time will come in which it can remember—the time when it has the same powers as he possesses who is initiated today. But just today that transition is happening. There exist today a number of souls who are so far on in our time, who stand close to the moment where they will remember their former incarnations, or at least the last one. A whole number of human beings today are, as it were, before the self-opening of the door to that embracing memory, which comprises not only the life between birth and death, but the previous incarnations, or at least, the last, in the first place. And when, after the present incarnation, a number of human beings are reborn, then they will remember this present incarnation. It is merely a question of how they remember. Anthroposophical development should give help and direction to remember in the right way.
In order to characterise this anthroposophical movement from this point of view, it must be said: Its character is that it leads man to realise in the right way what one calls the human “I,” the innermost member of the human being. I have often pointed out that Fichte rightly said, most human beings would sooner regard themselves as a piece of lava on the moon, than as an “I.” And if you consider how many people there are in our time who make any idea at all of what is in the “I,” i.e., of what they themselves are, then in general, you would come to a very dismal result.
When this question arises, I have always to call to mind a friend I had more than thirty years ago, and who as a quite young student was completely inoculated at that time by the materialistic mood—today it is more modern to say “monistic” mood. He was already injected by it, in spite of his youth. He always laughed when he heard something was contained in man which could be designated as spiritual being; for he was of the view, that what lives as thought in us, was produced by mechanical or chemical processes in the brain. I often said to him: “Look, if you earnestly believe this as a content of life, why do you continually tell lies?” He really lied, continually, because he never said: “My brain feels, my brain thinks, but: I think, I feel, I know this or that.” Thus he built up a theory which he contradicted with every word—as every man does; for it is impossible to maintain what one imagines as a materialistic theory. One cannot remain truthful, if one thinks materialistically. If one would say: My brain loves you, then, one should not say “you,” but, my brain loves your brain. People do not make this consequence clear. But it is something which is not merely humoristic, but something which shows what a deep basis of unconscious untruthfulness lies at the basis of our present education.
Now, most people really would sooner regard themselves as a piece of lava in the moon, i.e., as a piece of compact matter, than as that which can be called an “I” And today one naturally comes least of all to a grasp of the “I” through external science, which indeed, as such, must think materialistically, according to its methods. How can one attain this grasp of the “I”? How can one gradually get an idea, a concept of what he instinctively feels, when he says: I think? Solely and alone through this, that he knows by means of the anthroposophical view of the world, how this human being is constituted, how the physical body has Saturn character, the etheric body Sun character, the astral body Moon character, and the Ego, Earth character. When we keep in mind everything we thus get as ideas out of the entire cosmos, then we understand how the “I,” as the real Master-worker, labours at all the other members. And so we come gradually to an idea [Begriff] of what we profess with the word “I.” We gradually struggle up to the highest ideas of this “I,” if we learn to understand [verstehen] such a word. We not merely feel ourselves as a spiritual being if we feel ourselves within an “I,” but when we can say: In our individuality lives something which was there before father Abraham. When we cannot merely say: I and father Abraham are one, but: I and the FATHER, i.e., the Spiritual, weaving and living through the world. What lives in the “I,” is the same spiritual substance that weaves and lives through the world as Spirit. Thus we gradually work our way up to understand this “I,” i.e., the bearer of the human individuality, that which goes from incarnation to incarnation. In what way, however, do we grasp the “I”? Do we grasp the world at all through the anthroposophical view?
This anthroposophical view of the world arises in the most individual way, and is, at the same time, the most un-individual thing that can be conceived. It can only arise in the most individual way by the secrets of the cosmos revealing themselves in a human soul, into which stream the great spiritual beings of the world. And so the content of the world must be experienced in the human individuality in the most individual way, but at the same time, it must be experienced with a character of complete impersonality. Whoever will experience the true character of cosmic mysteries must stand entirely on the standpoint from which he says: Whoever still heeds his own opinion, cannot come to Truth. That is indeed the peculiar [eigenartige] nature of anthroposophical truth that the observer may have no opinion of his own, no preference for this or the other theory, that he may not love this or the other view more than any other because of his own especial individual qualities. As long as he stands on this standpoint, it is impossible for the true secrets of the world to reveal themselves to him. He must pursue knowledge quite individually, but his individuality must develop so far, that it no longer has anything personal, i.e., anything of his own peculiar sympathies and antipathies. This must be taken strictly and earnestly. Whoever still has any preference for these or the other ideas and views, whoever can incline to this or the other because of his education or temperament, will never recognise objective truth.
We have attempted here, this summer, to grasp Oriental wisdom from the standpoint of Western learning. We tried to be just towards Oriental wisdom, and truly presented it in such a way that it received its full rights. (The East in the Light of the West, cloth, crown 8vo, pp. 222. 7s. 6d) One must strongly emphasise that in our time it is impossible for independent spiritual knowledge to decide through any special preference for either the Oriental or the Occidental view of the world. Whoever says according to his different temperament he prefers the nature, the laws of the world as existing in the Oriental or correspondingly in the Occidental view, has not yet a full understanding for what is here essential. One should not decide, e.g., for the greater significance of, let us say, the Christ, as compared with what Oriental teaching recognises, because one inclines to the Christ through one's Occidental education or one's temperament. One is only fitted to answer the question “How is the Christ related to the Orient?” when from a personal standpoint the Christian is as indifferent to one as the Oriental. As long as one has preference for this or the other, so long is one unsuited to make a decision. One first begins to be objective when one lets the facts alone speak, when one heeds no reasons derived from personal opinion, but lets facts alone speak in this sphere.
Therefore something meets us in the anthroposophical world-view, if it meets us today in its true form, which is inwardly woven with the human individuality, because it must spring out of the “I”-force of the individuality, and on the other hand, must be independent, so that this individuality is again quite indifferent. That person in whom anthroposophical wisdom appears must be unconcerned by it, must be independent of it. This is essential, that he has brought himself so far, that he forces nothing of his own colouring into these matters. Then they will indeed be individual, because the spiritual cannot appear in the light of the moon, or the stars, but only in the individuality, in the human soul; but then, on the other hand, this individuality must be so far on that it can exclude itself in the production of what constitutes the wisdom of the world. Thus that which appears to mankind through the anthroposophical movement will be something which concerns each human being, no matter from what race, nation, etc., he is born, because it applies itself only to the new humanity, to man as such, not to an abstract, general man, but to each single human being. This is the essential. As it proceeds out of the individuality, out of the kernel of man's being, so it speaks to the deepest kernel of man's being, so it grasps this kernel of man. As we usually speak from man to man, fundamentally it is only surface speaking to surface, something which we have not united with the innermost kernel of our being. Understanding between man and man, full understanding, is hardly possible today in any other sphere, than in that where what is produced comes from the centre of man's being, and, when it is understood aright by another, speaks again to his centre. Hence in a certain connection, it is a new speech that is spoken by Anthroposophy. And if today we are still obliged to speak in the various national languages what has to be announced, the content is a new speech, which is spoken by anthroposophy.
What is spoken today outside in the world is a speech which is only really valid for a very limited sphere. In ancient times, when people still looked into the spiritual world through their old, dreamy clairvoyance, their word then meant something which existed in the spiritual world. The word signified something which existed in the spiritual world. Even in Greece, things were still different from what they are today. The word “idea” used by Plato signified something different from the word “Idea,” as used by our modern philosophers. These modern philosophers can no longer understand Plato, because they have no perception of what he called “Idea,” and they confuse it with abstract concepts. Plato still had something spiritual before him, even if already rarefied; it was still something quite real. Then also, one still had in the words the sap of the spiritual, if one may express it thus. You can trace that in the words. If anybody today uses the word “wind,” “air,” then he means something external, physical. The word wind here corresponds to something external, physical. If, e.g., in old Hebrew, the word wind, “Ruach,” was employed, one did not merely mean something external, physical, but a spiritual, which swept through space. When man breathes in today he is told by materialistic science that he simply inhales material air; in ancient times, one did not believe one inhaled material air, but then one was clear that one inspired something of spirit, or at least, of soul. Thus the words then were absolutely designations for spirit and soul. That has ceased today; today speech is limited to the external world, or at least, those who seek to stand at the peak of the age busy themselves seeing only a materialistic meaning, even behind those things where it is still obvious they are derived from soul and spirit. Physics speaks of an “impact” of bodies. It has forgotten that the word “impact” is derived from that which a living being performs out of its inner living nature, when it pushes another being. The original significance of words is forgotten in these simple things.
And so today, our speech—and this is most of all the case with scientific speech—has become a speech which is only able to express what is material. Because of this, what is in our soul while we speak is only comprehensible to those faculties of our soul which are bound to the physical brain as their instrument. And then the soul understands nothing more of all that is designated with these words, when it is disembodied. When the soul has gone through the gate of death, and no longer employs the brain, then all scientific considerations of today are forms quite incomprehensible to the disembodied soul. It does not even hear or perceive what one expresses in the speech of the time. This has no longer any meaning for a disembodied soul, because it only has meaning for what is the physical world. That again is something which is still more important to consider in what one can call the mode of thinking, the method of representation. It is even more important to consider it there than in theory, because it is a question of life, not of theory, and it is characteristic that one can see in the theosophical movement itself how materialism has crept in. Because it is the mode of the time, it has often crept into the theosophical view, so that real materialism prevails even in theosophy itself, e.g., when one describes the etheric or life-body. Whereas a person should exert himself to come to a grasp of the spirit, one mostly describes it as if it were a finer matter; and the astral body also. One starts as a rule from the physical body, goes further to the etheric or life-body, and says: that is built after the pattern of the physical body, only finer—thus one progresses to Nirvana. Here one finds descriptions which take their images from nothing else than the physical. I have already experienced that when one wanted to express the good feeling present in a room among those present, one did not do so directly, but one said: Fine vibrations are existing in this room. One did not heed that one materialises what exists spiritually in a mood if one thinks the space filled with a kind of thin cloud, permeated with vibrations. That is what I should like to call the most material way of thinking possible. Materialism has even got by the neck those who want to think spiritually. That is only a characteristic of our time, but it is important that we are conscious of it. And therefore we must pay especial heed to what has been said: that our speech, which is always a kind of tyrant for human thinking, has implanted in the soul a tendency to materialism. And many, who today would so willingly be thorough idealists, express themselves entirely in a materialistic sense, misled by the tyranny of speech. That is a speech which can no longer be understood by the soul as soon as it no longer feels itself bound to the physical brain.
There is, indeed, something else, you may believe it or not. For one who knows occult perception, real spiritual perception, the method of presentation often employed today in theosophical-scientific writings causes real pain—because it appears irrational to him, if he begins to think, no longer with the physical brain, but with the soul, which is no longer bound to the physical brain, i.e., which really lives in the spiritual world. As long as one thinks with the physical brain, so long can he go on characterising the world thus. As soon, however, as one begins to develop spiritual perception, then, to speak of things in this way ceases to have any meaning. Then indeed it even causes pain if one must hear the utterance: There are good vibrations in this room, instead of: A good feeling prevails here. That at once causes pain in anyone who can really see things spiritually, because thoughts are realities. Space then fills itself out with a dark cloud, if one forms the thought: Good vibrations are in this space, instead of: A good mood is prevailing.
It is now the task of the anthroposophical way of thinking—and the method of thought is more important than the theories—that we learn to speak a language, which is really not merely understood by the human soul so long as it is in a physical body, but understood also when this soul is no longer bound to the instrument of the physical brain; for instance, either by a soul still in the body, but able to perceive spiritually, or by a soul gone through the gate of death. And that is the essential! If we bring forward those ideas which explain the world, which explain the human being, then that is a speech which cannot merely be understood here in the physical world, but also by those who are no longer incarnated in physical bodies, but live between death and a new birth. Yes, what is spoken on our anthroposophical basis, is heard and understood by the so-called dead. There they are fully one with us on a basis where the same speech is spoken. There we speak to all human beings. Because in a certain connection, it is chance whether a human soul is in a body of flesh, or in the condition between death and a new birth. And we learn through anthroposophy a speech comprehensible to all human beings, whether they are in the one or other condition. Thus we speak a speech within the field of anthroposophy which is spoken also for the so-called dead. We really contact the innermost kernel of man, the innermost being of man, through what we cultivate in a real sense in anthroposophical considerations, even if they appear apparently abstract. We penetrate into the soul of man. And because we penetrate to the soul of man, we liberate man from all group-soulness, i.e., man becomes in this way more and more capable of really grasping himself in his ego, his “I.” And that is the characteristic, that those who come to anthroposophy today, who really take up anthroposophy, appear in comparison with others who remain far from it, as if through anthroposophical thoughts, their ego would crystallise as a spiritual being, which is then carried through the gate of death. With the others, in that place where the I-being is, which remains there—which is now there in the body, and which remains after death—there is a hollow space, a nothingness. Everything else which one can take up as ideas today, will become more and more worthless for the real kernel of man's soul-being. The central point of man's being is grasped through what we take up as anthroposophical thoughts. That crystallises a spiritual substance in man; he takes that with him after death, and with that he perceives in the spiritual world. He sees and hears with it in the spiritual world, with it he penetrates that darkness which otherwise exists for man in the spiritual world. And thereby it is brought about that when through these anthroposophical thoughts and way of thinking man develops this “I” in him today, which now stands in connection with all the world wisdom we can acquire—if he develops it—he carries it over also into his next incarnation. Then he is born with this now developed “I,” and he remembers himself in this developed “I.” That is the deeper task of the anthroposophical movement today, to send over to their next incarnation a number of human beings with an ego in which they remember themselves as an individual ego. They will be the human beings who form the kernel of the next period of civilisation. These people who have been well prepared through the anthroposophical spiritual movement, to remember their individual “I,” will be spread over the whole earth. For the essential in the next period of culture will be that these people will not be limited by single localities, but spread over the entire earth. These individual people will be scattered over the whole earth, and within the whole earth sphere will be the kernel of humanity, who will be essential for the sixth period of civilisation. And so it will be the case among these people, that they will know themselves as those who in their previous incarnation strove together for the individual “I.”
This is the right cultivation of that soul-faculty of which we have spoken. This soul-faculty so develops, that not only those just described will have this memory. More and more human beings will have this memory of their former incarnation—in spite of their not having developed the “I.” But they will not remember an individual “I,” because they have not developed it, but they will remember the group-ego, in which they have remained. Thus people will exist, who in this incarnation have cared for the development of their individual “I”—they will remember themselves as independent individualities, they will look back and say: You were this or the other. Those who have not developed the individuality will be unable to remember this individuality.
Do not think that through mere visionary clairvoyance one acquires the faculty of remembering the previous ego. Humanity was once clairvoyant. If mere clairvoyance sufficed, then all would remember, for all were clairvoyant. It is not merely a matter of being clairvoyant—humanity will already be clairvoyant in the future—it is a matter of having cultivated the ego in this incarnation, or not. If one has not cultivated it, it is not there as an inner human being; one looks back, and remembers as a group-ego, what one had in common. So that these people will say: Yes, I was there, but I have not freed myself. These people will then experience that as their FALL, as a new Fall of mankind, as a falling back into conscious connection with the group-soul. That will be something terrible for the sixth period of time; to be unable to look back to oneself as an individuality, to be hemmed in by not being able to transcend the group-soulness [Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit]. If one will express it strongly, one could say: The whole earth with all it produces (this holds at least as an image) will belong to those who now cultivate their individuality; those, however, who do not develop their individual “I,” will be obliged to join on to a certain group, from which they will be directed as to how they should think, feel, will, and act. That will be felt as a fall, a falling back, in the future humanity.
So we should regard the anthroposophical movement, the spiritual life, not as mere theory, but as something which is given us in the present, because it prepares what is necessary for the future of mankind.
If we grasp ourselves aright in that point where we are now, whence we have come from out the past, and then look a little into the future, then we must say: Now the time is come where man begins to develop the human faculty of remembering backwards. It is only a question of our developing it aright, i.e., that we train in us an individual “I;” for only what we have created in our own soul can we remember. If we have not created it, then there only remains to us a fettering memory of a group-ego, and we feel it as a kind of falling down into a group of higher animality. Even if the human group-souls are finer and higher than the animal, yet they are but group-souls. Humanity of an early age did not feel that as a fall, because they were intended to develop from group-soulness to the individual soul. If they are now held back, they fall consciously into it, and that will be the oppressive feeling in the future of those who do not take this step aright, either now or in a later incarnation. They will experience the fall into group-soulness.
The real task of anthroposophy, is to give the right impulse. We must thus grasp it within human life. If we keep in mind that the sixth period of time is that of the first, complete conquest of the racial idea, then we must be clear, that it would be fantastic to think that even the sixth “race” starts from one point on the earth, and develops like the earlier races. Progress is made by ever-new progressive methods of evolution appearing. By progress we do not mean that what was valid as ideas for earlier times should also hold for the future. If we do not see this, the idea of progress will not be quite clear to us. We will as it were fall again and again into the error of saying: So and so many rounds, globes, races, etc., and it all goes on revolving round again and again in the same manner.* (*This refers to the descriptions set forth in the books of the “Theosophical Society,” 1909.) One cannot see why this wheel of rounds, globes, races, etc., should always revolve again. It is a question of seeing that the word “race” is a term only having validity for a certain time. This idea no longer has any meaning for the sixth period. Races have only in themselves the elements which have remained from the Atlantean age.
In the future, that which speaks to the depths of man's soul will express itself more and more in the external nature of man; and that which man on the one side as a quite individual being has acquired, and yet, again experiences unindividually, will express itself by working out even to the human countenance; so that the individuality of man—not the group-soulness—will be inscribed for him on his countenance. That will constitute human manifoldness. Everything will be acquired individually, in spite of its being there through the overcoming of individuality. And we will not meet groups among those who are seized of the ego, but the individual will express itself externally. That will form the distinction between human beings. There will be such as have acquired their egoity; they will indeed be there over the whole earth with the most manifold countenances, but one will recognise through their variety how the individual ego expresses itself even into the gesture. Whereas among those who have not developed the individuality, the group-soulness will come to expression by their countenance receiving the imprint of the group-soulness, i.e., they will fall into categories similar to each other. That will be the external physiognomy of our earth: a possibility will be prepared for the individuality to carry in itself an external sign, and for the group-soulness to carry in itself its external sign.
This is the meaning of earthly evolution, that man acquires more and more the power of expressing externally his inner being. There exists an ancient script in which the greatest ideal for the evolution of the “I,” the Christ Jesus, is characterised by the saying: When the two become one, when the external becomes like the inner, then man has attained the Christ nature in himself. That is the meaning of a certain passage in the so-called Egyptian Gospel. One comprehends such passages out of anthroposophical wisdom.1f. Dr. Steiner's Gospel of St. Matthew, lecture 6, published by Rudolf Steiner Publishing Company.
After we have attempted today to grasp the task of anthroposophy out of the depths of our knowledge, we will consider something on Tuesday which as a spiritual problem—as a specially individual affair of man—can lead us to his destiny, to his being.
Das Ich, Der Gott Im Innern Und Der Gott Der Äusseren Offenbarung
Wir wollen uns heute mit einem allgemeinen Thema beschäftigen, und zwar mit der Frage nach der Bedeutung und den Aufgaben der anthroposophisch orientierten Geisteswissenschaft in der Gegenwart, und dann am Dienstag mit einem individuelleren Thema, das das einzelne Menschenschicksal und Wesen betrifft.
Wir haben es oftmals betont, daß Anthroposophie gerade in der Gegenwart eine besondere Aufgabe und Bedeutung für die Menschheit hat. Schließlich muß sich ja derjenige, der sich als denkender Mensch mit Anthroposophie befaßt, doch immer wieder die Frage vorlegen: Welche Ziele verfolgt eigentlich diese geistige Bewegung und wie stellt sich dieselbe zu andern Aufgaben in unserer Zeit? - Nun kann man, wie wir es öfters schon gemacht haben, diese Aufgaben von den verschiedensten Gesichtspunkten aus beleuchten. Heute wollen wir einmal versuchen, den Entwickelungsgang der Menschheit an demjenigen Punkte, an dem wir selbst stehen, aufzufangen, ein wenig in die Zukunft hineinzuschauen und uns dann fragen: Was hat Anthroposophie für eine Aufgabe gerade mit Rücksicht auf den Entwickelungspunkt der Menschheit, in dem wir in der Gegenwart stehen?
Wir wissen ja, daß seit der großen atlantischen Katastrophe, seitdem sich durch sie der Erdkreis als Wohnplatz der Menschen ganz umgestaltet hat, bis in unsere Gegenwart herein fünf Kulturzeiträume zu verzeichnen sind. Wir haben diese fünf Kulturzeiträume öfters aufgezählt als den altindischen, altpersischen, chaldäisch-ägyptischen, griechisch-lateinischen Zeitraum, und dann als den Zeitraum, in dem wir selbst stehen, den fünften Kulturzeitraum, der seit, sagen wir, dem 8., 9., 10. Jahrhundert sich vorbereitet hat und in dem wir eigentlich mittendrin stehen. Nun müssen wir uns darüber klar sein, daß solche Einteilungen natürlich nicht so gemeint sind, als ob schroff abschlösse irgendeine Entwickelungsepoche und dann eine neue begänne, sondern das alles geht langsam und allmählich ineinander über, und man kann sagen, lange bevor eine solche Epoche abgelaufen ist, bereitet sich innerhalb derselben schon die neue vor. So daß wir von unserem Kulturzeitraum, von dem fünften der nachatlantischen Zeit, uns sagen können, es bereitet sich durchaus jetzt schon, und zwar recht bedeutsam dasjenige vor, was das eigentlich Kennzeichnende des sechsten Kulturzeitraumes sein wird. Und die Menschheit der Gegenwart wird sich im allgemeinen teilen in zwei Teile: in solche Menschen, die heute sich von alldem keinen Begriff machen, die nichts davon wissen, daß sich so etwas vorbereitet wie die sechste Kulturepoche, die sozusagen blind in den Tag hineinleben, und in solche Menschen, welche sich Vorstellungen darüber machen, daß sich etwas Neues vorbereitet und welche auch wissen, daß ja im Grunde genommen dasjenige, was sich vorbereitet, durch die Menschen gemacht werden muß, durch die Menschen vorbereitet werden muß. Man kann in gewisser Beziehung als Mensch sich hineinstellen in die Zeit und sich sagen, daß man macht, was allgemein üblich ist, macht, was die andern gemacht haben, was die Väter uns anerzogen haben, oder man kann sich so hineinstellen, daß man bewußt weiß: Wenn du überhaupt bewußt ein Glied sein willst in der Menschenkette, so mußt du etwas tun, entweder an dir selber oder an deiner Umgebung, was dazu beiträgt, dasjenige, was ja doch kommen muß, nämlich die sechste Kulturepoche, vorzubereiten, so viel an dir liegt. Verstehen kann man nur, wie so etwas möglich ist, Vorbereitungen zu treffen für diese sechste Kulturepoche, wenn man auf den Charakter unseres eigenen Zeitraumes ein wenig eingeht. Da bietet sich uns am besten das Mittel der Vergleichung dar.
Wir wissen, daß diese Kulturzeiträume sich wesentlich voneinander unterscheiden, und wir haben verschiedene Eigenschaften im Laufe der Jahre unserer anthroposophischen Bewegung angeführt, wodurch sie sich voneinander unterscheiden. Wir haben hingewiesen auf die altindische Kulturperiode und haben gezeigt, wie die Seeleneigenschaften des Menschen dazumal anders waren als später, wie der Mensch noch in hohem Grade mit hellsichtigem Bewußtsein begabt war; und wir haben gezeigt, wie die Entwickelung durch die folgenden Kulturzeiträume darinnen besteht, daß die Menschen immer mehr und mehr die Hellsichtigkeit verloren haben und immer mehr ihr Wahrnehmungsvermögen, ihr Verstandesvermögen auf den physischen Plan zu beschränken hatten. Wir haben gesehen, wie sich langsam vorbereitete der vierte Kulturzeitraum, in dem die Menschen sozusagen ganz herausgetreten sind auf den physischen Plan, so daß da jene Wesenheit, die wir den Christus Jesus nennen, auf dem physischen Plan als ein Wesen, als ein Menschenwesen des physischen Planes sich verkörpern konnte. Wir haben dann gesehen, wie seit jener Zeit durch eine gewisse Strömung hindurch dieses heraustrat: wie alle menschlichen Fähigkeiten auf dem physischen Plan sich noch verstärkt haben, wie der materialistische Hang unserer Zeit, all das Drängen der Menschen, nur dasjenige gelten zu lassen, was sich in der physischen Umwelt darbietet, zusammenhängt mit einem weiteren Heruntersteigen des Menschen auf den physischen Plan. Aber dabei soll es nun in der Entwickelung keineswegs bleiben. Die Menschheit muß wiederum hinaufsteigen in die geistige Welt, hinaufsteigen mit all den Errungenschaften, die sie sich angeeignet hat, mit all den Früchten des physischen Planes. Und gerade das soll Anthroposophie sein, was den Menschen bringen kann die Möglichkeit, wiederum hinaufzusteigen in die geistige Welt.
Nun können wir sagen: Gleich nach der großen atlantischen Katastrophe gab es zahlreiche Menschen, welche wußten durch ihr unmittelbares Wahrnehmungsvermögen, um uns herum ist eine geistige Welt, wir leben in einer geistigen Welt. Immer weniger und weniger wurden die Menschen, die das wußten, immer mehr und mehr beschränkten sich die Fähigkeiten des Menschen auf die sinnliche Wahrnehmung. Aber wenn auf der einen Seite heute noch die Wahrnehmungsfähigkeit für die geistige Welt die denkbar geringste ist, so bereitet sich doch auf der andern Seite etwas vor in unserer Zeit, was so bedeutsam ist, daß schon für eine größere Anzahl von Menschen in derjenigen Verkörperung, in der Inkarnation, die auf diese jetzige folgt, ganz andersartige Fähigkeiten da sein werden als heute. Wie sich die Fähigkeiten der Menschen geändert haben durch die fünf Kulturzeiträume hindurch, so werden sie sich in den sechsten hinein auch ändern, und eine große Anzahl von heutigen Menschen wird schon in der nächsten Inkarnation deutlich zeigen durch ihre ganze Seelenart, daß sich ihre Fähigkeiten wesentlich geändert haben. Und darüber wollen wir uns heute Klarheit verschaffen, wie andersgeartet diese Seelen der Menschen in der Zukunft, also bei einer großen Anzahl schon in der nächsten Inkarnation, bei andern in der zweitnächsten, sein werden.
Wir könnten auch noch in einer andern Weise zurückblicken in verflossene Zeiträume der Menschheitsentwickelung. Da würden wir sehen, daß wir immer mehr, je weiter wir zum alten Hellsehen zurückkommen, zugleich mit der menschlichen Seele verknüpft haben das, was man nennen kann den Charakter der Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit. Sie sind schon öfter darauf aufmerksam gemacht worden, daß beim althebräischen Volk im eminentesten Sinne das Bewußtsein von dieser Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit vorhanden war. Wer sich fühlte, sich recht bewußt fühlte als ein Glied des althebräischen Volkes, der sagte sich — darauf ist ja insbesondere aufmerksam gemacht worden: Als einzelner Mensch bin ich eine vorübergehende Erscheinung, aber in mir lebt etwas, was einen unmittelbaren Zusammenhang hat mit all dem Seelenwesen, das herunterströmte seit dem Stammvater Abraham. - Das fühlte der Angehörige des althebräischen Volkes. Wir können sogar esoterisch dieses, was da vom althebräischen Volke gefühlt wurde, als eine spirituelle Erscheinung angeben. Wir verstehen besser, was da geschah, wenn wir folgendes ins Auge fassen.
Nehmen wir einen althebräischen Eingeweihten. Obwohl gerade im althebräischen Volke die Einweihung nicht so häufig war wie bei andern Völkern, so können wir doch einen solchen wirklichen Eingeweihten, nicht bloß einen in die Theorien und in das Gesetz eingeführten, sondern einen wirklich in die geistigen Welten hineinsehenden Eingeweihten nicht anders charakterisieren, als indem wir auf die ganze Volkseigentümlichkeit Rücksicht nehmen. Es ist heute Sitte in der äußeren Wissenschaft, die ahnungslos nach ihren Dokumenten wirtschaftet, überall das, was im Alten Testament steht, an allerlei äußeren Urkunden zu prüfen und es dann nicht bestätigt zu finden. Wir werden Gelegenheit haben, darauf hinzuweisen, daß das Alte Testament treuer die Tatsachen gibt als die äußere Urkundengeschichte. Jedenfalls zeigt die Geisteswissenschaft, daß tatsächlich eine Blutsverwandtschaft des hebräischen Volkes bis zum Stammvater Abraham hinauf nachzuweisen ist, und daß die Annahme Abrahams als Stammvater eine vollberechtigte ist. Insbesondere aber war das etwas, was man in den althebräischen Geheimschulen wußte: solch eine Individualität, solch eine Seelenwesenheit wie die des Abraham, die war ja nicht bloß als Abraham inkarniert, sondern sie ist eine ewige Wesenheit, die in der geistigen Welt vorhanden blieb. Und in Wahrheit war derjenige ein wirklicher Eingeweihter, der inspiriert wurde von demselben Geiste, von dem Abraham inspiriert worden ist, der ihn für sich beschwören konnte, der durchdrungen war von derselben Seelenhaftigkeit wie Abraham. So daß zwischen jedem Eingeweihten und zwischen dem Stammvater Abraham ein realer Zusammenhang war. Das müssen wir festhalten; das drückte sich in dem Gefühl des Mitgliedes des althebräischen Volkes aus. Das war eine Art Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit. Man fühlte dasjenige, was in Abraham sich ausdrückte, als die Gruppenseele des Volkes. Und so fühlte man in der übrigen Menschheit Gruppenseelen.
Die Menschheit geht überhaupt auf Gruppenseelen zurück. Je weiter wir zurückgehen in der Menschheitsentwickelung, desto weniger ausgeprägt finden wir die einzelne Individualität. Was wir heute noch im Tierreich finden: daß eine ganze Gruppe zusammengehört, das war so bei den Menschen vorhanden und tritt immer deutlicher und deutlicher auf, je weiter wir in Urzeiten zurückgehen. Gruppen von Menschen gehören da zusammen, und die Gruppenseele ist wesentlich stärker als dasjenige, was die Individualseele ist im einzelnen Menschen.
Wir können nun sagen: Heute in unserer Zeit ist noch immer nicht die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit der Menschen überwunden, und wer da glauben würde, daß sie vollständig überwunden ist, der würde eben gewisse feinere Erscheinungen des Lebens nicht ins Auge fassen. Wer diese aber ins Auge faßt, wird sehr bald sehen, daß in der Tat gewisse Menschen nicht nur in ihrer Physiognomie einander ähnlich sehen, sondern daß auch die Seeleneigenschaften in Gruppen von Menschen einander ähnlich sind, daß man die Menschen sozusagen in Kategorien einteilen kann. Jeder Mensch kann sich heute noch zu einer gewissen Kategorie rechnen. In bezug auf diese oder jene Eigenschaften wird er vielleicht zu verschiedenen Kategorien gehören, aber eine gewisse Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit ist nicht nur geltend dadurch, daß Völker da sind, sondern auch in anderer Beziehung. Die Grenzen, die zwischen den einzelnen Nationen gezogen sind, fallen immer mehr und mehr dahin; aber andere Gruppierungen sind noch wahrnehmbar. Gewisse Grundeigenschaften stehen bei einzelnen Menschen durchaus so zusammen, daß derjenige, der nur sehen will, letzte Reste von Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit bei den Menschen heute noch wahrnehmen kann.
Nun leben wir nämlich gerade in der Gegenwart im eminentesten Sinn in einem Übergange. Alle Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit soll nach und nach abgestreift werden. So wie die Abgründe zwischen den einzelnen Nationen immer mehr und mehr verschwinden, so wie sich die einzelnen Teile der verschiedenen Nationen immer mehr und mehr verstehen, so werden sich auch andere Gruppenseelenhaftigkeiten abstreifen, und immer mehr wird das Individuelle des einzelnen Menschen in den Vordergrund treten.
Damit haben wir aber etwas ganz Wesentliches in der Entwickelung charakterisiert. Wenn wir es von einer andern Seite fassen wollen, so können wir sagen, innerhalb der Entwickelung der Menschheit verliert immer mehr und mehr der Begriff, worin sich die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit am meisten ausdrückt, an Bedeutung, nämlich der Rassenbegriff. Wenn wir hinter die große atlantische Katastrophe zurückgehen, so sehen wir ja, wie sich die menschlichen Rassen vorbereiten. In der alten atlantischen Zeit haben wir durchaus die Menschen gruppiert nach äußeren Merkmalen in ihrem Körperbau, noch viel stärker als heute. Was wir heute Rassen nennen, das sind nur noch Überbleibsel jener bedeutsamen Unterschiede der Menschen, wie sie in der alten Atlantis üblich waren. So recht anwendbar ist der Rassenbegriff nur auf die alte Atlantis. Daher haben wir, da wir rechnen mit einer wirklichen Entwickelung der Menschheit, für die nachatlantische Zeit gar nicht den Begriff der Rasse im eminentesten Sinne gebraucht. Wir sprechen nicht von einer indischen Rasse, persischen Rasse und so weiter, weil das nicht mehr richtig ist. Wir sprechen von einem altindischen Kulturzeitraum, von einem altpersischen Kulturzeitraum und so weiter.
Und vollends würde es jeden Sinn verlieren, wenn wir davon sprechen wollten, daß sich in unserer Zeit vorbereite eine sechste Rasse. Wenn noch in unserer Zeit Reste der alten atlantischen Unterschiede, der alten atlantischen Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit vorhanden sind, so daß man noch sprechen kann davon, daß die Rasseneinteilung noch nachwirkt — was sich vorbereitet für den sechsten Zeitraum, das besteht gerade darinnen, daß der Rassencharakter abgestreift wird. Das ist das Wesentliche. Deshalb ist es notwendig, daß diejenige Bewegung, welche die anthroposophische genannt wird, welche vorbereiten soll den sechsten Zeitraum, gerade in ihrem Grundcharakter dieses Abstreifen des Rassencharakters aufnimmt, daß sie nämlich zu vereinigen sucht Menschen aus allen Rassen, aus allen Nationen und auf diese Weise überbrückt diese Differenzierung, diese Unterschiede, diese Abgründe, die zwischen den einzelnen Menschengruppen vorhanden sind. Denn es hat in gewisser Beziehung physischen Charakter, was alter Rassenstandpunkt ist, und es wird einen viel geistigeren Charakter haben, was sich in die Zukunft hinein vollzieht.
Daher ist es so dringend notwendig, zu verstehen, daß unsere anthroposophische Bewegung eine geistige ist, die auf das Spirituelle sieht, und gerade das, was aus physischen Unterschieden herrührt, durch die Kraft der geistigen Bewegung überwindet. Es ist ja durchaus begreiflich, daß eine jede Bewegung sozusagen ihre Kinderkrankheiten hat und daß man im Anfang der theosophischen Bewegung die Sache so dargestellt hat, als wenn sozusagen die Erde in sieben Zeiträume zerfiele - man nannte das Hauptrassen - und jede der Hauptrassen in sieben Unterrassen; und daß das alles sich so stetig wiederholen würde, so daß man immer von sieben Rassen sprechen könnte und sieben Unterrassen. Aber man muß über die Kinderkrankheiten hinauskommen und sich klar sein darüber, daß der Rassenbegriff aufhört eine jegliche Bedeutung zu haben gerade in unserer Zeit.
Etwas anderes bereitet sich ferner vor - etwas, das mit der Individualität des Menschen in ganz eminentem Sinne zusammenhängt — im Individueller-Werden und immer Individueller-Werden der Menschen. Es handelt sich nur darum, daß diese Individualität es im rechten Sinne wird, und dazu soll nun die anthroposophische Bewegung dienen, daß die Menschen im rechten Sinne Individualitäten werden, oder Persönlichkeiten, könnten wir auch sagen. Wie kann sie das aber?
Da müssen wir auf die hervorragendste neue Seeleneigenschaft des Menschen hinblicken, die sich vorbereitet. Es wird oft die Frage gestellt: Ja, wenn es eine Wiederverkörperung gibt, warum erinnert sich der Mensch nicht an seine früheren Verkörperungen? — Das ist eine Frage, die schon öfter von mir beantwortet worden ist, und eine solche Frage nimmt sich so aus, wie wenn man ein vierjähriges Kind bringt und deshalb, weil es nicht rechnen kann und ein Mensch ist, sagen wollte: Der Mensch kann nicht rechnen. — Lassen Sie es zehn Jahre alt werden, dann kann es schon rechnen. So ist es mit der menschlichen Seele. Wenn sie sich auch heute noch nicht erinnern kann, es wird die Zeit kommen, in der sie sich erinnern kann, die Zeit, in der sie dieselben Fähigkeiten hat, wie derjenige sie hat, der heute eingeweiht ist. Aber gerade heute geschieht jener Umschwung. Es gibt heute eine Anzahl von Seelen, welche in unserer Zeit so weit sind, daß sie knapp vor dem Momente stehen, wo sie an ihre früheren Inkarnationen, wenigstens an die letzte, sich erinnern werden. Eine ganze Anzahl von Menschen ist heute sozusagen gerade vor dem Sich-Öfnen des Tores zu dem umfassenden Gedächtnis, das nicht nur das Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod, sondern das die vorhergehenden Inkarnationen, wenigstens die letzte zunächst umfaßt. Und wenn nachder gegenwärtigen Inkarnation eine Anzahl von Menschen wiedergeboren werden, dann werden sie sich erinnern an die gegenwärtige Inkarnation. Es handelt sich nur darum, wie sie sich erinnern. Sich in der richtigen Weise zu erinnern, dazu soll die anthroposophische Entwickelung Veranlassung, Anleitung geben.
Wenn man diese anthroposophische Bewegung charakterisieren will von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus, so muß man so sagen: Ihr Charakter ist dieser, daß sie den Menschen hinführt, in rechtem Sinn dasjenige zu erfassen, was man das menschliche Ich, das innerste Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit nennt. Ich habe schon öfter darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß Fichte mit Recht gesagt hat, die meisten Menschen würden sich lieber für ein Stück Lava im Monde halten als für ein Ich. Und wenn Sie nachdenken, wieviel Menschen es gibt in unserer Zeit, die sich überhaupt eine Vorstellung davon machen, was ein Ich ist, das heißt, was sie selber sind, dann würden Sie im allgemeinen zu einem recht traurigen Resultat kommen.
Wenn diese Frage auftaucht, muß ich mich immer erinnern an einen Kameraden, den ich vor etwas mehr als dreißig Jahren hatte, und der dazumal als ein ganz junger Bursch vollständig infiziert war von der materialistischen Gesinnung. Heute ist es moderner, monistische Gesinnung zu sagen. Er war schon infiziert trotz seiner jungen Jahre von ihr. Er lachte immer, wenn es hieß, daß im Menschen etwas enthalten sei, was man als geistige Wesenheit bezeichnen kann; denn er war der Anschauung, daß das, was als Gedanke in uns lebt, hervorgebracht werde durch die mechanischen oder chemischen Vorgänge im Gehirn. Ich sagte oft zu ihm: Sieh, wenn du das ernsthaft glaubst als Lebensinhalt, warum lügst du fortwährend ? - Er log in der Tat fortwährend, denn er sagte niemals: Mein Gehirn fühlt, mein Gehirn denkt, sondern: Ich denke, ich fühle, ich weiß dies oder jenes. - Also er stellte sich eine Theorie auf, der er mit jedem Wort widersprach, wie es ja jeder Mensch tut; denn es ist unmöglich, festzuhalten dasjenige, was man sich einbildet als eine materialistische Theorie. Man kann nicht wahrhaftig bleiben, wenn man materialistisch denkt. Wenn man sonst sagt: Mein Gehirn liebt dich -, dann dürfte man nicht sagen «dich», sondern: Mein Gehirn liebt dein Gehirn. - Diese Konsequenz machen sich die Leute nicht klar. Aber es ist tatsächlich etwas, das nicht bloß humoristisch ist, sondern etwas, das zeigt, welcher tiefe Untergrund von unbewußter Unwahrhaftigkeit auf dem Grunde unserer gegenwärtigen Geistesbildung ist.
Die meisten Menschen würden sich wirklich lieber für ein Stück Lava im Monde halten, das heißt für eine zusammengebraute Materie, als für dasjenige, was ein Ich genannt werden kann. Und am wenigsten kommt man natürlich heute durch äußere Wissenschaft, die ja als solche nach ihren Methoden materialistisch denken muß, zu einem Erfassen des Ich. Dieses Erfassen des Ich, wodurch kann es der Mensch erreichen? Wodurch kann er nach und nach auch einen Begriff, eine Idee von demjenigen erhalten, was er instinktiv fühlt, wenn er ausspricht: Ich denke? — Einzig und allein dadurch, daß er an der Hand anthroposophischer Weltanschauung erkennt, wie sich diese menschliche Wesenheit zusammengliedert, wie der physische Leib Saturncharakter, der Ätherleib Sonnencharakter, der astralische Leib Mondcharakter und das Ich Erdencharakter hat. Wenn wir alles das ins Auge fassen, was wir da an Ideen zusammenholen aus dem ganzen Weltenall, dann begreifen wir, wie das Ich als der eigentliche Werkmeister an allen andern Gliedern arbeitet. Und so kommen wir nach und nach auch zu einem Begriff von dem, was wir vertreten mit dem Worte «Ich»,
Zu dem höchsten Begriffe von diesem Ich ringen wir uns allmählich hinauf, wenn wir verstehen lernen ein solches Wort. Nicht bloß fühlen wir uns als ein geistiges Wesen, wenn wir uns in einem Ich drin fühlen, sondern wenn wir uns sagen können: In unserer Individualität lebt etwas, was da war vor dem Vater Abraham. - Wenn wir uns nicht bloß sagen können: Ich und der Vater Abraham sind eins -, sondern: Ich und der Vater, das ist das die Welt durchwebende und durchlebende Geistige. - Was im Ich lebt, ist dieselbe geistige Substanz, die die Welt durchwebt und durchlebt als Geistiges. So ringen wir uns allmählich hinauf, dieses Ich, das heißt den Träger der menschlichen Individualität, also dasjenige, was sich von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation zieht, zu verstehen.
Auf welche Art aber begreifen wir das Ich, begreifen wir überhaupt die Welt durch anthroposophische Weltanschauung? Diese anthroposophische Weltanschauung kommt auf die individuellste Weise zustande und ist zu gleicher Zeit das Unindividuellste, das sich überhaupt nur denken läßt. Sie kann nur dadurch auf die individuellste Art zustande kommen, daß sich die Geheimnisse des Weltalls in einer menschlichen Seele offenbaren, daß in sie einströmen die großen geistigen Wesenheiten der Welt. In der menschlichen Individualität muß der Inhalt der Welt erlebt werden auf die individuellste Art, aber zu gleicher Zeit muß er erlebt werden mit einem Charakter vollständiger Unpersönlichkeit. Wer erleben will den wahren Charakter der Weltgeheimnisse, der muß ganz auf demjenigen Gesichtspunkt stehen, von dem aus er sich sagt: Wer die eigene Meinung noch achtet, der kann nicht zur Wahrheit kommen. — Das ist nämlich das Eigenartige anthroposophischer Wahrheit, daß der Beobachter keine eigene Meinung, keine Vorliebe für diese oder jene Theorie haben darf, daß er durchaus nicht durch seine besondere individuelle Eigentümlichkeit diese oder jene Anschauung mehr lieben darf als eine andere. Solange er auf diesem Standpunkte steht, ist es unmöglich, daß sich ihm die wahren Weltgeheimnisse offenbaren. Er muß ganz individuell erkennen; aber seine Individualität muß so weit gediehen sein, daß sie nichts mehr von dem Persönlichen, also auch von dem ihm individuell Sympathischen und Antipathischen hat. Das muß streng und ernsthaft genommen werden. Wer noch irgendwelche Vorliebe hat für diese oder jene Begriffe und Anschauungen, wer durch seine Erziehung, durch sein Temperament zu dem oder jenem hinneigen kann, der wird niemals die objektive Wahrheit erkennen.
In diesem Sommer haben wir versucht, hier die orientalischen Weistümer vom Standpunkt der westlichen Lehre zu begreifen. Wir versuchten gerecht zu werden den orientalischen Weistümern und haben sie wahrhaftig in einer Weise hingestellt, daß sie zu ihrem vollen Rechte gekommen sind. Man muß streng betonen, daß es in unserer Zeit bei selbständiger geistiger Erkenntnis unmöglich ist, immer sich durch eine besondere Vorliebe für die orientalische oder für die okzidentalische Weltanschauung zu entscheiden. Wer da sagt je nach seinem verschiedenen Temperamente, er liebe mehr die Eigenartigkeit, die Gesetzmäßigkeit der Welt, so wie sie im orientalischen oder wie sie entsprechend im okzidentalischen vorhanden sind, der hat noch nicht das volle Verständnis für das, um was es sich eigentlich handelt. Nicht dadurch soll man sich entscheiden zum Beispiel für die größere Bedeutung, sagen wir des Christus gegenüber all demjenigen, was die orientalische Lehre erkennt, weil man nach seiner okzidentalischen Erziehung oder seinem Temperamente mehr hinneigt zum Christus. Erst dann ist man berufen, die Frage zu entscheiden: Wie verhält sich der Christus zum Orient? -, wenn einem vom persönlichen Standpunkt aus das Christliche so gleichgültig ist wie das Orientalische. Solange man Vorliebe hat für dieses oder jenes, so lange ist man noch nicht berufen, die Entscheidung zu treffen. Objektiv fängt man erst an zu werden, wenn man die Tatsachen allein sprechen läßt, wenn man keinen Grund der eigenen Meinung mehr achtet, sondern nur die Tatsachen sprechen läßt auf diesem Gebiete.
Daher tritt uns in der anthroposophischen Weltanschauung, wenn sie uns heute in ihrer wahren Gestalt entgegentritt, etwas entgegen, was innig verwoben ist mit der menschlichen Individualität, weil es aus der Ich-Kraft der Individualität heraussprossen muß und auf der andern Seite unabhängig sein muß, so daß diese Individualität wieder ganz gleichgültig ist. Derjenige Mensch, in dem die anthroposophischen Weistümer erscheinen, muß ihnen gegenüber am gleichgültigsten sein; auf den muß es gar nicht ankommen. Darauf kommt es an, daß er sich so weit gebracht hat, daß er gar nichts von seiner Färbung diesen Dingen aufdrängt. Dann werden sie zwar individuell sein müssen, weil nicht im Lichte der Sterne oder des Mondes etwa das Geistige erscheinen kann, sondern nur in der menschlichen Seele, in der Individualität. Dann wird auf der andern Seite diese so weit sein müssen, daß sie selber sich ausschalten kann beim Zustandekommen dessen, was die Weistümer der Welt sind.
So aber auch wird das, was durch die anthroposophische Bewegung an die Menschheit herantritt, auf der einen Seite etwas, was jeden Menschen angeht, gleichgültig aus welcher Rasse, Nation und so weiter er herausgeboren ist, denn es wendet sich nur an die neue Menschlichkeit, an den Menschen als solchen, aber nicht an ein allgemeines Abstraktum «Mensch», sondern an jeden einzelnen Menschen. Darauf kommt es an. Spricht es daher, ebenso wie es hervorgeht aus der Individualität, aus dem Wesenskern des Menschen, zum tiefsten Wesenskern des Menschen, so erfaßt es diesen Kern des Menschen. Wie wir auch sonst reden von Mensch zu Mensch, im Grunde genommen redet immer nur Oberfläche zu Oberfläche, irgend etwas, was wir nicht mit dem innersten Wesenskern verbunden haben. Verstehen von Mensch zu Mensch, vollständiges Verstehen ist ja gerade heute kaum möglich auf einem andern Gebiete als auf demjenigen, wo das, was erzeugt wird, aus dem Zentrum des menschlichen Wesens hervorkommt und, wenn es richtig verstanden wird vom andern, wiederum zu seinem Zentrum spricht. Daher ist es in gewisser Beziehung eine neue Sprache, welche gesprochen wird durch die Anthroposophie. Wenn wir auch heute noch gezwungen sind, in den einzelnen Landessprachen zu verkündigen, was verkündigt wird - der Inhalt ist eine neue Sprache, die gesprochen wird von der Anthroposophie.
Was heute draußen in der Welt gesprochen wird, das ist eine Sprache, die eigentlich nur für ein sehr beschränktes Gebiet gilt. In alten Zeiten, als die Menschen durch ihr altes, dämmerhaftes Hellsehen noch in die geistige Welt schauten, da bedeutete ihr Wort etwas, was in der geistigen Welt war. Das Wort bedeutete etwas, was in der geistigen Welt war. Selbst in Griechenland war das noch anders als heute. Das Wort «Idee», von Plato gebraucht, bedeutet etwas anderes als das Wort «Idee» von unseren heutigen Philosophen gebraucht. Diese heutigen Philosophen können nicht mehr Plato begreifen, weil sie keine Anschauung von demjenigen haben, was er Idee nannte, und es so verwechseln mit dem abstrakten Begriffe. Plato hatte noch vor sich das Geistige, wenn auch schon destilliert; es war sozusagen noch etwas völlig Reales. Da also hatte man in den Worten noch, wenn man sich so ausdrücken darf, den Saft des Geistigen vorhanden. Das können Sie in den Worten spüren. Wenn jemand heute das Wort «Wind», «Luft» gebraucht, nun, dann meint er etwas Äußeres, Physisches. Das Wort Wind entspricht da einem Äußeren, Physischen. Wenn man zum Beispiel im alten Hebräischen das Wort Wind «Ruach» gebrauchte, so meinte man nicht bloß etwas Äußeres, Physisches, sondern ein Geistiges, das da hinfegte durch den Raum. Wenn der Mensch einatmet — nun, heute sagt ihm die materialistische Wissenschaft, daß er einfach materielle Luft einatmet. In alten Zeiten, da hat man nicht geglaubt, daß man die materielle Luft einatmet; da war man sich klar, daß man Geistiges, wenigstens Seelisches einatmet.
So waren die Worte durchaus Bezeichnungen für Geistiges und Seelisches. Heute hat das aufgehört, heute ist die Sprache auf die äußere Welt beschränkt oder wenigstens bemühen sich diejenigen, die heute auf der Höhe der Zeit stehen wollen, recht sehr, selbst hinter dem, bei welchem es noch handgreiflich ist, daß es Geistig-Seelischem entnommen ist, nur noch einen materialistischen Sinn zu sehen. Die Physik spricht ja davon, daß es einen «Stoß» von Körpern gibt. Sie hat vergessen, daß das Wort «Stoß» entnommen ist von dem, was ein lebendiges Wesen, wenn es ein anderes Wesen stößt, aus dem innersten Lebewesen selber vollbringt. So wird vergessen die ursprüngliche Wortbedeutung bei diesen einfachen Dingen.
Also heute ist unsere Sprache - und am meisten ist das bei der wissenschaftlichen Sprache der Fall - eine Sprache geworden, die nur noch Materielles auszudrücken vermag. Dadurch ist das, was, während wir sprechen, in unserer Seele ist, nur verständlich denjenigen Fähigkeiten unserer Seele, die an das physische Gehirn als ihr Instrument gebunden sind; und dann versteht die Seele nichts mehr von all dem, was mit diesen Worten bezeichnet ist, wenn sie entkörpert ist. Wenn die Seele durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, sich nicht mehr bedient des Gehirns, dann sind alle wissenschaftlichen Erörterungen von heute Gebilde, die der entkörperten Seele etwas ganz Unverständliches sind. Sie hört nicht einmal, nimmt nicht wahr das, was man in der Sprache der heutigen Zeit ausdrückt. Es hat keinen Sinn mehr für eine entkörperte Seele, weil es nur Sinn hat für dasjenige, was auf dem physischen Plan ist.
Das ist wiederum etwas, was wichtiger noch ist zu beachten in dem, was man nennen könnte Vorstellungsart, Denkungsweise. Dadrinnen ist es viel wichtiger zu beachten noch als in der Theorie, denn auf das Leben kommt es an, nicht auf die Theorie, und es ist das Charakteristische, daß man wiederum in der theosophischen Bewegung selber es sehen kann, wie der Materialismus sich hineingeschlichen hat. Weil er nun einmal Zeitmode ist, so hat er sich in die theosophische Auffassung vielfach hineingeschlichen, so daß auch da, im Theosophischen selber, wirklicher Materialismus waltet, zum Beispiel wenn man den Äther- oder Lebensleib beschreibt. Während man sich bemühen sollte, zur Erfassung des Geistigen zu kommen, beschreibt man ihn meistens so, als wenn er ein feineres Materielles wäre, und den astralischen Leib ebenso. Man geht gewöhnlich aus vom physischen Leib, geht weiter dann zum Äther- oder Lebensleib und sagt: Der ist nach dem Muster des physischen Leibes aufgebaut, nur feiner -, und schreitet so hinauf bis Nirwana. Da findet man Beschreibungen, die die Bilder hernehmen von nichts anderem als aus dem Physischen. Ich habe schon erlebt, daß man, wenn man ausdrücken wollte, daß in einem Zimmer eine gute Stimmung ist unter den Anwesenden, man dies nicht einfach in geradem Sinn ausgedrückt hat, sondern daß man gesagt hat: Ach, in diesem Raum sind feine Vibrationen vorhanden. — Man achtet dabei gar nicht darauf, daß man das, was da geistig bei einer Stimmung vorhanden ist, vermaterialisiert, wenn man sich den Raum ausgefüllt denkt mit einer Art dünnem Nebel, der von Vibrationen durchzogen ist.
Ja, sehen Sie, das ist das, was ich als denkbar materialistischste Vorstellungsart bezeichnen möchte. Es sitzt sozusagen der Materialismus selbst denen, die spirituell denken wollen, im Nacken. Das soll nur eine Charakteristik unserer heutigen Zeit sein; es ist aber wichtig, daß wir uns dessen bewußt werden. Und daher müssen wir auch gerade darauf achten, was gesagt worden ist: daß unsere Sprache, die immerhin eine Art Tyrannin ist für das menschliche Denken, daß unsere Sprache in die Seele einen Hang zum Materialismus verpflanzt. Und manche, die heute ganz gerne Idealisten sein möchten, drücken sich so aus, durch die Sprachtyrannis verführt, ganz im materialistischen Sinne. Das ist eine Sprache, die nicht mehr verstanden werden kann von der Seele, sobald sie sich nicht mehr gebunden fühlt an das menschliche Gehirn.
Es gibt sogar noch etwas anderes, Sie mögen es glauben oder nicht. Für denjenigen, der okkultes Anschauen, wirklich geistiges Wahrnehmen kennt, für den bedeutet die Art der Darstellung, wie sie heute vielfach gepflogen wird in theosophisch-wissenschaftlichen Schriften, einen wirklichen Schmerz, weil es ihm unsinnig vorkommt, wenn er anfängt, nicht mehr mit dem physischen Gehirn zu denken, sondern mit der Seele, die nicht mehr gebunden ist an das physische Gehirn, das heißt wirklich in der geistigen Welt lebt. Solange man mit dem physischen Gehirn denkt, so lange mag es hingehen, so die Welt zu charakterisieren. Sobald man aber anfängt, eine spirituelle Anschauung zu entfalten, so hört es auf, einen Sinn zu haben, in dieser Weise über die Dinge zu sprechen. Dann tut es sogar weh, wenn man den Ausspruch hören muß: In diesem Raum sind gute Vibrationen -, statt: Da herrscht eine gute Stimmung. - Das verursacht sogleich bei demjenigen, der imstande ist, wirklich geistig sich die Dinge vorzustellen, einen Schmerz, weil Gedanken Wirklichkeiten sind. Da füllt sich der Raum aus mit einem dunklen Nebel, wenn jemand die Gedankenform hinstellt: Es sind gute Vibrationen im Raum -, statt: Es herrscht eine gute Stimmung.
Es ist nun die Aufgabe der anthroposophischen Vorstellungsart — und die Vorstellungsart ist wichtiger als die Theorien -, daß wir lernen eine Sprache zu sprechen, die nun tatsächlich nicht bloß verstanden wird von der menschlichen Seele, solange sie im physischen Leibe ist, sondern auch dann, wenn diese Seele nicht mehr an das Instrument des physischen Gehirns gebunden ist; also entweder von einer zwar noch im Leibe sich befindenden, aber spirituell anschauenden, oder von der durch die Pforte des Todes gegangenen Seele noch erfaßt werden kann. Und das ist das Wesentliche! Wenn wir die Begriffe hinstellen, welche die Welt erklären, die das menschliche Wesen erklären, dann ist das eine Sprache, die nicht bloß hier auf dem physischen Plan verstanden werden kann, sondern auch von denjenigen, die jetzt nicht im physischen Leibe verkörpert sind, sondern zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt leben. Ja, was auf unserem anthroposophischen Boden gesprochen wird, das hören und verstehen die sogenannten Toten. Da sind sie völlig mit uns auf einem Boden, wo eine gleiche Sprache gesprochen wird. Da reden wir zu allen Menschen. Denn in gewisser Beziehung ist es zufällig, ob eine menschliche Seele gerade in einem fleischlichen Leibe ist oder in dem andern Zustande zwischen Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Und wir lernen durch die Anthroposophie eine Sprache, die für alle Menschenwesen, gleichgültig ob im einen oder im andern Zustand, verständlich ist. So also reden wir innerhalb des anthroposophischen Feldes eine Sprache, die gesprochen ist auch für die sogenannten Toten. Wir berühren nämlich wirklich durch dasjenige, was wir, wenn es auch scheinbar abstrakt ist, im realen Sinne in den anthroposophischen Erörterungen pflegen, den innersten Menschenkern, die innerste Wesenheit des Menschen. Wir dringen hinein bis in des Menschen Seele. Und damit befreien wir den Menschen, weil wir in seine Seele hineindringen, von aller Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit, das heißt, der Mensch wird auf diese Weise immer fähiger und fähiger, sich in seiner Ichheit wirklich zu erfassen.
Und das ist das Eigentümliche, daß diejenigen, die heute zur Anthroposophie herankommen, die wirklich Anthroposophie aufnehmen, sich gegenüber den andern Menschen, die ihr ferne bleiben, so ausnehmen, als würde sich durch die anthroposophischen Gedanken ihr Ich kristallisieren als eine spirituelle Wesenheit, die dann mitgetragen wird hinaus durch die Pforte des Todes. An der Stelle, wo die Ich-Wesenheit ist, die da bleibt, die da jetzt ist im Leibe und die da bleibt nach dem Tode, an Stelle jener Ich-Wesenheit ist bei den andern Menschen ein Hohlraum, ein Nichts. Alles übrige, was man an Begriffen heute aufnehmen kann, das wird immer mehr und mehr gegenstandslos für den eigentlichen seelischen Wesenskern des Menschen. Das Mittelpunktswesen des Menschen wird erfaßt durch dasjenige, was wir an anthroposophischen Gedanken aufnehmen. Das kristallisiert eine spirituelle Substanz im Menschen, das nimmt er mit nach dem Tode und durch das nimmt er wahr in der geistigen Welt. Damit sieht und hört er in der geistigen Welt, damit durchdringt er jene Finsternis, die sonst für den Menschen in der geistigen Welt ist. Und dadurch wird es bewirkt, daß, wenn der Mensch heute durch diese anthroposophischen Begriffe und anthroposophische Vorstellungsart dieses Ich in sich ausbildet, das nun im Zusammenhange steht mit all den Weltweistümern, die wir erhalten können - wenn er es ausbildet -, er es auch hinüberträgt in die nächste Inkarnation. Dann wird er wiedergeboren mit diesem nun ausgebildeten Ich, und er erinnert sich an dieses ausgebildete Ich. Und das ist die tiefere Aufgabe der anthroposophischen Weltbewegung heute: eine Anzahl von Menschen hinüberzuschicken zur nächsten Inkarnation mit einem Ich, an das sie sich erinnern als ihr individuelles Ich. Und das werden diejenigen Menschen sein, die den Kern der nächsten Kulturperiode bilden.
Jene Menschen, welche gut vorbereitet worden sind durch die anthroposophische geistige Bewegung, an ihr individuelles Ich sich zu erinnern, die werden über die ganze Erde verbreitet sein. Denn das Wesentliche in der nächsten Kulturperiode wird sein, daß sie nicht abgegrenzt sein wird durch einzelne Lokalitäten, sondern über die ganze Erde verbreitet sein wird. Die einzelnen Menschen werden zerstreut sein über die ganze Erde, und innerhalb des ganzen Erdgebietes wird der Kern von Menschheit da sein, der wesentlich sein wird für die sechste Kulturperiode. Und so wird es unter diesen Menschen sein, daß sie sich wiedererkennen werden als solche, die in ihrer vorhergehenden Inkarnation zusammen erstrebt haben das individuelle Ich.
Das ist die richtige Pflege jener Seelenfähigkeit, von der wir gesprochen haben. Die Seelenfähigkeit, die bildet sich auch so aus, daß nicht nur diejenigen, die jetzt geschildert worden sind, sich erinnern werden; sondern immer mehr und mehr Menschen werden, trotzdem sie ihr Ich nicht ausgebildet haben, die Erinnerung haben an die vorhergehende Inkarnation. Aber sie werden sich nicht an ein individuelles Ich erinnern, weil sie es nicht ausgebildet haben, sondern an das Gruppen-Ich, in dem sie geblieben sind. So wird es Menschen geben, die in dieser Inkarnation gesorgt haben für die Ausbildung ihres individuellen Ich. Diese werden sich erinnern als selbständige Individualität; sie werden zurückblicken und sagen: Du warst dieser oder jener. —- Diejenigen, welche die Individualität nicht ausgebildet haben, werden sich an diese Individualität auch nicht erinnern können.
Glauben Sie nicht, daß man durch das bloße visionäre Hellsehen etwa die Fähigkeit erlangt, sich an das vorhergehende Ich zu erinnern. Die Menschen waren einmal hellsehend. Würde das bloße Hellsehen genügen, so müßten sich alle erinnern, denn alle waren hellsehend. Nicht das macht es bloß aus, ob man hellsehend ist, hellsehend werden die Menschen schon in der Zukunft. Das macht es aus, ob man das Ich in dieser Inkarnation gepflegt hat oder nicht. Hat man es nicht gepflegt, so ist es als eine innere menschliche Wesenheit nicht da. Man schaut zurück und erinnert sich, als ein Gruppen-Ich, an dasjenige, was man gemeinschaftlich hatte. So daß diese Menschen sagen werden: Ja, da war ich, aber ich habe mich nicht losgemacht. - Das werden diese Menschen dann empfinden als ihren Fall, als einen neuen Fall der Menschheit, als ein Zurückfallen in die bewußte Zusammengehörigkeit mit der Gruppenseele. Und das wird etwas Furchtbares sein für den sechsten Zeitraum: nicht sich als Individualität im Rückblick fühlen zu können, sondern gehemmt zu sein dadurch, daß man nicht hinaus kann über die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit. Wenn man es kraß ausdrücken will, so kann man sagen: Denjenigen Menschen, die jetzt ihre Individualität kultivieren, denen wird die ganze Erde gehören mit alldem, was sie hervorbringen kann - es gilt wenigstens bildlich -; diejenigen Menschen, die nicht ausprägen ihr individuelles Ich, die werden angewiesen sein, sich anzuschließen an eine gewisse Gruppe und von der sich eingeben zu lassen, wie sie denken, fühlen, wollen, handeln sollen. Das wird als ein Zurückfallen, als ein Fall empfunden werden in der künftigen Menschheit.
So dürfen wir dasjenige, was anthroposophische Bewegung, geistiges Leben ist, nicht als bloße Theorie betrachten, sondern als etwas, was uns gegeben wird innerhalb der Gegenwart, weil es vorbereitet etwas, was notwendig ist für die Zukunft der Menschheit. Wenn wir uns richtig erfassen in dem Punkt, gerade da, wo wir jetzt sind, aus der Vergangenheit hergekommen sind, und ein wenig hinblicken auf die Zukunft, so müssen wir sagen: Jetzt ist die Zeit da, wo man beginnt, die menschliche Fähigkeit der Rückerinnerung auszubilden. Es kommt nur darauf an, daß wir sie richtig ausbilden, das heißt, daß wir uns anerziehen ein individuelles Ich. Denn nur an dasjenige, was wir geschaffen haben in unserer Seele, an das können wir uns erinnern. Haben wir es nicht geschaffen, dann bleibt uns nur die fesselnde Erinnerung an ein Gruppen-Ich, und dann empfinden wir das als ein Herunterfallen in eine Gruppe sozusagen höherer Tierheit. Wenn auch die menschlichen Gruppenseelen feiner und höher sind als die tierischen, so bleiben sie eben doch Gruppenseelen. Die Menschen der Vorzeit empfanden das nicht als Fall, weil sie daran waren, sich herauszuentwickeln von der Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit zur einzelnen Seele. Wenn sie jetzt beibehalten wird, dann fallen sie bewußt hinein, und das wird die drückende Empfindung in der Zukunft derjenigen sein, die nicht in der richtigen Art den Anschluß finden entweder jetzt oder in einer späteren Inkarnation: daß sie empfinden werden den Fall in der Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit.
Das ist die reale Aufgabe der Anthroposophie: den Anschluß zu geben. So müssen wir sie erfassen innerhalb des Menschenlebens. Wenn wir dies ins Auge fassen, daß der sechste Kulturzeitraum gerade die erste Überwindung, völlige Überwindung des Rassenbegriffes ist, so müssen wir uns klar sein, daß es phantastisch wäre zu glauben, daß auch die sechste Rasse von irgendeinem Ort der Erde ausginge und sich so bildete wie die früheren Rassen. Das ist der Fortschritt, daß immer neue Arten der Lebensentwickelung auftreten innerhalb des Fortganges, daß nicht dasjenige, was an Begriffen für frühere Zeiten gegolten hat, auch für künftige gelten soll. Sonst - wenn wir das nicht einsehen, wird uns nicht die Idee des Fortschrittes ganz klarwerden. Wir werden sozusagen sonst immer wiederum in den Fehler zurückfallen, daß wir sagen: So und so viele Runden, Globen, Rassen und so weiter. Und immer kugelt das herum und wieder herum und immer in derselben Weise. - Man kann nicht einsehen, warum dieses Rad von Runden, Globen, Rassen sich immer wieder drehen soll. Darum handelt es sich, daß das Wort Rasse eine Bezeichnung ist, die nur für gewisse Zeiten gilt. Um den sechsten Zeitraum herum hat der Begriff kaum mehr einen Sinn. Rasse hatten nur noch in sich die Elemente, die von der atlantischen Zeit geblieben sind.
In der Zukunft wird dasjenige, was zum Tiefsten der menschlichen Seele spricht, sich auch immer mehr und mehr in dem Äußeren des Menschen ausdrücken, und es wird dasjenige, was der Mensch als ein auf der einen Seite ganz Individuelles erworben hat und doch wiederum unindividuell erlebt, dadurch ausdrücken, daß es hinauswirkt bis zum menschlichen Antlitz; so daß die Individualität des Menschen ihm auf seinem Antlitz geschrieben sein wird, nicht die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit. Das wird die menschliche Mannigfaltigkeit ausmachen. Alles wird individuell erworben, trotzdem es durch die Überwindung der Individualität da ist. Und wir werden nicht Gruppen treffen unter denen, die erfaßt sind vom Ich, sondern im Äußeren wird sich das Individuelle ausdrücken. Das wird auch den Unterschied bilden zwischen den Menschen. Da werden solche sein, die sich ihre Ichheit erworben haben; sie werden über die ganze Erde hin zwar mit den mannigfaltigsten Antlitzen da sein, aber an ihrer Mannigfaltigkeit wird man erkennen, daß bis in die Geste hinein zum Ausdruck sich bringt das individuelle Ich. Während bei denen, die die Individualität nicht ausgebildet haben, die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit dadurch zum Ausdruck kommen wird, daß sie auch in ihrem Antlitz die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit tragen werden; das heißt, sie werden in Kategorien zerfallen, die einander gleichen werden. Das wird die äußere Physiognomie unserer Erde sein: daß vorbereitet sein wird eine Möglichkeit, die Individualität als äußeres Zeichen an sich zu tragen und die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit als äußeres Zeichen an sich zu tragen.
Das ist der Sinn der irdischen Entwickelung, daß der Mensch immer mehr und mehr die Fähigkeit erlangt, in seinem Äußeren das Innere darzustellen. Deshalb gibt es eine alte Schrift, in welcher das größte Ideal für die Entwickelung des Ich, der Christus Jesus, so charakterisiert wird, daß gesagt wird: Wenn die zwei eins werden, wenn das Äußere wie das Innere wird, dann hat der Mensch die Christushaftigkeit in sich erreicht. Das ist der Sinn einer gewissen Stelle des sogenannten Ägypter-Evangeliums. Solche Stellen begreift man aus der anthroposophischen Weisheit heraus.
Nachdem wir heute versucht haben, aus den Tiefen unserer Erkenntnis heraus die Aufgabe der Anthroposophie zu erfassen, wollen wir nun Dienstag etwas als ein spirituelles Problem in Angriff nehmen, das uns wiederum, als eine besondere individuelle Angelegenheit des Menschen, auf sein Schicksal, auf sein Wesen führen kann.
The I, the God Within, and the God of Outer Revelation
Today we want to deal with a general topic, namely the question of the meaning and tasks of anthroposophically oriented spiritual science in the present, and then on Tuesday with a more individual topic concerning the individual human destiny and nature.
We have often emphasized that anthroposophy has a special task and significance for humanity, especially in the present. After all, anyone who engages with anthroposophy as a thinking person must repeatedly ask themselves: What are the goals of this spiritual movement, and how does it relate to other tasks in our time? Now, as we have often done, we can examine these tasks from a wide variety of perspectives. Today, we want to try to grasp the course of human development at the point where we ourselves stand, look a little into the future, and then ask ourselves: What is the task of anthroposophy, especially in view of the point of development of humanity at which we stand today?
We know that since the great Atlantean catastrophe, which completely transformed the Earth as a place for human habitation, there have been five cultural epochs up to the present day. We have often listed these five cultural epochs as the ancient Indian, ancient Persian, Chaldean-Egyptian, Greek-Latin epochs, and then as the epoch in which we ourselves stand, the fifth cultural epoch, which has been preparing since, let us say, the 8th, 9th, 10th centuries and in which we are actually in the middle. Now we must be clear that such divisions are not meant to imply that one era of development ends abruptly and a new one begins, but rather that everything transitions slowly and gradually, and that long before one era has ended, the new one is already preparing itself within it. So we can say of our cultural epoch, the fifth of the post-Atlantean period, that what will actually characterize the sixth cultural epoch is already preparing itself, and quite significantly. And the humanity of the present will generally divide into two parts: those who today have no concept of any of this, who know nothing about the preparations for the sixth cultural epoch, who live, so to speak, blindly from day to day; and those who have some idea that something new is being prepared and who also know that, fundamentally, what is being prepared must be done by human beings, must be prepared by human beings. In a certain sense, as a human being, you can place yourself in the present and say that you will do what is generally customary, what others have done, what your fathers taught you, or you can place yourself in the present with the conscious knowledge that if you want to be a conscious link in the human chain, you must do something, either for yourself or for your environment, that contributes to preparing for what must come, namely the sixth cultural epoch, as much as you can. One can only understand how it is possible to prepare for this sixth cultural epoch if one considers the character of our own time a little. The best way to do this is by comparison.
We know that these cultural epochs differ significantly from one another, and we have pointed out various characteristics that distinguish them from one another in the course of our anthroposophical movement. We have pointed to the ancient Indian cultural period and shown how the soul characteristics of human beings were different then than later, how human beings were still endowed with a high degree of clairvoyant consciousness; and we have shown how the development through the following cultural epochs consists in the fact that human beings have lost more and more of their clairvoyance and have increasingly limited their powers of perception their intellectual faculties to the physical plane. We have seen how the fourth cultural period slowly prepared itself, in which human beings stepped out, so to speak, entirely onto the physical plane, so that the being we call Christ Jesus could incarnate on the physical plane as a being, as a human being of the physical plane. We then saw how, since that time, through a certain current, this emerged: how all human abilities on the physical plane have become even stronger, how the materialistic tendency of our time, all the urge of human beings to accept only what is presented in the physical environment, is connected with a further descent of human beings onto the physical plane. But this is by no means the end of the development. Humanity must ascend again into the spiritual world, ascend with all the achievements it has acquired, with all the fruits of the physical plane. And this is precisely what anthroposophy aims to do: to give human beings the opportunity to ascend again into the spiritual world.
Now we can say that immediately after the great Atlantean catastrophe there were numerous people who knew through their immediate perception that there is a spiritual world around us, that we live in a spiritual world. Fewer and fewer people knew this, and more and more people's abilities were limited to sensory perception. But while on the one hand the ability to perceive the spiritual world is still at its lowest level today, on the other hand something is preparing in our time that is so significant that a large number of people in the incarnation that follows the present one will have abilities that are completely different from those of today. Just as human abilities have changed throughout the five cultural epochs, so they will change in the sixth, and a large number of people today will clearly show in their next incarnation, through their whole soul nature, that their abilities have changed significantly. And today we want to gain clarity about how different these souls of human beings will be in the future, that is, in the next incarnation for a large number of them, and in the second next incarnation for others.
We could also look back in another way at past periods of human development. We would see that the further back we go in time, the more we find that what we might call the character of group soulhood has become linked with the human soul. You have often been made aware that the ancient Hebrew people had a consciousness of this group soulhood in the most eminent sense. Those who felt themselves to be truly conscious members of the ancient Hebrew people said to themselves — and this has been pointed out in particular — that as individual human beings they were temporary phenomena, but that something lived within them that was directly connected with all the soul beings that had streamed down since the patriarch Abraham. This is what the members of the ancient Hebrew people felt. We can even describe what the ancient Hebrew people felt as a spiritual phenomenon in esoteric terms. We can understand better what happened if we consider the following.
Let us take an ancient Hebrew initiate. Although initiation was not as common among the ancient Hebrew people as it was among other peoples, we can still characterize such a true initiate, not merely one who has been introduced to the theories and the law, but one who truly sees into the spiritual worlds, by taking into account the entire character of the people. It is customary today in external science, which blindly follows its documents, to examine everything in the Old Testament against all kinds of external documents and then find it unconfirmed. We will have occasion to point out that the Old Testament gives a more faithful account of the facts than external documentary history. In any case, spiritual science shows that a blood relationship of the Hebrew people can indeed be traced back to the progenitor Abraham, and that the assumption of Abraham as the progenitor is fully justified. In particular, however, this was something that was known in the ancient Hebrew secret schools: such an individuality, such a soul being as that of Abraham, was not merely incarnated as Abraham, but is an eternal being that remained in the spiritual world. And in truth, anyone who was inspired by the same spirit that inspired Abraham, who could invoke him for himself, who was imbued with the same soulfulness as Abraham, was a true initiate. So there was a real connection between every initiate and the patriarch Abraham. We must hold fast to this; it was expressed in the feeling of the members of the ancient Hebrew people. It was a kind of group soul. People felt what was expressed in Abraham as the group soul of the people. And so they felt group souls in the rest of humanity.
Humanity can be traced back to group souls. The further back we go in human evolution, the less pronounced we find individuality. What we still find today in the animal kingdom, that a whole group belongs together, was also present in humans and becomes clearer and clearer the further back we go in primeval times. Groups of people belong together, and the group soul is much stronger than the individual soul in each individual human being.
We can now say that even today, the group soul nature of human beings has not yet been overcome, and anyone who believes that it has been completely overcome would fail to notice certain finer aspects of life. But those who do take them into account will very soon see that certain people not only resemble each other in their physiognomy, but that the soul characteristics of groups of people are also similar, so that people can be divided into categories, so to speak. Every person today can still be classified into a certain category. In relation to this or that characteristic, he may belong to different categories, but a certain group soul character is not only evident in the existence of peoples, but also in other respects. The boundaries drawn between individual nations are increasingly disappearing, but other groupings are still perceptible. Certain basic characteristics are so closely connected in individual people that anyone who is willing to see can still perceive the last remnants of group soul characteristics in people today.
For we are now living in the most eminent sense in a transition. All group soul characteristics are to be gradually shed. Just as the chasms between individual nations are disappearing more and more, just as the individual parts of different nations are understanding each other more and more, so too will other group soul characteristics be shed, and the individuality of each human being will come more and more to the fore.
With this, however, we have characterized something very essential in evolution. If we want to look at it from another angle, we can say that within the development of humanity, the concept in which group soulhood is most strongly expressed is becoming increasingly meaningless, namely the concept of race. If we go back to before the great Atlantean catastrophe, we can see how the human races were preparing themselves. In the ancient Atlantean era, humans were grouped according to external characteristics in their physical constitution, even more so than today. What we call races today are only remnants of those significant differences between humans that were common in ancient Atlantis. The concept of race is really only applicable to ancient Atlantis. Therefore, since we reckon with a real development of humanity, we do not use the concept of race in the most eminent sense for the post-Atlantean time. We do not speak of an Indian race, a Persian race, and so on, because that is no longer correct. We speak of an ancient Indian cultural period, an ancient Persian cultural period, and so on.
And it would be completely meaningless to speak of a sixth race preparing itself in our time. If remnants of the old Atlantean differences, of the old Atlantean group soul character, still exist in our time, so that one can still speak of the racial division continuing to have an effect, then what is being prepared for the sixth epoch consists precisely in the shedding of the racial character. That is the essential point. That is why it is necessary that the movement called anthroposophical, which is to prepare the sixth epoch, should take up this stripping away of the racial character in its fundamental nature, that it should seek to unite people from all races, from all nations, and in this way bridge the differentiation, the differences, the chasms that exist between the individual groups of human beings. For the old racial standpoint has, in a certain sense, a physical character, and what will take place in the future will have a much more spiritual character.
It is therefore so urgently necessary to understand that our anthroposophical movement is a spiritual one that looks to the spiritual and overcomes precisely what arises from physical differences through the power of spiritual movement. It is perfectly understandable that every movement has its teething troubles, so to speak, and that at the beginning of the theosophical movement, things were presented as if the earth were to fall apart into seven periods, which were called the main races, and each of the main races into seven sub-races, and that all this would repeat itself so steadily that the earth would fall apart into seven periods, and each of the main races into seven sub-races, and that all this would repeat itself so steadily that the earth would fall apart into seven periods, and each of the main races into seven sub-races, and that all this would repeat itself so steadily that the earth would fall apart into seven periods, and each of the main races into seven as if the earth were divided into seven periods — called the main races — and each of the main races into seven sub-races; and that all this would repeat itself so steadily that one could always speak of seven races and seven sub-races. But we must move beyond these teething problems and realize that the concept of race ceases to have any meaning, especially in our time.
Something else is also in preparation — something that is connected in a very significant way with the individuality of human beings — with the becoming more and more individual of human beings. It is only a matter of this individuality becoming true in the right sense, and the anthroposophical movement is now intended to serve this purpose, so that human beings become true individualities, or personalities, we might also say. But how can it do this?
Here we must look to the most outstanding new soul quality of human beings that is preparing itself. The question is often asked: If reincarnation exists, why do people not remember their previous incarnations? I have answered this question many times before, and it is like bringing a four-year-old child and saying that because he cannot count, he is not capable of doing so. Let him grow to the age of ten, and he will be able to count. It is the same with the human soul. Even if it cannot remember today, the time will come when it will be able to remember, the time when it will have the same abilities as those who are initiated today. But this change is happening right now. There are a number of souls today who are so far along that they are just about to remember their previous incarnations, at least their last one. A whole number of people today are, so to speak, just before the opening of the gate to comprehensive memory, which encompasses not only the life between birth and death, but also the previous incarnations, at least the last one. And when a number of people are reborn after the present incarnation, they will remember the present incarnation. It is only a question of how they remember. Anthroposophical development should provide the impetus and guidance for remembering in the right way.
If one wants to characterize this anthroposophical movement from this point of view, one must say that its character is that it leads people to grasp in the right sense what is called the human ego, the innermost member of the human being. I have often pointed out that Fichte was right in saying that most people would rather consider themselves a piece of lava on the moon than an I. And if you think about how many people there are in our time who have any idea at all of what an I is, that is, what they themselves are, you would generally come to a rather sad conclusion.
When this question arises, I am always reminded of a comrade I had a little over thirty years ago, who at that time, as a very young man, was completely infected with materialistic thinking. Today it is more fashionable to say monistic thinking. He was already infected with it despite his young age. He always laughed when it was said that there was something in human beings that could be called a spiritual entity, because he believed that what lives in us as thoughts is produced by mechanical or chemical processes in the brain. I often said to him, “Look, if you seriously believe that as the meaning of life, why do you lie all the time?” He did indeed lie constantly, for he never said, “My brain feels, my brain thinks,” but rather, “I think, I feel, I know this or that.” So he constructed a theory which he contradicted with every word he uttered, as every human being does, for it is impossible to hold fast to what one imagines to be a materialistic theory. One cannot remain truthful if one thinks materialistically. If one says, “My brain loves you,” then one should not say “you,” but rather, “My brain loves your brain.” People do not realize this consequence. But it is actually something that is not merely humorous, but something that shows the deep undercurrent of unconscious untruthfulness at the bottom of our present mental formation.
Most people would really rather consider themselves a piece of lava on the moon, that is, a concocted matter, than what can be called an I. And, of course, the least we can do today to grasp the I is through external science, which, by its very nature, must think materialistically according to its methods. How can human beings achieve this grasp of the I? How can they gradually gain a concept, an idea of what they instinctively feel when they say, “I think”? — Solely and exclusively by recognizing, with the help of the anthroposophical worldview, how this human being is structured, how the physical body has a Saturn character, the etheric body a Sun character, the astral body a Moon character, and the I an Earth character. When we consider all the ideas we gather from the whole universe, we understand how the I works as the actual master craftsman on all the other members. And so, little by little, we also arrive at a concept of what we represent with the word “I.”
We gradually struggle our way up to the highest concept of this “I” when we learn to understand such a word. We do not merely feel ourselves to be spiritual beings when we feel ourselves to be in an “I,” but when we can say to ourselves: Something lives in our individuality that was there before Father Abraham. When we cannot merely say: I and Father Abraham are one, but rather: I and my father are the spiritual being that permeates and animates the world. What lives in the I is the same spiritual substance that permeates and animates the world as spirit. In this way, we gradually struggle to understand this I, that is, the bearer of human individuality, that which carries us from incarnation to incarnation.
But how do we understand the I, how do we understand the world at all through an anthroposophical worldview? This anthroposophical worldview comes about in the most individual way and is at the same time the most unindividual thing that can be conceived. It can only come about in the most individual way through the secrets of the universe revealing themselves in a human soul, through the great spiritual beings of the world flowing into it. The content of the world must be experienced in the most individual way in human individuality, but at the same time it must be experienced with a character of complete impersonality. Anyone who wants to experience the true character of the world's mysteries must stand entirely on the point of view from which he says to himself: Anyone who still respects his own opinion cannot arrive at the truth. For this is the peculiarity of anthroposophical truth: the observer must not have his own opinion, no preference for this or that theory; he must not, through his particular individual peculiarities, love this or that view more than another. As long as he stands on this point of view, it is impossible for the true world secrets to reveal themselves to him. He must recognize things entirely individually, but his individuality must have developed to such an extent that it no longer has anything personal about it, including his individual likes and dislikes. This must be taken strictly and seriously. Anyone who still has any preference for this or that concept or view, anyone who, through their upbringing or temperament, is inclined toward this or that, will never recognize objective truth.
This summer, we have attempted to understand the Eastern teachings from the standpoint of Western doctrine. We have tried to do justice to the Eastern teachings and have presented them truthfully in such a way that they have been given their full due. It must be strictly emphasized that in our time, with independent spiritual knowledge, it is impossible to always decide in favor of a particular preference for the Eastern or Western worldview. Anyone who says, according to their different temperament, that they love more the uniqueness, the lawfulness of the world as it exists in the Eastern or, correspondingly, in the Western world, has not yet fully understood what is actually at stake. This does not mean that one should decide, for example, in favor of the greater significance of, say, Christ over everything that Eastern teachings recognize, because one's Western education or temperament inclines one more toward Christ. Only then is one called upon to decide the question: How does Christ relate to the East? — if, from a personal point of view, Christianity is as indifferent to you as the Eastern world. As long as you have a preference for one or the other, you are not yet called upon to make a decision. You only begin to become objective when you let the facts speak for themselves, when you no longer respect the reasons for your own opinion, but let only the facts speak in this area.
Therefore, when we encounter the anthroposophical worldview today in its true form, we are confronted with something that is intimately interwoven with human individuality, because it must spring from the ego force of individuality and, on the other hand, must be independent, so that this individuality is once again completely indifferent. The person in whom the anthroposophical truths appear must be as indifferent as possible to them; it does not matter at all. What matters is that he has brought himself to the point where he does not impose any of his own coloring on these things. Then they will indeed have to be individual, because the spiritual cannot appear in the light of the stars or the moon, but only in the human soul, in individuality. Then, on the other hand, individuality will have to be so far advanced that it can eliminate itself in the coming into being of what the signs of the times are for the world.
In this way, what approaches humanity through the anthroposophical movement becomes, on the one hand, something that concerns every human being, regardless of their race, nation, and so on, because it addresses only the new humanity, the human being as such, but not a general abstraction called “human being,” but rather each individual human being. That is what matters. Therefore, when it speaks, just as it emerges from the individuality, from the core of the human being, to the deepest core of the human being, it grasps this core of the human being. When we speak from person to person in other ways, it is basically only the surface that speaks to the surface, something that we have not connected with the innermost core of our being. Understanding from person to person, complete understanding, is hardly possible today in any other area than that in which what is produced comes forth from the center of the human being and, when correctly understood by the other, speaks back to his center. Therefore, in a certain sense, it is a new language that is spoken through anthroposophy. Even though we are still compelled to proclaim what is proclaimed in the individual national languages, the content is a new language spoken by anthroposophy.
What is spoken today in the world is a language that is actually only valid for a very limited area. In ancient times, when people still looked into the spiritual world through their old, dim clairvoyance, their words meant something that was in the spiritual world. The word meant something that was in the spiritual world. Even in Greece, it was different than it is today. The word “idea,” as used by Plato, means something different than the word “idea” as used by our philosophers today. Today's philosophers can no longer understand Plato because they have no conception of what he called an idea, and so they confuse it with abstract concepts. Plato still had the spiritual before him, albeit in a distilled form; it was, so to speak, still something completely real. So in those days, if one may express it thus, the juice of the spiritual was still present in words. You can sense this in the words. When someone today uses the word “wind” or “air,” they mean something external, physical. The word wind corresponds to something external, physical. When, for example, the word wind was used in ancient Hebrew, “Ruach,” it did not mean merely something external, physical, but something spiritual that swept through space. When a person breathes in, today materialistic science tells us that they are simply breathing in material air. In ancient times, people did not believe that they were breathing in material air; they were aware that they were breathing in something spiritual, or at least something of the soul.
Thus, words were definitely designations for spiritual and soul things. Today, this has ceased; today, language is limited to the external world, or at least those who want to be considered up-to-date make a great effort to see only a materialistic meaning even behind things that are still clearly derived from the spiritual and soul realms. Physics speaks of a “collision” of bodies. It has forgotten that the word “collision” is taken from what a living being accomplishes from its innermost being when it collides with another being. Thus, the original meaning of the word is forgotten in these simple things.
So today our language — and this is most true of scientific language — has become a language that can only express material things. As a result, what is in our soul while we speak is only understandable to those faculties of our soul that are bound to the physical brain as their instrument; and then the soul understands nothing more of all that is designated by these words when it is disembodied. When the soul has passed through the gate of death and no longer makes use of the brain, all of today's scientific discussions are constructs that are completely incomprehensible to the disembodied soul. It does not even hear or perceive what is expressed in the language of today. It no longer has any meaning for a disembodied soul, because it only has meaning for that which is on the physical plane.
This is something else that is even more important to note in what might be called the mode of imagination, the way of thinking. It is much more important to note this in practice than in theory, because it is life that matters, not theory, and it is characteristic that one can see how materialism has crept into the theosophical movement itself. Because it is now a fashion of the times, it has crept into the theosophical view in many ways, so that even there, in theosophy itself, real materialism prevails, for example when describing the etheric or life body. While one should strive to grasp the spiritual, it is usually described as if it were a finer material substance, and the astral body is described in the same way. One usually starts from the physical body, then moves on to the etheric or life body and says: This is built according to the pattern of the physical body, only finer — and so one proceeds upward to Nirvana. One finds descriptions that take their images from nothing other than the physical world. I have already experienced that when one wanted to express that there was a good atmosphere in a room among those present, one did not simply express this in a straightforward sense, but said: Oh, there are fine vibrations in this room. One does not even notice that one is materializing what is spiritually present in a mood when one imagines the room filled with a kind of thin mist permeated by vibrations.
Yes, you see, that is what I would call the most materialistic way of thinking imaginable. Materialism itself, so to speak, is breathing down the necks of those who want to think spiritually. This is only a characteristic of our time, but it is important that we become aware of it. And that is why we must pay particular attention to what has been said: that our language, which is after all a kind of tyrant for human thinking, implants a tendency toward materialism in the soul. And some who would very much like to be idealists today express themselves in a completely materialistic way, seduced by the tyranny of language. This is a language that can no longer be understood by the soul as soon as it no longer feels bound to the human brain.
There is even something else, believe it or not. For those who are familiar with occult observation, with true spiritual perception, the manner of presentation commonly found today in theosophical-scientific writings causes real pain, because it seems nonsensical to them when they begin to think no longer with the physical brain, but with the soul, which is no longer bound to the physical brain, that is, which truly lives in the spiritual world. As long as one thinks with the physical brain, it may be acceptable to characterize the world in this way. But as soon as one begins to develop a spiritual view, it ceases to make sense to speak about things in this way. Then it even hurts to hear the statement: “There are good vibrations in this room” instead of “There is a good atmosphere.” This immediately causes pain to those who are able to truly imagine things spiritually, because thoughts are realities. The room fills with a dark fog when someone puts forward the thought form: “There are good vibrations in the room” instead of “There is a good atmosphere.”
It is now the task of the anthroposophical way of thinking — and the way of thinking is more important than theories — that we learn to speak a language which is not only understood by the human soul while it is in the physical body, but also when this soul is no longer bound to the instrument of the physical brain; that is, it can be grasped either by a soul that is still in the body but seeing spiritually, or by a soul that has passed through the gate of death. And that is the essential point! When we put forward concepts that explain the world, that explain human beings, then that is a language that can be understood not only here on the physical plane, but also by those who are not now embodied in the physical body, but live between death and a new birth. Yes, what is spoken on our anthroposophical ground is heard and understood by the so-called dead. There they are completely on the same ground as us, where the same language is spoken. There we speak to all human beings. For in a certain sense it is a matter of chance whether a human soul is currently in a physical body or in the other state between death and a new birth. And through anthroposophy we learn a language that is understandable to all human beings, regardless of whether they are in one state or the other. Thus, within the anthroposophical field, we speak a language that is also spoken by the so-called dead. For through what we cultivate in anthroposophical discussions, even if it seems abstract, we truly touch the innermost core of the human being, the innermost essence of the human being. We penetrate into the soul of the human being. And in doing so, we free the human being from all group soul characteristics, because we penetrate into their soul. In this way, the human being becomes increasingly capable of truly grasping their own I-ness.
And what is peculiar is that those who approach anthroposophy today, who truly take it in, stand out from other people who remain distant from it, as if the anthroposophical thoughts crystallize their ego into a spiritual being that is then carried through the gate of death. In place of the I-being that remains, that is now in the body and remains after death, there is a void, a nothingness in other people. Everything else that can be grasped in concepts today becomes more and more meaningless for the actual soul core of the human being. The central being of the human being is grasped through what we take in through anthroposophical thinking. This crystallizes a spiritual substance in the human being, which he takes with him after death and through which he perceives in the spiritual world. With this he sees and hears in the spiritual world, with this he penetrates the darkness that otherwise surrounds human beings in the spiritual world. And this brings about the effect that when human beings today develop this ego within themselves through these anthroposophical concepts and anthroposophical ways of thinking, which are now connected with all the world truths we can receive—when they develop it—they also carry it over into their next incarnation. Then they are reborn with this now developed ego, and they remember this developed ego. And that is the deeper task of the anthroposophical world movement today: to send a number of people over to the next incarnation with an ego that they remember as their individual ego. And those will be the people who form the core of the next cultural period.
Those people who have been well prepared by the anthroposophical spiritual movement to remember their individual ego will be spread all over the earth. For the essential thing in the next cultural period will be that it will not be limited to individual localities, but will be spread all over the earth. Individual human beings will be scattered across the entire earth, and within the entire earth's territory will be the core of humanity that will be essential for the sixth cultural period. And so it will be among these human beings that they will recognize each other as those who, in their previous incarnation, strove together for the individual self.
This is the proper cultivation of the soul capacity of which we have spoken. The soul capacity also develops in such a way that not only those who have now been described will remember, but more and more people, even though they have not developed their ego, will have memories of their previous incarnation. But they will not remember an individual ego, because they have not developed it, but rather the group ego in which they have remained. Thus there will be people who in this incarnation have taken care to develop their individual ego. They will remember themselves as independent individuals; they will look back and say: You were this or that. Those who have not developed individuality will not be able to remember this individuality.
Do not believe that mere visionary clairvoyance gives one the ability to remember one's previous self. Human beings were once clairvoyant. If mere clairvoyance were enough, then everyone would remember, for everyone was clairvoyant. It is not merely a question of whether one is clairvoyant; human beings will become clairvoyant in the future. What matters is whether or not one has cultivated the I in this incarnation. If one has not cultivated it, it is not there as an inner human entity. One looks back and remembers, as a group I, what one had in common. So these people will say: Yes, I was there, but I did not break away. These people will then perceive this as their fate, as a new fate for humanity, as a relapse into conscious togetherness with the group soul. And that will be something terrible for the sixth epoch: not being able to feel oneself as an individual in retrospect, but being inhibited by the fact that one cannot transcend the group soul. To put it bluntly, one could say that those people who are now cultivating their individuality will own the whole earth with everything it can produce – at least figuratively speaking – while those who do not develop their individual selves will be forced to join a certain group and allow it to dictate how they should think, feel, want, and act. This will be perceived as a step backward, as a fall, in the future of humanity.
We must not regard the anthroposophical movement and spiritual life as mere theory, but as something that is given to us in the present because it prepares something that is necessary for the future of humanity. If we understand ourselves correctly at this point, precisely where we are now, having come from the past, and look a little toward the future, we must say: Now is the time to begin developing the human capacity for recollection. It is only important that we develop it correctly, that is, that we educate ourselves to have an individual self. For we can only remember what we have created in our souls. If we have not created it, then all we are left with is the captivating memory of a group self, and then we feel as if we are falling into a group of higher animals, so to speak. Even though human group souls are finer and higher than animal souls, they remain group souls nonetheless. The people of ancient times did not perceive this as a fall, because they were in the process of evolving from group soulhood to individual souls. If it is maintained now, then they fall into it consciously, and this will be the oppressive feeling in the future of those who do not find the right connection either now or in a later incarnation: that they will feel the fall into group soulhood.
This is the real task of anthroposophy: to provide the connection. This is how we must understand it within human life. If we consider that the sixth cultural epoch is precisely the first overcoming, the complete overcoming of the concept of race, then we must realize that it would be fantastic to believe that the sixth race also originated from some place on earth and formed itself in the same way as the earlier races. This is the progress that always new types of life development appear in the course of progress, that what was valid in concepts for earlier times should not also be valid for future times. Otherwise, if we do not understand this, the idea of progress will not become completely clear to us. Otherwise, we will always fall back into the error of saying: So many rounds, globes, races, and so on. And everything keeps rolling around and around in the same way. It is impossible to understand why this wheel of rounds, globes, and races should keep turning over and over again. The point is that the word “race” is a term that only applies to certain periods of time. Around the sixth epoch, the concept hardly has any meaning anymore. Only the elements that remained from the Atlantean epoch still had race within them.
In the future, that which speaks to the deepest part of the human soul will also express itself more and more in the outer appearance of human beings, and that which human beings have acquired as something entirely individual on the one hand, yet experience as something non-individual on the other, will express itself by working outwards to the human face; so that the individuality of the human being will be written on his face, not the group soul nature. This will constitute human diversity. Everything will be acquired individually, even though it is there through the overcoming of individuality. And we will not encounter groups among those who are grasped by the I, but the individual will express itself outwardly. This will also constitute the difference between human beings. There will be those who have acquired their I-ness; they will be present all over the earth with the most diverse faces, but their diversity will reveal that the individual I is expressed even in their gestures. Whereas in those who have not developed their individuality, the group soul will be expressed in that they will also carry the group soul in their faces; that is, they will fall into categories that will resemble one another. This will be the outer physiognomy of our earth: that a possibility will be prepared for carrying individuality as an outer sign in itself and carrying group soulhood as an outer sign in itself.
This is the meaning of earthly development, that human beings increasingly attain the ability to represent their inner being in their outer appearance. That is why there is an ancient writing in which the greatest ideal for the development of the I, Christ Jesus, is characterized as follows: When the two become one, when the outer becomes like the inner, then man has attained Christhood within himself. That is the meaning of a certain passage in the so-called Egyptian Gospel. Such passages can be understood from anthroposophical wisdom.
Now that we have tried today to grasp the task of anthroposophy from the depths of our knowledge, let us tackle something on Tuesday as a spiritual problem which can again lead us, as a special individual matter for human beings, to their destiny, to their nature.