From Luther to Steiner
Introduction
We recognize the cause of degeneracy in Historical Humanity; recognizing, at the same time, the necessity for its regeneration, We believe, also, in the possibility of such regeneration, and therefore dedicate ourselves to its accomplishment in every sense of the term. —Richard Wagner
The recent stupendous events of war and revolution, with all their attendant horrors of bloodshed and political upheaval abroad, are, in truth, no more than a tragic epilogue to the grotesque comedy of so-called civilization to which we have submitted ourselves for the space of the past fifty years.
Yet this tragic after-act, should its lesson really come home to us, may eventually be regarded as a prologue to a creative spiritual and political transformation, such as has not been known in Germany since the days of the Reformation. And not alone Germany, which itself had to thank the decadent Roman Church for the German Reformation, but Europe in its entirety—aye, all the civilized world— may feel the decisive effect of the change.
The military result of the war, whichever way it went, could not this time have finally settled anything. Every one who has any real knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes knows that it was not possible this time, as in 1870, to make a political peace, getting the cost of reparation in cash, and then to drag on somehow or other as far as possible under the old conditions. It is clear to every one that we stand on the threshold of a New Age, and that the Peace Treaty was bound to be followed by a reawakening of activity in Germany in the minds of its people which would spread to the rest of Europe, and compared with which the religio-political prattle of 18711887 would be child’s play, as the fighting of 1870-1871 is like a harmless piece of fireworks when compared with the world-war. For, as Germany has hitherto striven for material riches, striven to maintain the outward bulwarks of her so-called culture, struggled to maintain her supremacy in trade and manufacture, n industry and mechanics, and as she has fought to maintain her “place in the sun,” so will she now turn her energies and bend her will to acquiring the riches of the spirit—those inner bulwarks of her civilization, and of her German Christianity—to the end that she may establish and retain the power of her position in Science, Art, Morality, and Justice, as applied to life, doing so against every “ism” in the world. Here, too, Germany stands alone, surrounded by a ring of enemies, but dependent on her own strength.
This is no chance result, but closely linked with Germany’s position in the world. Every age known to history has been distinguished spiritually by the supremacy of one particular people, and the epoch now dawning will be sustained in its civilizing impulse by the German spirit. ‘ He who is strong, is strongest when alone”: never, surely, did these words ring truer than now of Germany; who is so isolated, so friendless, and so entirely dependent on her own efforts. Germany shares this tragic destiny with the Man of Nazareth, Who also was spat upon, scourged, and crucified; Who also was thrown back upon Himself and on His Divine Power, and Who, just because He was crucified, became the Master of subsequent ages—to regenerate, which is Germany's Mission.
Two grave dangers have long threatened and undermined the structure of German character—dangers which must also inevitably bring about the “downfall of the Western world,” if the movement to prevent it were not already in full swing. These dangers are known in the language of Spiritual Science as the “Ahrimanic and Luciferan dangers,” 1“Ahriman,” according to the Persian Mysteries, is the Spirit of Darkness, or of “World-Evil,” being.identical with Satan, or Mephistopheles (that which does not love the Light), He is the contrary to “Ormuzd” or “Ahura Mazda,” the the Cosmic Spirit of the Sun. “Lucifer” is known in the Rosicrucian Mysteries as the “Light-Bearer,” being identical God of Light, who—together with Christ—is identical with with Prometheus, as also with the Serpent of Paradise. He is the Inspirer of human freedom and of knowledge, giving Personality, with both its good and bad aspects. Lucifer has also another side when he acts as the Tempter to the human soul where matters appertaining to Mysticism, Egoism, and the senses are concerned. and can be combated only by the active, re generating power of the Christ Force within our own souls.
From the West comes the danger of Ahriman. It is active in the material science of our day. It is personified among us Germans in many an un-German Philistine; more particularly in the Educated Philistines,” such as David Friedrich Strauss, whom Nietzsche has fixed upon as typical of the variety. Alas! that we here in Germany should possess regular breeding-grounds for the output of men like Strauss, and that we call these breeding-grounds Universities!
Germans, as a rule, would protest most vigorously against this statement. But men of the type mentioned do nothing but further scientific materialism, even when they claim to overthrow it by abstract metaphysical arguments, which are not worth the paper they are written on. To shut our eyes to the danger is impossible and is to sin against that spirit of truth which is destined to carry the blessings of German Thought to the whole world.
From the East comes no less a danger in the guise of Lucifer, as exemplified in the “religiosity” of the day, personified in the equally un-German Pharisees and Scribes—called by Nietzsche the “Good and Righteous”—slaves to reaction, sticklers for “historic values,” and nothing, in fact, but unproductive parasites, heralding the beginning of the end.
Veneration for the Great Ones of bygone times should not end in falling down before them and giving up the effort to be ourselves actively creative in our day. We may, indeed, say with Nietzsche that there is but one way in which worthily to honour our great men, namely, “by continuing to search for truth in the same spirit and with the same courage that they did; never wearying.”
Yet, such great men as Nietzsche here referred to... where are we to look for them? Are we to turn to Eucken at Jena, to Graf Keyserling at Darmstadt, 2“Schule der Weisheit” founded by Graf Keyserling in 1922, under the patronage of the ex-duke of Hesse-Darmstadt. to Wille at Berlin, Müller at Elmau? Or, again, to Driesch, Scheler, Rohrbach, Troelsch, Spengler, Blüher, Schlüter, to Steinbach, or to Louis Hänszer?—Guides and Prophets. Leaders such as these we have in abundance—and to spare! They are themselves the victims of either Ahriman or Lucifer, where it is not a case of their being a prey to both, and for this reason they can but lead us out into the Wilderness.
Those whose inspiration partakes of the Luciferan variety swear fanatically by “Moses and the Prophets,”’ and their utmost concessions to modernity reach no farther than Luther or Schelling: they resolutely refuse to accept aught that is really new. So, too, with religious orthodoxy, even where this is presented in its most liberal and enlightened form; where piety and religious fervour are plainly evinced, with a genuine striving after “experience of God,” or a “communion with God”: even there is the taint of the Luciferan spirit. In considering this question we have to bear in mind how great a portion of our German lands is still subject to Catholicism and Jesuitry. Catholic Germany, of which the politically active representative is the Centre Party, is one of the greatest dangers to Spiritual Germany, whose mission consists in bringing to active fulfilment"the Living Impulse of Christ—and through Germany to all the rest of Europe.
Yet before this can come to pass it is imperative that Germany herself should attain to a true knowledge of her own innermost being, to the end that she may herself be made whole. And in this Kulturkamdf of Christ against the dual foes, Ahriman and Lucifer, against the material science of the West and the religious mysticism of the East, she will be able to hold the field successfully, should a sufficient number of men and women of independent mind have been found capable of reading the signs of the times—above all, capable of distinguishing their true leaders from those who can but lead them astray. They who wish for “signs and wonders” before they can believe have missed the whole teaching of the nineteenth century. Miracles to-day have nothing to do with belief. Belief in this day must rest upon experience, upon man’s knowledge or wisdom, upon Anthroposophy, or the free access to spiritual experience, self-wrought training in Wisdom. It is only when a large enough number of persons have trained themselves in this Wisdom that Germany will have the right and power to speak, and to fulfil her World-Mission, and then only will all that is hidden deep in Germany’s soul be revealed. And this true Soul of Germany is nothing less than the living Christ, as is witnessed by the genius of German speech, which uses I, CH. (“Jesus Christus”) for the first person, instead of the Englishman’s “I”, or the Frenchman’s “je,” thereby appealing to every German to reveal the immense depths and sublimities of the human soul.
We have a leader among us in the person of Rudolf Steiner—Steiner, who with forty years of untiring pioneer work to his credit, has blazed a track where hitherto no road was know to the traveller. Nor has he attempted this by means of fine words and phrases, by generalities, speculative arguments, and metaphysical assertions as to the “world beyond,” but by personal, matter-of-fact, and first-hand experience of the spiritual worlds. It is thus that those who elect to follow Steiner by seeking within may find the way to their own innermost selves—to the Christ-Power—the I-AM-I—which is latent in all men.
We have to face a reconstruction of our entire conception of the Universe. We are burdened by the sufferings of a generation which is struggling to find the answer to the most fundamental problems. We feel the agonies of Doubt: daily do we expect the Messiah, Whose coming shall give the happy solution to the Great Enigma, Our time of durance may possibly be long, for we have become exacting, and we are not going to allow ourselves to be too easily satisfied. But this much is true: Whatever this Reformer may make known to us—the New Knowledge will be accompanied by a New Morality also. We shall then, too, know in what way we have to adapt ourselves to the New Life. For, to present to persons of culture and education the stale remnants of a now effete Civilization, bidding them accept these as Humanity’s eternal and unchanging Moral Law, is to blunt their perception of the seething unrest of the times, and thus render them unfit to co-operate in those tasks which await us in the near future. —Rudolf Steiner (1892).