The Rudolf Steiner Archive

All subjective regularity of our organs corresponds to the objective one from which it is extracted.

Sea animals, in which the eye is not yet developed, nevertheless sense light and darkness. They have light sensation through a nerve node; only gradually does the optic nerve develop, carrying the light sensation to the brain, whereby it is perceived as color.

Our astral ancestors did not yet have developed organs of sight, they had only an astral organ of perception with which they directly felt the color, they were still one with what they perceived, and lived with the color they felt.

All development is differentiation. At first, the eye and the color red, for example, are in undifferentiated unity. Then life separates itself into perception and being. Man cannot objectively perceive what he cannot subjectively produce again as illusion out of himself. Everything that is outside is also in the human being. He is only a separated part of the outside world, which draws into himself what is outside.

Our astral ancestors of the first rounds were there perceiving. We humans of the fourth round perceive where we are.

All development is differentiation. First, the eye and the color red are in an undivided unity.

Living in the red separates into:

1. The perception of red (by the optic nerve)
2. The being of the red itself

All subjective regularity of our organs corresponds to the objective laws of nature from which it is extracted.

Until the nineteenth century, the substance theory or emission hypothesis—emission of a light substance—was valid for the explanation of light phenomena, because it was not possible to refute this theory physically by experiments. The correctness of the substance theory depends on the fact that light added to light gives greater brightness.

In the nineteenth century Fresnel proved by experiment that light is a motion, a vibration. Light is vibrating motion. The proof lies in the fact that light brought to light can result in darkness.

The law of reflection is: a ray of light is reflected back from a reflecting wall in such a way that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

This law is found as follows: We place a light in front of a mirror and receive the reflected beam in our eye. Between the lines of the Sun's outgoing rays and its reflected ones we draw a perpendicular line and in this way we get two acute angles. We call the first angle (angle A) angle of incidence, the second one (angle B) angle of reflection (subjective experiment).

The same law applies to the objective experiment: we let a ray of light enter through an aperture onto a mirror in a darkroom; we get the Sun's light reflected onto the opposite screen: at the point of intersection, the perpendicularly drawn line gives the two equal acute angles: angle of incidence and angle of reflection.

If we now set up two mirrors with angles inclined to one another, from the two mirrors the received light image is reflected back in such a way that one Sun disk coincides with the other.—We can then have either light or dark. Light added to light can give darkness.

From this it follows with irrefutable force of proof that light is not matter (for then matter added to matter would give more light) but motion. In motion, vibrating particles can be accelerated by a new impulse in the same direction, that is, amplified, or inhibited and brought to a standstill when they collide. Light is vibrating motion.

If we let the light rays fall on the mirror through a grating, the reflection on the screen gives light and dark side by side.

Motion presupposes a substance which is set in vibration. This is the ether. The Sun's rays vibrate in four different types of ether. They yield heat, light and chemical effects; in their finest state they are the substance of life—prana (life ether). Thus, in our physical matter we have solid, liquid, gas, and four etheric types. We find them in the plant:

1. The plant takes in matter and transforms it (chemical/formative ether).
2. The plant shows its parts colored (light ether).
3. The plant needs warmth for its activity (warmth ether).

The various effects of light rays on matter can be isolated. One can remove heat from luminosity by using an alum solution; and conversely, by using carbon disulfide, heat acts without the production of light. Certain rays of light separated from others can excite dormant faculties in a substance to activity or entirely annul them. For example, the rays that normally produce chemical effects, such as violet and ultraviolet ones, have the ability to make sulfur-calcium (a mixture of sulfur and the white metal calcium) luminous. However, if these rays are first allowed to pass through an aesculin solution, this effect will be cancelled, and the mixture will lose its ability of luminosity altogether. The ability to make sulfur-calcium luminous is possessed only by those types of rays that also produce chemical effects.

The red warmth rays have a slower vibration than the violet rays that produce chemical effects. The red ones have 400 trillion vibrations per second, the blue-violet ones 760 trillion, and even more so the ultraviolet ones; the light rays, bright in the middle, have an intermediate speed.

It is not that the vibration of the red warmth rays is slower, but rather the dark matter through which the bright rays shine and produce red makes the red rays more inert and passive. Thus the dark matter obscures the light and slows down the speed capability of the bright rays.

The violet rays cause the dark matter to take on a lighter coloring. That is, the dark matter itself undergoes a change, and therefore does not to disturb the vibrations of the light, but lets them pass. The dark matter changes the bright light rays by darkening them. On the contrary, the dark rays illuminate the dark matter and act on it, making it move and change.

When the light rays are caught by an object, darkness is created behind the illuminated object, and it will then cast its shadow on an opposite screen.

We can perceive an object's color due to the fact that, for example, a red flower vibrates the ether of light between itself and our eye 400 trillion times a second; that the light ether in our eye, set in the same vibrations, reaches the red cone in our retina; and through the optic nerve the image of the red flower which is reflected on the retina is telegraphed to the brain, whereby the reflection is then consciously perceived.

The astral can only perceive directly by empathizing with things. By being separated from things, man lost this ability of immediate perception; he places himself outside of things. He produces organs out of himself so that he may use them to produce images out of things; this enables him to perceive these images, and thereby perceive the things indirectly.

The light ether is now the medium, and the eye has developed as an organ of perception. The eye consists of the round eyeball, which is lined by the retina inside, which consists of rods and cones and is enclosed by an outer cornea. Facing externally is the open pupil and behind it the ciliary muscle, which holds a transparent lens. The ability to adjust causes the light aperture (the pupil) to widen in the dark and to shrink in the light so that not too much light enters, and to collect the light rays in a focal point; to let them fall into the "darkroom" of the retina, where the mirror image is produced and telegraphed to the brain by the nerve to which the eye is attached. Light and color are produced by vibrations in the ether. 400 trillion vibrations red, to 760 trillion and above in a second blue-violet.

The vibrations of air produce sound that are trillions of times slower than light waves.

The perception of air vibration as sound is between 16.5 and over 40000 vibrations per second. Below 16.5 and above 40000 vibrations are no longer perceived as sound.

Between 40 and 40000 vibrations per second musical tone is perceived.

For the measurement of the sound vibration of the air we make use of a rotating disc provided with holes—the siren. If the disk is rotated and vibrates under sixteen and a half times—that is, the air is driven through less than sixteen holes per second while rotating—we will hear only impact noise, not tone. The tone scale can be determined firmly by measuring the air vibrations in numbers. If we compare the prime C with the higher C, one C would relate to the other as 1 : 2, and within the octave we could determine the vibration ratios of the other notes.

Let's assume that the vibrations of the tone scale in the second were as follows:

so we get the following relationship:

The prime to the octave = 1 : 2 = 1st prime
The prime to the second = 8 : 9 = 9/8 second
The prime to the third = 4 : 5 = 5/4 third
The prime to the fourth = 3 : 4 = 4/3 fourth
The prime to the fifth = 2 : 3 = 3/2 fifth
The prime to the sixth = 3 : 5 = 5/3 sixth
The prime to the seventh = 8 : 15 = 15/8 seventh
The prime to the prime = 2 octave

The shades of color behave within the color scale as the pitches behave within the tone scale; the ratio is the same, only the light ether vibrates trillions of times faster.

400 trillion vibrations red
450 trillion vibrations orange
500 trillion vibrations yellow
532 trillion vibrations green
600 trillion vibrations blue-green
665 trillion vibrations blue indigo
750 trillion vibrations indigo
760 trillion vibrations violet
700 trillion vibrations ultraviolet

An ultraviolet would be about the octave of prime = red. Our violet, at 760 trillion vibrations, corresponds in the tone scale to a tone slightly above the seventh.

There is a certain amount of time required for light to propagate through space. The speed of light is approximately 300,000 kilometers per second. This has been calculated both astronomically and terrestrially, and the results of the calculation have given the same result. The cosmic calculation has been made by Olaf Romer, based on the following observation: One has calculated the time, which the four moons need, in order to orbit around Jupiter, and waited with the telescope, until the two moons, which stepped into the shadow behind the Jupiter, appear again. This has produced the irregularity that the moons have sometimes been delayed—and up to 996 seconds longer than they were expected to be. The cause of the delay has been sought, and in the process the discovery of the laws of the propagation of light has been made.

The circumference of the ellipse that the Earth circumscribes around the Sun is 299 million kilometers. A much larger circumference is drawn by the ellipse of Jupiter around the Sun. It has now been observed that the moons always emerge from the shadow at exactly the right time, when the Earth is in a straight line between the Sun and Jupiter.

Now one waited for the time when the Earth arrived at the opposite point, crossed the whole width of its ellipse and puts the Sun between itself and Jupiter. Here the difference of 996 seconds has been observed; consequently the delay has been caused by the space which the earth has covered in the meantime. So the light needs 996 seconds to propagate through a space of 299 million kilometers. In one second it would need the 996th part of 299 million kilometers for it. 299,000,000 / 996 = 300,200. So roughly 300,000 kilometers per second.

The same calculation has been made by Fizeau with a gear. If one has a light behind oneself and a very distant mirror reflecting it back to the eye, and then brings a gear wheel between the eye and mirror and sets it in fast rotation by a crank, then one will see the light through the tooth gaps of the wheel until it has covered the distance back and forth; then the obstacle, the darkening occurs through the opaque gear-tooth. Now, if you measure the distance from the eye to the mirror twice and calculate the time, i.e. how long the wheel has to turn until the light gets from the gap to the tooth, you can also calculate how long it takes the light to propagate through space and return. This calculation agrees exactly with the astronomical one.

The speed of propagation is always the same, whether light or candlelight. Light is nothing other than ether vibrations which propagate in space.

With kerosene or a candle it is always the gas which burns; the liquid or the solid body is transformed by the heat ether into vapor or gas and then begins to shine.

If you make a solid or liquid body glow and deflect its rays with a prism through the opening of a darkroom, you get the continuous spectrum. If, instead of the glowing solid or liquid sphere, you pass a particular gas flame through a spectroscope, you get only a single-color line spectrum through the prism—a discontinuous spectrum—and exactly of the color of the gas in question.

Now if one tried to bring into the rays of the liquid body a glowing vapor, for example sodium vapor, there one found in the spectrum instead of yellow, a black line; the yellow was extinguished, absorbed. On this occasion, in 1859, Kirchhoff and Bunsen discovered the law of absorption: every glowing vapor extinguishes that kind of light which it itself produces, and allows all others to pass through it unimpeded.

Now that every substance has its own color which it emits as a gas and replaces it again by absorbing it from other rays of light, it is now possible to analyze every substance through the spectroscope and even discover unknown substances—for example, argon in the air.

This is also how one came to discover the dark lines found in the solar spectrum—the so-called Fraunhofer lines. One could thus analyze the material world of the Sun and state that it is of the same nature as ours. The glowing ball of fire is surrounded with an atmosphere produced by evaporation of the glowing masses of matter, and the rays of the liquid masses pass through the gas rays, which absorb their colors and give dark lines in the spectrum.

But these dark lines give a luminous band of colors as soon as a solar eclipse occurs and the moon covers the fiery ball of the Sun.

Through a spectroscope the state of evolution of the stars is also detected, and the character of the nebular patches, which may be doubtful through the inadequacy of the telescope, and which have often proved to be distant asterisms.

Only gaseous matter transmits any color and retains only its own color. Solids and liquids absorb all colors and reflect only the color which is their property, whether natural or artificially acquired.

What appears to us as color on a substance is only the reflection back of those rays of light which correspond to its color character, all others are absorbed.

Color is the property of a substance, the living expression of its acquired activity, its karma, and belongs to the karmic world, just as man is the product of his activity, his karma, for karma is life, is activity, is acquired.

Every substance or body is basically nothing but movement, it has its own mode of vibration and makes itself known only through the effects it exerts on other substances or suffers through them. Matter is always life and has a history; it changes through experiences, chooses and suffers. Any simple substance we perceive is in itself highly differentiated.

Light can be either primary—a self-luminous body—or polarized by reflection. In the former case, it has not yet lost its full vibratory capacity by contact with another body. If one puts two mirrors parallel to each other and brings them in contact with a candlelight, the light will be reflected twice in both mirrors. But if one places one mirror perpendicular to the other and brings it into relation with a candlelight, the reflection in the perpendicular one will be extinguished—it will not be present.

The cause is that the reflected light vibrates differently from the primary. It vibrates in all directions; now, as it is caught by a mirror image, this same light changes its mode of vibration, in that the mirror lets all other directions of vibration pass, absorbs, and lets only the parallel ones, which correspond to its mode of vibration, radiate back. This reflected light, which vibrates only in one direction, is reflected by the parallel mirror, but not by the perpendicular one. The first mirror is called the polarizer because it polarizes the light, and the perpendicular the analyzer because it shows the polarized light by extinguishing it. One can also use tourmaline tongs to investigate whether a luminous body emits its own light or only reflects light. Polarized light would be reflected only when the tourmaline is in a parallel position; when it is in a perpendicular position, there would be no reflected image; and when it is rotated obliquely, the light rays would partially vibrate with the tourmaline, and the different directions of the vibrations would form colored figures, similar to the Chladni-sound figures. In contrast, primary light would reflect at each position of the tourmaline tongs. In this way, planets and fixed stars can be recognized by their light.

If one brings a body between the two metal plates of the tongs, the darkened light will shine again, for the light vibrations are again regulated by the body's own movements.

If the rays of the Sun are caught unobstructed by a prism in a darkroom, a white disk with a darker perimeter will show up on the opposite wall, and this penumbra will contain the prismatic colors. The rays entering through the narrow aperture overlap and appear as colors at the boundary between light and dark; so, too, in mirror glass, colors are seen when the light is reflected.

Colors are the incarnation of light produced when the rays of light are stopped by matter and reflected back.

When the light rays of a candle are reflected back from an object, a dark shadow image is produced by the object on the surface. If one lets the Sun rays pass through the candle rays, the dark shadow turns blue, according to the law that the dark seen through light gives blue. Apparent colors come about according to the law that light and dark produce colors at their boundaries where they meet.

But the eye itself also produces colors where objectively there are none. One can make the experiment with a disk, whose different circles are colored for the most part black, so that black jags project into the half which remained white, whose semicircles are thereby of unequal length. If this disk is rotated very quickly, colors of various shades will appear. At great speed, the disk could produce all colors of the rainbow. The colors are perceived subjectively in the eye as color nuances by the fast collisions of light and dark. The eye holds color impressions for a while. It has just received white and does not react as fast to black as the turned wheel demands. It will soon see black through light in all nuances of blue, and soon through the black impression see white in all nuances of yellow. Thus the eye has color sensations that are not objectively present.

This is because what now appears to us legitimately as color was once really experienced countless periods of time ago. The colors we perceive in substances are only differentiations of matter; they are living karma, the result of work. Prana created them by taking from the rays of light all that it needed to process its substances; and those it could not use, it threw back, and these rays thrown back by the substance, which were not absorbed, became visible to us as the apparent color. For example, prana needed the heat, absorbed its red rays and its chemical rays for chemical purposes, and threw back the green ones as useless, and now we see the plant world as green. An object appears to us as white when it throws back all the rays, as black when it absorbs all the rays. That is why a white garment is perceived as cooler, and a black one as warmer.

When man lived only in the Kamic (astral) world countless ages ago, he could not yet consider things as separate from himself. He was in them; he connected himself with them. He felt the red directly; it flowed through him as warmth. And so, like a memory, the red color awakens the feeling of warmth; the blue and violet as a color antipode produces the feeling of cold. Involuntarily, now, when the eye perceives a color, it demands its contrasting color, its complementary color: red demands green, yellow demands indigo, and so on. These are the colors that dissolve into white, and only such colors are pleasing to the eye, all others are displeasing.

The aesthetic effect of colors is deeply rooted in human nature. What we perceive kamically as lawfully subjective is a memory of an objective law in external existence in which man participates, which he carries within himself from times when he himself was not yet a separate being, but one with the whole cosmos.

What appears to us now lawfully as color, was once really experienced innumerable ages ago. The colors we perceive in substances are only differentiations of matter; they are living kama, the result of work. Prana (life force) created them.

Matter is not dead, but something living in and of itself; and one will notice this living only when one sees it active, interacting with other matter. If one looks at a calcite crystal, one will recognize its actual nature just as little as that of a passing human being. Both must be judged in states where their innermost nature is revealed through their effects. Thus calcite placed between two flakes of tourmaline—one of which in parallel position oscillates with the light and reflects it, and the other in perpendicular position extinguishes it—will in turn influence the light oscillations by its own vibrations in such a way that regular figures in the most beautiful plays of colors are evoked in the calcite. This is based on the principle that light seen through dark appears yellow and dark seen through light appears blue. Now if light and dark alternately cover each other by vibrations in different directions and meet at their boundaries, the colors and figures come about which one has observed.

The diffraction phenomena of light are due to the same law. Light floods through space, and everything that we perceive in that space receives light and throws it back again. Only by this phenomena can we perceive individual objects. We see only that which reflects light back. Our eye receives these reflected rays which it in turn casts back upon the object which then casts its shadow, which often shows yellow and blue shades because the light from all sides outshines itself.

When the light falls through an opening into the darkroom, first a white disc appears on the opposite wall and rings of color appear all around in the penumbra. This is because at the two points of the opening the rays are intercepted and reflected back and over-radiation takes place. Onto the dark shadow environment bright light will fall and dark will shine through it as colored light. And likewise, where rays of light fall on other rays, the brighter light rays will shine through the darker polarized over-radiations and also produce colors.

Matter also has the property of changing light, and light interacting with matter produces colors. Calcite has the property of splitting the light that passes through it into double rays and changing these rays and polarizing them differently. One ray will oscillate perpendicularly to the parallel oscillations of the other, and a point seen through feldspar will appear double to the eye.

If the light passes through an object with parallel walls, no colors are produced. If it passes through an object with inclined walls, colors are produced. For example, a prism that tapers at the top will stop the rays for a shorter or longer time; and always proportionately according to the different widths of the prism, one ray will pass through earlier than the other. Due to the different time periods in the refraction, light will also alternate with dark and dark with light, and the alternation of blue and yellow in different shades will give the play of colors.

So again, for example, aniline has the property to make prismatic colors appear in a different order. This mutual influence of matter in its effects proves the living life in substance. The most diverse ether oscillations produce incessant movement in matter, and attraction and repulsion determine its behavior.

I must first explain something that is important for understanding evolution and re-embodiment. Every personality, every individuality must live out its life in the devachan, in the arupa sphere, in order to maintain the unified thread. A personality as exalted as Nicholas of Cusa descends even in ordinary life from the arupa sphere. Every person acts from the arupa sphere, but only a few know about it. The higher a person has risen in the arupa sphere in the time between two lives on earth, the more the divine breaks through in him.

Cusanus wrote a work about not-knowing out of higher knowledge: De docta ignorantia. “Ignorantia” means “not-knowing”, and not-knowing here is equivalent to higher beholding. In his books he also expressed the following: There is a kernel of truth in all religions; we need only look deeply enough into them. He also stated that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He stated this as an intuition.

Copernicus did not live until the sixteenth century, Cusanus already in the fifteenth century. Such an incarnation as that of Cusanus is to be considered in context. It is possible that the recollection of previous incarnations is lost in an incarnation, only to awaken later, perhaps after one or even after many incarnations. The means of the causal body can only be used when one awakens in the plane above the causal sphere. Every being must be drawn back down to the physical sphere by a force from the devachan, and by forces that he has not yet encountered. In the highest Arupa level, the person gets to know these forces and thus gains influence over his later incarnation. He also had his life in his hands to a certain extent.

Cusanus points to both theosophy and modern science. Cusanus also had influence on his following incarnation. It was Nicholas Cusanus who experienced re-embodiment in such a way that he reappeared as Copernicus.

An incarnation does not depend solely on one's own development, but also on the usefulness and significance for the whole evolution. An example of regular development. The succession of personalities of higher individualities is no longer irregular. There is no regular development in the less developed. In highly developed individualities, however, outstanding qualities will emerge. These include

firstly, a sincere looking up to the Higher,
secondly, a calm love for God,
thirdly, becoming in God.

As a regular development of an individuality, we can consider

firstly: a contemporary of Jesus, Philo;
secondly: Spinoza;
thirdly: Fichte.

Three personalities – one individuality. If you read Fichte without knowing about these processes, you will understand very little. But with this knowledge, you will find that the words of these personalities are written in fire. These great minds have undergone a regular evolution themselves.

In oriental esotericism, there is something that is difficult to understand: the being does not need to be exhausted in its determinations. A personality can work on one level without lowering its whole being into that level. The being does not need to coincide with the upadhis. The desire to help is the thread of strength that establishes the connection with the sphere in question.

I must first say something that is important for understanding evolution and re-embodiment. Every personality, every individuality must live through the devachan up to the Arupa sphere in order to obtain the continuous, unified 'thread [through several earth lives].

A personality as exalted as Nicholas of Cusa was already active in ordinary life from the Arupa sphere. Although every person acts from the Arupa sphere, only a few are aware of it. The higher a person has raised himself in the Arupa sphere in the time between two earthly lives, the more the divine breaks through in him. Cusanus wrote a work about not-knowing out of higher knowledge: De docta ignorantia. Ignorantia means not-knowing, and not-knowing here is equivalent to higher beholding. In his books he stated the following: There is a kernel of truth in all religions, we need only look deeply enough into them. He also stated that the earth moves around the sun. He said this out of intuition. Copernicus only had this realization in the 16th century, Cusanus already in the 15th century. Such an incarnation as that of Cusanus is to be considered in connection with his later embodiment. Cusanus already points on the one hand to future theosophy and on the other hand to future modern natural science. This had an influence on his following incarnation. It was Nicholas Cusanus who reappeared in Copernicus.

It is possible that the memory of past embodiments, which is lost in an incarnation, may be reawakened later, perhaps after one or more incarnations. The means of the causal body can only be used when one awakens in the plane above the causal sphere (in devachan). Every human being must be drawn down from Devachan back into the physical sphere by a force in order to learn abilities there that he has not yet developed. In the highest Arupa level, the person gets to know these forces and thereby gains influence over his later incarnation. He then also takes his life into his own hands to a certain extent. He is an example of regular development.

However, an incarnation does not depend solely on one's own development, but also on the benefit and significance for the whole evolution. The succession of personalities of higher individualities is no longer irregular. For the less developed, embodiment is still irregular. For highly developed individualities, salient qualities will emerge. These include

1. a reverent looking up to the Higher,
2. a calm love for God,
3. becoming in God.

As an example of a regular development of an individuality, we can consider a contemporary of Jesus, Philo of Alexandria. His individuality reappeared as Spinoza and then as Johann Gottlieb Fichte. So here we have one continuous individuality in three personalities. If you read Fichte without knowing about this, you will understand very little. But with this knowledge, you will find that his words are written in fire. All these great minds have undergone a regular development.

Postscript by the editors:

H. P. Blavatsky writes in volume III of the “Secret Doctrine”, section XLI:

“As an example of an adept... some medieval Kabbalists cite a well-known personality of the 15th century – Cardinal de Cusa; as a result of his wonderful devotion to esoteric studies and the Kabbalah, karma led the suffering adept to seek intellectual respite and rest from ecclesiastical tyranny in the body of Copernicus.”

Rudolf Steiner presents this in more detail in the lectures of January 21, February 15 and March 7, 1909 (in “The Principle of Spiritual Economy,” GA 109/111, pp. 1 6, 52/53 and 290), in which he says that the astral body of Nicholas of Cusa has been transferred to Nicholas Copernicus, although Copernicus' I was quite different from that of Cusanus.

Rudolf Steiner also talks about Spinoza and Fichte in the lecture of June 5, 1913 in Helsingfors (GA 158).

An initiate is one who is able to communicate from self to self with other individualities. The fourth step on the path of knowledge is initiation. One cannot speak about the nature of the initiate.

To understand Western spiritual culture, we need to note a few things. The starting point of our reflection today is the event that Tauler experienced in the Middle Ages. He preached passionately as a Christian. One day, a personality came to him who apparently wanted to listen to him. But he soon turned out to be greater than Tauler. He said that this sermon is only conceptual, it is only intellectual knowledge, a matter of memory. But through practice, Tauler soon brought him to the point where he preached differently, that he spoke through the Spirit. This layman walked with the Master Jesus of Nazareth.

Christianity originated from a circle that came from oriental sources. The Knights Templar had a home where Solomon's Temple used to stand. This is only an external accessory. One can distinguish between an exoteric side, an esoteric side and a secret doctrine. The aim of the Knights Templar was to give Christian life a completely new direction. The cults were hidden in a completely secret service. They differed significantly from what was then the Christian cult of the West. They were based on an oath that had been taken by a Christian patriarch. It was a current that can even be seen as anti-Christian. The worship of the divinity of Christ was to be done away with. It is an emphasis of the faith of the Knights Templar in John the Baptist. It was a revival of what had existed in Christianity within the Gnostic school.

In what way was the Templars a new influence in Christianity, a revival of the old teachings? Jesus accompanied the cultural development to the present day. - “I remain with you until the end of the world.”

One could learn as little about the true nature of Christianity through study as one can today. The most diverse studies on Christianity have been made. One is amazed at this. Just take Pfleiderer, for example. But this cannot give satisfaction to anyone who stands on the ground of Christianity. Historical facts cannot help us. It is about an eye-to-eye vision with Jesus, about an immediate vital influence. There must be a small circle that knows the truth not only through the knowledge of the letter, but through direct life. The Knights Templar said to themselves: We can only be initiated into the secrets by the chela who has been left to us.

No one can skip any of these stages. There are four stages. “I baptize you with water, but one is coming who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit.” The baptism with water is associated with the personality of John the Baptist.

A large part of Goethe's initiatory knowledge can be traced back to Rosicrucianism. Not only the outer part of it, but the stream of mystical facts has existed. With Swedenborg, there is a danger of being easily taken for a charlatan. But before he came to his mysticism, he was at the height of the science of his time. The Academy of Sciences collected the learned writings of Swedenborg. This current also had a great influence on Goethe. Swedenborg was influenced by a current of Atlantic culture. This influence can only be a very peculiar one, and one can see how difficult these mystical things are for those who try to understand them. The influence of this Atlantic school of thought can be as follows.

The Atlanteans inhabited a country that stretched between Africa, Europe and America. It perished many thousands of years before our era. Plato still speaks of a last remnant, of the island of Poseidonis, which is said to have perished about ten thousand years before our era. For the mystical researcher, the fact of the Atlanteans' existence is certain. This fourth race had particularly developed one spiritual power, which has taken a back seat in our society in favor of another power. Their memory was their main strength. It is less important for us to know what they looked like on the outside. Our fifth race has developed the intellect. The Atlanteans did not calculate and think like us. Our calculating and thinking is a product of the fifth human race. Another power of mind will replace the intellect in the future. The Atlanteans never formed the judgment 2 x 2 = 4. There was no such judgment at that time. Man remembered that 2 x 2 = 4 was taken earlier. He also knew general sentences, but he could not summarize certain types of animals. The general judgments were only formed in the fifth race.

This shows how one faculty can be overshadowed by another. The strong sense of smell in certain animals is later overshadowed by the intellect of humans. This Atlantean culture has been preserved in today's spiritual development. Certain influences flow into our cultural life. Examples of this are Leadbeater and Swedenborg. However, this influence is always somewhat chaotic. Since the eighteenth century, there has been a very intense influence of this Atlantic Lodge within our Western development. Many are under this influence without knowing it. The influence goes to the subconscious. This can always be influenced by certain currents. This can be observed in somnambulists. Many people who advocate something today do not know that they are under this influence.

What did the Knights Templar bring to Western thought? They broke away from Christianity. Then astrology comes to them. Within the Knights Templar we have a complete system of astrology. They now turn their gaze up to the starry world, to the great connections of the universe, away from Jesus. Thomas Aquinas predicted Copernicus [in the thirteenth century], as did Cardinal Nicolaus Cusanus [in the fifteenth century].

Two things can be seen:
1. A great plan has been designed, under the influence of which we stand in the Theosophical Society.
2. Religions have a common core of truth.

This is expressed in the second program of the Theosophical Society. One also finds the teaching that the earth revolves around the sun in Cusanus and later in Copernicus. The last point has emerged in a long series of developments. Western culture had emerged from the same source from which Gnostic knowledge had originally emerged.

A comparison: I have a child to educate until adolescence. I don't want him to absorb knowledge too soon that makes the mind strong but does not sufficiently ennoble the heart. Certain truths are left untouched. When the heart has been purified and ennobled in the right way, then one approaches it with the truths of nature. It is the same in the greater world of nature. First comes the development of the emotional side and then that of the intellectual powers. The development of literature is subject to the same influences.

We have a mystical direction and a scientific direction. The first includes the well-known great mystics, the second the naturalists such as: Lamarck, Darwin, Copernicus and so on. These two currents still run side by side today. The union has not yet been found.

Reincarnation and karma are contained in the Bible as self-evident truths. The higher soul of man was the content of all wisdom religions. The mysteries had to cultivate this higher soul above all else. This higher soul should now recede, so that the lower soul can experience development. This too should receive a higher religious culture. This ennobling of the individual personality was achieved all the more surely the more one disregarded the development of the higher soul. It is necessary to give humanity a new impetus from this theosophical side.

The materialistic attitude has gained a great influence, and has also gained a deep influence on the moral life. This can be seen from statements such as the following: Hamlet's tragedy is nothing more than a product of the transformation of what Shakespeare ate. - In the long run, there is no morality in the materialistic view. Hence the necessity for the Theosophical movement. In the past, world views were still possible on a materialistic basis. Today, after the research of natural science, no longer.

As long as Christianity was only concerned with the sanctification of the personality, it was not necessary to consider the greater truths and the higher life of the soul. There is a great connection with what I have said about the mysteries. You will see on closer examination that Christianity wanted to make the mysteries popular. This is evident from many sayings: “Blessed are they that have believed without seeing,” “Blessed are they that have begged for the Spirit,” and so on. What was in the mysteries was to be handed down to humanity piece by piece.

The mystery process was carried out in different stages:

— The first stage was the purification of the personality, the purification of the astral body. Pythagoras also subjected his disciples to a preparatory and purification process.
— Then he taught them about the nature of the external world.
— Then he gave them the teaching about re-embodiment and karma, the law of the moral world order.

This process then also became external, historical; it became a mystical fact within the historical development itself:

— Up to the twelfth century, Christianity is the process of purification of the fifth race of mankind.
— Then comes the teaching about the nature of external nature. In the case of humanity, this takes centuries.
— Then comes the teaching about reincarnation and karma. The development of the individual is repeated in the development of humanity.

The repetition of the mystery process can be found in the theosophical current.

Today, in this “occult hour,” I would like to continue from where we left off last time and say something else, this time from a different perspective, about the last lecture. I would like to say something about the question of why the esoteric teachings are being revealed in our time in particular.

The theosophical movement differs from other movements in that it has made public various elementary esoteric teachings and will continue to do so in the future. It is a necessity for our time. These are esoteric teachings that were also available in the past. The teachings that we find in the “Secret Doctrine” are not new. These esoteric teachings are ancient wisdom. The way in which this wisdom has been preserved was and is still secret today and will remain secret in the future. It should only be passed on from mouth to ear, and only after a period of strict examination should it be passed on to the candidate. Because this knowledge can also be misused, so it is said. And there is some truth to this view.

If certain elementary parts of this esoteric wisdom are made public, then Theosophy has to ensure that no potentially harmful influence or even abuse arises. When elementary parts of the esoteric teachings appeared in publicly available books, there was great consternation in certain occult circles. And the Theosophists were reproached for divulging secrets that were otherwise reserved for only a few. We must therefore now ask ourselves: May some things of this knowledge be published at all?

Last time, I already referred to a secret society, namely the mysteries of the Knights Templar, which had the goal of reestablishing Christianity. The Theosophical movement has a similar goal. From an even deeper point of view than we discussed last time, I will explain today why it has become necessary to share some of the world's occult knowledge. In the past, it was considered wrong to pass on this esoteric knowledge. It was only accessible to initiates. It was kept in closed secret societies. But over the last millennia and centuries, there were always traitors who betrayed individual parts of the “secret knowledge” and carried them out of the temples. But external science also researched and found former “secrets” and thus contributed to their publication.

So today there are two schools of thought within the occultists: one says that it is not right and that it is harmful to publish even a part of the knowledge. Therefore, the question arose within the responsible occultists: How should the secret teachings be treated in the future? Secrecy or publication? What is now more correct for the future of humanity? This question also had to be answered from another side. Because the serious occultists had realized that humanity would have to morally degenerate due to its sinking into materialism if parts of the secret knowledge for the salvation of humanity were not published. Therefore, Helena P[etrowna] Blavatsk[y] set about collecting and publishing what had already been published, that is, the parts of the various secret teachings that had already been “betrayed” and published. The published teachings, which can be found, for example, in Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, were tested. In essence, the occultists had to admit that they had withstood the test. We Theosophists are on the side of occultists who believe that these publications of “Isis unveiled” and “The Secret Doctrine” are not only useful, but that it was even necessary to make them public and popular.

Human knowledge cannot be acquired all at once, nor even throughout an age. Knowledge is in a state of constant evolution. This can be observed in the astral realm. The astral realm does not always remain the same, it undergoes small changes. They are not significant, but they can still be clearly perceived. The general scenery of the astral plane was different in the time of the Atlanteans and is different in our time. It changed from year to year. Certain changes in the astral world have led to the realization that it is necessary to share some of the occult knowledge with people, and to share it publicly and popularly, not just with a few initiates. This is the deepest occult knowledge, and only part of it can ever be told.

Around the year 1900, very special signs appeared in the astral world, which prove to the knower with absolute certainty that the greatest secret, which must be expressed in our race, now shows a slightly different character than it did before. There are leading truths, and these lead up to what we call the secrets of existence. Man is not capable of assimilating the deepest truths of his time in any age. Nor is man of today capable of understanding the deepest secret of his race. He must first mature for the understanding.

The basic secret was always only in the possession of the adepts. Through the possession of the secret, they were the leaders of the respective race. We are now members of the fifth [root] race. First there were two [root] races that were organized differently. Then came the third [root] race, which was already organized similarly to ours. The Atlanteans were the fourth [root] race. After this previous human and racial development, we come as the fifth [root] race. Two further [root] races, the sixth and the seventh, will follow. Each [root] race has a great secret of existence. The realization of this great secret of existence brought access to the great truths, which are living forces. These are the great laws that are effective in the world. These great laws cannot intervene in the world in this way from the outset. They must first be in the possession of the masters and the initiated. Only through these masters do they then indirectly affect people.

In “Lucifer”, which is now being published, the subject under discussion here will be touched upon. Only at the end of the fifth [root] race will it become known and understood by a larger number of people. The earlier root races were such that these secrets could only be obtained by a few. In our root race, the ability of the intellect, the mind, has already been developed very far. But the deepest depths are closed to the intellect. But some of the secret's outer aspects can be guessed by the intellect. Before the year 1875, nothing was known about these things, or at least they were not considered. The secret of the fifth [root] race can now be passed from the intellect to the intellect without being spiritualized. The secret that has been guessed can then also be passed on to the unspiritualized mind in this way. I cannot explain what the signs in the astral are that occurred around the year 1900. But it is an indisputable fact that some pieces were actually guessed by personalities who are far removed from any occult current. This is due to the character of the fifth human race. There will soon be many who will guess some of it.

But guessing the secrets is something very dangerous. It is disadvantageous both for the person concerned and for humanity as a whole. It is dangerous for the reason that communicating the secret of the fifth root race would actually divide people into a few very good people and many others who are radically immoral. This is a paradoxical and daring statement at first. But it is true. It is not possible to communicate the central secret of the fifth root race. If someone were to communicate the secret, he would be at the mercy of the other. He would lose the opportunity to exert the beneficial effect of this secret on humanity. Besides, it is quite futile to share the secret because it could only lead to harmful effects. There is no initiate who has shared this secret. And there is no way to discover the secret to a person. Even torture would be useless. The person would go insane or die from the torture.

Theosophy is to prepare humanity so that when the secret is partially revealed, the bad effects will be paralyzed.

One fundamental difference between the secret of the fifth root race and the secrets of the earlier root races is that the secret of the fifth root race can be partially guessed by the mind. In the past, the secret was strictly in the hands of adepts, who thus had the power to lead humanity. This danger [of guessing] now exists. However, humanity could outgrow the adepts in some respects. Some must therefore be prepared when the secrets confront them from outside. Then the time will come when individuals who can guess can emerge with pieces of truth. But that would be terrible and a disaster would occur among people. There would then be a few good people, and the great mass of the others would then be lost to the good. These truths are only to be used under the premise of the theosophical basic teachings.

If the adepts had not gained influence, humanity would have been divided into three parts:

— firstly, the thoughtless masses,
— secondly, the destructive rationalists with the guessed secret, and
— thirdly, the occultists.

[People] would wage a life-and-death struggle against each other. Those who had guessed the secret would not realize why the secret must not be revealed. The clairvoyant gift could also prevent disaster.

The Theosophical Society therefore strives not for the three parts of humanity to arise, but for a core of universal brotherhood to be created. One may object: there will never be a universal brotherhood. We reply: what you say is true, but we know the foundations and we know that such a nucleus will protect humanity. This is a kind of prophecy, but it is based on objective perception in the astral world.

The [fifth] root secret is one that can be guessed to a certain extent. Therefore, the time for guessing must be prepared. We therefore know of an even deeper reason for the astral laws, which compels the person concerned to use his powers for the theosophical movement. This is because he knows where humanity is heading.

If I am to describe how devastating the divination of a piece of the [fifth] secret can be, I can only say that the person is able to divine through the aforementioned character traits. But precisely because of this, he is also unable to do anything to paralyze the harmful effects. Those personalities who have already guessed something have proved that they do not know how to handle such a secret. Anyone who has guessed or found out something is exposed to many dangers. Usually the most adventurous ideas prevail about this. Nevertheless, what is said about the dangers is absolutely true, even if it is not literally true. The man of the fifth [root] race has so-called inhibitors. His Kama-Manas has braking devices that act on the astral and mental bodies. There are a lot of forces present in the astral body that are kept in check by these devices. The morality of the fifth [root] race, as it relates to actions, is far better than the morality of the astral and mental qualities. Many often have very little morality. It is difficult to make them understand that there is a morality of feeling and of thought. The least of what is in their inner being comes to the surface. There it appears much dirtier than is usually observed.

The moment a part of the secret is revealed to man, all restraints fall away and the full power of the forces is released. The wild inner forces must be directed into the right channels by the theosophical movement. Outwardly good people, apparent angels, would become devils under the influence of the aforementioned moment [the revelation of the fifth secret].

People must therefore support each other, they must work together. All thoughts directed towards the immediate present will have a harmful effect. There are enormous masses of thought that are directed only towards the temporal. These are ideal things, certain legal demands that relate only to the temporal and not to the eternal.

I have already described how an initiation took place in the Pythagorean school. These were preliminary stages of initiation. In “Lucifer” I have already spoken publicly about higher questions of initiation. Now I would like to say something else that cannot and must not be said in a public journal.

In the various stages of initiation, the person to be initiated was first made aware of the vanity of physical existence. Secondly, the person to be initiated was introduced to a world of a very different nature from our visible world. The person being initiated was introduced to a world that is more real, more powerful and more directive, to a world that underlies our world but cannot be perceived by our senses.

Today I would like to make some remarks about processes that can be perceived in the astral sphere.

The theosophical movement is a necessity for our time. We are criticized for revealing secrets that otherwise only a few people knew – for example, in Blavatsky's books “Isis unveiled” and “Secret Doctrine” – but other people consider it timely to share these things. There are occultists who say that it is harmful to share this knowledge. So we see two directions, one saying that it is harmful, a misfortune to share occult knowledge; but the other direction claims that it is necessary to share this knowledge with the world.

The astral sphere does not always remain the same, it undergoes small changes. These are not significant, but they can still be clearly perceived. The general scenery of the astral plane was different in the time of the Atlanteans than in our time; it changed from year to year. Certain changes in the astral world have led to the realization that it is necessary to communicate some of the occult knowledge to people, and to do so publicly and popularly and not merely to individual initiates. This is the deepest occult knowledge, and only part of it can ever be stated.

In the nineteenth century, very special signs have appeared in the astral world which prove with absolute certainty that the great secret that must be expressed in our race shows a slightly different character from the earlier secrets. Each race receives one of the seven great secrets. Four of these secrets have already been delivered. The fourth was delivered to the fourth root race. The fifth secret is the one we are growing into; the sixth and seventh secrets will be delivered to the sixth and seventh root races.

Not all people of a root race are initially initiated into such secrets. Until now, the basic secret was only ever in the possession of the adepts. Through possession of the secret, they were the leaders of the respective race. For our fifth root race it has been the same until now. In the September number of “Lucifer” you will find some hints about this. Only at the end of the fifth root race will it be revealed to and understood by a larger number of people. In the earlier root races, only a few received these secrets. In our root race, the ability of the intellect, the mind, has been developed. The deepest depths are closed to the mind, but some external aspects of the secret can be guessed with the mind. Before the year 1875, nothing was known about these things, or at least they were ignored.

The secret of the fifth root race can now be handed down from mind to mind without speculation. I cannot explain what the signs in the astral are; some have indeed been guessed by personalities who are far from any occult current. It is in the nature of human disposition within the fifth race that there will soon be many people who will guess some of it.

There are occultists who say that divulging the secret is something very dangerous; it is detrimental to both the person concerned and to all humanity. It is dangerous for the reason that the communication of the secret of the fifth root race could divide people into a few very good people and many others who are radically immoral. This is a paradoxical and daring assertion. But these occultists really believe that the central secret of the fifth root race cannot be communicated, because if someone were to communicate this secret, they would be at the mercy of others and would lose the opportunity to exert a beneficial influence on humanity. Furthermore, it is futile to communicate the secret because it would only lead to harmful effects. Therefore, there is no initiate who has communicated this secret. And there is no way to snatch the secret from an initiated person, even torture would be of no use, the person would go insane or die from the agony.

Theosophy is now to prepare humanity so that when the secret is partially revealed, the bad effects will be paralyzed. One fundamental difference between the secret of the fifth root race and the secrets of the earlier root races is that the secret of our fifth root race can be partially guessed by the mind. In the past, the secrets were strictly in the hands of adepts who led humanity. But in our time there could be people who outgrow the adepts in some respects. Therefore, some people must be prepared when the secret confronts them from the outside. The time will come when individuals will emerge with parts of the truth that they can guess. Without the preparation of Theosophy, however, this would be terrible and devastating for people. It could be that there would be a few good people, but the great mass of humanity would be lost to the good. The basic teachings of Theosophy are the prerequisite for these truths to be given to people. Without them, people would be divided into three parts: firstly, the thoughtless masses; secondly, the destructive intellectuals with the guessed secret; and thirdly, the occultists. People would wage a life-and-death struggle against each other. But those who have guessed the secret do not realize why the secret must not be revealed. The Theosophical Society strives to prevent this division of humanity into three parts, but to create a nucleus of a universal brotherhood. One may object that there can never be a universal brotherhood of humanity. We reply: What you say is true, but we know the foundations of theosophy and we know that such a core will protect humanity. This is a kind of prophecy, but it is based on objective perception in the astral world. The secret of our root race is one that can be guessed to a certain extent. Therefore, people must be prepared for the time of guessing. People must learn to support each other, they must work together. It would be detrimental if all people's thoughts were directed only at the immediate present, if their thoughts were directed only at the temporal and not at the eternal. We now know an even deeper reason than that of the astral laws, which compels us to use our powers for the theosophical movement, because we know where humanity is heading.