The Rudolf Steiner Archive

I. Report in “Germany”, Zweites Blatt, November 22, 1903

Theosophical Lecture. On Friday evening at 8 o'clock in the large hall of the “Erholung”, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave his announced lecture on the “Pilgrimage of the Soul”. He began by saying that this time, unlike the three lectures he gave here last spring, which were based on knowledge of nature, he would speak directly in the language of Theosophy and present the facts as they appear to someone whose spiritual eye is open to supersensible realities. Man has three sources from which he originates. That which is eternal and everlasting in him, that which reappears in ever new embodiments, comes directly from the source of life, from that which the great sage and martyr Giordano Bruno called the world soul. Just as human thought is an emanation of the human soul, so the eternal human spirit is an emanation of the divine primal soul. And just as man, as he now lives, draws his perceptions through his senses from the external world, from sensual nature, and allows his will to be inspired by his feelings and passions, by the considerations of his mind, trained in the laws of nature, the eternal human spirit, before it embodied itself, drew all its thoughts and wills from the fountain of the eternal, from the divine primal soul. It waited in this form for its earthly embodiment. This became possible because on a world body that preceded our earth, the physicality was preparing, which provided the ground for external development. On this other world body, which is not known to any external science but is known to spiritual research, the sensual ancestors of man developed. These were beings that had sensation and feeling, drives and passions, but were still completely without the power of the mind, of rational reflection. They were very different from both present-day humans and present-day animals. These beings became germ-like when the task of the aforementioned world body was fulfilled. Just as the germ of a plant is in a state of slumber, awakening to new life when it is sunk into the ground, so these germs of being slumbered until they were taken up by our planet at the dawn of our earth development and called to new existence. Now a new state of preparation came for them. The ability developed in them to place the sensual drives, the sensations, feelings and passions at the service of a higher power. This power was the beginning of what later became the intellect, which enables the present human being to find his way in the outer world and to be a ruler over the lower natural forces. For long periods of time, the human dwellings that were later to become the dwellings of the human spirits lived in this preparatory stage. Then the time comes when they are ready to receive the young human spirit that has been described. This spirit embodies itself in such human bodies for the first time. It gradually learns to control the physical body, which is, as it were, wrapped around it. But it can learn only little in the first life. Again and again it must pass through the “gate of death” and attain a new embodiment. Then, between two embodiments, the human spirit passes through the higher worlds, where it brings the experiences of earthly development to maturity. It passes through the “Land of Desire” (Kamaloka), in order to bring its desires into right harmony with the whole world; it passes further through a purer spiritual world, in which it can bring to maturity the thinking ability it has developed in itself in the struggle with the world. Then it returns for a new incarnation, to undergo earthly change again for some time and to gather new experiences for its higher development. Thus the spiritual soul makes its pilgrimage through many embodiments until the earthly destiny is fulfilled and all human spirits are led over to a new, even higher existence in a world whose sublimity the present human being cannot imagine. II. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of November 22, 1903

“The pilgrimage of the soul,” as it takes place according to the theosophical view and assertion, was illustrated yesterday evening by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, in the “Erholung” to his audience, which consisted mostly of ladies. He took it as a given that an eternal soul dwells in the human body and explained that this eternal part of us has its origin in the “world soul”, the existence of which Giordano Bruno had already assumed. But according to Dr. Steiner's assertion, the human being does not consist only of soul and body; there is a third element, the spirit. This “young human spirit”, as the lecturer called it, has its source in God and is truly immortal. This trinity was not, however, present in one person from all eternity, but the “physical human being” developed out of another purely physical, instinctively acting human being, whose existence took place on an earlier existing world body, which has only now given birth to our Earth. Only when it came over to our planet, a mysterious process, did the soul, which also has a history of development behind it, descend into it. It took a long time before man was ready to receive the young human spirit. The spirit first had to get used to it, only gradually did it learn to perceive with human senses. But all this did not happen in one person. By embodying itself, the spirit became entwined with human desires and passions. It is difficult for it to detach itself from them, even when the “physical human being” has already died. Rather, it must purify itself at various stations in the beyond, after it has absorbed what it has learned in earthly life. For a short time, this spirit then submerges into a region where it can unfold and expand, then it descends again into a new body. This wandering continues until it reaches its predetermined goal, the theosophical “Nirvana”. But this is not the “nothing” as the ancient Indian sages (and Schopenhauer) called it, but a state of which we have no idea as yet. This is how the “pilgrimage of the soul” unfolds, as Dr. Steiner teaches it. He emphasized that these are truths, just as certain as the truth that electric arc lamps were lit in the recreation room. The nature of the lecture was also in line with this conviction. Dr. Steiner always used the phrase “this is so and so” to support his assertions. From this, one gained the conviction that he believed with certainty that he had the truth. (Not one or his truth.

In the next lecture, he will explain the “world soul and human destiny”.

I. Report in “Germany”, Third Sheet, dated December 13, 1903

On Friday evening, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave the third of six announced theosophical lectures in the recreation room. The title of the lecture was: “World Law and Human Destiny – a Christmas Meditation”. He explained the following:

From time immemorial, man has been regarded as a “world in miniature” (microcosm) in relation to the “world at large” (macrocosm). This view is not only arrived at by the intellect but also by the feelings, which rise up to the lofty starry heavens and to the ideals of the human spirit with equal reverence and enthusiasm. Two things, says Kant, fill the mind with ever-increasing admiration and awe: “the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.” But one can just as easily say: How unequal the “great” and the “small world” are. The starry sky with its eternally unchanging laws and the moral and spiritual nature of man, which follows its laws only gropingly and uncertainly, straying every moment. In the face of the starry sky, even the greatest admirers arise in those who know and study its laws. Keppler literally shouted in admiration when he had researched the secrets of planetary orbits. The human heart, on the other hand, with its fickleness and confusion, evokes the most reservations in those who know it best. Goethe, one of the greatest experts on human nature, repeatedly fled from its labyrinths to the unerring laws of external nature. Goethe himself pointed the way to finding his way around such feelings. He said: “Noble, helpful and good, let man be.” That is a commandment that no one imposes on nature. Man can be blamed for leaving the paths of justice and virtue, but not the volcano that wreaks untold havoc. You have to find harmony with nature, even if it seems destructive. We know that its laws are immutable. Have they always been? No, the laws of planetary motion, at the discovery of which Kepler rejoiced, were only given to the solar system after a long cosmic struggle. Harmony is born out of the chaotic primeval nebula. The research that is able to penetrate to supersensible facts shows that external nature is born out of spirit, out of the thought of the world, just as human actions are born out of human thoughts. Here, Theosophy explains the difference between human beings and external nature. Man is not just the physical being that can be perceived with the external senses. Within his physical body, he still has the soul organism (astral body) and within the latter, only the eternal spirit (mental body), in which thoughts, in which moral feeling, the voice of conscience, have their origin. Between these three components of his being, the struggle that has come to a preliminary conclusion in the outer nature still exists in man. This outer nature, too, was once a world of thought; it passed through the stage of the soul (astral) existence before it became what it is today. But the struggles in this field are over. In inanimate nature, there are no longer any unsatisfied desires and passions that have their seat in the soul (astral) body. This is not yet the case in man. His development, his perfection, is only to lead him to the point where his eternal laws, which lie in the world of thought, find their harmonious expression in outer physical existence, in action. This lack of harmony is also evident in the relationship between destiny and character, between attitude and action. The good often have to suffer, while the wicked are happy; an act of cruelty often bears the same fruit in the outer, sensual existence as a noble deed. Only by placing oneself in the position of the great law of spiritual causes and effects, which brings about a balance in the many lives of the human spirit that can never be understood in one life, can one arrive at a solution to this apparent injustice in the world. Not only the theosophists of the present day know that the human spirit does not embody itself only once, but many times, but deeper spirits of all times have professed this view. Giordano Bruno and Lessing need only be cited as examples. Much in a person's life seems incomprehensible because it has its cause in previous lives. Someone who is particularly clever has the disposition to be clever because he has had experiences in a previous life that led him to be clever. All the painful experiences we have had in the past life as a result of merely indulging in pleasure and pain in our actions have brought about the voice of conscience in the present life. And actions and thoughts that do not bear the fruits corresponding to them in the present life will do so in subsequent embodiments. This is the great law of karma, of spiritual causes and effects in the human world. For everyone there will come a time when they are so perfect that their memory will shine for all their previous incarnations. Then they will recognize karma as the just law of harmonious balance and perfect justice. And they will then be able to shape their lives in such a way that they no longer grope in error, but move within immutable laws, just as the sun, in the course of a year, shows us only regular positions. Therefore, nations have always taken the (apparent) course of the sun in the sky as a symbol for the great role models, for the sons of the gods, for the saviors of the world, who already prematurely carry within them the divine soul, towards which human beings develop. The Christians, too, in the fourth century fixed the birth of their savior of the world on December 25, the time of the winter solstice. Just as this solstice brings light again, so the Son of God brought spiritual light by showing that man progresses towards perfection and by exemplifying this perfection himself. From the sounds of Christmas, if we understand the true meaning, we hear the goal of human development resound: the former harmony between world law and human destiny.

II. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung”, Second Supplement, December 13, 1903

Weimar, December 12.

World Law and Human Destiny. Dr. Steiner's lecture yesterday, which was poorly attended, was intended as a Theosophical Christmas meditation. Apparently, as was explained in it, there is an unbridgeable contradiction between world law and human destiny. However, this is not the case in reality. The fact that the spiritual substance, the bearer of eternal law in man, can only work through the medium of the astral body and therefore loses much of its power and purity, creates disharmony in human destiny. In the great nature, this dispute has apparently been resolved. The Kant-Laplace theory of the formation of this planetary system out of the primeval nebula is correct, but this world was preceded by an astral world and a spiritual world. External nature is therefore, as it were, a model for human beings, an invitation to hurry towards the goal, towards perfection. Dr. Steiner answered the question as to why good people are often unhappy in this life, while villains are happy, by saying that people are what they have made themselves in previous lives. The justice of the law of karma is based on its effectiveness over all the lives of the individual. The wisdom of men is also the experience of countless embodiments, and the only reason why there are different kinds of wisdom is that people have had different experiences in the past. This is known by those who are alive today and have acquired the ability to look back on their past lives, explained Dr. Steiner. Everyone will be able to look back in the same way once they have reached a certain level, and then their path of development will appear completely harmonious. During his lecture, Dr. Steiner felt compelled to explain that he had been misunderstood in connection with his lecture “The Pilgrimage of the Soul”. This misunderstanding had found expression in a critical note in the “Weimarische Zeitung”. No polemic with Dr. Steiner is intended here, but the speaker cannot be spared the reproach that in his lecture yesterday he again allowed Theosophy to be in possession of universally valid truth. When he took the precaution of always using the expressions, “We (the Theosophists) know,” or “The Theosophists know,” or “Those who have become sufficiently wise know,” this only means that the rest of humanity is not yet as wise as the small group of Theosophists. But since, according to Dr. Steiner's own words, what he proclaims is actually the truth for those who have been theosophically trained, it is difficult to see how the critical note in question in the “Weimarische Zeitung” could have been inspired by a misunderstanding. Every founder of a religion, every leader of a sect, every architect of a philosophical system believed himself to be in possession of the one universally valid truth. Not only the speculative minds believed it, but every human being, no matter how little developed, every animal, every manifestation of nature believes it. Only that truth then bears the name “right”. From the fact that, as Schopenhauer says, every phenomenon is felt behind it by the whole of nature, the bellum omnium contra omnes arose. If now, once again, the only truth is to be found, it is certainly justified to put an ironic question mark behind this message!

I. Report in “Germany”, Zweites Blatt, February 28, 1904

On Friday 26 February, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave the fifth of his Theosophical lectures on “Theosophy, Buddhism, Spiritism” in the large recreation room. The speaker pointed out how Theosophy encounters a twofold prejudice in our time. The sciences see in it something akin to spiritualism; and since they turn away from this, as a product of “blindest superstition”, they also want to know nothing of Theosophy. The devout followers of Western religious systems see the theosophical movement as Buddhist propaganda; they do not want their religion taken away or replaced by another. Both views of the theosophical spiritual movement are based on misunderstandings. There have always been Theosophists within European intellectual life, because Theosophy seeks knowledge of the higher, spiritual world. It seeks the divine powers behind the transient phenomena observed by the senses. It is therefore the deeper foundation of every religion, philosophy, morality and all scientific endeavor. In the nineteenth century, it was only pushed aside by a materialistic view of life that wants to build on nothing but what the senses can perceive. This view is connected with the great advances in science and technology. The tremendous successes in this field could only be achieved by cultivating sensory observation and the examination of purely external facts. But even the great and admirable things have their dark sides. And so, as a countermove, so to speak, the scientific movement also produced a materialistic view of the human spirit and soul. Mental processes were to be regarded only as the outcome of physical processes, like the advance of the hands of a clock as the effect of the mechanical clockwork. The slogan arose: “Psychology without soul.” Those who believe in the eternal destiny of man could not be satisfied with such a psychology. And so spiritualism arose. Its followers want to use abnormal states of mind, the so-called trance states, to prove that there is not only a sensual reality in our world, but also a spiritual one. When the waking consciousness that dominates our everyday life is extinguished, a subconsciousness emerges that has an intimate connection with the forces of nature that are hidden from ordinary perception. Those persons in whom such trance states are particularly easy to induce are called mediums. They were by all means noble natures who wanted to restore faith in the spirit to mankind through such paths. And H. P. Blavatsky and Olcott, the founders of the Theosophical Society, also first sought to achieve their goal within spiritualism. Thus, to a certain extent, the modern theosophical movement developed out of the spiritualist one. But the path of theosophy into the spiritual world differs significantly from that of the spiritualist movement. The theosophist does not want to switch off the bright, clear consciousness in order to perceive spiritual reality, but rather develops this consciousness to a higher level; he develops it in such a way that he sees the spiritual around him with full clarity and brightness. There are highly developed people who can see purely spiritually, independently of senses and body. Yes, every person can reach such a higher level of development if he walks the path of knowledge outlined by theosophy. But first, the few highly developed in present humanity must be the teachers of the rest. Like the theosophist, the spiritualist seeks the spiritual life; but the path he takes is dangerous; and because the mediums and their believers do not enter the spiritual field with full consciousness, clarity and orientation, they easily stumble there. Those who know the spiritual world know that there are tremendous dangers there for the unprepared. The Theosophists therefore follow those who move in the spiritual world with full consciousness. They alone can interpret its phenomena in the right way and bring knowledge from the world; while the person in a trance is like a child in this world. It is therefore completely dependent on chance whether error or truth, evil or good is brought out of it.

H. P. Blavatsky first received the theosophical wisdom from the advanced great teachers of the oriental Buddhist schools through a series of circumstances. And only because of this does the modern Theosophical movement, founded by Blavatsky's wife, bear a Buddhist character. But one can just as easily come to Theosophy by truly grasping the deep wisdom of Christianity. It is only that life in the Orient has made it possible for more of this actual wisdom core to flow into the popular, mass religion than of the exalted theosophical teachings of Christianity into the popular folk religions. The speaker then developed a picture of the religious movement founded by Buddha. He showed how this sublime religion and philosophy has nothing of what Europeans wanted to make of it.

II. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung”, February 28, 1904

Theosophical lecture. Theosophy – Buddhism – Spiritism was the subject of a talk given by Dr. Rudolf Steiner to a large audience yesterday evening. Theosophy, the speaker explained, is a cultural movement that has developed from a millennia-old wisdom and that seeks to incorporate itself into our culture. The aim is to resolve misunderstandings on both sides. Firstly, Theosophy had to counter the accusation of unscientificity, according to which it wanted to explain spiritual phenomena in a supernatural way, which led to superstition and spiritism. Secondly, the fear of those who believe that Theosophy is Buddhist propaganda at the expense of Christianity had to be addressed. Theosophy did not want to take away anyone's Christianity, but rather to deepen it. Theosophy first appeared in the nineteenth century, but it had been present in Europe for much longer, as a secret science to protect it from the dullness of trivial life. The fact that the nation's best belonged to it is proven by the writings of Lessing, Jean Paul, Herder, Schelling and also the Goethes; as proof, the speaker cited the fairy tale of the green snake. The ideas that the nineteenth century brought with it are irreconcilable with Theosophy. The great discoveries of natural science are based on sensory perceptions; only proof is valid for them. And since the spiritual and soul-like in man could not be established in a way that was obvious to the senses, faith in it was lost; rather, natural science explains the soul-spiritual essence of man as emanations of the physical organism. Soul teaching without soul became a catchword. In the face of these materialistic views, people sought a divine wisdom, information about the nature of the soul and the destiny of man. Many found it in religion. In the nineteenth century, the spiritualist movement came over from America as a reaction to natural science. It wanted to provide the public with information about phenomena of psychic life and spiritual forces, because hypnosis and suggestion proved that these exist. As materialism spread widely, so did spiritualism, but while the former carried the danger of brutalizing the heart, the experimental doctrine of spirits led to confusion and even greater danger. Mediums provide proof of a spiritual world in a dream state, which is thoroughly abnormal, and lead to false and dangerous conclusions.

Theosophy therefore rejects spiritism as an end in itself. Some Theosophists were indeed spiritualists themselves, but they were able to find higher paths to the knowledge of spiritual essence due to their higher spiritual development; anyone who is grounded in the theory of evolution must also admit this in spiritual matters. For Theosophists, the seer sees into a spiritual world in their waking consciousness, whereas for the spiritualist medium it happens in the subconscious. Devotion for mediumistic purposes leads to moral decline, while the seer of theosophy believes that spiritual powers can be developed independently of the physical organization. The seer looks back on pre-existences and looks into the Kamaloka of theosophy. According to the speaker, today's theosophy is a knowledge that has emerged from the theosophical basis of Indian religions, hence its Buddhist coloration. The ancient theosophy is as much the basis of Buddhism as it is of the innermost core of Christianity: Gnosis is Budhi. The European term Gnosis is synonymous with Budhi, the innermost core of spiritual insight in Indian religion. Buddha taught that the spiritual essence of man is more powerful than the sensual. In clinging to the sensual, man forgets his higher essence. Consciousness of the soul is activity, a life in and for matter is passivity. The latter term should, according to the speaker, coincide with the “suffering” of Buddha with regard to his teaching. Suffering is thus a descent into matter. The innermost power of the soul, developed to voluntarily suppress the lower nature, is the goal of the Buddhist teaching. Nirvana is conscious liberation from the limitations of matter. The wisdom of God, the highest ideal of man, that is the meaning of theosophy; it brings nothing foreign, but seeks to awaken and deepen the consciousness of God that lives in all people. In our opinion, Dr. Steiner was able to give his audience a better understanding of the Buddhist point of view, without, however, refuting too sharply the accusation made against the theosophical movement of engaging in Buddhist propaganda.

Report in “Germany, Weimarische Landeszeitung”, Second Sheet, March 27, 1904

Theosophical lecture. On Friday evening, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave the sixth of his theosophical lectures in the large recreation room on the subject of “Theosophy in the Gospels. An Easter Meditation”.

The speaker showed what deep meaning can be found in the legends and myths of different peoples when one seeks to get to the bottom of them from the point of view of an allegorical view of nature. At all times, the deep harmony between the striving human soul and the phenomena of nature was felt. When, with each new spring, the sun increases its power and coaxes the dormant germination forces of plants out of the womb of the earth, it was felt that a similar process of a spiritual nature takes place within man. The sun became a parable of the eternal spirit of the world, which is able to awaken the slumbering soul-germ in man when the time has come for him, to lure the spiritual man out of the physical. Of the many legends whose meaning can be found in this direction, the speaker highlighted the Argonaut saga. Jason is the symbol of the dying man. He obtains the fleece of the ram, which is the symbol of the power by which man ascends to the heights of spiritual life. Just as the sun is in the sign of Aries or the ram in spring and receives new strength through its union with this constellation, so man achieves his highest goal through union with the higher spiritual power, with the “lamb”, as a sign of divine power. Thus the course of the sun became the parable of human life, and the appearance of the spring sun the symbol of the resurrection of the human spirit from the bonds of sense life. Christ Himself therefore calls Himself the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29). What the old pagan myths expressed in their imagery – that man must celebrate an Easter of his inner being – is expressed in a sublime way in the greatest event of world history, in the appearance of the “Passover Lamb”, the Son of God. And what was previously only made accessible to a few in secret temple sites, in the so-called “consecrations” or mysteries, was brought by Jesus of Nazareth to all of humanity. For in his infinite compassion, he wanted that “blessed” should also become those who believed, even if they did not see. (John 20:29) By “seeing” is meant “initiation” into the mysteries, which only made it possible for the chosen ones to receive the truth in a pure form, while the others had to be satisfied only with the symbol, with the myth. Through Christ's sacrificial death, all were granted in the period that followed what previously had only borne fruit for a few. That is why Peter said in reference to the gospel in relation to the earlier mythical popular religions: “We have proclaimed to you the power and the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, not following carefully thought-out myths, but as eyewitnesses of his glory.” (2 Peter 1:16)

The speaker then gave a full explanation of the “miracle of Lazarus” to show how Jesus himself first underwent an initiation in the sense of the old mysteries. Only those who understand this account of the resurrection of Lazarus recognize that it is an Easter of the spirit, not an ordinary death, but the death of the sensual man in whom the spiritual man is awakened. Jesus says this Himself: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, even though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25) The illness of Lazarus is a birth, namely that of the higher spiritual man from the earthly, sensual man. Again, this is witnessed by Jesus' word: “The sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be honored thereby.” (John 11:4) Christ thus showed before all people what He had explained as a theosophical teaching in the glorious conversation with Nicodemus (cf. John 3): “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3,5) The speaker showed at various points in the Gospel how it is a proclamation of the “inner Easter of the human soul”, the message of the resurrection of the spiritual man. He argues that the most sublime truth of Christianity is found precisely when the Gospels are taken “literally”. One must only have prepared oneself through theosophy to really understand the deep “spirit” of the words of the scriptures. What the ancient myths have hinted at in pictures, the story of the suffering and resurrection of the Son of God has presented as an historical fact to all of humanity. From this point of view, the great intentions of the Sermon on the Mount are also revealed, which (in the correct translation) begins with the “theosophical” words (Matt. 5,3): “Blessed are those who long for the Spirit, for they will find the Kingdom of Heaven within themselves.”

I. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of December 9, 1904

On Wednesday the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society organized a lecture in the Erbprinzen on Goethe's fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily.

As we were informed, Dr. Rudolf Steiner showed that this little poem contains the secret of Goethe's world view in a magnificent artistic image. The abundance of figures and events that the poet presents to us represents the soul life of man in his development from the sensual to the highest spiritual existence. For Goethe, human nature consists of body, soul and spirit. The spirit reaches its highest level when its three components: wisdom, mind and will, work together in full harmony within it. By undergoing a complete transformation through the purification of all its lower powers by the fire of selfless love and devotion, the soul achieves this harmony. Goethe thus symbolically represented human worth and human destiny. The harmony of the sensual and spiritual world at the highest levels of existence is initially expressed in an enigmatic, but as soon as one penetrates to the solution of the riddle, captivating way. One only gains a true sense of Goethe's depth when one seeks to unlock one's inner being with the help of this fairy tale. Goethe was inspired to do so by Schiller, who, in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, had sought in his more philosophical vein to reconcile the sensual and spiritual nature of man. Goethe wanted to express himself poetically about this. In pictures, he could speak as vividly about the riddles of the world as he knew how when he wanted to reveal what lived in his soul about them.

II. Report in “Deutschland” from December 9, 1904

On Wednesday, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave a lecture at the Erbprinzen on Goethe's riddle fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, which the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society had organized.

The lecturer showed how Goethe expressed his deepest thoughts about the nature of man and the meaning of life in this small poem. Schiller, in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, posed the same question: How can man harmonize his sensual nature with his spiritual nature? He answered this question philosophically, and Goethe was inspired to express what he had to say about it in a powerful poetic image. The deeper one delves into the aforementioned fairy tale, the more one can see that its lively, crafted images contain the abilities and powers that are effective in man, and the action described contains a symbol for the whole development of man from sensuality to spirituality. Body, soul and spirit in their relationships to each other and to the laws of the universe are presented in a colorful way. The three highest powers of the spirit, wisdom, mind and will in their harmonious interaction are the goal of human progress. The soul will be endowed with them in the right way when it has reached its summit. Its path leads from the life in the lower self to that in the higher self. Selfless devotion and loving sacrifice for the spiritual life lead there. Goethe revealed the most mature fruits of his inner experience through this fairy tale. The lecture indicated the direction in which the explanation must be sought, and at the same time pointed out that the more intimately one deals with it, the more surprised one will be by the richness and greatness of this poetry.

Report in the “Weimarer Tageszeitung,” March 2, 1905.

Nietzsche and Theosophy. Members and friends of the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society gathered at the Erbprinz last night to hear Dr. Steiner (Berlin) speak about the relationship between Friedrich Nietzsche's worldview and Theosophy. In a skillful presentation, the speaker used Nietzsche's literary creations to show that Nietzsche, whom he described as the most characteristic figure among the truth-seekers of the nineteenth century, more or less unconsciously followed the paths that lead to Theosophy in his views on life and the world. If he had indicated through “The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music” that truth and a life worth living are to be sought only in the primal drama, in mystical wisdom, and revered Wagner as the reviver of the primal , his “Supermen” are eloquent witnesses to the fact that he sensed a divine power in man that must elevate man from within and thus make life worth living. Nietzsche's saying, “If there were a God, how could man bear not to be a God,” almost sounds like a proclamation of the ideas of Theosophy, if one bears in mind that Theosophy demands that man must seek his God within himself. The theosophical dictum that life is only worthwhile if it has the urge to go beyond itself is also Nietzsche's view. His idea of the return of the same is in line with the Theosophical idea of the return of things in a process of continuous purification, the idea of reincarnation. Through Nietzsche's view that man is the meaning of the earth and as such must strive higher, many Nietzsche admirers have become Theosophists. In Theosophy, they found answers to the questions that Nietzsche had posed and that had brought him to the gates of Theosophy. And in the light of theosophical considerations, many a Nietzschean could be understood, and much of the negativity in Nietzsche could be explained. - The lecture was followed by a discussion in which the speaker answered the questions put to him in detail.

If we reflect on the fact that we are familiarizing ourselves with this physical world here in the physical world, we will always come to the conclusion that we live in this world primarily through our physical senses, through our minds. We certainly also live within this physical world through our soul life, through the thoughts that arise in us, that remain in our memory, that make up our store of memories; we live in this world through our feelings and will impulses. It is quite understandable that it is quite unlikely for a person who has not yet dealt with spiritual-scientific questions in depth that an experience can take place that is quite different from that in the physical world; because it is clear that man initially knows the world only through thinking, feeling and willing. But there is another form of experience in the world through what we call initiation, which goes beyond the physical world. Basically, it is the same kind of experience as when a person passes through the gate of death and enters the time that lies between death and a new birth.

Now, it must be said that in most cases, what befalls a person when he is supposed to form an idea of the life between death and a new birth here in the physical body, is a feeling of a certain fear of the void in the soul. Let us be clear that this occurrence of fear is quite natural. For try to put yourself in the situation, purely physically, of having walked quite fast and coming to a deep precipice. This would give nothing more than a presentiment, a feeling: you cannot know what might happen in the next moment if you continued your steps. — This feeling can only then afflict the soul when the person has walked so fast that he can no longer stop himself. He says to himself: You have to take the next step. — The uncertainty of fear lives in the soul and this feeling can only be compared to the feeling that is always present in the depths of the soul, but is only not perceived because attention is focused on the physical world. This feeling tells him: What will happen to you if you leave everything you have become accustomed to? Man need only reflect that something like this can live in him subconsciously, and it also lives there, which can be expressed with the words: You cannot see or hear, because the instruments for this sensory activity have been taken from you; you cannot think either. These feelings are not realized, but they are in the soul, and what the person feels is a kind of numbing of himself over this feeling. As soon as it occurs, something else is called into the soul so that the feeling cannot come to consciousness. But with that one can also not make the right preparation, one cannot lift the veil that lies behind death. Today we want to enlighten ourselves about how our life is connected to the one after death.

In the physical world, we rightly speak of perceiving it through our senses. When man speaks of the senses, he actually speaks only of the senses that can be used in the physical world. They can only be used in the physical world because they are connected to the tools that are taken from us at death. Only the five senses are ever mentioned: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. However, these cannot be used in the disembodied state. It is necessary, if one wants to find a transition, that one must completely enumerate the human senses. What the human being misses in this enumeration is that he forgets himself in the process. But he still belongs to the physical world and he could not perceive himself here if he had no senses for it. There are initially few senses through which he perceives himself: the sense of balance, the sense of movement and the sense of life, but they are just as important as the other senses, the external senses. What is the sense of life? You can get an idea of it by considering the difference between feeling hunger and feeling satiety. If man did not understand himself inwardly, he would know nothing of his own corporeality, of well-being or malaise. Just as one speaks of the sense of sight, so one must speak of the sense of life.

But one must also speak of another sense. How impossible it would be for a person to feel if they did not feel the activity of their muscles and tendons. This is a perception of inner mobility. It is only somewhat obscured for humans because we see ourselves in the physical world with our physical eyes. You get the right feeling from the inner perception when you move in the dark; for example, the perception of the breathing process becomes more clearly apparent.

What we call the sense of balance is very necessary. It can be observed in children when they learn to walk and stand; little by little they feel their way into it. We have to get used to feeling that we are walking upright. This sense even has an organ; these are the three semicircular canals in the ear, which are perpendicular to each other. If they are damaged, a person falls over, and the lack of balance in some people comes from the fact that the inner sense of direction is damaged.

If we go further, we find other senses through which we can have a kind of self-awareness within us, but this is more difficult. We have to start from a certain contemplation that points to a state of consciousness that is no longer quite normal. It occurs in certain dreams. The following can occur in consciousness as a dream: a person is in terrible trouble, the helmsman has arrived. He dreams this in great detail, and it can be a long dream. It changes and then the rattling of wagons occurs; the fire brigade passes by. A fire has broken out. Outwardly nothing more has happened than the call “fire”. This word softly echoes the word “tax”, and it calls in the soul through the sound of the transition from the directly heard call “fire”, and that in turn gives birth to the sum of the annoying images of the dream. The dream runs terribly fast. You imagine the individual events in a timeline, which is why the dream seems so long. From this dream, we see the great importance of sounding in the soul body, especially when it is mixed with images, when the word plays a role. If we go deeper into the soul, we see that something completely different is actually going on. Only when a person is fast asleep does he not perceive things. Something would have happened even if the call for “fire” had not been heard at all, but now the call covers something and gives rise to the word “tax”. A fine veil is spun from the resonance of the word. In daytime life, the veil is terribly thick, but alongside the daytime perceptions, the subtle soul perceptions also occur. Only these are not perceived. In such a dream-vision we grasp the world-process as it presents itself to our soul, at one corner.

We have chosen this example deliberately because hearing, as it is now established in present-day humanity, is the sense that is closest to the supersensible senses. We are standing right on the border of the supersensible world and if we could cast off the two words, we would be able to experience true soul experiences.

This example shows how man stands before the spiritual world. But the two words hold him back. It is really the case that by far the greatest part of our dreams are spun from the echoes of the sense of hearing, because between hearing and thinking there lives an inner sense that has been completely atrophied for today's life. When one has immersed oneself in the spiritual world, this sense comes into activity. Between hearing and thinking lives this sense, which becomes conscious when one can hear the inaudible, when one has awakened the sense for rhythmic, melodic, harmonious sounds... (gap in the text.)

If one does not advance to a sense that has meaning only for the physical world, one stands before a sense of the supersensible world. In the physical world, this sense has split into the sense of hearing and the sense of perception. It comes to the fore when one comes to a kind of self-awareness. It comes to the fore best when one tries to develop an appreciation of music and poetry. However, it is better to approach it from the other side. In the outer physical life, the sense has atrophied.

From there, it goes further and further to what we call today: the human being comes to the idea of the self. We must be honest about this idea of the self. People express the self and have a certain inner support in the expression. They rightly believe that they are grasping the self by expressing it. This is the case. It is a kind of preparation for grasping the real higher self. This realization is extremely difficult, otherwise all philosophical endeavor would not be directed towards it. In my “Philosophy of Freedom” I have endeavored to make clear how one can arrive at this. All this belongs to self-perception. One must inwardly grasp it, whereby one addresses oneself as I. We therefore have senses by which we grasp the outer world, and others by which we grasp ourselves when we hear the soundless sounding.

Here in the physical, the well-known five senses are particularly developed. These have no significance for the initiate in the spiritual world. The other senses, through which man comes to self-awareness, are atrophied. They have great significance for man when he passes through the gate of death.

The first sense needed in the beyond is the sense that passes from the external musical to the internal musical. For this sense, the presence of the external auditory tool is not a hindrance. Today only the sense through the ear is being killed. In the physical world, one can perceive the power of the sense when musicians compose. The sense stands behind the musical creation. After death, it becomes a sense through which the person is made aware of his entire surroundings. We then experience music inwardly. After death, the sense becomes an external sense and one perceives for a time after death what goes through the world, because the world is permeated by rhythmic-musical harmony. A person who would not perceive this rhythmic-musical harmony would be like a person in the physical world who could not perceive the inorganic.

In my book 'Theosophy', in the description of Devachan, you will find how mutual life consists in the unfolding of the musical-rhythmic harmony. Indeed, the upper and lower are joined by the forward and backward, while we only know that we are walking upright through the sense of balance. We perceive the beings that are above and below, right and left. So the inner senses, which are now atrophied, expand and convey the spiritual world to us. Then the sense of balance develops into a sense of harmony and rhythm, and the sense of movement is added. When we are liberated from the whole apparatus of muscles and tendons, the sense that is otherwise concentrated through the physical body will spread and we will come to the possibility of being everywhere in the universe as we are in our own body through the sense of movement. In the spiritual world, the outer world is as in the physical world a muscle movement takes place in us. When a hand is held out to a child, the child understands and imitates the movement. The sense of movement awakens in the inner experience of the imitated movement.

Over time, one is thoroughly cured of some teachings that always suffer from the fact that they say: We live in ourselves. But there is no blood circulation in the supersensible world.

The sense of inner movement will be a very important sense when we have died, the sense of life will be important to us – if it cannot be claimed in an unpleasant way – because then we will no longer have headaches and no feeling of hunger.

The senses that have been atrophied here are particularly stimulated when we pass through the gate of death. We cannot perceive our own corporeality through our own corporeality, the eye cannot see itself and the brain cannot examine itself; so the organ that perceives something cannot be the same as that which perceives itself. Thus, what we have called the meaning of life must be separated out from the physical, and so it approaches the soul. It is not the case with the sense of balance that it mediates perception; rather, it expresses itself only symbolically in it.

These senses are actually the ones that are selfish by their very nature, because it is through them that man perceives his self. And we must not hide from ourselves the fact that what we take with us out of life is the more selfish part. So first of all we keep the more selfish part, and from this it becomes understandable that immediately after death, man passes into a rather selfish state. Just as a child brings its senses with it into physical existence and must first get used to the physical sensual world, so too, in the disembodied state, the human being must get used to the supersensible world. This takes quite a long time after death, and while he is learning to get used to his senses, all that remains to him at first is merely what has brought him together with the outside world here in the physical world, as a memory, and specifically as the more unpleasant part of the memory. The first memory lasts only a few days; it appears as a memory tableau that we are familiar with. Then it begins to change so that what is at its innermost here is connected in an inward way, so that the person becomes accustomed to asserting himself inwardly over everything he has experienced, because the possibility of perceiving ceases.

A concrete example: In some relationship of life we have lived together with a person. We pass away, he remains behind on the physical plane. We become more and more accustomed to retaining something from the inner being other than the memory. When we look at a dead person, we see that he knows what we experienced with him during his life on earth. With death, the thread now breaks and now the harrowing realization can be made that one meets dead people who say with the means of communication: “I lived there with this or that person. I know that he lives on, but I only know something about him until I die. That is a great pain. Now the dead person misses him. That is why the dead mainly mourn those they loved and cannot reach out to. It must be admitted that we can provide important services to the dead in this regard if we reach out to them. The external senses are taken from the dead, only what they have experienced in common with us lives in them. Yes, ordinary life actually offers nothing that could change this. It can only be changed if bonds are formed between the dead and the living. It is usually the case for the dead that we look up to the dead. (Gap in the text.) Now there is a common link between the dead and the living: it is what we think of supersensory thoughts. Spiritual thinking is this connecting link. I may emphasize that one can read to the dead about what concerns the supersensible worlds. When we have time, we sit down and go through in thought what the content of spiritual science is and in doing so, we vividly imagine that the deceased are with us. We thus spare them the torment of thinking that we are not there. We have achieved very good results within the anthroposophical movement by reading to the dead in our thoughts. This brings them together with us, and that is what they need and long for. There are two aspects to living together with the dead. The first is what has just been characterized, the lack of the people with whom one lived on earth. We can remedy this by reading to them. We should be together with the dead and bridge the circumstances of our existence. What does it matter to the dead if we read anthroposophy to them, even though they did not want to know about it during their lifetime? — is often said. But that is a materialistic objection, because the circumstances do not remain the same. For example, we can observe that two brothers are there. One of them is drawn to spiritual science, while the other becomes more and more angry about it. He talks himself more and more into a rage. But he does this only because he wants to numb himself to his inner longing for spiritual science. It is not easy to reach him in life, and it is not good to agitate for anthroposophy. In death, what the person has longed for most becomes apparent, and it is precisely such souls that can be given the very best by reading to them. Those who were interested in anthroposophy here will become more and more interested in it there. This is one thing.

The other thing to consider, especially in our time, is that when we enter the supersensible world in our sleep every day, we are in the same realm as the dead. Only we no longer know anything about it after waking up. How do most people go to sleep now? It can be said that when they have crossed the threshold of sleep, they have taken little spirituality with them. Those who have attained the necessary heaviness through the consumption of alcoholic beverages do not bring much of a spiritual nature into the spiritual world. But there are many nuances. We often hear: Yes, what is the use of studying spiritual science if you still can't see into the spiritual worlds? — Yes, if you only study it enough, you will take something with you into your sleep. Imagine a sleeping city, sleeping people, so the souls are disembodied. That which the sleeping souls represent for the spiritual world is still something different than that which they represent for the physical world. It is something similar for the dead. What we give the dead and what they absorb into consciousness is what they need for their life. And when we bring them spiritual thoughts, then they have nourishment; when not, then they are hungry, so that the sentence may be expressed: We can, through our cultivation of spiritual thoughts here on Earth, provide nourishment for the dead. We can leave them hungry when we bring them no spiritual thoughts. When the fields become barren, then they bring forth no fruits for the nourishment of men, and men can starve. The dead, of course, cannot starve, they can only suffer when the spiritual life on earth becomes desolate.

The fact of the matter is that here on earth, science follows different laws about the interrelationships, and one ideal is that through science, life as such can be scientifically grasped. But here on the physical plane one does not get to know life. All laws do relate to the living, but one cannot explore life with all this knowledge. For the supersensible world, one cannot get to know death with all research. For him who sees through things, it is nonsensical to believe that there is a death in the supersensible world. There are sleep-like states of consciousness and also a longing for death, just as we would like to understand life, but there is no death there. One should not believe that one could perish in the spiritual world, one cannot die there either. One cannot destroy one's consciousness either, which corresponds to dying here. But one can become lonely in the spiritual world.

It is about not being able to perceive the physical-sensory world. One only knows about oneself and nothing about other beings. That is what is called the suffering and pains of Kamaloka. What broadens human consciousness is the social life after death, and we also come into contact with the various beings of the supernatural world in social life.

One objection that may still be raised is to be resolved this evening in Erfurt. It is this: What is it like, since the dead are in the supersensible world after all? Can they learn anything from our reading to them about the supersensible worlds? — They cannot learn in the supersensible world what we do not give them from the earth. The thoughts must flow up from the earth. Anthroposophy is not taught in heaven, but on earth. People are not on earth to get to know only a vale of tears, but also Anthroposophy. It is often believed that one can also get to know anthroposophy after death, but this is a great mistake. What a person has experienced on earth, he must put down in the spiritual world after he has crossed the gate of death.