The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The three lectures of today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be interconnected. Today I want to look at some things that will lay the groundwork for certain perspectives on man's relation to the cosmos and to all of life.

Consider the development of the human soul as we can observe it here between birth and death, living in the physical body. Among other things, we might notice that two properties, or complexes of energy, are necessary to the soul if it is to lead a fulfilling earthly life between birth and death—we have frequently directed our attention to such things.

What needs to be acquired, on the one hand, is memory. Just imagine that memory was not among our earthly possessions! You only need to consider how different our soul life would be if we could not look back to days past, all the way back to a certain moment after our birth, and could not retrieve what we have experienced from these more or less unplumbed depths. Our consciousness of our I, as we now possess it, is dependent on the way our experiences connect. I have drawn your attention to this frequently. Now, you all know that memory only begins to appear at a certain point in our earthly life. It is not present before then, and so all our experiences prior to that first remembered point in time are wrapped in forgetfulness. Therefore we can say: From a certain point in our earthly life onward, our soul life is related to our body in such a way that, in greater or lesser detail, our experiences can always be called up in us as memories—we can remember them.

This faculty of memory can only be developed under the influence of our earthly life, and developing a memory is one of the tasks of our earthly life. During that long period of our development when we were beings of the Moon, we did not have a faculty comparable to our earthly memory. In order for our organism to be able to develop memory, we have had to become a part of the organism of the earth, with all its forces deriving from the mineral realm. Memory develops as a result of the interaction between the human soul and the earthly, physical body. It is only during the Earth period of evolution that memory, in the form in which we develop it in our physical, earthly body, becomes necessary to the spiritual world. It only became necessary with the arrival of the Earth period because until then there were other things that took the place of memory. During the Moon period, for example, man's powers of dreamlike clairvoyance took the place of memory. Just imagine that every time you experienced something the experience would be written down in some particular place to which you always had access—as they occurred, all your experiences would be written down there, one after the other. Then all you would have to do to find an experience would be to look in that place where everything had been written down. And this is in fact the kind of experience undergone by man on Old Moon. Everything he experienced in his old, dreamlike, clairvoyant consciousness was, so to speak, engraved in a subtle etheric substance. Everything that man was able to experience through his dreamlike, clairvoyant consciousness was written into the substance of the world. And whenever a human soul needed something comparable to our memory of today, it simply had to direct its dreamlike, clairvoyant awareness toward what was engraved in the fine etheric substance of the world. Man on Old Moon looked at the traces left behind by his own experiences in the way people of today look at the objects of the external world. All one had to do to see something one had experienced was simply to observe the world substance. There, written into the substance of the world, one found the previous contents of that old, dreamlike, imaginative consciousness.

This way of living in the world was therefore very different from today's. Just imagine that you could re-think everything you ever thought, because it was following you about like the tail of a comet—that is a translation of the actual experience of Old Moon into the terms of present-day thinking. This condition had to end because mankind needed to become individualised. Man had to learn to present himself as an individuality. He can only do this if his experiences remain his own property rather than being immediately engraved into the world substance. His experience must be engraved only into his own fine etheric individuality, his own fine etheric substance. So long as man lives on Earth, whatever is developed in his waking consciousness is accompanied by movements of his etheric body. The shape of the physical body marks the boundary of these accompanying movements. To a certain extent they are unable to pass beyond the limits of the skin. Thus, for the whole of life between birth and death, the fine etheric substance, whose movements accompany experiences of thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences of will, is rolled up within the physical body. We have often described how it all unrolls and is received by the world substance when the physical body is laid aside in death. Then, after death, we can begin to look back on everything that has been engraved into our etheric individuality and watch it be absorbed into the substance of the cosmic ether.

I have briefly mentioned how things stand with memory, which develops in response to the physical body's forces of resistance. The situation is similar with respect to something else that is important for our life on earth and which we rightfully acquire for ourselves there.

In addition to memory, our life on Earth also requires us to develop habits. Habits are another thing that we did not yet possess on Old Moon in the form that we have them on Earth. On Old Moon we possessed neither memory nor the ability to form habits—not in the earthly form they have today. If you observe human development from childhood onwards, you will see how habits gradually begin to develop as certain actions are repeated again and again. As we are educated, we receive guidance which establishes certain actions as habits. At first these have to be learned, but once they have become habits our souls perform them more mechanically.

During the Earth period, if the I is to unfold properly, habits must be developed in the right way. What took the place of habits during Old Moon? During that period, every time we needed to accomplish something or whenever something was supposed to happen through us, we were directly influenced by one or the other being from the higher spiritual world. Our deeds were always held in check by the impulses we received from the beings of a higher world. At that time we were much more a member of the whole organism of the hierarchies than is the case now, in the Earth period.

If we had remained in this state, we should never have developed the power to be free, for every detail of our actions would depend on the impulses of higher beings. They would have to exercise their power whenever we acted. We can only receive into ourselves the gift of freedom by being released from the sphere of the beings of the higher hierarchies and by entering into a condition in which repeatedly[,] acts can become habits. In this manner it is possible for actions to originate in us. And so, acquiring the capacity to form habits is also intimately connected with the way humanity achieves inner freedom.

Even during the Earth period, the state we leave behind when we enter through birth into physical existence resembles our previous state on Old Moon. Up there in the spiritual world, before we are born and step down into earthly existence, we are powerfully influenced by higher spiritual impulses. There in the spiritual world it is always higher spiritual beings who guide us to what we need to do; they help us prepare an earthly existence that will proceed in accordance with our karma. When we enter the physical body we are torn from this world in which habits do not exist—this world which is subject only to the uninterrupted impulses of higher spiritual beings. To a degree we still possess an echo of our condition in the spiritual world when we enter physical existence. This expresses itself in the way we behave as children up to the age of seven. As children we follow habits less and are more under the influence of imitation. At first we begin to do things under the direct influence of what is happening around us: we imitate the examples that are shown to us. This is an echo of the way we had to act in the spiritual world. There it was necessary for us to receive an impulse for every single thing we did. That is why children imitate to begin with, directly following the impulses that come to them. Independence, the capacity of the soul to act independently, only emerges in the course of time, just like the capacity to live in accordance with habits.

Both memory and habits are important ingredients of our soul life. Both these significant elements of our soul life are metamorphoses. They are transformations of quite other conditions in the spiritual world. Memory is a transformation of the way imaginative dream experiences leave their traces behind them in the spiritual world; habit arises when one is torn free from the impulses of higher spiritual beings.

Looking at these matters in the way we have just done enables one to arrive at a concept of how differently constituted from the world on this side of the threshold is the world on the other side of the threshold. We need to be able to think in this way. Again and again it must be emphasised: On the other side of the threshold everything is different. We go to the trouble to characterise the spiritual world by using words that apply to the physical world, it is true. But again and again it must be made clear that we have to gradually accustom ourselves to shaping these pictures in a manner that is as different as possible from that in which we picture the physical world. Only in this way can we ever arrive at adequate and correct pictures of the spiritual world.

At the same time, considerations such as the preceding ones give us a glimpse of what is important and essential to our earthly existence. It is utter nonsense to believe that earthly existence should be valued lightly. I have already drawn your attention to this mistake, from various points of view. Like all the other phases of human development, earthly, physical existence has its purpose. We reap permanent, eternal gains from what our soul experiences by having a physical body and by way of what we experience under the influence of memory and habit, which are gifts of the physical body. Gradually, in the course of repeated Earth lives, we acquire these gains. Again and again, therefore, we have to more or less give up the power of memory and return to the state to which we were accustomed during Old Moon; we have to give back to the substance of the cosmos what has been engraved in us during our life on Earth. And this is what does happen as soon as we die. We have to submit ourselves to the impulses of the higher spiritual beings once more in order that the ability to follow their impulses can be translated into habit when we have returned to an earthly body.

At this point I should also to draw your attention to something I have already mentioned frequently in the past, for it is very, very important and cannot be repeated often enough. We acquire memory and habits during our life on Earth. For a start, let us look at memory. Considering it as we just have done, memory seems to be a natural gift of the Earth. And, as you know, a person can always develop the power and ability to remember, no matter how weak his memory seems at the time. Suppose that, as memory developed, nothing were to happen except what is entirely natural—nothing but what is precisely in accordance with the way in which it would develop under the influence of the mineral forces at work in the physical organism of the Earth. In that case we would not develop a memory such as the one to which we are accustomed. Normally we do much more than this—you all know that we do much more toward developing a memory. Perhaps it would be better to say, more is done to us. We learn things by heart. After a certain age we are required to learn things by heart, to memorise them. It makes a difference whether our memory is acquired by simply allowing it to develop more or less of itself, or whether we are required to do more than would just happen automatically. Eventually we retain a poem if we read it often enough or if it is recited to us frequently. But this is not sufficient for education these days; in addition we are required to memorise poems. Why, we are even punished if we have not memorised the poem assigned to us. This is how things are in the present cycle of human development.

I ask you, please, do understand what I am now saying. No one should go about saying that today I was thundering on about memorising, saying it should be done away with. That is not what I am saying! In our time it really is necessary for us to memorise certain things, for our cycle of development requires that our memory be trained in a quite particular way.

What, then, happens in our souls when memorising is brought in to help our natural inclination to acquire a memory? In this case, we summon Lucifer. And it is right that luciferic forces be called in to help build memory. Once more I want to emphasise that you are not to say: Oh, one must protect oneself from Lucifer; let us cease requiring our children to memorise anything! This is a bad habit that some have acquired. Again and again they express the belief that one must protect oneself from Lucifer and Ahriman by doing everything possible to prevent them from having access to us. The person who tries to protect himself from them is the one to whom they really do have thorough access! Luciferic and ahrimanic powers must be reckoned with in world development. They must retain their place in it; what matters is that this happen in the right way.

Let us look at a special case: Why is it necessary to call upon luciferic powers to help us to develop memory? The people of today are no longer aware of it but, in the past, in times not so long ago in the development of humanity, memory was of a different strength than is the memory of today. We need a relatively long time to memorise a longer poem. The ancient Greeks did not need so much time. Many of the ancient Greeks knew the Homeric poems from beginning to end. But they did not learn them in the fashion in which we memorise things today, for then the power of memory was constituted differently. How were things memorised during the fourth post-Atlantean epoch? What happened in those days was a kind of repetition of what had happened to an even greater degree in the Atlantean period itself, and which I have described in my writings about development in the time of Atlantis. On Old Moon there were powers which made it possible to draw behind one the contents of dreamlike imaginative experiences, like the tail of a comet. These powers from Old Moon were carried over and were transformed from a more outward power, which involved interaction with the world, into a more inward power. As it was transformed into an inward power, memory began to awaken in Atlantean humanity and the world seemed to bestow it on them automatically. And in Atlantis man did not have to exert himself very much to develop his memory, for it was like a power which he encountered in his dealings with the external world and which flowed into him from there. This state of affairs was repeated during the fourth post-Atlantean epoch. Then what had previously happened to him in his interactions with the world without his needing to do anything further about it, was to a certain extent repeated within the human being.

Now that man has entered the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, he finds it increasingly necessary to exert himself in order to acquire the power of memory. What came to him automatically during the time of Atlantis, and again during the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, must now be made his own so that it can contribute to his individualisation and freedom. Whenever something is required that really corresponds to a previous ability—as when powers that were once natural are summoned to help build memory—we are dealing with a manifestation of Lucifer. Whenever we artificially call upon something in our age that was natural in the age of Greece, something like the effortless acquisition of memory, it becomes luciferic. But in order to summon up a strong impression of this luciferic element in your souls be aware of the role that Lucifer has played in the development of humanity. You must be aware of this as we describe these things. During the Greco-Roman times Lucifer was more or less kept within bounds. He was still in his rightful place. But he is no longer kept in his rightful place in the same way. Now, in order for man to be able to further develop his memory, it is necessary for him to enter into an agreement with Lucifer. Now it has become necessary for man to do something actively for his memory; during the Greco-Roman epoch memory came of itself without his needing to do anything further about it. Thereby what merely happened to the human being during the Greco-Roman epoch today has become a luciferic deed.

In the same moment that luciferic activity appears, however, the other side of the balance becomes active: the ahrimanic side. And, on the one hand, at the same time that humanity has been memorising things and thus calling on the assistance of Lucifer to build their memory it has, on the other hand, also been developing an ahrimanic support for memory by writing things down. On frequent occasions I have indicated that the people of the Middle Ages were not mistaken in feeling that printing was a particularly ‘black art.’

But everything that aids memory externally is to some degree ahrimanic. Again, I am not saying that it is right to flee from everything that is ahrimanic, although perhaps it is precisely in our circles that too much is done to call up Ahriman. One loves him far too much!

Herein lies the task of mankind—to establish a position of balance, and not believe that Lucifer and Ahriman are to be escaped without more ado! It is rather to confess, boldly, courageously and energetically, that these two kinds of beings are necessary to world development and that the powers coming from the ahrimanic and luciferic sides are there for man to put to use in his own activities and development. These are there for man to use, but it also is necessary for him to establish a balance between Lucifer and Ahriman in the most varied spheres. Lucifer and Ahriman must balance each other. So we must pursue our activities in such a way that they are able to balance one another. This is the reason why it was necessary for the luciferic and ahrimanic elements to intervene in Earth evolution. And from our previous studies we know that the description that stands at the beginning of the Old Testament is an important symbol for the intervention of the luciferic element. There it is described how woman tempts man and how the luciferic element intervenes—indirectly, through woman—in the development of the Earth. This is how the intervention of the luciferic element, which we locate in the Lemurian period, is symbolised in the Bible.

The intervention of the ahrimanic element followed after that, during the Atlantean period. And, just as a knowledge of the human being was required in the fourth post-Atlantean period in order to understand the biblical symbol of Lucifer, so today the fifth post-Atlantean period needs this knowledge in order to begin to understand the counter-symbol and be able to present it to the human soul in an adequately sketched, if incomplete, fashion. (I have mentioned this earlier.) Just as Lucifer stands at the side of Eve, so Ahriman stands at the side of Faust; and just as Lucifer approaches woman directly, so does Ahriman directly approach man. Just as man is tempted indirectly through woman, Gretchen is indirectly lied to through Faust. Since Ahriman is the one who is at work, lies are the means by which Gretchen is tempted. Ahriman is the spirit of deception whom we can picture as standing opposite Lucifer, the spirit of temptation. This is one way we can name them: Lucifer, the tempter, and Ahriman, the deceiver.

There is much in the world that is there purely for the purpose of protecting mankind from luciferic temptation. There are rules, teachings, descriptions of moral impulses, and institutions established in the course of human development—all these are there to protect mankind from luciferic temptations. Today, the right means for protecting oneself from the ahrimanic fall, the fall into untruth, are much less developed.

All the luciferic parts of the human being are related to the passions and emotions. Where falsehood and deception play a role, however, one can feel Ahriman at work in man's development. In our time it is not only necessary for people to arm themselves against luciferic challenges. They must also prepare themselves against the challenges of Ahriman, now that he has entered the field.

Some of this is contained in the Faust poems, which show how man can fall to Ahriman, even in such a matter as the misunderstanding of words. In his Faust, Goethe gives us a fine picture of how Faust passes through various ahrimanic dangers. There are various confusions between Lucifer and Ahriman, to be sure, but for reasons mentioned today and previously, Goethe was right to use Ahriman rather than Lucifer in his own Faust. There is much in both the first and second parts that is ahrimanic, right into such details as the role of misunderstood words. At the end of the second part there is a conversation. Faust believes the talk is about some diggings; but a grave is what is actually meant! ‘Graben’ (to dig, en-grave)—and ‘Grab’ (grave) are the words! Ahriman's impulse resounds here, right into the misunderstanding of ambiguous words. Goethe had an extraordinarily fine sense for representing ahrimanic impulses. In a manner more instinctive than conscious he wove untruth and distortion into those places in Faust where ahrimanic impulses are at work. It is very important to understand this.

Just as memory and habit are to a certain degree metamorphoses and transformations of modes of activity in the spiritual world, so also are there further capacities which we develop in the spiritual world which are transformations of what we have acquired here in the physical world and what has been revealed here. We have been characterising memory and habit as the results of transformations, as metamorphoses of spiritual experiences of an earlier time. But some things, for example, such as the relationship of our ideas to external objects, only appear for the first time in the physical world. Objects surround us. We picture them in our thoughts. What we call physical truth is the agreement of our ideas with the objects; this is truth on the physical level of existence. If we express an idea for which the physical plane does not provide a proper model, then it is not true. Whenever we speak of physical truths this always refers to an agreement between what we are thinking and the physical facts. In order to relate to the truth in this manner it is necessary for us to live in a physical body and be able to use it to look at external things. It would be nonsense to imagine that such a relation to the truth could already have existed on Old Moon. That is an accomplishment of life on Earth. Only when we acquire a physical body is something like this agreement between ideas and external objects possible. This, however, provides Ahriman with his field of action. And how does this provide him with it?

Matters such as those we have just been talking about give one a feeling for the interconnections between the spiritual world and the physical world. Ahriman has a proper task in the spiritual world and he should also exercise a certain influence on the physical world. But he should not actually enter the physical world! He should not be admitted to matters involving the agreement between external objects and the ideas we acquire through our physical bodies. He carried out certain activities on Old Moon. If he is allowed to carry out those same activities here on Earth he distorts the connection between our ideas and external objects. Wherever man is engaged in bringing his ideas into agreement with external objects and external facts Ahriman is supposed to keep his fingers off—if I may express myself symbolically. But he does not keep them off, not Ahriman—truly not! If he kept his fingers off there would be no lying in the world!

Now I am not sure whether it is necessary to prove that there is still lying in the world. But, if there is lying in the world, then it is proof that Ahriman is at work there in a manner in which it is not proper for him to work. This activity of Ahriman in the physical world is one of the things that humanity must overcome. You might say, though: There is much beauty in the world, but in some respects it really is a bungled job; if God the Father were entirely perfect He would have created human beings in such a way that they could not stoop to lying. Such a Father God would have told Ahriman that he is to have nothing to do with the physical world! And, as we have again heard today, Ahriman is not the only one who takes a certain pleasure in discovering what is wrong with the world. There are also philosophers of Pessimism about, philosophers who derive their views from the negative qualities of humanity. The nineteenth century produced not only some pessimistic philosophers, but also some who went beyond Pessimism to become representatives of ‘Miserable-ism.’ Among the other views of the world, that one also emphatically exists! Julius Bahnsen²⁹ was not only a pessimist, he was a ‘miserablist’.

Why, then, is Ahriman allowed into the physical world? In the last lecture I gave you an example of how strongly he is permitted to work in the world. As you will recall, I described how an event was arranged so that it would go according to an exact plan. This event was observed, not by the usual kind of audience, but by thirty young lawyers and students of jurisprudence—in other words, by men who were preparing themselves to become judges of human deeds. The event had been planned beforehand so that what was going to happen was known in detail. What the experiment demonstrated about establishing a correct relationship between how people think about happenings in the external world and what actually goes on is shown by what occurred after the event. The thirty were asked to describe what had happened. Twenty-six of them gave a false description; only four could give a true description and even their descriptions were only approximations of the truth. Thirty people witness an event that follows a carefully prepared plan and it is possible for twenty-six of them to give thoroughly false descriptions of it! That shows you how effective Ahriman is! There you can see how actively present he is! But what would happen if he were not there? Then we certainly would be some kind of lambs. We would feel the impulse to think of things exactly in accordance with the facts before us, and we would consistently allow ourselves to speak only about the facts we observe. But we would have to do this! There could be no talk of freedom! We would have to act in this way; we never could act otherwise; and we never could become free beings. If we are to be able to speak the truth as free beings it must be possible for us to lie, and we are therefore obliged to develop within ourselves the power to conquer Ahriman every time we speak. He has to be there, ‘provocative and active, doing his devil's work’. Those words should give you a picture of Ahriman's presence and of how error only occurs when we follow him directly instead of remembering that he is the one to be overcome as, provocative and active, he goes about his devil's work. Some speak about flight. They say, pulling long faces: ‘But is this not perhaps something ahrimanic? Oh, I must not have anything to do with this!’ In many cases, the only thing all this signifies is that the person in question is moving toward the comforts of Lucifer and leaving freedom behind.

What would help would be to acquaint oneself with the impulses that need to be overcome. To a certain extent we need Ahriman on one side and Lucifer on the other in order to bring about a balance between them.

These are the preliminary considerations I wanted to share with you today. They provide the necessary foundations for the spiritual-scientific vistas on life and the cosmos that will open out before us tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

• 29. Julius Bahnsen (1830 – 1881).

It is perhaps not well known, given how the whole make-up of the human soul changes over time, but also how what is considered necessary for the human being in the social life is subject to transformation. I have already repeatedly included such things in previous considerations. For example, I mentioned how it was by no means a general requirement in the ancient Roman Empire that all children learn the basics of arithmetic, but that it was a general requirement that every child who grew up knew the Twelve Tables of the Law. The view of what should be the general opinion, general knowledge within humanity, has changed a great deal over time. These things are connected with the whole development of humanity. In order to understand the necessary things about this, it is necessary to visualize the true nature of the developmental processes of humanity.

Before there was a population, as we now know it, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and also in America, there was an extensive continent where the Atlantic Ocean is now. So essentially, the earth's surface was once the area between Europe, Africa on one side, and America on the other, at a time when most of Europe, Africa, Asia and America were underwater.

We know that this Atlantic continent, as we call it, was submerged as a result of a significant catastrophe, and we have already mentioned several times that migrations took place from this Atlantic continent, which gradually became more and more uninhabitable, to the gradually rising lands that now make up Europe, Asia and Africa. In essence, the population of Europe, Asia and Africa consists of the descendants of the ancient Atlanteans.

Now, however, significant distinctions arose among these populations, and the after-effects of these distinctions are still present. The after-effects of these distinctions can be understood by considering the following: there were certain sections of the population that migrated from the Atlantic continent to the east. We will ignore America for the moment, which was also populated from the Atlantic continent at that time, but we will ignore that. So certain parts of the population moved east. A number of them moved far into Asia, and among the populations that had moved from west to east in this way, those cultures emerged that we have described as ancient Indian culture, ancient Persian culture, ancient Egyptian- Chaldean culture, then the Greek-Latin contemporary culture, and now in Europe the fifth post-Atlantic culture, in which we ourselves live, which began around the middle of the 15th century. But these cultures arose in the following way: certain sections of the population, because of their psychological and physical make-up, found themselves drawn to go furthest across to Asia, while others remained behind in Europe. Later, of course, those migrations took place, of which external history also speaks, through which in turn certain sections of the population of Asia moved across to Europe. But what now forms the European population is partly, but not merely, the descendants of those who later moved over from Asia. Rather, what populates Europe today is also the descendants of those who originally remained behind during the migration from the Atlantic continent to the East. And much of what lives in the European human being can be traced back to the constitutions of body and soul of those who remained behind in Europe, who did not migrate to Asia. In Europe, we are dealing with a confluence of the most diverse population elements. But the fact that certain parts of the population moved over to Asia, while others remained behind in Europe, brought about a significant difference, a significant differentiation of the European-Astatic population. The populations that had originally migrated to Asia in the 8th, 7th, and 6th millennia were of such a nature that they incorporated human spiritual culture, which was able to spread, very strongly into the soul element. Now, one can still see in the population of Asia, which has indeed degenerated in certain respects, that this population has developed the spiritual and also the intellectual element essentially in the soul realm. It can be said, and this is not a figure of speech, but is actually the absolute truth: this eastern population, of which the Asian population is the most outstanding member, has allowed the body to take little part in its development. All that has been invented, that has lived and, to a certain extent, still lives in the culture of Asia, even in its decadence, depends little on the physical properties of the human being; it depends strongly on the properties of the soul. That is why the spiritual culture that emerged in Asia, which no longer exists today and is not appreciated today because the historical documents say little about it, can only be admired by those who are able to truly empathize with the tremendous spiritual insights that the Asian population was once able to achieve thousands of years ago.

What has been handed down historically, what can be recognized from the historical records, does not give a picture of what was once present in this Asia as an ancient wisdom of man. What is dug up today as Chaldean astronomy, as Indian Brahmanic wisdom, as Egyptian wisdom, through these or those documents, through these or those monuments, is all a late product. All these things lead back to a wonderful, magnificent, powerful insight into the spiritual world, lead back to a magnificent, powerful scientific connection that people have seen through, between the earth and the whole cosmos, the whole world of stars. People in Europe today are not at all inclined to understand, even in retrospect, what was known in those ancient times, nor do they appreciate it, because, so to speak, they cannot do anything with it. They have no way of orienting themselves by these things.

But all that wonderful wisdom that once existed in the East lived by the fact that these people received spiritual knowledge with pure souls, with little involvement of the physical body. Then, as you know – and you will find more about this in my book “Mysticism: The Foundation of Christianity” – from all the wonderful wisdom that the ancient Orient possessed, the view that was gained through Christianity emerged. For essentially, what the view of Christianity is, is a legacy of the Orient. But part of the original oriental wisdom came to Europe through the Greeks, and part of it came through the transformation that it underwent through the mystery of Golgotha.

And now please note what is extremely important: that which has been developed in the soul without the physical organization in the East, that wanders over the south of Europe, over Africa, into the rest of Europe, where it meets the population that, with the exception of those who have withdrawn from Asia, were essentially the people left behind during the migrations from Atlantis to the East. And the question must arise among us: what particular constitution did these people who had remained in Europe have, precisely because they had not moved across to Asia, because they had remained in Europe?

This brings us to something tremendously significant. We come to realize or to have to realize that this population, which was left behind in Europe during the migration from Atlantis to the East, received its external and internal knowledge, its insights into the spiritual world and into the social, economic and commercial order of the world through the function of the physical organization. The population of Europe is essentially characterized by the fact that the main part of these Europeans absorbed what they absorbed primarily through the instrument of their body. The people who migrated further east were such that they absorbed more with the soul; they neglected, because it was not given to them to develop the physical function, everything that was to be grasped directly from the world and from the human order through the physical. The Europeans used the physical tools of their brain and the rest of their physical selves to create what they considered their culture. And so we have the strange phenomenon that that which in Asia also developed as Christianity out of a wonderful primal wisdom migrated to Europe and was received under very different conditions in Europe than it was formed in Asia. In Asia it was only formed by the soul; in Europe it was received by the body. Why could it be received by the body? It could be absorbed by the physical because the European bodies were actually formed in such a way that they could become the right tools for the spiritual. The bodies of the Asians were not formed in this way. The population of Europe had retarded in order to make the body receptive to the assimilation of knowledge, of will impulses and so on, under the climatic and other cultural conditions of old Europe.

In the context of the world as a whole, one must have this view of one thing and that of another; but the less good also has its rightful place. Some people cannot understand this. We also try to prove the harmfulness of materialism; but on the other hand, we must recognize that materialism had to come into the 19th century. But now it must be overcome. Some people would like to take the easy way out on such questions. They say: the human body is just the tool in which the soul dwells; the soul is heavenly, the body is earthly, let us stick to the soul. That is a comfortable view of life. But it is to materialism's credit that it has taught people that the physical also has a share in the spiritual, that the body was organized under certain elements of the human race precisely to receive the spiritual. And the most outstanding people were those whom Christianity encountered. In the early days, when Christianity spread in Europe, the bodies of these European people were good instruments for receiving Christianity, because the physical brain, having developed in a certain way from the spiritual world, was a good receiving organ for Christianity. And while in Asia Christianity emerged after centuries or millennia of development in a culture that was only for souls, in Asia this Christianity encountered a decadent culture that was dying out, a soul culture that was good for ancient times but no longer good for the time in which Christianity took hold. In Europe, this Christianity encountered receptive people who were organized through their bodies to grow into this Christianity and to make their bodies into instruments for receiving Christianity; for there was still much spirit in these bodies, cosmic spirit, nature spirit. That is precisely the significance of the native population of Europe in the post-Atlantic period, that there was spirit in the bodies and that Christianity was received with this spirit in the bodies. But this spirit gradually disappeared, this spirit ceased. This spirit did not remain with the European bodies. And that is precisely the most essential thing about the transition that took place in the middle of the 15th century of the Christian era, that essentially the natural spirit that was in the human European bodies began to fade, that the bodies gradually became incapable of understanding from within what they had first received with fresh strength, because with physical strength, as Christianity. As a result, understanding of Christianity gradually declined from the 15th century onwards. Only tradition remained. The underlying conditions are actually misunderstood in ordinary external science. One believes that a human being is a human being, and one believes that one can study this human being by carrying corpses to clinics and anatomizing them. But that is the very least one can learn about a person, for the delicate constitution of these people changes almost from century to century. The human race of one century is fundamentally quite different in terms of its delicate constitution from the human race of the previous century. Because this does not occur in broad terms and cannot be established by rough scientific means, people do not want to know about it. But this human being is a very fine organization, and that which develops in succession over the course of time remains side by side. For gross anatomy, there is a belief, but it is only a belief: if you draw blood from a Westerner and draw blood from an Easterner, you are just drawing blood; blood is blood. But this view that blood is blood is complete nonsense before a truly deeper knowledge of humanity. I can only speak schematically about this matter and today I can only, I would like to say, state the results of extensive research. But these results are extremely important. If I were to draw something schematically – which, of course, would be different if it were drawn schematically rather than in real life – I would have to draw it in the following way. If I were to draw the blood clot in the living human body of a Westerner, I would draw it like this (see drawing a). If I were to draw the blood clot in the vein of a Russian person, I would have to draw it like this (see drawing b).

The relationship between the two line forms reflects the relationship between the inner, material character of the blood in the eastern population and the character of the blood in the western population. But what I have characterized as physical receptivity is connected with blood development. This physical receptivity, as I said, has been exhausted; today, at least for the Western European population and its American followers, the physical no longer yields anything spiritual. Therefore, the spiritual must be sought in another way, in the way that anthroposophically oriented spiritual science indicates. Roughly speaking, we can say that the spiritual substance that emerged from the physical materiality, which essentially served to open up understanding for Christianity in the centuries up to the middle of the 15th century, has dried up. Today, especially in Western culture, we live with dried-up bodies, and what asserts itself is a mere mechanistic culture because it comes from inanimate, dried-up bodily organizations. This change is therefore not just one that today's abstract historians paint, it is one that goes deep into the physical being of the human being.

Most people today are closed to what I have just told you. But just as the Romans learned the Twelve Tables, just as it was later customary to regard the multiplication table as something necessary for a human being, so in the not too distant future, which we must work towards, it will be necessary to have such elementary concepts of human development in general education. Otherwise, every fifteen years or so, there will be a catastrophe in the development of civilized humanity, such as we have had in the last five to six years. The fact that people have closed themselves off to what is about to break in as a new development in civilized humanity is the real reason for the confusion that has arisen in the last five to six years. And if people want to continue living out of their dried-up materialized bodies, then they will, all by themselves, concoct properties out of this dried-up, materialized body, which every fifteen to twenty years lead to such confusion as the confusion we had in Europe in 1914. Today there are only two possibilities: either we come to terms with this influx of a new formation into humanity, and thus also with the influx of a new understanding of Christianity, supported by spiritual science, or we have to reckon with destructive elements entering human social life to a terrible extent.

Our English friends will now go back to England – hopefully not for a while yet – but when they do, they will meet a man whom I once characterized here as a representative of the present time in a special way, because, despite being much older today, he has not progressed beyond the developmental stage of twenty-seven throughout his entire life. There you will meet Lloyd George, who set the tone there, probably still does, a man who was able to set the tone precisely because he remained capable of development only until the age of twenty-seven, then was of course elected to Parliament and has not been capable of development since, so that now, as an old man, he still thinks like a twenty-seven-year-old, that is, immaturely. You will find that such a mind has given rise to particular ideas, for example: So far we have sided with the Russian counter-revolution, it has been defeated; it is no longer profitable to side with the Russian counter-revolution, so we try to come to terms with the Bolsheviks, we try to come to a tolerable peace with them.

This is the typical thinking of a man who is far removed from any understanding of the real laws of life, who has no idea of what is real in the world, and this is how other so-called “statesmen” think - I note that I now always write “statesmen” only in quotation marks. In this context, one must not forget that this “statesman” still towers head and shoulders above the abstract dilettante Woodrow Wilson, by whom the whole world allowed itself to be seduced at a certain moment in European development. In such matters one was indeed, in certain periods, a “preacher in the wilderness”. In the times when the whole world worshipped Woodrow Wilson, I here in Switzerland repeatedly said exactly the same things about Woodrow Wilson that I am saying to you today. Now the world is beginning to realize, too late, how unrealistic Woodrow Wilson's policies are. And people who sat with him at the Versailles Conference were amazed at how little even the most rudimentary instinct for reality this man brought with him from America to Europe.

The things in which one lives today must be viewed from world horizons if one wants to have a say in the smallest things. And one will not be able to view them if one does not make it a principle that a certain education about man must become general education in the very near future, just as the multiplication table began to become part of general education in a certain period of time.

Whether or not social demands arise is not open to discussion, just as it is not open to discussion whether or not an earthquake will occur in a particular region. But how we should relate to such phenomena is open to discussion. No one will be able to gain a proper perspective on such phenomena without a sense of humanity, as indicated above. This is something with which one must penetrate oneself very deeply. And whether the life of the civilized European world will be able to continue or not will depend on whether there will be a sufficiently large number of people who see through the impossibility of a further world regiment that is particularly influenced by such people out of touch with reality as Lloyd George is. You all know that I am not speaking from some kind of jingoistic point of view, from some particular side, but I am speaking from a purely objective point of view, from the observation of objective facts. I have never had anything against Woodrow Wilson or Lloyd George as a German, as a so-called German. Compared to other people today, even Lloyd George is a “great guy”. But he is a man who remains a twenty-seven-year-old, who is incapable of assimilating that which one can only assimilate when the descending evolution takes hold, when one has passed beyond the thirties. For the dried-up European bodies, which do not want to turn to absorb something spiritual, lose the possibility of development in their thirties. They may be members of parliament, even as accomplished and as exceptionally good a member of parliament as Lloyd George, who, as is well known, carried out quite admirable reforms when he was made a minister. Isn't it true that this is what you do to opposition politicians: you take them into the ministry so that they don't cause a nuisance in parliament? At a certain moment in England Lloyd George was also made a minister, at first because they did not want him in the opposition; but he was made a minister by being given a department about which he knew nothing. That is the usual way of dealing with dangerous parliamentarians. And lo and behold, when Lloyd George was given the department he understood nothing about, he developed a feverish activity, introduced reforms that are truly admirable, and the others stood there with long noses.

All these phenomena must be judged today from the standpoint of the laws of human development. In general, it is not pleasant to judge humanity according to its peculiarities, and above all, it is not in people's nature today to respond to other people. That is why people today are happy to be labeled. There is no inclination to go to the trouble of meeting a person to find out if they have abilities, if something lives in their soul that has possibilities for effect. People do not want to get involved in judging people in this way, through direct impressions drawn from life. They need other possibilities. Someone has graduated, he has a doctorate – so he must be a wise man. You don't need to get to know him first, you just need to know: He has passed exams, or he is – I don't know whether one should say: he was – a government councilor. That's nice, he is someone to respect, you don't need to worry about whether he has any possibilities for action in his soul. A government has made one a councilor, with a C, not a fifth wheel on the wagon, with a D. So you need external possibilities. In the future, we will need a truly direct relationship from person to person. No one will acquire this who does not develop his human spiritual powers in an appropriate way. This appropriate way is through spiritual science. For example, if you read my “Secret Science,” you can read what is in it and absorb the content. If you take it in so that you can then recite it quite well by heart, then I would almost find it more useful if you read a cookbook, or if you are not women, some treatise on collective agreements or the like; it will be more useful than if you read my “Secret Science”. This “occult science” only has its significance when reading if, through the special formation of thoughts - which so annoys people that they refuse to deal with what they call “badly stylized” - this way of writing and thinking has an educational effect on the soul's entire makeup, when the how, not the what, shapes the soul. Anyone who allows the “Occult Science” — it could, of course, also be another book — to take effect on them, then goes out into life, will see that he has actually strengthened his inner vision, so that he gains knowledge of human nature from it. Things become something quite different from a mere scholastic assimilation of the subject! Nowadays, when people have read a book, they imagine that they have done what is necessary when they have the content within them, that is, they have it within them in such a way that they can possibly pass an exam. But spiritual-scientific books are never meant in this way. There the most essential thing is not done when one can count the content on the fingers, but there the necessary thing is only done when the things have passed over into the whole soul constitution, into the whole soul condition, when one has thereby developed suitable soul powers for life.

For decades I have said this again and again in the most diverse forms. But the fact that one now knows that man consists of this and this, that there are repeated earth lives and so on, is therefore considered the main thing over wide circles. — But that is not the main thing. The main thing is that through this whole way of thinking something is grasped in man that cannot be grasped by anything else in man. And that which is grasped in this way by the human being must be there. If it is not there, then all the well-meaning people who say, for example, “There must always be a Christianity,” will achieve nothing. For just as you cannot extract magnetism from a non-magnetic piece of iron, so you cannot, if nothing else occurs, extract a Christianity from what becomes of Europeans. It can remain traditional for a time, but people will accept the tradition out of dishonesty. What is needed is for something to be touched in the souls that will lead to a new understanding of the mystery of Golgotha, and with that, to a new understanding of all of Christianity. In ancient pre-Christian times, as I have already mentioned today, there was a widespread, magnificent, admirable primeval wisdom, and anyone who wants to admire pagan wisdom is right to do so. And anyone who wants to admire pagan wisdom even in those times when it already echoes Christian wisdom is even more right to do so. The first Christian fathers were actually wiser, much wiser than their present-day successors. Their present-day successors forbid the reading of the anthroposophical writings. As you know, Catholics have been forbidden to do so by the decree of the Congregation of the Holy Office in Rome since July 18, 1919. But the first Christian church fathers said: That which is now called Christianity was always there, only in a different form, and Heraclitus and Socrates and Plato were, in their own way, Christians before the Mystery of Golgotha. This is, of course, an extremely heretical remark for today's members of the Roman Index Congregation, even though it comes from genuine church fathers, very heretical! And yet it must be said: something is being decided. This decree of the Congregation of the Index in Rome, that the reading of anthroposophical books is to be forbidden for Catholics, is actually the right consequence of the development of Roman Catholicism, the development of the Roman Catholic Church, and one must realize that a new spiritual current must come that understands Christianity anew.

As I said, the pre-Christian world view is admirable in a way. But it did not extend to certain things of an earthly nature. And here I touch on something that is of extraordinary importance for the evolution of the earth. With regard to everything that a person bears within himself as a physical human being, human development was actually a given. In the fifteenth millennium BC, still in the old Atlantis, man had developed all the qualities of his physical constitution to a certain extent within himself, and these then hardened more or less slowly. But in terms of the main development, in terms of the development of knowledge, it was different. Something remained, like a great human manifestation, a knowledge of humanity, imparted by the leaders of the mysteries until the event of Golgotha. What the old pagan sages had within them was, so to speak, the mirror image of an even older wisdom, but of a wisdom that could still observe spiritually; but it was all a mirror image. Then the Mystery of Golgotha entered, that is to say, nothing less than something extraterrestrial: the Christ Being. Something that descended to Earth from spheres that are quite extraterrestrial united with a human physical body, the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Thus something entered into the earthly development of humanity that had not occurred throughout the entire previous evolution of the earth: something cosmic entered into humanity. From the 15th millennium until the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings have essentially lived with their physical constitution through their mental head constitution of ancient inheritance. Now something occurred that, in a certain respect, connected heaven with earth. An extraterrestrial being united with a human body.

Understanding such a mystery was still possible for the most backward people, who had remained in Europe and still had certain natural spiritual qualities in their bodies. It was not possible for the more advanced Asians to grasp this. It was, so to speak, still a gift from God for this European population to have bodies that were receptive to Christianity through their physical constitution. Since the 15th century this has ceased, and therefore spiritual knowledge must be introduced in order to comprehend anew the Mystery of Golgotha. Without insight into these processes of human development, human nature will not advance and must face its downfall, for that which has entered into earthly evolution through the Mystery of Golgotha must simply disappear. Without a renewed spiritual understanding of the connection between Earth and the extra-terrestrial world, the Mystery of Golgotha cannot live on.

Since this fact exists, those who want to remain in the traditional and the old - and you know how numerous they are, because I have always told you from time to time about the ugly attacks that come from that side — turn with particular virulence against the truth proclaimed from spiritual science that one has to do with a Cosmic Christ, with a Christ who is not merely earthly but cosmic. It is strange, but it is nevertheless the case that, for example, the Roman Catholic clergy and Jesuitism are most annoyed that spiritual science speaks of a Cosmic Christ. The fact is that a separation of the spirits is taking place today. And in the face of this, one should not close one's eyes; on the contrary, one should open one's eyes. In order to be able to set up everything that is to be set up for humanity, even in the smallest place where one stands, it is necessary today to have insight into the great circumstances of life.

Please do not say: There is no time for this. — It is also true that people say: People today are so busy, so endlessly busy, that they don't have time to look up at these spiritual truths. — I would like to add up for you how much idle chatter takes place at “five o'clock teas,” at “Jausen” (snacks), at “afternoon teas,” at “Frühschoppen” (morning drinks), in certain areas at “Dämmerschoppen” (evening drinks) — there are also such things — at “Sk and other things, and you would see that a considerable amount of time would be freed up in which people would have the opportunity, if they wanted it, to familiarize themselves with what is so urgently needed for the future development of humanity. It is not a lack of time, it is a lack of interest on the part of people, their lethargy. Encephalitis lethargica is now appearing externally in isolated cases; it has long since infected the souls of people in the wider human environment. The sleeping sickness of souls is a very widespread epidemic. For what is ultimately at issue is having the will to set one's spiritual powers in motion. With few exceptions, anyone who studies at a university today does not really have to exert their thinking. A certain amount of knowledge, mostly experimental results, is imparted, and this can be absorbed. There is no need to use one's thinking power. But this education must be replaced by the fact that the power of thought becomes mobile again, that the whole soul becomes mobile, that assiduity of the inner soul life takes the place of carelessness and drowsiness. One can be very active in the outer life and tremendously drowsy in one's soul life. But this must end in the development of humanity. That it ends is a truly deep, profound necessity. Today people say: First of all, humanity must have bread. - Of course it must have bread. But if we do not think about how to organize things spiritually so that this bread can also be produced tomorrow, then we will only eat what the earth can still produce today, and we will have no bread tomorrow or the day after. With the old way of thinking, you can still have bread today for a while. But figuratively speaking, of course, you will have no bread the day after tomorrow if you do not operate your institutions in accordance with a new spirituality.

Think about this matter, for it is a serious one.

Today's lecture will be historical in character, and the day after tomorrow I shall speak of matters which will give us deeper insight into the impulses contained in the thinking,—willing and actions of rosicrucianism. We can only understand the work of rosicrucianism as it is today when we realise that it was never a model laid down once and for all but assumes a different form in every century. This is because rosicrucianism must always adapt itself to the conditions of the times. It is quite obvious to us that the fundamental impulses of Spiritual Science must increasingly find their way into the culture of the present age; but we know, too, that Western culture presents difficulties. Spiritual Science cannot make different human beings of us from one day to the next, because through our karma we have been born into Western culture. Our task is not as simple as that of the representatives of communities based upon race or the tenets of a particular religion. For our fundamental principle must be that we are not rooted in the soil of a specific creed but regard the different systems of religion as forms and variations of the one, universal life. It is the seed of spiritual truth in all religions for which Spiritual Science must seek. As a Westerner, the Anthroposophist may very easily be misunderstood, above all by the different religious confessions and schools of thought in the world.

If we rightly understand our task as Spiritual Scientists we must hold fast to the principle of historical development, realising that Spiritual Science is an integral part of this development. Each one of you here has been incarnated in every epoch of culture—indeed more than once. What is the purpose of these reincarnations? Why must the human being pass through all these different schoolings in the periods of culture and civilisation? It was this question which brought Lessing⁴⁵ to avow his belief in the idea of reincarnation. Lessing thought to himself: Human beings have lived through all the earlier periods of culture and they must return again and again in order to learn new things and to be able to connect the old with the new. There must be a purpose in the fact that we pass through different incarnations, and the purpose is that in each of them the human being shall add new experiences to the old.

As you have often heard, there are great differences between the successive epochs of culture. Today we shall speak in greater detail of an extremely important period: the thirteenth century. Human beings in incarnation at that time lived through an experience which had not fallen to the lot of others. What I am now about to say is known to all who have reached a certain high level of spiritual life and who are now again in incarnation.

In the thirteenth century spiritual darkness fell for a time upon all human beings, even the most enlightened, and also upon the initiates. Whatever knowledge of the spiritual worlds existed in the thirteenth century came from tradition or from men who in still earlier times had been initiates and were able to call up memories of what they had then experienced. But for a brief space of time it was impossible even for these men to have direct vision of the spiritual world. Darkness had to fall for this short period to prepare for the intellectual culture which was to be characteristic of our modern age. The important point is that we have this kind of culture today in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. Culture in the Greek epoch was quite different. Instead of the modern, intellectual kind of thinking, direct perception was then the dominant faculty; the human being was one, as it were, with what he saw and heard, even with what he thought. He did not cogitate and reason as he does today, and needs must do, for this is the task of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.

In the thirteenth century it was necessary for especially suitable personalities to be singled out for initiation, and the initiation itself could only take place after that brief period of darkness had come to an end. The name of the place in Europe where these events that I shall now describe took place cannot yet be communicated, but before very long this too will be possible.

We shall speak today of the dawn of occultism in the modern age. Twelve men were living at the time of the darkness, twelve men of deep spirituality, who came together in order to further the progress of humanity. None of them possessed the power of direct vision of the spiritual world, but they were able to bring to life within them memories of what they had experienced through earlier initiation. And by the dispensation of the karma of mankind, the heritage left by the ancient culture of Atlantis was embodied in seven of these twelve men. In my book Occult Science it is stated that the seven wise teachers of the ancient, holy Indian civilisation bore within them the surviving wisdom of Atlantis. These seven men were incarnated again in the thirteenth century and formed part of the twelve; it was they who were able to look back to the seven streams of the ancient Atlantean wisdom and to their further course. The task assigned to each of the seven was to make one of the seven streams of wisdom fruitful both for the culture of the thirteenth century and for that of our modern age. These seven individualities were joined by four others; unlike the first seven, these other four were not able to look back to times of the primeval past; they looked back to what mankind had acquired from occult truths during the four epochs of post-Atlantean culture. The first of the four looked back to the period of ancient India, the second to that of ancient Persia, the third to that of Egyptian-Chaldean-Babylonian-Assyrian culture, and the fourth to that of the Greco-Roman age. These four joined the seven in the council of the wise men in the thirteenth century; the twelfth had fewer memories; he was the most intellectual of the twelve and it was his task to cultivate and foster the external sciences. These twelve individualities did not live on only in the sphere of occultism as cultivated in the West, but could also be ‘incorporated’ as it were in men who possessed some genuine knowledge of occultism. Goethe's poem The Mysteries⁴⁶ gives a certain indication of this.

Thus there were twelve outstanding individualities, joined by a thirteenth who, after the period of darkness had come to an end, was to be chosen for the kind of initiation demanded by the culture of the West. The circumstances are very mysterious, and I can only give you the following information in the form of a narrative. To me it is objective truth, but you yourselves can put it to the test by gathering together what has been said by Anthroposophical Spiritual Science during the last few years, in addition to what you know of history since the thirteenth century.

It was known to the council of twelve wise men that a child was to be born who had lived in Palestine at the time of Christ and had been present when the Mystery of Golgotha had taken place. This individuality had strong heart forces and a power of deep, inward love which circumstances had since helped him to unfold. An individuality of extraordinary spirituality was incarnated in this child. It was necessary in this case for a process to be enacted which will never be repeated in the same form. What I shall tell you does not describe a typical initiation but an altogether exceptional happening. It was necessary for this child to be removed from the environment into which he was born and to be placed in the care of the twelve at a certain place in Europe. But it was not the external measures adopted by the twelve wise men that are of essential importance; what is important is the fact that the child grew up with the twelve around him, and because of this, their wisdom was able to stream into him. One of the twelve, for example, possessed the Mars wisdom and therewith a definite quality of soul—a mood of soul tempered by the form of culture influenced by Mars. The forces of the Mars culture endowed his soul with the faculty, among others, of presenting occult sciences with a fiery enthusiasm and ardour. Similar planetary influences were also at work in other faculties distributed among the twelve. The influences pouring from the twelve wise men worked in such mutual accord that the soul of the child was brought into harmony. And so the child grew up under the unceasing care of the twelve. Then, at a certain time, when the child had grown into a young man of about twenty, he was able to give expression to something that was a kind of reflection of the twelve streams of wisdom—but in a form altogether new, new even to the twelve wise men. The metamorphosis was accompanied by violent organic changes. Even physically the child had been quite unlike other human beings; he was often very ill and his body became transparent, as though filled with light. Then there came a time when for some days the soul departed altogether from the body. The young man lay as if dead ... And when the soul returned it was as though the twelve streams of wisdom were born anew, so that the twelve wise men, also, could learn something quite new from the youth. He was now able to speak of quite new experiences. There had come to him, through the Mystery of Golgotha, an experience similar to that of Paul before Damascus. Thereby it was possible for all the twelve world conceptions, religious and scientific—and fundamentally there are only twelve—to be amalgamated into one comprehensive whole, which could do justice to them all. Of what was taught we shall speak the day after tomorrow. It remains now to be said that the young man died very soon afterwards. His life on earth had been brief. His mission has been to create this synthesis of the twelve streams of wisdom in the sphere of thought and to bring forth the new impulse which he could then bequeath to the twelve men who were to carry it further. A great and significant impetus was thus given. The name of this individuality from whom this impulse originated was Christian Rosenkreutz.⁴⁷ He was born again in the fourteenth century and this earthly life lasted for more than a hundred years. In the new earthly life he brought to fruitfulness, in the outer world too, all that he had lived through in that brief space of time. He traveled all over the West and over practically the whole of the then known world in order to receive anew the wisdom which in the previous life had quickened in him the new impulse—the impulse which, as a kind of essence, was to filter into the culture of the times.

This new impulse also came to expression in the exoteric world. The inspiration of the being of whom we have spoken, worked, for example, in Lessing. It is not, of course, possible to give external proof of this, but Lessing's whole mode and manner of thinking is such that the rosicrucian impulse is perceptible to one who is versed in these matters. Again in the nineteenth century—an age so ill adapted for the ideas of karma, reincarnation and the like—this impulse worked exoterically. It is an interesting fact that towards the end of the forties of the nineteenth century a certain scientific body offered a reward for the best philosophical treatise on the subject of the immortality of the soul: Among the treatises submitted, the one that was awarded the prize was by Widenmann⁴⁸ who accepted the principle that the soul has many earthly lives. Naturally this essay does not speak of reincarnation in the way as Spiritual Science now does; but it is interesting that such a writing should have appeared at that time and have been awarded the prize. And other contemporary psychologists also acknowledged their belief in repeated earth lives. The thread of belief in reincarnation and karma was never entirely broken. Moreover the early writings of the founder of the Theosophical Society, the great H.P. Blavatsky,⁴⁹ are explicable only when we recognise the rosicrucian inspiration underlying them.

Now it is of the greatest importance for us to know that whenever the rosicrucian inspiration is given, in each century, the bearer of the inspiration is never outwardly named. His identity has been known only to the very highest initiates. Today, for example, it is only permissible to speak of happenings of a hundred years ago; for this is the period of time which must elapse before they may be spoken of openly. The temptation to pay fanatical veneration to authority vested in some personality—than which there is no greater evil—would be too great. This danger is too near at hand. Silence is a necessary precaution not only against the wiles of ambition and pride—which it might be possible to resist—but paramountly because of the occult, astral attacks which would be directed all the time against such an individual. Hence the rule that these things may not be spoken of until a hundred years have elapsed. Such studies must help us to realise that the fulcrum of historical development is contained in rosicrucianism.

By a simple comparison let me explain to you what is meant by this. Think of a pair of scales. There must be only one fulcrum, for if there were two, no weighing would be possible. One such fulcrum is also necessary in the process of historical development. Eastern world conceptions do not admit this, nor do they recognise historical evolution in this sense; and the same applies to Schopenhauer.⁵⁰ But it is the task of Western humanity to acknowledge the course of history—and it is the mission of rosicrucianism to promote a kind of thinking which admits the reality of a fulcrum or pivotal point in history. In regard to what will now be said, the religious confession to which a man may belong is of no consequence. For it can be substantiated from the Akashic Record that the day which represents the pivotal point in the evolution of mankind is the 3rd April in the year 33 AD. Knowledge of the fact that the pivot of evolution lies at this point is an essential part of rosicrucianism.

What was it that really happened then? What happened was what can be called the crisis in the world of the demons. And what does this mean? We know that in earlier times human beings possessed the faculty of primitive clairvoyance. This clairvoyance became progressively feebler, almost to the point of extinction. The fact is that hitherto the human being had been conscious mainly in the astral body and less in the ego. The crisis came about because of the darkening of the ancient clairvoyance. Man's vision extended only into the lowest regions of the spiritual world. The ego still lived in the astral world; but the beings and powers which the ego was able to behold deteriorated into greater and greater impurity. Man no longer had any vision of the good powers, but as he looked into the astral world he saw only these evil beings. The only means of salvation was the cultivation and development of the ego. The starting point for this was what took place in the baptism by John in the Jordan. What was the experience of one thus baptised? He experienced in the first place the physical process of immersion in the water, which caused the separation of the astral and etheric bodies from the physical body. This enabled him to perceive that a crisis was at hand in the world of the demons. And those who had been baptised knew: We must change our hearts! The time is at hand when the spirit is to stream directly into the ego. Such a man felt that these terrible astral beings were within him, always penetrating into him.

Something had to come that transcends the astral, and this is the ego. Through the ego it will be possible for communities of human beings to gather together in freedom of soul, communities no longer determined by ties of blood. And now picture to yourselves a man possessed by demons of the most evil kind who know that they are facing a crisis. Picture to yourselves again that to such a man there comes One Whose mission it is to oppose the demons. What must the demons feel? They must feel ill at ease to the highest degree! And so indeed it was: in the presence of Christ Jesus the demons were ill at ease.

Rosicrucianism has within it the impulse by which the demons may and must be countered. Through this impulse the ego is to become supreme—but in this respect little progress has yet been made.

Returning to the point at which the lecture began, it is not difficult to realise that it will be harder for us as Anthroposophists to make our voice heard in the world than it will be for any others. The adherents of other views of the world will have less persecution to suffer than Anthroposophists. For nothing makes men more uneasy than to describe to them the true nature of the Christ. But our conviction is based upon the results of genuine occult science, and this conviction must be sustained with all the strength of which we are capable.

• 45. See note 32.
• 46. See note 29.
• 47. See note 23.
• 48. See note 33.
• 49. See note 1.
• 50. Arthur Schopenhauer: 1788 – 1860. See ‘Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung’ (The World as Will and Idea in the ‘Supplements to the second volume’, chapter 38 ‘Uber Geschichte’ (On History).

When the Earth reappeared out of the darkness of Pralaya, it did not emerge alone; it was at first united with the Sun and our present Moon. Sun, Moon and Earth formed one huge body. This was the first stage of our planet.

At that time the Earth consisted of a very, very tenuous substance. There were no solid minerals, no water, only this subtle material we call ether. The whole body was thus a planet made up of fine etheric material and surrounded by an atmosphere of spirit, in the same way as our own Earth is surrounded by air. This spirit-atmosphere contained everything which today constitutes the human soul. Your souls, which today have come down into your bodies, were at that time up above in this spirit-atmosphere. The Earth was a vast globe of ether, very much bigger than our Earth today, and surrounded by spiritual substance which contained the souls of mankind. Down below, in the rarefied substance of the etheric globe, something rather denser was present—millions of shell-like forms. These were the human germs of the Saturn stage, now emerging as a recapitulation of the forms developed on Saturn in ancient times.

There was of course no possibility of physical reproduction or increase; a quite different process prevailed in those times. The whole of the spirit-atmosphere was, like our present atmosphere, a more or less homogeneous whole, except that spiritual offshoots rather like tentacles stretched down from it into the etheric globe and enveloped the shell-like forms. You must picture the spirit descending from above and enfolding each individual body. A tentacle worked on a body and built up a human form. When one form was complete, the tentacle withdrew, stretched itself in another direction and went to work on another body. The resulting forms were thus brought forth directly by the spiritual worlds. In the beginning there was a confused interwoven ether-substance, much denser than the homogeneous divine-spiritual substance which stretched forth its arms to create the forms out of chaos. This first epoch of our Earth is well described in the book of Genesis: “In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth and the Earth was without form, and void, and the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.” The ether, as it then was, is called “water” in occult science.

You could not then have seen the Earth or the shell-like forms; they were resounding human forms, and each one, as it came into being, expressed itself through a specific note. The forms possessed no individuality, for individuality was still dissolved in the spirit-atmosphere. Seven kinds of forms could be distinguished by their ground-notes. These seven groups constituted the first human Root-race.

After millions of years a great cosmic event took place: the whole vast ether-body contracted and assumed a biscuit-like shape which it retained for a period. Finally a small part, consisting of Earth and Moon, separated off from the whole. An important stage in human evolution is bound up with this occurrence. The germinal human forms were differentiated and articulated; and because of the departure of the Sun, objects could now for the first time be illuminated from outside. All our seeing depends on the fact that the Sun's rays fall on some object and are reflected back. When the Sun withdrew, there were now bodies in existence on which it could shine, and this led to the development of an organ of sight, for light is truly the creator of the eyes. The germinal human forms, which had hitherto been maintained by the common divine atmosphere, could now see their environment. This period is described in Genesis with the words: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” The whole of the Earth's body now began to revolve and thus there were day and night. When we read the Bible in the light of occult science, we can again take it all literally.

A great number of the spiritual Beings who had surrounded the Earth had gone forth with the Sun. They formed the spiritual population of the Sun and exerted their influence on the Earth from the Sun. The etheric human forms were now furnished with an astral covering. The united body of Earth and Moon was surrounded by an astral atmosphere which had previously been dissolved in the spiritual atmosphere. The ether, which had earlier existed as the basic substance, had now condensed into independent etheric bodies surrounding the separate physical forms, which in their turn had become denser.

In contrast to the etheric body, however, the astral body had as yet no independent existence: there was still a common astral covering for all beings. This was the Earth-spirit, which now again stretched forth its tentacles and enveloped each single human ancestor. And now a new faculty appeared: each human form could produce another out of its own substance—a sort of reproduction without fertilisation between two beings. When the fertilisation withdrew from one form, it sank into another without a break. It was rather the same as when part of the front of a cloud detaches itself and is immediately replaced by another part from behind. It was no more than a metamorphosis; an uninterrupted continuity of consciousness prevailed. The experience was like that of a simple change of clothes. The whole planet was bathed in wonderful beauty; it floated in glorious colours in the light-ether, and gradually condensed.

Side by side with the ancestors of humanity there were already forms of plants and animals, destined to be man's companions. The plants were of the lower types which have now become dwarfed. The animals, too, had not yet acquired their present-day shapes. There were shining plants and animals that whirled through the ether. All were still of one sex, except that certain animals were beginning to develop bi-sexual rudiments. There was still no real mineral kingdom. Then the etheric forms gradually became more and more densified, with increasing absorption of the astral element.

After the passing of a further million years or so, Earth and Moon had acquired a very different appearance. Animals and plants were now like jelly or white of egg, rather like some of our jelly-fishes and sea-plants. In this more condensed form of matter were to be found the ancestors of humanity, with rudimentary organs. The forms of animals and plants were increasingly densified by the fertilising astral force. Then came an important stage when the fertilising Beings in the astral atmosphere permeated the nature-forms of that time, so that man and animals were able to draw directly from the vegetable kingdom the substances they needed for nourishment and for reproduction. The plants secreted a substance rather like present-day milk; a last survivor of these milk-secreting plants is the dandelion. So the human beings of that time were nourished and fertilised by the nature around them, and they were self-less. They were complete vegetarians, absorbing only what nature freely offered, and living on juices similar to milk and honey. It was a wonderful state of existence in those primeval days, scarcely describable in our modern language.

Then came an immensely important event: Earth and Moon separated. The smaller body of the Moon split off from the Earth. Now there were three bodies: Sun, Moon and Earth. This had far-reaching consequences for all living beings: the Moon carried off with it a great part of the forces that human beings and animals needed in order to reproduce themselves. Each individual now had only half the fertilising power he had previously possessed, and the result was a gradual emergence of two sexes. Man now had to receive the fertilising power from another being like himself. This was the Lemurian epoch, that of the third Root-race.

During this period, too, matter began to become harder and more solid. Shortly before the separation of Earth and Moon denser deposits had been formed, and after the separation cartilaginous substances, leading towards bone-formation, began to appear in the bodies of men and animals. The solidity of the bones developed, in correspondence with the solidifying of the Earth's crust. By degrees, solid mineral forms appeared. Previously, everything had been etheric, then airy, then watery; the various beings swam as though in water or flew as though in air. Now the Earth developed a solid skeleton of rocks, parallel with the development of the human skeleton. Bone-formation and rock-formation went hand in hand. The human form at that time was something like a fish-bird-animal. Most of the Earth was still watery and the temperature was still very high. This watery element contained in solution much that later on became solid—our present-day metals, for instance, and other substances. Human beings moved in it with a swimming, floating motion. They were well able to endure the tremendous heat which reigned on Earth; their bodies were still constituted of a material which corresponded to the prevailing conditions, and in this way they could live.

Small continents on which men could roam about were embedded like islands in the water; but the whole Earth was riddled with volcanic activity which constantly destroyed parts of the Earth with immense violence, so that elemental destruction and rebuilding went on continually, turn by turn.

As yet man had no lungs; he breathed through tubular gills. But he was already a very complex organism; he had deposited in himself a backbone, at first cartilaginous and then bony, and in order to propel himself as he floated and swam he had a swim-bladder, rather like that of some present-day fish.

Soon—but this means after millions of years—the Earth became more solid. The water withdrew and separated from the solid parts; the air developed its own purity, and under the influence of the air the swim-bladder changed into lungs. Man now raised himself out of the watery element—a specially important and significant event. The gills were transformed into organs of hearing. With the development of lungs, man learnt to breathe, and then all mankind lived in a common element, the air. Each human being breathed in his portion of air, shaped it to his own fire, and breathed it out again. In the beginning, therefore, man was filled with pure spirit, later with the astral element, and finally with air. As soon as he had reached the stage where the breathing of heat was transformed into the breathing of air, that which Mars had provided was turned to good account; human blood became warm. The moment had come when something spiritual which had previously surrounded man entered into him—and how? Through the air. The capacity to breathe signifies the acquisition of the individual human spirit. The Ego enters into him together with the air he breathes. If we speak of an Ego common to all men, it also has a common body, the air. Not without reason did the ancients call this universal Ego, Atma—Atmen, the breath. They knew very well that they drew it in with the breath and breathed it out again. We live in one common Ego because we live in the all-pervading air. Of course the event I have been describing must not be taken too literally. The sinking down of the individual Ego into man is spoken of in theosophical literature as the descent of Manas, or Manasaputra.³⁴ With every breath, man slowly took in Manas, Buddhi and Atma, more or less germinally. Genesis describes this moment and we can take it literally: “And God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and Adam was a living soul.” This is the reception of the individual spirit.

Man now had warm blood also, and was thus able to retain warmth permanently within himself. And with this something further of great importance is bound up.

On the Old Moon there were Beings who were at a higher stage of evolution than the humanity of that time: these were the gods who in Christian tradition are called Angels and Archangels. They had once been at the human stage, but in the course of time they had ascended higher, just as we, too, will have ascended higher when we reach the next planetary stage. Although they no longer had a physical body, they were still connected with the Earth. They were no longer subject to human needs, but they needed men to rule over.

When the Old Moon had completed its evolution, some of these gods had not fully evolved with it; they had to remain as they were. They had not progressed as far as they should have done. Thus there were beings halfway between gods and men—demi-gods. They became quite especially important for the Earth and for humanity. They could not rise completely beyond the human sphere, but equally they could not incarnate in human bodies. They could establish themselves only in one part of human nature, so as to use this part for furthering their own evolution and at the same time to help mankind. On the Moon they had breathed fire, and in the fire which had become permanent in man, in the warm human blood—the original seat of passions and desires—they took up their abode, and imparted to man some of the fire which had been their element on the Moon. These are the hosts of Lucifer, the Luciferic beings: the Bible calls them the tempters of humanity. They tempted man in so far as they lived in his blood and gave him independence. Without these Luciferic beings, everything would have come to man as a gift from the gods. Man would have been wise, but not independent; enlightened, but not free. Because these beings anchored themselves in his blood, man not only became wise, but could be fired with enthusiasm for wisdom and ideals.

At the same time, however, the possibility of error arose: man was now able to turn his back on the highest and to choose between good and evil. The Lemurian race gradually evolved with this disposition, this inherent possibility of evil, and in consequence the Earth had to endure great upheavals, convulsions and earthquakes. In the end, Lemuria was destroyed through these passionate impulses of mankind.

Meanwhile, the Earth had undergone further changes and had become more solid. Other continents had arisen, and most important among them was Atlantis, between present-day Europe, Africa and America. The descendants of the Lemurian race had spread over this continent. In the course of millions of years they had greatly changed, and had acquired a form which resembled the form of man today. Yet they were very different from modern man. The shape of the head and forehead was quite different; the forehead was much lower and the digestive organs were much more powerful. The etheric body of an Atlantean extended far beyond and around his head. In the etheric body there was an important point which corresponded with a point in the physical head. In the course of Atlantean evolution the two points drew together, until the point in the etheric body sank into the physical. At the moment when these two points coincided, man could begin to say “I” to himself. The forepart of the brain could now develop as an instrument for the spirit; self-consciousness began. All this happened first among those Atlanteans who dwelt in the neighbourhood of modern Ireland.

The Atlanteans gradually evolved though seven sub-races: Rmoahals, Tlavatli, and primal Toltecs, Turanians, Semites, Akkadians and Mongols. It was among the primal Semites that the unification of the two points first occurred, and clear self-consciousness arose. The two following sub-races, the primal Akkadians and Mongols, really went beyond the goal of Atlantean humanity.

Until the two points were thus united, the soul-powers of the Atlanteans were fundamentally different from our own. The Atlanteans had a much more mobile body, and, especially in their early times, a very powerful will. They were able, for instance, to replace a lost limb; they could make plants grow, and so on. Thus they exercised a powerful influence over nature. Their sense-organs were more strongly developed: they could distinguish different metals by touch, just as we can distinguish smells. They still possessed also a high degree of clairvoyance. Their sleep at night was not like that of modern man, who mostly has only confused dreams; it was rather a dimmer sort of clairvoyance. During the night they were in touch with the gods, and what they experienced lived on in myths and legends. They pressed the powers of nature into their service; their dwellings were partly natural structures and partly hewn out of rocks. They constructed airships which were not propelled by inorganic forces, such as coal, but by the use of the organic, germinating power of plants.

As long as the two points I have mentioned were not yet united, the Atlanteans had no combinative intellect; for instance they could not count. But to make up for that they had particularly well-developed memories. A logical combinative intellect and self-consciousness emerged only with the fifth sub-race, the primal Semites.

Atlantis perished in a vast water-catastrophe; the whole continent was gradually flooded, and most of the people migrated eastward towards Europe and Asia. One of the main groups passed through Ireland and Europe to Asia; everywhere numbers of people remained behind. The Leader was a high Initiate in whom the migrants had complete faith; through his wisdom he picked out the best of them to accompany him to a distant part of Asia, where he settled them in the district now known as the Gobi Desert. There a small colony developed in complete isolation. From there colonisers went out into all inhabited lands and founded the civilisations of the next Root-race: the Indian, the Persian, the Egypto-Chaldean-Assryian, the Graeco-Latin. And then the AngloSaxon-Germanic civilisation arose.

We shall see tomorrow how this development went on.

• 34. Manasaputras. Described in Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine as “Sons of Wisdom, who at the creation endowed mankind with Manas.”

We will give you yet another special example of how one can immerse oneself in the profundity of religious documents and gain an ever greater understanding of what they contain.

If we study our sense organs as they are usually studied, we see that we have the possibility through the sense of smell of perceiving matter itself. Unless this fine substance were given off, man would be unable to smell. What takes place here is a connection with matter itself. The organ of taste is not connected with matter itself, but acts through a process of dissolving and perceiving its effect. Thus we can call taste a chemical sense, because it penetrates into the constitution of matter. The third sense that of sight, has nothing more to do with matter, for it only perceives pictures that are produced by matter. The fourth, the sense of touch, has still less to do with matter as such, for it only perceives attributes of the surroundings in connection with objects, such as warmth and cold; this is a state of matter which is no longer dependent on matter itself, but on what conditions surround it. Hearing is in no way dependent on the air, for we perceive only the oscillations, the vibrations of the air, something which stands in a quite external relationship to what is material. Matter, the air, is only the vehicle for the sound waves.

The lowest perception of matter is smell, then comes taste, then sight, then touch and hearing. We can now ask: What is warmth and cold? It is what is contained in the warmth ether. So the sense of touch perceives the warmth ether, sight perceives the light ether, taste perceives the chemical ether, smell perceives the atomistic or life ether, hearing perceives the air. A sixth and a seventh sense⁷⁴ which will only develop in the future, would perceive water and earth.

We have therefore in our senses a sequence of stages in connection with what we call matter. We will first follow the development of our three lower senses.

The sense of sight perceives by means of the light ether the objects around us. There was however a time when everything was dark. Let us go back to the moment of time when sight came into existence and the outer world as such became perceptible to us. Previously the eye was not yet opened to the outer world. We must imagine the same force which the eye receives from outside in the light ether, pouring outwards from within, streaming out through the eye in the opposite direction. If this were the case the being would illuminate the others around him. This was so at a certain time when human beings possessed eyes like the Cyclops. Illumination was brought about through the out streaming light; this light streamed from within outwards. Then man illuminated, as many sea creatures still do today, the objects around him and his own body. At that time he had no consciousness of his own, but he was solely an instrument for the corresponding divine being, in order to illuminate the world for him. The divine being had no means of seeing the surrounding objects other than human eyes.

When as yet man had no intellect it was possible for the active light of the Godhead to pass through him and illuminate objects. The human being was the mediator for the Godhead. The latter wished by means of light to make the solid objects visible. Because the light passed through him, man himself was formed. Before the light had passed through the human being the Godhead had no need of light, because the objects were not yet solid, but fluid, so that no use could be made of light. That is the condition described in the Bible: ‘And darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God brooded on the face of the waters.’ At that time the world was simply water, even gold and silver and the other metals ran, were fluid. When within the water, like blocks of ice, solid objects arose, man separated his membered form and light became necessary. God said: ‘Let there be light and there was light.’ Then it was that man too first received his form. That is the moment when the Light Ether was introduced and the solid element separated off. God said: ‘Let the dry land appear.’ Before that everything was of a watery nature. In the same way as the Light Ether was incorporated into the solid element, so was the Chemical Ether incorporated into the water. Chemical relationships were worked into man when he was still fluid. The chemical relationships according to which today the different substances are combined, were imprinted into the individual. Then we come back into a condition when man and also the whole Earth was still aeriform; the life, or the atomistic ether flowed into him. The life ether was at that time introduced into the world through man.

Now let us once more turn our attention to the condition which existed when God said: ‘Let there be Light.’ The Earth began to densify. Light shone upon it. This was also the time when man began to densify. The earlier forces however had to be retained. Now we have reached the condition when man let the light pass through himself. Then a complete reversal took place. Man began to perceive the light as something outside.

Originally through him there had been introduced into this world:

1. The atomistic or life ether.
2. The chemical ether.
3. The light ether.

Reversal:

3. Perception of the life ether.
4. Perception of the chemical ether.
5. Perception of the light ether.

Now man receives back the light from the world. (Reversal of the spiral.) Formerly he was a source of light, now the light streamed into him. He had become self-enclosed; thereby he acquired consciousness. The light shone into him; man began to let the surrounding world reflect itself in him. The next stage is that he learns to recognise objects with regard to their chemical constitution. He developed sympathy or antipathy for substances, a relationship to the world outside him. Then finally he also gained an inner perception of the atomistic or life-ether.

Through the introduction of light into the world man acquired his solid form. Through the introduction of the chemical ether he acquired a relationship to the world. Through the introduction of the atomistic ether he acquired life. Thus through the eyes he acquired form; through the sense of taste, relationship to the world; through the sense of smell, the nose, life. Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

When we approach religious writings with such ideas we find that the most profound truths have been placed into them. We shall see whether originally these truths were placed into the religious writings as we now have them.

Let us take for example the builder of the Gotthard Tunnel and then a man who describes it. The builder, who actually constructed the Gotthard Tunnel did not need perhaps to possess such a high degree of engineering science in his conscious self, but he actually brought a thought into reality. Such is the relationship between the wise men of ancient times and those of today. At that time they possessed a creative wisdom. Now we have a wisdom based on observation. The creative wisdom is that wisdom which once made man, building up one after another those parts which today the anatomist takes out and describes. The creative wisdom is exactly the same as the wisdom which can be discovered today; it has been placed into the world. In the primeval wisdom man was concerned with the plan of the world. Now you can understand why the mystic has to withdraw into himself. The true mystic must be an investigator of the inner. He attempts to seek out those stages of evolution through which he has been created.

If we were able completely to shut off all light from the eyes and then to create light within us, until the world appeared illumined from within outwards, then we should be able to immerse ourselves inwardly in the creative wisdom and penetrate into everything with inner vision. This has a practical value, for one can remember how in actual fact man has been built up by having passed through the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms: all this is also within him. What is outside in the world is the remains of what man himself once was.

The human heart as it came into being was akin to what had taken place outside. The moment one sinks oneself into the heart, one creates for oneself the surroundings as they were when in the Lemurian Age the heart came into existence. If one concentrates on the activity of the heart, one can conjure up the entire environment of the Lemurian Age when the heart was formed. The Lemurian landscape rises up within us. Whoever concentrates on the heart sees the genesis of the human species.

Through concentration on the interior of the brain, which developed gradually during the Atlantean Age, one sees the Atlantean landscape appear. If one concentrates on the solar plexus one is led to the Hyperboreans. So one travels back into the worlds as they once were. This is no brooding in oneself, but an actual perception of the various organs in their relationships with the world. This is the way in which Paracelsus found his remedies and achieved his cures. He knew that digitalis purpurea came into being at the same time as the human heart. Through concentration on a particular organ, corresponding remedies reveal themselves. Thus do the members of the macrocosm and the microcosmic nature of man stand in relationship to each other.

Now the following is easy to understand. The human being receives warm red blood as do also the higher animals. That is to say, from then on man can separate himself from his surroundings, becoming independent, a whole enclosed within itself. This the fish is not. The fish has the same temperature as what surrounds it. With the warm red blood it became possible for man to develop warmth within himself. Then he was able to separate himself from his environment. Previously he was of the same temperature as his surroundings. What is it that actually occurred?

Let us consider the undifferentiated human organism before the Lemurian Age. There was a uniform temperature over the whole Earth. The state of warmth within man was the same as the state of warmth outside.

Then the inner warmth condition was heightened. This warmth condition signified individual warmth, warmth which was made use of in individualisation; and in the world outside the opposite came about: warmth, fire was distributed. Previously there was as yet no outer fire. To kindle fire in Nature first became possible when fire appeared within man. Since that time there was the beneficent fire distributed outside, and within man the egoistic fire.

And now we have the point of time when fire was withdrawn from spiritual beings for the benefit of man. Human beings drew their warmth from a particular kind of spiritual being—the Agni. Because of this, what was previously there as Fire-Spirit in the world had to withdraw and from then on could only appear from time to time in the form of fire. The Promethean-Saga is based on this fact. The god had lost his previous body and created for himself a new one in the external fire. Here we have an outstanding example of how in a certain way man works destructively on the elemental forces of Nature. Man himself had called forth the element of fire in that he had become an individualised being. This underlies the occult saying that, fundamentally speaking, man works destructively where elemental beings are concerned. This is very far-reaching and makes clear to us how man still today continually creates new conditions, new forces of Nature in his world around him, while he himself progresses in his development. He shapes the structure of the Earth. Fire arose in the Lemurian Age; because of this Lemuria could meet its destruction through fire which man himself had created.

The Atlantean Continent perished through water. The downfall of the Fifth Continent will be brought about through evil. We can observe a kind of retrogression in the following way:

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The next stage—during the Atlantean Age—was the creative work of the human being on his own etheric body. There he had drawn air from his environment into himself. In this way he had so changed his ether body that the conditions of Atlantis had become quite different. During Atlantis the surface of the Earth was at one time only mist, an atmosphere of such a kind that a rainbow would have been impossible. At that time man worked upon the water. In the Lemurian Age he worked upon solid earth, this brought forth fire; in the Atlantean Age he worked upon the water; this brought about light. (it corresponded to the light of our intellect.) Then he worked upon the air.

The Fifth Root-Race will bring man to his downfall through what must be called evil. Then comes the Sixth Root-Race. The Fifth Root-Race is that in which Manas develops on the physical plane.

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In the Old Indian civilisation man lived in a condition corresponding to Manas in a kind of deep trance-like state. There the primeval wisdom was revealed to the ancient Indians by the Rishis. The second revelation took place with the Persians in a condition similar to our deep sleep. In this condition man heard the Word. It was the condition of the Ancient Persian Sleep-trance. ‘Honover’ was the word used by the Persians.

Third revelation: The peoples of the near East, Babylonians and Egyptians, perceived through Manas in picture-consciousness; they had visions or dream-sight.

Fourth revelation: Clear waking-day consciousness was developed by the Semites, the Greeks and Romans. At that time Manas was perceived in clear day-consciousness, as incarnated man, Christ Jesus.

So with the ancient Indians we find the trance of the physical body. With the ancient Persians we find the deep sleep of the etheric body. With the peoples of the Near East we find the picture consciousness of the astral body, with the Semites, Greek and Roman peoples the waking consciousness of the ego.

Now in the Fifth Sub-Race man does not perceive the changing stages of Manas, but this Race sees as the highest stage the psychic experience of concepts as such. Our Sub-Race has developed the psychic Manas, the usual scientific knowledge.

The Sixth Sub-Race will develop a Super-psychic Manas. What with human beings today is merely a kind of knowledge will become actual reality, a social force. The Sixth Sub-Race has the task of permeating society in a social way with everything which has been produced by the preceding stages of evolution. Then for the first time Christianity will come forth as shaper of the social order. The Sixth Sub-Race will be the one which is the germinal foundation for the Sixth Root-Race. The Fifth Root-Race is descended from the original Semites, from the Fifth Sub-Race of the Fourth Root-Race. This people developed the individual ego which produces egoism. Man owes his independence to the original Semites. Man must first find himself, but then again must also surrender himself He must surrender himself to what makes thought a reality. The Sixth Sub-Race is destined to replace blood relationship with Manas relationship, relationship in the spirit. Thinking which is altruistic will develop the predisposition to the overcoming of egoism.

The Seventh Sub-Race will be a premature birth. It will make outwardly real too soon and too strongly what has come forth from Manas.

In the Sixth Sub-Race the predisposition will be given for the overcoming of egoism, but in such a way that the balance is held between selfhood and selflessness. The man of the Sixth Sub-Race, will neither lose himself in what is outside, nor shut himself up in what is within. With the Seventh Sub-Race a kind of hypertrophy will come about. Man will then pour out what he now has within him: his egoism. On the other hand the members of the Sixth Sub-Race will hold the balance. The Seventh Sub-Race will harden egoism. Later the English-American people will be projected as something rigidified into the Sixth Root-Race, just as today the Chinese are a rigidified residue of the Atlantean Age, the Fourth Root-Race.

World-egoism proceeds from the Anglo-American Race. From that direction the whole Earth will be overlaid with egoism. It is from England and America that all the discoveries come that will cover the Earth like a network of egoism. So it is from there that the whole Earth will be covered by a network of egotistic evil. But from a small colony in the East [The Slavonic peoples.] there will be developed, as though from a seed, new life for the future.

The English-American civilisation consumes European culture. The sects in England and America represent nothing other than the most incredible conservation of what is old. But such Societies as the Salvation Army, the Theosophical Society and so on, come into existence just there, in order to rescue souls from decadence, for race evolution does not run parallel with soul evolution. But the race itself is going towards its destruction. Within it is the seed of the evil race.

In the Fourth Sub-Race work was performed as tribute (Slave Labour).
In the Fifth Sub-Race work is performed as a commodity (sold).
In the Sixth Sub-Race work will be performed as an offering (free work).⁷⁵

The economic needs of existence will then be separated from work: there will be no more personal possession, everything will be owned in common. One will no longer work for one's personal existence, but will do everything as absolute offering for humanity.

• 74. Compare with lecture 9 and the development of the pineal and pituitary glands.
• 75. See Anthroposophy and the Social Question which appeared at about the same time in the periodical Luzifer-Gnosis.

The facts stated at the end of the last chapter cannot but be somewhat unintelligible to persons who encounter them for the first time, for they belong to the secrets of numbers. And the secrets of numbers are those which are in a comparative sense the most difficult to master.

It has been stated that there is a certain relation between the numbers seven and twelve, and that this relation has something to do with time and space. Now this profound mystery can, gradually, be understood by everybody, but it must necessarily remain a mere statement to the kind of cognition which today is alone recognised as such. It has to be elucidated, explained. An understanding of the ‘machinery’ of the world may be reached, as I have already indicated, by distinguishing between conditions which are essentially those of space and conditions which belong essentially to time. We understand the world which surrounds us primarily in terms of space and time; but if we do not confine ourselves to speaking of time and space in an abstract sense and endeavour to understand how conditions are regulated in time and how the different beings in space are related to each other, we find a thread leading on the one side through the complicated relations of time, and on the other through the complex conditions of space. In the first place we observe the course of world events in the light of spiritual science. We look back at earlier incarnations of man, of races and civilisations, as well as of the earth itself. We build up within ourselves an idea of what will happen in the future, i.e. in time. And we shall always see our way if we judge of evolution in time from a framework built up by means of the number seven. We must not build and speculate and attribute all kinds of meanings to the number seven; we must only pursue the facts from the point of view of the number seven. In the first place this number seven is only a means of facilitating our task. Take, for instance, a man whose spiritual vision is so far opened that he can examine data of the Akashic Records of the past. He may use the number seven as a guide and realise that what runs its course in time is built up on the basis of the number seven; that which repeats itself in various forms can very well be analysed by using the number seven as a foundation and proceeding from this as a basis. In this sense it is right to say that since the earth goes through various embodiments we have to look for its seven incarnations; Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. Because human civilisations pass through seven incarnations we must seek their connections by once more using the number seven as a basis. Let us for instance consider the civilisations in post-Atlantean times. The old Indian is the first, the second is the old Persian, the third the Chaldaic-Egyptian, the fourth the Graeco-Latin, the fifth our own and we are expecting two more, the sixth and seventh to succeed our own. We can also find our way in the study of the Karma of an individual by trying to look at his three former incarnations. By starting with the incarnation of a man of the present day and looking back at his three former incarnations it is possible to draw certain conclusions concerning his next three incarnations. The three former and the present incarnations, plus the three following make seven again. Seven is a clue for everything that happens in time.

On the other hand the number twelve is a clue for all things that co-exist in space. Science, which at the same time was wisdom, was always conscious of this. It said: ‘It is possible to find the right way by connecting the spatial relationship of everything that occurs upon the earth with twelve permanent points in space—the twelve signs of the Zodiac in the cosmos.’ These are the twelve basic points with which everything in space is connected. This declaration was not an arbitrary yield of human thinking; but the power of thought in those early times had learned from reality and so ascertained the fact that space was best understood when it was divided into twelve constituent parts, thus making the number twelve a clue for all spatial relations. But where the question of changes came in, that is to say in the time element, the seven planets were given as a clue by a still older science. Seven is here the clue.

Now how does this apply to the evolution of human life? We have said that up to the point of time in human evolution characterised, by the advent of the Christ-impulse, it is a fact that when a man looked into his inner being, when he sought the way to the world of the Gods through the veil of his inner being, he entered—to use a collective name—the Luciferic world. This too was the path upon which, in those olden times, man sought for wisdom, upon which he sought to acquire a higher knowledge concerning the world than he could find behind the covering of the external sense world. His quest consisted in sinking down into his inner world; for in this world the intuitions and inspirations of moral and ethical life originated, even as the intuitions of conscience arose there. And of course all other intuitions and inspirations which pertain to the moral nature, to that which belongs to the soul, arose out of that soul world. Hence those lofty individualities who were the leaders of mankind in ancient times, had of necessity first to contact the inner life of a man if they wanted to give instruction upon that which belongs to the highest in humanity. The Holy Rishis had to contact the soul-life of man, his inner being, that is, as did all the great teachers of humanity in older civilisations. But the soul life of man belongs to time; it runs its course in time. That which surrounds us externally groups itself in space; that which runs its course inwardly, groups itself in time. Hence everything which is to speak to the inner being of man must use the clue of the number seven. How can we best understand a being with a message for the inner life of man? How, for instance, can we best understand those beings with their fundamentally individual characteristics whom we call the Holy Rishis? By relating them to soul life which runs its course in time. Hence in those ancient epochs wherein the great sages spoke, one question above all was asked: ‘Whence have they descended?’ Just as we might ask a son ‘Who are your father and mother?’—so ancestry, the time element, was then the subject of inquiry. On meeting a wise man the primary concern was: ‘Whence does he come?’ Who was the being who preceded him? What is his descent? Whose son is he? Therefore in speaking about the Luciferic world, the number seven had to be taken as basic and the interest was whose child it was who was speaking to the human soul. We speak of the children of Lucifer in this sense when we speak of those who in olden times taught of the spiritual world lying hidden behind the veil of soul life, behind that which belongs to time.

But the Christ comes under a different category altogether. The Christ did not descend to earth by the path of time. The Christ came to the earth at a certain point of time, but from outside, from space. Zarathustra saw Him when he directed his gaze to the sun, and spoke of Him as Ahura Mazdao. To the spiritual vision of man in space Ahura Mazdao came nearer and nearer until He descended and became Man. Here therefore the interest lies in the approach through space, not in the time sequence. The approach through space, this advent of the Christ out of the infinitude of space down to our earth has an eternal and not a temporary value. With this is connected the fact that Christ's work upon earth is not carried on only under the conditions of time. He does not bring to the earth anything corresponding to the relationships between father and child, or mother and child, which exist under time conditions, but He brings into the world something which goes on side by side, which co-exists. Brothers live side by side, they co-exist. Parents, children and grandchildren live after one another in time, and the conditions of time express their individual relation to each other. But the Christ as the Spirit of Space brings a spatial element into the civilisation of the earth. What Christ brings is the co-existence of men in space, a condition of increasing community of soul regardless of time conditions. The mission of the Earth planet in our cosmic system is to bring love into the world. In olden days the task of the earth was to bring in love with the help of time. Inasmuch as through the conditions of ancestry and descent, the blood poured—itself from generation to generation, from father to child and grandchildren, those who were connected through time were ipso facto those who loved each other. Family connections, blood relationships, the descending stream of blood through the generations following each other in time, provided the foundation of love in the olden times. And the cases where love took on more of a moral character, were also rooted in the conditions of time. Men loved their ancestors, those who had preceded them in time. Through Christ there came the love of soul to soul, so that that which is side by side, which co-exists in space enters a relationship which was at first represented by brothers and sisters living side by side and at the same time—the relationship of brother love which one human soul is intended to bear towards another in space. Here the condition of co-existent life in space begins to acquire its special significance.

Hence in the olden times, it was natural to speak of those who were connected by the rule of the number seven: the seven Rishis, and the seven Sages. But Christ is surrounded by twelve Apostles in whom we see the prototypes of man living side by side, co-existing in space. And this love which, independently of successive ages, is to encompass all that exists side by side in space, will enter social life on earth through the Christ principle. To love what is around us with brother love, that is to follow Christ. If, therefore, we speak in the olden times of the children of Lucifer, the Christ principle is the impulse, which causes us to say: ‘Christ is the firstborn of many Brethren.’ And the brotherhood relationship to Christ, the feeling oneself drawn not as to a father, but as to a brother, whom one loves as an elder brother, but nevertheless as a brother, is the fundamental relationship which men have learned to assume in consequence of the descent of the Christ principle upon the earth.

These of course are only instances which illustrate and make clear, although they do not prove, the relation between the numbers seven and twelve. The more, therefore, that the Christ influence shines down into the world, the more allusion is made to the nature and reality of things by grouping them in twelve's, as for instance, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Apostles and so on. In this connection the number twelve has a mystical and secret meaning as regards the evolution of the earth.

This may be termed the external aspect, the outer view of the great change which took place in the earth evolution through the infusion of the Christ principle. We might speak at great length about the relation of the number seven to the number twelve and have to leave much that concerns the deep mysteries of our universe still incomprehensible. If what has been said in elucidation of the numbers seven and twelve be taken as clues to the relationships existing in time and in space, we shall be able to penetrate more and more deeply into the secrets of the universe. But for all of us this relation between the numbers seven and twelve should, in the first place, be one which apart from everything else indicates how profoundly momentous the Christ event was for the world, and how necessary it is thenceforth to seek another numerical clue if we are to find our way in it.

But there is also an inner relationship of space and time which I can only indicate here in bare outline with which the numbers twelve and seven have something to do. And my illustration shall be made as was usual in the mysteries when the relations of twelve to seven in the cosmos was being portrayed. It has been said that if we do not consider universal space in an abstract sense, but really relate earth conditions to universal space, we must refer those earth conditions to the circle described by the twelve essential points of the Zodiac, viz. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. These twelve points of the Zodiac were not alone the real and veritable world symbols for the very oldest divine spiritual beings, but the symbols themselves were thought to correspond, in a certain sense, with reality. Even when the earth was embodied as old Saturn, the forces issuing from these twelve directions were at work upon that ancient planet; so they were later on the old Sun, and on the old Moon, and are now and will continue to be in the future. Therefore they have as it were the nature of permanence, they are far more sublime than that which arises and passes away within our earth existence. That which is symbolised by the twelve signs of the Zodiac is infinitely higher than that which is transformed in the evolutionary course of our planet from old Saturn to old Sun and from that to old Moon and so on. Planetary existence arises and passes away, but the Zodiac is ever there. What is symbolised by the points of the Zodiac is more sublime than what upon our earth plays its part as the opposition between good and evil.

In an early chapter I called your attention to the fact that on penetrating into the astral realm we enter a world of change—where something which from one point of view works for good, may from another point of view appear as evil. These differences between good and evil have their meaning in evolution and seven is the key number. That which is the symbol of Gods in the twelve points in space, in the twelve points of permanence is above good and evil. Out in space we have to seek for the symbols of those divine-spiritual beings which considered in themselves and without reference to their effects upon our earthly sphere, are beyond the differences between good and evil.

But now let us conceive that which becomes our earth beginning to be active. That can only happen by a division as it were coming to pass in the permanent deities and that which takes place entering into a different relation to these gods of permanence, who are divided into two spheres, into a sphere of good and a sphere of evil. In themselves neither is good nor evil; but inasmuch as it influences the evolution of the earth it is sometimes good, sometimes evil; so that all that belongs to the one may be described as the sphere of goodness, and that which belongs to the other, as the sphere of evil. In order to obtain the correct conception, we must consider the civilisations of the post-Atlantean era, which had gone through the old Indian, the old Persian, the Chaldaic-Egyptian civilisations, and which will also go through the civilisations which are to follow these, up to the next great catastrophe, and beyond it. If we inquire where is there a truer image of what runs through the whole evolution of mankind than can be found in sense perception or in human intellect, we must turn to occult science and ask what is that which is to be discovered in the spiritual world, and which moves more or less as a continuous spiritual stream through all these seven civilisations. In the wisdom of the East a word has been formed for that which runs through all these civilisations; it is—if one considers its real nature—not an abstraction, but something concrete—it is a Being. And if we wish to describe this Being, more intimately, of whom in reality all other beings—whether the seven holy Rishis or even higher beings who do not descend into physical incarnation—are the messengers, we may designate it by a name which has rightly been used by the East. Every revelation and all the wisdom in the world can be traced back finally to this one source, the source of primeval wisdom, under the dominion of a Being who evolves on through each and all the above-named civilisations of the post Atlantean era, who appears in each epoch in one form or another, but who is always One Being, the bearer of the wisdom which has appeared in the most varied guise. When I described in the last chapter how the holy Rishis breathed in this wisdom and took it in concretely, this soul of the light which was spread abroad externally and was breathed in as light-wisdom by the holy Rishis, was the out flowing of that sublime—I cannot go into this fully here—we must understand that what only belongs in minor degree to the sphere of goodness, must also be called good. As soon as that which in the spiritual world (which as I have said is permanent, eternal, having nothing to do with time) passes into time, it divides itself into good and evil. Of the twelve points of permanence there remain belonging to the good, the five actually within the sphere of good and the two on the border, making seven. Therefore we speak of seven as remaining over from the twelve. When we wish to speak of that which is good and which acts as our guide in time, we must speak of seven wise men, of seven Rishis, for this corresponds to reality. Hence also comes the conception that seven signs of the Zodiac belong to the world of light, to the upper world, and that the lower five beginning with Scorpio belong to the world of darkness.

This is only a mere indication serving to show that space, when if forsakes its sphere of eternity and takes into itself created things which run their course in time, is divided into good and evil; and in bringing out the good, seven is raised out of the twelve; seven then becomes the true number for temporal conditions. For truths, which belong to time, we must take the number seven as our clue; the remainder, the number five would lead us into error. That is the inner meaning of these things.

Do not at the moment imagine that this is very difficult to understand, but realise rather that the world is very profound and that there must be things whose meaning is very hard to fathom.

Christ came into the world to sit down even with publicans and sinners. He came in order to take up that which would otherwise have had to be cast out of the world process. In the story of Oedipus the same thing had to be cast out that in the Christ-life was gathered up as a leaven, as was corroborated by the story of Judas. Just as new bread must be leavened with a small portion of the old, if it is to rise and spread; so the new world must take in a leaven made of something which came out of evil. Hence, Judas, who had been cast out from every place, who had even made himself impossible at the court of Pilate, could be admitted where the Christ was working. He Who came to heal the world in such a way that the seven could be changed into the twelve and that which had been represented by the number seven might henceforth be represented by the number twelve. The number twelve is in the first instance represented to us by the twelve brothers of Christ, by the twelve disciples.

This must serve as a slight indication of the profound change that thus came into our whole earth evolution. It is possible to elucidate the significance of the Christ-principle, and of its entrance into the evolution of the earth, from many different points of view, and what has just been touched upon is one of them.

Now let us once more place before our souls that which is a consequence of all that has gone before. It is felt and recognised by spiritual science, wherever it is truly cultivated that with Christ, something very special entered into the evolution of the earth. Wherever true spiritual science is studied, it is felt and recognised that there is one thing which runs through all the Beings of whom we are now speaking. And what we then described as their wisdom had poured down in other ages (for instance, in that quite different conception which was expressed in the old Persian epoch) from the same one Being, who is the great teacher of all civilisations. The Being who was the teacher of the holy Rishis, of Zarathustra, of Hermes—the Being whom we may designate as the great teacher, who in the different ages manifests Himself in the most various ways—the Being who as is natural, at first remains entirely concealed from external vision—is designated, by means of an expression borrowed from the East, as the totality of the Bodhisattvas. The Christian conception would designate it the Holy Spirit. The Bodhisattva is a Being who passes through all civilisations, who can manifest Himself to mankind in various ways. Such is the Spirit of the Bodhisattvas. All the ages have looked up to the Bodhisattvas. The holy Rishis, Zarathustra, Hermes and Moses looked up to them—it matters not how they named the Being in whom they perceived the embodiment of the Bodhisattva principle. The Bodhisattva can be given this one name, ‘The Great Teacher,’ and to him those individuals looked who wished to receive and could receive the teachings of the post-Atlantean era. This Bodhisattva spirit of the post-Atlantean era has taken human form many times, but one such interests us in particular. A Bodhisattva took on that radiant human form of the Being of Gautama Buddha—it does not for the moment concern us in what other fashion he was also manifest. And it signified an advance of this Bodhisattva when it was no longer necessary for him to remain in the upper spiritual realms, when his development in the spiritual worlds was such that he could master his physical corporeality to the extent of becoming man as Buddha. A Bodhisattva advancing in human existence is Buddha. The Buddha is one of the human incarnations of the all-embracing Wisdom figures underlying the evolution of the earth. In the Buddha we have the incarnation of that great Teacher who may be called the essence of wisdom itself. The Buddha is the Bodhisattva who has become an earth being. And it is unnecessary to believe that a Bodhisattva incarnated in only the Buddha; for one of the Bodhisattvas has incarnated either wholly or in part in other human personalities. Such incarnations are not all similar; it must be quite clear that just as a Bodhisattva lived in the etheric body of Gautama Buddha, so such an one also lived in the members of other human individuals; and because the being of that Bodhisattva who inherited the astral body of Zarathustra streamed into the members of other individualities, for instance, Hermes, we may—but only if we understand the matter in this sense—call other individualities who also are great teachers an incarnation of a Bodhisattva. It is permissible to speak of ever-recurring incarnations of the Bodhisattva, but we must understand that behind all the men in whom the incarnation took place the Bodhisattva stood as a part of that Being who is the personified All-Wisdom of our world.

In this sense, then, we gaze upon the Wisdom-element which in olden times was imparted to mankind from the Luciferic worlds. When we gaze upon this we are looking at the Bodhisattvas. Now in post-Atlantean evolution there is a Being who is fundamentally different from a Bodhisattva and not to be confused with the latter, although this Being of Whom we are here speaking, was once incarnate in a human individuality who at the same time received the in-pouring of the Bodhisattva-Buddha being. Because a man once lived in whom the Christ incarnated and because at the same time the radiations of the Bodhisattva entered this human individuality, we must not take the essential thing in this incarnation to be the embodiment of the Bodhisattva in the personality who was Jesus of Nazareth. During the last three years the Christ principle was predominant and the Christ principle and the Bodhisattva principle are fundamentally different. How can we instance this difference? It is exceedingly important for us to know whereby the Christ, Who was once incarnate in a human body—only once, never before and never after—could so incarnate. Since that time He can be reached by the path which leads to the inner essence of the human soul; before then He was accessible if the gaze, as was the case with Zarathustra, was directed outwards. Wherein, then, does the difference consist between the Christ, between that Being to whom we must ascribe such a central position, and a Bodhisattva? It consists in this, that the Bodhisattva is the Great Teacher, the incarnation of wisdom, which pervades all the civilisations, which incarnates in many different ways; but the Christ is not only a teacher—that is the essential point—Christ is not only a teacher of men. He is a Being whom we can best understand if we expand to the sphere where in dazzling spiritual heights we can find Him as an Object of Initiation and where we may compare Him with other spiritual beings. There are regions of spiritual life where, freed of all the dust of earth, we may find the sublime Bodhisattva being in his spiritual essence and where we may find the Christ stripped of all that He became on the earth or in its vicinity. There we find the origin of humanity, the source whence all life proceeds: the primeval, spiritual source. We find not only one Bodhisattva, but a series of Bodhisattvas.

Even as there is a Bodhisattva who underlies our seven successive civilisations, so there was a Bodhisattva underlying the Atlantean civilisations, and so on. We find in these spiritual heights a series of Bodhisattvas, who were, for their age, the great teachers and instructors not only of mankind but also of those beings who do not descend into the region of physical life. We find them there as the great teachers there they gather that which they are to teach, and in their midst is One Being Who is great not only because He teaches, and that is the Christ. He is not alone great because He teaches, rather is He a Being Who works upon the Bodhisattvas who surround Him by manifesting Himself to them. He is seen by the Bodhisattvas and He reveals His Glory to them. The Bodhisattvas are what they are through being great teachers; the Christ is to the world what He is, through His own Being, through His own Essence. He needs only to be seen, and the manifestation of His own Being needs only to be reflected in His surroundings, for the teachings to spring forth. He is not only a Teacher; He is Life, a Life that pours itself into the other beings, who then become teachers.

The Bodhisattvas are mighty teachers because from their spiritual heights they enjoy the bliss of being able to see Christ. And when in the course of the evolution of our earth we find incarnations of the Bodhisattvas, we speak of great teachers of mankind, because the Bodhisattva principle is the most essential in them. The Christ does not only teach; we learn of Christ in order to understand Him, in order to recognise what He is. Christ is more an object than a subject of learning. The difference between Christ and the Bodhisattvas is that He is to the world what He is, because the world is blessed by sight of Him. The Bodhisattvas are to the world what they are because they are great teachers. Therefore if we wish to look up to the living being, to the life-source of our earth, we must look at the incarnation in which was embodied not a Bodhisattva (in which this fact was the most important feature of the incarnation) but a Being who did not Himself leave any teaching behind, but who gathered round Him those who spread Gospels and teachings concerning Him over the whole world. The point of prime importance is that no document exists written by Christ Himself, but that teachers surround Him and speak about Him, so that He is the object and not the subject of the teaching. It is a remarkable circumstance and one of utmost importance with reference to the Christ event that nothing has been received from Him Himself, but that others have written about His Being. It is therefore not to be wondered at that we are told we can find all the teachings of Christ in other faiths also; for Christ is in nowise merely a teacher. He is a Being who desires to be understood as a Being; He does not wish to sink into us only through His teachings, but through His life. We may gather together all the teachings in the world that are accessible to us, and we shall even then not have sufficient to enable us to understand the Christ. If men of the present day cannot turn directly to the Bodhisattvas, and with the spiritual eyes of the Bodhisattvas look up to Christ, then they must learn from these Bodhisattvas what can eventually make Christ comprehensible. If therefore we wish not only to become participant in Christ, but to understand Him, we must not only look at what Christ has done for us, but we must learn of all the teachers of West and of East, and we must account it a holy thing to become familiar with the teachings of the whole known world; we must devote ourselves to the sacred task of understanding the Christ in His completeness by means of the highest teaching.

Now the mysteries always make appropriate preparation for the corresponding duty of mankind. Every age has its special task; and every age has to receive the truth in the particular form needed by that epoch. Truth in its present form could not have been given to the old Indian, or to the old Persian. The truth had to be given to them in the form suitable to their capacities of perception. Therefore in the age, which owing to its other characteristics was best suited to receive the Christ upon earth that is to say the fourth or Graeco-Latin epoch—the truth about Christ and about the world connected with Him was brought to mankind in a form adapted for humanity of that time. To believe that in the age following directly on the Christ-manifestation the whole truth about the Christ was already known, is to be in complete ignorance concerning the progress of the human race. He who believes only the teaching of the first centuries after the Christ event, who considers that which was written and recorded then to be the only true Christian teaching, knows nothing of human progress; he does not know that the greatest teacher of the first Christian centuries could tell him no more about Christ than the people of that time were able to assimilate. And because the men of the first Christian centuries were pre-eminently such as had descended the deepest into the physical world, their understanding permitted them to take in comparatively little of the highest teaching concerning Christ. The majority of the early Christians could understand but little about the Christ Being.

We know that in old Indian times men possessed a high degree of clairvoyance in consequence of the relation of the etheric body to the other members; but the time had not then come for this vision to perceive the Christ as anything other than Vishvakarman—a Spirit in distant regions beyond the sense-world. In the time of the old Persian civilisation it was first possible dimly to sense the Christ behind the physical sun. And so it went on. It was possible for Moses to perceive the Christ, as Jehovah, in thunder and lightning that is quite near the earth. And in the person of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ was seen incarnated as man. This is the manner of human progress; in old India wisdom was absorbed through the etheric body, in the old Persian period through the astral body, in the Chaldaic-Egyptian period through the sentient soul, in the Graeco-Latin period through that which we call the intellectual soul. The intellectual soul is bound to the world of sense. Therefore it lost the vision of that which extends far, far beyond the sense-world. Accordingly in the first post-Christian centuries little more of existence was seen than that which lies between birth and death, and that which directly follows as the nearest spiritual region. Nothing was known of that which passes through many incarnations. This was due to the condition of human understanding. Only one part of the life cycle could be made intelligible, man's life on earth, and the fragment of spiritual life which follows it. That, therefore, is what we find described for the mass of the people. But that was not to continue. The outlook of man had to be prepared for an excursion beyond this part of his understanding. Preparation had to be made for a gradual revival of the all-embracing wisdom which man was able to enjoy in the time of Hermes, of Moses, of Zarathustra and of the old Rishis, as well as for offering us the possibility of an ever increasing understanding of Christ. Christ had to come into the world just at a time when the means of understanding were most contracted. The way had to be opened for the revival of the ancient wisdom during the ages to come and for placing it gradually in the service of the understanding of Christ. This could only be accomplished by the creation of Mystery wisdom. Those men who came over into and beyond Europe from old Atlantis brought with them great wisdom. In old Atlantis the majority of the people were instinctively clairvoyant; they could see into spiritual realms. This clairvoyance could not develop further; and withdrew perforce into separate personalities in the West. It was guided there by a Being who once upon a time lived in deepest concealment, withdrawn behind those who had already forsaken the world and who were pupils of the great initiates. This Being had remained behind in order to preserve for later ages what was brought over from old Atlantis. Among the great initiates who had founded mystery places in the West for the preservation of the old Atlantean wisdom, a wisdom that entered deeply into all the secrets of the physical body was the great Skythianos, as he was called in the Middle Ages. And anyone who knows the nature of the European mysteries knows that Skythianos is the name given to one of the greatest initiates of the earth.

But there also lived in the world for a long, long time, the Being which in a spiritual sense we may describe as the Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva was the same Being who after completing its task in the West, was incarnated in Gautama Buddha about six hundred years before our era. This exalted Being who, as Teacher, had by that time withdrawn more towards the East was a second great Teacher, a second great Keeper of the Seal of the wisdom of mankind. There was also a third individuality destined to greatness of whom we have spoken in various lectures.¹ It is he who was the teacher of the old Persians, the great Zarathustra. The three great spiritual Beings and individualities known to us under the names of Zarathustra, Gautama Buddha and Skythianos are, as it were, incarnations of Bodhisattvas. That which lived in them was not the Christ.

Mankind had now to be given time to experience in itself the advent of Christ Who had formerly made Himself manifest to Moses upon Mount Sinai; Jehovah was the same Being as Christ, though wearing another form. Time had to be allowed to mankind in which to prepare to receive the Christ. That occurred in the epoch in which the comprehension for such things reached the nadir. But preparation had to be made, in order that understanding and wisdom should again grow greater and greater; and this was part of Christ's mission on earth.

There is a fourth individuality named in history behind whom for those who have the proper comprehension, much lies hidden—an individuality still higher and more powerful than Skythianos, than Buddha or than Zarathustra. This individuality is Manes, and those who see more in Manichaeism than is usually the case know him to be a very high messenger of Christ. It is said that a few centuries after Christ had lived on the earth, there was held one of the greatest assemblies of the spiritual world connected with the earth that ever took place, and that there Manes gathered round him three mighty personalities of the fourth century after Christ. In this figurative description a most significant fact in connection with spiritual development is expressed. Manes called these persons together to consult with them as to the means of reintroducing the wisdom that had lived throughout the changing times of the post Atlantean age and of causing it to unfold more and more gloriously in the future. Who were the personalities brought together by Manes in that memorable assembly? (It should be remembered that such an event can only be witnessed by spiritual sight.) He called together the personality in whom Skythianos lived at that time, and also the physical reflection of the Buddha who had then appeared again, and the erstwhile Zarathustra who was wearing a physical body at that time. Around Manes was this council, himself in the centre and around him Skythianos, Buddha and Zarathustra. And in that council a plan was agreed upon for causing all the wisdom of the Bodhisattvas of the post-Atlantean time to flow more and more strongly into the future of mankind; and the plan of the future evolution of the civilisations of the earth then decided upon was adhered to and carried over into the European mysteries of the Rosy Cross. These particular mysteries have always been connected with the individualities of Skythianos, of Buddha and of Zarathustra. They were the teachers in the schools of the Rosy Cross; teachers who gave their wisdom to the earth as a gift, in order that through it the Christ Being might be understood. Hence in all spiritual Rosicrucian schools the deepest reverence is paid to these old initiates who preserved the primeval wisdom of Atlantis; to the re-incarnated Skythianos, in whom was seen the great and honoured Bodhisattva of the West; to the temporarily incarnated reflection of the Buddha, who also was honoured as one, of the Bodhisattvas; and finally to Zarathustra, the reincarnated Zarathustra. These were looked up to as the great Teachers of the European Initiates. Such presentations must not be taken in the sense of external history, although they elucidate the historical course of events better than any external description could do.

Let me illustrate this statement by saying that there is hardly to be found a single country in the Middle Ages in which a certain legend was not everywhere current, though at that time no one in Europe knew anything of Gautama Buddha, and the tradition of Gautama Buddha had been completely lost. Yet the following story was related (it is to be found in many books of the Middle Ages and is one of the widely disseminated stories of that period): Once upon a time there was a King in India to whom a son was born called Josaphat. Extraordinary things were prophesied about this child when he was born. His father therefore especially guarded him; he was only to know what was most precious, he was to dwell in perfect happiness, he was not to become acquainted with pain and sorrow or with the misfortunes of life. He was protected from everything of that sort. It happened, however, that Josaphat one day went out of the palace and passed in succession a sick man, a leper, an aged man and a corpse—so runs the tale. He returned deeply moved into the king's palace and chanced upon a man whose soul was filled with the secrets of Christianity and whose name was Balaam; Balaam converted Josaphat, and this Josaphat who had experienced all this, became a Christian.

It is not necessary to bring the Akashic records to our aid in order to interpret this legend, since ordinary philology suffices to reveal the origin of the name Josaphat. Josaphat is derived from an old word Joaphat; Joaphat again from Joadosaph; Joadosaph from Juadosaph which is identical with Budhasaph—both these last forms are Arabic—and Budhasaph is the same name as Bodhisattva. So the European occult teaching not only knows the Bodhisattva, it also knows, if it can decipher the name of Josaphat, the meaning of that word. This cultivation of occult knowledge in the West by means of legends contained the fact that there was a time when the being who lived in Gautama Buddha became a Christian. Whether this be a matter of knowledge or no, it is none the less true. Just as belated traditions may exist, as men may believe today that which was believed thousands of years ago, and which has been propagated by means of tradition—so they may also believe that it accords with the laws of the higher worlds for Gautama Buddha to have remained the same as he was six hundred years before our era. But it is not so. He has ascended, he has evolved and in the true Rosicrucian teachings the knowledge of this fact has been preserved in the form of the above legend.

Within the spiritual life of Europe we find him who was the bearer of the Christ, Zarathas or Nazarathos—the original Zarathustra—appearing again from time to time; in the same way we meet with Skythianos again and the third great pupil of Manes, Buddha, as he was after he had taken part in the experiences of later ages.

Thus the European who had some knowledge of initiation looked into the changing ages and kept his gaze fixed on the true figures of the Great Teachers. He knew of Zarathas, of Buddha, of Skythianos—he knew that through them wisdom was pouring into the civilisation of the future-wisdom which had always proceeded from the Bodhisattvas and which must be used in order to promote understanding of the greatest treasure of all comprehension, the Christ, Who is fundamentally a completely different Being from the Bodhisattvas and Whom we can understand only by gathering together all the wisdom of the Bodhisattvas. Therefore in the spiritual wisdom of Europe there is a synthesis of all the teachings that have been given to the world through the three great pupils of Manes and by Manes himself. Even though men may not have understood Manes, a time will come when European civilisation will take such form that there will be a feeling for what is connected with the names of Skythianos, Buddha and Zarathustra. They give to mankind the material whose study will teach us to understand Christ, and through them our understanding of Him will grow more and more complete. The Middle Ages certainly showed a strange form of reverence and worship to Skythianos, to Buddha and to Zarathustra when their names began to percolate through; in certain communities of the Christian religion anyone who wished to be taken for a true Christian had to utter the formula: ‘I curse Skythianos, I curse Buddha, I curse Zarathas!’ But what it was then thought necessary to curse will become the centre for those who will best make Christ comprehensible to man, a central point to which mankind will look up as it did to the great Bodhisattvas through whom the Christ will be understood. Today mankind can at the most bring two things to these teachings of the Rosy Cross—two things which may indicate a beginning of the power and greatness that will appear in the future in the form of the understanding of Christianity, Spiritual science of today will be the means of making one such beginning, by bringing the teachings of Skythianos, of Zarathustra, of Gautama Buddha to the world again, not in their old but in an absolutely new form, accessible to investigation from out its very nature. The elements of what we learn from these three great Teachers must be embodied into civilisation. From Buddha, Christianity had to learn the teachings of reincarnation and of Karma, but in the older religion they are to be found in an ancient guise, unsuited to modern times. Why are the teachings of reincarnation and of Karma flowing into Christianity today? Because the initiates have learned to understand them in a modern sense, just as Buddha himself after his fashion understood them—and Buddha was the great Teacher of reincarnation. In the same way we shall attain to an understanding of Skythianos, whose teaching deals not only with the reincarnation of men but with the powers which rule from eternity to eternity. So shall the central Being of the world, the Christ, be ever more and more understood. In this way the teachings of the initiates gradually flow into humanity. The spiritual scientist of today can only bring two things in as elementary beginnings compared to what must come about in the future spiritual evolution of mankind. The first element will be that which sinks into our innermost being in the form of the Christ-life; and the second will be an increasingly comprehensive understanding of the Christ by the aid of spiritual Cosmology. The Christ life in the inmost heart and an understanding of the world which leads to an understanding of Christ—these are the two elements. We may begin today, for we are only on the threshold of these things, by having the right feeling. We meet together for the purpose of cultivating right feeling about the spiritual world and all that is born out of it, as well as right feeling towards man. And as we cultivate this right feeling we gradually make our spiritual forces capable of receiving the Christ into our innermost being; for the higher and nobler our feelings become, the more nobly can Christ live within us. We make a beginning by teaching the elementary truths of our earth evolution, by seeking that which we owe originally to Skythianos, Zarathustra and Buddha and by accepting it as they teach it in our age, in the form they themselves know it, their evolution having progressed to our present age. We have reached a point in civilisation now where the elementary teachings of initiation are beginning to be disclosed.

• 1. We are here speaking of these Beings in the spirit in which they were understood by older conceptions of the world, justified today from the standpoint of spiritual science.

THE THEME OF THE lecture to-day is of a profoundly occult character, the title—strange as it may seem to begin with—being: “Mephistopheles and Earthquakes”. We shall see that not only does the problem of the figure of Mephistopheles lead us into a deep realm of occultism but that the same applies to the problem of earthquakes if explained from the spiritual point of view. I have already spoken here and in several other places about the interior of the earth and have also referred to the question of earthquakes. We shall now approach the subject of these most tragic happenings on the earth's surface, from yet another side.

The figure of Mephistopheles which will be our starting-point to-day, is familiar to you all from Goethe's Faust. You know that Mephistopheles is a Being—we shall not enter to-day into the question of how far the poetic presentation tallies with the occult facts—a figure who appears in the drama as the seducer and tempter of Faust who, in a certain respect, may be thought of as the representative of man aspiring to reach the heights of existence. In lectures on Goethe I have also indicated what spiritual vistas are revealed in the scene of the “Passage to the Mothers”, where Mephistopheles holds in his hand the key giving access to the dark, nether region where the Mothers dwell. Mephistopheles himself may not enter this region. He merely indicates that in this mysterious realm there is no difference between “below” and “above”:

“Sink then! I might as well say, Mount!
'Tis quite the same.”

We know too that in characterizing this region, Mephistopheles uses the word “Naught”, “Nothingness”. In a certain sense, therefore, he represents the spirit who in this “Naught” would be seeking something that is valueless to him. Faust answers as any true seeker to-day might answer a materialistic thinker: “In thy Naught I hope to find the All”.

Goethean research has made many attempts to find the clue to the figure of Mephistopheles. In other lectures I have said that the explanation of the name Mephistopheles is to be found in the Hebrew language, where “Mephiz” is the word used for one who obstructs, who corrupts, and “topel” for one who lies. We have therefore to think of this name as belonging to a being who brings corruption and hindrances to man and is a spirit of untruth, deception and illusion.

It may occur to those who read the introduction to Faust, the “Prologue in Heaven”, thoughtfully, that it contains words which resound as it were across thousands of years. Goethe has let words spoken between the Lord and Job in the Book of Job re-echo at the beginning of Faust. In the Book of Job we read that Job is a good, upright and pious man and of how the sons of the Lord of Light present themselves before Him. Among them is a certain enemy of the Light. In a conversation between the enemy of the Light and the supreme Lord, this enemy of the Light says that he has “gone to and fro in the earth”, seeking and trying out many things. The Lord asks: “Knowest thou my servant Job?” and the enemy of the Light—for so we will call him—answers the Lord that Job is known to him and that he would assuredly be able to divert him from the Good and bring him to perdition. This spirit has to make two attempts to approach Job and he then lays hold of him through injuring his physical body. He indicates this expressly when he says to the Lord: “Seize his possessions and he will not fall; but touch his bone and his flesh and he will fall!” Who can fail to hear an echo of this in Faust when the Lord calls to Mephistopheles in the “Prologue in Heaven”: “Knowest thou Faust, my servant!” And then, in similar terms, we hear the retort of the spirit who in the Book of Job comes before the Lord, when Mephistopheles asserts that he can lead Faust gently on the way, that he can win him from the paths which lead to the Good. Here, then, we are listening to sounds striking together in unison across the ages.

When you are thinking about the figure of Mephistopheles, you may often have asked yourselves: Who is Mephistopheles, in reality? Grave mistakes are made here, mistakes which admittedly can be corrected only by deeper, occult insight. The name itself suggests that Mephistopheles is associated with the devil, or the idea of the devil, for the word “topel” is the same as “Teufel”—devil. But the other question—and here we come into a realm of serious fallacies which frequently occur in explanations of the figure of Mephistopheles—the other question is: Whether Mephistopheles can be identified with the spirit we know as Lucifer, who during and after the Lemurian epoch approached mankind together with his hosts and entrenched himself as it were in the evolutionary process? The prevailing tendency in Europe is to identify the figure of Mephistopheles as he appears in Goethe's Faust but also in earlier folk-literature (Folk Plays, Puppet Plays and so forth), with Lucifer. Mephistopheles is a familiar character everywhere, and the question is: Are he and his hosts identical with Lucifer and his hosts? In other words: Are the effects of the Mephistophelean influence upon man the same as those of Lucifer?—That is the question before us to-day.

We know when Lucifer approached man. We have studied the course of human evolution on earth through the epoch when the sun with its beings, and subsequently the moon, separated from the earth together with the forces that would have made further development for man impossible. And we have learned that at a time when man was still not ready for his astral body to become independent, Lucifer and his hosts approached him. The effect upon man was twofold. It was towards the end of the Lemurian epoch when, in his astral body, man was actually exposed to the influences issuing from Lucifer. If Lucifer had not approached, man would, it is true, have been protected from certain evils but he would not have attained what must be accounted one of his greatest blessings.

The significance of Lucifer's influence becomes evident when we ask ourselves what would have transpired if since the Lemurian epoch there had been no Luciferic influence, if Lucifer and his hosts had remained separate and apart from man's evolution! Until the middle of the Atlantean epoch man would have evolved as a being who in every impulse of his astral body would have obeyed the influences of certain spiritual Beings of a higher rank than himself; these Beings would have retained their sway over him until the middle of the Atlantean epoch. If that had happened, man's faculties of perception and cognition would not have been directed to the material world until a much later period. During the Lemurian and early Atlantean epochs, no passions, no desires would have arisen from his sense-perceptions; he would have confronted the world of sense as it were in a state of innocence, obedient in his every action to the impulses instilled into him by higher spiritual Beings. The instincts prompting him to action would not have been of exactly the same nature as those of the higher animals to-day, but more spiritual. His every deed on earth would have been prompted, not by mere impulses, but by a kind of spiritual instinct. As things were, under the influence of Lucifer man came earlier to the stage where he said: This delights and attracts me, that is repellent to me! He reached the stage of following his own impulses earlier than would otherwise have been the case; he became an independent being, with a measure of inner freedom. The consequence was that he was detached in a certain way from the spiritual world. To put it concisely, one might say: Without this influence of Lucifer, man would have remained a spiritualized animal—an animal who would gradually have developed a form nobler and more beautiful than could have been developed by man under the influence of Lucifer. Man would have remained far more of an angelic being if Lucifer's influence had not taken effect in the Lemurian epoch; but on the other hand, the higher Beings would have guided him as it were on leading-strings. In the middle of the Atlantean epoch something would have befallen him suddenly: his eyes would have been fully opened, the tapestry of the whole material world of sense would have lain around him—but gazing upon it he would simultaneously have perceived the Divine-Spiritual, a Divine-Spiritual world behind every physical object. If, therefore, in his former state of dependence man had looked back into the bosom of the Divine whence he had proceeded, beholding the Gods of Light sending their radiance into his soul, guiding and leading him, something would have come about for him—this is not a mere picture but corresponds in a high degree with the reality—namely, that the world of sense in its entirety would have been outspread in transparency before him, revealing behind it those other Divine-Spiritual Beings who had taken the place of what had now been lost. One spiritual world would have closed behind him and a new spiritual world opened before him. Man would have remained a child in the hands of higher, Divine-Spiritual Beings; independence would not have been established in the human soul.

It did not happen so, because Lucifer had approached man and made part of the underlying spiritual world invisible to him. The personal instincts, passions and desires which arose in the human astral body spread a cloud of darkness over the spiritual Beings of the world out of which man is born and who would otherwise have remained perpetually visible to him.

Hence in those great centers of the Oracles in ancient Atlantis the Initiates had expressly trained themselves to behold that part of the spiritual world which had been concealed as the result of Lucifer's influence. The aim of all the preparation undergone by the guardians and pupils of the ancient Oracles in the Atlantean Mysteries was to enable them to perceive that part of the spiritual world of light which in consequence of Lucifer's influence upon the astral body of man had withdrawn from his field of vision. And visible too, were those figures seen by man in the various conditions of soul running parallel with initiation, figures which from a world of Light penetrate into our world decked in the raiment provided by the astral world. In the ancient Oracle centers the Atlantean Initiate beheld in the spirit those figures who were in truth spiritual Beings of a higher rank than he—Beings who had not descended into the physical world and who had therefore remained invisible to ordinary sight when man's eyes were opened prematurely. But since Lucifer himself was an opponent of these worlds of Light, it was inevitable that he too should be visible to the initiates; and the hosts of Lucifer were visible to the Atlanteans who in their shadowy, clairvoyant consciousness, in the sleeping state and in conditions midway between sleeping and waking, could be transported into the spiritual world. When part of the world of Light was accessible to these Atlantean men, part of the world opposing the world of Light was also visible; the Luciferic hosts were visible—not Lucifer himself. These noble figures belonging to the world of light were as fascinating and splendid in their astral raiment as those of the opposing world of deception were fearsome and terrible.

Thus it was the influence of Lucifer in the evolution of humanity that made it possible for man to fall into error and evil but also to attain freedom. Had there been no Luciferic influence, the conditions I have been describing to you would have come about in the middle of the Atlantean epoch: the tapestry of the sense-world would have been outspread before man; the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms would have been materially visible to him; also the phenomena of nature and of the heavens, thunder, lightning, clouds, air—all would have been visible to external sight. But behind it all would have been the unmistakable presence of Divine-Spiritual Beings. Because Lucifer's influence had already taken effect in man's astral body, his physical body—at that time still transmutable—had been so prepared ever since the Lemurian epoch and on into the Atlantean, that it could not become the direct instrument for the physical world of sense with the spiritual world visibly behind it. And so man could not immediately behold the physical sense-world in the form in which it would simultaneously have revealed itself to him as a spiritual world. The three lower kingdoms of nature lay around him; the physical world became a veil over the spiritual world. Man could not, nor can he to this day, see directly into the spiritual world.

But because man had passed through this evolution, a different influence was able to assert itself in the middle of the Atlantean epoch—an influence from quite another side and not to be confused with that of Lucifer and his hosts. Although it was Lucifer who first made it possible for man to come under the sway of this other influence, although it was Lucifer who caused the human physical body to become denser than it would otherwise have become, nevertheless it was necessary for yet another influence to approach man in order to bring him completely into the material world of sense, in order to shut him off entirely from the spiritual world so that he was led to the illusion: There is no other world than the world of material existence outspread before me!

From the middle of the Atlantean epoch an opponent quite different in character from Lucifer approached man, namely the Being who casts such mist and darkness around his faculties of perception that he makes no effort nor unfolds any urge to fathom the secrets of the world of sense. If you picture to yourselves that under Lucifer's influence the sense-world became like a veil, through the influence of this second Being the physical world in its totality became like a dense rind, closing off the spiritual world. It was only the Atlantean Initiates who were able, through the preparation they had undergone, to pierce this dense covering of the material, physical world.

The Powers who approached man in order to obscure his vision of the other side of divine existence are brought to our notice for the first time in the teachings given to his followers and pupils by Zarathustra, the great leader of the ancient Persians. The mission of Zarathustra was to instill culture into a people who, unlike the ancient Indians, did not by nature yearn perpetually for the spiritual world. Zarathustra's mission was to impart to his people a culture directed to the world of sense, aiming at mastery of the material world through means dependent upon the efforts and labors of physical man. In the civilization of ancient Persia, therefore, man was less subject to the influence of Lucifer than to the influence of that Being who since the middle of the Atlantean epoch had approached mankind, with the result that many of the Initiates at that time had lapsed into the practice of a form of black magic; having been led astray by this tempter, they misused for the purposes of the physical-material world what was accessible to them from the spiritual world. The mighty influence of the forces of black magic which finally led to the destruction of Atlantis had its origin in the temptations of that Being whom Zarathustra taught his people to know as Ahriman (“Angra Mainyu”), the Being who opposed the God of Light proclaimed by Zarathustra as “Ahura Mazdao”, the “Great Aura”.

These two figures—Lucifer and Ahriman—must be clearly distinguished from each other. For Lucifer is a Being who detached himself from the spiritual hosts of heaven after the separation of the sun, whereas Ahriman had already broken away before the separation of the sun and is an embodiment of quite different powers. The result of Lucifer's influence in the Lemurian epoch was merely the corruption of the faculty, still possessed by man in the Atlantean epoch, to manipulate the forces of air and water. In the book entitled From the Akasha Chronicle you will have read that in Atlantean times the seminal forces in plant and animal were still at man's command and could be drawn forth just as the forces used in the form of steam for propelling machines can be extracted from mineral coal to-day. I have told you that when these forces are drawn forth they are connected in a mysterious way with the nature-forces in wind, weather and the like; and if applied by man for purposes running counter to the divine purposes, these nature-forces are called into action against him.

Here lies the cause of the Atlantean flood and of the devastation wrought by the powers of nature which led to the disappearance of the whole continent of Atlantis. But even before that time, man had lost command over the forces of fire and the power to ally them with certain mysterious forces of the earth. Power over the forces of fire and earth in a certain combination had already been withdrawn from man. But now—through the influence of Ahriman and his accomplices—he again acquired a certain mastery over the forces of fire and earth, with dire consequences. And much that is to be heard about the use of fire in ancient Persia is connected with what I am now telling you. Many forces that are applied in black magic and are connected with it, lead to the result that man lays hold of forces of an entirely different nature and thus gains an influence over fire and earth, with terrible and devastating results. The practice of black magic by the descendants of the Atlanteans in ancient Persia would still have been effective had not the teachings of Zarathustra revealed how Ahriman, as an opposing power, ensnares man and clouds his vision of the spiritual reality behind the world of sense. Thus through Zarathustra and his followers, influence was brought to bear upon a large part of Post-Atlantean civilization; on the one hand men were taught of the workings of the sublime God of Light to whom they may turn, and, on the other, of the malefic power of Ahriman and his hosts.

Ahriman works upon man in countless, infinitely diverse ways.—I have told you that the Event of the Mystery of Golgotha was a moment of supreme importance for the evolution of the world. The Christ appeared in the realm into which man enters after death, where Ahriman's influence was even mightier than in the world around man here on earth between birth and death. In the realm of existence between death and rebirth, Ahriman's influences worked upon man with terrible, overwhelming power. And if nothing else had taken place, utter darkness would gradually have closed in upon man in the ‘realm of Shades’—as it was correctly designated by the ancient Greeks. A condition of complete isolation, leading to the intensification of egoism would have set in between death and rebirth; man would have been born into his new life as a gross and overweening egotist. Hence it is more than a figure of speech to say that after the Event of Golgotha, at the moment when the Blood flowed from the wounds, the Christ appeared in yonder world, in the realm of the Shades, and cast Ahriman into fetters. Although Ahriman's influence remained and is really the origin of all materialistic thinking on the part of man, although this influence can be paralyzed only if men receive into themselves the power emanating from the Mystery of Golgotha, nevertheless they can draw from that Event a power which enables them to find their way once again into the Divine-Spiritual world.

Thus it was to Ahriman that the faculty of human cognition was primarily directed. Ahriman was a Being whose existence was divined by men, a Being of whom they had some knowledge through the culture inaugurated by Zarathustra; and from there the knowledge of Ahriman spread among the other peoples and into their world of ideas. Ahriman with his hosts appears as a figure with the most diverse names among the civilized peoples. And owing to the peculiar conditions obtaining in the souls of the European peoples who had remained farthest in the rear of the migrations from West to East, who had been less affected than the others by what had transpired in the ancient Indian, ancient Persian, Egyptian and even in the Greco-Latin civilizations—owing to these circumstances there prevailed among the European peoples from whom the Fifth Epoch of culture was to be born, an attitude of soul which regarded Ahriman alone as a figure of dread. And while many different names were adopted—as for example, “Mephistopheles” among the Hebrew people—in Europe the figure of Ahriman became the “Devil” in his various forms.

Obviously, therefore, we are gazing here into a concatenation of happenings in the spiritual worlds and many a man who claims to be above medieval superstitions will do well to remember the words in Faust:

“The little folk ne'er scent the Devil
E'en though he have them by the collar”.

It is precisely because man closes his spiritual eyes to this influence that he succumbs to it so completely. Goethe's “Mephistopheles” is none other than the figure of Ahriman and must not be confused with Lucifer. All the errors cropping up here and there in commentaries on Faust originate from this confusion—although it was indeed Lucifer who first paved the way for Ahriman's influence. In studying Ahriman one is therefore led back to an original influence of Lucifer, the nature of which can only become clear after long preparatory efforts have been made to understand this intimate connection.

The subtle difference between the two Beings must not be overlooked. The essential point is that, fundamentally speaking, Lucifer had brought man under the influence of the powers connected with air and water only; whereas it was Ahriman-Mephistopheles who has subjected him to the influence of far more deadly powers and the civilizations immediately to come will see the appearance of many things connected with Ahriman's influence. Through this influence the seeker for the spirit who does not stand upon firm and sure foundations can readily fall prey to the most terrible illusion and deception. For Ahriman is a spirit who sets out to spread deception as to the true nature of the sense-world, especially as an expression of the spiritual world. When a man has a tendency to abnormal, somnambulistic states or through certain wrongful training awakens occult forces whereby egoism is intensified, then Ahriman or Mephistopheles has a ready influence precisely upon these occult forces, an influence that can soon become overwhelmingly powerful. Whereas Lucifer's influence can only bring it about that what confronts a man from the spiritual world (and this applies also to one who is receiving wrongful training) appears to him as an astral form visible to the astral body, the manifestations due to the influence of Ahriman are brought to light in that the evil influences on the physical body press through into the etheric body and then become visible as phantoms.

In the influences of Ahriman, therefore, we have to do with powers of a much lower nature than the influences of Lucifer. Lucifer's influences can never become as evil as the influences of Ahriman and of those Beings who are connected with the powers of fire. The influence of Ahriman or Mephistopheles can bring it about that in order to attain occult knowledge a man is induced, for example, to undertake certain measures with his physical body. The method that consists in the use and misuse of the physical body is the most evil that can possibly be applied for the purpose of acquiring occult powers. It is a fact that in certain school of black magic such practices are taught in abundance. One of the most terrible perversions to which man may be subject occurs when the forces of the physical body are taken as the starting-point for occult training.

It is not possible here to enter into closer detail than the indication that all machinations consisting in any way of a misuse of the forces of the physical body emanate from the influences of Ahriman; and because the effect of this penetrates into man's etheric body, it works as a world of phantoms that is nothing else than the garment of powers which drag man down to a level below that of true manhood. Nearly every ancient civilization—the Indian, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Greco-Latin—had its period of decadence; so too the Mysteries, when the Mystery-traditions were no longer preserved in their purity. During these periods many of those who were either pupils of the Initiates but unable to remain at their level or men to whom the secrets of the Mysteries had been unlawfully betrayed, had fallen into perverse and evil paths. Centers of black magic and its forces originated from these influences and have persisted to this day.

Ahriman is a spirit of lies, a spirit who conjures illusions before men, working together with his confederates in a spiritual world. Ahriman himself is no mirage—far from it! But what is conjured before men's eyes of spirit under his influence—that is mirage, illusion. When a man's desires and passions flow along evil paths and at the same time he lends himself in any way to occult practices, then the occult forces which are awakened penetrate into the etheric body and the most evil powers of corruption appear among the illusory images which may themselves often be majestic, awe-inspiring. Such is the terrible influence of Ahriman upon man.

From what has been said you can gather that through Christ's Coming, Ahriman has been cast into fetters—if this expression may be used—but only, of course, for those who endeavor unceasingly to fathom the Christ-Mystery. And outside the forces streaming from the Christ-Mystery, protection in the world against the influence of Ahriman will steadily diminish. In a certain sense—and many signs proclaim it—our epoch courts these influences of Ahriman. In certain occult teachings the hosts of Ahriman are also called the Asuras. These are of course, the evil Asuras who at a certain time fell away from the evolutionary path of the Asuras who endowed man with personality. It has already been indicated that these are spiritual Beings who detached themselves from the evolution of the earth before the separation of the sun.

Up to now we have been describing merely the terrible influence that Ahriman can exercise upon a certain abnormal process of development, one that proceeds along occult paths. But in a certain respect the whole of mankind came under the influence of Ahriman during the second half of the Atlantean epoch. The whole Post-Atlantean epoch has within it, in a certain sense, the aftermath of Ahriman's influence—in one region of the earth more, in another less. But Ahriman's influence has asserted itself everywhere and all the teachings given to the peoples by the ancient Initiates concerning the Spirits of Light who are the opponents of Ahriman were given primarily in order to draw these peoples away from Ahriman's influence. It was a good, wisely led education of mankind.

But let us not forget that since that time the destiny of Ahriman has been interwoven in a certain sense with the destiny of humanity, and manifold happenings, of which the uninitiated can know nothing, keep the whole karma of humanity in perpetual connection with the karma of Ahriman. To understand what will now be said, we must realize that over and above the karma which belongs to every individual human being, there is at every stage of existence a universal karmic law. All the categories of beings have their karma—the karma of the one differing from that of the other. But karma operates through every realm of existence and there are things in the karma of mankind, in the karma of a people, of a community or other group of human beings, which must be regarded as collective karma, so that in certain circumstances the individual can be drawn into the sway of the collective karma. It will not always be easy for one who cannot penetrate to the root of the matter to discern exactly where the influences of the powers concerned lie in the case of human beings overtaken by such a destiny. An individual within some community may well be entirely guiltless as far as his own karma is concerned; but because he stands within a field of collective karma, calamity may befall him. If, however, he is entirely guiltless, compensation will be made in later incarnations.

In the wider connection we must look not only at the karma of the past but also think of the karma of the future. A terrible fate may befall a whole group of human beings; the reason why just this group should suffer such a destiny is not to be discovered. Someone who might be capable of investigating the karma of an individual will in certain circumstances be unable to find anything at all that could have led to this tragic fate, for the threads of karma are extremely complicated. The cause of such karmic happenings may lie far, far away—but it is connected with these people nevertheless. And it may be that the whole group, while guiltless, has been overtaken by some collective karma which could not overtake those immediately guilty, because circumstances did not make this possible. In such cases the only thing that can be said is this: In the total karma of an individual, everything is ultimately balanced out, including what befalls him without guilt on his part; it is all inscribed in his karma and compensation in the fullest sense will be made in future time.—Therefore in considering the law of karma we must also take into account the karma of the future. Nor must it be forgotten that man is not an isolated being but that every individual has to share jointly in the collective karma of humanity. We must remember, too, that man, together with humanity, is connected with those hierarchies of Beings who have not entered into the physical world and that he is also drawn into the karma of the hierarchies. In the destinies of mankind in the spiritual world a great deal appears the connections of which are not to be sought in the immediate circumstances, but the karmic consequences come to pass inevitably. Since the second half of the Atlantean epoch, Ahriman's karma has been linked with the karma of mankind. Where, then, are the deeds of Ahriman, over and above what is wrought by him in the bodies of men in order to spread phantoms and illusion over the world of sense? Where are these other deeds?

Everything in the world has, as it were, two sides, one pertaining more to man as a spiritual being, the other to what has developed as the kingdoms of nature around him. The earth is the arena of man's existence. To the eye of spirit this earth is revealed as a combination of different layers or strata. The outermost stratum is called the “Mineral Earth” or “Mineral Stratum” because it contains only such substances as are to be found in the ground under our feet. This is the shallowest stratum, relatively speaking. Then begins the “Fluidic Earth”, the material constitution of which is entirely different from that of the “mineral” stratum above it. This second stratum is, as it were, endowed with inner life; and only because the solid, mineral stratum is spread over it are the inner forces of this second stratum held together. If they were released they would instantaneously disperse into cosmic space. This stratum, therefore, lies under tremendous pressure. A third stratum is the “Vapor Earth”. It is not a material vapor such as arises on the earth's surface but in this third stratum the substance itself is imbued with inner forces, comparable only with the passions, the inner urges and impulses of man. Whereas on the earth it is only beings like animals and men who can unfold passions, this third stratum—just as the substances of the earth are permeated by forces of magnetism and warmth—is permeated in a material sense with forces similar to those we know as human and animal passions and impulses. The fourth or “Form Stratum” is so designated because it contains the material and the forces of what are encountered in the mineral part of the earth as entities cast into form. And the characteristic of the fifth stratum, or “Fertility Earth” is that even as material it teems with infinite fertility. If you were to get hold of part of this stratum it would perpetually be sending forth new impulses, new sproutings; rampant fertility is the intrinsic quality of this stratum. Then we come to the sixth stratum, the “Fire Earth”, containing as “substances” within it, forces that can bring about terrible havoc and destruction. It is actually into these forces that the primordial Fire has been banished.

In and from this stratum the realm of Ahriman operates—in a material sense. What manifests in the phenomena of outer nature, in air and water, in cloud formations, in lightning and thunder—all this is, so to speak, a last vestige on the earth's surface, of forces that were already connected with ancient Saturn and separated from the earth together with the sun. By what is working in these forces, the inner fire-forces of the earth are placed in the service of Ahriman. There he has the center of his activity; and whereas his spiritual influences make their way to the souls of men and lead them to error, we see how Ahriman—in a certain respect shackled—has certain foci for his activity in the interior of the earth. Were we to understand the mysterious connections of what has come to pass on the earth under Ahriman's influence and what Ahriman's own karma has become in consequence of this, we should recognize in the quakes and tremors of the earth the connection between such grievous, tragic happenings in nature and the power that holds sway on the earth. These manifestations are something that has remained since ancient times as a reaction on the earth against the good Beings of Light.

Thus forces allied with the Beings who were thrust away from their connection with the earth at the time when the good Beings of light established the beneficent phenomena around the earth-globe, are active, and in a certain sense we can recognize the echoings of these fire-forces which in earlier times were withdrawn from man's control, in what is wrought by fire in such terrible manifestations of nature. Although the karma of Ahriman has been linked with that of humanity since the time of Atlantis, the suggestion should not arise that any guilt is to be attributed to those who are victims of what Ahriman's karma has evoked. Such happenings are connected with the collective karma of humanity in which the individual has also to share. The causes which produce their effects in particular localities as the workings of Ahriman's karma often lie somewhere else entirely. It is however these particular places which afford the necessary opportunity.

There we see a connection which seems to be like a relic of catastrophes undergone by humanity in the far distant past. The power to work upon fire which man had formerly possessed, was withdrawn from him. Hence ancient Lemuria was brought to its destruction by the fire of the passions of men. The same fire that is now below was then above; it receded from the earth's surface and the same fire that issued as a kind of extract from the primordial fire is the inorganic, mineral fire of to-day. So too it was with the forces working through air and water which, again by way of the passions of men, led to the Atlantean catastrophes. These catastrophes were evoked by the collective karma of humanity but a relic has remained and this relic awakens the echoes of those earlier catastrophes. Our volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are nothing else than the echoes of these catastrophes. But it should never so much as occur to anyone to attach an iota of guilt to the victim of such a calamity or to withhold compassion in the fullest measure. It must be absolutely clear to an anthroposophist that the karma of these individuals has nothing to do with the guilt to which the catastrophes are due and it should never occur to him to withhold help from anyone because—to put it trivially—he believes in karma and therefore assumes that this destiny was brought on by the man himself. Karma demands of us that we help human beings because we may be sure that our help means something that is written in their karma and will turn that karma in a more favorable direction. Understanding that is based upon the recognition of karma must necessarily lead to compassion; our compassion for the victims of such catastrophes will be all the greater, for our knowledge tells us that there is a collective karma of humanity from which the individual members have to suffer, that just as such happenings are brought about by humanity as one whole, so too must humanity be answerable for them; we must regard such a destiny as our own and help not only out of a spontaneous impulse but because we know that we are involved in the karma of humanity and share the guilt incurred!

A question was handed to me this morning about earthquake catastrophes. The question runs as follows: “What is the occult explanation of earthquakes? Can they be foreseen? If particular catastrophes can be foreseen, why should it not be possible to give some warning beforehand? Such a warning might possibly be ineffective the first time but certainly not on another occasion.”

You may remember something of what was said at the end of the lecture on the interior of the earth about the possibility of earthquakes. We will not consider that now but enter directly into this question. In reality it has two sides. The one is: Whether from the occult connections which can be discerned, earthquakes can be foreseen? The answer to this is that the knowledge of such matters belongs to the deepest realm of occult science. In respect of a particular event on the earth, an event with roots as deeply laid as those described to-day, and connected with causes extending widely over the earth—in respect of such an event it is absolutely correct to say that even in a particular case an indication of time can be given. It would certainly be possible for the occultist to give such an indication. But the other side of the question is: whether it is permissible for such indications to be given?—For one who confronts the occult secrets from outside it will seem almost a matter of course that the answer will be “Yes!” And yet the truth is that in regard to such events it is actually only twice or three times in any one century—at the very most, twice or three times—that any prediction can be announced from the centers of Initiation. For you must remember that these things are connected with the karma of humanity as a whole and if, for example, they were avoided in one instance they would inevitably occur in some other place and in a different form. The prediction itself would alter nothing. And just think what a terrible encroachment it would be into the karma of the earth as a whole if human measures were adopted to prevent such happenings. The reaction would be so fearful, so violent, that only in very rare and exceptional cases would a high Initiate, foreseeing an earthquake, be able to make use of his knowledge to help himself or those near him. With full knowledge he would have to face his end, as a matter of course! For these things that have been implicit in the karma of humanity for thousands and millions of years cannot be paralyzed by measures adopted during one brief period of evolution.—But there is still more to add.

It has been said already that this very subject is one of the most difficult of all in occult investigation. It is far easier to know something about the astral world, the devachanic world, even about the farthest planets, than about the interior of the earth. Most things one hears are the purest trash, because, as I say, it is one of the most difficult subjects in occultism. The same is true of matters that are connected with these elemental catastrophes. And above all you must realize that clairvoyance is not a matter of just sitting down, inducing a particular condition, and then being able to say what is going on in the whole universe, up to the highest spheres. It is by no means so. To believe any such thing would be as “clever” as to say: “You have the faculty of perception in the physical world; but why was it that when 12 o'clock came and you were sitting in your room, you were neither astonished by nor did you see what happened outside by the River Spree at that hour?” There are hindrances to seership. If the seer in question had gone for a walk at 12 o'clock he would probably have seen what happened. It is not the case that all worlds are immediately disclosed through the mere resolve to induce in oneself the requisite condition. The seer has to find his way to the events and investigate them, and these investigations are of the most difficult kind because the hindrances are greatest.—And perhaps at this point something may be said about these hindrances.

If a man is able to walk about on his two legs, you can deprive him of this faculty not only by amputating his legs but also by shutting him up in a cell; then he can no longer walk about. In the same way there are hindrances to occult investigation and in the domain of which we are speaking they are immensely powerful. I will tell you one of the main hindrances and in doing so introduce you to a mysterious relationship. The greatest hindrance to occult investigation in this domain is constituted by the methods and trend of modern materialistic science. The countless illusions and fallacies accumulating in materialistic science to-day, all the research that is not only futile but is prompted by the vanities of men—these are things which in their effects in the higher worlds make investigation into these manifestations and free vision in the higher world impossible or to say the least, extremely difficult. Free vision is clouded as a result of the materialistic research pursued here on earth. It is by no means easy to get to the root of these things. But only wait for the time when spiritual science has become more widespread and when through its influence the materialistic superstitions prevailing in our world will be swept away! Once the nonsensical analogies and hypotheses leading to all kinds of conjectures about the interior of the earth are cast aside, you will see that when spiritual science has itself been integrated into the karma of humanity, when it finds the way to men's souls and is able from there to overcome the opposing powers and materialistic superstitions, when further research can be made into all that is connected with the bitterest foe of mankind, that Being who fetters man's vision within the world of sense—you will see that it will then be possible, even externally, to influence the karma of humanity in the sense that the dire results of such happenings may be alleviated. The reason why the Initiates must be silent about happenings connected with the great karma of humanity is to be found in the materialistic superstitions of men. Many scientific pursuits are in no way imbued with the Faustian striving for truth but prompted entirely by vanity and ambition. How much scientific research is promoted in the world simply because an individual is seeking for something that will be to his personal advantage! If you sum up all these things you will realize the strength of the force that obstructs vision into the world behind the external phenomena of the material world. Not until this fog has been cleared away will the time come when, in respect of certain mysterious manifestations of nature emanating from the foes of mankind and trespassing deeply into human life, it will be possible for help—and then in no small measure—to be given to mankind. Until that time comes there is no such possibility.

I am well aware that these questions have been given a turn not always in the mind of the one who asks them. But it is often the fate of occult science to be obliged to formulate the questions in the right way before they can be correctly answered. Again do not take this to mean that the mysterious connection between earthquakes and the karma of humanity is a secret that cannot be investigated. It can be investigated but there are reasons why only the most commonplace aspects of such questions can be presented to the world to-day. Let the knowledge reach mankind through spiritual science that there is a connection between the deeds of men and happenings in nature and then the time will come when these things can be answered in the way the question demands. Spiritual science may pass through many destinies; its influence may even be crippled, remaining within narrow and restricted circles. Nevertheless it will make its way through mankind, will be integrated into the karma of humanity, and then the possibility will be created for individuals themselves to have an effect upon the karma of humanity as a whole.

I spoke yesterday of the great Polish drama “The Undivine Comedy” by Krasinski and of its very special significance. One can truly say that it was consciously brought into the world as the outcome of a dialogue with the Spirits working in the evolution of humanity, who in the middle of the 19th century spoke to those who were willing to listen to them.

Let us for a moment hold in our minds the thoughts that came to us from the realisation that what was astir in the inmost depths of the evolutionary process made its way into the external literary culture of the time. From Gutzkow's novel “The Mahaguru” as well as from “The Undivine Comedy”—I chose only two particularly striking examples from many that might be quoted—we see that as it were behind the scenes of external happenings, significant impulses are at work in the cultural life of mankind. From many sources we have gained knowledge that directs our minds and hearts to the great moment of world-evolution in which we are living, the moment when it is essential to be mindful of the new element that must be received into the evolution of humanity—but with the co-operation of human souls who are able to understand it. There are different ways of characterising the importance of the present time, but perhaps one thing only need be said and this will be sufficient to bring home the significance of the point of time at which we are standing.

In ages of antiquity men received a heritage consisting of wisdom yielded by atavistic clairvoyance and of knowledge gained atavistically. But this heritage petered away and the tide of materialism arose—particularly since the last three or four centuries and reaching a peak in the 19th century. This tide of materialism veiled all possibilities of vision into the spiritual world—and a new path, a new method, is now appearing in spiritual science. As I have often said, this development ultimately becomes a natural process in the souls of men. The situation today still is that the vast majority of souls have yet to learn that there are many earthly lives. But when the souls now living are re-incarnated, for the most part they will know, not merely as a theory, that there are many earthly lives; they will live on into an age when it will be known quite as a natural matter of course: there are many earthly lives. Just as human souls now remember back to a certain point in childhood, and thoughts from childhood constantly arise, so it will be natural one day for the living impression to well up from within: “We have been here many times.” Human souls will evolve to this stage just as they have evolved from primitive stages of life. This development will come about of itself but the following is inevitable.—

The souls who have learnt nothing from spiritual science today will die and return in new incarnations. Then, having learnt nothing from spiritual science, they will not know what to make of the impression that will rise up from within them of the truth of repeated earthly lives, and they may well be driven to despair. For this inner impression that will arise quite naturally in the soul must be grasped through thoughts, and the thoughts that are necessary before it can be understood are those yielded by spiritual science. These thoughts should make the whole history of the Ego and the fact of its existence in man intelligible to us; and he alone who has within him the force of these thoughts will be able to understand the impression that will come of itself, as a kind of remembrance.

But the foundation for understanding this remembrance will from now onwards have to be laid through spiritual science; knowledge of the continued existence of the Ego will have to be acquired. And those who have not acquired it will have to admit, when these remembrances well up in them: “I do not understand my own self.” This will be a terrible cry of despair in future times. It must be realised that only through knowledge and understanding of what will inevitably come in the future can human souls be kept from falling into despair. When the Ego which passes from incarnation to incarnation asserts itself in the future—and this means in our future incarnations—men must be able to understand this Ego. And they will do so if they have worked on their souls through the thoughts of spiritual science.

The Mystery of Golgotha was fulfilled in order that the Ego might be fully understood, and this can never happen if—as in the case of the Polish Count described yesterday—men preserve in their souls nothing but feelings of the Past—sacred though these feelings may be and connected with the events centred in the Mystery of Golgotha. Such feelings will enable these events to be grasped as matters of history, but that cannot lead to any true understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. True understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha depends upon the fulfilment of the words; “Not I but Christ in me.” It will then be possible for Christ in His living activity within earth-evolution not to remain inaudible to men. He must be made audible through that which, under his inspiration, spiritual science has to say, no sentiments or feelings tied to remembrances, can lead mankind to future well-being. But neither can the interests of the future be furthered by one who lives only in and for the Present—the tyrant described in the lecture yesterday. The tyrant does indeed, assert the Ego, but not Christ within the Ego. A deep riddle is presented to us in this Polish drama: two personalities stand in contrast to one another, one of whom has the Christ of tradition, of history, but runs the risk of falling away from Him. And what comes to expression in the wife and in the child of the Count relapses into a purely atavistic connection with the spiritual world.

A great danger for our time is indicated here. It is that those who are not willing to assimilate in a new way the knowledge of mankind's connection with the spiritual worlds, although they feel that such connection exists, will cause part of their being to lose the requisite link with the spiritual world. Mankind would fall asunder into those who—like the old Count—must necessarily despair and die because they cling exclusively to the Past, and those who rise into the spiritual worlds in an atavistic way—like the Count's wife and child. Because they have not received the Christ into their inmost being in full reality, they pass into the spiritual world without finding in themselves a point of anchorage.

What is it that the members of the Count's family have not fully developed? They have not fully developed the Ego: they are remains from the age which in the regular course of the evolution of humanity has been at an end since the Mystery of Golgotha, but markedly so since the last few centuries. They are remains from an age of antiquity when the Ego had not yet completely taken root in man; they are Ego-less human beings who, because they cannot take the Christ into the Ego which has not developed into the necessary intensity, lose the Christ. And standing in contrast to them is the tyrant, who has developed the Ego and bears it in himself with all strength; without taking the Christ into the Ego, he desires to bring happiness to the world but is incapable of doing so. At the point of death—out of the vision which the tyrant understands as little as he understands how to resign himself to death—there breaks from his lips the cry: “Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!”—This is an indication of the fact that for those human beings who have, it is true, acquired the Ego but have not taken Christ into this Ego, there is one moment only when it is possible for them to come into relationship with Christ: it is the moment when they pass from this world into the other world. But because Christ came from that other world into this world in order there to find the way to human hearts, men must inevitably lose Him when, after the moment of death, they arrive in that other world. All the deeper impulses at work in our time belong to a sphere where momentous issues are at stake—I can say no more than that they “are at stake.”

But now we must go rather more deeply into things that are already known to us but must be studied in a certain setting if we are to understand them in the light of the conditions prevailing in our time. We know that, properly speaking, the evolution of the earth must be divided into an epoch preceding the Mystery of Golgotha and an epoch following the Mystery of Golgotha. We know, too, that in the epoch before the Mystery of Golgotha, Luciferic and Ahrimanic spirits also worked into the souls of men. Particularly in considering the ages before the Mystery of Golgotha it must be realised that foolish chatter about avoiding Ahriman and Lucifer at all costs will get us nowhere. For Ahriman and Lucifer were allowed by the normal, progressive spiritual Beings to work in the earthly evolution of men.

Now we know that there are spiritual Beings actually ranking higher than men but who during the Old Moon period of evolution did not reach the height that would have been possible for them; they did not reach it, but for all that they rank higher than men. So that bearing in mind the intervention of the Ahrimanic and Luciferic beings, we can now understand better what is called the ancient, primeval wisdom in earth-evolution. For example, the ancient wisdom that was misused in the Lemurian epoch and perished with the Lemurians; the wisdom that was then misused in the Atlantean epoch and brought about the destruction of Atlantis. What was it that was then among men? What was it, in reality? To say that the great wisdom then existing was misused, applied in practices of black magic and so forth, is a very abstract way of speaking and leads to no very definite idea. Let us think, for example, of the character of this wisdom in the last periods of the Lemurian epoch. Whence had it come? Spiritual Beings who had not completed their full development during the Old Moon epoch but who were nevertheless at a higher level than men, had mingled with the earthly evolution of humanity. Man was already there—but, as you can well imagine, in his most primitive state. What was subsequently developed by human beings during the Atlantean and Post-Atlantean epochs did not yet exist. In those Lemurian times, man was a being wholly devoid of intelligence, for intelligence was to develop only gradually during the course of earth-evolution. Man was primitive in his will, in his actions, in his soul-development—altogether like a child. Now had there existed only bodies of men with the higher members of those bodies that had been developed for them by the progressive spiritual Beings of the higher Hierarchies, men would not have been capable at that time of evolving any outstanding wisdom. But in that Lemurian age a very lofty altogether extraordinary wisdom existed. For example, among those primitive men there was widespread knowledge of how to handle a child during the period between birth and the seventh year so that as the result of a certain transformation of his etheric body which then worked back upon the brain, he could be made extremely clever. Radical educational methods have to be applied today if this result is desired—and everyone is aware how very often these efforts are unsuccessful. But in any case the art of affecting the brain itself by exercising a certain influence on the etheric body of the brain, so that the child in question becomes extremely clever, is entirely lost today. Furthermore—and I hasten to emphasise it—this art is in no circumstances whatever legitimate in our time, for if it became at all general, even in its most elementary form, it would lead to terrible abuses.

How is the existence of such an art in Lemurian times to be explained? It is explained by the fact that Beings who had not completed their development on the Old Moon, but had evolved only the first six of their seven members, incorporated in men who otherwise would have been utterly primitive. The spiritual Beings who on the Old Moon were at a higher level than men but had not attained the apex of their development, took on these primitive human bodies and went to work with arts which far transcended all earthly knowledge. You can imagine what such Beings in human bodies were capable of accomplishing,—Beings who at a level higher than the human had developed the sixth member—the Life-Spirit—entered into these primitive, flexible, pliant bodies. And they became terrible magicians, dread magicians!

And again, what kind of arts were general in the Atlantean epoch? First and foremost there was the wisdom which must be applied in order to cause talents in ancestors to be transmitted, purely through heredity, to their descendants and actually to be enhanced in these descendants. The Beings whose development had not been completed on the Moon but who for all that were of a higher rank than earthly man, were deeply versed in this art—with most significant effect. Let me put it like this: it was as if by methods connected with star-constellations and the like, one were to lead over the qualities of a genius to his descendants, but in such a way that these spiritual qualities were not merely inherited, but intensified, enhanced. These higher Beings working in human bodies were capable of mighty achievements. All this was swept out of existence. Very many things were connected with these particular arts. For example, it was possible by their means to observe the course of spiritual evolution and to guide the spiritual forces into the stream of heredity.

And so even superficial observation will show that there is a very great deal in world-evolution which in an earlier age had its justification but which in the form it now bears is no more than a relic that has been preserved. Both in unimportant and important domains it is so. In his novel “The Mahaguru” Gutzkow wanted to indicate something of the kind in an important domain. He wanted to give emphasis to the question: In what form does something that had great significance in ancient times—in the Atlantean epoch, when it was still possible for men to regulate the stream of heredity—in what form does it appear when it is carried over into an age and into a community where the traditions of it had indeed been preserved but where nothing more was known of the earlier art than an inferior form of it called in occultism “Occult Chemistry?” Gutzkow showed that something of the kind existed in Tibet. Naturally, the priesthood in Tibet had no knowledge of how through forces of heredity they could produce a body for the individuality whom they believed should pass from one body into another—but they preserved the old customs. So there we have an example of the external reality presenting an aspect utterly different from what it had been in conditions once prevailing in the evolution of humanity. Reading “The Mahaguru” makes one want to cry out: Oh, how reality itself can become a maya in face of the prevailing conditions!

And now think of something else.—You can well imagine that the men of Lemurian and Atlantean times did not resemble the men of today, for what developed, inwardly in the soul at that time also gave configuration to the outer form; the whole outer form of man was different—it was pliant and flexible. The human form in the times of Lemuria and Atlantis was not ape-like; the bodies of the actual ancestors of men were not ape-like.—It would seem, therefore, that world-evolution must have made an exception in the case of certain people who have written of themselves that they can remember having descended from apes!¹—But we will not go into that now.—Men did not resemble apes, but if you picture our children presenting a much, much more infantile appearance, with an elemental quality of being extending over the whole body, you may be able to get an idea of the character of the human body in those times. As you can read in the book “From the Akasha Chronicle,” because Beings surviving from the Old Moon evolution had incarnated in these pliant, flexible bodies, these bodies became animal-like rather than human. Distorted forms arose, with strangely contorted limbs.—And there you have the origin of the figures of gods to be found among certain peoples. These curious figures with non-human faces and huge limbs, originate from the knowledge that the incarnating Moon-Beings were united with human bodies.

If in the Atlantean epoch there had been painters and sculptors, they would have been able to portray or model these figures of Moon-Beings incarnated in human bodies. But in Tibet this was no longer possible. Hence the canon must be strictly obeyed, for the artists would otherwise have made figures with whatever terms they liked. If a man did not obey the canon but created something out of his own play of fancy, he incurred the death-penalty. Naturally, one may ask: Is there any justification for condemning to death someone who makes only one tiny change in the figure of a god? Is there really any justification for it? In Tibet, of course, there is no longer any justification, but once upon a time there was, for as you have heard, these Beings were actually present in bodies, and if they were not faithfully portrayed, any deviation amounted to a lie. In those ancient times a lie had infinitely greater power than it has nowadays. If at the present time everyone who tells a lie were to suffocate as the result—well, I prefer to leave it at that, for I think that the fear of suffocation would be too great to allow people to risk telling lies! I assume that nowadays people will not suffocate—but at that time a lie would have caused actual suffocation. For the thought expressed in the word contained a power to give form to the air in the larynx, and then suffocated the man—and anyone who had incorrectly portrayed on earth a Being who had not fully completed his development on the Old Moon would have suffocated, in other words, a process of nature would have caused his death.

The evolution of humanity is an exceedingly complicated matter and to understand it one must go deeply into spiritual science. To find the right approach to world-evolution it is essential to study what it is the mission of spiritual science to make known from spiritual worlds. For spiritual science is, as it were, a first impulse to which other impulses must increasingly be added, in order that humanity in the future may advance along the right path. You will have realised from what I have been saying recently² that a course must be steered between a Scylla and a Charybdis, that a very definite path must be laid down in spiritual science.—This must be taken with the deepest earnestness. Our modern natural science is developed by materialistic methods. During these last weeks I have tried to describe its characteristics to you. I have said that a materialistic method in natural science is fully justified. It can be characterized by saying that it is adapted to cloak the spiritual reality lying behind. Why, then, must this materialistic method be there in our present time?

In our present time an earlier knowledge of nature must be superseded by a new knowledge of nature. I have told you something about this earlier knowledge of nature. Just think what kind of knowledge it was! To be able to mould a human head into an instrument editable for genius, through specific measures applied scientifically in the old sense of the word—this signified colossal knowledge!—or again, so to regulate heredity that qualities of genius were transmitted to descendants—the knowledge required for this was even more penetrating and comprehensive, far, far surpassing all the theories of evolution, the physics, chemistry and so on, of today. But that ancient knowledge was to be veiled and obscured by the materialistic method employed in natural science today—which is fully justified in the purely physical domain. It must be remembered that at the time when that lofty knowledge of nature existed, man was not a free being; he was only at the beginning of the gradual evolution of freedom. He was led and guided and what came to pass in the process of his guidance was for the most part brought about by the higher Hierarchies. And it was single individuals who deviated from the regular course, who advanced too far along the path to freedom, who were responsible for the fall into the abyss and the inevitable destruction of Atlantis. But with the constantly increasing freedom of will, man would have been unfit for knowledge of this kind. To possess knowledge such as once existed on the earth is unthinkable today because man's will has attained freedom to an extent that would enable him still to misuse this knowledge. How, then, is this free will guided into the right channel?

From indications I have given recently you will have gathered that by adopting the method employed in natural science, with all its scrupulous exactitude, the free will is directed into the right channel; moreover, this method is a wonderfully effective pedagogical means for the development of the free will. We have therefore no cause whatever to quarrel with the method employed in natural science, the justification of which for our present time we fully acknowledge. You will find that what is contained in our lecture-courses and books completely refutes the allegations of individual opponents—to the effect, for example, that we repudiate natural science. It is sometimes necessary to take exception to the pretensions of certain investigators and so-called scientific authorities; but nothing derogatory to the achievements of natural science will ever be found in our literature. To say that anything in our literature is a repudiation of natural science would be sheer calumny, for among us there can be no question of such repudiation. But at the same time it must be realised that attacks upon us may well be made from the side of so-called natural science—and if necessary, we must then repel the attack. But true adherents of spiritual science must become more and more conscious of the necessity to understand the natural-scientific method and to protect this method from being tainted by all kinds of non-scientific concepts—for example concepts of the atom and movement of the atom, of which I have recently spoken. These are fantasies of natural science, and the difference must be clearly seen.

Efforts must be made to distinguish between genuine natural science and scientific fantasy. How often do we not hear it said today that one thing or another is scientifically established—whereas it is nothing of the kind, because words are simply accepted as facts. Never was blind belief in authority greater than it is at the present time in the domain of science, for everyone allows things to be determined entirely by those in whom they happen to believe. The purpose of the Mystery of Golgotha was that what came into the world through Lucifer might gradually be corrected in a certain way—it is indicated symbolically in the Bible: “Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall know good and evil”—that is to say, ye shall know good and evil from outside. But when in the sphere of perceptions one perceives from outside, it is impossible to receive from that world anything other than perceptions. As soon as one begins to reflect about the perceptions, to speculate about them and derive all kinds of ideas from them, one is on the way to finding what has been imbued into them by Ahriman and Lucifer. The ideas must come out of the spiritual world and be united with the perceptions: then these ideas are in the real sense divine! In human life there must be a marriage between the ideas which are given to men from out of the Spiritual and what he perceives in the outer world through his senses. But this union must first be achieved. How this principle applies in the scientific domain you can gather from my essay “Truth and Science.” The belief that in the scientific sense, ideas, thoughts, could also be found from outside, from the perceptions, is based on illusion, on illusion caused by Ahriman and Lucifer. But as long as the Powers associated with the words “Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall know good and evil” (which means to search for the ideas in the outer world) were sanctioned, that is to say, until the Mystery of Golgotha—as long as Lucifer and Ahriman were allowed to work in this sphere, there was no objection to be made. But that state of things is now over. Now, in the matter of the permeation of perceptions from outside, they are all the more unjustified.

This too was brought into evidence in the middle of the 19th century through a crisis of a particular kind. This crisis announced itself in great and outstanding achievements: spectral-analysis, for example, came on the scene, swept away the conception that when one looks upwards to the stars one has to do with spiritual Beings—and showed that substances to be found everywhere in the universe also exist on the earth. The old union between ideas and perceptions is no longer possible, for such discoveries make it essential that the ideas shall again find the spiritual path into our souls. The same applies to Darwinism. To reason entirely on the basis of what is found by outer perception—that is to say, to seek for the ideas in the outer world—can only lead to a purely materialistic conception and interpretation of the world. In short, the crisis is in evidence everywhere and there is also widespread rebellion against the fact that the ideas must flow out of the spirit-realm into the souls of men if humanity is to make progress. In other words: we must understand the nature of Ahriman and Lucifer and be on the alert when they try to make us continue the principle indicated in the words; “Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall know good and evil.” We must learn to observe both Ahriman and Lucifer. And we shall be able to do this if we permeate the Ego, as it has now unfolded, with Christ.

But something else too resounded through the world in primeval times, resounded from a different side, after man had acquired the power to distinguish good and evil, to direct his gaze outwards, that is to say, to use his senses and through them to acquire ideas based on sense-perceptions. The decree went forth: Man must be driven out of the spirit-realm in which he has hitherto been living, in order that he may not also eat “of the Tree of Life.” But Christ will forever give men to eat of the Tree of Life, and the ideas which stream directly out of the spirit-realm into human souls must be inwardly experienced. But they can be experienced in the real sense only when the human soul takes Christ into itself. Then we have something quite different from the concept of Knowledge; then we have the concept of Life. Just as a strict eye must be kept on Lucifer and Ahriman in order that when they allow knowledge derived from the outer world to penetrate into us we may perceive that this knowledge is coming from them, so we must realise that through the impulse given by the Mystery of Golgotha, ideas were to flow into men to be the substance of life—the substance not of knowledge alone, but of life. And when from this standpoint of life we study the different religions of the world, it will be far, far from our minds to investigate these religions with the object of discovering whether they are or are not in keeping with our own view of the world. To apply only the concept of knowledge to these religions is not our task; we must apply the concept of life.

There are definite forms of religion in the world. We should not set out to discover whether we can consider these forms to be true, but whether through their ritual and ceremonies they are able to give nourishment and life to the souls of men, and—as the souls of men differ—it follows that their life can be sustained by different forms of nourishment. If we grasp this truth we shall realise that we can never lend ourselves to quarreling with any form of religion but that we must endeavour to understand it in so far as it is life-nourishment for human souls to whom it is given as life not as knowledge only, but as very life. Then we shall see that the standpoint from which a religion begins to quarrel with some branch of science is entirely misplaced. We shall also realise that religion will inevitably adopt a hostile attitude towards progress in natural science and spiritual science alike. For the religions are still unwilling to get away from the old Tempter, they still want to invoke only that God Who said to man that He will give them life, that they themselves are not to eat of the Tree of Life. The representatives of religions do not want to invoke God alone but also the Luciferic Spirit and the Ahrimanic Spirit; they want the eyes for distinguishing good and evil to be opened through religion. Religion wants to be “knowledge.” But it cannot be “knowledge” because it is life-substance. And under the sway of this temptation which still whispers in their ears, the representatives of the different religions believe they possess facts of knowledge in their religions, whereas the question of knowledge cannot, in reality, come into consideration between religion and science. We have no cause whatever to combat religious bodies, because we ask them about the sustenance they provide for life, not about what knowledge they possess. Religious communities will always be tempted to ask whether science as it advances is in keeping with what they regard as knowledge. But because life is in process of constant evolution, advancing science can never be in keeping with religions which invariably tend towards conservatism.

And now you can picture the whole conflict which in the nature of things will ever and again be urged. I should like you to think rightly about this conflict and to realize that as a matter of course the representatives of religious bodies, because they are under the sway of temptation, will always, from their standpoint, combat spiritual science, just as they combat natural science. But you must also realise that these opponents fight because they lack understanding. This does not excuse them at all, but it must none the less be realised that they fight because of lack of understanding; they cannot take the right standpoint. As a sign and symptom, let me bring to your notice words written by a man who perceived the inevitable approach of the natural-scientific age and the natural-scientific way of thinking, and who was told by a friend that one should not be concerned with knowledge that is not contained in the Bible or preserved in the traditions of the Church. Since the 14th century, of course, things have changed in this connection.—Dante's “Divine Comedy” is a great, world-embracing poem. But Dante lived at the time when the epoch during which men confined themselves to purely historical Christianity was passing away. For Dante, Virgil was simply the exile banished to hell. Dante did not know much about anything that differed from the Christianity confronting him as a great system and régime. But in the case of Petrarch it was different, 1 century later, in the 14th century, Petrarch read Virgil with far greater credence. He turned not only to Greek but also to Roman spiritual culture. When one of his friends wrote to Petrarch saying that there had appeared to him in a dream a spiritual Being who exhorted him to avoid all non-Christian literature, he (Petrarch) gave a very significant answer. I stress the importance of this incident because it shows how the friend—and through him, Petrarch—was enjoined from the spiritual world to concern himself only with what the Christianity of that time regarded as truly Christian. Petrarch wrote the following beautiful words which held good at that time for the approaching epoch and still hold good today. Petrarch replied to his friend Boccaccio in momentous words, affirming his standpoint, why he read this non-Christian literature, and what it meant to him (Petrarch: Letter to Boccaccio (“Epistolae seniles” I. 5):

“Why then should we shun the pagan poets and writers who do not use the name of Christ simply because they have never heard it? Surely there is greater danger in the books of sceptics who speak of Christ and at the same time dispute Him—but those who claim to be the defenders of the true faith read these writings with the greatest eagerness. Believe me: much that is simply the product of sloth and timidity is attributed to thoughtful deliberation. Men often cast scorn on what is out of their reach; it is characteristic of ignorance to condemn what it cannot comprehend and nobody will concede to it strivings of which it is incapable.

“Here lies the root of the misguided judgments of what is unknown; it is not so much the blindness of those who pass judgment as their laziness that is in evidence. We, however, should not allow ourselves to be frightened away from the sciences by any pious admonitions, or by indications of the near approach to death. If the sciences are imbibed with inner sincerity they quicken the love of morality and take from us, or at least diminish, the fear of death; if we abandon them, this will excite the suspicion that disbelief lays claim to be knowledge. The sciences are not a hindrance to one who has the right mastery of them, but they are a help to him; they level his path of life and do not thwart him.

“For a diseased or weak stomach, many a food may be unwholesome which a healthy, hungry man digests at once; so too, that which would ruin a feebler nature may be rich in blessing for a sound and vigorous mind. ...

“I know well that many have achieved great sanctity without culture, but I know too that nobody has been kept from sanctity by culture. ... If I am to tell you my own opinion, it is this: The path to holiness via ignorance may possibly be smooth, but it is faint-hearted. All good things have a single goal but many paths lead thither and fellow-travelers along these paths differ greatly; the one moves more slowly, the other more quickly, the one in obscurity, the other visibly, the one bowed with humility, the other buoyant with exultation. All journeying is blessed; but the noblest is that which proceeds freely and openly before the world. The knowledge that has wrestled through to belief is far superior to naive simplicity, be it never so pious; and not one of the fools who have ever entered the kingdom of heaven has as high a place as a man of knowledge who has won the crown of blessedness.”

The same could be said about our spiritual science! And not only to X³ but to all the others who fight against us, one could rejoin with the words written by Petrarch to his friend; “For a diseased or weak stomach, many a food may be unwholesome which a healthy, hungry man digests at once; so too, that which would ruin a feebler nature may be rich in blessing for a sound and vigorous mind.”

And when people harp on the “contradiction in the first and third Gospels” and refuse to admit that the contradiction disappears as soon as the existence of two Jesus boys is taken into account; when they insist upon “simplicity” and say that the fantastic statements of “the one up there” (on the Goetheanum hill) can well be ignored; when they will not admit that all the forms of life are incorporated in our Building, but talk about “distorted, fantastic forms,” one must quote the words of Petrarch: “The knowledge that has wrestled through to belief is far superior to naive simplicity; be it never so pious, and not one of the fools who have ever entered the kingdom of heaven has as high a place as a man of knowledge who has won the crown of blessedness.”

Such thoughts make us realise that it can never be our principle to combat any religious body and that it is sheer calumny when anyone accuses us of being an enemy of religious Movements. The very fact of such an accusation proves that there is no willingness even to try to understand us. This at least we must know; and we must resist every tendency to adopt an aggressive attitude to any religious community just as we must keep ourselves free from the same kind of attitude to natural science because that will soon disclose its attitude to spiritual science! There is no reason whatever for us to combat any religious body. Combat cannot be begun by us because it does not lie in our nature to attack. And it must be taken as an axiom that if peace is denied us, it is because the hostile neighbour is not inclined for peace. Let the principle of leaving us in peace be put to the test and then see whether peace is maintained! Let it be put to the test! But naturally, we ourselves must be permeated with the right feeling and attitude. For example, much wrong is also done when from our side, too, dogmas or rites of one kind or another are attacked, often without having been understood; but if we rightly understand them, the principle referred to holds good. I would therefore enjoin you to understand the principle of peace. Just as I was obliged to enjoin you to have forbearance with conditions prevailing at the present time, so must I enjoin you to be alert and watchful, in order that we may do what is necessary to guard the holy treasure entrusted to us. For more and more we shall have to wend our way through the world with an unwavering inner strength if we are to stand firmly on the ground where spiritual science would have us stand.

The Mystery of Golgotha and the Christ Principle are intimately connected with the need to see spiritual reality in the world. Mere looking will never suffice even to understand the Mystery of Golgotha purely as an historical event. The Mystery of Golgotha must be comprehended spiritually; and those who devote themselves to knowledge where everything is derived from outside and will not open their eyes to the new revelations of the Mystery of Golgotha which can ever and again flow to us, will not grasp the import of a poem sung by yet another voice in the middle of the 19th century concerning that which—ever changing yet ever present—holds good in earthly humanity since the Mystery of Golgotha. Let me read you a section of this poem which describes how one who cannot grasp the meaning of the Mystery of Golgotha confronts this Mystery:⁴

Here is another example of how a human soul feels impelled to give expression to what has come to pass. And now that we have let these pictures pass through our souls, let me remind you of something that I have already said here: that we must change our mode of perception if we are to look with true vision into the spiritual world. We must not believe that the spiritual world can be seen as we see the material world of sense. We must even accustom ourselves to different modes of expression,—In the physical world we see trees, rivers, mountains. But of spiritual being we must say: they see us, they perceive us. To understand the Mystery of Golgotha truly, it is necessary to know this, because the Mystery of Golgotha can be understood only in the Spiritual. But that is how we aspire to understand it.

The time must come when through a true understanding of the words “Not I, but Christ in me,” it will be possible to rise into the spiritual worlds with the right knowledge. This epic poem “Ahasver” by Julius Mosen was published in the year 1838, and the fact that he was able to put the legend into such a form also indicates that the tragic destiny by which Mosen was overtaken profoundly affected him. He was bedridden nearly all his life, for his physical body was almost totally paralysed; this was precisely what enabled him to grasp such lofty ideas. We are reminded of the sinner in the novel “The Mahaguru” who, when he was already out of his mind, discovered the true nature of his art; and we are reminded, too, of the Count's wife in the Polish drama, who had to fall into a pathological state in order to find the connection with the spiritual world. It is the task of spiritual science today to help human beings to rise into the spiritual world in the healthy, normal state of consciousness.—All these things are signs of the task and of the value to be attached to the task of the spiritual-scientific Movement. Compressed into a few brief words, this is the truth that can inspire us as a source of strength: “The Mystery of Golgotha itself reveals that it must be understood spiritually, that we must seek for Christ as Spirit.” And then we must also say: “Christ is seeing us, Christ is perceiving us.”

We will inscribe this deeply in our hearts, keep it constantly in our minds, and our conscience must be satisfied when, in presenting our spiritual-scientific knowledge, we are saying with inner sincerity: May Christ be a witness of what we promulgate as Spiritual Science. We believe that this may indeed be so—and it can inspire us as men were once inspired by the cry of Bernard of Clairvaux: “It is God's Will!” These words became deeds. May it be the same among us—for we may believe that we understand Christ truly when we live under the inspiration of the words: Christ knows us.—And if you understand it aright, to a soul that sees our spiritual science in the true light, to a heart that feels it in its true light, I can impart no more esoteric saying than this: Christ is seeing us.

May these words live in our souls: “Christ is seeing us”—for so we may believe if we rightly understand spiritual science.—Christ is seeing us.

• 1. Statements to this effect are made in the book “Man: How, Whence and Whither” by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater. (Theosophical Publishing Company)
• 2. See “The Occult Movement In the 19th Century”—notably Lectures IX and X.
• 3. A newspaper article had been written by a priest living in the vicinity of the Goetheanum.
• 4. Dr. Steiner now read part of the epic poem on Ahasver, or Ahasueris, the Wandering Jew, by Julius Mosen. The Wandering Jew is the legendary figure of a Jerusalem shoemaker who, taunting Christ on the way to the Crucifixion, was told by Him to “go on forever till I return.”—Note by Translator.
  
  In a lecture entitled. “Elemental Beings” (Berlin, 16th May, 1908), Dr. Steiner speaks as follows of the legend of Ahasueris, the Wandering Jew: “An important legend sets before us what a man must experience who descends too deeply into the temporary, transitory nature of the one incarnation. If we think of an extreme case, we can imagine it like this: ‘What is it to me that I should carry over something to later incarnations? I live in this incarnation, I like it, it suits me very well. I am not concerned with what I am supposed to make of it.’ Where does this thought lead? It leads to a man who sits at the wayside when a great Leader of humanity passes by. He, however, rejects the ideas of the Leader of humanity; he repulses him and thinks: ‘I will know nothing of thee, who wouldst guide the kernel of my being into future incarnations where mankind will be outwardly more perfect. I wish to remain united with my present form.’—A man who thrusts from him such a Leader of mankind will appear again in the same form. And if this attitude hardens, then he shall also thrust from him the Leader in the next incarnation. He will appear again and again as the same figure. ... Those who listen to the great Leader of humanity will preserve the soul with its eternal life-kernel. Mankind will have gone forward but they too will appear in an ever-progressive form. He, however, who thrusts the Leader of humanity from him must reappear again and again in the same form. This is the legend of Ahasueris who has thrust from himself the Christ, the Leader of humanity. ...”

I would like to announce once again that I will take the liberty of giving a lecture tomorrow morning on certain current occult issues related to Freemasonry. And this will be done according to old occult custom, separately for gentlemen and ladies. The lecture for gentlemen will take place at ten o'clock, and for ladies at half past eleven. You may ask why this custom exists, which will only be overcome in the Theosophical worldview. This will become clear from the content of the lectures, and I would also like to take the liberty of noting that the Besant Branch will have its regular meeting tomorrow evening at eight o'clock.

So I would like to talk about the relationship between occultism and the theosophical movement and some other related questions. It has been discussed many times whether the theosophical movement, especially as it is expressed in the Theosophical Society, is an occult movement, or whether one should disregard all occultism in the theosophical movement. The Theosophical movement as such, insofar as it expresses itself in the Theosophical Society, cannot be an occult movement. An occult movement has different prerequisites from those that may be expressed in the Theosophical Society. There have been occult societies at all times. Above all, these had one essential requirement: namely, that they were a kind of hierarchical structure by the very nature of their aspirations. This means that the members of such a society, brotherhood, were organized in degrees. Each degree, from the first up to the ninetieth degree, had its own specific task. Within each degree there were very specific tasks. No one could be promoted to a higher degree until they had fulfilled the tasks of the lower degree.

I can only give a very general indication of why this is so. In fact, we have to talk in general terms about the tasks of such occult brotherhoods. Those revered friends who have heard me speak about such things before will understand me all the better today. Occult brotherhoods are brotherhoods of guides for humanity. Their task is to prepare the things of the future. Everything that is to happen in the future is already being prepared in the present, finding its expression in the present as an idea, as a plan, and is then realized in the future. Even if you look at the development of the human race on the external physical plane, you will still find that things that were later realized first germinated as ideas in the minds and souls of leading personalities and individuals, striving for expression. Take the steam engine, for example. If you trace the matter back, you will find how the steam engine developed from the simplest facts; how even the cooking pot filled with boiling water contains the idea of the steam engine, which then progresses from this simplest form to the most complicated mechanism. But these are trivialities compared to the great structure of humanity that we have before us. The most important things presuppose much larger and much more meaningful perspectives. They presuppose that what is to happen in the distant future is, in a sense, already being prepared today. How can such a thing happen?

By the fact that it is in our hands to lay the forces into the world today that are to take effect in the future. Everything that will happen in the future here on the physical plane is already preparing much earlier on the astral and devachan planes; so that in fact distant future events can be traced in the higher planes and worlds, according to their power. But man cannot work well into the future if he does not prepare this effect from the knowledge of the acting forces. Man is a self-conscious creature and must take his fate into his own hands. Therefore, there have always been advanced brothers of our human race who can see not only on the physical plane, but also on higher planes.

Let us try to understand what it means to foresee on higher planes. Suppose you have a pond of water. You can foresee that when the temperature drops, the pond will be frozen, that there may be skaters on it and so on. Similarly, we are dealing with the relationship between the so-called astral plane and the physical plane, that is, with our world. If one follows the events on the astral plane, then one can indeed see with the help of the astral event what will be there in later time, as it were, as a condensation of it. And so one can see from the astral events what will later appear in condensed form on the physical plane. Physical events are nothing other than such condensed happenings that previously occurred in the higher worlds.

An example: Throughout antiquity there were mysteries. These had the task of accepting individual people and initiating them into the secrets of existence, or - as John the Revelator says - to show what is to happen in the future in brief. When we enter such a temple, we find that instruction is taking place there for those students who are accepted into the first degree. We also find instruction for students who are more highly developed and ever more highly developed. The first step was for the students to purify their astral body. This consisted of them not merely adopting the usual bourgeois ethics. The bourgeois ethic was presupposed; what is considered here had to be followed in strict fulfillment of duty. When the student then ascended more and more to higher ideals, rising from the passions and drives of ordinary life to desires that are above all pettiness of man, and purified his pleasure and displeasure so that the great world-embracing affairs of the human race became his own, when he felt and sympathized with others, then he was on the way to accomplishing what was called the “purification of the astral body.

Then he was allowed to intervene in the denser bodies; he was allowed to work on his etheric body, he was not only allowed to reshape the soft, pliable and flexible astral matter in his spirit and soul bodies, but he was allowed to work into his etheric body. Then he was what is called a chela.

Such a chela is one who not only recognizes higher duties, who has not only purified himself to the point of making human duties his own, but has grown beyond the lower and higher concerns of individual peoples, even of individual creeds. His gaze is directed towards the life of all humanity. And through the more thoroughly organized etheric body, he becomes a participant in the great affairs of the building of the earth. For this to happen, the following had to occur.

The chela had to paralyze all the forces that prevented him from working on his etheric body. When you have a person in front of you, he has a physical body, an etheric body and an astral body. The chela has purified his astral body and can now work on his ether body. You will understand why a person must purify his astral body. What happens when the astral body is purified? What enters the ether body? That which is in the astral body.

The things that live in the astral body are imprinted on the etheric body. As long as you work on the astral body, you can rework the mistakes over and over again: the astral matter is thin and soft. You can always bring that into balance. But once a person has begun to develop the etheric body as a chela, these qualities are imprinted on the etheric body, and it is much more enduring. By making what is defective in the earthly permanent, the person would become a dangerous member of humanity. Hence the constant emphasis on the need for purification. This etheric body is impressed by the forces that act on it. Think of it as separate from the physical body, and it has a completely different elasticity. When it is within, it holds the physical body in shape; but as long as it remains within, it is initially too weak to hold that which has passed through the catharsis as astrality. Therefore, throughout antiquity, one had to do the following.

One had to first remove the forces that prevented the elasticity of the etheric body. This was done by bringing the whole physical body into a state of lethargy. The person lay there, and the etheric body was taken out of the physical body. The physical body then remained as if dead, and the etheric body was formed according to its own forces. This is the 'burial'. The person concerned was put into a state of lethargy for three to three and a half days. And then he could work on the etheric body. And then, after he had shaped the etheric body according to the astral body, he returned to the physical body. Then he had awakened the inner life in himself, then he was a resurrected one, and he was given a new name. This was an act on the astral plane. Everything I have described took place in the astral plane; the physical body had nothing to do with it.

This event was repeated in all the ancient mysteries. Every initiate knew it. Now imagine it in a condensed form, brought down to the physical plane, so that something has happened with this event that used to take place only in the astral. Comparatively speaking, it is as if you now have a piece of ice where you used to have water. Many such astral events must coincide, merge, so that physical condensation will one day be possible. Through the appearance of Christ on the physical plane, that which had so often and repeatedly taken place in the mystery centres on the astral plane, the Mystery of Golgotha has become historically possible. It could be brought down to the physical plane. From this example we learn to understand how the future is actually prepared in occult brotherhoods.

If we now ask ourselves: “What is actually happening there?” the answer is: Certainly, in thoughts, in the idea, one can grasp a great deal. But the idea has no reality. The idea is nothing more than what is brought down from the higher planes to the physical plane. But what man thinks about it is the most ineffective thing, because it is only present on the physical plane. It is different when something is added to this idea that also comes from the higher spheres.

Take, for example, Pythagoras' teaching of the music of the spheres, as he taught it to his students. Philosophers seek to present Pythagoras' occult music as a very simple system. The intellect can grasp this quickly. But for him, it was important that the student only came to it when his mind, his mood, was prepared for it. It is also impossible for someone who has no sense for images that originate in the astral to want to explain the deeper meaning of Raphael's Sistine Madonna: the feeling, the mind, must climb up to it. What otherwise leaves the idea cold appears here in the picture artistically full of life as the divine world thought, as that which the divine forces have created the world after - and a simple line becomes something sacred! By entwining thoughts around the element of the divine, thought is brought to divine influence.

Thus, the aim of such training is to prepare man step by step to approach the great world thoughts, to receive them. Then, by gradually penetrating into these great world thoughts, he connects that effective but otherwise occult power which, in the astral, already prepares the future for the physical plan. If the leading human brother has students who are attached to such spirit-imbued ideas, then these are a force that also helps him to advance in his work for the outer world; the great spiritual centers of spiritual work arise.

So you can see that what I have called occultism actually has a great deal to do with the progress of humanity. And in our time we have a particularly important task. Let us try to hint at how we have come to this task of ours with just a few words.

We are part of the great root race of humanity that has populated this earth. Since the ground we live on today emerged from the depths of the sea, since the Atlantean race gradually began to disappear, the great Aryan root race has been the one that has ruled the earth. If we look at ourselves, we here in Europe are the fifth sub-race of the great Aryan root race. The first sub-race lived in ancient India in the distant past. And today's Indians are descendants of that first sub-race, whose spiritual life is still present in the ancient Vedas of the Indians. The Vedas, however, are only echoes of the ancient Rishi culture. At that time there was no writing; there was only tradition. Then came the second, the third and the fourth sub-races. The fourth sub-race adopted Christianity. Then we see that around the middle of the Middle Ages the fifth sub-race had formed, to which we and the neighboring peoples belong. The ancient Indians of the first sub-race lived under different conditions than we did and were basically organized differently. Even their present-day descendants, the present-day Indians, are organized quite differently from our European peoples. The occultist who studies the differences finds that in the ancient Indian people, the etheric body is much less bound to the physical body, is not as deeply embedded in the physical body, but is much more easily influenced by the astral body.

This is why the Indian race can easily transfer something from the astral body to the etheric body, and why this Indian race can easily work into the etheric body. This means nothing other than that through occult training, it is easier for Indians to arrive at certain higher insights. The more easily the etheric body can be influenced by the astral body, the easier it is to influence the etheric body with pictures, without abstract concepts. It is all the easier for someone who undergoes the yoga training in the astral to relate to the higher realms through pictorial representations. These act on the etheric body, which is still soft. There is no need to work in strict concepts, but with the simplest of images one can work on the soul of an Indian person, and he will be able to reach very high levels of development.

Throughout the various sub-races, the human race has changed. Our etheric body is now much more influenced by the physical body than it was in the case of the ancient Indians. And so it is that we have to work much more strongly and inwardly to influence the etheric body. We cannot resort to half-dreamlike images. We must subject everything to a sharp concentration, work on our inner being through strong soul concentration into the pure supersensible, not merely through pictorial concepts. Such a conception, which brings about a strong concentration of our inner being, can then have a much stronger effect on the etheric body, which is tied to the physical body. In order for the astral body to be able to influence the etheric body, it used to have to be outside the etheric body. But now the etheric body can also be influenced from within the physical body by the astral body. If we were to perform the same experiment that was common in the ancient mystery centers, and induce lethargy, we would be able to act on the etheric body. But when the consciousness of the earth and the mobility of thinking return, these would immediately extinguish what the astral body has impressed in the ether body. We have to strongly influence the ether body if we want it to retain what we have imprinted on it. The occult task today has become a different one, it is now more inward.

And so you can also see how, over time, great differences arise in the occult schools that follow one another. The yoga system of the Indians is different from the schooling of the Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucian schooling is calculated on what I have now explained to you. Furthermore, something else occurs: in order for such progress to occur at all, the power of the intellect had to be influenced. The mind was strained much more than before, and then, through the power of inner concentration, it was able to develop its ability to grasp the supersensible. So in modern times, it had to be taught much more conceptually; emphasis had to be placed on developing the intellect and on abstract imagination. Compare the changes in culture from ancient India to our own time. In ancient India, there was a high level of intuition and little external impact of civilization. Now, in our time, it is the other way around. This means that the position of occultism is also gradually changing. Much of what used to be kept secret has now become common knowledge. Many, many such insights and concepts were formerly kept within the occult brotherhoods, and a person could only gain access to these things if they had completely transformed their hearts. Today, the occultist no longer has this in their hands. Much of what used to be kept for later stages of training must now be recognized as having already been revealed by the culture of the outside world. The mystery initiate must take this into account. And so many truths that were taught in the occult schools had to be gradually brought out onto the physical plane.

Even what is taught in today's elementary schools would lead us away from the spiritual if it were not for the occult background that comes from another side. In earlier times, the student knew that there was something higher behind what he received as teaching material in school and in the world of scholars, and that he himself might one day be able to access this higher knowledge. He knew that he was a link within a spiritual organism; today, in the democratic world, many concepts are adopted that do not lead to such insight. The top of the pyramid had to be added to the structure of external democratic knowledge, as it were. The elementary knowledge of the hidden forces in the world had now been given. The top, leading to a spiritual world view, was still missing. To provide this, a world-embracing movement had to be founded. The theosophical movement was conceived as such. Therefore, in certain brotherhoods, when the popularization of the previously hidden wisdom had gone on and on, it was decided to reveal to the world as much of the secrets behind it as was necessary to harmonize the knowledge of the outer world with the comprehensive occult knowledge of the brotherhoods.

Here we are at the point where we can see the connection between the Theosophical Society and the Theosophical movement and occultism. The Theosophical Society is not an occult movement or an occult brotherhood; it is built on a democratic foundation in which each person is an equal member with the others. However, it is another matter entirely to grasp the task of the Theosophical Society. The task of the Society is on the physical plane. If one wants to grasp this fully, one must be able to see up into the higher worlds. But it is not a matter of the Theosophist already being able to see up into the higher worlds, but rather of the fact that occult powers are also being developed within the movement, so that the Theosophical Society can be a place from which occultism can radiate and be expressed. It is one thing for a society to be an occult brotherhood, and quite another for it to say: We are not an occult brotherhood, but occultism is being discussed again in our society.

Today, when basically all of humanity is looking longingly to the higher worlds, without finding the ways to get there, today an even greater part of occult knowledge must be popularized accordingly. And this task has been given to occultism within the Theosophical Society. Spiritual movements have always had a fruitful effect on the development of culture on the physical plane as well. Their external expression is nothing other than the earthly realization of what has been prepared spiritually. What is it, then, when we consider the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, for example? In these works, they have conjured up something spiritual on the wall in colors and forms: the picture is permeated by that which first lived in the soul of the artist as a spiritual being. The spiritual precedes that which later appears as its expression in the material world.

And materialistic external culture is only the imprint of people's inner attitudes that have become materialistic. Since 1850, purely materialistic city culture has been spreading in civilized countries. We see the great things it has achieved on the physical plane, but we also see what it has not been able to achieve. In the artistic field, for example, it has not produced any real new style, except for one: and that is the style of the department store. This is something that is inwardly true in relation to our outer civilization. Everything else that is taken over from ancient times has no relation to the present time. Only when we have formed a society whose members are seized by a spiritual power, as it used to live in Christianity, and as it still lives in the best Christian souls as a longing and can be regained, then we will have a spiritual culture again. And such a culture will again produce artists in all areas of life.

Let Theosophy live in the souls of people, then it will flow out of the souls again as style, as art, it will be there for our eyes and ears. The outer world will be able to express the spiritual again, which is already being experienced in such a society today. In this sense, the Theosophical Society could serve the shaping of the more distant culture.

When we are together, we must realize that we are like cells that must join together to shape a future culture. In our souls, those forces are being prepared which will in future transform the world in such a way that it will become a physical expression of our present-day moods and views of life. Everything that is revealed and manifested today was once occult. Just as electricity is a manifest force today, it was once an occult force. And what is still occult today is destined to become a driving force for the future. Just as millions of years ago our present human body was prepared from forces that are in our environment, so today a higher body is preparing in us, a body of the future; but only in a distant time will this body of the future be ours.

Let us retrace our path of development a little. What was there once? A dull human consciousness. The world around us looked different and was a dreamlike mirror. People had a dreaming consciousness. And even as the development of their community progressed, they had no parliaments based on the exchange of opinions, nothing of the kind. Everything was merely reflected in the consciousness that arose in the human being. And today's bodily organs: how did they come about? Through the fact that those forces worked on human beings. Just as the animals in the dark caves of Kentucky lost their eyesight because they did not need it, so the external forces also organized what we have as eyes and ears. These have been developed and evolved out of our organism by the forces of sound and light. In the future, our spiritual organism will develop out of what is now living in us. The things that stand before us as expressions of our spiritual culture – the churches and so on, the cultural works that convey beauty and truth to us – will imprint themselves on our higher being. And when these will one day unfold into a life of their own, then what lives as beauty and truth in the outer culture will arise within us. What the eyes and ears perceive now are the building blocks for the organization of a higher future. If we look at the world from this point of view, the human inner life takes on a completely different meaning.

We are thus confronted with a fact that can easily make understandable what is called yoga training or inner occult training. From the words I have spoken, you will be able to see that what once created in the world, what worked and strengthened in the world, has been taken up by our inner being. What is in me today was once outside of me: this is the basic idea of occult training. Before our physical body existed, our etheric body was already present. Our etheric body, in turn, is a structure that was formed by our astral body. And this is the starting point of yoga training. Those who engage in yoga training descend into their etheric body and know that in the etheric body they will find the power that once built them up millions of years ago. The physical body has slowly emerged from the basis of the etheric body.

I can only give a rough description of how the descent into the etheric body takes place. There are certain currents in the etheric body that are the forerunners of the physical body organs. The nervous system, the nerve cords, the sympathetic system that runs up the back, the nerve ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system, these are parts that were formed out of etheric matter in the distant past. This is a process that took place in the dim and distant past. Then, after man had progressed further and further, there was a time when the structure developed within this body, which now had the potential for the physical nervous system, which enables us to develop internal body heat and to prepare warm blood. This is again a later structure of the etheric body, which was then already strongly influenced by the forces of the astral body. And from what we subsequently find as the basis of the brain, the spinal cord has developed - again from the etheric body, as the other pole of the etheric body, which on the one hand developed into the brain, and on the other hand into the inner warmth of the blood. This happened in the past. Not only the forces of nature have worked on this formation of the human being, but also higher spiritual beings.

When the yogi now descends step by step into this etheric body, he penetrates into the times of the past, where his spiritual form of origin was influenced by these forces and beings and brought forth what lives in us today. When man has descended into life in this way, he can reach that point again during the descent. He descends from the head down into the lower regions, which were built up in the most ancient times, and then back again into his head. This is a description of the occult path of knowledge, albeit a scant description. More can be given in the occult schools.

Thus the student of mystery wisdom developed the ability to look into the past; then the time comes when he can undertake the occult pilgrimage. He achieves this by means of a certain practice, through which he overcomes his personal self and thereby ceases to be the small, bound ego. Only then can he make the ascent into the universe. Once more he descends, taking the world power with him, into the sea of the past, in an ascending line. He can then gradually follow the path he has taken. Slowly and gradually, the human being learns to descend into the sea of his formative forces, and finally he arrives at a point near the origin. This must have been the experience of those human beings to whom the eye was first given to direct their gaze into the universe.

Then the disciple realizes the confluence of the I with the great world I. And now he must learn to say to the small I: “I am not you.” It is an important moment when he realizes what this means: “I am not you.” This is a moment when one begins to realize that there are higher forces at work in nature than thinking, that there is something beyond oneself that cannot be expressed in the words of the present, but which has the effect that when two people who can speak about the same thing, the speech of one is clear but dull, while that of the other is pulsating with the warm light that will create the future.

When the student has reached this stage, they can learn in yet another way than they have been able to learn until now. They experience something very special. They encounter a spiritual being in the supersensible world. They meet the individuality that was once connected to them. It is a great and important mystery that certain stages of our existence are repeated. We consciously ascend from the manas to the higher forces. We once descended from spiritual worlds, and at that time the same being descended into us something that we now meet again at the stage corresponding to that point in the past when it was with us then. It is the teacher, the so-called guru. We met him for the first time then; now we meet him again when we can consciously grasp what he has sunk into our souls and we have unconsciously received.

And if we descend further, we meet the spirits who helped to build us eons ago. We meet the twelve spirits: the spirits of will, the spirits of wisdom, the spirits of form, the spirits of movement, the spirits of personality or egoism, the spirits of fire or warmth, the spirits of dawn or twilight, and so on. All this presents itself to our mind's eye on this descent into the universe, on this pilgrimage. And that alone makes it possible for us to glimpse the future, to anticipate what is to happen “in the near future,” as the apostle says.

This is the task of occultism. It is to be solved because this solution is necessary. There are enough movements that are idealistic and ethical. But the movement called Theosophy differs from others in that occultism consciously comes into its own in this movement. This clarifies the relationship between occultism and Theosophy. The Theosophical Society can never aspire to be an occult brotherhood. The strength it needs to fulfill its task, the life it needs, can only come from the currents of occultism. Therefore, the Theosophical Society will flourish when there is an understanding for the cultivation of occult teachings and occult life. This does not mean that the members themselves should be occultists. But if Theosophy forgets that this blood pulsates within it, then it may be an interesting society, but it will not fulfill what was intended by the exalted powers that stood at its starting point.

Anyone who understands this will never want to take away the occult character of the Theosophical Society. But anyone who stands in Theosophical Society in this way is put in a conflicting position. He will have to turn his ear to the side from which the occult truths flow to us, and on the other hand, turn his attention to the outer exoteric life of the Society. These things must be strictly separated; they must never be mixed. But one must not, when speaking of the outer Theosophical Society, speak of the occult personalities who are at the starting point. The Powers that live on the higher plane and those who live outside the physical body for the sake of human development never interfere in these matters. They never give anything but impulses. When we work objectively for the spread of the Theosophical Society, the great individualities we call Masters are always at our side; we may turn to them and let them speak through us. When the subject is the expansion of occult life, the Masters speak. When it is only a matter of organizing the Society, they leave it to those who live in the physical plane. That is the difference between the occult current and the framework of the Theosophical Organization.

Let me express the difference between what goes as an inner spiritual current and what is lived out through the individual personalities in the way that it can perhaps best be expressed: When it is a matter of spiritual life, then the Masters speak. When it is a matter of mere organization, then error is possible, because then the Masters are silent.

From the question and answer session

What is the significance of memory in occult training?

Memory is one of the things that have to be sacrificed in occult training. However, everything that was lost on the descent is reclaimed on the ascent. When you develop occultly, you no longer have any memory at all. The memory has developed into something else. You can read about this in Lucifer issues 14 and 15. This is where real reading in the past occurs. First on the astral plane and then in the Akasha Chronicle. The student's lost memory is replaced by reading power. He will no longer know when Caesar was born, but he will be able to trace back the whole process up to that time.

How are the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount to be understood?

The Sermon on the Mount is a teaching by Christ to his disciples. First of all, one must know what it means to be “on the mountain.” There Christ Jesus explained the great world connections to the disciples. It is extremely interesting from the occult point of view. In the occult world, everything appears to us in a mirror image. They see their own passions wrongly. As a wild animal, the animal in him meets the human being. It is the outpouring of one's own passion that comes back to him in the mirror image. Therefore, we may say that man necessarily evokes the reflection of his actions on the higher plane through himself. The number 126 appears as 621. That this is so, the Christ said to his disciples in the Beatitudes. “To be blessed” means to approach the soul. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit that heals. The first sentence, if translated correctly, would read something like:

Blessed are those who beg for the Spirit, for they find within themselves the Kingdoms of Heaven.

And further:

Whoever is persecuted for My sake finds the kingdom of heaven within himself. [Matt. 5:6]

Then something emerges from the inner being into the outer world, and in the outer world it meets him again in the mirror image. All this can be seen beautifully in a good Greek translation. But the correct meaning can only be understood with occult knowledge.

What is the difference between a highly developed and a less developed person in the occult?

The difference is only a matter of time. Why did the highly developed reach spiritual greatness earlier? Because they traced their origin back to earlier world creations. The occultist speaks from experience, and beyond a certain point, one cannot say anything. After that, there is only speculation. Only after the end of all things will it be possible to speak about those things that go beyond the end of all things.

Are there also dangers in occult striving?

Yes, there are dangers in occult striving. Above all, you have to be alert, awake. Not mediumistic. The occultist does not enter any area of the higher life other than with a clear consciousness, so that he is present, similar to the way he walks in the physical world. I must not lose my physical consciousness. If I do that, then the danger begins. I may not absorb anything in a dull state of consciousness, but only in a completely clear state of consciousness. Persons who enter into twilight states, trance and mediumistic states must beware of approaching their teachers other than in complete freedom. On the whole, the development is not such that the student turns to the astral, but the methods lead to the fact that one only comes to the astral plane when one can have higher experiences on the astral plane, when one is no longer exposed to all the confusing impressions.

The person who is on the physical plane lives in his or her self on the devachan plane. What must be striven for is that the person retains this life, which he has on the devachan plane, just as he retains the physical one, so that the following must not occur.

Suppose the person suddenly gains sight on the astral plane. Then he will go astray because he is accustomed to the outside world entering him. His ego cannot be there because it is unaccustomed to living on the astral plane, because it is only accustomed to having contact with the world through the physical senses. If you put a person unprepared into the astral world, he is exposed to all kinds of dangers. He must be able to reconnect with the world, he must have a base from which to move on. To gain this foothold is called “building a hut”. In the Transfiguration scene, Christ introduced the disciples to the Devachan plain, and there the disciples said, “Let us build huts here”.

If the astral power is developed before the mental center, then it is possible that the disciple exposes himself to all sorts of urges and passions. This should be avoided by the new method.

The question is raised about the occult side of Christianity and whether black magic is possible in this way.

It is true: what is called Christian development is not identical with occultism and also not identical with Eastern philosophies. The matter appears even deeper when one looks at the occult side of Christianity. Christianity emerged in the fourth sub-race. There is a deep significance to the fact that it came into the world in the form it is. But it need not remain so. This Christianity, like every spiritual current, takes on a special form in the dawn of the fourth subrace.

I will only briefly characterize how it emerges there. Imagine yourself back in ancient India and among the people who were the bearers of the ancient Zarathustra culture. Then to the time of the culture of the Semites, Jews, Hebrews, and then we see the fourth race of men coming up. It was the Greek-Latin culture that developed in Southern Europe. The coming up of the Greek-Latin race is expressed in ancient art, for example in the Laocoon group. If you look at this Laocoön Group, you will see Laocoön fighting the snakes. Laocoön was an old priest in Troy. And the culture of ancient Troy was still a priestly culture. As is well known, Anchises fled after the capture of Troy. Then a priestly colony was founded in Italy: Alba longa. Alba longa also means the long chasuble, the garment for a priestly culture. Alba Longa was founded for a new priestly culture, as a branch of the old Trojan one. The snake winds around the priest. This is a symbol for the overcoming of priesthood, which has nothing to do with cunning, but only with spirituality. This is what we see in the Laocoön Group. It is a great document for the transition from the third to the fourth sub-race.

There is a law in the occult that expresses itself in the fact that in a race - I cannot prove this today - in which the leading individuals nourish their organism, that is, the instrument of the spirit, with alcoholic or similar drinks, it is simply impossible to arrive at a knowledge of the higher members of the human being. There are only two possibilities: either knowledge of the higher worlds and no alcohol, or alcohol and development on the physical plane with the prospect that there may be other planes, but that we cannot see into them ourselves. This is why all ancient cultures were influenced by the idea of reincarnation. Even the slave who worked on the Egyptian pyramids knew the truth of reincarnation. He knew that he would also one day take the place from which orders were given, just as he had to obey now. Christianity was an education of humanity for the importance of the physical plane. The fifth sub-race with the culture of authority was then prepared. How does this fifth sub-race prepare itself externally? By taking a completely different direction in the mysteries. Before Dionysus, there is no trace of the later sacrifice. There are ablutions, and the water is the sacrifice. With Dionysus, the god of becoming takes effect. The culture of the ram or lamb appears. Homer. Christ is the individuality that descends from the highest regions. Today, it already contains in its physical being what the other human beings will also contain in the very distant future. If you want to contemplate Christ, he is best described in the Gospel of the intimate disciple John. The Word became flesh, it says there. Man will one day become the Word, and this Word lives in the flesh in Christ. When you contemplate this Christ in the fourth sub-race, then he could say one thing: “In a certain way, I am deeply related to this sub-race, this fourth, but at the same time I am also growing out of this fourth sub-race. I represent that which will appear again and again in the future. This is how he is connected to the development of humanity, to the earthly wave of evolution that makes up the fourth and fifth sub-races and will then make up the sixth sub-race. In this way, he looks at everything that develops as material life on earth.

The life of Christ belongs to this; and how did this body become a member of the fourth sub-race? Because a culture emerged that rejected the teaching of reincarnation. After all, the Christ also taught his disciples about reincarnation. For they themselves asked him: “That should not happen until Elijah has reappeared.” Then he said: “He has reappeared. John was Elijah, but they did not recognize him.

We therefore understand Theosophy as the realization of Christianity. It teaches what Christianity has only hinted at. The ancient sacrifices were water sacrifices. The sacrifices of the fourth sub-race are wine sacrifices. And Christ turns the water into wine. This is to be understood physically and materially. The Christian monks are allowed to drink wine. They are not forbidden to drink wine. This makes Christianity a different kind of development. The Christian development must completely entrust itself to the leader. The disciple is not allowed to see for himself, not allowed because he has drunk wine. This also takes place at the Lord's Supper.

What is present then? The body of the whole earth is present in the Christ. He can say: “This is my body.” And what is the blood? That is what immediately brings forth the passions in the time to come. That is the lifeblood of the Dionysian culture. The wine is the astral element. In its all-encompassing individuality in concentrated physical form. I can only hint at all this now. Take the individualities that have grown out of the Christian life: for them this can apply. They surrender to the one who guides them because they are only walking on the physical plane for a while. This is Christian occult development.

But then there is also a Christian black magic. It really exists and plays a certain role. In conversation, it may be possible to provide specific information about this as well. Take a fully developed occultist of the old world, one in whom the light originally shines from the beginning, and then the modern occultist, who starts from the Rosicrucians and is now developing. That is the one where the light is where one develops with a certain awareness and entrusts oneself to the leader. It is being awake when one wants to develop occultly.

Can you tell us more about Noah and the Flood?

The question about Noah is connected with my very latest occult research. No one will find anything in 'Lucifer' that I did not know at the time I wrote the articles. But now I know a little more about it. Now the climatic conditions have become clear and vivid to me. I have come to understand something that I would have mentioned at the time if I had understood it at the time. I took the position of Noah allegorically at the time. It was a picture for the deep spiritual meaning. But now I know that this rainbow in the Bible corresponds to a literal fact. On the old Atlantis, the climatic conditions were different. The distribution of air and water was different. It is not without reason that German legend speaks of the 'Fogheim'. There is no rain there yet. There is a different distribution in the cycle of water in the air, and different cloud formations are present, so that one finds that on the old Atlantis the formation of a rainbow is not yet possible. Such conditions only became possible when Atlantis was flooded and the new continents rose.

Now we are given a hint as to how the rainbow emerges from the flood. Noah is the biblical representative of a certain tribe that originally came from Atlantis. We speak of the Proto-Semites. All sub-races descend from them in a certain way. This is well known to us from theosophical literature. So it is in a sense correct to say that all descend from the Proto-Semitic race. The fourth sub-race, which developed from the then existing one, is predisposed in the Proto-Semites, so that one tribe, which is presented to us biblically as Noah's, is particularly characterized by its wine drinking.

How is race formation related to Germanic mythology?

There was a center in the Gobi Desert. From there, the northern cultural current flowed, which had a tragic course. It is contained in the Nibelungen, in the twilight of the gods. Druid means oak. The arrival of Christianity forms one of the expectations in all Nordic mysteries. This is expressed in a symbolum. Certain truths are indicated to the initiated by certain symbols. What was it that had to be brought, that was predicted by the old Druid priests? It was the cross.

Now there is a Nordic initiate to whom all these things go back. He is called Sieg. All the names like Siegfried, Sieglinde, Siegmund and so on go back to this Sieg. This Nordic initiate found expression in the later Siegfried. He is described as an initiate. It is stated that he was invulnerable through the dragon blood, but that he was still vulnerable at a certain point on his shoulder blade. And it was taught: There will come another who will overcome this vulnerable spot. From the fertilization of the fourth sub-race with what had remained behind and came over from earlier, the fifth sub-race developed. This provided the impetus for the founding of the fifth sub-race.

Dear attendees! Today I will speak about a very difficult, I would almost say, concerning topic: the evolution of a planet, especially in relation to the evolution of our own planet in the theosophical sense. And perhaps more than in any other of these lectures, it will be necessary today to appeal to the full impartiality of the audience. For such a way of looking at things, as one is currently almost solely accustomed to – that is, to deal with such a question as that of planetary development in a material, purely physical sense – what Theosophy has to say will, of course, have to appear quite fantastic.

Furthermore, the scope of what we have to discuss today is very broad. And the field of research involved is so remote that it is of course quite impossible for me to speak to you today in detail – in a short lecture – about the way in which such insights are gained. It is quite impossible for me to give you a derivation of what I have to say. I will only be able to relate and point out what would require many, many lectures, or even books, to be discussed in detail. I will not even be able to present the subject to you as it presents itself to the so-called occultist or secret researcher, but I will have to resort to comparisons and analogies.

I would ask you to bear in mind that the way in which I will treat the subject today is not the same way in which the secret researcher or occultist arrives at these results. Today, if any simile is used, it is only to make it possible to make oneself understood at all. The insights themselves are gained from quite different sources. And when we discuss inner development in detail in one of the next lectures, we will also learn something about the sources from which such insights as today's are drawn.

In the sense of the theosophical world view, man is – and I was able to mention this to you just now, also in connection with lectures from the last few weeks – an evolving being, a being in the process of development.

He sees a future perspective that entitles him to say that there is something spiritual, a spark of divinity, or better said, a resting place, a divine seed, in his breast. The human being of the future will be quite different from what he is today. Now the objection may be raised: How can man know what he will be in the future? He can know because he already carries the potential, the germ of the future within himself. The purpose of self-knowledge is none other than to study the potential and germs that still lie deeply hidden in the human breast today, in order to see what man can become in the future. In this way, man can see into his own future.

On the other hand, all higher beings – you know from earlier lectures that Theosophy speaks of higher beings than human beings – all divine beings are, for the theosophical worldview, entities that are similar to human beings, who have gone through their development at a similar level, albeit on different planes. One could say that the gods also served their time in humanity in earlier epochs. They were human and have already become what man will become in the future. Thus, in the theosophical world view, divine spiritual beings have advanced beyond the stage of humanity.

Man has not yet risen to the level of divinity. In this sense, we must place man in a whole sequence of entities. Then we will have created the conditions for being able to observe planetary development in the sense of spiritual research. It should be emphasized that this spiritual research, when understood in the right sense, in no way contradicts the sensual scientific research of our days, just as it does not contradict when an anatomist anatomically examines the corpse of a great artist and registers his anatomical results . Neither does it contradict what an art historian has to say about these artists, nor does what the materialist has to say about the moon, sun and earth contradict what Theosophy has to say about these heavenly bodies. The two things can coexist quite harmoniously. And even if the materially oriented researcher, from the standpoint of his conceit of infallibility, confronts the results of spiritual research with brusqueness, we must still say that such opposition is no less possible than the opposition of the anatomist who dissects a corpse and finds something to object to in what an art historian says about this person.

This said, if we look up at the heavenly bodies, where we see not only material things but also, in these things, the expression of spiritual beings, we will also find the expression for man in the thought that Goethe hinted at in “Faust” when he characterized the earth spirit:

In the flood of life, in the storm of action
I surge up and down
Weaving back and forth!
Birth and grave,
An eternal sea,
A changing weaving,
A glowing life.
So I create at the whirling loom of time
and weave the living garment of the Godhead.

Those who cannot rise to the realization that it is a reality to speak of the spirit of Mercury and the spirit of the Sun, and that what the eye sees and what we can explore with our instruments to what is spoken in theosophy is exactly the same as the external bodies of man to his soul, for such people the theosophical results will be spoken in vain.

When there was more conscious spiritual research in scholarship than there is today, the names given to our celestial bodies, especially those belonging to our solar system, were meant in a completely different sense. The old names Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, etc. did not just refer to the material bodies; in these material bodies they saw the bodies of spiritual beings. And the names applied to the spiritual entities, so that originally Mercury was the name for the planetary spirit of Mercury. The same applies to the Moon, Sun, Mars, Venus, etc. This is a prerequisite that we must adhere to if we want to understand what I have just said.

First of all, let me describe the meaning of the earth's development in a comparison. Imagine going back to an earlier point in our Earth's development, to the point in time that our natural science must also assume: namely, to the point in time before man set foot on Earth. Our natural science certainly indicates such a point in time when the various other lower beings were present in manifold forms, and a point in time when man essentially entered this Earthly development in his present form, as a sensual-real being. Don't get worked up about the form. It should mean nothing other than that if we go back in scientific research, we will find a point in time when man was not yet there.

Let us look at the earth as it presents itself at this point in time. We have the point in time when man could not have changed anything about this earth in any way. Nothing at all had been worked on by man on this earth. Because he was not there at all yet. So we have to say: the point in time we are talking about now presents us with the earth as it was prepared by the forces of nature. But for man to be able to intervene with his own cultural work – spiritually and religiously speaking – it would be as if I had to say: the earth has been handed over to man out of the hand of the gods, without human intervention.

Now, human beings are beginning to work on the earth step by step. If we follow purely historical research, we learn that this teaches us how man first began to work the earth with primitive tools. We imagine how he carried stones to both sides of the Nile and how the pyramids were formed. We look back even further, to the time when people created the first cultural works using simple flint tools. As we move forward, we see how humans increasingly came to control the forces of nature. It is then clear to us that the things we see today would not be there if human minds and hands had not worked. Let us try to imagine a time when no human hand or mind had yet worked. Try to understand what the things around you are. They are the result of natural forces, but also the result of human labor. So we look back to the point in time when human labor began.

Now let us look up to our time, when human labor has changed this planet. Let us compare the surface of our earth with the surface of yore. We put ourselves in the place of an observer who is outside our earth and compares these two points in time and can then say: This is the earth without human intervention, and then on the other hand, this is what human labor has done. This human work can continue. It will increasingly transform the Earth planet. In your mind, you can at least imagine the later stage of Earth's development, where again an unbiased observer looks at this Earth planet, but now in such a way that, when he looks at it from the outside, it would seem to him as if you were looking at this room. There is nothing here that is merely a natural phenomenon. You will find nothing of the original forces, such as they are a flowing in the open. It is all artificially constructed. So you could imagine a point in the earth's development where everything that can be transformed by human hands has actually been transformed by human hands in such a way that the observer would see an earth transformed into a work of art. Of course, nature would have to be transformed even more by human labor and conquered by humans.

But there is no reason why we should not think that electricity and other forces of nature that have been put at the service of humans, and indeed much more significant forces of the earth, can be put at the service of human culture. In the present development, we see the earth as having arrived at a goal. We do our work in such a way that man does it with this goal in mind. If we could not intervene in the growth of plants, if it were not as it has happened, we could not become master of the forces of the origin of higher living beings, but only the inanimate, mineral nature could be completely transformed, so that the form of the planet would be the result of its work at the final goal of the earth planet.

Now let us look back again to the point in time when human work had not yet begun. The theosophical worldview does not view anything that already existed or was already developed in any other way. Everything that has come into being and developed has come about in a similar way to these processes, which I have been able to hint at comparatively. The beings, of whom I have said that they have ascended from men to gods, and whom men regard as the higher ones, they did their work at that time. Just as a younger being will receive the earth planet from the hands of men when the earth has reached its goal and will then be able to continue working on it, so man received this planet from the hands of the gods. What he found, the gods had brought into being, exactly in the same way and form as man brought the earth into being. Such was the mere development of nature before there was any culture on this earth, before a simple man, with simple tools or, let us say, with his hands, somehow touched the earth, the earth was the work of the gods. From that point on, man has taken over the work of the gods in his own way.

Let us look at the matter from a different point of view, from the point of view of knowledge. Man seeks to explore what is around him, he seeks to think about what is in the world in terms of thought. I have often used the comparison: if there were no water in this glass, I could not scoop any out. All our thoughts, when we reflect on the world, have their meaning. If they are to have a meaning for the world, then they must be within the world. Of course, it would be quite ridiculous to want to think about a world in which no thoughts are embodied. When man reflects on the world and arrives at thoughts about the world, the world must have been built according to these thoughts. When man now investigates the laws and arrives at natural laws, what are these natural laws for him, which express themselves in thoughts? Nothing other than what man draws from them, similar to how he draws water from a glass. And just as the watchmaker has formed the watch according to his thoughts, and another, without knowing the watchmaker, can disassemble the watch better afterwards, so man comes and dissects the world afterwards. He does not need to know the one who put the thoughts into it. And it would be strange to say: No watchmaker put the thoughts into the watch mechanism.

More recent science has so often said: We do not need any spiritual authors of the world. Science has finally led us to understand this world in a purely mechanical way and to understand how the individual parts interlock. So we don't need a creator. — That's just as clever as claiming that because you understand how to take a watch apart, you don't need to assume a watchmaker. The fact that the world can be explained mechanically is no proof that it was not originally built according to thoughts. When we see nature in its natural forces and deduce the laws from them, for philosophy these natural forces are the expression of the original thoughts of the gods and the work of men in art, these are thoughts of a later work of the same kind as the work of the gods in nature outside. When the theosophist contemplates a rock, a crystal, or even a plant — although this is more difficult — he says to himself: All these have been created in the same way in spirit, like a machine, a work of art, like a work of art by a painter or musician. Only the latter are more recent products of the human spirit, which is a God in the making, while the former are the product of the mature spirit of God, which has long since surpassed the level of man. This is the spirit.

Now let us look at the matter in more detail. If we look at man as he is and lives today, and if we go back only a little in history, we learn that everything around us has been created relatively recently and that centuries ago man worked with very different, more primitive means of culture. And if we go further back, these means of culture become more and more primitive, and cultural history shows us that people living in the earliest times made knives and tools out of stone. So we come to a primitive man on earth who, in relation to everything that is the result of intellectual culture today, was still very far behind. The mind of the human being whom today's science likes to call prehistoric man was very primitive. We can see, then, that the ability to understand developed and took shape during this time. In this way, we ourselves trace the development of the mind. Further research into humanity in cultural history does not go any further.

But now spiritual research begins, theosophical research. It speaks in the most serious sense of the development, of the development of everything that exists in our environment. Just as the intellect has gradually developed, which at the beginning could only create very primitive means of culture such as flint knives and so on, grinding grain between two millstones, so the intellect was not only primitive, but it was not there at all. The intellect, this intellectuality has developed. Based on spiritual facts, just as our science is based on material facts, intellectuality begins to follow the things that cultural history speaks of. Cultural history extracts from the layers of the earth what it finds. Man evidently had a completely different facial expression. His brain was the tool of the spirit, which was not yet as developed as it later became. But from there we go back to even more distant primeval times. And what I have mentioned before, I have to bring up again here to make everything a whole. We come back to human ancestors who, however, cannot be shown in geology, who did not yet make tools, who did not yet have what we call intellectual power, but who had other mental abilities instead. From material natural science you know that the Earth has not always looked the same as it does today, that it has undergone continuous changes in its shape, that where there is land today there used to be sea, and where there is sea today there used to be land. The theosophical worldview speaks of facts that even the scientist at least hypothetically admits. The part of the earth's surface that is now occupied by the Atlantic Ocean, which lies between Europe, Africa and America, was once land. This is a fact for spiritual research. Arldt's treatise on Atlantis only provides information about the animal and plant world. Theosophical research, however, speaks of the human form. The intellect had not yet developed at that time; other spiritual abilities were decisive then.

You can get a rough idea of how this came about. When seeing animals migrate into dark caves, they lose their faces. Other powers develop. Strength declines. Thus, in general, in the course of development, we find that with the development of one faculty, the other must gradually recede. Thus, with the development of the mind, of intellectuality, other spiritual powers that man had in times gone by recede.

A certain kind of clairvoyance, a dim, dark clairvoyance, was an outstanding spiritual power among the population of ancient Atlantis. These were people whose forebrain was not yet developed. That was the case with the Atlantic people, whose forebrains were not developed; they were not intellectual, but they were endowed with a certain clairvoyance. They had not yet developed reflection. Therefore, [the Atlantic man] could not have any culture. He could not make knives and axes for himself, he simply lived in a completely different way, but he was clairvoyant in a certain respect. His consciousness was so developed that he could not only perceive in his surroundings that which the senses convey, that which enters the human soul through the gates of the senses, but his soul was able to perceive even more of the soul, albeit in a very shadowed way. When he came near another person, he not only perceived what the person looked like, not only perceived what the person saw, but he could vividly perceive what moral qualities the other person had. He could perceive the soul, the inner being, the instincts, the passions and desires with a completely different kind of mind. If he came near a person who had wild desires, he had something else; today we would call it hallucinations. Colorful images arose in him of what lived in that being. So a completely different perception was present in those times. This is roughly how we have characterized the Atlantean population.

Another practical activity was also linked to this cognitive activity. You can read more about these things in my magazine “Lucifer - Gnosis”, in the essays of “13”. There it is described how people worked in those days. They had no tools, but just as they were clairvoyant, they were also endowed with a certain magical power. They were able to do what people today can no longer do. They were able to promote the growth of a plant, to make it grow faster. I could tell you many other things, but I think that is enough, for it could be taken in the most serious way. You see, however, that we are looking back here to a point in our earth's development that had a very different human being. But you must bear in mind that a different being, at the center of such a development, also requires a very different environment.

If we explore the Earth itself in these ancient times, then this Earth is also quite different. The distribution of water, fog, clouds, and air that we have around the Earth today did not yet exist in ancient Atlantis. It was quite different. The air was, so to speak, almost saturated with water. We did not have to deal with such a distribution of water in the air as we do today, but with a perpetual misty air. When Germanic mythology speaks of a 'fog home', it is a memory of ancient Atlantis with its foggy air. It was only in the later process of our earth's formation that what we have in our environment today emerged. Only with this environment was the progression of sensory and intellectual development possible. Thus we look back on a different formation of man and the earth planet. In certain respects, we can regard man as divine in a spiritual sense, but he differs considerably from the spirituality of our time. The spirituality of that time has receded. But the recognition that built the mind has emerged in our time. It has pushed the other back.

There will indeed come a time when people will unite the two: self-aware intellectual knowledge with withdrawn clairvoyance. This is what is already emerging in clairvoyance as a prophecy of later epochs. The Atlanteans were not so significantly different from people today, but they were different in some ways. If I may express myself crudely and trivially, I would say that they were not yet embodied in such dense matter, they were not yet as hardened in their matter as they have been since that time. Just as you follow the animals and come up to the cartilaginous fish and bony fish, as you come to beings that are embodied in less dense matter, we also had people who had a finer organism that they then knew how to control more.

The naturalist [Lord Kelvin] takes us back to such times – albeit hypothetically. The naturalist has calculated when the earth must have been in a state that did not yet allow for life on earth. According to the amount of heat that it still loses today and that it must have possessed in the past, it must once have been so warm that creatures such as plants, animals and humans that live on it today could not have lived then. Whether this hypothesis is more or less well-founded, it is certainly ingenious and based on good foundations. It is calculated that 30 million years ago the Earth was in a state in which there was no plant kingdom, no animal kingdom and no human kingdom. These were in a completely different state from planetary beings.

Let us trace them back to a state that is more and more fluid and more and more finely material. So, what man carries as a physical body was not yet present at that time. If you hold on to the idea that I have put before you, then you will be able to visualize and imagine how the human spiritual part could have lived at that time, as well as how what is spiritual and soulful in the animal and plant world could have lived on this planet before it emerged in plants, animals and humans. We follow man from the stage when he was physically softer and then even softer, to states that appear gelatinous compared to our present flesh and further back ethereal and even earlier spiritual, so that we find him, by looking into the past, always spiritualized. This is how we have to look at all beings.

We come back to an Earth planet that in its form does not yet represent a solid skeleton for our Earth, but a soft mass of mist. If you now look further at the beings that we have traced back, we find the Earth planet by no means as material as science presents it. We find it still fluid where plant, animal and human forms have appeared. But we also find it already populated by beings in a spiritual state. Thus we see how the earth continues to develop.

I would like to make clear by means of a comparison what is of course somewhat difficult to grasp. Consider today's hard coal. You dig it out of the earth. Today it is lifeless. If you look back millions of years into the past, this coal was still within extensive forests. These forests with their undergrowth perished, were covered by the earth and transformed over millions of years into what we dig out as coal. This is the dead body of former plant formations. The plant has become stone.

So much for the external material point of view. For spiritual research, something else arises. The spiritual researcher sees how the living becomes dead, how a stone has become from the living. But spiritual research says: every stone - whether you take a rock crystal or any other rock - everything has come into being in a similar way to coal. Nothing living has come from something dead. Just as a plant would not grow out of coal, something living has never come from something dead. It is the other way around: the dead has come from the living. But what we have around us in the way of stones and rocks and crystals is nothing other than fossilized life. The inanimate emerged from the animate. Thus the earth was once a body that had nothing inanimate about it. The inanimate, the rock, is only a later phase, a precipitation from the animate. And the question is already wrongly posed if someone wants to explore how the animate arises from the inanimate, because only the inanimate arises from the animate.

When you look at a gelatinous lower animal, as we think of them in terms of materialistic science, when you imagine how their individual limbs are differentiated and how man, however, has developed out of an undifferentiated, uniform body, and how then from such a being, beings with cartilage and beings with bones arose, whose skeleton is a kind of petrification – so the whole skeleton of the earth is petrified, crystallized, it is what life has left behind. If we follow this in relation to another form of our earth, with ever thinner and thinner matter, we find: everything changes, the inanimate ceases. This thin matter is at the same time a living one. And finally – continue the same thought, I only need to hint at it – then you come back even further to times when you can find the even higher truth that just as the inanimate later arose from the animate, the material-animate arose from the spiritual in the first place. Just as the inanimate is not the origin of life, so too is mere life not the origin of spirit, but spirit is the origin of life.

However, in a remotely similar way, we have to imagine that our earth was once a spiritual being, and that life developed out of this spiritual being through a kind of hardening, just as the living later developed out of the lifeless. And so we trace the earth back to the state where it was a spiritual being. Man's soul was present in a completely different way. As we trace man further and further back, it becomes apparent that he had very different abilities, clairvoyant abilities. However, the further back we trace him, the more his independence disappears. We find him in absolute dependence as a part of the divine beings that form this earth in its original state. Thus we look back to an original state of the earth, in which man was a member of the gods, had not yet separated himself from the general divine existence, is a member of their organism, as your hand is a member of your organism.

Thus man forms a part of this spiritually conceived state of the earth; we have traced back the earth planet. Now go through again with me what is happening now in this planet Earth. We must now imagine that first the spiritual separates and leaves behind a living thing, hardens into a living thing and animates a spiritual, so that we now have an Earth that consists of spirit and matter. And the living thing is linked to a mineral and dead thing. Man is a true dual being; when we follow him, we must follow how, on the one hand, the physical organism has developed and, on the other hand, a spiritual element has developed. This spirit was originally contained in the spirit-earth. However, the spirit must be thought of in a completely different direction of development than the body. Compare: When you see the body, it appears, according to its external structure, as the perfect embodiment of this external sensual being. In terms of its spirit, it appears in such a way that we see a magnificent, powerful future. Our mental and spiritual qualities appear to us only as an inclination. This will make the idea plausible that we are dealing with two directions of development on our earth.

First of all, we have to observe the initial state of our earth. It develops in such a way that, up to a certain point in time, minerals, plants and animals and the human form, this being of sense, have separated out. This leads us to the point in time when they become the bearers of spirit. Then they are fertilized by a part that has not been absorbed into the matter that was formed earlier. Let us make a comparison. If someone comes to you and says: Here I have water. That is a certain substance, and I will cool this water in one part, so that ice floes arise. — If someone said: The ice is also water, only in a different form, so we would have to admit that. But if someone would come and wanted to say: It is ice and not water, that would be nonsense. So we can also say: Matter is nothing else but spirit. It is to spirit as ice is to water; it is spirit condensed, hardened, crystallized, if you will.

Let us follow the spiritual state of the earth up to a certain point in time. Then the spirit transforms itself into this material form. People, animals, plants and minerals arise. That is the point in time that I characterized earlier, the point in time when no human being has yet worked on this earth out of inner impulse. The being of feeling was there, just as the ice is in the water. Imagine the ice in the middle, but there is still water around it. As soon as man had reached the necessary perfection as a being of sense, he was given the opportunity to receive the spiritual spark and to be enlivened by it. He received the divine spark from the spiritual. Man had reached a certain level of development in terms of the senses. He is a real witness of the spirit and begins as a small god to continue the work of the earlier gods as his cultural work.

So you can imagine the development of a planet from the spirit to life and from there to the inanimate. The highest living being is fertilized by the spirit and the further work of the spiritual up to its peculiarity through matter. There we have a planet before us. Now you will ask: This Earth planet, where did it get the possibility to crystallize out of itself precisely this mineral kingdom with crystals formed in such a way, with plants, animals and human beings formed in such a way? — If something is to crystallize in the glass, then the forces that can accomplish the crystallization must prevail in this form.

Within the theosophical worldview, we know that every person has an eternal, imperishable core of being that did not come into being at the moment of birth. We know the doctrine of repeated lives on earth. We know that people have certain destinies for the simple reason that in past lives on earth, each person has prepared everything for himself. We have been given an account of the development of the soul in various earthly lives in various lectures, and we have seen that this life comes between two incarnations. Man is nothing other than the re-embodiment of a previous human being. We know this from the doctrine of re-embodiment and karma.

In a universal sense, we are dealing with an incarnation of the planets themselves. Just as the person who does not believe in spiritual miracles, but in spiritual natural facts, does not allow the soul of the person to arise out of nothing, just as little did the scholars of the 17th century allow earthworms to arise out of the river mud. So it is nothing more than the spiritual-soul developing only out of the spiritual-soul. This is certain from the experience of earlier developmental facts. Likewise, we have to consider the fact that the earth is now excavating such plants, animals and human forms out of itself. We have to look for the cause in earlier embodiments of our earth. Just as there is an interim period between two human incarnations, there is an interim period between two planetary incarnations. Just as we speak of people, of incarnations, so we speak of planets, of “Manvantars”. Thus we see that the earth is a re-incarnated planet from the past, and between two such planets there is an interval, a “Pralaya”. So we look back to a different state in which this earth was not yet such a planet as it is today, but we look back to an imperfect state of our earth. Just as a person in today's incarnation has abilities and powers that he has acquired from events and experiences in life, so the Earth as a whole has evolved from previous incarnations in order to get to know the regular formations of minerals, plants and animals. So we have our present planet and a predecessor. A few more words about this predecessor. What were the obvious characteristics of this predecessor? Spiritual research can trace them exactly, but I do not want to present them to you today because they seem to be plucked out of thin air. What abilities did it acquire to bring people so far that they could be fertilized by a spirit? Up to that point, man had been a kind of higher animal, he had come close to the point where development begins. I can only hint at the rest. To understand the progress that has taken place from an earlier planet to our present one, we have to realize the real meaning of the development of the earth. Occultism tells us that this meaning is as follows. The occultist knows that the spirit of the earth's development is love, and the spirit of the previous one is wisdom. In our stages of development, love is expressed, and in the earlier ones, wisdom. You can also understand this comparatively. If you understand it, you will find that our entire material earthly structure is embodied wisdom. Look at the rock crystal. You have to study, apply reason, to understand, you have to calculate. The spirit that you draw out must have been put in. Natural scientists have not yet come to understand these forms. The further we penetrate, the more we will understand that we are not dealing with unwisdom, but with wisdom. If you see a human thigh bone, look at it through a microscope. You will not find a compact mass. You will find fine beams, more beautiful than the best house. Because everything is stretched out there so that the greatest load can be carried with the least expenditure of energy. If a beam is placed at a certain angle, material can be saved. Here the miracle is performed.

The anatomist knows how the miracle of the human heart moves us, and that it is more perfect than what man develops in his soul today. These are passions, desires. No matter how he purifies them, they are not like the miracle of the heart. Man drinks coffee, tea, beer and thereby inhibits or stimulates the activity of the heart. You can trace a structure full of wisdom through the entire development of the earth. This is what has developed as a material framework. We look back on a framework that was nothing more than the basis for a new incarnation. Everything that was built as a framework was determined at that time. What is happening on earth now is the result of the passions, instincts and desires that were aroused and caused then. Look at an uncivilized 'Negro'; his soul blindly follows instincts, passions. There are no moral concepts. Man devours his fellow man. Gradually, the soul purifies itself. But wise is the basic structure, which is so imperfect in its passions. When the earth's development began again, it shaped the previously acquired basic structure again. What should happen on this earth is the purification of instincts, passions and instincts. Everything has been created, including the wise structure of how instincts and drives, moral concepts and so on, religious creativity and the sense of a soul arise from our earth. Thus, piece by piece, they originate from the earlier elementary states, like the wisdom of the structure of our basic framework.

Do not believe that out of nothing, this or that, the thigh or the heart, is formed out of nothing and thus becomes the bearer of passions and morals. To come from blind drives and instincts to the purity of moral wisdom, this wisdom of the basic structure had to grow out of long experience. This heart had to develop out of the experiences of the earlier planetary spirit. So the wisdom that underlies the basic structure of our earth is the experience of an earlier planetary incarnation of the earth spirit. On earth we have a different purpose. Here, wisdom is not experienced, here what has been wisely built up is instilled, instilled - the ennobling of drives, desires and passions. The beings ennoble themselves by living in an external relationship to each other. This external relationship of the earthly world is egoism, as it exists in all beings. It is love. This tendency of the development of love is just as much the meaning of the development of the earth as the development towards wisdom was the meaning of the predecessor of the development of the earth. When the development of the earth has reached its goal, then everything that is still egoism in man and in other beings today will have been transformed into love.

And the next incarnation will carry love within it, just as the earth carried wisdom within it. Thus an original planet that acquires wisdom passes into everything that people accomplish here in the development of the earth into an embodied love. When we look into the future, it means a perspective view, a view to the fact that man deifies himself and makes himself the bearer of love, in order to then give it back to his successor, and to whom he will belong again as a higher being, like the higher developed beings who presided over the development of the earth and still preside over it today.

Now I can only add what real occultism has to say about the outer presentation of this meaning of development. Just as something always has to be discarded when a higher development takes place, so it is with today's plants. Originally they did not exist in this form. They can only flourish on soil that is mineral; they can grow out of it. If we are talking about a life that was originally mere and about the fact that the mineral aspect has only gradually emerged, then our present-day plants were not present in the original life, but other plant forms were. These plant forms have, on the one hand, developed in relation to the mineral kingdom and, on the other hand, further developed into the present-day plant kingdom, which will not live without the mineral kingdom. That is the meaning of higher development: it is based on something. The plant has pressed down part of the mineral kingdom on which it stands. The animal kingdom has excreted the plant kingdom and feeds on it. The plant kingdom assimilates the carbon dioxide that humans exhale and exhale oxygen, which humans need. If you look into the human world itself, you can see that man, as master of the outer world, can only live on the basis of the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John, where Christ Jesus shows that he is aware that a higher being can only rise on the basis of a lower one, just as a plant can only rise on mineral soil, an animal on vegetable soil. Everything is helpful and healing on the soil of the apostles. Hence the great gratitude expressed in the parable of the washing of the feet. The spirit is at the same time the origin of this soil, but the substantiality of the soil must always be withdrawn so that something finer and younger can develop on it.

Thus the later form that spirituality took could only develop by excluding matter. Just as the original life expelled the mineral kingdom, so the moon was also expelled. Thus the matter of the moon is to be regarded as the rejected brother of the development of the earth, which was united with it in its earlier planetary existence. The moon has been cast off and still has a spiritual connection to the earth. It is necessary for this earth as the mineral kingdom is for the plant kingdom, as the plant kingdom is for the animal kingdom.

If we go further back, we will not only see the earth united with the moon, with what the secret researchers have called the moon, today's moon is only the cast-out corpse. It is similar with the sun. I have been able to show you a perspective of how the theosophical view looks at planetary development. The planets as they appear to us in the sky today present themselves in a certain relationship for the theosophical research. What is the sun today, what is the moon today, has emerged in the course of development. They represent other phases of development. If you look back to your own origin and source, you will be able to say to the child: This represents my own development. In a sense, the occultists see the planets in this way, so that they appear as childhood stages compared to the development of the earth. Other planets appear as those that have reached the stage in which the earth is today much earlier.

Thus, occultists present this development in such a way that they place the seven planets in a series that has a relationship in its individual links, as it is expressed in the successive stages of human development. Just as this represents that which can also stand side by side, so for the secret researcher this side by side is represented in that which each individual can also go through, namely: this development through forms that are preserved in the planets neighboring the earth. This is expressed by the science of secret in mnemonic signs. These are the names of the days of the week. “Cheap philosophy” — many will object. In the seven days of the week, the planets represent their own development on Earth. We have to start from Saturday. The development of Mars takes place on Earth. Secret research calls the development of Mercury the development in which man intervenes and which will persist until the end of the development. So this is how it corresponds:

Saturday: Saturn,
Sunday: the Sun
Monday: the Moon
Tuesday: Mars
Wednesday: Mercury
Thursday: Jupiter
Friday: Venus

Thus, in the names of the days of the week in the most diverse languages, you have a marker for planetary development everywhere.

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I was only able to follow this development for a short distance, namely from the Earth to the Moon. So you can see that and how meaning and significance is added to this development through theosophical research. Those who not only have a feeling for our research, but also for the deeper forces, for the forces in development, have always understood that the earth comes from a development and progresses to a further development, that it is the planet that represents the stage of development of love, and that wisdom develops through love into a higher form. The next thing that surrounds us is the floods of the development of the earth planet, which present themselves as a tendency towards love.

One of the great minds sensed this in a poem when he wanted to express the meaning of the earth's development, when he looked up at the next goal of the earth's development, when he looked up at what man cannot look beyond. Then it appeared to him like a glance of the divine spirit, like a circle in which the infinity of the divine spirit can express itself. It seems as if the development of humanity, the whole meaning of planetary development, can express itself in the small spirit of the earth. But the spirit of the earth reveals to him what its essence is, what has become of earlier forces, and what will be transformed into later forces. And if I speak from the human point of view, the meaning of planetary development appears to us as development towards love. This is also expressed by Dante, the great thinker and poet, in the words:

The orbiting that was received in you
showed itself, like reflected light,
when I observed it for a while all around,
seemed to me in itself, in its own coloring
painted with our image,
which is why my gaze was completely absorbed in it.
Just as the geometrician becomes completely absorbed
in measuring out the compass and, pondering,
cannot find the principle he needs:
so it was with me at that new sight.
I wanted to see how the image related to the circle
and how it fitted into it;
but for this, not only my own wings were not enough,
my spirit was not struck by lightning,
which brought it what it longed for.
Here the power of the lofty imagination broke,
but already my desire and will moved,
like a wheel that drives the same revolution,
love that moves the sun and stars.