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| Ex Deo Nascimur In Christo Morimur Per Spiritum Sanctum Reviviscimus |
Rudolf Steiner, Elberfeld, Germany, June 13, 1915:
At present we live in the midst of
events that arouse every feeling of the human soul in the deepest and most
significant way. We live in the midst of events that cause death to pass over
the Earth very, very frequently, in a comparatively short time, death that has
always been looked upon by our spiritual science as a riddle which must be
solved. The times in which we live send pain and suffering to many human souls,
but let us hope that these times also bear within them forces for the unfolding
of man's future development. Many things are born out of pain and suffering, and
in these fateful days spiritual-scientific thoughts in particular are well
suited to awaken in us forces of confidence and of hope. Let me therefore unfold
a few thoughts before your souls. Although not directly, they are nevertheless
indirectly connected with feelings that come to the surface in these stormy and
sorrowful times.
What we can see and feel in the
manifold events of the present time is the fact that many people abandon the
physical plane at a comparatively early age of their earthly life. What
characterizes the events of the present is that they call away many young lives
from the physical plane.
We know that when a human being
passes through the portal of death, he must leave his physical body to the
elements of the Earth. When he passes through the portal of death, he is, to
begin with, still united with his etheric body, his astral body, and his ego. And
we know that after a comparatively short time the etheric body becomes severed
from the human being, who then continues along the path which he must tread
between death and a new birth; he passes through the after-death experiences
with his ego and his astral body and together with those members of his
spiritual nature which can only be acquired in the spiritual world. Afterwards,
however, as he continues along his path during the time between death and a new
birth, also the etheric body becomes severed from the human individuality and
goes its own ways.
Now it must be evident to everyone
of us that the etheric body of a man who died young must have an entirely
different constitution than that of a man who died after having reached, so to
speak, a normal age. We know that the ordinary natural science of today always
speaks of the fact that forces never get lost, but transform themselves. Natural
science recognizes this truth in regard to the external world of physical life;
it admits that forces do not get lost, but merely transform themselves. Spiritual
science must teach that this truth should be recognized in regard to the
spiritual world.
When an etheric body abandons a
human being who has passed through the portal of death at an early age, that
etheric body might still have maintained that man's life on the physical plane
for many decades. The constitution of an etheric body must be of such a kind as
to enable it to provide the life-forces required by a human being until he
reaches an advanced age. But when a human being passes through the portal of
death in his 25th, 26th or 30th year, the
etheric body that abandons him still possesses the forces that might have
enabled it to preserve physical life up to the 60th, 70th
or 80th year. These forces live in the etheric body; they do not go
lost.
Particularly at a time such as the
present one, in which so many etheric bodies are entrusted, as it were, to the
spiritual worlds, we should contemplate the following problem: What takes place
with the etheric bodies of those who have passed through the portal of death in
their early youth? — In order to obtain a sound answer to this question, it will
be a good thing to become acquainted first of all with the path trodden by man's
etheric body while he is passing through his life between birth and death.
Man's external physical body (we
know this, for it is a trivial truth) grows older and older. But this is not the
case with the etheric body. It may perhaps be difficult to understand this, but
the etheric body does not in any way grow older; the etheric body grows younger
and younger, in the same degree in which the physical body grows older, until it
reaches, as it were, a certain childlike stage of etheric existence, when the
human being passes through the portal of death after having reached a normal
age. We should therefore say to ourselves: When we begin our physical life on
Earth through birth, then our etheric body, that has become united with our
physical body, is, comparatively speaking, old, and in the course of our earthly
life it grows younger and younger, until it reaches its childhood stage, when we
pass through the portal of death. We might also say: When a human being dies in
his young years, his etheric body has not grown young enough, but has instead
maintained a certain age. What does this really mean? — A concrete example,
already known to many of you, but that I must nevertheless repeat here, a real
event of recent times, experienced by quite a number of our friends, may throw
some light upon this question.
This concrete example is really
connected with a child, with the little boy of one of our members. After an
evening lecture at Dornach, we were told that the son of our friend Faiss was
missing — a little boy of seven. It was soon evident that a terrible accident
must have happened, for a large furniture van had arrived in the late afternoon,
moving toward the Goetheanum building. Curiously enough, this furniture van had
appeared in a part where perhaps no furniture van had been seen for a long time,
or perhaps never at all, and where perhaps no furniture van would ever be seen
again. At a certain spot, this large van had overturned; this had happened
toward evening. Nothing else had been noticed, but the little boy was missing.
When our friends, with the help of other people, began to lift the van between
eleven and twelve at night (the owners intended to lift it the following day for
it had fallen most awkwardly and was moreover a very heavy van), sparing no
effort in doing so, and when they at last succeeded in lifting it, with the help
of other people, it appeared that the little boy, Theodor Faiss, had passed by
just when the van had collapsed, so that it fell on top of him. This child (he
was only seven years old) was an exceptionally lovable child, with exceptionally
beautiful qualities.
In order to see this in the light
of spiritual science, let me remind you of a logical train of thoughts which I
have often advanced in our circles. I have frequently explained to you that a
superficial manner of thinking, an untrained manner of thinking, easily mixes up
cause and effect; indeed, such confusions in regard to cause and effect are very
frequent. I tried to explain this with the aid of an example, which was only
meant as a comparison. Take the following case: You see a man who is walking
along the bank of a river; you see him fall into the river and try to reach him.
Where he fell into the river, you see a stone. You then try to draw the man out
of the water; he is dead. What would be more natural than to think that he had
stumbled over the stone, thus falling into the water and drowning? But this need
not be true at all; a physical investigation may show us that his destiny in no
way led him to the stone or anything else, but that at the very moment when he
reached the stone, he had a stroke, and this stroke was the cause of his falling
into the water. If we were not to investigate matters, we would simply say that
the cause of his death was the fact that he fell into the river. Yet this would
be the exact opposite of the truth.
In the case of things that are
connected with the spiritual world, it is far more difficult to perceive the
true relationship of cause and effect. We should therefore say to ourselves:
When we have before us a case resembling that of the boy who found his death
under circumstances that were so extraordinary (other things too occurred that
made it appear extraordinary), we should not think — if we consider the whole
case from a higher standpoint — that for instance the following course of
events took place: that the furniture van arrived and overturned, and that the
child simply happened to be crushed by it, so that the van was the real cause of
the child's death. In a similar case, we think correctly and contemplate it from
a spiritual-scientific standpoint if we say instead that the boy's karma had
reached its end and that the van really arrived at that particular spot because
the child had to encounter its death. The van therefore merely provided
the external conditions that enabled the child to meet its death, as prescribed
in its karma. Trivially speaking, we might say: The child's Higher Self, that
wished to pass through the portal of death, gave orders that this situation
should arise, it ordered that these events should occur. Of course, those who
think in accordance with the mentality of our time will find that this is quite
an insane idea. Spiritual science must however show that many things which are
looked upon as insane by the materialistically minded people of the present
time really correspond to the truth.
In this particular case, however,
it is significant that the etheric body of a child of seven severed itself from
the child's individuality, from that part of its being which then continued
along its path in the spiritual world, united with its ego and astral body. Now
I do not mean to speak of the further path taken by the individuality of little
Theodor Faiss, but I would rather draw your attention to the fact that this
etheric body was of such a kind that its life-forces nurtured that boy's
physical existence for only seven years; nevertheless it contained forces that
might have enabled it to sustain a whole existence between birth and death,
feeding it with life-forces. These forces remained in that etheric body and the
significant fact is that all those who had any spiritual connection with the
building which we intend to erect at Dornach in the service of spiritual
science know from that day which is connected with the death of little Theodor
Faiss, what has become of his etheric body.
Many things must be achieved in
connection with the building. Let me now say a few things in regard to the
inspirations which must now be brought down from the spiritual worlds. Helping
forces are needed if everything that must be brought down from the spiritual
world is really to come down. Ever since the death of little Theodor Faiss, we
can see that our Dornach building is enveloped by the greatly enlarged etheric
body of this child, as if by an aura that reaches very far. Indeed, we may even
determine the limits of this enveloping aura. If you contemplate the Dornach
building you will know (and those who have seen it know this) that it is a
double cupola building. (A drawing is made). Here is a separate fire-box
building, constructed in a special way, according to principles dictated by
spiritual science, and here is another building, where the glass windows for the
Goetheanum are cut. Casually I might also add that here you may see the
so-called “Haus Hansi”, the house in which I live. Now it is strange to see that
little Theodor Faiss' aura, enveloping the whole building, reaches as far as
this spot, near the woods; then it goes past the fire-box building and through
the very midst of the building where the windows are cut, and finally past Haus
Hansi, but without enclosing it. Consequently, when we enter the Goetheanum, we
actually enter this etheric aura.
I have often explained to you that
when the etheric body frees itself from the physical body it grows large.
Consequently we should not wonder at the large size of this etheric body. It
contains mediating forces, and in these we may find certain impressions from the
spiritual world, which are needed to create the forms and the artistic structure
of our building. Those who work upon the building know how much they owe to this
etheric aura. And I shall never hesitate to confess that ever since little
Theodor's death, the work upon the building became possible, because the boy's
etheric body spreading over the building supplied the mediating forces that were
needed to draw down inspirations from the spiritual world. It would be far
easier to hide this fact, or to take on airs as if these mediating forces were
not needed. But this is not the essential point; the essential point is to
recognize the true facts.
If we consider the facts which I
have described to you just now, we can grasp how matters really stand with an
etheric body that had to cut itself off from the existence of a human being at a
moment when death closed this existence at an early age. It is important to note
that the etheric body does not remain, as it were, a mere misty shape, in which
the physical body lies embedded. Even the true aspect of the physical body
cannot be recognized if we merely describe a mass of muscles, bones, etc. It can
only be recognized if we see in it, as it were, a kind of temple, an abode of
the Godhead — if we see it standing before us like a microcosm. We recognize
what pertains to the physical body only if we realize that its forms are really
taken from the whole universe and that in regard to his physical body the human
being is a wonderful structure. Those who know the feelings voiced in the first
dialogue of my second Mystery Play, “The Souls' Probation”, can have an idea of
how the individual human being is placed into his physical existence; all the
hierarchies are at work on his physical body, a whole world of divine beings has
the task of placing a human being into his physical existence. If we bear in
mind to some extent the observations of clairvoyant knowledge, we fully learn to
know the significance of the physical body.
You see, clairvoyant knowledge
arises when our soul-spiritual part is lifted out of our physical-corporeal
part, so that we are endowed with consciousness and with perceptive forces in
the soul-spiritual sphere, outside the body.
From a purely external standpoint,
there is really no difference between one who is able to perceive clairvoyantly
and one who is asleep, for in both cases the soul-spiritual part is lifted out
of the physical-corporeal part. The clairvoyant consciousness is able to
perceive outside the physical body, so that it can have an idea of what takes
place with the human being when he is asleep.
To facilitate matters, let me draw
you a diagram. (A drawing is made.) Now let us assume that this is the
physical-corporeal part and that this is the soul-spiritual part of a sleeping human being.
When a man is awake, the soul-spiritual part is of course contained in the
physical-corporeal part; but let us now imagine a sleeping human being. On the
bed lie his physical body and his etheric body; they do not contain his astral
body and his ego, as is the case when he is awake. We might say, however: The
activity that our astral body and ego carry on within our physical body while we
are awake does not cease completely while we are asleep. To begin with, and
seen purely from outside, the sleeping human being lying there on the bed has a
lifeless aspect, but to a clairvoyant consciousness the physical and etheric
body of the man lying there asleep on the bed do not present a lifeless aspect.
The seer must give an entirely different description of a sleeping human being,
of this physical and etheric human being, lying there asleep on his bed. A
clairvoyant seer must say: The whole day long the Sun shone over that region of
the Earth where the human beings are now sleeping. Now it is night. (I am
speaking of normal conditions, when people are asleep during the night and awake
during the day, I am not speaking of the conditions of life in great cities, of
metropolitan habits). Darkness envelops that region on which the Sun shone the
whole day long. And now it is strange to notice the following: The Earth, as a
living being, begins to think, and the organs through which the Earth thinks are
the sleeping human bodies.
The human beings think through
their brain, and in the same way the Earth thinks through these sleeping human
bodies. The Earth always perceives by day; it perceives through the fact that
the Sun shines upon it out of the cosmic spaces. That is the Earth's perception.
And during the night, the Earth works out in thoughts all its perceptions. “The
Earth thinks”, says the clairvoyant seer; the Earth thinks because it makes use
of the sleeping human beings. Every sleeping human being becomes, as it were, a
brain-molecule of the Earth. Our physical body is organized in such a way that
it can be used by the Earth for its thinking activity, when we do not use it
ourselves.
Just as the Earth thinks through
the physical body, so it “imagines” — you know what imaginative knowledge is —
it imagines all that is not earthly upon the Earth itself, all that belongs to
the Earth from out the cosmos. The Earth imagines this through the etheric
body.
We may discern in the sleeping
human body parts of the Earth's brain, and when the human being is asleep we
may discern in his etheric body the imagination of that part of the universe
which belongs, to begin with, to the Earth. The etheric body contains, in a play
of wonderful pictures, all the forces that must stream into the Earth out of the
etheric world, so that the Earth's events may take place.
As a physical being man belongs to
the Earth, and just as truly does he belong to the heavens as an etheric being.
We can use our physical body as an organ of thinking only because it is
organized for that purpose, because the Earth sets it free, as it were, for this
purpose, when we are awake. And we can use our etheric body in such a way
that it provides us with life-forces only because the heavens place it at our
disposal when we are awake, and because the heavenly forces of imagination are
transformed into life-forces within us when we are awake.
Thus we cannot speak of our etheric
body merely as a misty form, but we should rather speak of it as a microcosmic
form reflecting the heavens. When we are born, the etheric body is handed over
to us as a specially perfect form. When we are born, our etheric body glistens
and shines inwardly, because it is so full of imaginations that come toward it
from the great universe. It is a magnificent reflection of the universe! All that
we acquire during our life as culture, knowledge, and forces of the will and of
feeling is all drawn out of our etheric body as we grow old in the course of
our existence between birth and death. Heaven's cosmic forces give us what they
must give us during our life between birth and death, and so we are once more
young as etheric beings when we have lived through a normal life between birth
and death, for then we have drawn out of our etheric body everything that could
be drawn out of it.
But when an etheric body belonging
to a youthful body passes through the portal of death, it still contains a
great, great deal of unused heavenly light. That is why it becomes a mediator of
the forces which I have described to you. Quite apart from what takes place with
the individuality of a human soul such as the one of which we spoke just now,
its etheric body almost becomes a heavenly gift, a gift of the spiritual worlds.
Such an etheric body can therefore have the inspiring influence that I have
described to you.
It would lead us too far to speak
of the peculiar karma of a human soul that is able to make such a sacrifice.
This cannot be produced artificially; it must be connected with the whole karma
of the human being that is called upon to make this sacrifice, thus fulfilling
something within the process of development of the world that is destined to
play a part in the spiritual progress of humanity — and this is the aim of our
building at Dornach, that will house our spiritual-scientific endeavours.
Consider now that we live in a time
in which many of these etheric bodies, though they may not be as young as
Theodor Faiss, but which are nevertheless etheric bodies coming from youthful
human lives, inhabit, as it were, the spiritual atmosphere. Those who crossed
the threshold of death on the bloodstained battlefields pass through this
portal of death in a different way than those who pass through it when they die
in bed, or as a result of an ordinary accident. In a certain way, they pass
through the portal of death so that they reckon with their death, even though
this may be more or less unconscious, but in a certain way the astral body
reckons with death. We can always say that these deaths are sacrifices. All the
etheric bodies of youthful human beings that thus ascend to the spiritual world
contain unused forces. And at present we are facing an epoch in the evolution of
humanity in which the souls of men will be able to look up consciously to the
spiritual worlds and say to themselves: A time has gone by which sent many, many
unused etheric bodies to the spiritual world. These unused etheric bodies
contain forces. And from a spiritual-scientific standpoint, we may say even at
the present time that these unused etheric bodies contain forces that will be
very significant for the evolution of humanity.
When similar things are discussed,
it should be emphasized that they cannot apply to every war that was waged in
the evolution of humanity upon the Earth. What takes place spiritually, what
should be contemplated with the aid of spiritual science, is not so easy as
natural science thinks. Other wars belonging to the past require to be spoken
of differently. And what I am now explaining to you only applies to the present
fateful times.
Now imagine the following: On
various occasions we had to emphasize the fact that today we do not pursue
spiritual science arbitrarily, but that this is connected with the evolutionary
process of humanity. It is connected with the progress of humanity that the
human beings should gradually become acquainted with spiritual science. We know
that every epoch of human evolution has its particular task. You will find this
in many of my lectures. And we can realize that man's future salvation, man's
welfare in the nearest future, can only flourish if that which spiritual science
can reveal becomes the spiritual property of an ever growing number of human
souls.
Consider now — you, who are filled
with a heartfelt enthusiasm for spiritual science — consider the difficulties
connected with the propagation of spiritual-scientific truths at the present
time! Consider the strong opposition that spiritual-scientific truths encounter
on the part of people outside. Consider how these truths are slandered, how
people look upon them as something insane, distorted, and mad, how they consider
them to be empty fantasies. Indeed, I might mention striking cases, yet they
would all be merely a portion of what everyone can feel, if he is filled with
enthusiasm for spiritual science and faces a world, desirous that this world
should take up spiritual science ... a world that is so little inclined to take
it up!
The spiritual scientist may now
say: What the mere earthly forces of humanity are able to attain seems so weak,
so very weak, in comparison to the tasks of spiritual science! But in the near
future the unused etheric bodies of those who had to carry life and soul
through the portal of death, on the battlefields where the events of our time
are taking place, will be there — and these etheric bodies with their unused
forces will be inspiring forces, they will be helping forces in the near future.
We only need to look up, but not in an intellectual or theoretical way, we only
need to look up to the heavenly etheric bodies of those who in the present
fateful times passed through the portal of death in their youth; we only need to
direct our souls, as it were, in the mood of prayer toward these etheric bodies
... all those who are filled with enthusiasm for spiritual science only need to
direct their souls toward these forces, and they will obtain help from these
etheric bodies. Help will come! Those who are genuinely filled with a
spiritual-scientific mentality and having a deep life in common with these
etheric bodies will find that among the many fruits that will fall into the lap
of our earnest time there will also be the one that the souls of men who are
filled with enthusiasm for spiritual science will receive the instreaming forces
of the youthful etheric bodies that were sacrificed in these terrible times;
these forces will flow into them. The souls of those who will live in physical
bodies in the near future, and who genuinely feel this, will be filled by the
forces of the etheric bodies that were thus sacrificed; their forces will stream
into them. And these will be heavenly forces, that is to say, forces pertaining
to the spiritual world! Entirely different forces will in future hold sway in
the world, so that the world may receive what it should receive: a
spiritual-scientific mentality. If we but find the possibility of recognizing
what is taking place now, if we recognize it in accordance with the explanations
given to you just now, this fateful present will acquire a deep, deep
significance also for those who pursue spiritual science.
I already explained to you how
wonderful are the imaginative forms contained in man's etheric body! Yet they
would present a different aspect if they had not passed through a human etheric
body. We may also apply to this field the saying: “Out of nothing, comes
nothing.” Although this is not an absolute truth, it is nevertheless valid for
this particular field. The etheric body that man receives through the fact that
the human soul enters physical existence through birth contains a whole
collection of forces pertaining to the spiritual world. These forces are
gradually used up during physical life. They do not come from nothing, they
exist in the spiritual world. They may, of course, also be found in the
spiritual world, but it is difficult to discover them directly in the spiritual
world; for this we would have to unfold far greater powers. They can be used and
they can help us more easily when they have passed through a human being who
died young, and in that case they appear together with what they contain through
the fact that they passed through that human being. All the forces that lived in
the youthful etheric body of little Theodor Faiss would be in the spiritual
world even if he had not existed, but without him it would be a Herculean task
to draw them down. Ever since they have become accessible to us through that
boy, it is far easier to be inspired by them, so that there is a difference.
Let us now consider the following:
All those who pass through the portal of death as a result of the war, or
through some other accident, would not yield such a great number of etheric
bodies had the war not broken out. Of course, all these forces also exist in
the cosmos, but they could not be employed by the human beings on Earth, for it
would be too difficult to use them. Another reason why they could not be
employed is that they would be entirely used up in the life of men who die at a
normal age. This is a very significant fact; it is most important that these
heavenly forces should have passed through human bodies, for this renders them,
as it were, free from the ordinary course of development. Yet this very freedom
also makes it possible that these forces be used for other purposes than the
salvation of humanity.
These forces could be used in
different ways. Let us take for granted that human life develops in the light of
freedom. Let us then assume that Ahriman succeeds in darkening human thought and
reason to such an extent as to induce him to reject spiritual science. The
etheric bodies would then still be there, but no souls would be there, filled
with enthusiasm for spiritual science and able to place these forces at the
service of the Earth's progress. Lucifer and Ahriman would in that case be able
to exercise their influence and they would make use of these etheric forces,
either by leading them into the world built up by Lucifer, or into that built up
by Ahriman.
Consider the tremendous importance
of this fact! It means that it will depend on man, as it were, how these
forces, bestowed upon the world through death-sacrifices, will be embodied in
the evolutionary process of the Earth. They serve the evolutionary process of
the world through the fact that they can inspire us with what spiritual science
has kindled. If materialism were to take hold of every mind, or if nationalism
were to spread out exclusively in the form of passion, then Lucifer and Ahriman
would be able to use these forces for their own end and in that case these
forces would be unable to further the progress of the Earth. If we consider
these connections, then the deep significance which spiritual science has for
human development on Earth rises up before us. And only then shall we be
able to say: In order that these forces, sacrificed through death, may be
rightly used for the progress of human development, it is necessary that the new
spirit, which is the outcome of spiritual science, should take hold of those
human beings who are capable of grasping it. If we consider spiritual science in
connection with the spiritual process of evolution, which comes to the fore so
clearly in these fateful days, then we realize that spiritual science is
something tremendously great and sacred. The new spirit which can be acquired
through spiritual science thus becomes something that may be compared with the
mood of prayer and it may be comprised in the words:
O cosmic spirit, let us be completely filled with the spirit that
grows out of spiritual science, so that we may not fail to wrest from Ahriman
and Lucifer that which can be of help to the Earth, for its salvation and its
progress!
Our building is intended to be a
symbol of the soul-attitude that humanity should adopt through spiritual
science; for that reason, it is built in such a way that its forms are an
artistic expression of what spiritual science is able to give us.
I would be obliged to speak of many
things were I to explain to you all that is contained in the details of this
building. But you will learn to know them when you shall see the building in the
course of time and participate in what takes place within it.
Today I will just mention one
thing connected with the explanations which I gave just now. There will be a
plastic group in a significant place of our building, where it turns to the
East. This plastic group in particular expresses something that should
completely fill our consciousness at the present time. Apart from the details
that will be added to the group, we may say that it consists of three chief
figures. Three beings express themselves in this plastic group. In this
sculpture we shall see a kind of rock with a projecting part, and in this
projection there will be a cave. The central figure of the group will stand upon
the projecting rock. It is quite indifferent what name we give to this central
figure, but we may see in it the representative of man on Earth, man's
representative in the highest meaning of the word. And if we see the ideal of
humanity in that human being who for three years bore within him the Christ,
then we may also see the Christ in this central figure of our plastic group. Yet
we should not simply face the statue with the thought: “That is meant to be the
Christ”, for this would be wrong. Instead, we should experience everything in an
artistic way, that is to say, we should not interpret things symbolically from
outside, but everything should result from what the forms themselves reveal.
Above, you may see a second shape.
This being has a head resembling (I can only say, resembling) a human head. It
is really formed in such a way that it has a strongly developed skull and
particularly a strongly developed forehead. Whereas in man these parts are
relatively rigid, everything in that being is extremely mobile. That is to say,
everything is an expression of the soul. Just as we can move our hands and
fingers, but not the upper parts of our head, so this being can move everything
up there. And the sculptural work expresses that everything up there is mobile.
In this being, the lower part of the physiognomy recedes in a marked way. One
might say that the mighty skull dominates the face, which recedes. (I can only
discuss a few details, for every line of this sculpture is significant). It is
characteristic that the ear of this being is connected with that part which has,
in the case of man, deteriorated and become his larynx. The lobe of the larynx
grows upwards and forms the lower part of the ear, whereas the upper part of the
ear is formed by the forehead. On the other side, we can see two protuberances
that remind us of birds' wings, and in between there is a form that as a whole
resembles a transformed human countenance. The wings, larynx, and ear are one
form. We may therefore say that this being lives with its wings in the harmony
of the spheres; it swings through the spaces, through the waves of the harmony
of the spheres, and this becomes localized in the ear. (In man, all this has
deteriorated). Through the fact that the Representative of Mankind raises His
left hand, the wings of that Being break against the rock. You may now guess
that this falling shape with the broken wings is meant to be Lucifer.
Below in the cave we can see
another shape. Its wings do not resemble birds' wings, but those of a bat. Its
body is like that of a dragon, or of a worm, and its head again reminds us of a
human head. Whereas in Lucifer's forehead everything is powerfully developed,
the forehead of this second being recedes and is quite undeveloped. Instead, the
lower parts, toward the jaw, are strongly developed. This being is enwrapped in
gold; it is the gold contained in the Earth. The gold of the Earth takes on the
shape of strong fetters that chain this shape to the cave. It writhes under the
influence of Christ's hand pointing downward, the hand of the Representative of
Mankind. The shape in the cave is Ahriman; it is Ahriman fettered by the gold of
the Earth.
The above explanations can really
give you, as it were, an idea of the whole. Yet this idea merely indicates the
essential point. The essential point that we must bear in mind is that we should
never imitate the mistake of the old theosophists, who always work with symbols;
the essential point which we must bear in mind is that everything in spiritual
science that tends toward human feeling should be transformed into something
artistic. We should therefore not say that these sculptures express “this or
that”, but they should reveal to us, through what they are artistically and
through what we can see in them, the relation of man, or of Christ, to Lucifer
and Ahriman. For that reason it is impossible to express this with the artistic
means of the past. Every movement of the fingers and of the hands, the way in
which the hands are shaped, are significant, for they must express something
significant. At first we may think that Christ raises His left hand and sends
out forces with the intention of breaking Lucifer's wings and of causing him to
fall. We might also think that the right hand of Christ pointing downward sends
out forces that fetter Ahriman. Yet it would be quite wrong to think so.
In order to explain the significant
fact contained in this, let me remind you of one of the greatest works of art
that have so far been produced, of Michelangelo's Last Judgment, in the Sistine
Chapel in Rome. There we see Christ sending the righteous men to heaven and the
sinful ones to hell. We see Christ sending one part of mankind to a good world
and the other part to an evil world. The Christ that is portrayed on
Michelangelo's picture is not the Christ whose true nature we must, from now
onward, learn to know through spiritual science. The true Christ never condemns
in wrath, nor does he mete out praise in ordinary love. His influence goes out
of him simply because he is there; Lucifer's wings do not get broken, but
it is Lucifer himself who breaks them, as a result of what takes place within
his soul through the fact that he is in the proximity of Christ. And Ahriman
fetters himself, as a result of what takes place within his soul, through the
fact that he is in the proximity of Christ. When Christ raises his left hand and
points downward with his right hand, he only expresses purest compassion with
the world. Lucifer, there above, cannot bear this, he cannot bear the proximity
of Christ's hand. And what he thus experiences within him induces him to break
his wings. It is not Christ who breaks them, it is Lucifer himself who breaks
his own wings.
Michelangelo was not as yet able to
portray the real Christ. Christ is such a significant being and it is so
difficult to understand Him that this understanding can only be reached in the
course of time. Only in the future shall we be able to grasp the Christ, Who
induces the other beings to condemn or to redeem themselves, simply through the
fact that He is there. The Christ on Michelangelo's painting still has
Luciferic and Ahrimanic traits, for he sends the sinners to hell in wrath and
leads the righteous to heaven, so that his passions are active. But in our
sculpture, Christ is mute, impersonal, and the beings that approach Him must
judge themselves.
You may therefore see that man's
position in the world that contains the Luciferic and the Ahrimanic forces will
be significantly expressed in our building. You will see in it the artistic
expression of beings that can only be found in the spiritual world. Naturalism
in art and everything toward which art has striven in recent times as a result
of the materialism which has taken hold of man must be overcome by the art which we
cultivate here. Even in the sphere of art something entirely new must enter the
world through spiritual science, something that is able to overcome even the
greatest artistic achievement — the Christ, portrayed in Michelangelo's Last
Judgment.
It is permissible to say this if
we emphasize on the other hand something that we should not forget: that in
spite of everything, our building is but a first, primitive beginning.
Everything in this building is still imperfect and elementary, it is merely a
beginning, yet it is the beginning of an entirely new impulse. We should of
course bear in mind that everything is imperfect, yet at the same time we should
not fail to notice in this the new impulse that will enter human life.
Consider how easy it is to ignore a
gift of cosmic life consisting of the unused forces pertaining to the etheric
bodies of human beings! Consider how these unused forces of the human etheric
bodies can fall a prey to Lucifer and Ahriman, if we do not find the possibility
of including them in the evolution of the Earth, for the welfare of the
Earth!
Here we touch upon a great mystery,
connected with the evolution of humanity upon the Earth. IT IS THE MYSTERY OF
THE CONNECTION EXISTING BETWEEN THE CHRIST-IMPULSE AND THE IMPULSES OF LUCIFER
AND OF AHRIMAN. This connection of the Christ-impulse with the Lucifer-impulse
and with the Ahriman-impulse will be grasped more and more clearly in the near
future.
Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces
surge through the world, but owing to the fact that man is conscious of Christ,
owing to his Christ-consciousness, he is like a sailor who must steer his boat
through the storms called up by Lucifer and Ahriman. He can steer his
boat through that ocean, whose living substance consists of Lucifer and of
Ahriman; he can do this in spite of everything, because he sits in his
Christ-boat.
The true reason why we come
together in our group meetings is not that of learning in a theoretical way one
or the other truth which spiritual science can reveal; the true reason why
we assemble is that everything that lives in our souls should be filled with the
spirit that can flow out of spiritual science. The essential point is not WHAT
we think, but HOW we think, feel, and will. The smallest or the greatest things
in the evolution of the Earth may rise up before our soul's eye, yet everything
shows us how necessary it is for the human beings of the future to become
acquainted above all with the significance of the triad Christ, Lucifer, and
Ahriman. Michelangelo was unable to grasp this, and in the times that have gone
by men were unable to see how these three beings stand within the world. The
true nature of Christ will only be grasped in the right way if we can see Him in
relation to the forces which are active in the same way in which the North and
the South poles are active: in relation to the forces of Lucifer and of
Ahriman.
Many things connected with these
thoughts will be discussed in the next few days for those who can remain. Today
I wished to bring before your souls thoughts that render the
spiritual-scientific attitude so important even in regard to the significant
things that will in the near future appear in the spiritual world to those who
can discern the spiritual behind the physical events.
Oh how earnestly one would like to
entreat the guardian spirits and the guardian divinities of the Earth and of
humanity to give man strength, so that the things needed for the welfare of
mankind may take place!
There above will be the unused
etheric forces of those human beings who passed through death in their youth.
But here on Earth there must be human hearts and human souls who look up to
these forces so that they can be included in the right direction of human
evolution. It is not only essential that these forces should exist up there, for
they can fall a prey to Lucifer and Ahriman, but it is essential above all that
here below physical bodies should be inhabited by human souls that send up their
reverent thoughts to these sacrificed etheric bodies. On this circumstance will
depend the way in which these forces will stream into the evolution of humanity,
these forces that arose on the battlefields streaming with blood, where
sacrifices are made and suffering is borne.
This indicates more or less what
spiritual science is able to contribute to the future development of humanity,
if a certain number of people really takes in that which can only be recognized
through spiritual science.
Before I close this lecture let me
once more address to your souls a few pragmatic words that express what the
present time, so fraught with destiny, is able to give us:
From the courage
of the fighters
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the abandoned,
From the nation's sacrifices
Shall grow forth a spirit-fruit
If souls will lead, in spirit-consciousness,
Their mind and heart into the spirit-realm.
(ORIGINAL TEXT:)
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the abandoned,
From the nation's sacrifices
Shall grow forth a spirit-fruit
If souls will lead, in spirit-consciousness,
Their mind and heart into the spirit-realm.
(ORIGINAL TEXT:)
Aus dem Mut der
Kämpfer,
Aus dem Blut der Schlachten,
Aus dem Leid Verlassener,
Aus des Volkes Opfertaten —
Wird erwachsen Geistesfrucht,
Lenken Seelen giestbewusst
Ihren Sinn ins Geisterreich.
Aus dem Blut der Schlachten,
Aus dem Leid Verlassener,
Aus des Volkes Opfertaten —
Wird erwachsen Geistesfrucht,
Lenken Seelen giestbewusst
Ihren Sinn ins Geisterreich.
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