Cosmic and Human Metamorphoses. Lecture 1.
Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, February 6, 1917:
Let us turn
our thoughts, my dear friends, as we do continually, to the guardian spirits of
those who are absent from us, taking their place where the great destinies of
the time are being fulfilled:
Spirits ever watchful, Guardian of their souls! May your vibrations waft To the Earth-men committed to your charge Our souls' petitioning love: That, united with your power, Our prayer may helpfully radiate To the souls it lovingly seeks! |
And to the Spirits of those who have passed through the gate of death:
Spirits ever watchful, Guardians of their souls! May your vibrations waft To the men of the Spheres committed to your charge Our souls' petitioning love: That, united with your power, Our prayer may helpfully radiate To the souls it lovingly seeks! |
And that Spirit Who for the healing of the Earth and for her progress, and for the freedom and salvation of mankind, passed through the Mystery of Golgotha; that Spirit Whom in our Spiritual Science we seek, to Whom we would draw near: May He be at your side in all your difficult tasks!
[These meditations were repeated at the beginning of each lecture in the series.]
* * * *
Let me first give expression to the deep satisfaction I have in being able to be once more in your midst. I would have come earlier, but for an urgent need, that kept me in Dornach until the work at the Group had reached a point whence it could be continued without me. You have often heard me speak of this Group, that is to stand in the east end of the Dornach building and that sets forth the Representative of Mankind in relation on the one hand to the Ahrimanic, and on the other to the Luciferic forces. In these days one needs to have forethought for the future, and it seemed to me absolutely necessary, in consideration of what may happen, to make that progress with the Group before leaving Dornach that has now been possible. Furthermore the times are bound to bring home to us with especial intensity the fact that meeting with one another here on the physical plane is not the only thing that keeps us upheld and strengthened in the impulse of Spiritual Science, but that we must be upborne through this difficult time of sorrow and trial through being together in our anthroposophical strivings, even if together in spirit only; and indeed this very thing is to be the test for our anthroposophical strivings.
Since we
were here together last, we have had to lament the loss from the physical plane
of our dear Fräulein Motzkus, and of other dear friends who have left the
physical plane in consequence of the terrible events through which we are
passing. It is particularly painful no longer to see Fräulein Motzkus among the
friends who have shared here for so many years in our anthroposophical
strivings. She had been a member of our movement since its beginning. From the
first day, from the first meeting of a very small circle, she showed throughout
the deepest and most heartfelt devotion to our movement, and took an intimate
and earnest part in all the phases it went through, in all its times of trial
and testing. Above all, she preserved, through the events and changes through
which we had to pass, an invincible loyalty to the movement, in the deepest
sense of the word, a loyalty in which she set an example to all those who would
wish to be worthy members of the anthroposophical movement. And so we follow
with our gaze this beloved and pure soul into the spiritual worlds whither she
has ascended, feeling towards her still the bond of trust and confidence that
has grown stronger and deeper with the years, knowing that our own souls are
linked with hers forever.. Recently Fräulein Motzkus herself suffered the
loss of a dear friend, whom she has now so quickly found again in the spiritual
world. She bore the sad blow in a manner that such a blow can be received and
borne by one who is conscious of an actual hold on the spiritual world. It was
marvelous with what keen and intense interest Fräulein Motzkus shared in the
great events of our time, right up to the last days of her life. She told me
repeatedly that she would like to remain here on the physical plane until the
momentous events in the midst of which we are living should have come to a
decisive conclusion. With still freer vision, with still firmer impulse for the
evolution of mankind, will she now be able to follow these happenings to which
she has been so closely and intimately linked. May it be laid on all our hearts
to unite ourselves in thought and in activity of soul, whensoever we are able,
with this faithful spirit, this faithful and well-loved member of our movement.
Then shall we, who have been united with her here on the physical plane in such
a remarkable way, be able still to know that we are one with her in the years to
come, when she will be among us in another form.
* * * *
The times in
which we live are such that it becomes more and more a matter of pressing
interest to know what the struggle to obtain spiritual knowledge will signify to
the human race of the present day and of the immediate future. The events in the
midst of which we are now standing are such as to call forth in many people
today, though little noticed, a sort of benumbment. Those souls who survive the
catastrophe on the physical plane will awake only later to be able to recognize
fully what is taking place and to realize how deeply this catastrophe has cut
into human evolution. All the more should we feel obliged to call up in our
souls thoughts of an illuminating nature, thoughts able to throw light on the
objects and aims of the spiritual movement so necessary to humanity. And as we
have now come together after a long time, it will perhaps be useful to specify
the views of this spiritual science of ours in a few short thoughts — or rather
the views which naturally come as the result of this spiritual science which we
have now had before our souls for some years. It is noticeable that in all parts
of the world there are some members of humanity who are developing a longing to
draw nearer to the spiritual world, notwithstanding the fact that materialism,
alas, is not decreasing and because of the various forms which this longing for
the spiritual is taking. For these reasons we must specify and bring before the
soul our own search for the life of the spirit. In England at the present time,
the research into the spiritual world made by one of the most prominent and
learned men is making a very great impression in large circles, even of cultured
people. It is a very extraordinary phenomenon that a man reckoned among the
first scientists of that country should have written a comprehensive book about
the relationship of man on Earth with the spiritual world, and that this should
have taken such a remarkable form. Sir Oliver Lodge — who for some years has
certainly striven in various ways so to extend the scientific knowledge he has
acquired that it may be applied to the spiritual world — describes in this book
a series of episodes in which he asserts that he has come in touch with the
spiritual world. The case is as follows.
Sir Oliver
Lodge had a son, Raymond, who in 1915 took part on the English side in the war
in Flanders. At a time when his parents knew him to be at the front, they
received some remarkable news from America, which, to people possessing what I
might call materialistic-spiritualistic tendencies, must certainly have appeared
very striking. This message was supposed to come from the English psychologist
Frederick Myers, who before his death many years ago, had studied the
relationship between the physical world and the spiritual worlds, and who
himself now in the spiritual world, pronounced that world to be prepared to
receive young Lodge in the near future. At first it was not very clear to what
the message referred. There was some delay in its reaching Sir Oliver Lodge; it
reached him after his son had fallen. I think it was a fortnight later but I am
not quite sure as to this. Then came other messages given through mediums in
America, advising the parents to go to an English medium; consequently, Sir
Oliver went to one, but preserved a critical attitude towards her. I shall have
more to say presently on the significance of this — Sir Oliver is a scientist,
and is trained to the scientific testing of such cases. He went to work just as
he would in his laboratory and what follows was given not through one but
several mediums. The soul of Raymond wished to communicate with the Lodge
family. All sorts of communications followed through automatic writing and
table-turning, communications so surprising that not only Sir Oliver himself but
the rest of the family, who had till then been extremely sceptical in such
matters, were now quite convinced. Among other statements, the soul of Raymond
stated that Myers was with him, acting as a guardian; he told them several
things about his last days on Earth, and much that was of significance to the
parents and family, and made a great impression upon them, especially as various
things communicated by Raymond through mediums were intended for the family and
particularly for Sir Oliver. The way the sittings were held afforded great
surprise to the family, and strangely enough, they also caused great surprise to
a wide public. They would not have surprised anyone who had experience of such
things, for in reality the nature of the communications concerning the dead
which comes through mediums, and the manner of the communication, is very
familiar to the investigator. One thing, however, made a profound impression in
England, and was well calculated to impress and convince the civilized world of
England and America, and to bring conviction hitherto lacking to many of our
sceptical age; this factor which converted many, and will convert many more, made
a very strong impression on the Lodge family and particularly on Sir Oliver, and
also impressed a large public. It was the following incident. A description was
given through a medium of some photographs taken while Raymond was still alive.
Raymond himself described them to the medium, by means of rappings. In this way
a photographic group was described; that is to say the soul of Raymond was by
means of the medium evidently trying to describe this photograph taken of him in
a group shortly before he passed through the gates of death. From the other side
he told them that he had sat in two groups with his companions, and that these
were taken one after the other, and that his position in the groups was such and
such. Further he described the differences in the two different photographs,
saying that he sat on the same chair and in the same attitude in both, but that
the position of the arm was a little different, and so on. All this is minutely
described. Now the family knew nothing of these photographs, they did not know
that any such had been taken. Thus indirectly through the medium the fact was
made known that there was in existence a photographic group representing Raymond
Lodge with several companions. Some few weeks later a photograph was sent over
to Sir Oliver from France, corresponding exactly to the one described by the
soul of Raymond through the medium. This would naturally make a strong
impression on anyone who approaches such things in a dilettante way — as all
those concerned clearly did. It was an experimental test. The case in point is
that of a soul from the other side describing a photograph of which several
copies were taken, and which reached the family some time later, and was then
found to correspond in every detail to the description given. It was quite
impossible that either the medium or anyone present at the sittings could have
seen this photograph. Here we have a case which must be reckoned with both
scientifically and historically, for not only might one say that such a case
would naturally make a great impression, but it really did occur and did make an
enormous impression. As far as could be seen, this photographic proof, which has
nothing to do with thought-transference, was very convincing.
It is
necessary for us to bring the whole of this case before our mental vision. We
must be quite clear as to the fact that when a man passes through the gate of
death, the human individuality is at first, for a short time, enshrouded in the
astral body and etheric body; and that the latter after a more or less brief
period — varying in different cases, but never lasting more than a few days —
passes out into the etheric world and there pursues its further destiny; so that
the individuality enters the spiritual world with the astral body only, and
continues its further wanderings in that world. The etheric body is severed from
the human individuality just as the physical body was on Earth. Now we must
clearly understand that in spiritualistic seances — and the whole work of Sir
Oliver Lodge is based on these — only one who has real knowledge is able to
distinguish whether the communications come from the actual individuality, or
only from the cast-off, forsaken etheric corpse. This etheric corpse still
remains in continual communication with the individuality. Only, when one gets
into connection with the spiritual world in a round-about way through a medium,
one comes in touch with the etheric corpse first, and so can never be sure of
reaching in this way the actual individual. It is certain that there is in our
age a striving to find for spiritual existence some sort of proof such as is
found by experiments in the laboratory, something which can be grasped with the
hands and that one can see before one in the world of matter. Our materialistic
age does not care to follow the inner path the soul must take in the spiritual
worlds, the purely spiritual path. It wants the spirit to descend into the
material world and be discovered there. We are experiencing all kinds of
materialistic spiritualism, a materialistic turning to the worlds of the spirit.
Now, it is quite possible for the etheric body, which has been separated from
the actual human individuality, to manifest a certain life of its own which, to
the uninitiated, may easily be mistaken for the life of the individual himself.
We must not think that the etheric body when given over to the etheric world
only manifests reminiscences and recollections, mere echoes of what the man
passes through here; it manifests a real continuous individuality. It can relate
incidents and say quite new things, But we should be going quite off the track
if we thought that because a connection is established with the etheric body we
are necessarily in connection with the individual himself. It is very possible
in the case of people sitting in a small circle — all being members of the
family, as was the case with the Lodges, all thinking in one way or another about
the dead man, and all filled with thoughts and memories of him — that their
thoughts may be conveyed to his etheric body through the medium, and that this
etheric body may occasionally give striking replies, which may really produce
the impression of being spoken by the individuality of the dead. Yet perhaps
they may only proceed from his etheric corpse. Those who are acquainted with
such things actually find this to be the case, and when Raymond Lodge was
supposed to come to his family through the medium, in reality it was the etheric
corpse speaking; Raymond Lodge had not really held communion with the circle at
all. Hence, as I have said, to those accustomed to the course of events in such
seances, the communications do not appear very remarkable. It is probable that
the whole story would not have made so much impression on a wide public, nor
would it continue to do so, if it were not for the incident of the photographs.
For this story of the photographs is very remarkable, indeed exceptionally so.
For here it was impossible that any transference of thoughts should take place
— passing through the medium to the etheric body of Raymond, as might have been
the case in the other instances. Nobody in England could have known of the
photographs; they had not yet come over at the time when the communications were
made. But still it is very strange that such a learned scientist as Sir Oliver
Lodge, who had for so long been interesting himself in these matters, should not
know how such a circumstance is to be regarded. I have taken particular trouble
to look more minutely into this case. Sir Oliver Lodge is a learned man, and a
scientist upon whose descriptions one can rely; we are not dealing with any
ordinary document produced by ordinary spiritualistic seances but with the
communications of a man describing with the certainty of a scientist, who has
developed the conscientiousness customary to a scientist in the laboratory and,
therefore, it is possible to form a complete picture of what happened, from the
descriptions he gives. It is remarkable that such a learned man as Sir Oliver
Lodge, who was for so many years interested in the subject, although in this
case he was specially interested because it was a question of his own son, yet
should not have known what has often been referred to in our spiritual science,
when giving descriptions of the atavistic forms of clairvoyance, which appear as
presentiments. For this is none other than a very special case of Deuteroscopia.
The case is as follows.
We have a
medium. To this medium the spiritual world is in a certain respect accessible;
of course, as we know — through atavistic forces — such mediums can in their
vision reach beyond space, but not only does their so-called second sight extend
beyond space, it also extends beyond time. Let us take a special case; one quoted
hundreds of times. You may read descriptions of it, if you have not experienced
it yourself through your acquaintances.
The case I
mean is when someone who has that tendency sees as in a dream, half in vision,
his own coffin or funeral. He dies a fortnight afterwards. He saw in advance
what was to occur fourteen days later. Or perhaps one may see not his own
funeral or coffin, but that of a complete stranger, an event to which the
dreamer is quite indifferent. To instance a particular case, one may see oneself
leaving the house and falling from horseback. This thing did occur — someone saw
that happen, and tried to avert it — but, notwithstanding all precautions, it
still came to pass. That is a case of a vision extending in time, and what Sir
Oliver Lodge describes is precisely this second-sight in time. His descriptions
are given so accurately that it was possible to investigate the case. The medium
through her forces was able to see an event still in the future. At the time she
spoke, the photograph was not there; but it arrived a fortnight later, or
thereabouts. It was then shown 'round to friends and relatives. This happened
some time after, but the medium saw it in advance; it was a prophetic vision, a
case of Deuteroscopia. It was a pre-vision; that is the explanation. It had
nothing to do with a communication between those on the physical plane and one
in the spiritual world.
You see how
greatly one may be misled by striving to give a materialistic explanation of
spiritual circumstances in the world, and how blind one may be to the actual
facts; such a vision is, of course, nonetheless a proof of the reality of a
world behind the ordinary world of sense. The case is an interesting one; only
it should not be quoted as proving a connection between the dead and the living.
We must seek for the dead — if indeed we should or ought to seek for them at all
— by following a really spiritual path. In the near future I shall have many
things to say on this subject; for it is my intention to give much consideration
to the subject of the relation between the living and the dead.
I have
brought up the subject of this book of Sir Oliver Lodge to show you how,
although the longing after the spiritual world does exist, it may here be said
to have taken a materialistic form. Sir Oliver Lodge is a learned scientist;
although he strives after the spiritual world, he tries to gain knowledge of
it by methods of the chemical world or of physics. Just as he experiments in his
laboratory according to the laws of chemistry, so he wants ocular proof of what
relates to the spiritual world. But the way we must recognize as the right one
is very far from his; our way leads the soul by an inner method to the spiritual
world, as we have often described, and no less often have we described what the
soul first becomes acquainted with there and which immediately concerns us at
the present time and underlies the world of physical sense in which we live. We
learn to recognzse the whole materialistic character of our age in the
materialistic strivings that are directed to the spiritual world. If our
movement is to have any meaning at all, a meaning which it should eventually
have in accordance with the necessary evolutionary laws of mankind, it must
sharply define and emphasize the spiritual inwardness of true spirituality, as
compared with these materialistic and absurd strivings after a world of spirit.
Why is it
necessary in the present age that an entirely new method should hold the hearts
of men, a purely spiritual method, one very different from the materialistic
methods? This question must be considered in connection with the fact to which
we have often alluded in the course of past years, and which must closely
concern us at this time of sorrow and trial. We have indicated that this
twentieth century must bring to humanity the vision of the etheric Christ. Just
as it truly happened — as we have often said — that at the time of the Mystery
of Golgotha Christ walked among men in a physical form, in one known part of the
Earth, so will the etheric Christ walk among men in the twentieth century, the
whole Earth over. This event must not pass unobserved by humanity, for that
would be sinning against the salvation of the world. Humanity must have its
attention roused, so that a sufficient number of persons may be ready really to
see the Christ Who will come and Who must be seen.
Now, such an
event as this cannot come quite suddenly, even as the event of Golgotha did not
come suddenly but was prepared for during thirty-three years. The point of time
when the event is to occur — this time spiritually — is very near and will have
a like significance for man as the event of Golgotha on the physical plane.
Hence, if you consider the facts alluded to above, you will not find it
difficult to believe me when I say that He is already present in the form in
which He will be seen in the great moment of evolution in the twentieth century,
that the great moment is being now prepared. You will not consider it
incredible, when I say that moment is now being prepared. Yes, we may say that
although humanity seems as regards its present actions far from being permeated
with the Christ-Spirit on the physical plane, yet if men's souls will but open
themselves to Him, the Christ, Who is now approaching, is very near. The
occultist is able to point out that since the year 1909 or thereabouts what is
to come is being distinctly and perceptibly prepared for, that since the year
1909 we are inwardly living in a very special time. It is possible today, if we
do but seek Him, to be very near to Christ, to find Him in a quite different way
than has been hitherto possible.
There is one
thought that occurs to me, and simple as it may seem I must give words to it,
from a profound feeling for the times. People do not, alas, as a rule, think
with sufficient clearness on the events of the past, especially with respect to
what took place in the souls of men in bygone centuries; they no longer have any
conception of the strength of the impression made by the Gospels in their
existing form upon a circle which was then but small. People now have no
conception of how powerfully these ideas filled the souls of men at that time.
As the centuries rolled by the impression made by the inner content of the
Gospels grew weaker and weaker. At the present day if we see things as they are,
it may be said that although individual persons, if they possess certain powers
of intuition and forces of divination, may be so permeated by the words of the
Gospels as to form some idea of what took place at the time of the Mystery of
Golgotha, yet the immense force once possessed by the Gospel-words themselves
is growing weaker and weaker, and we cannot but see that the Gospels make but
little impression now on the majority of people.
This is not
willingly admitted; but it is the truth, and therefore it would be well if
people would realize it. How did this state of things come about?
Well, just
as it is true that what pulsated in the Gospels is no earthly language but
cosmic words, heavenly words, possessing an immeasurably greater force than
anything else on Earth — so it is also true that mankind in the present age has
become estranged from the form in which these words were laid down in the
Gospels at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. Just reflect how enormously
difficult it is to understand the language of even four or five hundred years
ago, if you come across it anywhere. It is not possible to draw out of it what
it really contains. The Gospels, in the form accessible to us today, are really
not the original Gospels, they do not possess their original force. It is
possible to penetrate into them, as I have said, by means of a certain
intuition; but they no longer have the same force. Christ spoke words which
should be deeply engraved in the human soul: ‘I am with you always, even unto
the end of the Earth time.’ That is a truth, a reality. He will be with us,
during the time indicated, in the twentieth century, in various forms near to
the human soul.
From what I
have said, you will understand that one who feels himself standing in the center
of these things, one who is an occultist, should say: He is here; He makes His
presence felt in such a way that we know clearly that He will now expect more of
His human children than in centuries gone by. Till now the Gospels have spoken
an inner language to man. They had to lay hold of the soul — men should,
therefore, be satisfied with faith alone and had not to progress to knowledge.
That time is now over, it lies behind us. Christ has something different in view
for His human children. His present purpose is that the kingdom to which He
referred when He said ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ should really draw
into that part of the human being which is not of this world but which is of
another world. In each one of us there is a part which is not of this world.
That part of man which is not of this world must seek with intensity that
kingdom of which Christ spoke, of which He said that it was not of this world.
We are
living at a time when this must be understood. Many such things in human
evolution announce themselves through contrasts. In our own age something great
and significant is announced by a great contrast. For with the coming Christ,
with the presence of Christ, will come the time when men will learn to enquire
of Him not only concerning their souls, but concerning their immortal part on
Earth. Christ is not merely a Ruler of men, but their Brother, Who, particularly
in the near future, wishes to be consulted on all the details of life. In
anything we undertake today we act in the opposite way. Events seem to be
accomplished today in which men appear to be as far removed as possible from
any appeal to Christ. We must ask ourselves this question: Who is there today
who stops to enquire: ‘What would Christ Jesus say to what is now taking place?’
Who puts such a question to himself? Many say they do, but it would be
sacrilegious to believe that they put the question in the form in which it is
put here, addressing it directly to Christ Himself. Yet the time must come, and
cannot be far distant, when men's souls will, in their immortal part, ask of
Christ, when they think of undertaking something: ‘Ought we to do this, or not?’
Then human souls will see Christ standing by them as the beloved Companion and
they will not only obtain consolation and strength from the Christ-Being, but
will also receive instruction from Him as to what is to be done. The kingdom of
Christ Jesus is not of this world, but it must work in this world, and human
souls must be instruments of the kingdom that is not of this world. From this
point of view we must consider the fact of how few today have asked themselves
the question which, as regards individual acts, as well as events, must be put
to the Christ. Humanity must, however, learn to ask of Him. How is that to come
about? It can become possible only if we learn His language. Anyone who
comprehends the deeper purpose of our spiritual science realizes that it not
only gives out a theoretical knowledge about different problems of humanity, the
principles of human nature, reincarnation and karma, but that it contains a
quite special language, that it has a particular way of expressing itself about
spiritual things. The fact that through spiritual science we learn to hold inner
converse with the spiritual world in thought is much more important than the
mere acquiring of theoretical thoughts. For Christ is with us always, even to
the end of the Earth-epochs. And we must learn His language. By means of the
language — no matter how abstract it may seem — in which we hear of Saturn, Sun,
Moon, and Earth and of the different periods and ages of the Earth, and of many
other secrets of evolution — we teach ourselves a language in which we can frame
out the questions we put to the spiritual world. When we really learn inwardly
to speak the language of this spiritual life, the result will be that Christ
will stand by us and give us the answers Himself. This is the attitude that our
work in spiritual science should bring about in us, as a sentiment, a feeling.
Why do we occupy ourselves with spiritual science? It is as though we were
learning the vocabulary of the language through which we approach the Christ. If
we take the trouble to learn to think the thoughts of spiritual science, and
make the mental effort necessary for an understanding of the cosmic secrets
taught by spiritual science, then, out of the dim, dark foundations of the
cosmic mysteries will come forth the figure of Christ Jesus, which will draw
near to us and give us the strength and force in which we shall then live. The
Christ will guide us, standing beside us as a brother, so that our hearts and
souls may be strong enough to grow up to the necessary level of the tasks
awaiting humanity in its further development.
Let us
try, then, to acquire spiritual science not as a mere doctrine but as a language, and
then wait till we can find in that language the questions which we may venture
to put to the Christ. He will answer — yes, indeed, He will answer! Plentiful
indeed will be the soul-forces, the soul-strengthening, the soul-impulses which
the student will carry away with him from the grey spiritual depths through
which humanity in its evolution is now passing, if he is able to receive
instructions from Christ Himself — for, in the near future, He will give them to
those who seek.
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