"In the world you shall have tribulation.
But be of good cheer: I have overcome the world."
— John 16:33
Rudolf Steiner, Stockholm
January 8, 1910
We have seen how complicated the personality had to be that had to let all previous spiritual currents flow into a higher current into the world. Two children were called: the Solomon and the Nathan [boy Jesus]. We have seen how, in the twelfth year, the remarkable event occurred that the Zarathustra ego moved into the body of the Nathanian boy. So we have before us a Jesus child who carries within him the ego of Zoroaster [and who] in the astral body holds everything that the Buddha has become since his last incarnation, and [who] in the ether bears that pure etheric body that was preserved from the time before the luciferic influences asserted themselves, which have led man deeper and deeper down into the earthly world.
[The question may arise] why were two Jesus children born? Would not one have been enough, since he was an extract of everything that needed to be developed in the Hebrew people? Nevertheless, it was necessary. In order for all the qualities that Christ Jesus needed to emerge in the body, the most diverse stages of human development had to be gone through. The boy Solomon had the most excellent of all that could arise as perfect physical instruments.
From the time of physical birth until the seventh year, the human being brings forth the best qualities of the physical body; until the fourteenth year, the qualities of the etheric body; then until about the twenty-first year, those of the astral body. Only then are the best qualities of the I developed. What we have in our physical and etheric bodies - with the exception of that essence which we take with us into the devachanic world after death - is what we inherit from our ancestors. Thus the boy Solomon could only inherit what could grow in our physical and etheric bodies. Up to the age of twelve, Zarathustra's I was in those outer limbs that can be fully obtained through inheritance. From the age of twelve, the development of the astral body would have begun. However, this is not inherited, it is still attached to the individuality in the spiritual world. In order for Zarathustra's I to develop in the most perfect astral body, he had to receive the most perfect one. For this, the experiences that the Buddha had gained were necessary, who came from the spiritual culture of India, which was turned away from the earthly. But if the ego of Zarathustra had embodied itself in the Nathanian child, then it would not have received the perfect physical and etheric body that it needed, which had to absorb not only the internal but also everything external, as it could only happen in the royal, not in the priestly line.
After the Zarathustra ego had absorbed everything that one experiences with such perfect tools, it could experience the other, which comes from the perfect etheric and astral body, [it could] develop all the innermost qualities of man.
Now he matured to ascend to an even higher and more perfect level. That happened through that event which is described by the baptism of John in the Jordan. What is it? We must discuss it in order to understand it, the mission of John the Baptist. What was he sent into the world for? It must be borne in mind that humanity goes through different epochs. There was an era when inner revelation and inspiration reigned supreme in the Indian people. (For them, the world was an illusion.) Those who attained inner revelation were the most advanced people of the time.
Everything develops slowly. It has become apparent from two sides that
Firstly, that although people still had inspiration, it became increasingly imperfect. This was the case with the Egyptians.
Secondly, that people gradually developed a sense of the external world; that the world is an external expression of the spirit. This was what Zarathustra had to teach the Persian people, this was his mission. That was the meaning of his doctrine of the sun; [that] Maya is [the] expression of spiritual essence[s]. Man can perceive spirit not only within himself but also through the veil of external illusion. Thus, Zarathustra taught his people the doctrine of light in this world. The tenor of his teaching was something like this: Oh, we humans are still imperfect in terms of our senses and [our] minds. But we will gradually educate ourselves. Behind the illusion is the spiritual meaning of the world, and we will develop in such a way that this spirit will approach us.
It was a teaching of confidence, of hope for a light appearing in the world, that Zarathustra brought to his people. Because Zarathustra was dealing with a special people, he was able to do this.
[There were] two migratory movements. When the Atlantic catastrophe occurred, people began to migrate from west to east. Two migrations: [one went] through Europe and over into Asia. Northern, central and southern Europe were crossed by the northern stream of people, some of whom remained here. [A second stream went] through Africa and over into Asia. There were two folk currents because they were differently predisposed. The northern folk were predisposed to develop intellect and reason, to look outwards. Those who passed through Africa were predisposed to look more inwards, to develop the powers of quiet reflection, not so much to look out into the outer world. The most advanced folk of the northern folk current were the ancient Persians, where Zarathustra worked. The following mood prevailed in the other, African, stream of the people: “No matter how much you work, the outer world is not there to find the spirit in it. It is fragmented, only to be found after death” - Osiris.
Both currents should flow together, the inner and outer. The most perfect from within as a revelation was the ancient Indian - the Egyptian was more imperfect: looking within the soul life. Persian: looking outwards. But one thing was characteristic of all people. They could not yet come to perfect self-awareness, self-consciousness; they lived in the spirit when they dampened down, lowered their consciousness, surrendered it. The Zarathustra people also had to fall into ecstasy, surrendering to lightning, thunder, and the sun. Only after a long evolution did people become mature enough to connect the inner and outer revelations. The time when this became possible had come with the appearance of John the Baptist and Christ Jesus. Before that, there were no people who could experience the revelation of the spirit while maintaining their ego, their self-awareness. What were people like before? They could say to themselves: We can come to the spirit, but we have to leave our best, our ego. We have to give up our self-awareness and be transported into a beyond; we cannot experience the heavenly realms in our earthly human nature.
John the Baptist was able to proclaim that the time had now come when man, by maintaining his self-awareness while preserving his ego, could experience the heavenly realms. That was John's proclamation: The Kingdoms of Heaven have come!
How could he show that this was the case? If people had simply been told that they were mature enough to transfer themselves into the spiritual realm with their ego, they would not have understood it. How could he teach them? Only through the baptism of John. It consisted of complete immersion in water. What happened? You know what happens when someone drowns... The etheric body is drawn out for a while... at that moment people are freed from the hindrances of the physical body.
The fact that the inner man is now ripe to experience the spiritual while maintaining his self-awareness is expressed in the symbol of the baptism in the Jordan. What kind of people were they who were baptized? The first to say: Our ego is now such that it can gradually ascend with self-awareness. [Gap in the transcript] So there were some people who knew what the clock of the world had struck. This small group was able to say to itself: There is an I-center in every human being that can ascend. They knew this from experience. The greatest teachers could have taught this without being understood.
In the past, one could only teach: If you give up your ego and make it objective, you create the conditions for rising up. When you merge with the whole people, do not feel as individuals, but are immersed in the people's ego, when you say to yourselves and feel: I want to be one with Abraham, then through this self-forgetfulness of the ego you can hope to find the spiritual world.
But it is not right to keep what was good for one era and apply it to another. John the Baptist now had to teach differently: the element for rising up had to be found in the self. That was his new teaching.
When the old teachers came up, how did the Baptist address them? The conservatives who wanted to propagate the ancient teachings in the astral immersion... The snake symbol was always chosen for the astral. [He spoke:] You, the snake doctrine, why do you come, you who do not want to recognize what the world clock is showing now?..
Now the one who carried the ego of Zarathustra within him came forth, in the astral body the Nirmanakaya of Buddha, in the etheric body that which was unaffected by the Luciferic principle. The Jesus came and was baptized. He was submerged / gap in the transcript].
Then withdrew from the physical body that excellent, great, pure etheric body, withdrew everything that had lived in Gautama Buddha. The images of all that had gone before, all that had been experienced, stood before him. Thus the Jesus of Nazareth experienced what was in him, what had gradually moved into him. He saw all this in himself. That was the greatest moment on earth that has ever been experienced. In the etheric body, what would have become of humanity if it had not descended to the luciferic influences was revealed: the image of the perfectly pure human being. And what was revealed in his astral body? What Gautama Buddha had experienced was revealed to his soul. Gautama Buddha had seen as an enlightened being back into the entire development of the earth. He had seen how man had become more and more material with each incarnation. Therefore, Buddha could only reflect on what could help people to rise above physical incarnation. A doctrine of pain: everything is suffering. The doctrine of liberation from the earthly body. Therefore, he gave instructions in the doctrine of compassion and love: to attain what could free people. Salvation would have been achieved from suffering. But then the earthly existence would have been lost for people. Buddhism is a religion of salvation. Christianity is a religion of resurrection. Nothing should be lost. Everything should be led over into the spirit. You should consider yourselves as disciples, bringing everything into the spiritual worlds in order to resurrect it in the higher sense. Christianity is a religion of resurrection and revival. The Buddha's ultimate purpose is to free us from pain. The ultimate purpose of Christianity is to transform pain into bliss.
In this world, we should experience something that we cannot experience anywhere else. Our task is to transform the coarse metal into the gold of the spirit. We will transform ourselves if we gradually overcome what lives in us as pain. Overcoming the disease: Overcoming gives strength. Death is the strongest illusion, maya. If everything is deceptive, if maya is mixed into everything, then death is only a lie, is only maya. We are overcoming death. Golgotha is the only place where death appears to us in its truth: as the bringer of new life.
Only within Maya are we separated from what we love. If we overcome the sensual world, the union is all the more intense. It is impossible to be separated from what we love by progressing in spirit. United with what we do not love? We learn to love everything. Not achieving what we desire? We attain such purified desires that physical obstacles do not stand in our way. This is the great progress from the Buddha to the Christ teaching. We should not flee from the world, nor leave it, but take it with us. Buddha wants to free himself from the world. Christ wants to co-redeem the world.
In the Jordan, Jesus of Nazareth experienced that infinite measure of pain that Gautama Buddha once burdened his soul with; this Jesus had to experience. All the glory to which humanity is called stood before him as an image on the one hand, and suffering on the other. He could say to himself: “There is the image that comes from the pure etheric body, which people have forfeited in order to come to the physical body. What is in the other image is what the best have felt, the suffering, the pain for humanity.”
And so this consciousness in Jesus stood alone in the face of all humanity. What did He have to say to Himself? It is impossible to ascend into the spiritual worlds with the consciousness that humanity has gained so far. All of this must be abandoned, and a completely new one must be created: a new etheric body that leads to ever more perfect levels. To do this, it was necessary that what people had achieved so far be shattered at the moment when this consciousness arose.
All this took place in this soul. At the moment when the etheric and astral bodies returned, how did they work? In such a way that all those great sensations, ideas, had a killing, dissolving effect on the physical body. It was too great for this physical body. Two things occurred: Zarathustra's I belonged to this body. Now a new task was set. Zarathustra's ego left him and a new ego, corresponding to that consciousness, moved as a new, as the Christ-ego into the body that had begun to die because the consciousness had become too great. The Christ-consciousness moved into this body.
We have touched here on the secret of the greatest moment in the evolution of the Earth. Behold the Lamb of God, could John say, “who has experienced in his soul all the suffering of humanity.” We must recognize this event not only as cosmic, but also as human. That was the significance of this soul, that it not only longed for redemption, for liberation, but [that it] decided to bring about a new development of time. It was a free decision in the soul of Christ Jesus to live through these three years.
That is the significant thing, that at this moment of John the Baptist's baptism, it was a free decision to take upon himself the whole destiny of humanity.
Source: The Rudolf Steiner Archive
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