The Gospel of Matthew. Lecture 11 of 12.
Rudolf Steiner, September 11, 1910.
Following on the story of the
‘Temptation,’ which we might describe as the impulse toward a new initiation,
comes the teaching given by Christ to His disciples. This was a teaching in a
completely new form. What He gave them was not so much by way of instruction,
but as a force, a health-giving force for mankind. This is demonstrated in His
acts of healing.
Yesterday we
made a transition in our studies such as presupposes, as I said, the goodwill
to understand — the goodwill that is the result of intensive work in spiritual
scientific knowledge which has been received in the course of years. We have
endeavored to put a mighty mystery into human language, and to make
comprehensible the nature of the instruction given to the disciples. Christ
Jesus was a kind of focal point, a living center for forces passing from the
macrocosm into the earthly sphere, and thence into the souls of the disciples.
Such a concentration of forces was only possible through the special powers
appertaining to the nature of Christ Jesus. Forces, formerly only bestowed on
men while unconscious in sleep, now streamed down to the disciples through the
being of Christ Jesus from universal space, as the illuminating, life-giving
forces of the cosmos itself. Details concerning these forces, which are
enlightening forces in connection with world existence, can naturally only be
given by referring to the constellations, and we propose to deal with these
mysteries today in so far as they throw light on the Gospel of Matthew.
In the first
place we have to realize how the disciples increased in knowledge regarding
earthly conditions, because the forces of Christ Jesus had streamed into them.
They had to develop in themselves, to grow in their lives, and in living wisdom,
in the most varied ways. An instance is given of the peculiar nature of this
development in one of the disciples or apostles, but we can only understand this
important and outstanding event in the life of the apostle when we show it in
its comprehensive setting. We have to realize that a man himself advances within
human evolution as a whole.
It is not in
vain that we pass from one incarnation to another; neither is it in vain that we
have incarnated in post-Atlantean civilizations — the Indian, Persian,
Egypto-Chaldean, and Graeco-Latin — in order that we might garner experiences
from our surroundings. These are stages in the great school of life, each giving
its appropriate experiences and promoting development. We pass gradually through
them all. In what does human development through the different epochs
consist?
According to the
elementary teachings of Anthroposophy, mankind is formed of different members;
these we call the physical body, etheric body, and astral body. With the astral
body is associated the sentient soul; then the rational or intellectual soul;
and then the consciousness or spiritual-soul. Beyond these are the higher
principles of human nature toward which man is evolving; they are spirit-self,
life-spirit, and spirit-man. Now, in the course of each of the post-Atlantean
periods, something definite was given for these different members of human
nature. In the first epoch, the ancient Indian period of civilization, man had
added to him an increase in the capacities of his etheric body whereby it became
something more than it had been before. What was implanted in him in this
respect as regards his physical body already had a beginning during the last
part of the Atlantean period; but he only received these enhanced powers into
his etheric body during the post-Atlantean period. Thus it was during the
period known as the ancient Indian that the etheric body received these gifts.
Then during the Persian civilization similar forces were implanted in his astral
or sentient body; and during the Egypto-Chaldean period he received those suited
to his sentient-soul; during the Graeco-Latin period — the fourth age of
post-Atlantean culture — the forces of the rational-soul were imprinted in man;
and now, in the fifth period, we are living in an age in which the forces
belonging to these lines of progress are gradually to be impressed on the
spiritual-soul. As yet humanity has made but little progress with this.
Following on
this age will come the sixth post-Atlantean age, which is to witness the
impressing of the forces of the spirit-self on human nature; and the seventh age
will see that of life-spirit. Beyond this our vision reaches out to a far
distant future, in which the spirit-man or Atman will be impressed on normal
humanity.
Let us now
consider human evolution in relation to the individual man, for this is how it
was viewed in the Mysteries; man was always considered from this aspect by those
who knew somewhat of the true relationship of things. It was thus the disciples
had gradually to learn to know him, in the light of the life-giving,
illuminating force that streamed into them from Christ Jesus. When we observe
mankind — either at the present time, or at the time of Christ Jesus — we must
recognize that rudiments lie in men just as plants contain seeds, even when only
in leaf and before the blossom and fruit is formed. In looking at such a plant
we can say: As surely as this plant which so far only possesses green leaves has
within it the germ of both flower and fruit, so man, who at the time of Christ
Jesus possessed only sentient and intellectual-soul, holds within him the germ
of the spiritual-soul, which then opens itself to the spirit-self, in order that
the higher triad, as a new spiritual gift from God, may flow into him from
above. Thus we can say: Man unfolds through the content and qualities of his
soul in the same way as a plant unfolds in turn green leaves, blossoms, and
fruit. In developing his sentient-soul, intellectual-soul, and spirit-soul man
develops something that corresponds to the flower of his being, and lifts this
up to receive the inpouring of the Divine Spirit from above, so that by
receiving the spirit-self he may rise to ever further heights of human
evolution.
At the time
Christ Jesus walked on Earth the normal man had developed the rational-soul as
his highest principle; this was not as yet capable of receiving into it the
spirit-self; but out of the same man as now had developed to the rational soul
the spiritual-soul would evolve as his child — as the consummation of his being,
which later would become the receptacle for the spirit-self.
What is to
unfold out of the whole nature of man, and come forth from him like a blossom?
How was this described in the Mysteries, and in the circle where Christ Jesus
spoke to His disciples of their further development? Translated into our
language it was called the ‘Son of Man.’ The Greek
has a less restricted meaning than our word ‘son,’ meaning ‘son of a father,’
and signifies rather the offspring of a living organism, something that evolves
out of such an organism, as a blossom evolves from a plant which at first
possessed only green leaves. So it was said of the ordinary man, whose being had
not yet blossomed into the spiritual-soul, that the ‘Son of Man’ had not yet
evolved in him. But there are always some who are in advance of their
contemporaries, who bear within them the life and knowledge of a future age. So
in the fourth period, that in which the rational-soul was normally developed,
there were some among the leaders of mankind who, though appearing outwardly as
other men, had developed inwardly the possibility of the spiritual-soul, out of
which the spirit-self was to dawn. These were the ‘Sons of Men.’
The disciples
had to grow to an understanding of the nature of these leaders of humanity. It
was to test their understanding of this that Christ asked His more intimate
disciples, ‘Tell me, of what beings, of what men in this generation, can it be
said that they are “Sons of Men?”’ So runs the question according to the Aramaic
script — for though the Greek translation from the Aramaic script when read
aright is certainly better, yet something has been lost in it also. We have to
picture Christ Jesus standing thoughtfully before His disciples and saying,
‘What is the general opinion concerning the men who, in previous generations of
this Graeco-Latin period, were called “Sons of Men”? Who were they?’ And the
disciples spoke to Him of Elias, of John the Baptist, of Jeremiah, and other
prophets. They were able to answer thus through the illuminating forces that
came to them from Christ. They knew that these leaders of men had developed
powers by which they had given birth within themselves to the ‘Son of Man.’
On the same
occasion, the disciple who is usually called Peter gave a different answer. In
order to understand this answer we must allow what we have heard in recent
lectures concerning the mission of Christ Jesus, according to the Gospel of
Matthew, to sink deeply into our souls. It was there explained that through the
Impulse of Christ it has become possible for men to develop full
ego-consciousness — that what lies within the ‘I am’ can blossom fully through
His Impulse. In other words, human beings will be able in time to enter the higher worlds
— may even attain to initiation — while retaining their ego-consciousness, the
only state of consciousness considered normal for us in the physical world
today. This has become possible through the life of Christ Jesus on Earth. He
is the representative of the force that gives complete consciousness of the ‘I
am’ to man.
I have already
explained that interpretations of the Gospels given by free-thinkers, or by
opponents of the Gospels, do not as a rule even mention the facts of greatest
moment. They point continually to certain sequences of words found there, which
they say are also to be met with elsewhere; as when they assert the previous
existence of the contents of the Beatitudes. But there is something that has
never existed before, and on this we lay stress: what had previously been
impossible of attainment through ego-consciousness had now become possible
through the impulse imparted by Christ. This is a point of inestimable
importance.
We have already
analyzed the Beatitudes, and said that the first should read ‘Blessed are the
beggars in respect of the spirit,’ those who as a result of human evolution are
poor in spirit, who, having lost the old clairvoyance, are unable to look into
the spiritual worlds; but comforting them Christ explains, ‘Even though ye have
lost the old clairvoyance and can no more through it see into the spiritual
world, ye shall now be able to view these worlds through the powers of your own
individual ego, for: “Within yourselves ye shall find the Kingdoms of the
Heavens!”’ Similarly with the second Beatitude: ‘Blessed are those who mourn.’
Blessed are ye who no longer require to see into the spiritual world with the
help of the old clairvoyance, for you will develop your ego so powerfully that
through it you will attain to the spirit-world. But to do this your ego must
gain more and more of the power which Christ, by His unique nature, has once and
for all time firmly united with the Earth.
It would be well
if men would really ponder these things a little. It is not without purpose that
each of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount contains a very important
Greek word
showing that, if we take the first Beatitude: ‘Blessed are the beggars in
spirit,’ this should be followed by the words ‘for in themselves’ or ‘through
themselves’ ‘they shall attain the Kingdoms of the Heavens.’ So in the second
and third sentences onwards attention is dircted to ‘in themselves.’
Forgive me if I
now refer to something of great importance to our day by employing a rather
trivial example. We must learn to use the Greek word
‘Auton’ (the same as appears in the modern word automobile) but not so that we
apply it exclusively to machines, or understand it only in its external sense;
we must learn to associate it as a ‘self-starting’ activity within the realm of
spirit where it belongs. This advice might well be taken by our contemporaries.
Men love a self-starting action in connection with machines, but they must learn
to employ it also in connection with all they used to experience unconsciously
in the Mysteries before the coming of Christ. This must now be learnt through ‘a
setting of themselves in action,’ so that they gradually become creative from
within themselves. The men of today will come to understand this when they fill
themselves with the impulse brought to them by Christ.
Keeping this in
mind we can see how important the second question was that Christ put to His
disciples. After asking them: Who among the leaders of former generations could
be described as ‘Sons of Men,’ He questioned them further, and wished gradually
to bring them to an understanding of His own nature, to an understanding of that
ego-nature of which He was the representative. Hence He asked, And what think ye
that I am? On every occasion you see how special stress is laid on the ‘I am’ in
the Gospel of Matthew. Then Peter answered Him, and showed by his answer that he
now recognized the Christ not only as a ‘Son of Man,’ but as the ‘Son of the
living God.’ This brings us to a consideration of the difference between these
two phrases, ‘Son of Man’ and ‘Son of the living God.’ In order to understand
them, we must enter more fully into some facts already dealt with.
In the course of
his development man evolves the spiritual-soul so that in it the spirit-self may
appear. When he has evolved the spiritual-soul, the upper triad of spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man
come to meet him, so that the opening flower of his being can receive into it
this upper triad from above. This may be illustrated graphically to resemble the
unfolding of a plant.
When a man has
made himself receptive by developing his spirit-soul, the higher triad — spirit-self or Manas, life-spirit or Buddhi, and spirit-man or Atman — draw near;
this may be likened to a spiritual fructification coming toward him from on
high. While with the other principles of his being he grows upward from below,
unfolding the blossom of the ‘Son of Man,’ there must come to meet him from on
high, so that he may gain his ego-consciousness, that which brings with it
spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man.
Who is the
representative of the gift which comes down to man from above and is indicative
of the nature of humanity in the far future? Who is this? The first gift that
comes to man is the ‘spirit-self.’ Of whom is he the representative who receives
this gift coming from on high? It is the Son of God, He Who lives, the
life-spirit, the Son of the Living God!
So in the scene
to which we have just referred Christ Jesus asked the question ‘What is to come
to men through My impulse?’ The answer is: ‘The life-giving Spirit- Principle
from on high!’
So we have to
distinguish the Son of Man, who evolves upward from below, and the Son of God —
the Son of the living God, Who comes down to meet him from above. These must be
distinguished. We can understand what a difficult question this was for the
disciples. Especially so because they were receiving for the first time those
things which the simplest of mankind have had implanted in them through the
Gospels from the beginning of the Christian era, things which first reached the
disciples through the living, instructing forces of Christ Jesus. Through powers
such as had previously been developed by them no answer could be given to the
question: ‘Whose representative am I Myself?’ To this question one of the
disciples — Peter — answered: ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
This was an answer which — if we may say so — did not spring from the normal
spiritual powers of Peter at that moment.
Let us try to
picture this scene vividly. Christ Jesus, looking at Peter, said to Himself: ‘It
means much that such an answer should have come from this mouth; for it is an
answer that points to the distant future.’ Then having gazed into Peter's
consciousness, and seen how far he had progressed, seen that through his
intellect, or the powers that initiation had evoked in him, he was able to give
such an answer, the Christ was bound to say ‘This answer has not sprung from
Peter's conscious knowledge; here spoke. those deeper forces that are inherent
in all men, but which will only gradually become conscious forces in them.’
We bear within
us physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego; we are rising toward
spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man through transmutation of the powers of
the lower bodies. This is an elementary lesson of spiritual science. The forces
that we shall one day evolve in our astral body as spirit-self are already
there, only they have been put there by divine spiritual powers and have not
been evolved by us. It is the same as regards our etheric body, which already
contains within it a divine life-spirit. Therefore, looking at Peter, Christ
said: ‘What spoke to me is not what is within thy consciousness at the present
time; thou hast spoken from out of something that will certainly be evolved
within thee at a future time, but of which at present thou knowest nothing. What
at the present time is within thy flesh and blood could not have spoken, so that
the words: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” could have sprung
from it. In these words divine spiritual forces spoke, forces lying deep below
the threshold of consciousness, in the profoundest depths of human nature.’ The
mysterious Higher Powers that at this moment spoke through Peter, Christ calls
the ‘Father in Heaven.’ These were the forces out of which Peter was born, but of
which he was not as yet conscious. Hence Christ's words: ‘The man of flesh and
blood thou art at present did not reveal this unto thee, but the Father which is
in Heaven revealed it.’ But Christ had something further to say to Peter. He had
to say to Himself: ‘In Peter I have a disciple before me whose nature is so
constituted that through the forces that have already evolved consciousness in
him, and through the whole manner in which spiritual forces have worked in him,
the Father-force has remained intact; this subconscious, human force has
remained so strong in him that when he surrenders himself to it he can build
thereon. This is the most important thing in Peter.’ And Christ might have gone
on to say: ‘What is present in Peter is present in all men, but they are not
sufficiently advanced either to be aware of it or to make conscious use of it;
the power to do so will only be developed in the future. If that which I am to
give to man, if that for which I am the impulse, is to develop further and
become a part of him, it must be founded on the consciousness which spoke
through the mouth of Peter in the words “Thou art the Christ,. the Son of the
living God”; on this rock in human nature, which the surging waves of
consciousness as at present evolved have not yet destroyed, and which, as
Father-force, has just made itself heard, I will build that which will emerge
with ever-increasing strength as the result of my impulse.’
When men have
constructed this foundation, what the Christ-impulse can become for humanity
will be revealed. This is contained in the words ‘Thou art Peter, and on this
rock I will build what a certain number of men, a community, can reveal when
they confess the Impulse of Christ.’
Such words must
not be passed over as lightly as are the discussions which at this moment are
the subject of violent controversy. They can only be understood when
reconstructed out of the depth of that wisdom which is the same as the wisdom
met with in the Mysteries.
The sentence
that follows shows clearly that Christ Jesus built on this deep subconscious
force in Peter. For immediately afterwards He speaks of the events that are
about to take place, and of the Mystery of Golgotha. The moment, however, had
already passed when the more deeply lying forces spoke in Peter. It is the
conscious Peter who now speaks, who fails to understand Christ, and cannot
believe that suffering and death are to follow. So when the conscious Peter
speaks (he who had already developed conscious powers within himself) Christ has
to correct him, saying: ‘It is not God Who now speaks in thee but that which
thou hast evolved within thee as man; the source from which it comes is of no
value, but is a vain deception, for it comes from Ahriman — that is Satan!’ This
is contained in the words, ‘Remove thyself from Me, Satan, thou offendest Me,
for thou considerest not the things that are divine, but those that are human.’
Christ compares Peter to Satan, employing the word used to designate Ahriman.
Whereas in other parts of the Bible the word ‘devil’ stands for everything
Luciferic, Christ here makes deliberate use of the word ‘Satan,’ for it was to
the Ahrimanic form of deception that Peter had succumbed.
These are the
facts. What do modern critics of the Bible make of them? They say: It is most
unlikely that Christ Jesus would stand before Peter one minute saying ‘Thou
alone hast grasped the fact that a God confronts thee’ and immediately
afterwards call him ‘Satan.’ So the critics conclude that the word ‘Satan’ must
have been interpolated by someone later, and is therefore incorrect. The truth
is that current opinions concerning the deeper meaning of these words when
gained only through philological research are worthless, unless preceded by an
actual understanding of the Biblical records. An understanding of the actual
facts of the Bible is necessary before anyone can speak of the historical origin
of corresponding documents.
Between the two
sayings that have just been considered there is another. This we can only
understand if we call to mind a very ancient, yet ever new, teaching of the
Mysteries: The teaching that man as he exists on Earth — and not only man
himself but each group or class of men — is a reflected image of cosmic
happenings. This has already been explained by me when referring to the descent
of Jesus of Nazareth. We saw the true meaning of the promises made to Abraham:
‘Thy descendants shall be a copy of the order of the stars in Heaven.’ The order
of the Heavens as seen in the twelve constellations, and the paths of planets
through these twelve Signs of the Zodiac, were to be repeated in the twelve
tribes, and in all that the Hebrew people experienced during three times
fourteen generations. In the sequence of the generations, and in their special
inheritance through the blood-tie within the twelve tribes, we have to see a
copy or reflection of cosmic relationships. This was told to Abraham.
In the moment
when Peter stood before the Christ, and our Lord knew that in his deeper nature
he had really understood what was given to man with the Christ Impulse — that it
meant the down-flowing of spiritual power through the ‘Son of the living God’ —
Christ knew He could now inform those standing round Him that something new was
about to begin on Earth, that a new model could now be given to them. As in the
cosmic relationship of the heavens Abraham had been given an image of blood
relationship, so now an image for an ethical and spiritual relationship was
provided; a model for what man would be able to attain to through his ego. When
people come to understand what the Christ is, as the higher nature of Peter
understood it, they will cease to establish relationships and communities that
depend only on the blood-tie, but will consciously weave bonds of love from soul
to soul. This means that as in the blood of the Jewish people, in the threads
stretching through the generations, people were bound together in accordance
with a macrocosmic model, and were also liberated from each other through the
same heavenly ordinance — from this time forth a force was to arise out of the
conscious ego that would separate man from man, or bind them to each other in
love, in accordance with moral and spiritual relationships. Regulations
affecting humanity will be made or harmonized by the conscious ego. This is
contained in the words spoken by Christ in continuation of His answer to Peter,
when He said ‘What thou bindest on Earth — what the deeper nature in thee binds
— is the same as is bound in Heaven; and what this nature loosens here below is
also loosened in Heaven.’
In ancient times
the whole meaning of human union lay in relationship through the blood-tie; but
men in future will develop more and more toward moral, intellectual, and
spiritual ties. It follows that what they form in the way of communities shall
mean something to them. Or, to express this in anthroposophical language, we
might say: The individual karma of a man will have to be associated with the
karma of the community.
From the
teachings of spiritual science during recent years you can gather that as it does
not contradict the idea of karma for me to give something to a poor man, so it
does not contradict the idea of karma that a man's individual karma should be
affected by that of the community to which he belongs. The community can share
in the lot of the individual. Karma maybe so connected that the community as a
whole bears the karma of the individual. In moral relationships the following
may happen: An individual member of a community may commit some wrong; this will
most surely be written in his karma, and must be worked out in the great
inter-relationships of the whole world. But suppose another case: Suppose a man
were found willing to help another to bear his karma. The karma would have to be
fulfilled, but the man might be helped. Groups or associations of people can
help a wrong-doer in the same way. The karma of an individual can be so
interwoven with that of a community that — because it recognizes him as one of
themselves — it can consciously accept his destiny, and in sympathy desire his
improvement. Their attitude might be — ‘You, as an individual, have done wrong,
but we will stand by you. We will take over that in your karma which is
conducive to your betterment.’ If for ‘community’ the word ‘church’ be
substituted, then it means that the church lays upon itself the duty of
accepting the sin of the individual and of sharing the burden of his karma. This
does not refer to ‘forgiveness of sins’ in the usual meaning of the words, but
to a real bond, to ‘a taking upon them’ of the sins, and the community must be
conscious of its acceptance of the debt.
When ‘binding’
and ‘loosing’ are understood in this sense there must be with every forgiveness
of sins a recognition by the community of the responsibilities arising out of
it. In this way a web is woven in which the threads of individual karma are
woven into the karma of the whole community; and this web shall become a
reflection of the order in heaven through the gift brought down to Earth by
Christ from spiritual heights. This means that individual karma shall be bound
up with universal karma after the pattern of the order in the spiritual worlds,
and this in no haphazard way, but so that the whole social organism may become a
reflection of the heavenly order.
Hence for those
who begin to understand it, this scene of the ‘confession of Peter’ acquires an
infinite depth of meaning. It was, so to say, the founding of future humanity on
the basis of their ego-nature. What happened in this confidential conversation
between Christ and His more intimate disciples was that the power brought down
by Him out of the macrocosm He passed on to that which they were to
establish.
From this point
onwards the Gospel of Matthew shows how the disciples were led upward step by
step toward that which they were able to receive of the forces of the Sun, and
of the cosmos, through the medium of the Christ-being.
You know that
one side of initiation is an expansion into the macrocosm, and because Christ is
the impulse to this initiation, in the instructions He gives His disciples He
leads them out into the cosmos. As the individual who experiences initiation
consciously expands into the macrocosm, gradually acquiring wisdom from it, so the
Christ descends from the macrocosm, revealing on every hand the forces active
there, and these He passes on to His disciples.
How this takes
place I have already explained. Let us once more picture the scene. A man falls
asleep; on the couch lie his physical and etheric bodies, while his astral body
and ego pass out into the cosmos so that these members absorb the forces of the
cosmos. If the Christ now approaches this man, He is the Being who attracts
these forces consciously to the sleeper, thereby illuminating him. This actually
happened; a scene is described in which we are told how the disciples journeyed
by sea in the last watch of the night, how they then saw that what they at first
took to be an apparition was the Christ, Who enabled the forces of the macrocosm
to flow into them. We are shown, in a way apparent to anyone, how Christ
conducted these cosmic forces to the disciples.
In what follows
in this Gospel we are shown how, scene by scene, step by step, Christ guided the
disciples toward initiation. It is as if He experienced this Himself and led
them as by the hand along the path that all initiates must tread. I will tell
you one thing which clearly shows the gradual leading of them into the
macrocosm.
When a living
perception of the spiritual world has been gained, when the powers of
clairvoyance have been awakened, it brings with it knowledge of things
previously quite unknown. One learns, for instance, the real connections in the
progressive stages of the growth of a plant. A materialist says of a flower (one
that bears fruit): Here is a flower: in it seeds will develop; these can later
be gathered and planted in the earth, where they will decay and a new plant will
appear; this in turn will again bear seeds — and so it goes on from growth to
growth. Materialistic thought cannot but suppose some part of the seed, however
small, passes over into the new plant. But this is not the case. In respect of
its material part, the whole of the old plant is destroyed. A leap
occurs, so far as the material part is concerned; the new plant is of entirely
new material. Actually a new formation has taken place.
Most important
connections in the world are understood as soon as this very remarkable law is
grasped and applied to the whole macrocosm, when we have learnt that as regards
material conditions leaps or springs do actually occur. This was expressed in a
special way in the Mysteries. It was said there: The disciple for initiation
must learn at a certain stage through expansion into the cosmos to know the
forces that cause these ‘leaps.’ Now, a man learns something from the cosmos in
whichever direction he advances, and this is expressed in a language taken from
the stars. The stars are in this case used as letters. If our development
advances in a certain direction we become aware of the ‘leap’ that takes place
between an ancestor and a descendant, whether this be in the realm of plants, of
animals, of men, or in the realm of planetary existence; such, for instance, as
the transition from ancient Saturn to ancient Sun-existence where everything
material perished. What is spiritual endures; what is material perishes. The
spirit was the cause of this ‘leap.’ In the same way, spirit brought about the
transition from ancient Sun to Moon, from Moon to Earth. In small things as in
great, the law is the same. Two symbols are used to express this fact: one is an
ancient one more of a pictorial imaginative script, and the other more modern.
The modern form is frequently found in calendars. As evolution advances, what is
past curls up within itself in the form of a spiral, and the new evolution comes
forth as a new spiral out of the old, unfolding from within. But between the end
of the old and the beginning of the new there is a little ‘gap’: only then does
evolution advance.
We see this
represented in the above figure; here are two interlaced spirals, and, in the
center between them, a little ‘gap.’ This is the sign of ‘Cancer,’ the fourth
Sign of the Zodiac, and symbolizes the growing outward into the macrocosm, and
also the starting point of a new shoot within an evolution.
There is another
symbol which represents this same connection. Strange as it may seem, the symbol
of an ass and its foal was used to express the connection between an ancestor
and his descendant, and was intended to represent the actual point of transition
from one condition to the other. In old drawings the sign of Cancer is
frequently represented in this way. It is not unimportant for us to know this.
It is an important teaching toward the understanding that a similar important
transition also occurs when we rise to the macrocosm, that when man enters the
spiritual world an entirely new illumination is associated with it. This is
expressed quite correctly when in accordance with the language of the stars it
is said that the physical Sun, having passed through the constellation of Cancer
and reached its highest point, descends again. Much the same happens when the
disciple for initiation who has made his first ascent into the spiritual worlds
learns of the forces there. When he has acquired knowledge concerning these
forces he turns, and bears them down again, so as to make them serviceable to
humanity.
The Gospel of
Matthew, as well as the other Gospels, tells how Christ Jesus brought about this
‘leap’ in the development of the disciples; and by the way this is told we are
shown that He did not influence them by words alone, but that He induced in them
imaginative perception — a living image of what He Himself was accomplishing,
that exalted state that is the goal of human evolution. To this end He made use
of the symbol of the ass and its colt; which means that He guided His disciples
toward an understanding of what in spiritual life corresponds to the sign of
Cancer. This was the expression of something that occurred in the living
spiritual realtionship of Christ to His disciples, and was of such majesty, such
grandeur, that no human words, whatever the language, were found adequate to
express it. The only way that Christ could convey the meaning of it to His
disciples was to lead them into the spiritual world, and then to create in
physical conditions an image or reflection of events in the macrocosmic world.
For this purpose He led them to the point where the forces of those who had been
initiated could become of service again to mankind. He then stood at the summit
of His power, and this is shown when He tells them His Sun stood at its zenith,
in the sign of Cancer No wonder, therefore, that at this point the Gospel of
Matthew informs us that the life of Christ, as regards His earthly existence had
reached its climax! This is mightily demonstrated in the cry: ‘Hosanna in the
Highest!’ Here each tone is chosen so as to show how the disciples are led on
toward maturity, so that through what took place in them humanity as a whole
might attain that which through the Christ has been brought into its
evolution.
The story of the
Passover that follows is nothing else than the actual living inflow of that
magic force, which first, in the form of teaching, and later as the outcome of
the Mystery of Golgotha, was to enter humanity. With this in mind it becomes
clear why the writer of this Gospel always felt it necessary to emphasize the
contrast between the living teaching heard by the disciples coming to them from
the heights of cosmic existence, a teaching suited to them, and the other
teaching given to those who stood outside, who were not sufficiently ripe to
receive the Christ-force itself. This difference will be dealt with in the next
lecture in connection with the conversation of the Scribes and Pharisees. Just
now we would remind you that Christ Jesus, having led the disciples to the point
of initiation, showed them that by following this path they would themselves be
able to experience expansion into the spiritual world of the macrocosm. He
explained that they had already experienced the preliminaries of initiation,
that the way was open to where they could become more and more able to
recognize the true nature of Christ as the Being Who fills all spiritual spaces,
Whose reflection had been in Jesus of Nazareth. Christ Jesus told His disciples
that they must progress in ripeness for initiation so that they might become
initiates for humanity. He taught them further that they could only attain
individual initiation if with patience and perseverance they furthered this
inner ripeness.
What had to
increase in strength in man's inner being if his inner nature was to evolve
clairvoyant higher forces? The as yet undeveloped attributes of his being had to
ripen, so that he could become capable of receiving into himself the forces of
spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man. As to when this would happen, when the
power from above which leads to initiation and makes of a man a participator in
the Kingdoms of the Heavens dawns in him, depends on the degree of ripeness he
has attained; it depends on the karma of the individual. Who can tell when this
moment is at hand? Only the highest initiates. It is not known to those on lower
stages of initiation. The hour of man's attainment comes to those who are ripe
for entry into the spiritual world. It must surely come; but it comes like a
thief in the night.
But how does
this expansion into the spiritual world come to pass? In the ancient Mysteries,
and to a certain extent in the new, there were three stages of initiation into
the macrocosm. The first stage brought knowledge of all that could be perceived
through the spirit-self. The initiate was then not only a man in the new sense,
but he had attained to what, in the language of the Hierarchies, is called
‘Angel-nature’ — the nature of the Hierarchy next above man. Thus in the Persian
Mysteries a man who had advanced to this stage at which he had expanded to the
Macrocosm, when the spirit-self was active in him, was called either a Persian
(since he was no longer an isolated being but belonged to the Angel of the
Persian nation) or he was simply called an Angel, one whose nature was divine.
The second stage is that in which the life-spirit had awaked in like manner; at
this stage a man was called a ‘Sun-hero’ in the old Persian Mysteries, for he
had then advanced to the point where he could draw into himself the spiritual
forces of the Sun, when these forces had approached the Earth. Such a man might
also be called ‘Son of the Father.’ And he who had won to the heights of the
third stage, the stage of Atman, or spirit-man, was called in the ancient
Mysteries ‘the Father.’ These were the three stages of initiation: ‘Angel,’
‘Son or Sun-hero,’ and ‘Father.’
Only the highest
initiates can judge when initiation is about to awaken in man. Hence Christ
said: ‘Initiation will come when you have traveled further along the way on
which I have led you; you will then ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven; but the
hour of your arrival is known neither to the Angels (those initiated with the
spirit-self), nor to the Son (those initiated with life-spirit), but only to the
highest initiates, those initiated with the Father.’ Here once more the language
of the Gospel of Matthew conforms absolutely with the tradition of the
Mysteries.
And we shall see
as the Gospel continues how all that Christ tells His disciples concerning the
Kingdom of Heaven is merely a prediction of what they are to experience in
initiation. Examining carefully the sentences dealing with this subject, it is
easily seen that Christ is referring to a certain teaching common at that time —
concerning the way in which the Kingdom of Heaven was to be attained. People had
accepted this attainment of the Kingdom of Heaven in a material sense, believing
it applied to the whole Earth, whereas they ought to have known that this was
only possible to certain individuals, those who had passed through initiation.
Some people really expected that the Earth would be transformed into Heaven in a
material way. Christ refers directly to this when He says that certain people
who will appear and announce this teaching are lying prophets and false
messiahs. It is amazing to find expounders of the Gospels who even today spread
this false doctrine of the material heavenly kingdom, and declare it to be the
teaching of Christ Himself. Anyone who really knows how to read the Gospel of
Matthew knows that Christ refers to a spiritual event, toward which those
seeking initiation grow. In the course of earthly evolution it will, however, be
possible for all humanity — for all who follow Christ — to grow to this
condition — inasmuch as the Earth itself is spiritualized.
When from this
side also we have looked more deeply into the whole form and content of the
Gospel of Matthew, our reverence for it deepens enormously. This is more
especially the case in respect of the teaching Christ gave to His disciples from
the standpoint of the ego — the ‘I.’ In none of the other Gospels is this given
so clearly. We can picture the Christ, with His disciples gathered round Him,
and can see how cosmic forces work through the agency of His human body; we can
see the disciples learning of initiation as He leads them by the hand, and we
catch a glimpse of the human conditions of His environment. All this makes the
Gospel of Matthew a most human production. Through it we really learn to know
the man Jesus of Nazareth, the bearer of the Christ; we recognize all that came
to pass through the descent of Christ into human nature. Yes, in the Matthew
Gospel even heavenly events are clothed in garments that are truly human.
How this is the
case in other things, not only in those relating to initiation, will be dealt with
in the next lecture — the last lecture.
Source:
http://wn.rsarchive.org/GA/GA0123/19100911p01.html
Posts
