Monday, August 10, 2015
We Shall Overcome
Frederick Douglass [the very model of a modern major hero]:
"I have seen dark hours in my life, and I have seen the darkness gradually disappearing, and the light gradually increasing. One by one I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that make up the sum of general welfare. I remember that God reigns in eternity, and that, whatever delays, disappointments, and discouragements may come, truth, justice, liberty, and humanity will prevail."
Esoteric Christianity: In the beginning was the Veda
The Gospel of John. Lecture 2 of 12.
Rudolf Steiner, Hamburg, May 19, 1908:
The first words of the Gospel of St. John touch, in fact, upon the deepest mysteries of the world. This can be seen when we allow the truths of Spiritual Science which lie at their very foundation to pass before our souls. And we must dip deeply into spiritual knowledge, if these first words of this Gospel are to appear to us in the right light. We must recall to memory much that is well known to those of you who for a long time have been occupying yourselves with the Anthroposophical world conception. But today we shall need to expand certain elementary truths of this conception by penetrating further into various significant cosmic mysteries. We need but briefly call to mind how the human being appears to us between the time of waking in the morning and the evening, when he again sinks into sleep. We know that he is composed of a physical body, an ether or life body, an astral body, and an ego. These four members of the human being, however, are in close relationship only during the waking state. It is quite necessary that we remember that during the night, while sleeping, the human creature is, in reality, entirely different from the same creature during the day, during waking day consciousness, for then his four members are assembled in a very different manner. When he sleeps, the physical and ether bodies lie in bed. The astral body and ego, in a certain sense, are loosened from their connections with the physical and ether bodies and are in fact outside of them — we must understand the word outside in a spiritual, not in a purely spatial sense. Therefore during the night the human being is a creature consisting of two parts, one that remains lying in bed and another part which separates from the physical and ether bodies. Now we must first of all clearly understand that if, during the night, from the moment of going to sleep to the moment of waking again in the morning, the physical and ether bodies lying in bed were completely abandoned by what fills them throughout the day — that is, the astral body and ego — they could not then exist at all by themselves.
Here at this point we must enter a little more deeply into the cosmic mysteries. When we have the human physical body here before us, we should clearly understand that behind what we can see with the eyes and touch with our hands there is a long evolutionary process. It has passed through this process of evolution in the course of the entire development of our earthly planet. To those of you who have concerned yourselves a little with this subject, it is already well known that our earth has passed through previous states of existence and just as the human being has gone from one incarnation to another or, in other words, has passed through repeated earth lives, so too has the earth passed through other life-states before it reached the condition in which we find it today. There are previous incarnations of a planet just as there are previous incarnations of a human being. Everything in the great world and in the small world is subject to the law of repeated incarnations, and before the earth finally became this earth of ours it had passed through a condition of being which we call the “Ancient [Note 1] Moon,” so called because the present moon contains a portion of that ancient planet. So when we speak of the “Ancient Moon,” we do not at all mean the present moon, but a planet similar to the present earth in its earliest stages. Nov, just as there is a period between one incarnation and a new birth in the case of human beings, so also is there a period between the incarnation of this planet of ours which we call the Earth, and that one we designate as the Ancient Moon, and the same is true of that life-condition which we call the “Sun.” A state which we call the “Sun” preceded the Moon-state of our planet, and again this Sun-state was preceded by a “Saturn” life-condition. Thus we can look back on three earlier incarnations of our planet, but not as it is today.
Our physical human body received its very first rudiments upon the ancient Saturn. Upon that ancient planet the very first germ of a physical body was at that time created, but, of course, one very different from the human body of the present. Besides the physical body, nothing that is a part of the human being of today was present on ancient Saturn. Only when Saturn was transformed into the Sun, that is to say, during the second incarnation of our Earth-planet, was the ether body added to the physical body, penetrating and impregnating it. And what was the result? The physical human body underwent a transformation, acquired another form and attained a very different state of existence. During the Sun incarnation of our Earth, the physical body stood at a second stage of its development. But how did it reach this second stage? By becoming an inwardly living body on the Sun, while on Saturn it was still machine-like and automatic. The ether body, which had slipped in, transformed the physical body. Then on the Moon, the astral body slipped into this union of physical and ether bodies. Thus the physical body was again transformed a third time and the ether body a second time. At last upon the Earth, the ego was added to the physical, ether, and astral bodies and having now entered into this threefold union, the ego transformed this physical body again, so that at last it became the complicated structure which it is today. Therefore, what you have before you now as the human physical body is a many times transformed entity, and just because it has passed through four stages of evolution it has its present complicated appearance.
If we say, when speaking of our present physical body, that it is composed of the same physical and chemical substances and forces to be found in the minerals out in the cosmos, it must, nevertheless, be quite clear to us that there is an enormous difference between this physical human body and the mineral. Speaking in very elementary terms, we emphasize the difference between the physical human body and the physical body of a mineral — for example, of a rock crystal — when we say that the rock crystal retains its form unless shattered from without. The human physical body, on the contrary, cannot of itself retain its form. It has its form only because and as long as there are within it an ether body, an astral body, and an ego. The moment the ether body, the astral body, and the ego are separated from it, it becomes something quite different from what it is between birth and death; it follows the laws of the physical and chemical substances and forces and decays, while on the other hand the physical body of the mineral remains unchanged.
Something similar is the case with the ether body. Immediately after death the ether and astral bodies and the ego separate from the physical body; then after a time the ether body also leaves this union of astral body and ego and resolves itself into the cosmic ether, just as the physical body disintegrates and goes back into the earth kingdom. There remains behind only that extract of the ether body of which we have often spoken. This remains united with the human being. Therefore we may say that the physical human body is in a certain sense of the same nature as the mineral kingdom about us, nevertheless, we must keep in mind the great difference which exists between the mineral kingdom and the physical human body.
One might say: — Indeed, but you have just stated that on Saturn our physical body was not yet permeated by an ether body, an astral body, and an ego, for they were only added on the Sun, Moon, and Earth. Therefore at that time, in fact — one might say — the physical body had the character of a mineral. That is true, but we have mentioned three metamorphoses of this physical body that one after the other have succeeded that early life-state of the Saturn period. Even the present mineral, which you have before you as a dead mineral, cannot possibly exist with only a physical body. Let us make it very clear that what has been said and must be repeated is true, that as far as the physical world is concerned, the mineral has only a physical body. Here in the physical world the mineral has only a physical body — however, that is not literally true. Just as the physical human body, standing before us, has within it its etheric and astral bodies and its ego which belong to it, so too has the mineral not only a physical body, but also an ether and an astral body, and an ego — however, these higher members of its being are to be found only in higher realms. The mineral has an ether body, but it is to be found in the so-called astral world; it has also an astral body, but it is in the so-called devachanic or heaven-world, and it has an ego, but this exists in a still higher spiritual world. Thus the physical human body differs from the physical body of a mineral in having here in this physical world, in a waking state, its ether and astral bodies and ego within it, while the mineral has not. We know that besides our world there are still other worlds. The world which we ordinarily perceive with our physical senses is permeated by the astral world, and this again by the devachanic world, which consists of an inferior and a superior region.
In comparison with the mineral, the human being is an especially favored creature, because during waking-consciousness he has his other three members within him. The mineral does not contain these members within itself, so we must think of it as not existing wholly upon the physical plane. Think of a human fingernail. You will concede that nowhere outside in Nature can you find this fingernail existing as an independent entity, for if it is to grow, it presupposes the rest of the human organism — it cannot exist without this. Now imagine a tiny creature with eyes that can see only your fingernail, but has no capacity to see the rest of your organism. Such a tiny creature would look out into the rest of space, but would see nothing besides your fingernail. Thus the minerals on the physical plane are like the fingernail and you only perceive them in their entirety when you rise into higher realms. There they have their ether and astral bodies and egos, and here only their physical member. All this we must hold firmly in mind in order that it may be quite clear that in a higher reality there can be no entity that does not possess some kind of ether and astral body and ego. A purely physical being can have no existence; to exist at all it must have an ether and an astral body, and an ego.
However, in all that has been said today there is in fact a certain contradiction. We have stated that the human being, in the night while asleep, is entirely different from the creature we see during the day when he is awake. By day he is quite comprehensible to us; we have him there before us as a fourfold being. But now let us approach him in sleep and observe his physical nature. Here we have the physical body and the ether body lying in bed — the astral body and ego outside. Thus arises the contradictory condition of having before us a being deserted by its astral body and ego. The stone does not sleep. Its ether and astral bodies and ego do not penetrate it, but remain constantly in the same relationship with it. With the human being, on the contrary, the astral body and ego depart each night and he does not concern himself about his physical and ether bodies, but leaves them to themselves. This fact is not always fully considered. Every night the human being, in his truly spiritual part, takes leave of his physical and ether bodies which he himself deserts. However, these bodies would not be able to exist by themselves, because no physical body, and for that matter no ether body, can exist by itself. Even the stone must be permeated by its higher members. Therefore you can easily comprehend that it is wholly impossible for your physical body and ether body to remain in bed at night without an astral body and ego. What occurs then during the night? Your own astral body and ego are indeed not within the physical and ether bodies, but present in their place there is another ego and another astral body. At this point, occultism calls your attention to a divine-spiritual existence and to higher spiritual powers. During the night, while your own ego and astral body are outside your physical and ether bodies, the astral body and ego of higher, divine-spiritual powers are actually active within them. And the reason for this is the following:
When we consider the whole of human evolution from the Saturn stage through the Sun and Moon periods as far as the Earth, we might indeed say that upon Saturn only the physical human body existed, that there was no human ether body, no human astral body, and no human ego within this physical body. But this physical body, at that time, could have no more existed by itself than the stone today can exist by itself. The physical body of that time could only exist because it was permeated by the ether and astral bodies and the ego of divine-spiritual beings which dwelt within it, and they still dwell there today. Then on the Sun, when our own ether body entered into this physical body, the smaller human ether body amalgamated, as it were, with the earlier ether body of divine-spiritual powers. Even upon Saturn the physical body was permeated by divine-spiritual beings.
If we have now understood this properly, we come to a deeper comprehension of the present human being and we are in a position to repeat and to understand better what has been taught in esoteric Christianity from the beginning. This esoteric Christianity has always been fostered alongside the outer Christian exoteric teaching. I have often pointed out that Paul, the great apostle of Christianity, used his powerful, fiery gift of eloquence to teach Christianity to the people, but that at the same time he founded an esoteric school, the director of which was Dionysius the Areopagite, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. In this Christian esoteric school at Athens which was directly founded by Paul himself, the purest Spiritual Science was taught. And now, having brought together the necessary material in the above observations, we shall be able to place before our souls what was taught there.
This school also taught that when we observe the human being standing before us in his waking state, we find him composed of physical body, ether body, astral body, and ego. It is of little importance that the names used were not exactly the same as those used today. Even at that time the stage of evolution at which humanity now stands was already predicated. This human being, consisting of these four members, has not always been as he now appears to us. If we wish to observe him composed of these four members only, then we must not observe him as he is today, but we must retrace our evolutionary steps back to the Lemurian period. It was at that time that the ego became united with the human being composed of physical, ether, and astral bodies. Thus one might truly say that then, in the real sense of the word, the human being consisted of physical, ether, and astral bodies, and ego.
But since that time every human being has passed through many incarnations. What then is the significance of this evolution by means of incarnations? It is that from incarnation to incarnation the ego works upon and transforms the three members of its being. It begins by first transforming its astral body. In the average man of today the astral body is not just as it was in the first earthly incarnation before the ego had worked upon it. In the first incarnation upon the earth the ego, working from within outwardly, transformed certain thoughts, feelings, and passions which originally had been given to men, and from incarnation to incarnation these were changed more and more through the activity of the ego. Thus it may be said that the human being has today not only the four members — physical, ether, and astral bodies, and ego — but through the activity of the ego within the astral body, he has now a member which is the actual creation of the ego itself. In each human being of today, the astral body is twofold; it has one part that has been transformed by the ego, and another part not so transformed. This will continue and a time will come for every human being when his entire astral body will become a creation of his ego. It is the custom in Oriental wisdom to call that part of the astral body which has already been transformed by the ego by the name of Manas; in English, Spirit-Self. Although the human being is still composed of his four members, we can now distinguish five parts: physical, ether, and astral bodies, and ego; and as fifth member, the transformed part of the astral body, Manas or Spirit-Self. Thus we may say that in every human being the astral body contains within it Manas or Spirit-Self, the work of the ego, the product of the activity of the ego.
The human being will continue to work upon himself. The Earth will pass through further incarnations and humanity will acquire by degrees the capacity — which today can be acquired by the initiate — of working also upon the ether body. It is true the average man today is already working upon his ether body and that part of it which is transformed into a product of the ego is called Buddhi or Life-Spirit. He will finally reach the point where, by means of his ego, he will transform his physical body also. That part of the physical body which is transformed by the ego is called Atman or Spirit-Man.
Let us allow our glance to sweep to the far distant future after the Earth has passed through other planetary forms, other incarnations, after — as occultism describes it — it has gone through the Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan states of existence. The human being will then stand upon a very much higher level, and will have transformed his entire astral body into Manas or Spirit-Self, his entire ether body into Buddhi or Life-Spirit, and his whole physical body into Atman or Spirit-Man.
Compare this human being as he will appear to us at the end of our earthly course with the same human creature as he appeared at its beginning. In the beginning there was only the physical body, and it was permeated by an ether and an astral body and an ego, but these belonged to divine higher beings who only dwelt within it. At the end of the Earth's evolutionary course, the human being will be entirely permeated by his ego. And this ego itself dwells within the astral body, when as Manas or Spirit-Self it permeates this astral body. The ego then permeates the ether body, which becomes impregnated by Buddhi or Life-Spirit, and the physical body becomes entirely transfused by Atman or Spirit-Man, also the product of the ego. What a tremendous difference between the creature at the beginning of this evolution and the same human being as he will be at the end of it! But by bringing this great difference clearly before our minds, what I purposely called a contradiction — the sleep state — then becomes comprehensible to us. The very form of the explanation in esoteric Christianity makes it entirely intelligible to us. What then is this physical body that we shall have before us when the earth has reached the goal of its evolution? Will it be the present physical body? Not in any sense will it be the present physical body, but what the ego shall have made of it. This physical body, as well as the ether and astral bodies, will be wholly spirit-filled. But they were spirit-filled even before the human being transformed them into spirit through the activity of his ego. Even the stone, as we have said, is today permeated by the ether and astral bodies and ego belonging to it, although they exist in higher spiritual realms.
Thus we see that esoteric Christianity has good reason for stating that the human being cannot yet master what he today possesses as physical body, because he has not yet reached the end of his evolution when his ego will have worked down even into the physical body. He also cannot yet master the ether body. He will only be able to master that when the Earth has reached the Venus state. Thus he cannot yet master physical and ether bodies through his ego. Only when he has developed Buddhi and Atman will he be able to do this. But a physical and ether body of this kind must be controlled in a spiritual way. What the human being himself will some day be able to give to the physical and ether bodies must already be present within them. Those spiritual parts which the ego will at some time give to the ether and physical bodies must be there even now. They were already within the physical body in the beginning when the human creature was in the Saturn Evolution; they were in him when he was on the Sun, and they have continued to remain within him ever since. Thus esoteric Christianity speaks truly when it says: When the human being has reached the summit of his evolution, what is now already within the human physical body, the divine Atman, a divine spiritual being, will then become a part of it. Buddhi also is already within the ether body, but it is the divine Life-Spirit. The human astral body consists, as we have said, of two parts, one of which has been mastered by the human being and another which has not. What, then, is present there within that part which he cannot yet control? It is the Spirit-Self, but a divine Spirit-Self. The real spiritual life of mankind is only present in that part of the astral body in which the ego has already been active since the first incarnation. Thus we have the human being before us.
Let us now look at him in his waking state. What shall we say? The physical body as it appears to us is only the exterior. Within, he is what may be called an atmic being. Interiorly, he is composed of and permeated by higher divine-spiritual beings. The same is true of the ether body. Exteriorly, it is what holds the physical body together; interiorly it is the divine Life-Spirit. And the astral body also is permeated by a divine being, the Spirit-Self. But out of this whole combination, the transformed portion of the astral body alone has been mastered by the ego.
Let us now observe the human being while he sleeps. Here this contradiction disappears at once. We approach him when he is in this state and observe that, as astral body and ego, he is outside the physical body. He calmly abandons it and the ether body every night. Were he to leave the physical body without its being cared for by a divine-spiritual being, he would find it again, but in a shattered condition. A divine-spiritual physical and a divine-spiritual ether are present within the physical and ether bodies and they remain there while these bodies are lying in bed, with the astral body and ego outside. The physical body and ether body are permeated by beings of an atmic and buddhic nature.
Now, look back to the beginning of our earthly evolution when nothing in the human being had yet been mastered by the ego. Before his first incarnation the ego was not yet united with the three other members, the physical, ether, and astral bodies. These last came over from the Moon, but the ego did not enter them until the Earth period. On the other hand, a divine Ego was present within them. They would not have been able to exist had not this divine Ego completely permeated them. The astral body was permeated by a divine Spirit-Self, the ether body by a divine Life-Spirit, and the physical body by a divine Atman or Spirit-Man.
Let us look back still further to the Moon, Sun, and Saturn evolutions. Upon Saturn, the divine Life-Spirit — which still in the night dwells within the human being lying in bed — had the power to form the human body, as a matter of fact the physical body, into something like a mineral. During the Sun stage, this Life-Spirit transformed the physical body into something of the nature of a plant; and on the Moon it was able to form this body into something that experiences pleasure and pain, but which could not yet say “I” to itself. The physical body passed through these lowest stages.
Now, let us proceed to the real Earth incarnation. Here, by experiencing a further transformation, the physical human body became still more perfected than previously. What had it previously been unable to do? What was yet quite foreign to it? What had the divine Spirit kept within itself? What had it not yet entrusted to the human body? It was the power to express in sound the inner life of the soul. On the Moon, this human body, then at the animal stage, was mute. The capacity to permit the soul-life to express itself outwardly in sounds was still with the Divine. It was not yet entrusted to the body's own being. Although there are also animal creatures today able to utter cries, such sounds are, however, something very different from the human vocal sounds. These animals still exist under quite different conditions from the human creature — they make sounds, it is true, but it is the Divine within them sounding forth. The power to express the inner feelings of the soul in words was only bestowed upon men here upon the Earth. Before this, they were mute; thus this capacity for speech came with life upon the earth.
Let us consider now for a moment as a whole what we have today brought before our souls. The power of speech, namely the Word, was originally with the Divine, and the whole of evolution was so directed that the Godhead first created, as prerequisite, a physical apparatus which only later acquired the power to allow this Word to sound forth out of itself. Everything was thus guided and directed. Like the flower within its seed, the tone-uttering human being, endowed with the Word or Logos, existed already in germ upon Saturn. Sound was concealed within this germ and developed out of it just as the whole plant grows out of the seed in which it has been hidden.
Let us look back upon the physical human body as it existed upon Saturn and ask ourselves: — Whence came this physical human body? What was its primal source? What did it need to carry it through the whole of evolution? — It came from the Logos or the Word. For even as early as the Saturn period this physical human body was directed in such a way that it later became capable of speech, became a witness of the Logos. That you are formed as you are today, that this human body has its present shape, rests upon the fact that the “Word” lies at the very foundation of the whole plan of our creation. The whole human body has been constructed upon the Word and from the very beginning it was so endowed that at last the Word was able to spring forth from it. When, therefore, the esoteric Christian, looking at this physical human body, asked: What is its original prototype and what is its image? the answer was: This physical human body has its origin in the Word or Logos. This Word or Logos was active from the beginning within the physical human body — and it is still active there today when the physical body lies in bed deserted by the ego. During that time, the divine Logos is active within the members thus forsaken by the human soul. If we ask: What was the very first beginning of the physical body? then the answer is: — The Logos or the Word.
We shall now follow evolution still further. Saturn passed over into the Sun period; and then to the human physical body the life or ether body was added. But what must have entered in order that such a step forward could be made? While on Saturn, the physical body was a kind of machine, a sort of automaton, wholly permeated and maintained, however, by the Logos; on the Sun, the life body was added within which the divine Life-Spirit was active. During the Saturn period, the human body was an expression of the Logos; then Saturn disappeared, and this human body was reborn upon the Sun. To the physical body was added the life body, permeated by the Life-Spirit. The Logos became Life upon the Sun, while advancing the human creature to a higher stage. The Logos became Life upon the Sun!
Let us now continue further. Upon the Moon, the astral body was added to this human creature. What is the astral body? It appears to the clairvoyant consciousness, even today, like an aura surrounding the human being. It is a body of light, only it cannot be seen in the present state of consciousness. But when seen with clairvoyant vision, it appears as Light, spiritual Light. Our physical light is only transformed spiritual Light, and the physical sunlight is the embodiment of the divine-spiritual auric, cosmic Light which is its source. In the present world there is a light streaming down upon us from the sun. But there is yet another light which streams forth out of our own inner radiance. Upon the Moon, the human astral body still shone for the beings in its environment. Thus upon the Moon the human astral body was united with the physical and ether bodies.
Let us now observe the progress of evolution as a whole. Upon Saturn, we have the physical body as the expression of the Logos; upon the Sun, the ether body is added as an expression of the Life-Spirit. The Logos becomes Life. Upon the Moon, the light-body is added: Life becomes Light! Here we have the story of the evolution of the human body. When the human being began life upon the Earth, he was a creation of the divine-spiritual powers. At that time he existed because within his physical, ether, and astral bodies the Logos was living, the Logos which was Life and which became Light. What now occurred upon the Earth? In the human being and for the human being the ego now entered, and because of this, he was now able not only to live in Light and in Life, but also became capable of observing everything externally, capable of confronting the Logos, Life, and Light. Therefore everything became material to him and he acquired a physical material existence.
Now that we have developed our train of thought thus far, we have approximately reached the point where we shall begin our next lecture, when we shall show how the human creature, born out of the Godhead, has developed into the present ego-being. For we see that prior to this present ego-being, there existed a divine pre-human creature. All that part which has been mastered by the ego is each night torn away from the physical and ether bodies, but the part which from the beginning has always been there within him remains and watches over these bodies when, unconcerned, the soul faithlessly deserts them. This original divine-spiritual being remains firmly implanted there.
All that we have been trying to present in the language of esoteric Christianity, deep mysteries of existence familiar to those who were “servants of the Logos in the earliest times,” all this is presented unequivocally in sublime, clear-cut verses in the Gospel of St. John. One must, however, translate these first words in the right way, in conformity with their meaning. Properly translated, these words give the actual facts which have just been presented. Let us bring these facts again before our souls, in order that we may fully comprehend their value.
In the beginning was the Logos which was the archetype of the physical human body, the foundation of all things. All animals, plants, and minerals appeared later, for the human creature alone was present upon Saturn. In the Sun period the animal kingdom was added, in the Moon period the plant kingdom, and upon the Earth the mineral kingdom appeared. Upon the Sun the Logos became Life, and upon the Moon it became Light; then when the human creature became endowed with an ego, the Logos as Light confronted him. But he had to learn to know the nature of the Logos and learn in what form It eventually would make its appearance. First there was the Logos which became Life, then Light, and this Light lives in the astral body. Into the human inner being, into the darkness, into the ignorance, the Light shone. And the meaning of life upon Earth is this: that men should overcome this darkness of the soul, in order that they may recognize the Light of the Logos.
The first words of the Gospel of St. John are incisive, although, perhaps, very difficult to understand, as many may say. But should the most profound mysteries of the world be expressed in trivial language? Is it not a strange point of view, a real insult to what is holy, when one says, for example, that in order to understand a watch one must penetrate deeply into the nature of the thing with the understanding, but for a comprehension of the Divine in the world, the simple, plain, naive human intelligence should suffice? It is a very bad thing for present humanity that it has reached the point of saying, when reference is made to the profoundness of religious documents: Oh! why all these complicated explanations? It should all be plain and simple. However, only those who have the good intention and good will to plunge down into the great cosmic facts can penetrate into the deep meaning of such words as those at the very beginning of the most profound of the gospels, this Gospel of St. John, words that are in fact a paraphrase of Spiritual Science.
Let us now translate the introductory words of this Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a God (or divine). This was in the beginning with God. Through the same all things were made and save through this Word, nothing was made. In It was Life, and Life became the Light of men. And the Light shone into the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not.
How the darkness, little by little, comes to an understanding of the Light is recounted later on in the Gospels.
Notes:Note 1. The words Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan when spelt with an initial capital refer to the great cosmic evolutionary periods called “man-bearing periods.” The words earth, moon, and sun, spelt with small letters refer to the planets of our present solar system. —Ed.
Source: http://wn.rsarchive.org/GA/GA0103/19080519p01.html
Sunday, August 9, 2015
"Rise up, ye women that are at ease!" —Snippets from the book "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs
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| Harriet Jacobs (1813 - 1897) in 1894 |
The book's epigraph:
"Rise up, ye women that are at ease! Hear my voice, ye careless daughters! Give ear unto my speech." — Isaiah 32:9
From chapter 9, "Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders"
They put him into a rough box, and buried him with less feeling than would have been manifested for an old house dog. Nobody asked any questions. He was a slave; and the feeling was that the master had a right to do what he pleased with his own property. And what did he care for the value of a slave? He had hundreds of them.
From chapter 13, "The Church and Slavery"
I well remember one occasion when I attended a Methodist class meeting. I went with a burdened spirit, and happened to sit next a poor, bereaved mother, whose heart was still heavier than mine. The class leader was the town constable--a man who bought and sold slaves, who whipped his brethren and sisters of the church at the public whipping post, in jail or out of jail. He was ready to perform that Christian office any where for fifty cents. This white-faced, black-hearted brother came near us, and said to the stricken woman, "Sister, can't you tell us how the Lord deals with your soul? Do you love him as you did formerly?"
She rose to her feet, and said, in piteous tones, "My Lord and Master, help me! My load is more than I can bear. God has hid himself from me, and I am left in darkness and misery." Then, striking her breast, she continued, "I can't tell you what is in here! They've got all my children. Last week they took the last one. God only knows where they've sold her. They let me have her sixteen years, and then--O! O! Pray for her, brothers and sisters! I've got nothing to live for now. God make my time short!"
She sat down, quivering in every limb. I saw that constable class leader become crimson in the face with suppressed laughter, while he held up his handkerchief, that those who were weeping for the poor woman's calamity might not see his merriment. Then, with assumed gravity, he said to the bereaved mother, "Sister, pray to the Lord that every dispensation of his divine will may be sanctified to the good of your poor needy soul!"
The congregation struck up a hymn, and sung as though they were as free as the birds that warbled round us,--
"Ole Satan thought he had a mighty aim;
He missed my soul, and caught my sins.
Cry Amen, cry Amen, cry Amen to God!
"He took my sins upon his back;
Went muttering and grumbling down to hell.
Cry Amen, cry Amen, cry Amen to God!
"Ole Satan's church is here below.
Up to God's free church I hope to go.
Cry Amen, cry Amen, cry Amen to God!"
From chapter 16, "Scenes at the Plantation"
The young mistress came out to see how things were done on her plantation, and she soon gave a specimen of her character. Among those in waiting for their allowance was a very old slave, who had faithfully served the Flint family through three generations. When he hobbled up to get his bit of meat, the mistress said he was too old to have any allowance; that when niggers were too old to work, they ought to be fed on grass. Poor old man! He suffered much before he found rest in the grave.
From chapter 37, "A Visit to England"
I had heard much about the oppression of the poor in Europe. The people I saw around me were, many of them, among the poorest poor. But when I visited them in their little thatched cottages, I felt that the condition of even the meanest and most ignorant among them was vastly superior to the condition of the most favored slaves in America. They labored hard; but they were not ordered out to toil while the stars were in the sky, and driven and slashed by an overseer, through heat and cold, till the stars shone out again. Their homes were very humble; but they were protected by law. No insolent patrols could come, in the dead of night, and flog them at their pleasure. The father, when he closed his cottage door, felt safe with his family around him. No master or overseer could come and take from him his wife, or his daughter. They must separate to earn their living; but the parents knew where their children were going, and could communicate with them by letters. The relations of husband and wife, parent and child, were too sacred for the richest noble in the land to violate with impunity. Much was being done to enlighten these poor people. Schools were established among them, and benevolent societies were active in efforts to ameliorate their condition. There was no law forbidding them to learn to read and write; and if they helped each other in spelling out the Bible, they were in no danger of thirty-nine lashes, as was the case with myself and poor, pious, old uncle Fred. I repeat that the most ignorant and the most destitute of these peasants was a thousandfold better off than the most pampered American slave.
Jesus Christ: The Veda made flesh
The Gospel of John. Lecture 1 of 12.
Rudolf Steiner, Hamburg, May 18, 1908:
Our lectures upon the Gospel of St. John will have a double purpose. One will be the deepening of the concepts of Spiritual Science themselves and their expansion in many directions, and the other will be to make this great document itself comprehensible by means of the thoughts that will arise in our souls in consequence of these deepened and expanded concepts. I beg you to hold clearly in mind that it is the intention of these lectures to proceed in these two directions. It should not be simply a question of explanations of this Gospel, but rather that by means of the latter we shall penetrate into the deep mysteries of existence, and we should hold very clearly in mind how the perceptive method of Spiritual Science must be developed when we are dealing with any of the great historical records handed down to us by the different religions of the world. In fact we might imagine that if the exponent of Spiritual Science speaks about the Gospel of St. John, he will do so just as others have often done, that is, he will take some such document as this Gospel as a basis in order that he may draw from it the truths that are under discussion and present them on the authority of this religious document. But this can never be the concern of a spiritually scientific, cosmic point of view. It must be a quite different one. If Spiritual Science is to fulfill its true mission in respect of the modern human spirit, then it should point out that if men will only learn to use their inner forces and capacities — their forces and capacities of spiritual perception — they will be able, by applying them, to penetrate into the mysteries of life, into what is concealed within the spiritual worlds behind the world of the senses. The fact that men can penetrate to the mysteries of life through the use of inner capacities, that they are able to reach the creative forces and beings of the universe through their own cognition, must be brought more and more into the consciousness of present-day humanity. Thus it becomes evident that a knowledge of the mystery of this Gospel can be gained by men, independent of every tradition, independent of every historical document.
In order to make this absolutely clear, we shall have to express ourselves in quite radical terms. Let us suppose that through some circumstance all religious records had been lost, and that men possessed only those capacities which they have today; they should, nevertheless, be able to penetrate into life's mysteries, if they only retain those capacities. They should be able to reach the divine-spiritual creating forces and beings which lie concealed behind the physical world. And Spiritual Science must depend entirely upon these independent sources of knowledge, irrespective of all records. However, after having investigated the divine-spiritual mysteries of the world independently, we can then take up the actual religious documents themselves. Only then can we recognize their true worth, for we are, in a certain sense, free and independent of them. What has previously been independently discovered is now recognized within the documents themselves. And you may be sure that for anyone who has pursued this path, these writings will suffer no diminution in value, no lessening of the respect and veneration due them.
Let us make this point quite clear by means of a comparison with something very different. It is true that Euclid, the old geometrician, first gave us that geometry which every schoolboy today studies at a certain stage of his school life. But is the acquisition of a knowledge of geometry absolutely dependent upon this book of Euclid? I ask you, how many pupils today study elementary geometry without knowing the least thing about this first book in which Euclid presented the most rudimentary geometrical facts? They study these geometrical facts quite apart from this Euclidian book, because geometry originates in a capacity of the human spirit. If the pupil has first studied geometry by means of his own spiritual faculty, and afterwards takes up the great work by Euclid, he then understands how to appreciate it adequately. For the first time then he finds in it what he has already made into a capacity of his own mind, and he learns to value the form in which the corresponding knowledge was presented for the first time. Thus it is possible today to discover the great cosmic facts presented in the Gospel of St. John by means of the forces slumbering within the human soul without knowing anything about the Gospel itself, just as the pupil acquires a knowledge of geometry without knowing anything about the first book of Euclid.
If previously equipped with knowledge about the higher worlds we take up this Gospel and inquire into what is disclosed therein concerning the spiritual history of mankind, we find that the deepest mysteries of the spiritual world are concealed within a book, are given to mankind in a book, and because we already know the truths concerning the divine spiritual world, we can now recognize the divine-spiritual nature of this document, this Gospel of St. Jahn. For this is altogether the right way to approach those documents which deal with spiritual things. What is the position of the exponent of Spiritual Science in relation to those researchers of records dealing with spiritual matters who understand very well, from the standpoint of language, everything presented in documents like the Gospel of St. John; in other words what is his position in relation to those who are pure philologists? (Even the theological researchers of a certain type are today only philologists in respect of the content of such books). Let us take once more the parallel of the geometry of Euclid. Will the best expounder of geometry be the one who in his own way can make a good literal translation without the vaguest conception of geometrical knowledge? Something very extraordinary would result were such a person to attempt to translate Euclid, understanding previously nothing at all about geometry. On the other hand, even if the translator himself were a poor philologist, but understood geometry, he would still be able to give the proper value to this book. The exponent of Spiritual Science is in a similar position in relation to many other researchers of the Gospel of St. John. Today this Gospel is often interpreted in much the same way as the philologist would explain the geometry of Euclid. But from Spiritual Science itself we can gain knowledge about the spiritual worlds recorded in this Gospel. So the spiritual scientist stands in the same relation to this spiritual document as the geometrician to Euclid. He has brought with him something which he now is able to discover in the Gospel itself.
We do not need to dwell upon the objection that in this way much is “read into” the documents. We shall soon see that whoever understands the content of the Gospel of St. John need not put into it something that is not there, and if he understands the nature of the Spiritual Science interpretation he will not need to concern himself much with this reproach. Just as other documents do not depreciate in value or lose in veneration when their true content is known, so too is such the case with this Gospel. To anyone who has penetrated into the mysteries of the world, it becomes one of the most significant documents in the spiritual life of mankind.
If we consider its exact content, we may then ask: Why should the Gospel of St. John, which for the spiritual researcher is such an important document, be pushed more and more into the background in relation to the other Gospels by the very theologians who should be called upon to explain it? We shall touch upon this as a preliminary question before entering upon a consideration of the Gospel itself.
You all know that in respect of this Gospel, extraordinary points of view and opinions have possessed certain minds. In olden times it was revered as one of the deepest and most significant documents in the custody of mankind concerning the being of Christ Jesus and His activities upon Earth; and in the earlier periods of Christianity it would never have entered the mind of any one to consider it other than a powerful, historical testimony of the events in Palestine. But in recent times this has all changed, and just those who think they stand most securely upon the foundation of historical research are the ones who have, for the most part, undermined the foundation upon which such a concept rests. For some time, and this can now be reckoned in centuries, men have begun to notice the contradictions present in the Gospels, and after much vacillation, the following has become the accepted view especially among theologians: We find many contradictions in the Gospels and it is impossible to see how it happens that in the four Gospels, from four sides, the events in Palestine are so differently related. When we take the descriptions given according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have so many different accounts of this or that event that it becomes impossible to believe they are all in agreement with the historical facts. Little by little this became the opinion of those who wished to investigate these things.
In more recent times the point of view has developed that it is possible to establish a certain harmony between the descriptions of the events in Palestine in the first three Gospels, but that the Gospel of St. John, however, differs greatly in its narrations from the other three. Therefore, in respect of the historical facts, it is preferable that the first three Gospels should be believed, the Gospel of St. John possessing less historical authenticity. Thus gradually the time came when it was stated as a fact that the Gospel of St. John was not written with the same purpose as the first three. The authors of these other Gospels, it was said, wished only to relate what occurred, whereas the writer of the Gospel of St. John did not have this purpose, but quite a different one. And, for various reasons, these critics have yielded to the supposition that the St. John document was written at a comparatively late period — but we shall speak of these things again. Most of the researchers believe it was not written until the third or fourth decade of the second century A. D. — although perhaps even in the second decade. Therefore they say it was written at a time when Christianity had already become widespread in a very definite form and when, perhaps, it already had its enemies. For hostility against Christianity arose from various sources and those who held this opinion said that in the author we have a man before us who endeavored to present a book of instruction, a kind of apotheosis, or something like a vindication of Christianity in the face of those streams of opposition which had risen up against it. But this writer, they said, never had the intention of picturing accurately the historical facts, his idea being rather to present his own position in relation to his Christ. Thus many see nothing more in this Gospel than a kind of poem imbued with religion, which the author wrote out of a religiously poetical feeling for his Christ, for the purpose of inspiring others also and bringing them into a similar mood. Perhaps this opinion is not expressed everywhere in such extreme terms, but if you study literature, you will find this opinion to be widespread, that it has a response in the souls of many of our contemporaries — indeed, such a belief harmonizes exactly with the sentiments of our contemporaries.
A certain disinclination toward any such idea of a historical beginning as we find depicted in the very first words of the Gospel of St. John has been developing for several centuries among men who have come more and more to a materialistic way of thinking. I should like you just to remember that the very first words permit of no other interpretation than that in Jesus of Nazareth, who lived at the beginning of our Christian era, a being of a very high spiritual order was incarnated. When the author in his wholly characteristic manner spoke of Jesus he could not do otherwise than begin with what he calls the “Word” or the “Logos” and say: “the Word was in the beginning and all things came into being through It.” If we consider the Word in its full significance, we should say that the author of this Gospel felt impelled to speak of the Logos as the origin of the world, the highest to which the human being can lift his spirit, and to say that through the Logos, the First Cause, all things have come into being. Then the writer continues: “The Logos became flesh and dwelt among us.” This simply means: “You have seen Him who dwelt among us, but you will only be able to understand Him if you recognize the same Principle dwelling within Him through which everything that is about you in the plant, animal, and human kingdoms has come into being.” If we do not interpret with too much artificiality, then we must say that according to this document a Principle of the highest order at one time incarnated in human flesh. Let us compare the appeal which such thoughts make to the human heart with the words of many modern theologians. You can read the following in present-day theological works and hear it presented in various ways in lectures: We no longer call upon some Supersensible Principle. We prefer the Jesus described in the first three Gospels, for that is the simple Man of Nazareth who is like other men.
In a certain sense this has become an ideal for many theologians, and an effort is being made to place everything that has become a part of history as much as possible upon the same level as ordinary human events. It disturbs people that any such exalted being as the Christ of the Gospel of St. John should tower above all others. Therefore they speak of the Christ as the Apotheosis of Jesus, “the simple Man of Nazareth,” and He appeals to them in this character, because then they can say: “Yes, we have also a Socrates and other great men.” To be sure they make him different from these others but still they are using a certain standard for an ordinary humanity when they speak of “the simple Man of Nazareth.” This expression “the simple Man of Nazareth,” which you can find today in innumerable theological works, also in theological-academic writings in what is called “Liberal Theology,” has a very close connection with the materialistic tendency of mankind which has been in process of development now for centuries. According to this “Liberal Theology” there is only a physical sense-world; at least it alone has significance.
But in those periods of human evolution in which humanity could still lift its perceptions to the unseen world, it was possible to say: Of course this or that historical personality outwardly, in external appearance, may be compared with the “simple Man of Nazareth,” but in what is spiritual and invisible in His personality, Jesus of Nazareth stands before us as a unique figure. However, when men had lost their insight into the supersensible and invisible world, then the standard for a humanity above the average was also lost, and this is especially noticeable in the religious conceptions of life. Let us have no illusions! Materialism first forced its way into the religious life. Materialism in its relation to the facts of outer natural science is very, very much less dangerous for the spiritual development of mankind than it is in its relation to the interpretation of religious mysteries.
As an illustration, let us consider the true spiritual interpretation of the Last Supper, the changing of bread and wine into flesh and blood, and we shall see that the Last Supper loses nothing in value and importance through this spiritual interpretation. It will be a spiritual interpretation about which we are to hear. This was also the early Christian conception when there was still far more spiritual understanding among men than there is today, and it was still current in the first half of the Middle Ages when many could comprehend the words “This is my body, this is my blood,” as we shall here learn to understand them. However, in the course of centuries this spiritual interpretation was necessarily lost. We shall learn the reason why.
In the Middle Ages there existed a very extraordinary current which streamed more deeply through the souls of men than is possible to believe, for we learn very little from present-day history about the way human souls were gradually evolved and what they have experienced. About the second half of the Middle Ages we find a deep current of thought flowing through the Christian minds of Europe, for it was then that the earlier spiritual interpretation of the doctrine of the Last Supper was authoritatively changed into a materialistic one. In these words, “This is my body, this is my blood,” men could only imagine a material process, a physical transubstantiation of bread and wine into flesh and blood. What was formerly conceived in a spiritual sense began to assume a grossly materialistic meaning. Here materialism crept into the religious life long before it seized upon natural science.
Another illustration is no less significant. We must not imagine that in any of the authoritative explanations of the Middle Ages concerning the story of creation, the six days of creation were interpreted to mean days of twenty-four hours, such as we have today. This interpretation would never have entered the minds of any of the leading theological teachers, because they understood what was presented in these documents. They still knew how to attach a meaning to the words of the Bible. Has it any meaning whatsoever in discussing these documents about the creation, to speak in our present manner of days of creation twenty-four hours long? What is the meaning of a day? A day is what results from the mutual relationship between the rotating Earth and the Sun. We can only speak of days in our sense when we think of the relationship between the Sun and the Earth with its movement as it is at the present time. But we find in the Book of Genesis the first narration of any such mutual relationship between Sun and Earth in connection with the fourth period, the fourth “day” of creation. Therefore “days” in our sense could not possibly have had their beginning prior to the fourth day of the history of creation. Before that time it would have been foolish to imagine days as we have them now. Since only on the fourth “day” conditions arose which made day and night possible, one cannot speak of days in the present sense before that. Then came a time when men no longer recognized the spiritual significance of the words day and night, when they were of the opinion that the only kind of time possible was what they knew in connection with physical days. So to the materialistically minded man, and even to the theologian, a day of creation also meant a day like our present day, because they knew of no other.
The older theologians spoke differently about these things. Such a one would have said, first and foremost, that nothing non-essential was to be found in important passages in the old religious documents. To illustrate this, let us consider one special passage. Let us take the twenty-first verse of the second chapter of the First Book of Moses. There we read: “Then the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the human creature, and he slept.” The earlier commentators laid very special importance upon this passage. Those who have understood a little of the evolution of the spiritual forces and capacities of mankind know that there are different states of consciousness, that what we call sleep in the average man is only a transitory state which in the future will develop into one in which the human being, independent of the body, will perceive the spiritual world. (This is today already the case with the initiates.) Therefore the commentators said: God permitted Adam to fall into a deep sleep and then he could perceive what he could not otherwise perceive with the physical sense organs. This means a clairvoyant sleep — and what is related here is the experience of a higher state of consciousness. So Adam fell into a deep sleep. This was an old interpretation and it was said that a religious document would not have spoken of God's permitting a deep sleep to fall upon the human being if, at an earlier time, he had already gone through such an experience. We are thereby shown that this is the first sleep and that before this time the human being was in states of consciousness in which he was still able constantly to perceive spiritual things. This is what was related to the people.
Today it is our purpose to show that there were, at one time, wholly spiritual interpretations of biblical documents and that when the materialistic tendency arose, it read into the Bible what is now objected to by liberal-minded people. The materialistically inclined mind first created what it then itself later opposed. So you see how in fact the materialistic tendency in mankind arose and how, because of it, the real, true understanding of religious documents has been lost. If Spiritual Science performs its task and points out what mysteries lie hidden behind physical life, then it will be seen that these very mysteries have been described in the religious documents themselves. The outer trivial materialism, which is today considered so dangerous, is only the last phase of the materialism I have described to you. The Bible was first materialistically interpreted. Had this never been done, a Haeckel would never have interpreted nature materialistically in an outer physical science. What was sown as a seed in the realm of religion in the 14th and 15th centuries came to fruition in the 19th in natural science. This brought with it the impossibility of reaching any understanding of the Gospel of St. John except by penetrating into its spiritual foundations. If it is not understood, it will certainly be underrated. Because those who no longer understood it were sickened by a materialistic mode of thought, it appeared to them in the light described above.
A very simple comparison will explain how this Gospel differs from the other three. Let us imagine a mountain and on the mountain and mountain slopes at certain levels, four men are standing and these men — let us say three of them — sketch what they see below. Each of them will make a different sketch according to the position at which he stands, but of course each one of the three pictures is true from its own standpoint. The fourth man, who stands above on the very summit and sketches what is below, will perceive and draw yet another view. Thus it is with the point of view of the three evangelists, the synoptists — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — in contrast to that of the evangelist John, who merely describes the facts from another standpoint. And to what lengths have learned interpreters not gone in order to make the Gospel of St. John comprehensible! Often one must really marvel at exact researchers' explanations of what would so easily be seen through were our age not one of the greatest possible belief in authority. Belief in an infallible science has today reached its highest point.
Thus the very prologue to this Gospel becomes something very difficult for the theologians imbued with materialism. The teaching about the Logos, or the Word, has caused great difficulties, for they say: We should have liked so much to have everything plain and simple and naive — then along comes the Gospel of St. John speaking of such lofty philosophical things, of the Logos, of Life, of Light! Philologists are always accustomed to ask about the origin of a thing. With the writings of recent times it is the same. Read what is written about Goethe's Faust. Everywhere you find pointed out the origin of this or that motive. Thus books hundreds of years old have been ferreted out in order to discover, for example, the origin of the word “worm,” employed by Goethe. In the same way the question is also asked, where did the Evangelist John get the idea of the “Logos?” The other Evangelists who spoke to the simple, plain human understanding did not express themselves in such a personal way. It was said further that the author of this Gospel was a man of Greek education, and then it was pointed out that in Philo of Alexandria, the Greeks have a writer who also speaks of the “Logos.” So it was thought that in cultured Grecian circles one spoke of the Logos when wishing to speak of something exalted, and that it was from this source that St. John derived this word. This again was considered as a proof that the writer of the Gospel of St. John did not rely upon the same traditions as the writers of the other Gospels, but that, influenced by Greek culture, he re-coined the facts in accordance with it. Thus, it is alleged, the very first words of the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God” show that the Logos-idea of Philo had entered into the spirit of the writer of this Gospel and had influenced his form of presentation.
The attention of such people should be called to the very first words of the Gospel of St. Luke: “Forasmuch as many have undertaken to speak of those events which have thus happened among us, even as they have been transmitted unto us by those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word (Logos), it seemed well to me also, having examined with diligence all things as they were from the beginning, to relate them unto thee, most excellent Theophilus.”
Here at the very beginning we read that what he is about to relate is what had been transmitted by those who have been eye-witnesses and ministers of the “Word.” It is extraordinary that St. John should have received this from his Greek culture and that St. Luke, who according to this view belonged to the simple folk, also speaks of the “Logos” without this culture. Such things should call the attention of even believers in authority to the fact that arguments which lead to such conclusions are really not exact ones, but only prejudices (it is the materialistic spectacles that have brought out this idea of the Gospel of St. John). They should call attention also to the fact that the St. John document should be placed alongside the other Gospels in the manner just characterized, because in the Gospel of St. Luke the Logos is also spoken of. What was said by those who were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Logos shows that in olden times the Logos was spoken of as something which the people knew about and with which they were familiar. And this we must particularly hold in mind in order that we may penetrate more deeply into the first paradigmatic verses of the Gospel of St. John. What was a writer speaking about if at that time he used the word “Logos” or “Word” in our sense? What could he have meant?
You will not come to this ancient conception of the “Logos” through theoretical interpretations and abstract intellectual discussions, but you must enter in spirit into the entire feeling-life of all those who have spoken in this way about the “Logos.” These people also observed the things about them; but it is not sufficient that we simply observe what is in our environment: the important thing is that the feelings of our hearts and souls should also participate in what we observe. We should consider a thing of greater or less importance according to what we are able to discern in it. We all observe the kingdoms of nature about us: the minerals, plants, animals, and man. We call the human kingdom the most perfect creation, the mineral the most imperfect. Within the respective kingdoms of nature we differentiate again beings of higher and lower grades. Men have experienced this quite differently in different ages. Those who spoke from the standpoint of the Gospel of St. John found one thing above all else to be of very great importance. They looked down upon the lower animal kingdom and let their glance sweep up as far as man and in this evolutionary sweep they traced something very definite. They said: There is one quality which shows most profoundly the superiority of the higher beings over the lower. This is the capacity to utter aloud in words what exists within the soul, to communicate thoughts to the surrounding world by means of words. Behold the lower animals! They are mute, they do not express their pain and pleasure. They squeak or make other sounds, but it is the outer scraping and rubbing of the physical organs which produce these sounds, as in the case of the lobster. The higher we go in evolution, the more do we see the capacity developed for expressing the inner feelings in sound and communicating in tones the experiences of the soul. Therefore, they said, the human being stands thus high above other creatures, because not only can he express his pleasure and pain in words, but because he is able to put into words what rises above the personal — that is to say, the spiritual, the impersonal — and to express this by means of thoughts.
And there were among the followers of the Logos-doctrine those who said that there existed a period prior to the time when man had developed his present form, a form in which it is now possible for him to express in words the most intimate experiences of his soul. It has taken a long time for our Earth to evolve to its present form. (We shall hear later how this Earth came into existence.) But if we examine the earlier states of the Earth we do not yet find mankind in its present shape, nor do we find any creature which could utter aloud what it was experiencing inwardly. Our world began with mute creatures and only by degrees did beings appear upon this dwelling place of ours who could express aloud their innermost experiences through having acquired a command of language.
The followers of St. John said further: What appears last in the human being existed in the world in the very earliest times. We fancy that the human being in his present form did not exist in the earlier conditions of the Earth. But in an imperfect, mute form he was there and little by little he evolved into a being endowed with the Logos or the Word. This became possible through the fact that what appears within him later as the creative principle was there from the very beginning, in a higher reality. What struggled forth out of the soul was in the beginning the divine creative principle. The Word, which sounds forth from the soul, the Logos, was there in the beginning and so guided evolution that at last a being came into existence in whom it also could manifest. What finally appears in time and space was already there in spirit from the beginning.
In order that this may be quite clear, let us make the following analogy. I have here a flower before me. This corolla, these petals, what were they a short time ago? A little seed. And in the seed, this whole flower existed in potentiality. Were it not there potentially, this flower could not have come into existence. And whence comes the seed? It springs again from just such a flower. The blossom precedes the seed or fruit, and again in like manner, the seed, from which this blossom has sprung, has been evolved out of a similar plant.
Thus these followers of the Logos-doctrine observed the human being and said: If we go back in evolution, we find him in earlier conditions still mute, still incapable of speech. But just as the seed came from the blossom, so likewise the mute human-seed in the beginning had its origin in a God endowed with the power of uttering the “Word.” The lily-of-the-valley produces the seed, and the seed again the lily-of-the-valley; in like manner the divine creative Word created the mute human seed — and when this primeval creative Word had glided into the human seed, in order to spring up again within it, it sounded forth in words. When we go back in human evolution we meet an imperfect human being, and the significance of evolution is that finally the Logos or Word which discloses the depths of the human soul may appear as its flower. In the beginning this mute human being appears as seed of the Logos-endowed human being, but, on the other hand, has sprung from the Logos-endowed God. The human being has sprung from a mute human creature, not gifted with speech, but: In the beginning was the Logos, the Word.
Thus those who understand the Logos-doctrine in its earlier significance press forward to the divine creative Word which is the beginning of existence and to which the writer of the Gospel of St. John refers. Let us hear what he says in the very first words: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a God.”
They will ask where is the “Word” today? The Word is also here today and the Word is with men and the Word has become man! Thus the writer of the Gospel of St. John forges a link between man and God, and indeed we find sounding forth in the beginning of this Gospel a doctrine easy for every human heart to understand.
In this introductory lecture today, I wished to picture to you in simple words — but more from the standpoint of feeling and of inward sensing — how originally a believer in the doctrine of the Logos interpreted these words of the Gospel of St. John. And after having entered into the soul-mood which existed when these words were first heard, we shall be that much better able to penetrate into the deep meaning which lies at the foundation of this Gospel.
Further, we shall see that what we call Spiritual Science is in fact a restitution of the Gospel of St. John and that it puts us in the position of being able thoroughly to understand it.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
A Mystery Solved
From the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, published in 1789:
I have often asked many of the men slaves (who used to go several miles to their wives, and late in the night, after having been wearied with a hard day's labour) why they went so far for wives, and why they did not take them of their own master's negro women, and particularly those who lived together as household slaves? Their answers have ever been — "Because when the master or mistress choose to punish the women, they make the husbands flog their own wives, and that they could not bear to do."
Matter is a heap of ruins of the spirit
Rudolf Steiner: "Matter is a heap of ruins of the spirit.... Matter everywhere can be called broken spirituality. Matter is indeed nothing else than spirit, but spirit in a broken-up condition."
Source: http://martyrion.blogspot.com/2014/12/matter-is-heap-of-ruins-of-spirit-human.html
Swaha the whole enchilada
Tasmai Shri Guru murtiye namah, idam shri dakshina murtiye
Unto that Guru-form who always guides me, gives to me, points me in the right direction: my homage, my prostrations, my namah, I surrender. — Dakshinamurti Stotra
"He [Swamiji] said, 'Isn't this a cremation ground?' referring to his ashram. 'You come here to be burned, and if you can't get that into your head, there's no point in your being here!'" —Swami Veda
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