The Festivals and Their Meaning I:
Christmas
GA 127
26 December 1911, Hanover
III. The Birth of the Sun Spirit as the Spirit of the Earth
When the candles are lit on the Christmas Tree, the human soul feels as though the symbol of an eternal reality were standing there, and that this must always have been the symbol of the Christmas Festival, even in a far distant past. For in the autumn, when outer Nature fades, when the sun's creations fall as it were into slumber and man's organs of outer perception must turn away from the phenomena of the physical world, the soul has the opportunity—nay not only the opportunity but the urge—to withdraw into its innermost depths, in order to feel and to experience: Now, when the light of the outer sun is faintest and its warmth feeblest, now is the time when the soul withdraws into the darkness but can find within itself the inner, spiritual Light. The lights on the Christmas Tree stand there before us as a symbol of the inner, spiritual Light that is kindled in the outer darkness. And because what we feel to be the spirit-light of the soul shining into the darkness of Nature seems to be an eternal reality, we imagine that the lighted fir-tree shining out to us on Christmas Night must have been shining ever since our earthly incarnations began.
And yet it is not so. It is only one or at most two centuries ago that the Christmas Tree became a symbol of the thoughts and feelings which arise in man at the Christmas season. The Christmas Tree is a recent symbol but each year anew it reveals to man a great, eternal truth. That is why we imagine that it must always have existed, even in the remote past. It is as if from the Christmas Tree itself there resounded the proclamation of the Divine in the cosmic expanse, in the heavenly heights. The human being can feel this to be the unfailing source of those forces of peace in his soul which spring from good-will. And thus, according to the Christmas Legend, did the proclamation also resound when the shepherds visited the birthplace of the Child whose festival we celebrate on Christmas Day. To the shepherds there rang forth from the clouds: From the cosmic expanse, from the heavenly heights, the Divine Powers are revealing themselves, bringing peace to the human soul that is filled with good-will.
For centuries and centuries men could not bring themselves to believe that the symbol presented to the world in the Christmas Festival ever had a beginning. They felt in it the hallmark of eternity. Christian ritual has for this reason clothed the intimation of eternity in what takes place symbolically on Christmas Night, in the words: ‘To us Christ is born anew!’ It is as though every year the soul is called upon to feel anew a reality of which it is thought that it could happen once and once only. The eternity of this symbolic happening is brought home to us with infinite power if we have the true conception of the symbol itself. Yet as late as 353 A.D., 353 years after Christ Jesus had appeared on earth, the birth of Jesus was not celebrated, even in Rome. The Festival of Jesus' birth was celebrated for the first time in Rome in the year A.D. 354. Before then this Festival was not celebrated between the 24th and 25th December; the day of supreme commemoration for those who understood something of the deep wisdom relating to the Mystery of Golgotha, was the 6th of January. The Epiphany was celebrated as a kind of Birth-Festival of the Christ during the first three centuries of our era. It was the Festival which was meant to revive in human souls the remembrance of the descent of the Christ Spirit into the body of Jesus of Nazareth at the Baptism by John in the Jordan. Until the year A.D. 353 the happening which men conceived to have taken place at the Baptism was commemorated on the 6th of January as the Festival of Christ's birth. For during the first centuries of Christendom an inkling still survived of the mystery that is of all mysteries the most difficult for mankind to grasp, namely, the descent of the Christ Being into the body of Jesus of Nazareth.
What were the feelings of men who had some inkling of the secrets of Christianity during those early centuries? They said to themselves: The Christ Spirit weaves through the world that is revealed through the senses and through the human spirit. In the far distant past this Christ Spirit revealed Himself to Moses. The secret of the human ‘ I ’ resounded to Moses as it resounds to us from the symbol on the Christmas Tree from the sounds I A O—the Alpha and the Omega, preceded by the I. This was what resounded in the soul of Moses when the Christ Spirit appeared to him in the burning bush. And this same Christ Spirit led Moses to the place where He was to recognise Him in His true being. This is described in the Old Testament where it is said that the Lord led Moses to Mount Nebo ‘over against Jericho’ and showed him what must still come to pass before the Christ Spirit could incarnate in the body of a man. To Moses on Mount Nebo, this Spirit said: But thou to whom I revealed myself in advance, mayest not bear what thou hast in thy soul into the evolution of thy people; for they have first to prepare what is to come to pass when the time is fulfilled.
And when, through many centuries, the evolutionary preparation had been completed, the same Spirit by Whom Moses had been held back, did indeed reveal Himself—by becoming Flesh, by taking on a human body, the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Therewith mankind as a whole was led from the stage of Initiation signified by the word ‘Jericho’ to that indicated by the crossing of the Jordan.
The hearts and minds of those who in the early centuries of our era understood the true import of Christianity turned to the Baptism in the Jordan of Jesus of Nazareth into whom Christ descended, Christ the Sun-Earth-Spirit. It was this—the birth of Christ—that was celebrated as a Mystery in the early Christian centuries. The insight for which we prepare ourselves to-day through Anthroposophy, through the wisdom belonging to the fifth Post-Atlantean epoch of civilisation, flashed up in the form of vision from the vestiges of ancient clairvoyance still surviving during the age when the Mystery of Golgotha took place; it flashed up in the Gnostics, those remarkable, enlightened men who lived at the turning-point of the old and the new eras, whose conception of the Christ Mystery differed in respect of form but not in respect of content, from our own. What the Gnostics were able to teach trickled through into the world and although what had actually come to pass in the event indicated symbolically by the Baptism in the Jordan was not widely understood, there was nevertheless an inkling that the Sun Spirit had been born at that time as the Spirit of the Earth, that a cosmic Power had dwelt in the body of a man of earth. And so in the early centuries of Christendom the festival of the birth of Christ in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, the festival of Christ's Epiphany, was celebrated on the 6th of January.
But insight, even dim, uncertain insight into this deep Mystery faded away more and more as time went by. The age came when men could no longer comprehend that the Being called Christ had been present in a physical human body for three years only. More and more it will be realised that what was accomplished for the whole of earth-evolution during those three years in the physical body of a man is one of the very deepest and most difficult Mysteries to understand. From the fourth century onwards, with the approach of the materialistic age, the powers of the human soul—then still at the stage of preparation—were not strong enough to grasp the deep Mystery which from our time on will be understood in ever greater measure. And so it came about that to the same extent to which the outer power of Christianity increased, inner understanding of the Christ Mystery decreased and the festival of the 6th of January ceased to have any essential meaning. The birth of Christ was placed thirteen days earlier and envisaged as coincident with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. But in this very fact we are confronted by something that must always be a source of inspiration and thanksgiving. Actually, the 24th/25th of December was fixed as the day of Christ's Nativity because a great truth had been lost, as we have heard. And yet ... although the error would seem to point to the loss of a great truth, such profound meaning lay behind it that—although the men responsible knew nothing of it—we cannot but marvel at the subconscious wisdom with which the festival of Christmas Day was instituted.
Verily, the working of Divine wisdom can be seen in the fixing of this festival. Just as Divine wisdom can be perceived in outer nature if we know how to decipher what reveals itself there, so we can perceive Divine wisdom working in the unconscious soul of man when the following is borne in mind. In the Calendar, the 24th of December is the day dedicated to Adam and Eve, the following day being the Festival of Christ's Nativity. Thus the loss of an ancient truth caused the date of Christ's birth to be placed thirteen days earlier and to be identified with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth—but in a most wonderful way the birth of Jesus of Nazareth was linked with the thought of man's origin in earth-evolution, his origin in Adam and Eve. All the dim feelings and experiences connected with this festival of Jesus' birth which were alive in the human soul—although in their upper consciousness, men had no knowledge of what lay behind—all these feelings that were astir in the depths of the soul speak a wondrous language.
When understanding was lost of what had streamed from cosmic worlds in the event which would rightly have been celebrated on the 6th of January, forces working in hidden depths of the soul caused the picture to be presented of man as a being of soul-and-spirit before physical embodiment, at the starting-point of evolution as a physical human being. The picture is of the new-born child whose soul is as yet untouched by the effects of contact with the physical body, of the child at the beginning of physical evolution on earth. But this is not a human child in the ordinary sense; it is the child who was there before human beings had reached the point of the first physical embodiment in earth-evolution. This is the being known in the Kabbala as Adam Kadmon—Man who descended from divine-spiritual heights, with all that he had acquired during the periods of Saturn, Sun and Moon. The human being in his spiritual state at the very beginning of earth-evolution, born in the Jesus Child—this was presented to mankind by a Divine wisdom in the festival of Jesus' birth. At a time when it was no longer possible to understand what had descended from cosmic worlds, from heavenly spheres, to the earth, remembrance of their origin, of their state before the advent of the Luciferic forces in earth-evolution was engraved into the souls of men. And when it was no longer realised that in the highest and truest sense it could be said of the Baptism by John in the Jordan: From cosmic worlds there has come into human souls the power of the self-revealed Godhead, in order that peace may reign among men who are of goodwill—when understanding of how this picture could be presented as a sacred festival was lost, another affirmation was presented in its place, the affirmation that at the beginning of earth revolution, before the Luciferic forces began their work, man had a nature, an entelechy that can inspire him with undying hope.
The Jesus of the Gospel of St. Luke—not the Jesus described in the Gospel of St. Matthew—is the Child before whom the shepherds worship. To them the proclamation rang forth: Now is the Divine revealed from the heavenly heights, bringing peace to the souls of men who are of good-will. And so for the centuries when the higher reality was beyond man's grasp, the festival was instituted which every year brings to his remembrance: Although you cannot gaze into the heavenly heights and there recognise the great Sun-Spirit, you bear within you, from the time of your earthly beginning, the Child-Soul in its state of purity, unsullied by the effects of physical incarnation; and the forces of this Child-Soul can give you the firm confidence that you can be victorious over the lower nature which clings to you as the result of Lucifer's temptation. The linking of the festival of Jesus' birth with remembrance of Adam and Eve gave emphasis to the thought that at the place visited by the shepherds a human soul had been born in the state of innocence in which the soul existed before the first incarnation on earth.
At this time of festival, therefore, since the birth of the God was no longer understood, the birth of a human being was commemorated. For however greatly man's forces threaten to decline and his sufferings to take the upper hand, there are two unfailing sources of peace, harmony and strength. We are led to the first source when we look out into cosmic space, knowing it to be pervaded by the weaving lift, movement and warmth of the Divine Spirit. And if we hold fast to the conviction that this Divine-Spiritual Power weaving through the universe can permeate our being provided only that our forces do not flag—there we have the Easter thought, equally a source of hope and confidence flowing from the cosmic spheres. And the second source can spring from the dim inkling that as a being of soul-and-spirit, before he became the prey of the Luciferic forces at the beginning of his earthly evolution, man was still part of the same Spirit now awaited from cosmic worlds as in the Easter thought. Turning to the source to be found in man's own, original being, before the onset of the Luciferic influence, we can say to ourselves: Whatever may befall you, whatever may torment you and draw you down from the shining spheres of the spirit, your divine origin is an eternal reality, hidden though it be in the depths of the soul. Recognition of this innermost power of the soul will give birth to the firm assurance that the heights are within your reach. And if you conjure before your soul all that is innocent, childlike, free from life's temptations, free from all that has already befallen human souls through the many incarnations since the beginning of earthly evolution, then you will have a picture of the human soul as it was before these earthly incarnations began.
But one soul—one soul only—remained in this condition, namely the soul of the Jesus Child described in the Gospel of St. Luke. This soul was kept back in the spiritual life when the other human souls began to pass through their incarnations on the earth. This soul remained in the guardianship of the holiest Mysteries through the Atlantean and Post-Atlantean epochs until the time of the events in Palestine. Then it was sent forth into the body predestined to receive it and became one of the two Jesus children—the Child described in the Gospel of St. Luke.
Thus did the festival of Christ's Nativity become the festival of the Birth of Jesus.
If we rightly understand this festival we must say: That which we believe to be born anew symbolically every Christmas Night, is the human soul in its original nature, the childhood-spirit of man as it was at the beginning of earth-evolution; then it descended as a revelation from the heavenly heights. And when the human heart can become conscious of this reality, the soul is filled with the unshakable peace that can bear us to our lofty goals, if we are of goodwill. Mighty indeed is the word that can resound to us on Christmas Night, do we but understand its import.
Why was it that the festival of Christ's birth was set back thirteen days and became the festival of the birth of Jesus? To understand this we must penetrate into deep mysteries of human existence. Of outer nature, man believes, because he sees it with his eyes, that what the rays of the sun charm forth from the depths of the earth, unfolding into beauty through the spring and summer, withdraws into those same depths at the time when the outer sun-sphere is darkest, and that what will spring forth again the following year is being prepared in the seeds within the depths of the earth. Because his eyes bear witness, man believes that the seed of the plant passes through a yearly cycle, that it must go down into the earth's depths in order to unfold again under the warmth and light of the sun in spring. But to begin with, man has no notion that the human soul too passes through such a cycle. Nor is this revealed until he is initiated into the great mysteries of existence. Just as the force contained in the seed of every plant is bound up with the physical forces of the earth, so is the inmost being of the human soul bound up with the spiritual forces of the earth. And just as the seed of the plant sinks into the depths of the earth at the time we know as Christmas, so does the soul of man descend at that time into deep, deep spirit-realms, drawing strength from these depths as does the seed of the plant for its blossoming in spring. What the soul undergoes in these spirit-depths of the earth is entirely hidden from the ordinary consciousness. But for one whose eyes of spirit are opened the Thirteen Days and Thirteen Nights between the 24th of December and the 6th of January are a time of deep spiritual experience.
Parallel with the experience of the plant-seed in the depths of the natural earth, there is a spiritual experience in the earth's spirit-depths—verily a parallel experience. And the seer for whom this experience is possible either as the result of training or through inherited clairvoyant faculties, can feel himself penetrating into these spiritual depths. During this period of the Thirteen Days and Nights, the seer can behold what must come upon man because he has passed through incarnations which have been under the influence of the forces of Lucifer since the beginning of earthly evolution. The sufferings in Kamaloca that man must endure in the spiritual world because Lucifer has been at his side since he began to incarnate on the earth—the dearest vision of all this is presented in the mighty Imaginations which can come before the soul during the Thirteen Days and Nights between the Christmas Festival and the Festival of the 6th of January, the Epiphany. At the time when the seed of the plant is passing through its most crucial period in the depths below, the human soul is passing through its deepest experiences. The soul gazes at a vista of all that man must experience in the spiritual worlds because, under Lucifer's influence, he alienated himself from the Powers by whom the world was created. This vision is clearest to the soul during these Thirteen Days and Nights. Hence there is no better preparation for the revelation of that Imagination which may be called the Christ Imagination and which makes us aware that by gaining the victory over Lucifer, Christ Himself becomes the Judge of the deeds of men during the incarnations affected by Lucifer's influence. The soul of the seer lives on from the festival of Jesus' birth to that of the Epiphany in such a way that the Christ Mystery is revealed. It is during these Thirteen Holy Days and Nights that the soul can grasp most deeply of all, the import and meaning of the Baptism by John in the Jordan.
It is remarkable that during the centuries of Christendom, wherever powers of spiritual sight developed in the right way, it was known to seers that vision penetrated most deeply during the period of the Thirteen Holy Nights at the time of the winter solstice. Many a seer—either schooled in the mysteries of the modern age or possessing inherited powers of clairvoyance—makes it evident to us that at the darkest point of the winter solstice the soul can have vision of all that man must undergo because of his alienation from the Christ Spirit, how adjustment and catharsis were made possible through the Mystery enacted in the Baptism by John in the Jordan and then through the Mystery of Golgotha, and how the visions during the Thirteen Nights are crowned on the 6th of January by the Christ Imagination. Thus it is correct to name the 6th of January as the day of Christ's birth and these Thirteen Nights as the time during which the powers of seership in the human soul discern and perceive what man must undergo through his life in the incarnations from Adam and Eve to the Mystery of Golgotha.
During my visit to Christiania last year17th-17th June, 1910, when the Lecture Course on The Mission of the Folk-Souls was given. it was interesting to me to find the thought which in rather different words has been expressed in so many lectures on the Christ Mystery, embodied in a beautiful saga known as ‘The Dream Legend.’ Strange to say, it has come to the fore in Norway during the last ten to fifteen years and has become familiar to the people, although its origin is, of course, very much earlier. It is the legend which in a wonderfully beautiful way relates how Olaf Åsteson is initiated, as it were by natural forces, in that he falls asleep on Christmas Eve, sleeps through the Thirteen Days and Nights until the 6th of January, and lives through all the terrors which the human being must experience through the incarnations from the earth's beginning until the Mystery of Golgotha. And it relates how when the 6th of January has come, Olaf Åsteson has the vision of the intervention of the Christ Spirit in humanity, the Michael-Spirit being His forerunner. I hope that on some other occasion we shall be able to present this poem in its entirety, for then you will realise that consciousness of vision during the Thirteen Days and Nights survives even to-day, and is in fact, being revivified. A few characteristic lines only will now be quoted. The poem begins:
Come listen to me and hear my song
The song of a wonderful youth,
I'll sing you of Olaf Åsteson
Who slept many days—'tis the truth.'Twas Christmas Eve when down he lay
And slept so long all unknowing,
He never woke till the thirteenth day
When to Church the people were going.
Yes, it was Olaf Åsteson
Who lay so long a-sleeping.(Translated from a German version
of The Dream Legend, by E.C.M.)
And so the poem goes on, relating how in his dream during the Thirteen Days and Nights, Olaf Åsteson is led through all that man must experience on account of Lucifer's temptation. A vivid picture is given of Olaf Åsteson's journey through the spheres where human beings have the experiences so often described in connection with Kamaloca, and of how the Christ Spirit, preceded by Michael, streams into this vision.
Thus with the coming of Christ in the Spirit, it will become more and more possible for men to know how the spiritual forces weave and hold sway and that the festivals have not been instituted by arbitrary opinions but by the cosmic wisdom which so often lies beyond the reach of men's consciousness yet works and reigns throughout history. This cosmic wisdom has placed the festival of the birth of Jesus at the beginning of the Thirteen Days. While the Easter Festival can always be a reminder that contemplation of the cosmic worlds will help us to find within ourselves the strength to conquer all that is lower, the Christmas thought—if we understand the festival which commemorates man's divine origin and the symbol before us on Christmas Day in the form of the Jesus Child—says to us ever and again that the powers which bring peace to the soul can be found within ourselves. True peace of soul is present only when that peace has sure foundations, that is to say, when it is a force enabling man to know: In thee lives something which, if truly brought to birth, can, nay must, lead thee to divine Heights, to divine Powers.—The lights on this tree are symbols of the light which shines in our own souls when we grasp the reality of what is proclaimed to us symbolically on Christmas Night by the Jesus Child in its state of innocence: the inmost being of the human soul itself, strong, innocent, tranquil, leading us along our life's path to the highest goals of existence. May these lights on the Christmas Tree say to us: If ever thy soul is weak, if ever thou believest that the goals of earth-existence are beyond thy reach, think of man's divine origin and become aware of those forces within thee which are also the forces of supreme Love. Become inwardly conscious of the forces which give thee confidence and certainty in all thy works, through all thy life, now and in all ages of time to come.
Die Geburt Des Sonnengeistes Als Erdengeist
Wenn wir in dieser Zeit am Tannenbaum die Lichter anzünden, dann ist es der Menschenseele so, als ob ein Sinnbild eines Ewigen vor ihrem geistigen Auge erstünde und als ob dieses Sinnbild in urfernster Vergangenheit immer dasselbe hätte sein können. Denn wenn im Herbste die Natur draußen allmählich dahinwelkt, wenn die Sonnenwerke im äußeren Lichte sozusagen schlafen gehen und die Menschenseele die äußeren Organe abwenden muß von dem, was die Offenbarungen der Sinneswelt sind, dann hat diese Menschenseele die Gelegenheit, und nicht nur die Gelegenheit, sie fühlt die Aufforderung, in ihr tiefstes Inneres einzukehren, um zu fühlen, zu empfinden: Jetzt ist die Zeit, da das äußere Sonnenlicht am wenigsten scheint, da die äußere Sonnenwärme am wenigsten wärmt, die Zeit, da die Seele sich zurückziehen kann in die äußere Finsternis, dafür aber durch die Wege ihres Inneren das innere geistige Licht finden kann. Denn als Sinnbild dieses inneren geistigen Lichtes, entfacht in der Nacht der äußeren Finsternis, erscheinen uns die Lichter am Weihnachtstannenbaum. Und weil das, was wir so fühlen wie das Hereinscheinen des Geisteslichtes der Seele in die natürliche Finsternis, uns ein Ewiges dünkt, kommt es uns wohl so vor, daß der leuchtende Tannenbaum in der Weihnachtsnacht uns gestrahlt habe in allen Zeiten, die wir zurückwandeln könnten von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation bis in urferne Vergangenheiten.
Der Weihnachtsbaum selber ist jedoch verhältnismäßig jung. Kaum ein bis zwei Jahrhunderte, daß der Weihnachtsbaum ein Symbolum der Weihnachtsgedanken und des Weihnachtsempfindens der Menschen geworden ist. Ein junges Symbolum ist dieser Weihnachtsbaum, aber er verkündigt den Menschen jedes Jahr aufs neue eine große, ewige Wahrheit. Daher scheint sein Bestand so, als ob er auch in den Zeiten urferner Vergangenheit gewesen wäre. Immerzu klingt uns wiederum, wie vom Weihnachtsbaum selbst als Klang hervorgerufen, was sich in Weltenweiten, in Himmelshöhen an Göttlichem offenbart. Der Mensch kann es fühlen als seiner Seele zuversichtlichste Friedenskräfte, die aus seinem guten Willen hervorsprießen. Und so klang es ja auch, der Weihnachtslegende gemäß, als die Hirten des Kindes Geburtsstätte besuchten, dessen Feier heute am Weihnachtstag begangen wird. Da erklang aus den Wolkenhöhen den besuchenden Hirten: Es offenbaren sich aus Weltenweiten und Himmelshöhen die göttlichen Urkräfte und ziehen ein als der Menschenseele zuversichtlicher Frieden, wenn diese Menschenseele eines guten Willens ist.
Man konnte Jahrhunderte und Jahrhunderte hindurch nicht glauben, daß mit dem Weihnachtsfest ein Symbolum in die Welt gestellt ist, welches irgendeinmal einen Anfang genommen habe. Man fühlte die Ewigkeit dieses Sinnbildes. Daher hat auch der christliche Kultus sozusagen das Ewig-Dauernde dessen, was als Sinnbild in der Weihnachtsnacht geschieht, in die Worte gekleidet: Uns ist aufs neue der Christus erstanden! - So wie wenn die Seele jedes Jahr aufs neue dasjenige fühlen sollte, wovon man meinte, daß es sich doch nur einmal abgespielt haben könnte. Das Ewige dieses Symbolums, es tritt so urkräftig vor unsere Seele, wenn wir das Symbolum selbst im richtigen Sinne fühlen. Und doch, noch im Jahre 353 unserer Zeitrechnung nach der Erscheinung des Christus Jesus auf Erden wurde nicht einmal in Rom, in Rom selber, das Jesus-Geburtsfest gefeiert. Denn 354 wurde dieses JesusGeburtsfest, wie wir es jetzt feiern, zum ersten Mal in Rom selber gefeiert - 354. Vorher wurde nicht am 24. beziehungsweise 25. Dezember ein Jesus-Geburtsfest gefeiert. Vorher war als höchste Feier begangen bei denjenigen, die so etwas verstanden wie die tiefe Weisheit des Mysteriums von Golgatha, der 6. Januar: die Erscheinung Christi. Sie wurde wie eine Art Christus-Geburtsfest in den drei ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten gefeiert, und gefeiert als dasjenige Fest, das die menschlichen Seelen an das Herabsteigen des Geistes erinnern sollte, den man als den Christus-Geist bezeichnet, in den Leib des Jesus von Nazareth durch die Johannestaufe am Jordan. Was durch die Johannestaufe am Jordan als Geschehen vorgestellt werden konnte, dessen Andenken wurde wie ein Geburtsfest des Christus am 6. Januar gefeiert bis in das Jahr 353. Denn das, was unter allen Mysterien von der Menschheit am schwierigsten zu verstehen ist, das Einkehren der Christus-Wesenheit in den Leib des Jesus von Nazareth, das ist wenigstens als ein ahnungsvoller Gedanke noch lebendig in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten.
Wie empfand man bei denjenigen, die den Geheimnissen des Christentums dazumal nahegestanden waren in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten? So etwa empfand man: Da durchwallt und durchwebt der Christus-Geist die Welt, die sich uns durch die Sinne und durch den Menschengeist offenbart. Es offenbarte sich in urferner Vergangenheit dieser Christus-Geist dem Moses, dem er ertönte wie das Geheimnis des menschlichen Ich, so wie es uns aus den symbolischen Lauten hier entgegenklingt am Weihnachtsbaum, wenn wir die Laute ITAO - Alpha und Omega, vorher das I gesetzt — in unserer Seele klingen lassen. So etwa klang es in der Mosesseele, als im Dornbusch, dem brennenden, der Christus-Geist erschien. Und dann führte derselbe Christus-Geist den Moses dahin, wo er ihn in seiner wahrsten Wesenheit erkennen sollte, was in der Bibel des Alten Testaments ausgedrückt ist dadurch, daß gesagt wird: Es führte Jahve den Moses auf den Berg Nebo, gegenüber Jericho, und zeigte ihm alles das, was noch zu geschehen hat, bevor dieser Geist selber in einem Menschenleibe sich verkörpern könne. — Als dieser Geist dem Moses gegenüberstand, auf dem Berg Nebo gegenüber Jericho, da sagte er ihm: Du aber, dem ich mich geoffenbart habe vorzeitig, du darfst mit dem, was du in deiner Seele trägst, nicht hinein in diejenige Evolution deines Volkes, die erst vorbereiten soll das, was zu geschehen hat, wenn die Zeiten erfüllt sind.
Und nachdem die Evolution die Menschheit vorbereitet hatte, Jahrhundert über Jahrhundert, da offenbarte sich derselbe Geist, der den Moses zurückgehalten hatte. Er offenbarte sich, Fleisch werdend, Menschenleib annehmend, in Jesus von Nazareth. Da wurde hinausgeführt die ganze Menschheit von der Stufe der Einweihung, die angedeutet wird durch das Wort Jericho, zu jener Stufe, die angedeutet wird durch das Durchschreiten des Jordan. Da wurde hingestellt durch diejenigen, die in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten den eigentlichen Sinn des Christentums verstanden, der im Jordan getauft werdende Jesus von Nazareth, in den sich ergießt der Sonnen-Erdengeist des Christus. Dies wurde als ein Mysterium gefeiert, als die Geburt des Christus, in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten. Denn das, wozu wir uns heute durch Anthroposophie wiederum reif machen, wozu wir uns reif machen aus der Weisheit der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode, das leuchtete wie geschaut durch letzte Erbstücke alten Hellsehertums in der Zeit, da sich das Mysterium von Golgatha vollzog, den Gnostikern auf, jenen merkwürdigen Theosophen um die Wende der alten und der neuen Zeit, die auf eine andere Art als wir das Christus-Mysterium durchschauten, aber, indem sie es aussprachen, ihm einen gleichen Inhalt gaben. Was sie sagen durften, sickerte durch, und obwohl man in der breiten Öffentlichkeit nicht verstand, was eigentlich geschehen war in dem Ereignis, das symbolisch angedeutet wird durch die Johannestaufe am Jordan, so ahnte, empfand man, daß dazumal der Sonnengeist als Erdengeist geboren worden ist, daß ein Kosmisches aufleuchtete in einem Erdenmenschen. Und so feierte man in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten den 6. Januar als die Geburt des Christus in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth, als die Erscheinung des Christus auf Erden. Aber immer mehr und mehr ging der Menschheit die Einsicht verloren, auch nur die ahnungsvolle Einsicht in dieses tiefe Mysterium. Es kam die Zeit heran, in der man nicht mehr verstehen, nicht mehr begreifen konnte, daß eigentlich das, was man Christus nannte, nur drei Jahre in einem physischen Menschenleib verweilte. Immer mehr und mehr wird es den Menschen aufgehen, daß es zu den schwerstverständlichen, daß es zu den tiefsten Weisheiten gehört, was da drei Jahre in einem physischen Menschenleib einmal durch die ganze Erdenentwikkelung sich vollzogen hat. Zu schwach wurde für die materialistische Zeit, die da kommen sollte, die sich vorbereitende Menschenseele, um vom 4. Jahrhundert ab das große Mysterium zu verstehen, das erst wiederum von unseren Zeiten an immer mehr und mehr verstanden werden wird. So kam es denn, daß in demselben Maße, als das Christentum an äußerer Macht gewann, das innere tiefere Verständnis gerade des Christus-Mysteriums verlorenging, und nicht mehr konnte man der Feier des 6. Januar einen Inhalt geben. Man verlegte zurück um dreizehn Tage die Geburt des Christus und stellte sie so vor, als wenn sie sich vollzogen hätte mit der Geburt des Jesus von Nazareth gleichzeitig. Aber gerade an dieser Tatsache tritt uns eines entgegen, das uns immerdar mit tiefer Beseligung, mit tiefer Befriedigung erfüllen muß. Eigentlich ist festgesetzt dieser 24., 25. Dezember als Christi Geburtstag durch den Verlust einer großen Wahrheit, wie wir eben gesehen haben. Dennoch: gewirkt hat der Irrtum im Grunde genommen wie der Verlust einer großen Wahrheit, aber das ist wiederum geschehen mit solcher weisheitsvoller Tiefe, daß wir - obzwar die Menschen, welche alles das festgesetzt haben, nichts davon wußten — doch die unterbewußte Weisheit bewundern müssen, die da waltete in der Festsetzung dieses Weihnachtstages.
Es waltete göttliche Weisheit auch in dieser Festsetzung. Und wie man die göttliche Weisheit lesen kann draußen in der Natur, wenn man nur richtig zu entziffern versteht, was sich da allüberall offenbart, so kann man ablesen, in der unbewußten Menschenseele wirkend, göttliche Weisheit, wenn man eine Tatsache ins Auge faßt. Man schlägt den Kalender auf und findet am 24. Dezember «Adam und Eva» im Kalender verzeichnet und darauf folgend das Christi-Geburtstagsfest. Das heißt, der Verlust einer alten Wahrheit hat um dreizehn Tage zurückverlegt die Geburt des Christus für die Erde, hat sie identifiziert mit der Geburt des Jesus von Nazareth, aber in Zusammenhang gebracht in wunderbarer Weise die Geburt des Jesus von Nazareth mit dem Gedanken an des Menschen Ursprung selber in der Erdenentwickelung bei Adam und Eva. Und wenn man all die dunklen Gefühle, all die wunderbaren Empfindungen, die da in der Menschenseele gegenüber diesem Jesus-Geburtstagsfest walten, ohne daß das Oberbewußtsein des Menschen davon weiß, wenn man diese Gefühle alle in den Tiefen der Menschenseele erforscht: in der Tat, sie sprechen eine wunderbare Sprache.
Als man nicht mehr verstand, was eigentlich aus den Weltenweiten der Menschheit zugeströmt ist- denn das hätte man am 6. Januar feiern müssen —, da verfiel man, wie durch verborgen in den Seelentiefen wirkende Kräfte, darauf, vor die Menschheit den Menschenseelengeist hinzustellen, wie er sich darstellt, als er noch nicht vollständig durchgegangen ist durch des Menschen physische Leiblichkeit, wie er dasteht am Ausgangspunkt eines Menschen eben selber, da wo der Menschenseelengeist erst Besitz ergreift von diesem menschlichen physischen Leib. Das Kind bei seiner Geburt, da die Seele noch nicht in sich aufgenommen hat das, was nur hervorgerufen wird durch die Berührung mit der physischen Leiblichkeit, das Kind am Ausgangspunkt des physischen Erdenwerdens steht da, aber nicht bloß das Kind, wie es als Kind für jeden Menschen da ist, sondern das Kind, wie es da war, bevor die Menschen in der Erdenevolution zur allerersten physischen Verkörperung gekommen sind, was die Kabbala genannt hat «Adam Kadmon», den Menschen, der aus göttlich-geistigen Höhen herabgestiegen ist mit alldem, was er sich durch die Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenzeit angeeignet hat. Den Menschen in seiner Geistigkeit am Ausgangspunkt des Erdenwerdens, durch das Jesuskind geboren werdend, das stellte eine wunderbare, eine göttliche Weisheit in dem Jesus-Geburtstagsfest nunmehr vor die Menschen hin. Da wo man nicht verstehen konnte, was da aus Weltenweiten, aus Himmelssphären auf die Erde herab kam, prägte sich in die Menschenseelen die Erinnerung an des Menschen Ursprung ein, die Erinnerung an das, was der Mensch war, bevor die luziferischen Kräfte im Erdenwerden an ihn herangetreten sind. Und als man nicht mehr verstand, daß man im höchsten Sinne sagen konnte zu dem, was bei der Johannestaufe im Jordan herunterdrang zur Menschheit: Aus Weltenweiten und Himmelshöhen dringt in Menschenseelen ein, was sich Göttliches offenbart, um zu wirken als zuversichtlicher Friede der Menschen, die eines guten Willens sind -, als man nicht verstand dieses Symbolum als Festesfeier vor die Menschen hinzustellen, da stellte man statt dessen eine andere Zuversicht hin: die Zuversicht, daß der Mensch, bevor im Beginne des Erdenwerdens die luziferischen Kräfte gewirkt haben, einmal auch auf der Erde eine Natur hatte, eine Wesenheit, auf die er vertrauen kann.
Wir wissen aus den bisherigen Darstellungen, daß der Jesusknabe, der uns durch das Lukas-Evangelium, nicht derjenige, der uns durch das Matthäus-Evangelium dargestellt wird, es ist, vor dem wir anbetend die Hirten finden, die in ihrer Seele diesen Spruch von der Offenbarung des Göttlichen aus Weltenweiten und Himmelshöhen zum Frieden der Menschenseele, die eines guten Willens ist, vernehmen. Und so trat für die Jahrhunderte, welche das Höhere nicht verstehen konnten, jene Festesfeier ein, die jedes Jahr aufs neue den Menschen daran erinnern soll: Wenn du auch nicht hinausblicken kannst in die Himmelshöhen, um den großen Sonnengeist zu erkennen, du trägst von deinem Erdenursprung aus in deiner Kinderseele, solange sie unberührt ist von äußerer physischer Verkörperung, die Kräfte, welche dir die Zuversicht geben können, daß du Sieger werden kannst über alles Niedere, was dir anhaftet durch Luzifers Versuchung. — Daher rückte man dieses Jesus-Geburtsfest an die Erinnerung an Adam und Eva heran, hinweisend darauf, daß man sich vorzustellen habe, es werde an dem Ort geboren, den die Hirten besuchen dürfen, eine Menschenseele so, wie die Menschenseele einstmals war, bevor der Mensch die erste irdische Inkarnation durchschritten hatte.
Für den Gott, dessen Geburt man nicht mehr verstand, wurde des Menschen Geburt hingestellt in diese Festeszeit. Denn aus zwei Quellen entspringt im Grunde genommen das, was den Menschen, wenn noch so sehr seine Kräfte zu sinken drohen, wenn noch so sehr seine Schmerzen und Leiden überhand zu nehmen scheinen, aus zwei Quellen kommt das, was ihn immerdar befriedigen, beruhigen, durchkraften kann. Die eine Quelle ist diejenige, die wir verfolgen können, wenn wir in die Weltenweiten hinausschauen, die durchwebt und durchströmt und durchleuchtet und durchwärmt sind von dem, was man den göttlichen Geist nennt. Und wenn der Mensch sich dem Gedanken hingeben kann: Du wirst, wenn du nimmer erlahmen läßt deine Kräfte, dich selber durchdringen können mit der Kraft dieses die Welt durchwebenden Göttlich-Geistigen —, wenn der Mensch diesen Gedanken in seinem Herzen fassen kann, dann faßt er den Ostergedanken, den Gedanken, durch den wir gleichsam aus Weltenweiten saugen Weltenzuversicht. Und die andere Quelle ist diejenige, die aus der dunklen Ahnung hervorgehen kann: Bevor der Mensch von den luziferischen Kräften am Ausgangspunkt des Erdenwerdens befallen wurde, war er als seelischgeistiges Wesen noch ergossen in denselben Geist, den er nun erwartet aus Weltenfernen und Raumesweiten im Ostergedanken. - Wenn da der Mensch sich zur Quelle begibt, die er erschauen kann in seines eigenen Wesens Ursprung vor dem Einfluß der luziferischen Kräfte, kann er sich sagen: Was auch über dich kommen mag, was auch dich quälen mag, was auch dich herabziehen mag von den lichten Sphären des Geistigen, in dir ist göttlicher Ursprung einmal gewesen, er muß in dir verblieben sein, wenn er auch noch so sehr sich in deinen Seelentiefen verbirgt. Erkennst du diese innerste Kraft deiner Seele, dann eröffnet sich dir die Zuversicht, daß du zu den Höhen emporsteigen darfst und kannst. Und wenn du dir alles das nimmst, was du dir als unschuldvolles, noch von des Lebens Versuchungen befreites Kindliches vor die Seele zaubern kannst, und davon alles das entfernst, was durch die vielen Inkarnationen seit dem Beginn des Erdenwerdens auch diejenigen menschlichen Seelen schon befallen hat, die durch solche Inkarnationen gegangen sind, dann erlangst du ein Bild jener Menschenseele, die am Ausgangspunkt des Erdenwerdens war, bevor die irdischen Inkarnationen begonnen haben.
Aber in diesem Falle ist nur eine einzige Seele verblieben, jene Seele, von der uns das Lukas-Evangelium spricht als der Seele des einen Jesusknaben, jene Seele, welche in derselben Zeit, wo die anderen Menschenseelen begannen, ihre Verkörperungen durch die Erdenentwickelung zu vollbringen, zurückgehalten wurde in dem geistigen Leben. Eine solche Seele wurde am Ausgangspunkt des Erdenlebens zurückgehalten, aufbewahrt in den heiligsten Mysterien durch die atlantischen Zeiten, durch die nachatlantischen Zeiten bis in die Zeit der Ereignisse von Palästina. Da wurde sie hingesandt in jenen Leib, der sie aufnehmen sollte und der den einen der Jesusknaben gebären sollte: denjenigen Jesusknaben, den uns das Lukas-Evangelium schildert.
So wurde aus der Feier des Christus-Geburtstagsfestes die Feier des Jesus-Geburtstagsfestes. Wenn wir sie richtig verstehen, diese Feier, dann müssen wir sagen: Ja, das, von dem wir denken, daß es geboren werde sinnbildlich in jeder Weihnachtsnacht, das ist die ursprüngliche Natur der Menschenseele, das ist der Menschen-Kindheitsgeist, wie er am Ausgangspunkt des Erdenwerdens war. Betrachten wir ihn in der Art, wie er am Ausgangspunkte des Erdenwerdens war, so ruft er uns immer zu, daß er dazumal heruntergestiegen ist als eine Offenbarung aus den Himmelshöhen. Und wenn wir ihn in der Menschenbrust fühlen, dann ergießt sich in die Menschenseele das Gefühl des zuversichtlichen Friedens, der uns zu unseren hohen Zielen tragen kann, wenn unser Wille ein guter ist. Gewaltig also ist der Ton, der zu uns, wenn wir verständig sind, sprechen kann in der Weihnachtsnacht.
Und warum wurde gerade das Christus-Geburtstagsfest um dreizehn Tage zurückversetzt und zum Jesus-Geburtstagsfest gemacht? Da muß man allerdings, wenn man das verstehen will, in tiefe Mysterien der Menschenseele eindringen. Von der äußeren Natur glaubt der Mensch, weil er es mit seinen Augen sieht, daß das, was im Frühling der Sonnenstrahl aus den Tiefen der Erde hervorzaubert, was dieser Sonnenstrahl aus den Tiefen der Erde den Frühling und Sommer hindurch zur schönsten Herrlichkeit entfaltet, daß das immer mehr sich zurückzieht in die Erdentiefen — das ist die Zeit, in welcher die äußere Erdensonnensphäre am dunkelsten ist —, daß in den Tiefen der Erde, in den Keimen sich das vorbereitet, was wiederum im nächsten Jahr heraustreten soll aus diesen Erdentiefen. Ja, vom Pflanzensamen, weil er es sieht, glaubt der Mensch, daß er einen Jahreszyklus durchmacht, daß er hinunterdringen muß in die Erdentiefen, um sich wieder an der Wärme und an dem Licht des Sonnenstrahls im Frühling entfalten zu können. Daß ein solcher Zyklus auch für die Menschenseele selber da sein kann, ja fortwährend da ist, davon merkt der Mensch zunächst nichts. Er merkt es erst, wenn er in die großen Mysterien des Daseins eingeweiht wird. Verbunden, wie die Kraft eines jeglichen Pflanzensamens mit den physischen Erdenkräften, ist mit den geistigen Erdenkräften unser eigenes Seeleninneres. Und wie der Pflanzensame in die Tiefen der Erde in der Zeit heruntersteigt, die wir die Weihnachtszeit nennen, so steigt in tiefe, tiefe Geistesregionen die Menschenseele in diesen Zeiten hinunter, sich ebenso Kraft holend in tiefen Regionen wie der Pflanzensame zum Blühen im Frühling. Das gewöhnliche Menschheitsbewußtsein schaut nichts von dem, was da mit der Seele in der Erde Geistestiefen vorgeht. Für denjenigen aber, dem die geistigen Augen geöffnet werden, für den ist die Zeit der dreizehn Tage und dreizehn Nächte eine tiefe Zeit des geistigen Erlebens.
Ja, parallel mit dem Erleben des Pflanzensamens in der Erde natürlichen Tiefen geht ein geistiges Erleben in der Erde Geistestiefen — parallel geht es. Und hinuntersteigend kann sich der Seher fühlen, der durch Schulung dies vermag, oder der Seher, dem durch irgendwelche vererbte Seherkräfte dies ermöglicht wird, hineindringend in solche Geistestiefen kann sich der Seher fühlen. Schauen kann in dieser Zeit der dreizehn Tage und der dreizehn Nächte der Sehergeist, was alles über den Menschen deshalb kommen muß, weil dieser Mensch jene Erdeninkarnationen durchgemacht hat, die, so wie sie sind, durch die Kräfte des Luzifer vom Beginn des Erdenwerdens bis in unsere Zeit geworden sind. Was über den Menschen in der geistigen Welt an Kamalokaleiden dadurch kommen muß, daß Luzifer an ihn herantrat, seitdem der Mensch auf der Erde inkarniert wurde, das ist am deutlichsten in den großen, gewaltigen Imaginationen zu schauen, welche der Seele entgegentreten können in jenen dreizehn Tagen und Nächten zwischen dem Weihnachtsfest und dem Feste des 6. Januar, der Erscheinung Christi. Wenn der Pflanzensame da unten seine wichtigste Zeit in den Tiefen hat, hat die Menschenseele ihre tiefsten Erlebnisse in diesen Zeiten. Es schaut die Menschenseele alles das, was der Mensch in geiistigen Welten erleben muß, weil sie sich entfernte unter dem Einfluß Luzifers von den schöpferischen Mächten der Welt. Das alles schaut die Menschenseele am besten in dieser Zeit. Daher ist sie durch dieses Schauen auch am besten vorbereitet zu der Erscheinung jener Imagination, welche wir die Christus-Imagination nennen können, wo wir gewahr werden, wie der Christus der Besieger des Luzifer wird und damit über die Taten der Menschen richtet, die entspringen aus den Inkarnationen, welche unter dem Einfluß des Luzifer stehen. So lebt die Menschenseele, des Sehers Seele, sich von dem Jesus-Geburtstagsfest bis zum Christi-Erscheinungsfeste hin, so daß ihr das Mysterium Christi aufgeht und sie am tiefsten in dieser Zeit erkennen kann, was mit der Johannestaufe im Jordan gemeint ist.
Es ist merkwürdig, wie überall dahin, wo in den christlichen Jahrhunderten die Möglichkeit geistigen Schauens in richtigem Sinn drang, auch dieser merkwürdige Zusammenhang drang von dem Schauen der Seherseele in den dreizehn Nächten, in der eigentlichen Winterwendezeit. Man lernte aus gar mancher Seherseele kennen, die entweder geschult war in den Mysterien der neuen Zeit oder die ererbte Seherkräfte noch hatte, man lernte sehen, wie in der finstersten Winterwendezeit die Seele alles das schauen kann, was der Mensch durchzumachen hat durch seine Entfernung von dem Christus-Geist, und wie diesem Menschen die Ausgleichung werden kann, die Katharsis dadurch, daß das Mysterium der Johannestaufe im Jordan und dann das Mysterium von Golgatha sich vollzogen hat, und wie gekrönt sind die Visionen der Seher in den dreizehn Nächten mit dem 6. Januar durch die Imagination des Christus. So ist es richtig, den 6. Januar als den Geburtstag des Christus anzusetzen, richtig, diese dreizehn Nächte als jene die Menschenseelen-Seherschaft repräsentierende Zeit anzusetzen, wo man alles wahrnimmt, was der Mensch durchmachen muß durch das Leben in den Inkarnationen von Adam und Eva bis zu dem Mysterium von Golgatha.
Es war mir interessant, diesen Gedanken, der Ihnen nur mit etwas anderen Worten entgegenströmt aus so mancherlei Vorträgen, die über das Christus-Mysterium gehalten worden sind, bei meinem letzten vorjährigen Aufenthalt in Kristiania schön verkörpert zu sehen in einer Sage und Legende: der sogenannten Traumlegende, die merkwürdigerweise in den letzten zehn bis fünfzehn Jahren in Norwegen aufgetaucht ist und in das Volk sich eingelebt hat, welche allerdings auf frühere Zeiten zurückführt. In ganz wunderbarer schöner Weise erzählt uns jene Legende, wie Olaf Ästeson gleichsam durch natürliche Kräfte eingeweiht wird, indem er am Weihnachtsabend einschläft, durch die dreizehn Tage bis zum 6. Januar schläft und alle die Schauer dessen durchmacht, was der Mensch durchleben muß durch die Inkarnationen vom Erdenbeginn bis zum Mysterium von Golgatha. Und wie Olaf Ästeson dann schaut, als er sich nähert der Zeit des 6. Januar, das Eingreifen des Christus-Geistes in der Menschheit, dem der Michael-Geist vorangegangen war. Ich hoffe, wir werden bei einer anderen Gelegenheit noch in diesen Tagen dieses Gedicht von Olaf Ästeson Ihnen vorführen können, damit Sie sehen, wie da heute noch lebt, ja geradezu wieder auflebt das Bewußtsein solcher Seherschaft in den dreizehn Tagen. Nur die eine charakteristische Strophe vom Anfang sei angeführt:
So höre meinen Sang!
Ich will dir singen
Von einem flinken Jüngling:Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief!
Von ihm will ich dir singen.
Er ging zur Ruh’ am Weihnachtsabend,
Ein starker Schlaf umfing ihn bald,
Und nicht konnt’ er erwachen,
Bevor am dreizehnten Tag
Das Volk zur Kirche ging.Es war das Olaf Åsteson,
Der einst so lange schlief!
Von ihm will ich dir singen.
Und das geht dann weiter, bis er geführt wird in seinem Traum der dreizehn Nächte durch all das, was der Mensch in der heute geschilderten Weise zu durchleben hat infolge der Versuchung des Luzifer. Anschaulich wird geschildert, wie Olaf Ästeson durch alle die Gefilde geht, wo die Menschen das erleben, was wir so oft bei unseren Erzählungen von Kamaloka schilderten, wie hereinströmt in dieses geschaute Kamaloka der Christus-Geist, geführt von Michael.
So wird sich für die Menschen immer mehr und mehr mit dem, was wir den im Geist kommenden Christus nennen, die Möglichkeit eröffnen, wirklich auch zu erkennen, wie die geistigen Kräfte walten und weben, wie das, was wir Feste nennen, nicht willkürlich festgesetzt worden ist, sondern festgesetzt worden ist durch die den Menschen so oft unbewußte, aber durch die Geschichte waltende Weltenweisheit. Diese Weltenweisheit hat an den Anfang der dreizehn Tage gesetzt das Jesus-Geburtstagsfest. Wenn uns andererseits das Osterfest immer ermahnen kann daran, daß wir in uns die Kräfte finden werden aus der Betrachtung der Weltenweiten und Raumesweiten, Sieger werden zu können über alles Niedrige, so sagt uns der Weihnachtsgedanke, daß wir in uns finden können, wenn wir das Symbolum dieses Menschenursprunges verstehen, dieses Menschen-Gottesursprunges, das Symbolum, das uns als das Jesuskind am Weihnachtstag entgegentritt. Dieser Menschenursprung ruft uns immerdar zu: Mensch, du kannst in dir die starken Kräfte finden, die dir das geben, was man im wahren Sinne des Wortes den Seelenfrieden nennen kann. — Denn der Seelenfrieden ist nur vorhanden, wenn er zuversichtlicher Friede ist, das heißt, wenn er die Kraft darstellt, daß der Mensch immerdar weiß: In dir lebt etwas, was dich hinaufführen kann und muß, wenn du es nur richtig in dir zur Geburt bringst, zu göttlichen Höhen, zu göttlichen Kräften. — Die Lichter hier, Symbole sind sie uns für jenes Licht, das in unserer eigenen Seele erglänzt und erglüht, wenn wir das fassen, was uns symbolisch das Jesuskind in der Weihnachtsnacht aus seinem Unschuldsdasein kündigt: die innerste Wesenheit der Menschenseele selber, die da ist unschuldig, kraftvoll, friedlich für unseren Lebensweg zu den höchsten Erdenzielen. Und wenn wir von diesen Lichtern unserer Seele sagen lassen: Ja, du Menschenseele, wenn du jemals schwach wirst und glaubst, du könntest sie nicht finden, die Erdenziele, so denke an des Menschen Gottesursprung und werde gewahr in dir die Kräfte, die da sind zugleich die Kräfte höchster Liebe. Und bei höchster Kraftentwikkelung werde gewahr in dir die Kräfte, welche dir immerdar Zuversicht und Sicherheit geben in all deinem Wirken, in all deinem Leben jetzt und in fernsten Zukunftszeiten.
The Birth of the Sun Spirit as Earth Spirit
When we light the lights on the Christmas tree at this time of year, it is as if a symbol of eternity arises before the human soul's spiritual eye, and as if this symbol could always have been the same in the distant past. For when nature gradually withers away in autumn, when the sun's works in the outer light go to sleep, so to speak, and the human soul must turn its outer organs away from the revelations of the sensory world, then this human soul has the opportunity, and not only the opportunity, it feels the call to turn inward to its deepest core in order to feel, to sense: Now is the time when the external sunlight shines least, when the external warmth of the sun warms least, the time when the soul can withdraw into the external darkness, but in return can find the inner spiritual light through the paths of its inner being. For the lights on the Christmas tree appear to us as a symbol of this inner spiritual light, kindled in the night of external darkness. And because what we feel as the shining of the spirit light of the soul into the natural darkness seems eternal to us, it seems to us that the shining Christmas tree has shone upon us in all the ages we could walk back through from incarnation to incarnation into the distant past.
The Christmas tree itself, however, is relatively young. It has been only a century or two since the Christmas tree became a symbol of Christmas thoughts and feelings among people. This Christmas tree is a young symbol, but every year it proclaims a great, eternal truth to people. Therefore, its existence seems as if it had also been in the distant past. We constantly hear, as if emanating from the Christmas tree itself, what is revealed in worlds far away, in the heights of heaven, in the divine. People can feel it as the most confident forces of peace in their souls, springing from their good will. And so it sounded, according to the Christmas legend, when the shepherds visited the birthplace of the child whose celebration is commemorated today on Christmas Day. From the heights of the clouds, the following words rang out to the visiting shepherds: “The divine primal forces are revealing themselves from worlds far away and from the heights of heaven, and they are entering as confident peace into the human soul when this human soul is of good will.”
For centuries and centuries, it was impossible to believe that Christmas was a symbol that had been placed in the world and had begun at some point in time. One felt the eternity of this symbol. That is why the Christian cult has, so to speak, clothed in words the eternal nature of what happens as a symbol on Christmas night: Christ is risen again for us! - Just as if the soul were to feel anew each year what one thought could only have happened once. The eternity of this symbol appears so powerfully before our soul when we feel the symbol itself in the right sense. And yet, even in the year 353 of our calendar, after the appearance of Christ Jesus on earth, the feast of the Nativity of Jesus was not celebrated even in Rome, in Rome itself. For in 354, the feast of the birth of Jesus, as we now celebrate it, was celebrated for the first time in Rome itself—in 354. Before that, the birth of Jesus was not celebrated on December 24 or 25. Previously, the highest celebration for those who understood the deep wisdom of the mystery of Golgotha was January 6: the Epiphany. It was celebrated as a kind of Christ's birthday in the first three Christian centuries, and celebrated as the festival that was to remind human souls of the descent of the spirit known as the Christ spirit into the body of Jesus of Nazareth through John's baptism in the Jordan. What could be presented as an event through John's baptism in the Jordan was commemorated as the birth of Christ on January 6 until the year 353. For what is most difficult for humanity to understand among all the mysteries, the indwelling of the Christ being in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, was still alive in the first Christian centuries, at least as an intuitive thought.
How did those who were close to the mysteries of Christianity feel in the first Christian centuries? They felt something like this: the Christ spirit pervades and interweaves the world that reveals itself to us through the senses and through the human spirit. In the distant past, this Christ Spirit revealed itself to Moses, sounding to him like the mystery of the human I, just as it echoes to us in the symbolic sounds here at the Christmas tree when we let the sounds ITAO—Alpha and Omega, preceded by I—resound in our souls. This is roughly how it sounded in Moses' soul when the Christ Spirit appeared in the burning bush. And then the same Christ Spirit led Moses to where he was to recognize him in his truest essence, which is expressed in the Old Testament of the Bible by saying: Yahweh led Moses to Mount Nebo, opposite Jericho, and showed him all that was yet to happen before this Spirit could incarnate itself in a human body. When this Spirit stood before Moses on Mount Nebo opposite Jericho, He said to him: “But you, to whom I have revealed Myself prematurely, you must not enter with what you carry in your soul into the evolution of your people, which must first prepare what is to happen when the times are fulfilled.”
And after evolution had prepared humanity, century after century, the same spirit that had held Moses back revealed itself. He revealed himself, becoming flesh, taking on human form, in Jesus of Nazareth. Then all of humanity was led out of the stage of initiation, which is indicated by the word Jericho, to the stage indicated by the crossing of the Jordan. Then, by those who understood the true meaning of Christianity in the first Christian centuries, Jesus of Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan, was placed in whom the sun-earth spirit of Christ pours forth. This was celebrated as a mystery, as the birth of Christ, in the first Christian centuries. For what we are now preparing ourselves for again through anthroposophy, what we are preparing ourselves for from the wisdom of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch, shone forth as if seen through the last remnants of ancient clairvoyance at the time when the mystery of Golgotha was taking place, to the Gnostics, those strange theosophists at the turn of the old and new eras, who saw through the Christ mystery in a different way than we do, but who, by expressing it, gave it the same content. What they were allowed to say seeped through, and although the general public did not understand what had actually happened in the event symbolically indicated by John's baptism in the Jordan, they sensed and felt that at that time the Sun Spirit had been born as the Earth Spirit, that something cosmic had shone forth in an earthly human being. And so, in the first Christian centuries, January 6 was celebrated as the birth of Christ in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, as the appearance of Christ on earth. But more and more, humanity lost even the intuitive insight into this profound mystery. The time came when people could no longer understand or comprehend that what was called Christ actually remained in a physical human body for only three years. More and more, people will realize that what took place in a physical human body during those three years, throughout the entire evolution of the earth, belongs to the most difficult to understand, to the deepest wisdom. The human soul, which was preparing for the materialistic age that was to come, became too weak to understand the great mystery from the 4th century onwards, which will only be understood more and more from our time onwards. Thus it came about that, to the same extent that Christianity gained external power, the inner, deeper understanding of the Christ Mystery was lost, and it was no longer possible to give any meaning to the celebration of January 6. The birth of Christ was moved back thirteen days and presented as if it had taken place at the same time as the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. But it is precisely this fact that confronts us with something that must always fill us with deep joy and satisfaction. Actually, December 24 and 25 were established as the date of Christ's birth through the loss of a great truth, as we have just seen. Nevertheless, the error has basically had the effect of the loss of a great truth, but this has been done with such wise depth that we—even though the people who established all this knew nothing about it—must admire the subconscious wisdom that prevailed in the establishment of this Christmas Day.
Divine wisdom also prevailed in this establishment. And just as one can read divine wisdom outside in nature, if one only knows how to correctly decipher what is revealed everywhere, so one can read divine wisdom at work in the unconscious human soul when one considers a fact. One opens the calendar and finds December 24 marked as “Adam and Eve,” followed by the feast of Christ's birth. This means that the loss of an ancient truth has pushed back the birth of Christ on earth by thirteen days, identifying it with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but at the same time connecting the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in a wonderful way with the idea of the origin of man himself in the development of the earth with Adam and Eve. And if one explores all the dark feelings, all the wonderful sensations that prevail in the human soul toward this celebration of Jesus' birthday, without the human superconsciousness knowing about it, if one explores all these feelings in the depths of the human soul, they indeed speak a wonderful language.
When people no longer understood what had actually flowed in from the world wide — for that should have been celebrated on January 6 — they fell, as if by forces working hidden in the depths of the soul, into placing before humanity the human soul spirit as it appears when it has not yet completely passed through the physical body of the human being, as it stands at the starting point of a human being itself, where the human soul spirit first takes possession of this human physical body. The child at birth, when the soul has not yet taken in what is brought about only by contact with physical corporeality, the child stands at the starting point of physical earthly existence, but not merely the child as it is present for every human being, but the child as it was before human beings came into their very first physical embodiment in the earthly evolution, what the Kabbalah has called “Adam Kadmon,” the human being who descended from divine-spiritual heights with everything he had acquired through the Saturn, Sun, and Moon periods. The human being in his spirituality at the starting point of becoming earthly, through the birth of the child Jesus, now presented a wonderful, divine wisdom to human beings in the celebration of Jesus' birthday. Where it was impossible to understand what was descending to Earth from worlds beyond, from heavenly spheres, the memory of humanity's origin was imprinted in human souls, the memory of what humanity was before the Luciferic forces approached it during the Earth's formation. And when people no longer understood that one could say in the highest sense of the word about what descended upon humanity at the baptism of John in the Jordan: From worlds far away and from the heights of heaven, what is divine penetrates into human souls to work as confident peace among people of good will — when people no longer understood this symbol as a celebration before humanity, they substituted another confidence: the confidence that before the Luciferic forces had worked at the beginning of the earth's existence, human beings once had a nature on earth, a beinghood in which they could trust.
We know from previous descriptions that the child Jesus presented to us in the Gospel of Luke is not the same person presented to us in the Gospel of Matthew. is the one before whom we find the shepherds worshipping, who hear in their souls this saying from the revelation of the divine from worlds far away and from the heights of heaven, bringing peace to the souls of men who are of good will. And so, for the centuries that could not understand the higher, there came into being that solemn celebration which is to remind people anew every year: Even if you cannot look up to the heights of heaven to recognize the great Sun Spirit, you carry within your child's soul, as long as it is untouched by external physical embodiment, the powers that can give you the confidence that you can become victorious over all that is base and clings to you through Lucifer's temptation. — That is why the celebration of Jesus' birth was moved closer to the memory of Adam and Eve, indicating that one should imagine that a human soul, as the human soul once was before man had passed through his first earthly incarnation, was born in the place that the shepherds were allowed to visit.
For the God whose birth was no longer understood, the birth of man was placed in this festive season. For there are basically two sources from which springs that which can always satisfy, calm, and strengthen man, no matter how much his powers threaten to sink, no matter how much his pains and sufferings seem to get the upper hand. One source is the one we can trace when we look out into the vastness of the world, which is interwoven, permeated, illuminated, and warmed by what we call the divine spirit. And when humans can surrender themselves to the thought: “If you never let your strength flag, you will be able to permeate yourself with the power of this divine spirit that permeates the world” — if human beings can grasp this thought in their hearts, then they grasp the Easter thought, the thought through which we draw confidence in the world from worlds beyond. And the other source is that which can emerge from dark premonitions: Before human beings were attacked by the Luciferic forces at the beginning of the Earth's evolution, they were still, as spiritual-soul beings, immersed in the same spirit that they now await from distant worlds and vast spaces in the Easter thought. When human beings turn to the source that they can see in the origin of their own being before the influence of the Luciferic forces, they can say to themselves: Whatever may come upon you, whatever may torment you, whatever may pull you down from the light spheres of the spiritual, the divine origin has once been within you; it must have remained within you, even if it is hidden in the depths of your soul. If you recognize this innermost power of your soul, then the confidence opens up to you that you may and can ascend to the heights. And when you take away from yourself everything that you can conjure up before your soul as innocent, childlike, still free from the temptations of life, and remove from it everything which, through the many incarnations since the beginning of the earth, has also affected those human souls that have gone through such incarnations, then you will gain a picture of the human soul that was at the starting point of the earth's existence before earthly incarnations began.
But in this case, only one soul remains, the soul of which the Gospel of Luke speaks as the soul of the one Jesus boy, the soul which, at the same time when the other human souls began to accomplish their incarnations through the development of the earth, was held back in spiritual life. Such a soul was held back at the starting point of earthly life, preserved in the most sacred mysteries through the Atlantean times, through the post-Atlantean times, until the time of the events in Palestine. There it was sent into the body that was to receive it and give birth to one of the Jesus boys: the Jesus boy described to us in the Gospel of Luke.
Thus, the celebration of Christ's birthday became the celebration of Jesus' birthday. If we understand this celebration correctly, then we must say: Yes, what we think is born symbolically every Christmas night is the original nature of the human soul, the spirit of human childhood as it was at the beginning of the earth's existence. If we consider it as it was at the beginning of the earth's existence, it always calls out to us that it descended at that time as a revelation from the heights of heaven. And when we feel it in the human breast, the feeling of confident peace pours into the human soul, which can carry us to our high goals if our will is good. Powerful, then, is the tone that can speak to us, if we are understanding, on Christmas night.
And why was the celebration of Christ's birthday moved back thirteen days and made the birthday of Jesus? To understand this, one must delve into the deep mysteries of the human soul. From external nature, man believes, because he sees it with his eyes, that what the sun's rays conjure up from the depths of the earth in spring, what these sunbeams unfold from the depths of the earth throughout spring and summer into the most beautiful splendor, that this gradually withdraws back into the depths of the earth — this is the time when the outer sphere of the earth's sun is at its darkest — that in the depths of the earth, in the seeds, what is to emerge again next year from these depths of the earth is being prepared. Yes, from the plant seed, because he sees it, man believes that it goes through an annual cycle, that it must sink down into the depths of the earth in order to be able to unfold again in the warmth and light of the sunbeam in spring. Human beings are initially unaware that such a cycle can also exist for the human soul itself, that it is in fact constantly present. They only become aware of it when they are initiated into the great mysteries of existence. Just as the power of every plant seed is connected with the physical forces of the earth, so too is the inner life of our souls connected with the spiritual forces of the earth. And just as the plant seed descends into the depths of the earth during the time we call Christmas, so the human soul descends into deep, deep spiritual regions during these times, drawing strength from deep regions just as the plant seed does in order to blossom in spring. Ordinary human consciousness sees nothing of what is happening with the soul in the spiritual depths of the earth. But for those whose spiritual eyes are opened, the period of thirteen days and thirteen nights is a profound time of spiritual experience.
Yes, parallel to the experience of the plant seed in the natural depths of the earth, there is a spiritual experience in the spiritual depths of the earth — they proceed in parallel. And the seer who is able to do this through training, or the seer who is enabled to do this through some inherited seer's powers, can feel himself descending, penetrating into such spiritual depths. During this period of thirteen days and thirteen nights, the seer's spirit can see everything that must come upon a human being because that human being has gone through those incarnations on earth which, as they are, have come about through the forces of Lucifer from the beginning of the earth's existence until our time. What must come upon man in the spiritual world in the form of Kamaloka sufferings because Lucifer approached him since man was incarnated on earth can be seen most clearly in the great, powerful imaginations that can confront the soul during those thirteen days and nights between Christmas and the feast of January 6, the Epiphany. When the plant seed has its most important time in the depths below, the human soul has its deepest experiences during these times. The human soul sees everything that human beings must experience in spiritual worlds because they distanced themselves from the creative forces of the world under the influence of Lucifer. The human soul sees all this best during this time. Therefore, through this seeing, it is also best prepared for the appearance of that imagination which we can call the Christ imagination, where we become aware of how Christ becomes the conqueror of Lucifer and thus judges the deeds of human beings that spring from incarnations under the influence of Lucifer. Thus the human soul, the soul of the seer, lives from the feast of the Nativity of Jesus to the feast of the Epiphany, so that the mystery of Christ dawns upon it and it can recognize most deeply during this time what is meant by the baptism of John in the Jordan.
It is remarkable how, wherever spiritual vision in the true sense penetrated during the Christian centuries, this remarkable connection also penetrated from the vision of the seer's soul during the thirteen nights, at the actual winter solstice. From many a seer soul, either trained in the mysteries of the new age or still possessing inherited seer powers, one learned to see how, in the darkest time of the winter solstice, the soul can see everything that human beings have to go through because of their separation from the Christ Spirit, and how this can be compensated for, through the mystery of John's baptism in the Jordan and then the mystery of Golgotha, and how the visions of the seers during the thirteen nights are crowned on January 6 by the imagination of Christ. So it is right to consider January 6 as the birthday of Christ, right to consider these thirteen nights as the time representing the vision of human souls, when one perceives everything that human beings must go through in life in the incarnations from Adam and Eve to the mystery of Golgotha.
During my last stay in Kristiania last year, I found it interesting to see this idea, which comes across in many lectures on the Christ Mystery, albeit in slightly different words, beautifully embodied in a legend: the so-called dream legend, which has strangely emerged in Norway in the last ten to fifteen years and has become established among the people, although it dates back to earlier times. In a wonderfully beautiful way, this legend tells us how Olaf Ästeson is initiated, as it were, by natural forces when he falls asleep on Christmas Eve, sleeps through the thirteen days until January 6, and experiences all the horrors that human beings must go through from the beginning of the Earth's incarnations to the mystery of Golgotha. And how Olaf Ästeson then looks as he approaches January 6, the intervention of the Christ spirit in humanity, which was preceded by the Michael spirit. I hope that we will be able to present this poem by Olaf Åsteson to you on another occasion in the coming days, so that you can see how the consciousness of such seers still lives on today, indeed how it is being revived during these thirteen days. Let me quote just one characteristic verse from the beginning:
So hear my song!
I will sing to you
Of a swift young man:It was Olaf Åsteson,
It was Olaf Åsteson,
Who once slept so long!
Of him I will sing to you.
He went to rest on Christmas Eve,
A deep sleep soon enveloped him,
And he could not wake,
Before, on the thirteenth day,
The people went to church.
Who once slept so long!
Of him I will sing to you.
And this continues until he is led in his dream of thirteen nights through all that man has to go through in the manner described today as a result of Lucifer's temptation. It is vividly described how Olaf Åsteson passes through all the realms where people experience what we have so often described in our stories of Kamaloka, how the Christ Spirit, guided by Michael, streams into this Kamaloka that is seen.
Thus, for human beings, what we call the Christ coming in the spirit will increasingly open up the possibility of truly recognizing how spiritual forces work and weave, how what we call festivals have not been arbitrarily established, but have been established by the world wisdom that is so often unconscious to human beings but reigns through history. This world wisdom has placed the celebration of Jesus' birthday at the beginning of the thirteen days. If, on the other hand, Easter can always remind us that we will find within ourselves the strength to overcome all that is base by contemplating the world and the universe, then the thought of Christmas tells us that we can find within ourselves, if we understand the symbol of this human origin, this human-divine origin, the symbol that comes to us as the baby Jesus on Christmas Day. This human origin calls out to us constantly: Human being, you can find within yourself the powerful forces that give you what can be called, in the true sense of the word, peace of mind. For peace of mind only exists when it is confident peace, that is, when it represents the power that makes human beings know forever: something lives within you that can and must lead you upward, if only you bring it forth correctly within yourself, to divine heights, to divine powers. — The lights here are symbols for us of that light that shines and glows in our own souls when we grasp what the baby Jesus symbolically announces to us on Christmas night from his innocent existence: the innermost essence of the human soul itself, which is innocent, powerful, and peaceful for our journey through life to the highest earthly goals. And when we let these lights of our soul say to us: Yes, you human soul, if you ever become weak and believe that you cannot find the goals of life on earth, think of the divine origin of man and become aware of the powers within you, which are at the same time the powers of the highest love. And when you have developed your powers to the highest degree, become aware within yourself of the powers that will always give you confidence and security in all your actions, in all your life now and in the distant future.