The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz
GA 130
27 January 1912, Kassel
I. The Dawn of Occultism in the Modern Age I
The lecture today will be historical in character and the day after tomorrow I shall speak of matters which will give: us deeper insight into the impulses contained in the thinking, the will and the deeds of Rosicrucianism. We can only understand the work of Rosicrucianism today when we realise that it was never a model laid down once and for always but assumes a different form in every century. The reason for this is that Rosicrucianism must always adapt itself to the conditions of the times. It is quite obvious to us that the fundamental impulses of Spiritual Science must find their way into the culture of the present age; but we know, too, that the culture of the West presents difficulties. Spiritual Science cannot make different human beings of us from one day to the next, because through our karma we have been born into Western culture. Our task is not as simple as that of the representatives of communities based upon race or the tenets of a particular religion. For our fundamental principle must be that we are not rooted in the soil of a specific creed but regard the different systems of religion as forms and variations of the one, universal spiritual life. It is the seed of spiritual truth in all religions for which Spiritual Science must seek. As a Westerner, the theosophist may very easily be misunderstood, above all by the different religious confessions and schools of thought in the world. If we rightly understand our task as spiritual scientists we must hold fast to the principle of historical development, realising that Spiritual Science is an integral part of this development. Each one of you here has been incarnated in every epoch of culture—indeed more than once. What is the purpose of these reincarnations? Why must the human being pass through all these different schoolings in the periods of culture and civilisation? It was this question which brought Lessing to avow his belief in the idea of reincarnation. Lessing thought to himself: Human beings have lived through all the earlier periods of culture and they must return again and again in order to learn new things and to be able to connect the old with the new. There must be a purpose in the fact that we pass through different incarnations, and the purpose is that in each of them the human being shall add new experiences to the old.
As you have often heard, there are great differences between the successive epochs of culture. Today we shall speak in closer detail of an extremely important period: the thirteenth century. Human beings in incarnation at that time lived through an experience which has not fallen to the lot of others. What I am now about to say is known to all who have reached a certain high level of spiritual life and who are now again in incarnation.
In the thirteenth century, spiritual darkness fell for a time upon all human beings, even the most enlightened, and also upon the Initiates. Whatever knowledge of the spiritual worlds existed in the thirteenth century came from tradition or from men who in still earlier times had been Initiates and were able to call up remembrances of what they had then experienced. But for a brief space of time it was impossible even for these men to have direct vision of the spiritual world. Darkness was obliged to fall for this short period in order that preparation might be made for the intellectual culture which was to be characteristic of our modern age. The point of importance is that we have this kind of culture today in the Fifth post-Atlantean epoch. Culture in the Greek epoch was quite different. Instead of the modern, intellectual kind of thinking, direct perception was then the dominant faculty; the human being was one, as it were, with what he saw and heard, even with what he thought. He did not cogitate and reason as he does today, and needs must do, for this is the task of the Fifth post-Atlantean epoch.
In the thirteenth century, it was necessary for especially suitable personalities to be chosen out for Initiation, and the Initiation itself could only take place after that brief period of darkness had come to an end. The name of the place in Europe where the happenings of which I am about to speak came to pass cannot yet be communicated, but before very long this too will be possible.
We shall, speak today of the dawn of occultism in the modern age. Twelve men were living at the time of the darkness, twelve men of deep spirituality who came together in order to further the progress of humanity. They did not all of them possess the power of direct vision of the spiritual world, but they were able to bring to life within them remembrances of what they had experienced through earlier Initiation. And by the dispensation of the karma of humanity, the heritage left by the ancient culture of Atlantis was embodied in seven of these twelve men. In my book Occult Science it is said that the seven wise Teachers of the ancient, holy Indian civilisation bore within them the surviving wisdom of Atlantis. The seven men were incarnated again in the thirteenth century and formed part of the Twelve; it was they who were able to look back to the seven streams of the ancient Atlantean wisdom and to the continuations of these seven streams. The task assigned to each of these seven individualities was to make one of the seven streams of wisdom fruitful both for the culture of the thirteenth century and of our modern age. These seven individualities were joined by four others; unlike the first seven, these other four were not able to look back to times of the primeval past; they looked back to what mankind had acquired from occult truths during the four epochs of post-Atlantean culture. The first of the four looked back to the period of ancient India, the second to that of ancient Persia, the third to that of Egyptian-Chaldean-Babylonian-Assyrian culture, and the fourth to that of the Graeco-Latin age. These four joined the seven in that “College” of wise men in the thirteenth century; the twelfth had fewer remembrances; he was more intrinsically intellectual than the rest and it was his task to cultivate and foster the external sciences. These twelve individualities did not live only in the sphere of occultism as cultivated in the West, but could also be “incorporated” as it were in men who possessed some genuine knowledge of occultism. Goethe's poem Die Geheimnisse [footnote: The Mysteries by Rudolf Steiner] gives a certain indication of this.—Thus there were twelve outstanding individualities and to them came a Thirteenth who, after the period of darkness had come to an end was to be chosen out for the kind of Initiation demanded by the culture of the West. The circumstances are very mysterious and I can only give you the following information in the form of a narrative. To me it is objective truth, but you yourselves can put it to the test by gathering together what has been said by anthroposophical Spiritual Science during the last few years, added to what you know of history since the thirteenth century.
It was known to the College of the twelve wise men that a child was to be born who had lived in Palestine at the time of Christ and had been present when the Mystery of Golgotha had taken place. This Individuality possessed great powers of heart and a quality of deep, inward love which circumstances had since helped to unfold in him. An Individuality of extraordinary spirituality was incarnated in this child. It was necessary, in this case, for a process to be enacted which will never be repeated in the same form. The following does not describe a typical Initiation but is an altogether exceptional happening. It was necessary for this child to be removed from the environment into which he was born and to be placed in the care of the Twelve at a certain place in Europe. But it was not the external measures adopted by the twelve wise men that are of essential importance; what is important is the fact that the child grew up with the Twelve around him, and because of this, their wisdom was able to stream into him. One of the Twelve, for example, possessed the Mars-wisdom and therewith a definite quality of soul—a mood-of-soul tempered by the form of culture standing under the influence of Mars. The forces of the Mars culture endowed this soul with the faculty, among others, of presenting the occult sciences with fiery enthusiasm and ardour. Similar planetary influences were also at work in other faculties distributed among the Twelve. The development of the child's soul proceeded harmoniously under the influences pouring from the twelve wise men. And so the child grew up, under the unceasing care of the Twelve. Then, at a certain time, when the child had grown into a young man of about 20, he was able to give expression to something that was a kind of reflex of the twelve streams of wisdom—but in a form altogether new, new even to the twelve wise men. The metamorphosis was accompanied by violent organic changes. Even physically the child had been quite unlike other human beings; he was often very ill and his body became transparent, as though filled with light. Then there came a time when for some days the soul departed altogether from the body. The young man lay as if dead ... And when the soul returned it was as though the twelve streams of wisdom were born anew. He spoke of new experiences. There had come to him, from the Mystery of Golgotha, an experience similar to that of Paul before Damascus. Thereby it was possible for all the twelve world-conceptions, religious and scientific—and fundamentally there are only twelve—to be gathered together, synthesised in one. The twelve basic world-conceptions were gathered together into one whole which could do justice to them all. Of what was taught we shall speak the day after tomorrow. It remains now to be said that the young man died very soon afterwards. His life on Earth had been brief. His mission had been to create a synthesis of the twelve streams of wisdom in the sphere of thought and to bring forth the new impulse which he could then bequeath to the twelve wise men who were to carry it further. A great and significant impetus had been given. The name of the Individuality from whom this impulse originated was Christian Rosenkreutz. The same Individuality was born again in the fourteenth century and this earthly life lasted for more than a hundred years. In the new earthly life he brought to fruitfulness, in the outer world too, all that he had lived through in that brief space of time. He traveled all over the West and over practically the whole of the then known world in order to receive anew the wisdom which in the previous life had quickened in him the new impulse—the impulse which, as a kind of essence, was to filter into the culture of the times.
This new impulse also came to expression in the exoteric world. The inspiration of the being of whom we have spoken, worked, for example, in Lessing. It is not, of course, possible to give external proof of this, but Lessing's whole mode and manner of thinking is such that the Rosicrucian impulse is perceptible to one who is versed in these matters. Again in the nineteenth century—an age so ill-adapted for the ideas of karma, reincarnation and the like—this impulse worked exoterically. It is an interesting fact that towards the end of the 'forties of the nineteenth century a certain scientific body offered a reward for the best philosophical treatise on the subject of the immortality of the soul. Among the treatises submitted was one by Wiedenmann, accepting the principle that the soul has many earthly lives. Naturally, this essay does not speak of reincarnation in the same way as Spiritual Science; but it is interesting that such a writing should have appeared at that time and have been awarded the prize. And other psychologists of the day also acknowledged their belief in repeated earthly lives. The thread of belief in reincarnation and karma was never entirely broken. Moreover the early writings of the Founder of the Theosophical Society, the great H. P. Blavatsky, are explicable only when we recognise the Rosicrucian inspiration underlying them.
Now it is of the greatest importance for us to know that whenever the Rosicrucian inspiration is given, in each century, the bearer of the inspiration is never outwardly designated as such. His identity has been known only to the very highest Initiates. Today, for example, it is only permissible to speak of happenings of a hundred years ago; for this is the period of time which must have elapsed before they may be spoken of openly. The temptation to pay fanatical veneration to authority vested in some personality—than which there is no greater evil—would be too great for men. This danger is already too near at hand. Silence is a necessary precaution not only against the wiles of ambition and pride—which it might be possible to resist—but paramountly on account of the occult, astral attacks which would be directed all the time against such an individual. Hence the rule that these things may not be spoken of until a hundred years have elapsed. Such studies must help us to realise that the fulcrum of historical development is contained in Rosicrucianism.
By a simple comparison, let me explain to you what is meant by this.—Think of a pair of scales. There must be only one fulcrum, for if there were two, no weighing would be possible. One such fulcrum is also necessary in the process of historical development. Eastern world conceptions do not admit this, nor do they recognise historical evolution in this sense; and the same applies to Schopenhauer. But it is the task of humanity of the West to recognise the flow of history—and it is the mission of Rosicrucianism to promote a kind of thinking which admits the reality of a fulcrum or pivotal point in the flow of history. In regard to what will now be said, the religious confession to which a man may belong is of no consequence. For it can be substantiated from the Akasha Chronicle that the day which represents the pivotal point in the evolution of mankind is the 3rd April in the year 33 A.D. Knowledge of the fact that the pivot of evolution lies at this point is an essential part of Rosicrucianism.—What was it that really happened then? The crisis in the world of the demons! And what does this mean?
We know that in earlier times human beings possessed the faculty of primitive clairvoyance. This clairvoyance became progressively feebler, almost to the point of extinction. The fact is that hitherto the human being had been conscious mainly in the astral body and less in the “I.” The crisis came about because of the darkening of the ancient clairvoyance. Man's vision extended only into the lowest regions of the spiritual world. The “I” lived still in the astral world; but the beings and powers which the “I” was able to behold, deteriorated into greater and greater impurity. Man no longer had any vision of the good powers, but as he looked into the astral world he saw only these evil beings. The only means of salvation was the cultivation and development of the “I.” The beginning of this was the enactment of the baptism given by John in the Jordan. What was the experience of one thus baptised? He was first subjected to the physical process of immersion in the water which caused the separation of the astral and etheric bodies from the physical body. This enabled him to perceive that a crisis was at hand in the world of the demons. And those who had been baptised knew: We must change our hearts! The time is at hand when the Spirit is to stream directly into the “I.” Such a man felt that these terrible astral beings were within him, always penetrating into him.
A power transcending the astral was about to come into operation—the power of the “I.” Through the “I” it will be possible for communities of human beings to gather together in freedom of soul, communities no longer determined by ties of blood. And now picture to yourselves a man possessed by demons of the most evil kind who know that they are facing a crisis. Picture to yourselves again that to such a man there comes One Whose mission it is to oppose the demons. What must the demons feel under such circumstances? Ill at ease in the very highest degree! And so indeed it was: in the presence of Christ Jesus the demons were ill at ease. Rosicrucianism has within it the impulse by which the demons must be countered. Through this impulse the “I” is to be made supreme—but in this respect little progress has been achieved.
Returning to the point at which the lecture began, it is not difficult to realise that it will be harder for us as Anthroposophists to make our voice heard in the world than it will be for any others. The adherents of other views of the world will have less persecution to suffer than Anthroposophists. For nothing makes men more uneasy than to describe to them the true nature of the Christ. But our conviction is based upon the results of genuine occult science and this conviction must be sustained with all the forces of which we are capable.
Die Morgenröte des Neueren Okkultismus
Es wird heute meine Aufgabe sein, eine zunächst rein geschichtliche Betrachtung zu geben, welcher dann übermorgen folgen soll, was uns tiefer einführen kann in die Impulse rosenkreuzerischen Denkens, Wollens und Handelns. Dem Rosenkreuzertum von heute Verständnis entgegenbringen kann man nur, wenn man sich in die Scele schreibt, es sei das Rosenkreuzertum nicht etwas, was eine geschichtliche Norm ein für allemal hat, sondern eigentlich etwas anderes ist in jedem Jahrhundert. Das ist deshalb so, weil es stets sich den Verhältnissen der Gegenwart anpassen muss. Darüber sind wir uns ja klar, dass die eigentlichen Grundimpulse der Geisteswissenschaft sich immer mehr einleben müssen in die Kultur der Gegenwart, aber dass dies in der abendländischen Kultur, in der wir stehen, schwer ist. Nicht von heute auf morgen ist es möglich, ein anderer Mensch zu werden durch die Geisteswissenschaft, weil wir hineingeboren sind durch unser Karma in die abendländische Kultur. Wir haben es nicht so leicht wie die Vertreter irgendwelcher Menschenzusammenhänge, die von Rassen- oder religiösen Voraussetzungen ausgehen können. Denn das muss ja unser Grundprinzip sein, dass wir nicht etwa auf dem Boden eines religiösen Bekenntnisses stehen, sondern wir sehen in den verschiedenen religiösen Systemen Ausgestaltungen des einen spirituellen Lebens. Diesen spirituellen Wahrheitskern in allen religiösen Weltanschauungen soll die Geisteswissenschaft aufsuchen. Es ist selbstverständlich, dass der Theosoph als abendländischer Mensch leicht missverstanden werden kann, und dies am meisten von den verschiedenen religiösen Bekenntnissen und Weltanschauungen, die wir um uns herum vorhanden sehen.
Wenn wir richtig begreifen, was wir als Geisteswissenschafter sein wollen, dann müssen wir auf einem Boden feststehen: auf dem Boden des geschichtlichen Werdens. Wir müssen begreifen, dass Geisteswissenschaft ein Ereignis innerhalb der geschichtlichen Entwicklung ist. Jeder der hier Sitzenden ist verkörpert gewesen in jeder Kulturperiode, und zwar wiederholt verkörpert in jeder einzelnen Kulturperiode. Welches ist nun aber der Sinn dieser Verkörperungen? Warum muss der Mensch alle diese verschiedenen Schulungen durch sein Leben in den verschiedenen Kulturentwicklungen erfahren? Diese Frage hat Lessing zu seinem Bekenntnisse der Reinkarnationsidee geführt. Lessing sagte sich: Die Menschen sind früher durch alle möglichen Kulturperioden hindurchgegangen, und sie müssen wiederkehren, um Neues zu lernen und das Alte mit dem Neuen zu verbinden. So etwa dachte Lessing: Es muss einen Sinn haben, dass wir durch die verschiedenen Inkarnationen gehen. Und dieser Sinn liegt eben darin, dass der Mensch in jeder neuen Inkarnation Neues zu dem Alten hinzuerlebt.
Es ist ja schon oft hingewiesen worden darauf, dass die aufeinanderfolgenden Epochen ganz verschieden voneinander waren. Heute soll nun genauer auf einen außerordentlich wichtigen Zeitpunkt hingewiesen werden, auf das dreizehnte Jahrhundert. Man kann sagen, dass die zu jener Zeit inkarnierten Menschen etwas ganz Besonderes erlebten, etwas, was die zu andern Zeiten verkörperten Menschen nicht haben erleben können. Und was ich jetzt sagen werde, das sage ich in einem Sinne mit allen denen, die ein gewissermaßen erhöhtes geistiges Leben haben durchmachen dürfen und die heute wieder inkarniert sind. Die wissen das alle.
Im dreizchnten Jahrhundert war für alle Menschen eine geistige Finsternis, selbst für die erleuchtetsten Geister, auch für die Eingeweihten. Alles, was damals im dreizehnten Jahrhundert gewusst wurde von geistigen Welten, das wusste man durch Überlieferung ‚oder von schon früher Eingeweihten, die ihre Erinnerung an das, was sie damals erlebt hatten, weckten. Aber für eine kurze Zeit konnten auch diese Geister nicht unmittelbar hineinblicken in die geistige Welt. Diese kurze Zeit der Verfinsterung musste damals sein, um das Charakteristische unseres jetzigen Zeitalters vorzubereiten: die heutige intellektuelle, verstandesmäßige Kultur. Das ist das Wichtige, dass wir das heute in der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode haben. Das war nicht so in der griechischen Kulturperiode. Da war anstelle des jetzigen verstandesmäßigen Denkens die unmittelbare Anschauung das Dominierende. Der Mensch wuchs sozusagen zusammen mit dem, was er sah und hörte, ja auch mit dem, was er dachte, wuchs der Mensch damals zusammen. Damals wurde nicht so viel spintisiert, wie es heute geschieht und geschehen muss, denn das ist die Aufgabe der fünften nachatlantischen Kulturperiode.
Damals, im dreizehnten Jahrhundert, mussten ganz besonders geeignete Persönlichkeiten für die Einweihung ausgewählt werden, und diese Einweihung selbst konnte erst geschehen nach Ablauf jener kurzen Zeit der Verfinsterung. Es ist heute noch nicht möglich, den Ort in Europa zu nennen, wo das geschehen ist, was ich jetzt sagen werde. Aber es wird in nicht ferner Zeit auch dieses geschehen können.
Heute nun soll gesprochen werden über die Morgenröte des neueren Okkultismus. Es handelt sich darum, dass in jener verfinsterten Zeit zwölf Menschen lebten, zwölf hervorragende Geister, die sich vereinigten, um den Menschheitsfortschritt zu fördern. Sie konnten alle nicht unmittelbar hineinschauen in die geistige Welt, aber sie konnten rege machen in sich die Erinnerung an das, was sie durch frühere Einweihung erlebt hatten. Und das Menschheitskarma hat es so gefügt, dass in sieben dieser zwölf Menschen verkörpert war, was den Menschen geblieben war an Resten der alten atlantischen Kultur. In meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» ist es ja schon gesagt, dass in den sieben weisen Lehrern des uralt heiligen Indiens hinübergetragen wurde das, was von der atlantischen Epoche übrig geblieben war. Die sieben Männer, die im dreizehnten Jahrhundert wieder inkarniert waren, die einen Teil der Zwölf bildeten, das waren eben diejenigen, die zurückblicken konnten auf die sieben Strömungen der alten atlantischen Kultur und auf das, was als diese sieben Strömungen weiter fortlebte. Von diesen sieben Individualitäten konnte jeder immer nur eine der Strömungen fruchtbar machen für die damalige und die heutige Zeit. Zu diesen Sieben kamen vier andere, die nicht auf längst verflossene Urzeiten zurückblicken konnten wie die erstgenannten sieben Weisen, sondern diese vier Persönlichkeiten konnten zurückblicken auf das, was die Menschheit sich angeeignet hatte von okkulten Wahrheiten in den vier nachatlantischen Kulturperioden. Es konnte der Erste auf die urindische Zeit zurückblicken, der Zweite auf die urpersische, der Dritte auf die ägyptisch-chaldäisch-babylonisch-assyrische und der Vierte auf die griechisch-lateinische Zeit. Diese vier vereinigten sich mit den sieben zu dem Kollegium der weisen Männer im dreizehnten Jahrhundert. Der Zwölfte hatte gewissermaßen am wenigsten von Erinnerungen, er war der intellektuellste, der besonders die äußeren Wissenschaften zu pflegen hatte. Diese zwölf Individualitäten lebten ja nicht nur weiter in den Erlebnissen des abendländischen Okkultismus, sondern konnten auch sich inkorporieren in Persönlichkeiten, die vom Okkultismus etwas wussten. Eine ganz besondere Art, darauf hinzuweisen, finden wir bei Goethe in seinem Gedicht «Die Geheimnisse».
Also von zwölf hervorragenden Individualitäten haben wir zu sprechen, und zu diesen kam ein Dreizehnter, der nach der Epoche der Verfinsterung ausgewählt werden sollte, um die in der abendländischen Kultur notwendige Einweihung zu erlangen. Die Umstände sind geheimnisvoll, und ich kann Ihnen das Folgende natürlich nur erzählen, doch für mich ist alles vollkommen objektive Wahrheit. Aber prüfen können Sie es, wenn Sie alles zusammennehmen, was schon von der Theosophie gesagt worden ist im Laufe der letzten Jahre, und dazu das nehmen, was Sie aus der äußeren Geschichte seit dem dreizehnten Jahrhundert wissen.
Es war nämlich dem Kollegium der zwölf weisen Männer bekannt, dass in dieser Epoche geboren werden sollte ein Kind, das zur Zeit des Christus-Ereignisses in Palästina gelebt hatte und das bei dem Mysterium von Golgatha dabei war. Diese Individualität besaß eine ausgeprägte Herzensbildung, ja eine ganz besonders intime Liebebildung, die sie sich in entsprechenden Verhältnissen seitdem hatte erwerben können. Eine außerordentlich spirituelle Individualität war in diesem Kind verkörpert. Es musste nun etwas geschehen, was niemals wieder in derselben Form geschehen darf. Das Folgende ist nicht etwa ein Musterbeispiel einer Initiation, sondern es stellt etwas ganz ausnahmsweise Geschehenes dar. Dieses Kind musste nämlich herausgenommen werden aus der Umgebung, in die es hineingeboren war, und in die Obhut der zwölf Weisen an einen bestimmten Ort Europas gebracht werden. Nun war aber nicht dasjenige das Wichtigste, was äußerlich vorgenommen wurde von den zwölf Weisen, sondern das eben war das Bedeutungsvolle, dass das Kind in der Umgebung der zwölf Weisen aufwuchs. Dadurch strömten die Weisheiten der zwölf Männer in das Kind ein. Also zum Beispiel hatte einer dieser Zwölf die Marsweisheit in sich, und dadurch hatte jene Seele ein in ganz bestimmter Weise geartetes Leben in sich, eine besondere Seelenstimmung war ihr geworden durch die Marskultur. Diese Marskultur bestand zum Beispiel unter anderem darin, dass die Seele eine gewisse Fähigkeit bekam, mit Begeisterung die okkulten Wissenschaften zu vertreten. Ähnliche planetarische Beeinflussungen geschahen im Hinblick auf die anderen Seelen. Durch das Zusammenklingen der verschiedenen Strömungen, die von den zwölf Weisen ausgingen, wurde die Seele dieses Kindes harmonisch geformt. So wuchs das Kind heran in ständiger Obhut der Zwölfe. Dann kam eine gewisse Zeit: Das Kind war schon Jüngling geworden, nahe der Zwanzigerjahre, und konnte etwas äußern, was wie ein Reflex der zwölf Weisheitsströmungen war. Und das, was sich da äußerte, das war etwas Neues, auch für die zwölf Weisen. Die Umwandlung geschah unter starken organischen Veränderungen. Auch körperlich hat sich das Kind von andern Menschen stark unterschieden. Zeitweilig war es sehr krank, wurde ganz durchsichtig - der Körper des Jünglings wurde wie durchscheinend. Und dann kam cine Zeit, wo die Seele den Körper für einige Tage ganz verließ. Wie tot lag da der Jüngling. Und als die Seele zurückkehrte, hatte sich etwas vollzogen, was wie eine ganz neue Geburt der zwölf Weisheiten war, sodass auch die zwölf Weisen ganz Neues von dem Jüngling lernen konnten. Er konnte nun sprechen von ganz neuen Erlebnissen. Er konnte durch das Mysterium von Golgatha etwas Ähnliches erleben wie Paulus vor Damaskus. Damit war die Möglichkeit gegeben, alle Weltanschauungen, religiöse und wissenschaftliche - und es gibt im Grunde genommen nur zwölf solcher Weltanschauungen - in eine einzige zusammenzufassen, die aus diesen Zwölfen geboren ist. Die Möglichkeit war gegeben, dass die zwölf Weltanschauungen sich zusammenfinden können in einer, die diesen allen gerecht werden kann. Dasjenige, was gelehrt wurde, soll übermorgen zur Sprache kommen. Jetzt aber muss gesagt werden, dass der Jüngling bald darnach starb, sodass er nur ein kurzes Erdendasein hatte. Seine Mission bestand eben darin, denkerisch die zwölf Weisheitsströmungen zusammenzufassen, zu durchleben und das Neue zu schaffen, das er dann den zwölf Weisen hinterlassen konnte, die es verarbeiten sollten. Eine bedeutende Anregung war gegeben worden. Die Individualität, von der dieser Impuls ausgegangen war, führte den Namen Christian Rosenkreutz. Dieselbe Individualität wurde im vierzehnten Jahrhundert wiedergeboren, und dieses Mal dauerte ihr Erdenleben über hundert Jahre. In diesem Erdenleben machte sie auch äußerlich fruchtbar, was sie in jener kurzen Zeit erlebt hatte. Sie bereiste das ganze Abendland und nahezu die ganze damals bekannte Erde, um auf eine neue Weise wieder alle Weisheit aufzunehmen, von der aus im vorangegangenen Leben ihr die Anregung zu dem neuen Impuls gekommen war, der gleichsam wie eine Essenz einträufeln sollte in die ganze Kultur der damaligen Zeit.
Auch in exoterischer Weise kam dieser neue Einschlag zum Ausdruck. So hat zum Beispiel in Lessings Leben die Inspiration dieser Wesenheit hineingewirkt. Dies kann man allerdings nicht äußerlich nachweisen. Aber die ganze Art des Denkens bei Lessing ist so, dass der, der mit den Dingen vertraut ist, diesen rosenkreuzerischen Impuls wahrnehmen kann. Oder zum Beispiel im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, das doch in so hohem Maße ungeeignet war für solche Ideen wie Karma, Reinkarnation und so weiter, hat dieser Impuls in exoterischer Weise gewirkt. Es ist interessant, dass gerade in jener Zeit, gegen Ende der Vierzigerjahre, eine wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft einen Preis aussetzte für die beste philosophische Arbeit über die Unsterblichkeit der Seele. Unter den eingesandten Arbeiten war auch eine Schrift von Widenmann, die dann den Preis erhielt. Sie trat ein für die Annahme von wiederholten Erdenleben der Seele. Es wurde darin natürlich nicht so von Reinkarnation gesprochen, wie das heute von Theosophen geschieht, aber das Faktum ist interessant, dass damals eine solche Schrift entstand und mit dem Preise ausgezeichnet wurde. Auch andere damalige Psychologen haben sich für wiederholte Erdenleben der Seele ausgesprochen. Also niemals ist ganz abgerissen der Faden des Glaubens an Reinkarnation und Karma. Und auch die ersten Schriften der Gründerin der Theosophischen Gesellschaft, der großen Persönlichkeit H.P. Blavatsky, sind nur erklärlich, wenn man die zugrunde liegende rosenkreuzerische Inspiration erkennt.
Nun ist es von großer Bedeutung, dass wir wissen, dass jedes Mal, in jedem Jahrhundert, die rosenkreuzerische Inspiration so gegeben wird, dass niemals der Träger der Inspiration äußerlich bezeichnet wird. Nur die höchsten Eingeweihten wussten es. Heute zum Beispiel kann äußerlich nur von solchen Geschehnissen gesprochen werden, welche hundert Jahre zurückliegen. Denn dies ist die Zeitspanne, die nach den Ereignissen jeweils verflossen sein muss, bevor davon äußerlich gesprochen werden darf. Die Versuchung ist zu groß für die Menschen, einer solchen ins Persönliche gezogenen Autorität fanatische Heiligenverehrung entgegenzubringen, was das Schlimmste ist, das es gibt. Es liegt diese Gefahr eben zu nahe. Es ist die Verschwiegenheit aber nicht nur eine Notwendigkeit gegen die äußeren Anfechtungen des Ehrgeizes und Hochmutes, deren man sich ja vielleicht noch erwehren könnte, sondern vor allem gegen die okkulten astralen Attacken, die fortwährend gegen eine solche Individualität gerichtet sein würden. Deshalb also die Bedingung, dass erst hundert Jahre nach einem solchen Faktum davon gesprochen werden darf. Nach und nach soll durch solche Betrachtungen eine Vorstellung herausgearbeitet werden, dass der Schwerpunkt der geschichtlichen Entwicklung im Rosenkreuzertum gegeben ist.
Lassen Sie mich an einem trivialen Vergleich Ihnen zeigen, was mit einem solchen Schwerpunkt gemeint ist. Denken wir uns eine Waage: Sie darf nur oben an dem Balken den einen Stützpunkt haben; hätte sie zwei solche Schwerpunkte, so könnte man nicht wiegen. Für die geschichtliche Entwicklung ist auch ein solcher Schwerpunkt notwendig. Die morgenländische Weltanschauung zum Beispiel, und auch Schopenhauer, geben einen solchen Schwerpunkt nicht zu, erkennen überhaupt eine geschichtliche Entwicklung in dem Sinne nicht an. Aber es ist die Aufgabe der abendländischen Menschheit, Geschichte anzuerkennen. Und das Rosenkreuzertum hat die Mission, eine solche Auffassung herauszuarbeiten, die einen Schwerpunkt im geschichtlichen Werden zugibt. Und nun ist es ganz gleichgültig für das, was jetzt gesagt werden soll, welchem Bekenntnisse man angehört. Denn aus der Akasha-Chronik heraus lässt sich feststellen, dass der Tag, der den Schwerpunkt innerhalb der Menschheitsentwicklung darstellt, der 3. April des Jahres 33 ist. Das müssen wir als besonders bedeutsam für das Rosenkreuzertum ansehen, dass hier der Schwerpunkt der Entwicklung der Menschen liegt.
Was ist nun damals eigentlich geschehen? In jener Zeit geschah das, was man nennen kann: die Krisis der Dämonenwelt. Was ist das? Wir wissen, dass in früheren Zeiten die Menschen ein primitives Hellsehen besaßen. Das wurde dann immer schwächer und schwächer, bis es nahe zum Verlöschen kam. Die Sache ist nämlich so, dass die Menschen bis zu jenem Zeitpunkt hauptsächlich im Astralleibe lebten mit ihrem Bewusstsein und nicht so sehr im Ich. Die Krisis wurde nun dadurch herbeigeführt, dass das alte Hellsehen sich immer mchr verdunkelt hatte. Daher konnte der Mensch nur noch in den untersten Regionen der geistigen Welt wahrnehmen. Das Ich lebte noch im Astralen; aber die Mächte, die das Ich wahrnehmen konnte, waren immer schlechter und schlechter, immer unreinlicher und unreinlicher geworden. Der Mensch hatte nicht mehr einen Blick auf die guten Mächte, sondern er sah bei seinem Ausblick ins Astralische nur noch diese bösartigen Wesenheiten. Die Heilung sollte kommen durch die Ich-Kultur. Der Anfang davon war das, was in der Johannestaufe im Jordan sich abspielte. Was erlebte ein solcher Mensch, der sich taufen ließ? Zuerst erlebte er die physische Prozedur des Untergetauchtwerdens in das Wasser und damit das Getrenntwerden des astralischen und Ätherleibes vom physischen Leibe. Dadurch konnte der Mensch sehen, wie eine Krisis in der Dämonenwelt ausbrechen musste. Und die Täuflinge sagten sich: Wir müssen unsern Sinn ändern! Die Zeit muss kommen, wo der Geist unmittelbar ins Ich-Bewusstsein eindringen kann. Ein solcher Mensch fühlte: Oh, sie stecken noch alle in mir, diese grässlichen astralischen Wesen, sie dringen fortwährend in mich hinein.
Es musste etwas kommen, was über das Astralische hinausgeht, und das ist das Ich. Durch das Ich wird es möglich sein, dass sich rein menschliche Gemeinschaften bilden aus der Freiheit der Seele heraus, die nicht mehr an Blutsbande geknüpft sind. Stellen Sie sich nun einen solchen Menschen vor, besessen von Dämonen schlimmster Art, die wissen, dass eine Krisis für sie bevorsteht. Denken Sie sich, dass diesem Menschen eine Wesenheit gegenübertritt, die gerade die Mission hat, den Dämonen entgegenzuarbeiten. Wie müssen diese sich fühlen? Unbehaglich im höchsten Grade müssen sie sich fühlen! Unbehaglich fühlten sich die Dämonen dem Christus Jesus gegenüber.
Das Rosenkreuzertum hat in sich die Impulse, die entgegengestellt werden sollen den Dämonen. Das Ich soll durch diese Impulse wieder heraufgehoben werden. Nur ist es mit dieser Heraufhebung des Ich noch nicht weit gekommen.
Zurückkommend auf den Ausgangspunkt unserer Betrachtung kann uns klar werden, wie natürlich es ist, dass wir Theosophen es schwerer haben müssen, uns in der Welt durchzusetzen, als irgendwelche andere. Die Theosophen werden verfolgt wie keine anderen Anhänger irgendeiner Weltanschauung. Denn nichts ist den Menschen unangenehmer, als wenn ihnen die wahre Gestalt des Christus geschildert wird. Aber unsere Gesinnung beruht auf den Ergebnissen echt okkult-wissenschaftlicher Forschung, und an dieser Gesinnung muss mit allen Kräften festgehalten werden.
The Dawn of Modern Occultism
Today, my task will be to give a purely historical overview, which will be followed the day after tomorrow by a deeper introduction to the impulses of Rosicrucian thinking, willing, and acting. One can only understand Rosicrucianism today if one accepts that it is not something that has a historical norm once and for all, but is actually something different in every century. This is because it must always adapt to the circumstances of the present. We are well aware that the actual fundamental impulses of spiritual science must become increasingly integrated into contemporary culture, but that this is difficult in the Western culture in which we live. It is not possible to become a different person overnight through spiritual science, because we are born into Western culture through our karma. We do not have it as easy as representatives of other human communities who can start from racial or religious premises. For it must be our basic principle that we do not stand on the ground of a religious confession, but rather see in the various religious systems expressions of the one spiritual life. Spiritual science should seek out this spiritual core of truth in all religious worldviews. It goes without saying that as Westerners, theosophists can easily be misunderstood, especially by the various religious denominations and worldviews that we see around us.
If we correctly understand what we want to be as spiritual scientists, then we must stand firm on one ground: the ground of historical development. We must understand that spiritual science is an event within historical development. Each of us sitting here has been embodied in every cultural period, and repeatedly embodied in each individual cultural period. But what is the meaning of these embodiments? Why must human beings experience all these different training processes through their lives in the various cultural developments? This question led Lessing to his confession of the idea of reincarnation. Lessing said to himself: People have gone through all kinds of cultural periods in the past, and they must return to learn new things and combine the old with the new. Lessing thought something like this: There must be a meaning to our passing through various incarnations. And this meaning lies precisely in the fact that in each new incarnation, human beings experience something new in addition to the old.
It has often been pointed out that successive epochs were very different from one another. Today, we will focus more closely on an extraordinarily important period, the thirteenth century. It can be said that the people incarnated at that time experienced something very special, something that people incarnated at other times could not experience. And what I am about to say, I say in agreement with all those who have been able to experience a kind of elevated spiritual life and who are now incarnated again. They all know this.
In the thirteenth century, there was spiritual darkness for all people, even for the most enlightened spirits, even for the initiated. Everything that was known at that time in the thirteenth century about spiritual worlds was known through tradition or from earlier initiates who awakened their memories of what they had experienced at that time. But for a short time, even these spirits could not see directly into the spiritual world. This brief period of darkness was necessary at that time to prepare for the characteristic feature of our present age: today's intellectual, rational culture. This is what is important for us today in the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period. This was not the case in the Greek cultural period. Instead of the present rational thinking, immediate perception was dominant. Human beings grew, so to speak, together with what they saw and heard; indeed, human beings grew together with what they thought at that time. At that time, there was not as much speculation as there is today and as there must be today, for that is the task of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch.
At that time, in the thirteenth century, personalities who were particularly suited for initiation had to be chosen, and this initiation itself could only take place after the end of that brief period of darkness. It is not yet possible to name the place in Europe where what I am about to say took place. But in the not too distant future, this too will be possible.
Today we shall speak about the dawn of the newer occultism. The point is that during that darkened period there lived twelve people, twelve outstanding spirits who united to promote the progress of humanity. None of them could look directly into the spiritual world, but they were able to awaken within themselves the memory of what they had experienced through earlier initiations. And human karma arranged it so that seven of these twelve people embodied what remained of the ancient Atlantean culture. In my “Secret Science,” I have already said that what remained of the Atlantean epoch was carried over by the seven wise teachers of ancient sacred India. The seven men who were reincarnated in the thirteenth century, who formed part of the Twelve, were precisely those who could look back on the seven currents of the ancient Atlantean culture and on what lived on as these seven currents. Of these seven individuals, each could only make one of the currents fruitful for the time then and for the time now. To these seven were added four others who could not look back on ancient times long past like the first seven sages, but these four personalities could look back on what humanity had acquired from occult truths in the four post-Atlantean cultural periods. The first could look back on the ancient Indian period, the second on the ancient Persian period, the third on the Egyptian-Chaldean-Babylonian-Assyrian period, and the fourth on the Greek-Latin period. These four united with the seven to form the college of wise men in the thirteenth century. The twelfth had, in a sense, the fewest memories; he was the most intellectual and was particularly responsible for cultivating the external sciences. These twelve individuals not only lived on in the experiences of Western occultism, but were also able to incorporate themselves into personalities who knew something about occultism. We find a very special way of pointing this out in Goethe's poem “The Secrets.”
So we are talking about twelve outstanding individuals, and to these was added a thirteenth, who was to be chosen after the era of darkness in order to attain the initiation necessary for Western culture. The circumstances are mysterious, and I can of course only tell you the following, but for me it is all completely objective truth. But you can check it if you take everything that has already been said about theosophy over the last few years and add to that what you know from external history since the thirteenth century.
For it was known to the college of twelve wise men that a child was to be born in this epoch who had lived in Palestine at the time of the Christ event and who had been present at the mystery of Golgotha. This individuality possessed a highly developed heart, indeed a particularly intimate love, which it had been able to acquire in appropriate circumstances since then. An extraordinarily spiritual individuality was embodied in this child. Something had to happen now that must never happen again in the same form. What follows is not a model example of an initiation, but rather something that happened in a very exceptional way. This child had to be taken out of the environment into which it was born and brought to a certain place in Europe under the care of the twelve wise men. However, the most important thing was not what the twelve wise men did outwardly, but rather the fact that the child grew up in the environment of the twelve wise men. Through this, the wisdom of the twelve men flowed into the child. For example, one of these twelve had the wisdom of Mars within him, and through this, that soul had a very specific kind of life within it; a special soul mood had become part of it through the culture of Mars. This culture of Mars consisted, among other things, in the soul acquiring a certain ability to represent the occult sciences with enthusiasm. Similar planetary influences occurred with regard to the other souls. Through the harmonious interaction of the various currents emanating from the twelve wise men, the soul of this child was harmoniously formed. Thus the child grew up under the constant care of the twelve. Then a certain time came: the child had already become a young man, close to the age of twenty, and was able to express something that was like a reflection of the twelve currents of wisdom. And what was expressed was something new, even for the twelve wise men. The transformation took place amid powerful organic changes. Physically, too, the child differed greatly from other people. At times he was very ill and became completely transparent—the young man's body became translucent. And then there came a time when the soul left the body completely for several days. The young man lay there as if dead. And when the soul returned, something had taken place that was like a completely new birth of the twelve wisdoms, so that even the twelve wise men could learn something completely new from the young man. He could now speak of completely new experiences. Through the mystery of Golgotha, he was able to experience something similar to what Paul experienced before Damascus. This made it possible to summarize all worldviews, religious and scientific—and there are basically only twelve such worldviews—into a single one born of these twelve. The possibility existed that the twelve worldviews could come together in one that could do justice to all of them. What was taught will be discussed the day after tomorrow. But now it must be said that the young man died soon afterwards, so that he had only a short earthly existence. His mission was precisely to think through and live through the twelve streams of wisdom and to create something new, which he could then leave to the twelve wise men to work on. An important stimulus had been given. The individuality from which this impulse originated bore the name Christian Rosenkreutz. The same individuality was reborn in the fourteenth century, and this time its earthly life lasted over a hundred years. In this earthly life, it also made fruitful, outwardly, what it had experienced in that brief time. It traveled throughout the entire Western world and nearly the entire Earth known at that time in order to take in, in a new way, all the wisdom from which, in its previous life, it had received the inspiration for the new impulse that was to instill, as it were, an essence into the entire culture of that time.
This new influence also found expression in an exoteric way. For example, the inspiration of this being had an effect on Lessing's life. However, this cannot be proven externally. But Lessing's whole way of thinking is such that those who are familiar with these things can perceive this Rosicrucian impulse. Or, for example, in the nineteenth century, which was so unsuitable for ideas such as karma, reincarnation, and so on, this impulse had an exoteric effect. It is interesting that it was precisely at that time, towards the end of the 1840s, that a scientific society offered a prize for the best philosophical work on the immortality of the soul. Among the works submitted was a paper by Widenmann, which was awarded the prize. It advocated the assumption of repeated earthly lives of the soul. Of course, it did not speak of reincarnation in the way that theosophists do today, but the fact is interesting that such a paper was written at that time and was awarded the prize. Other psychologists of the time also spoke out in favor of repeated earthly lives of the soul. So the thread of belief in reincarnation and karma has never been completely broken. And even the first writings of the founder of the Theosophical Society, the great personality H.P. Blavatsky, can only be explained if one recognizes the underlying Rosicrucian inspiration.
Now it is of great importance that we know that every time, in every century, the Rosicrucian inspiration is given in such a way that the bearer of the inspiration is never identified externally. Only the highest initiates knew this. Today, for example, we can only speak externally of events that took place a hundred years ago. For this is the period of time that must elapse after events before they can be spoken of outwardly. The temptation is too great for people to respond to such a personalized authority with fanatical veneration of saints, which is the worst thing there is. This danger is simply too close. However, secrecy is not only a necessity against the external attacks of ambition and arrogance, which one might still be able to resist, but above all against the occult astral attacks that would be directed against such an individuality. Hence the condition that only a hundred years after such a fact may it be spoken of. Gradually, through such considerations, an idea should emerge that the focus of historical development lies in Rosicrucianism.
Let me show you what is meant by such a focus with a trivial comparison. Imagine a scale: it can only have one fulcrum at the top of the beam; if it had two such fulcrums, it would not be possible to weigh anything. Such a center of gravity is also necessary for historical development. The Eastern worldview, for example, and Schopenhauer, do not acknowledge such a center of gravity and do not recognize historical development in this sense at all. But it is the task of Western humanity to acknowledge history. And Rosicrucianism has the mission of developing a view that acknowledges a center of gravity in historical development. And now it is completely irrelevant for what is about to be said what creed one belongs to. For from the Akashic Records it can be determined that the day that represents the center of gravity within human development is April 3, 33 AD. We must regard this as particularly significant for Rosicrucianism, that the center of gravity of human development lies here.
What actually happened back then? At that time, what can be called the crisis of the demon world took place. What is that? We know that in earlier times, people possessed a primitive clairvoyance. This became weaker and weaker until it was close to extinction. The fact is that, up to that point, human beings lived mainly in the astral body with their consciousness, and not so much in the I. The crisis was brought about by the fact that the old clairvoyance had become increasingly obscured. As a result, human beings could only perceive the lowest regions of the spiritual world. The ego still lived in the astral, but the powers that the ego could perceive had become worse and worse, more and more impure. Human beings no longer had a view of the good powers, but when they looked into the astral, they saw only these evil beings. Healing was to come through the culture of the I. The beginning of this was what took place at the baptism of John in the Jordan. What did such a person who allowed himself to be baptized experience? First, he experienced the physical procedure of being immersed in water and thus the separation of the astral and etheric bodies from the physical body. This enabled the person to see how a crisis had to break out in the demon world. And those being baptized said to themselves: We must change our minds! The time must come when the spirit can penetrate directly into the I-consciousness. Such a person felt: Oh, they are all still inside me, these horrible astral beings, they are constantly penetrating me.
Something had to come that went beyond the astral, and that is the I. Through the I, it will be possible for purely human communities to form out of the freedom of the soul, no longer bound by blood ties. Now imagine such a person, possessed by demons of the worst kind, who know that a crisis is imminent for them. Imagine that this person is confronted by a being whose mission is to counteract the demons. How must they feel? They must feel extremely uncomfortable! The demons felt uncomfortable in the presence of Christ Jesus.
Rosicrucianism has within itself the impulses that are to be opposed to the demons. The ego is to be raised up again through these impulses. However, this raising up of the ego has not yet progressed very far.
Returning to the starting point of our consideration, we can see how natural it is that we Theosophists have a harder time asserting ourselves in the world than anyone else. Theosophists are persecuted like no other followers of any worldview. For nothing is more unpleasant to people than when the true form of Christ is described to them. But our attitude is based on the results of genuine occult scientific research, and we must hold fast to this attitude with all our strength.