Esoteric Christianity and the Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz
GA 130
28 September 1911, Neuchâtel
IV. Rosicrucian Christianity II
My task today will be to tell you something about the work of Christian Rosenkreutz. This work began in the thirteenth century, is still going on today, and will continue right into eternity. The work began, of course, with what I told you yesterday of the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz, and all that took place between the council of the twelve and the thirteenth. When Christian Rosenkreutz was born again in the fourteenth century, in an incarnation lasting more than a hundred years, his main task was instructing the pupils of the twelve. At that time hardly anyone else came to know Christian Rosenkreutz apart from these twelve. This is not to be understood as if Christian Rosenkreutz did not meet other people, but only that the other people did not recognise him for what he was. Fundamentally this has remained the same until today. However, the etheric body of Christian Rosenkreutz has been constantly active in the circle of his pupils, its forces working in ever growing circles, until today many people are actually able to be influenced by the forces of his etheric body.
Christian Rosenkreutz selects those whom he wants to have as his pupils in a remarkable way. The one chosen has to pay attention to a certain kind of event, or several events in his life of the following kind: Christian Rosenkreutz chooses people so that, for instance, someone comes to a decisive turning-point, a karmic crisis in his life. Let us assume that a man is about to commit an action that would lead him to his death. These things can be very different one from the other. The man goes along a path which, without noticing it, can lead him into great danger. It leads to the edge of a precipice, perhaps. Then the man, now only a step or two from the precipice perhaps, hears a voice saying ‘Stop!’—so that he has to stop without knowing why. There could be a thousand similar situations. I should say, of course, that this is only the external sign of being outwardly qualified for a spiritual calling. To be inwardly qualified, the chosen person has to have an interest in something spiritual, theosophy or some other Spiritual Science. The external event I have described is a fact of the physical world, though it does not come by means of a human voice. The event always occurs in such a way that the person concerned knows quite clearly that the voice comes from the spiritual world. He may at first imagine that the voice has come from a human being who is hidden somewhere, but when the pupil is mature enough he discovers that it was not a physical person intervening in his life. In short, this event convinces the pupil that there are messages from the spiritual world. Such events can occur once or many times in life. We have to understand what effect this has on the soul of the pupil. The pupil tells himself: I have received another life through grace; the first one was forfeited. This new life given him through grace sheds light on the whole of the pupil's further life. He has this definite feeling which can be described in this way: without this rosicrucian experience of mine I should have died. My subsequent life would not have had the same value but for this event.
It can happen, of course, that even though a man has already experienced this once or even several times he does not come to theosophy or Spiritual Science at once. Later on, however, the memory of the event can come back. Many of you here can examine the past course of your lives and you will find that similar occurrences have happened to you. We give too little attention to such things today. We ought altogether to realise how very important occurrences we pass by without noticing them. This is an indication of the way the more advanced pupils of rosicrucianism are called.
This kind of occurrence will either pass a person by without being noticed at all, in which case the impression is blotted out and he attaches no importance to it; or, assuming the person to be attentive, he will appreciate its significance, and he will then perhaps rise to the thought: you were actually facing a crisis then, a karmic crisis; your life should actually have ended at that moment. You had forfeited your life, and you were only saved by something resembling chance. Since that hour a second life has been grafted onto the first, as it were. You must look on this life as a gift and live it accordingly.
When such an event awakens in a person the inner disposition to look at his life from that time onwards as a gift, nowadays this makes him a follower of Christian Rosenkreutz. For that is his way of calling these souls to him. And whoever can recall having had such an experience can tell himself: Christian Rosenkreutz has given me a sign from the spiritual world that I belong to his stream. Christian Rosenkreutz has added the possibility of such an experience to my karma. That is the way in which Christian Rosenkreutz makes his choice of pupils. He chooses his community like this. Whoever experiences this consciously, knows: a path has been shown me, and I must follow it and see how far I can use my forces to serve rosicrucianism. Those who have not understood the sign, however, will do so at a later time, for whoever has received the sign will not be free of it again.
That a man can have an experience of the kind described is due to his having met Christian Rosenkreutz in the spiritual world between his last death and his last birth. Christian Rosenkreutz chose us then, and he put an impulse of will into us that now leads us to such experiences. This is the way in which spiritual connections are brought about.
To go further, let us discuss the difference between Christian Rosenkreutz's teaching in earlier times and in later times. This teaching used to be more in the nature of natural science, whereas today it is more like Spiritual Science. In earlier times, for instance, they considered natural processes and called this science alchemy, and when the processes took place beyond the earth they called it astrology. Today we consider things from a more spiritual aspect. If we consider, for instance, the successive post-Atlantean cultural epochs, the culture of ancient India, ancient Persia, the Egyptian-Chaldaean-Assyrian-Babylonian culture and the Greco-Roman culture, we learn about the nature of the development of the human soul. The rosicrucians of the Middle Ages studied natural processes, regarding them as the earth processes of nature. They distinguished, for instance, three different natural processes which they regarded as the three great processes of nature.
The first important process is the salt process. Everything in nature that can form a deposit of hard substance out of a solution was called salt by the rosicrucian of the Middle Ages. When the medieval rosicrucian saw this salt formation, however, his conception of it was entirely different from that of modern man. For if he wanted to feel he had understood it, the witnessing of such a process had to work like a prayer in his soul. Therefore the medieval rosicrucian tried to make clear to himself what would have to happen in his own soul if the formation of salt were to take place there too. He arrived at the thought: human nature is perpetually destroying itself through instincts and passions. Our life would be nothing but a decomposition, a process of putrefaction, if we only followed our instincts and passions. And if man really wants to protect himself against this process of putrefaction, then he must constantly devote himself to noble thoughts that turn him towards the spirit. It was a matter of bringing his thoughts to a higher level of development. The medieval rosicrucian knew that if he did not combat his passions in one incarnation he would be born with a predisposition for illness in the next one, but that if he purified his passions he would enter life in the next incarnation with a predisposition for health. The process of overcoming through spirituality the forces that lead to decay is microcosmic salt formation. So we can understand how a natural process like this occasioned the most reverent prayer. When observing salt formation the medieval rosicrucians told themselves, with a feeling of deepest piety: divine spiritual powers have been working in this for thousands of years in the same way as noble thoughts work in me. I am praying to the thoughts of the gods, the thoughts of divine spiritual beings that are behind the maya of nature. The medieval rosicrucian knew this, and he said to himself: when I let nature stimulate me to develop feelings like this, I make myself like the macrocosm. If I observe this process in an external way only, I cut myself off from the gods, I fall away from the macrocosm. These were the feelings of the medieval theosophist or rosicrucian.
The process of dissolution gave a different experience: it was a different natural process that could also lead the medieval rosicrucian to prayer. Everything that can dissolve something else was called by the medieval rosicrucian quicksilver or mercury. Now he asked again: what is the corresponding quality in the human soul? What quality works in the soul in the same way in which quicksilver or mercury works outside in nature? The medieval rosicrucian knew that all the forms of love in the soul are what correspond to mercury. He distinguished between lower and higher processes of dissolution, just as there are lower and higher forms of love. And thus the witnessing of the dissolution process again became a pious prayer, and the medieval theosophist said to himself: God's love has been at work out there for thousands of years in the same way as love works in me.
The third important natural process for the medieval theosophist was combustion, that takes place when material substance is consumed by flames. And again the medieval rosicrucian sought the inner process corresponding to this combustion. This inner soul process he saw to be ardent devotion to the deity. And everything that can go up in flames he called sulphur. In the stages of development of the earth he beheld a gradual process of purification similar to a combustion or sulphur process. Just as he knew that the earth will at some time be purified by fire, he also saw a combustion process in fervent devotion to the deity. In the earth processes he beheld the work of those gods who look up to mightier gods above them. And permeated with great piety and deeply religious feelings at the spectacle of the process of combustion, he told himself: gods are now making a sacrifice to the gods above them. And then when the medieval theosophist produced the combustion process in the laboratory himself, he felt: I am doing the same as the gods do when they sacrifice themselves to higher gods. He only considered himself worthy to carry out such a process of combustion in his laboratory when he felt himself filled with the mood of sacrifice, when he himself was filled with the desire to devote himself in sacrifice to the gods. The power of the flame filled the medieval theosophist with lofty and deeply religious feelings, and he told himself: when I see flames outside in the macrocosm I am seeing the thoughts and the love of the gods, and the gods' willingness to sacrifice.
The medieval rosicrucian produced these processes himself in his laboratory and then he entered into contemplation of these salt formations, solutions and processes of combustion, letting himself at the same time be filled with deeply religious feelings in which he became aware of his connection with all the forces of the macrocosm. These soul processes called forth in him divine thoughts, divine love and divine sacrifice. And then the medieval rosicrucian discovered that when he produced a salt process, noble, purifying thoughts arose in him. With a solution process love was stimulated in him, he was inspired by divine love, and with a combustion process the desire to make a sacrifice was kindled in him, it urged him to sacrifice himself on the altar of the world.
These were the experiences of one who did these experiments. And if you had attended these experiments yourself in clairvoyant vision, you would have perceived a change in the aura of the person carrying them out. The aura that was a mixture of colours before the experiment began, being full of instincts and desires to which the person in question had perhaps succumbed, became single-hued as a result of the experiment. First of all, during the experiment with salt formation, it became the colour of copper—pure, divine thoughts—then, in the experiment with a solution, the colour of silver—divine love—and finally, with combustion, the colour of gold—divine sacrifice. And then the alchemists said they had made subjective copper, subjective silver and subjective gold out of the aura. And the outcome was that the person who had undergone this, and had really experienced such an experiment inwardly, was completely permeated by divine love. Such was the way these medieval theosophists became permeated with purity, love and the will to sacrifice, and by means of this sacrificial service they prepared themselves for a certain clairvoyance. This is how the medieval theosophist could see behind maya into the way spiritual beings helped things to come into being and pass away again. And this enabled him to realise which forces of aspiration in men's souls are helpful and which are not. He became acquainted with our own forces of growth and decay. The medieval theosophist Heinrich Khunrath,35Heinrich Khunrath: 1560 – 1605, medical doctor and the writer of a great number of articles on alchemy. A reference to ‘Nashni Khuni’ in a transcript of a lecture suggests that the ‘Khuni’ could point to Khunrath. in a moment of enlightenment, called this process the law of growth and decay.
Through observing nature the medieval theosophist learnt the law of ascending and descending evolution. The science he acquired from this he expressed in certain signs, imaginative pictures and figures. It was a kind of imaginative knowledge. One of the outcomes of this was The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians which was described yesterday.
This is the way the best alchemists worked from the fourteenth to the eighteenth and until the beginning of the nineteenth century. About this truly moral, ethical, intellectual work nothing has been printed. What has been printed about alchemy concerns purely external experiments only, and was only written by those men who performed alchemy as an end in itself. The false alchemist wanted to create substance. When he experimented with the burning of substances he saw the material results as the only thing gained, whereas the genuine alchemist attached no importance to these material results. For him it all depended on the inner soul experiences he had whilst the substance was forming, the thoughts and experiences within him. Therefore there was a strict rule that the medieval theosophist who produced gold and silver from his experiments was never allowed to profit from it himself. He was only allowed to give away the metals thus produced. Modern man no longer has the correct conception of these experiments. He has no idea what the experimenter could experience. The medieval theosophist was able to experience whole dramas of the soul in his laboratory when, for example, antimony was extracted; the experimenters saw significant moral forces at work in these processes.
If these things had not taken place at that time, we would not be able to practise rosicrucianism in the Spiritual Scientific way today. What the medieval rosicrucian experienced when he beheld the processes of nature is a holy natural science. The mood of spiritual sacrifice, the tremendous joys, the great natural events, including pain and sadness, as well as the events that uplifted him and made him happy, all these experiences that he had during the experiment he performed, worked on him in a liberating and redeeming way. All that was planted into him then, however, is now hidden in the innermost depths of man.
How shall we rediscover these hidden forces that used to lead to clairvoyance? We shall find them by studying Spiritual Science and by devoting ourselves deeply to the inner life of the soul in serious meditation and concentration. By means of inner development of this kind, work with nature will gradually become a sacrificial rite again. For this to come about human beings must go through what we now call Spiritual Science. Human beings in their thousands must devote themselves to Spiritual Science; they must cultivate an inner life, so that in the future the spiritual reality behind nature will be perceptible again, and we learn to understand again the spirit behind maya. Then, in the future, although it will only happen to a small number of people to begin with, they will be able to experience Paul's vision on the road to Damascus and to perceive the etheric Christ, Who will come among men in super-sensible form. But before this happens man will have to return to a spiritual view of nature.
If we did not know the whole significance of rosicrucianism we could believe that humanity was still at the same stage as it was two thousand years ago. Until man has gone through this process, which is only possible by means of Spiritual Science, he will not come to spiritual vision. There are many good and pious people who are theosophists at heart, although they are not followers of Spiritual Science.
Through the event of the baptism in Jordan, when the Christ descended into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, and through the Mystery of Golgotha, mankind has become capable of beholding and recognising the Christ later in the etheric body—since 1930 onwards. Christ has only walked the earth once in a physical body, and we should be able to understand this. ‘The second coming of Christ’ means seeing Christ supersensibly in the etheric. Therefore everyone who wants to tread the right path of development must work to acquire the capacity to see with spiritual eyes. It would not signify human progress for Christ to appear again in a physical body. His next appearance will be a revelation in the etheric body.
What was given in the different religious creeds has been gathered into one whole by Christian Rosenkreutz and the council of the twelve. This means that everything that the separate religions had to give and all that their followers strove and longed for will be found in the Christ Impulse. Development during the next three thousand years will consist in this: the establishing and furthering of an understanding of the Christ Impulse. From the twentieth century onwards all the religions will be reconciled in the mystery of rosicrucianism. And in the course of the next three thousand years this will become possible because it will no longer be necessary to teach from documents, for through the beholding of Christ human beings will themselves learn to understand the experience Paul had on the way to Damascus. Mankind itself will pass through the experience of Paul.
The Maitreya Buddha will appear five thousand years after Buddha was enlightened under the bodhi tree, that is, about three thousand years from now. He will be the successor of Gautama Buddha. Among true occultists this is no longer in doubt. Occultists of both the West and the East are in agreement about it. So two things are beyond question:
Firstly, that the Christ could appear only once in a physical body; secondly that He will appear in the twentieth century in etheric form. Great individualities will certainly appear in the twentieth century, like the Bodhisattva, the successor of Gautama Buddha, who will become the Maitreya Buddha in about three thousand years. But no true occultist will give to any human being physically incarnated in the twentieth century the name of Christ, and no real occultist will expect the Christ in the physical body in the twentieth century. Every genuine occultist would find such a statement erroneous. The Bodhisattva, however, will especially point to the Christ.
Secondly, it will be three thousand years before the Bodhisattva who appeared in Jeshu ben Pandira appears as the Maitreya Buddha. The real occultists of India, in particular, would be horrified if we were to maintain that the Maitreya Buddha could appear before then. There could well be the kind of occultists in India, of course, who are not real occultists and who, for reasons of their own, speak of a Maitreya Buddha already in incarnation. Proper devotion to rosicrucian theosophy and to Christian Rosenkreutz can protect anyone from falling into these errors.
All these things are stated in rosicrucianism in such a way that they can be tested by reason. Healthy human understanding can test all these things. Do not believe anything on my authority, but just take what I say as an indication and then test it for yourselves. I am not perturbed, for the more you examine theosophy or Spiritual Science the more sensible you will find it. The less you take on authority, the more understanding you will have for Christian Rosenkreutz. We know Christian Rosenkreutz best when we enter properly into his individuality and become conscious that the spirit of Christian Rosenkreutz lives on and on. And the nearer we approach his great spirit the stronger we shall become. We can hope for a great deal of strength and help from the etheric body of this great leader, who will always be there, if we ask him to help us.
We will also be able to understand the strange event of Christian Rosenkreutz falling ill if we absorb ourselves properly in the work of Spiritual Science. In the thirteenth century this individuality lived in a physical body that grew weak to the point of transparency, so that for several days he lay as though dead, and during this time he received from the twelve their wisdom and he also experienced the event of Damascus.
May the spirit of true rosicrucianism be with you and inspire you in this group, then the mighty etheric body of Christian Rosenkreutz will be all the more active here.
Das Rosenkreuzerische Christentum
Heute wird es nun meine Aufgabe sein, Ihnen etwas zu sagen über das Werk des Christian Rosenkreutz. Dieses Werk begann mit dem dreizehnten Jahrhundert und dauert bis heute und wird in alle Ewigkeit dauern. Der erste Akt dieses Werkes ist natürlich dasjenige, was wir gestern von der Initiation des Christian Rosenkreutz sagten und was wir über die Vorgänge zwischen dem Kollegium der Zwölf und dem Dreizehnten hörten. Als dann Christian Rosenkreutz im vierzehnten Jahrhundert wiedergeboren wurde und damals seine Inkarnation mehr als hundert Jahre dauerte, bestand sein Werk hauptsächlich in der Belehrung der Schüler der Zwölf. Während dieser Zeit lernten kaum andere Menschen Christian Rosenkreutz kennen außer seine Zwölf. Es ist dies nicht so aufzufassen, als ob Christian Rosenkreutz etwa nicht auch unter anderen Menschen herumgegangen wäre, sondern nur so, dass die anderen Menschen ihn nicht erkannten. Das ist im Grunde ähnlich so geblieben bis heute. Aber der Ätherleib des Christian Rosenkreutz wirkte stets im Kreise der Schüler, und seine Kräfte wirkten in immer weiteren Kreisen, und heute sind eigentlich schon viele Menschen in der Lage, ergriffen zu werden von den Kräften dieses Ätherleibes.
Diejenigen, die Christian Rosenkreutz zu seinen Schülern machen will, werden von ihm auf eine eigentümliche Weise dazu auserwählt. Es handelt sich dabei darum, dass der also Erwählte achtgeben muss auf ein bestimmtes Ereignis oder mehrere Ereignisse dieser Art in seinem Leben. Es geschieht diese Erwählung durch Christian Rosenkreutz so, dass irgendein Mensch in seinem Leben an einen entscheidenden Wendepunkt, an eine karmische Krise herankommt. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel an, ein Mensch sei im Begriff, eine Sache zu begehen, die ihn zum Tode führen würde. Solche Dinge können die verschiedensten sein. Der Mensch geht einen Weg, der für ihn sehr gefährlich werden kann, vielleicht bis in die Nähe eines Abgrundes, ohne es zu bemerken. Es geschieht dann, dass der Betreffende vielleicht wenige Schritte vor dem Abgrund eine Stimme hört: Halt ein!, sodass er halten muss, ohne zu wissen warum. Tausend ähnliche Fälle kann es geben. Zu bemerken ist allerdings, dass dies nur das äußere Zeichen ist, aber das wichtigste Zeichen der äußeren spirituellen Berufung. Zur inneren Berufung gehört, dass der Erwählte sich mit irgendetwas Spirituellem, Theosophie oder sonstiger geistiger Wissenschaft, beschäftigt hat. Das Ihnen genannte äußere Ereignis ist eine Tatsache in der physischen Welt, rührt aber nicht von einer menschlichen Stimme her. Das Ereignis ist immer so gestaltet, dass der Betreffende ganz genau weiß, dass die Stimme aus der geistigen Welt kam. Es kann zuerst der Glaube herrschen, dass ein Mensch irgendwo versteckt sei, von dem die Stimme herrühre, aber wenn der Schüler reif ist, findet er heraus, dass nicht etwa eine physische Persönlichkeit in sein Leben eingegriffen hat. Kurz, die Sache ist so, dass durch dieses Ereignis der Schüler ganz genau weiß, dass es Mitteilungen gibt aus der geistigen Welt. Solche Ereignisse können einmal, aber auch öfters vorkommen im menschlichen Leben. Wir müssen nun die Wirkung davon auf das Gemüt des Schülers verstehen. Der Schüler sagt sich: Es ist mir durch Gnade ein weiteres Leben geschenkt worden; das erste war verwirkt. - Dieses neue, durch Gnade verlichene Leben gibt dem Schüler Licht in seinem ganzen folgenden Leben. Er hat dieses bestimmte Gefühl, das man in die Worte kleiden kann: Ohne dieses mein Rosenkreuzer-Erlebnis wäre ich gestorben. Das nun folgende Leben hätte nicht denselben Wert ohne dieses Ereignis.
Es kann allerdings vorkommen, dass ein Mensch dies schon einmal oder mehrere Male erlebt hat und er doch nicht gleich zur Theosophie oder Geisteswissenschaft kommt. Dann kann aber später die Erinnerung an ein solches Erlebnis hinzutreten. Viele von denen, die hier sind, können ihr vergangenes Leben prüfen und finden, dass ähnliche Ereignisse in ihrem Leben vorgekommen sind. Man beobachtet solche Dinge heute nur zu wenig. Wir sollten uns überhaupt klarmachen, dass wir an so vielen wichtigen Ereignissen vorbeigehen, die wir nicht beobachten. Dies sei eine Andeutung für die Art der Berufung der höheren Schüler des Rosenkreuzertums.
Entweder wird nun ein solches Ereignis spurlos an dem betreffenden Menschen vorübergehen, dann verwischt sich der Eindruck und er hält dieses Erlebnis überhaupt nicht für wichtig. Oder nehmen wir an, der Mensch sei aufmerksam, er hält dieses Erlebnis nicht für bedeutungslos, dann kommt er vielleicht zu dem Gedanken: Eigentlich standest du da vor einer Krisis, einer karmischen Krisis, eigentlich sollte dein Leben in diesem Augenblicke enden, du hattest dein Leben verwirkt; nur durch etwas Zufallähnliches bist du gerettet worden. Es ist seit jener Stunde gleichsam ein zweites Leben auf dieses erste daraufgepflanzt. Dieses zweite Leben musst du als dir geschenkt betrachten und demgemäß musst du dich benehmen.
Wenn ein solches Erlebnis in einem Menschen die innere Stimmung auslöst, dass er sein Leben von jener Stunde an als geschenkt betrachtet, so macht dies heute diesen Menschen zu einem Bekenner des Christian Rosenkreutz. Denn das ist seine Art, diese Seelen zu sich zu rufen. Und derjenige, der sich zurückerinnern kann an ein solches Erlebnis, kann sich sagen: Christian Rosenkreutz hat mir einen Wink gegeben aus der spirituellen Welt, dass ich seiner Strömung angehöre. Christian Rosenkreutz hat zu meinem Karma hinzugefügt die Möglichkeit eines solchen Erlebnisses. - Das ist die Art, wie Christian Rosenkreutz die Wahl seiner Schüler trifft. So wählt er seine Gemeinde. Wer solches bewusst erlebt, der sagt sich: Da ist mir ein Weg gewiesen, ich muss dem nachgehen und sehen, inwiefern ich meine Kräfte in den Dienst des Rosenkreuzertums stellen kann. Diejenigen aber, die den Wink nicht verstanden haben, werden später noch dazu kommen, denn an wen der Wink einmal ergangen ist, der wird auch nicht wieder davon loskommen.
Dass der Mensch ein Erlebnis der geschilderten Art haben kann, das rührt davon her, dass dieser Mensch in der Zeit zwischen seinem letzten Tode und seiner letzten Geburt zusammengetroffen ist in der geistigen Welt mit Christian Rosenkreutz. Damals hat uns Christian Rosenkreutz erwählt, er hat einen Willensimpuls in uns hineingelegt, der uns nun zu solchen Erlebnissen führt. Das ist die Art, wie geistige Zusammenhänge herbeigeführt werden.
Um nun weiter in die Sache einzudringen, wollen wir den Unterschied des Unterrichts des Christian Rosenkreutz in früheren Zeiten von den späteren Zeiten besprechen. Dieser Unterricht war früher ein mehr naturwissenschaftlicher, heute ist er mehr geisteswissenschaftlicher Art. So sprach man zum Beispiel früher mehr von Naturprozessen und nannte diese Wissenschaft Alchimie, und insofern diese Prozesse außerhalb der Erde stattfanden, nannte man diese Wissenschaft Astrologie. Heute gehen wir mehr von der spirituellen Betrachtung aus. Wenn wir zum Beispiel die aufeinanderfolgenden nachatlantischen Kulturepochen betrachten, die urindische Kultur, die urpersische, die ägyptisch-chaldäisch-assyrisch-babylonische Kultur, die griechisch-lateinische Kultur, so lernen wir aus dieser Betrachtung die Natur der menschlichen Seelenentwicklung kennen. Der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer studierte die Naturvorgänge, die er als die Erdvorgänge der Natur ansah. So unterschied er zum Beispiel drei verschiedene Naturvorgänge, die er als die drei großen Prozesse der Natur ansah.
Als der erste wichtige Prozess ist folgender anzuführen: Die Salzbildung. Alles, was in der Natur aus einer Auflösung als fester Stoff sich niederschlägt, sich setzen, herausfallen kann, nannte der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer Salz. Wenn aber der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer diese Salzbildung sah, war seine Vorstellung davon ganz verschieden von der des heutigen Menschen. Denn der Anblick eines solchen Prozesses musste wie ein Gebet wirken in der Seele desjenigen Menschen, der ihn betrachtete, wenn er ihn als verstanden empfinden wollte. Der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer suchte sich deshalb klarzumachen, was in seiner eigenen Seele vorgehen müsste, wenn in ihr diese Salzbildung auch vorgehen sollte. Er dachte: Die menschliche Natur vernichtet sich fortwährend durch die Triebe und Leidenschaften. Unser Leben wäre eine fortwährende Zersetzung, ein Fäulnisprozess, wenn wir uns nur den Begierden und Leidenschaften hingeben würden. Und wenn der Mensch sich wirklich schützen will gegen diesen Fäulnisprozess, so muss er sich fortwährend hingeben reinen, nach dem Geistigen hin tendierenden Gedanken. Es handelte sich um die Höherentwicklung seiner Gedanken. Der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer wusste, dass, wenn er in einer Inkarnation seine Leidenschaften nicht bekämpfte, er in die nächste Inkarnation mit Krankheitsanlagen hineingeboren werden würde, dass er aber, wenn er seine Leidenschaften läuterte, in die nächste Inkarnation mit gesunden Anlagen eintreten würde. Der Prozess der Überwindung der zur Verwesung führenden Kräfte durch Spiritualität, das ist mikrokosmische Salzbildung. So können wir begreifen, wie ein solcher Naturvorgang für den mittelalterlichen Rosenkreuzer zum frömmsten Gebet werden konnte. Bei der Betrachtung der Salzbildung sagten sich die mittelalterlichen Rosenkreuzer mit dem Gefühl der reinsten Frömmigkeit: Hier haben göttlich-geistige Kräfte seit Tausenden von Jahren ebenso gewirkt, wie in mir reine Gedanken wirken. Ich bete an hinter der Maya der Natur die Gedanken der Götter, der göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten. - Das wusste der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer, und er sagte sich: Wenn ich mich durch die Natur anregen lasse, solche Empfindungen zu hegen, so mache ich mich selber dem Makrokosmos ähnlich. Betrachte ich diesen Prozess nur äußerlich, so scheide ich mich von dem Gotte, so falle ich vom Makrokosmos ab. - So empfand der mittelalterliche Theosoph oder Rosenkreuzer.
Ein anderes Erlebnis war der Prozess der Auflösung: ein anderer Naturprozess, der ebenfalls den mittelalterlichen Rosenkreuzer zum Gebet führen konnte. Alles dasjenige, was etwas anderes auflösen kann, nannte der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer Quecksilber oder Merkur. Nun trat wieder für den mittelalterlichen Rosenkreuzer die Frage auf: Was ist die entsprechende Eigenschaft in der menschlichen Seele? Welche Seeleneigenschaft wirkt so, wie in der Natur draußen Quecksilber oder Merkur? Der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer wusste, dass das, was diesem Merkur in der Seele entspricht, alle Formen der Liebe in der Seele bedeutet. Er unterschied niedere und höhere Auflösungsprozesse, wie es niedere und höhere Liebeformen gibt. Und so wurde der Anblick des Auflösungsprozesses wieder zu einem frommen Gebete, und der mittelalterliche Theosoph sagte sich: Es hat die Liebe des Gottes draußen jahrtausendelang so gewirkt, wie in meinem Innern die Liebe wirkt.
Der dritte wichtige Naturprozess war für den mittelalterlichen Theosophen die Verbrennung, das, was eintritt, wenn ein äußerer Stoff in Flammen sich verzehrt. Und wiederum suchte der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer den inneren Vorgang, der dieser Verbrennung entspricht. Er sah diesen inneren Seelenvorgang in der inbrünstigen Hingabe an die Gottheit. Und er nannte alles, was in der Flamme aufgehen kann, Schwefel oder Sulfur. Er sah in den Entwicklungsstadien der Erde den Prozess einer allmählichen Läuterung, ähnlich einem Verbrennungsprozess oder Schwefelprozess. So wie er wusste, dass einmal die Erde durch das Feuer gereinigt wird, so sah er in der inbrünstigen Hingabe an die Gottheit auch einen Verbrennungsprozess. In den Erdenprozessen sah er die Arbeit der Götter, die zu noch höheren Göttern aufschauen. Und so durchdrungen von großer Frömmigkeit und tief religiösen Gefühlen sagte er sich beim Anblick des Verbrennungsprozesses: Jetzt opfern Götter den höheren Göttern. - Und wenn dann der mittelalterliche Theosoph selbst in seinem Laboratorium den Verbrennungsprozess hervorbrachte, dann empfand er: Ich tue, was die Götter tun, wenn sie sich höheren Göttern opfern. - Sich selber hielt er nur dann für würdig, zu einem solchen Verbrennungsprozess in seinem Laboratorium zu schreiten, wenn er sich von solcher Opfergesinnung durchdrungen fühlte, wenn er selber in sich fühlte den Wunsch, sich opfernd den Göttern hinzugeben. Die Macht der Flamme erfüllte den mittelalterlichen Theosophen mit großen, tief religiösen Gefühlen, und er sagte sich: Wenn ich draußen im Makrokosmos die Flamme sehe, so sche ich die Gedanken, die Liebe, die Opfergesinnung der Götter.
Der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer nahm selber in seinem Laboratorium diese Prozesse vor, und dann ergab sich der Experimentierende der Betrachtung dieser Bildungen von Salz, der Auflösungen und der Verbrennungen, bei denen er sich stets tief religiösen Empfindungen hingab, und er fühlte den Zusammenhang mit allen Kräften im Makrokosmos. Diese Seelenvorgänge riefen bei ihm hervor: erstens Göttergedanken, zweitens Götterliebe, drittens Götteropferdienst. Und dann entdeckte dieser mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer, dass, wenn er einen Salzbildungsprozess vornahm, in ihm selber solche reinen, läuternden Gedanken aufstiegen. Bei einem Auflösungsprozess fühlte er sich angeregt zur Liebe, wurde er von der göttlichen Liebe durchdrungen, im Verbrennungsprozess fühlte er sich entfacht zum Opferdienst, dazu gedrängt, sich auf dem Altar der Welt zu opfern.
Das war, was der Experimentierende erlebte. Und wenn man selbst als Hellseher einem solchen Experiment beigewohnt hätte, so hätte man eine Veränderung der Aura des betreffenden Menschen, der das Experiment ausführte, wahrgenommen. Die Aura, die vor dem Experiment sehr gemischt war, die vielleicht erfüllt gewesen war von Begierden, Trieben, denen sich der Betreffende hingegeben hatte, wurde durch das Experiment einfarbiger. Zuerst, bei dem Experiment der Salzbildung kupfern - reine Gottesgedanken -, dann, bei dem Experiment der Auflösung silbern - Götterliebe - und endlich goldglänzend - Götteropferliebe oder Götteropferdienst bei der Verbrennung. Und die Alchimisten sagten dann, sie hätten aus der Aura das subjektive Kupfer, das subjektive Silber und das subjektive Gold gemacht. Und die Folge davon war, dass derjenige, der so etwas durchgemacht hatte, der ein solches Experiment wirklich innerlich erlebte, von göttlicher Liebe ganz durchdrungen wurde. Also ein von Reinheit, Liebe und Opferwillen durchdrungener Mensch kam dabei heraus, und durch diesen Opferdienst bereiteten die mittelalterlichen Theosophen ein gewisses Hellsehen vor. So konnte der mittelalterliche Theosoph hineinschauen in die Art, wie hinter der Maya geistige Wesen die Dinge entstehen und wieder vergehen ließen. Und dadurch sah er dann auch ein, welche Bestrebungskräfte in der Seele in uns fördernd sind und welche nicht. Er lernte unsere eigenen Entstehungs- und Verwesungskräfte kennen. Der mittelalterliche Theosoph Heinrich Khunrath nannte, in einem Augenblick der Aufklärung, diesen Prozess das Gesetz der Entstehung und Verwesung.
Aus dem Naturanblick wurde dem mittelalterlichen Theosophen das Gesetz der Aufwärtsentwicklung und des Abstiegs klar. Die Wissenschaft, die er sich dadurch aneignete, drückte er in gewissen Zeichen, in imaginativen Bildern und Figuren aus. Es war eine Art imaginativer Erkenntnis. Was gestern charakterisiert worden ist als «Die geheimen Figuren der Rosenkreuzer», ist ein Resultat von dem eben Besprochenen.
So arbeiteten die besten Alchimisten vom vierzehnten bis ins achtzehnte und noch bis an den Anfang des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Über diese wirklich moralische, ethische, intellektuelle Arbeit ist nichts gedruckt worden. Was über Alchimie gedruckt ist, handelt nur von rein äußeren Experimenten, ist nur von denen geschrieben, welche die Alchimie als Selbstzweck betrieben. Der falsche Alchimist ging darauf aus, Stoffe zu formen. Er sah in den Experimenten bei der Verbrennung der Stoffe nur den Gewinn des materiellen Ergebnisses. Der rechte Alchimist aber gab auf den Stoff, den er zuletzt erhielt, gar nichts. Es kam ihm nur auf die inneren Seelenerlebnisse während der Stoffformung an, auf die Gedanken, die in ihm waren, die Erlebnisse, die er in sich hatte. Daher war es ein strenges Gesetz, dass der mittelalterliche Theosoph, welcher bei den Experimenten Gold und Silber erzeugte, nie einen Gewinn für sich daraus machen durfte. Er durfte die produzierten Metalle nur verschenken. Der heutige Mensch hat nicht mehr die richtige Vorstellung von diesen Experimenten. Er hat keine Ahnung von dem, was der Experimentierende erleben konnte. Der mittelalterliche Theosoph konnte ganze Seelendramen in seinem Laboratorium erleben, zum Beispiel wenn das Antimon gewonnen wurde, sahen die Experimentierenden sehr bedeutendes Moralisches in diesen Prozessen.
Wären damals diese Dinge nicht geschehen, so könnten wir heute nicht im geisteswissenschaftlichen Sinne Rosenkreuzerei treiben. Was der mittelalterliche Rosenkreuzer im Anblick der Naturprozesse erlebt hat, ist eine heilige Naturwissenschaft. Was er erlebte an geistigen Opfergesinnungen, an großen Freuden, großen Naturvorgängen, auch an Schmerzen und Traurigkeit, an erhebenden und erfreuenden Ereignissen während der Experimente, die er vornahm, das wirkte alles erlösend und befreiend auf ihn ein. Alles das aber ruht jetzt in den innersten Untergründen des Menschen, alles, was ihm damals dort hineingelegt wurde.
Wie finden wir nun diese verborgenen Kräfte, die damals zum Hellsehen führten, wieder? Wir finden sie dadurch, dass wir Geisteswissenschaft studieren und uns durch ernste Meditation und Konzentration ganz dem inneren Leben der Seele hingeben. Durch solche innere Entwicklung wird allmählich die Beschäftigung mit der Natur wieder ein Opferdienst. Dazu müssen die Menschen hindurchgehen durch das, was wir heute Geisteswissenschaft nennen. Tausende von Menschen müssen sich der Geisteswissenschaft hingeben, ein inneres Leben führen, damit in Zukunft wieder die geistige Wahrheit hinter der Natur wahrgenommen werden kann, damit man wieder das Geistige hinter der Maya verstehen lerne. Dann wird in Zukunft, wenn auch zunächst eine noch kleine Schar, das Ereignis des Paulus vor Damaskus erleben dürfen und wahrnehmen den ätherischen Christus, der übersinnlich unter die Menschen kommt. Es muss aber zuerst der Mensch wieder zu dem geistigen Anblick der Natur kommen. Wer den ganzen inneren Sinn der Rosenkreuzerarbeit nicht kennt, kann glauben, die Menschheit sei noch auf der gleichen Stufe wie vor zweitausend Jahren. Bevor nicht dieser Prozess durchgemacht worden sein wird, der allein durch die Geisteswissenschaft möglich ist, wird der Mensch nicht zum geistigen Schauen kommen. Es gibt viele Menschen, die fromm und gut sind, die sich nicht zur Geisteswissenschaft bekennen, im Grunde aber doch Theosophen sind.
Durch das Ereignis bei der Taufe im Jordan, als der Christus in den Leib des Jesus von Nazareth herabstieg, und durch das Mysterium von Golgatha ist die Menschheit fähig geworden, den Christus später - in diesem Jahrtausend noch, von etwa 1930 an - im Ätherleib zu schauen und zu erleben. Christus ist nur einmal auf Erden in einem physischen Leibe gewandelt, und das muss man verstehen können. Die Wiederkunft des Christus bedeutet: den Christus übersinnlich im Ätherleibe zu schauen. Daher muss jeder, der den richtigen Gang der Entwicklung gehen will, sich die Fähigkeit erringen, mit dem geistigen Auge schauen zu können. Es wäre kein Fortschritt der Menschheit, wenn Christus noch einmal im physischen Leibe erscheinen müsste. Das nächste Mal wird er sich im Ätherleibe offenbaren.
Was die verschiedenen Religionsbekenntnisse geben konnten, das ist zusammengetragen worden durch Christian Rosenkreutz und das Kollegium der Zwölf. Die Wirkung davon wird sein, dasjenige, was die einzelnen Religionen gegeben haben, was ihre Bekenner erstrebt und ersehnt haben, im Christus-Impuls zu finden. Dieses wird die Entwicklung der nächsten drei Jahrtausende sein: das Verständnis für diesen Christus-Impuls zu schaffen und zu fördern. Vom zwanzigsten Jahrhundert an werden alle Religionen im Rosenkreuzermysterium vereinigt sein. Und das wird möglich sein in den nächsten drei Jahrtausenden, weil es nicht mehr nötig sein wird, aus dem, was die Dokumente enthalten, die Menschheit zu belehren, sondern durch den Anblick des Christus werden sie selbst verstehen lernen das Ereignis, welches Paulus vor Damaskus erlebte. Die Menschheit wird selbst durch das Paulus-Ereignis hindurchgehen.
Fünftausend Jahre nach der Erleuchtung des Buddha unter dem Bodhibaum wird der Maitreya-Buddha erscheinen, das ist ungefähr dreitausend Jahre von jetzt an gerechnet. Er wird der Nachfolger des Gautama Buddha sein. Unter wahren Okkultisten ist darüber gar keine Diskussion möglich. Westliche und östliche Okkultisten sind sich darüber einig. Zwei Dinge stehen also fest:
Erstens, dass der Christus nur einmal im physischen Leibe erscheinen konnte und dass er im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert im Ätherleibe erscheinen wird. Im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert werden zwar große Individualitäten auftauchen, zum Beispiel der Bodhisattva als Nachfolger des Gautama Buddha, der in etwa dreitausend Jahren der Maitreya-Buddha werden wird. Aber kein wahrer Okkultist wird irgendeinen physisch verkörperten Menschen im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert als Christus bezeichnen, kein wirklicher Okkultist wird den Christus im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert im physischen Leibe erwarten. Jeder wirkliche Okkultist wird ein Unrecht in einer solchen Behauptung finden. Der Bodhisattva wird aber gerade auf den Christus hinweisen.
Zweitens, der Bodhisattva, der in Jeshu ben Pandira erschienen ist, wird erst in dreitausend Jahren - von heute an gerechnet - als der Maitreya-Buddha erscheinen. Gerade die wirklichen Okkultisten Indiens würden sich entsetzen, wenn man behaupten wollte, der Maitreya-Buddha könne vorher erscheinen. Es mag allerdings in Indien auch solche Okkultisten geben, die nicht wirkliche Okkultisten sind, die aus Nebenzwecken von einem schon jetzt inkarnierten Maitreya-Buddha sprechen. Ein richtiges Sich-Hingeben an die Rosenkreuzer-Theosophie und richtige Devotion gegenüber Christian Rosenkreutz kann jeden davor bewahren, in diese Irrtümer zu verfallen.
Alle diese Dinge werden so gesagt im Rosenkreuzertum, dass sie von der Vernunft nachgeprüft werden können. Durch den gesunden Menschenverstand können alle diese Sachen geprüft werden. Glauben Sie mir auf Autorität hin gar nichts, sondern betrachten Sie alles, was ich sage, nur als Anregung und prüfen Sie dann selbst. Ich bin ganz ruhig, je mehr Sie prüfen werden, umso mehr werden Sie Theosophie oder Geisteswissenschaft vernünftig finden. Je weniger Autoritätsglauben, desto mehr Verständnis für Christian Rosenkreutz. Wir erkennen Christian Rosenkreutz am besten, wenn wir uns so recht in seine Individualität vertiefen und uns bewusst werden, dass der Geist dieses Christian Rosenkreutz fort und fort besteht. Und je mehr wir uns diesem großen Geiste nähern, desto mehr Kraft wird uns zukommen. Von dem Ätherleib dieses großen Führers, der immer und immer da sein wird, können wir viel Kraft und Beistand erhoffen, wenn wir diesen großen Führer um seine Hilfe bitten.
Auch das seltsame Ereignis des Siechtums des Christian Rosenkreutz werden wir verstehen können, wenn wir uns richtig in die geisteswissenschaftliche Arbeit vertiefen. Es war im dreizehnten Jahrhundert, dass diese Individualität lebte in einem physischen Leibe, der bis zur Durchsichtigkeit entkräftet war, sodass er während einiger Tage wie tot dalag, und dass er während dieser Zeit von den Zwölf die Weisheit dieser Zwölf aufnahm und auch das Ereignis von Damaskus erlebte.
Möge der Geist des richtigen Rosenkreuzertums gerade in diesem Zweige walten und inspirierend wirken, dann wird der große Ätherleib des Christian Rosenkreutz um so wirksamer hier sein
Damit sei die Arbeit des Zweiges hier eingeleitet, und diejenigen, die hier versammelt sind, mögen nach Kräften ihren Mitbrüdern in Neuenburg beistehen und ihnen oft gute Gedanken hersenden, dass der Geist des hier gegründeten Zweiges fort und fort bestehen möge. Je mehr wir uns der hohen Sache nähern und die Arbeit in diesem Geiste fortführen, desto schneller werden wir zum Ziele gelangen. Ich möchte selber immer und immer an unsere große, verheißungsvolle Arbeit erinnern und bitte den großen Führer des Abendlandes um seine Hilfe. So möge denn der Zweig einer der Bausteine sein zu dem Tempel, den wir aufbauen möchten. Im Geiste des Christian Rosenkreutz haben wir diesen Zweig eröffnet, und im Geiste des Christian Rosenkreutz wollen wir versuchen, die Arbeit weiterzuführen.
Rosicrucian Christianity
Today it will be my task to tell you something about the work of Christian Rosenkreutz. This work began in the thirteenth century and continues to this day and will continue for all eternity. The first act of this work is, of course, what we said yesterday about the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz and what we heard about the events between the College of Twelve and the Thirteenth. When Christian Rosenkreutz was reborn in the fourteenth century and his incarnation lasted more than a hundred years, his work consisted mainly in teaching the disciples of the Twelve. During this time, hardly anyone else got to know Christian Rosenkreutz except his Twelve. This should not be understood to mean that Christian Rosenkreutz did not go among other people, but only that the other people did not recognize him. This has basically remained the same until today. But the etheric body of Christian Rosenkreutz always worked within the circle of his disciples, and his powers worked in ever wider circles, and today many people are actually already in a position to be touched by the powers of this etheric body.
Those whom Christian Rosenkreutz wants to make his disciples are chosen by him in a peculiar way. The chosen one must pay attention to a certain event or several events of this kind in his life. This selection by Christian Rosenkreutz happens in such a way that a person reaches a decisive turning point in his life, a karmic crisis. Let us suppose, for example, that a person is about to commit an act that would lead to his death. Such things can be very different. The person is following a path that could be very dangerous for them, perhaps leading them close to an abyss, without them realizing it. Then it happens that the person in question hears a voice, perhaps just a few steps before the abyss: “Stop!” so that they have to stop without knowing why. There could be a thousand similar cases. It should be noted, however, that this is only the outward sign, but the most important sign of the outward spiritual calling. The inner calling includes the fact that the chosen one has been preoccupied with something spiritual, theosophy, or other spiritual science. The outward event mentioned to you is a fact in the physical world, but it does not originate from a human voice. The event is always designed in such a way that the person concerned knows exactly that the voice came from the spiritual world. At first, one may believe that a person is hidden somewhere from whom the voice is coming, but when the student is ready, he discovers that it is not a physical personality that has intervened in his life. In short, the point is that through this event, the student knows exactly that there are messages from the spiritual world. Such events can occur once or several times in a human life. We must now understand the effect this has on the student's mind. The student says to himself: I have been given another life through grace; the first was forfeited. This new life, granted through grace, gives the student light throughout his entire subsequent life. He has this definite feeling, which can be expressed in words: Without this Rosicrucian experience, I would have died. The life that followed would not have had the same value without this event.
It can happen, however, that a person has experienced this once or several times and yet does not immediately come to theosophy or spiritual science. But then later the memory of such an experience may come back. Many of those who are here can examine their past lives and find that similar events have occurred in their lives. Such things are observed too little today. We should realize that we pass by so many important events that we do not observe. This is an indication of the nature of the calling of the higher students of Rosicrucianism.
Either such an event will pass without leaving a trace on the person concerned, in which case the impression will fade and they will not consider the experience important at all. Or let us assume that the person is attentive and does not consider this experience meaningless. Then he may come to the conclusion: Actually, you were facing a crisis, a karmic crisis; your life should have ended at that moment; you had forfeited your life; only by some chance did you escape. Since that hour, a second life has been grafted onto the first, as it were. You must regard this second life as a gift and behave accordingly.
If such an experience triggers an inner mood in a person that causes them to regard their life from that moment on as a gift, then this makes them a follower of Christian Rosenkreutz. For this is his way of calling these souls to himself. And those who can remember such an experience can say to themselves: Christian Rosenkreutz has given me a sign from the spiritual world that I belong to his stream. Christian Rosenkreutz has added the possibility of such an experience to my karma. This is how Christian Rosenkreutz chooses his disciples. This is how he chooses his community. Those who consciously experience this say to themselves: A path has been shown to me; I must follow it and see to what extent I can place my powers at the service of Rosicrucianism. But those who have not understood the hint will come to it later, for once the hint has been given to someone, they will not be able to escape it.
The fact that a person can have an experience of the kind described above stems from the fact that this person encountered Christian Rosenkreutz in the spiritual world between his last death and his last birth. At that time, Christian Rosenkreutz chose us and placed an impulse of will within us that now leads us to such experiences. This is how spiritual connections are brought about.
To delve deeper into the matter, let us discuss the difference between the teachings of Christian Rosenkreutz in earlier times and in later times. In the past, these teachings were more scientific in nature, whereas today they are more spiritual. For example, in the past, people spoke more about natural processes and called this science alchemy, and insofar as these processes took place outside the Earth, this science was called astrology. Today, we start more from a spiritual perspective. If we look at the successive post-Atlantean cultural epochs, for example, the ancient Indian culture, the ancient Persian culture, the Egyptian-Chaldean-Assyrian-Babylonian culture, and the Greek-Latin culture, we learn from this observation about the nature of human soul development. The medieval Rosicrucians studied the processes of nature, which they regarded as the earthly processes of nature. For example, they distinguished between three different natural processes, which they regarded as the three great processes of nature.
The first important process to be mentioned is the formation of salt. The medieval Rosicrucians called salt everything in nature that precipitates, settles, or falls out of a solution as a solid substance. However, when the medieval Rosicrucians saw this formation of salt, their conception of it was quite different from that of people today. For the sight of such a process must have had the effect of a prayer on the soul of the person observing it, if he wanted to understand it. The medieval Rosicrucian therefore sought to clarify what must be happening in his own soul if this salt formation was also to take place there. He thought: Human nature is constantly destroying itself through its instincts and passions. Our life would be a continuous decomposition, a process of decay, if we gave ourselves over only to our desires and passions. And if human beings really want to protect themselves against this process of decay, they must continually give themselves over to pure thoughts that tend toward the spiritual. It was a matter of the higher development of their thoughts. The medieval Rosicrucians knew that if they did not fight their passions in one incarnation, they would be born into the next incarnation with a predisposition to disease, but that if they purified their passions, they would enter the next incarnation with healthy predispositions. The process of overcoming the forces leading to decay through spirituality is microcosmic salt formation. Thus we can understand how such a natural process could become the most pious prayer for the medieval Rosicrucians. When contemplating salt formation, the medieval Rosicrucians said with a feeling of the purest piety: Here, divine-spiritual forces have been at work for thousands of years, just as pure thoughts are at work within me. Behind the Maya of nature, I worship the thoughts of the gods, the divine spiritual beings. The medieval Rosicrucians knew this, and they said to themselves: When I allow nature to inspire me to cherish such feelings, I make myself similar to the macrocosm. If I view this process only externally, I separate myself from God, I fall away from the macrocosm. This was the feeling of the medieval theosophist or Rosicrucian.
Another experience was the process of dissolution: another natural process that could also lead the medieval Rosicrucians to prayer. The medieval Rosicrucians called everything that could dissolve something else mercury or mercury. Now the question arose again for the medieval Rosicrucian: What is the corresponding quality in the human soul? Which soul quality works in the same way as mercury or Mercury in nature? The medieval Rosicrucian knew that what corresponds to this Mercury in the soul means all forms of love in the soul. He distinguished between lower and higher processes of dissolution, just as there are lower and higher forms of love. And so the sight of the process of dissolution became once again a pious prayer, and the medieval theosophist said to himself: The love of God has been working outside for thousands of years in the same way as love works within me.
The third important natural process for medieval theosophists was combustion, what happens when an external substance is consumed by flames. And again, the medieval Rosicrucians sought the inner process corresponding to this combustion. They saw this inner soul process in fervent devotion to the deity. And they called everything that can go up in flames sulfur. They saw in the stages of the Earth's development a process of gradual purification, similar to a combustion process or sulfur process. Just as they knew that the Earth would one day be purified by fire, they also saw a combustion process in fervent devotion to the deity. In the processes of the earth, he saw the work of the gods who look up to even higher gods. And so, imbued with great piety and deep religious feelings, he said to himself as he watched the combustion process: Now the gods are sacrificing themselves to the higher gods. And when the medieval theosophist himself brought about the combustion process in his laboratory, he felt: I am doing what the gods do when they sacrifice themselves to higher gods. He considered himself worthy of performing such a process of combustion in his laboratory only when he felt imbued with such a spirit of sacrifice, when he himself felt within himself the desire to sacrifice himself to the gods. The power of the flame filled the medieval theosophist with great, deeply religious feelings, and he said to himself: When I see the flame outside in the macrocosm, I see the thoughts, the love, the sacrificial spirit of the gods.
The medieval Rosicrucian carried out these processes himself in his laboratory, and then the experimenter surrendered himself to the observation of these formations of salt, the dissolutions and the combustions, during which he always gave himself over to deeply religious feelings, and he felt the connection with all the forces in the macrocosm. These soul processes evoked in him: first, thoughts of the gods; second, love of the gods; third, sacrificial service to the gods. And then this medieval Rosicrucian discovered that when he carried out a salt formation process, such pure, purifying thoughts arose within him. During a dissolution process, he felt inspired to love, he was permeated by divine love, and during the combustion process, he felt ignited to sacrifice himself, compelled to sacrifice himself on the altar of the world.
This was what the experimenter experienced. And if one had witnessed such an experiment as a clairvoyant, one would have perceived a change in the aura of the person performing the experiment. The aura, which before the experiment was very mixed, perhaps filled with desires and impulses to which the person had given himself over, became more uniform as a result of the experiment. First, in the experiment with the formation of salt, it was copper—pure thoughts of God—then, in the experiment with the dissolution, it was silver—love of God—and finally, it was shining gold—sacrificial love of God or sacrificial service to God during the burning. And the alchemists then said that they had made subjective copper, subjective silver, and subjective gold from the aura. And the result was that those who had gone through such an experience, who had truly experienced such an experiment inwardly, were completely imbued with divine love. The result was a person imbued with purity, love, and a willingness to sacrifice, and through this sacrificial service, the medieval theosophists prepared a certain clairvoyance. In this way, the medieval theosophist was able to look into the way in which spiritual beings behind the Maya caused things to arise and pass away again. And through this he also came to understand which forces of striving in the soul are beneficial and which are not. He learned about our own forces of creation and decay. In a moment of enlightenment, the medieval theosophist Heinrich Khunrath called this process the law of formation and decay.
From observing nature, the medieval theosophist understood the law of upward development and descent. He expressed the knowledge he acquired in this way in certain symbols, imaginative images, and figures. It was a kind of imaginative insight. What was characterized yesterday as “The Secret Figures of the Rosicrucians” is a result of what has just been discussed.
This is how the best alchemists worked from the fourteenth to the eighteenth and even into the beginning of the nineteenth century. Nothing has been printed about this truly moral, ethical, intellectual work. What has been printed about alchemy deals only with purely external experiments and was written only by those who practiced alchemy as an end in itself. The false alchemist sought to shape substances. He saw in the experiments involving the combustion of substances only the gain of a material result. The true alchemist, however, did not care about the substance he ultimately obtained. All that mattered to him were the inner soul experiences during the formation of the substance, the thoughts that were within him, the experiences he had within himself. Therefore, it was a strict law that the medieval theosophist who produced gold and silver in his experiments was never allowed to profit from it. They were only allowed to give away the metals they produced. People today no longer have the right idea about these experiments. They have no idea what the experimenters experienced. Medieval theosophists experienced entire dramas of the soul in their laboratories. For example, when antimony was extracted, the experimenters saw something very significant morally in these processes.
If these things had not happened at that time, we would not be able to practice Rosicrucianism in the spiritual-scientific sense today. What the medieval Rosicrucians experienced in observing natural processes is a sacred natural science. What they experienced in terms of spiritual sacrifice, great joys, great natural processes, but also pain and sadness, uplifting and joyful events during the experiments they carried out, all had a redeeming and liberating effect on them. But all of this now lies in the innermost depths of human beings, everything that was placed there at that time.
How can we now rediscover these hidden powers that led to clairvoyance at that time? We find them by studying spiritual science and devoting ourselves entirely to the inner life of the soul through serious meditation and concentration. Through such inner development, the study of nature gradually becomes a sacrificial service again. To achieve this, people must go through what we now call spiritual science. Thousands of people must devote themselves to spiritual science and lead an inner life so that in the future the spiritual truth behind nature can be perceived again, so that people can learn to understand the spiritual behind Maya. Then in the future, even if only a small group at first, people will be able to experience the event of Paul before Damascus and perceive the etheric Christ who comes super-sensibly among human beings. But first, human beings must regain the spiritual vision of nature. Those who do not know the whole inner meaning of the Rosicrucian work may believe that humanity is still at the same stage as it was two thousand years ago. Until this process, which is only possible through spiritual science, has been completed, human beings will not attain spiritual vision. There are many people who are pious and good, who do not profess spiritual science, but who are essentially theosophists.
Through the event at the baptism in the Jordan, when Christ descended into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, and through the mystery of Golgotha, humanity has become capable of seeing and experiencing Christ later—still in this millennium, from about 1930 onwards—in the etheric body. Christ walked on earth only once in a physical body, and this must be understood. The return of Christ means seeing Christ supersensibly in the etheric body. Therefore, everyone who wants to follow the right path of development must acquire the ability to see with the spiritual eye. It would not be progress for humanity if Christ had to appear again in a physical body. The next time, he will reveal himself in the etheric body.
What the various religious denominations have been able to offer has been compiled by Christian Rosenkreutz and the College of Twelve. The effect of this will be that what the individual religions have given, what their followers have strived for and longed for, will be found in the Christ impulse. This will be the development of the next three millennia: to create and promote understanding of this Christ impulse. From the twentieth century onwards, all religions will be united in the Rosicrucian mystery. And this will be possible in the next three millennia because it will no longer be necessary to teach humanity from the documents, but through the sight of Christ they will learn to understand for themselves the event that Paul experienced before Damascus. Humanity will pass through the Paul event itself.
Five thousand years after the enlightenment of Buddha under the Bodhi tree, the Maitreya Buddha will appear, which is approximately three thousand years from now. He will be the successor of Gautama Buddha. Among true occultists, there is no discussion about this. Western and Eastern occultists agree on this. Two things are therefore certain:
Firstly, that Christ could only appear once in physical form and that he will appear in the etheric body in the twentieth century. Great individuals will emerge in the twentieth century, such as the Bodhisattva, who will be the successor to Gautama Buddha and will become Maitreya Buddha in about three thousand years. But no true occultist will refer to any physically embodied human being in the twentieth century as Christ, no real occultist will expect Christ to appear in physical form in the twentieth century. Every real occultist will find such a claim to be wrong. However, the Bodhisattva will point precisely to Christ.
Secondly, the Bodhisattva who appeared in Jeshu ben Pandira will not appear as the Maitreya Buddha until three thousand years from now. The true occultists of India would be horrified if anyone claimed that the Maitreya Buddha could appear before then. However, there may also be occultists in India who are not real occultists, who speak of a Maitreya Buddha already incarnated for other purposes. A true devotion to Rosicrucian theosophy and a true devotion to Christian Rosicrucius can protect anyone from falling into these errors.
All these things are stated in Rosicrucianism in such a way that they can be verified by reason. All these things can be examined by common sense. Do not believe anything on authority, but consider everything I say as a suggestion and then examine it for yourself. I am quite calm; the more you examine, the more you will find Theosophy or spiritual science reasonable. The less you believe in authority, the more you will understand Christian Rosenkreutz. We recognize Christian Rosenkreutz best when we immerse ourselves in his individuality and become aware that the spirit of this Christian Rosenkreutz continues to exist. And the closer we come to this great spirit, the more strength we will receive. We can hope for much strength and assistance from the etheric body of this great leader, who will always be there, if we ask this great leader for his help.
We will also be able to understand the strange event of Christian Rosenkreutz's infirmity if we immerse ourselves properly in spiritual scientific work. It was in the thirteenth century that this individuality lived in a physical body that was so weakened that it became transparent, so that for several days it lay there as if dead, and during this time it absorbed the wisdom of the Twelve and also experienced the event at Damascus.
May the spirit of true Rosicrucianism prevail and inspire this branch, then the great etheric body of Christian Rosenkreutz will be all the more effective here.
Let the work of the branch be initiated here, and may those who are gathered here do their utmost to support their brothers in Neuchâtel and send them good thoughts often, so that the spirit of the branch founded here may continue to exist. The closer we come to the high cause and continue the work in this spirit, the faster we will reach our goal. I myself would like to remind you again and again of our great and promising work, and I ask the great leader of the West for his help. May this branch be one of the building blocks of the temple we wish to build. We have opened this branch in the spirit of Christian Rosenkreutz, and in the spirit of Christian Rosenkreutz we will try to continue the work.