The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity
GA 144
5 February 1913, Berlin
Lecture III
When a man of our time goes through an occult training which leads him to such experiences as were described in the last two lectures, he enters by means of this training into the spiritual worlds; and there he experiences certain facts and meets with certain beings. The phrase, “To see the Sun at Midnight”, is fundamentally only an expression for spiritual facts and for the meeting with spiritual beings who are connected with the Sun-existence. But when this man of our time ascends into the higher worlds, he goes through certain experiences which one cannot describe otherwise than by saying: A man experiences much that is significant in the higher worlds through such an ascent, but he also feels himself forsaken and alone. He feels that he can gather up his experience in some such words as these: “Much, very much, you are seeing here, but the very thing you must long for above all else, after all you have gone through—that you are not able to experience.” And he would like to question all the beings whom he meets after such an ascent concerning certain secrets he longs to understand. That is the feeling he has. But all these beings, who unveil much that is immense and powerful, remain silent when he wants to learn from them about those mysteries which he must now regard as the most important of all. Hence the man of our time, when he has thus mounted to the higher worlds, feels it to be above all painful that in spite of all the splendour, in spite of his meeting with those glorious beings, he has an immense emptiness in his inner life. And if nothing else were to happen, a protracted experience of this loneliness, this forlorn condition in the higher worlds, would finally bring about something like despair in his soul.
Now at this point something can happen—and usually does happen if the ascent has been undertaken according to the true rules of Initiation—which may be a protection from this despair, at first, though not permanently. Something like a remembrance may arise in the soul, or one might say a retrospect into far-off times of the past, a kind of reading in the Akashic Record about long-past happenings. And what is then experienced (one cannot characterise these things except by trying to clothe them in approximate words) might be put in the following way: “When as a modern man you ascend into these higher worlds, you are met by forlorn-ness, despair. But pictures call up for you long-past happenings, showing you that in distant times men ascended into the worlds into which you now wish to rise. Yes, from these memory pictures you may well come to recognise that in earlier incarnations your own soul took part in what these men experienced when formerly they rose into the higher worlds. It might even appear that the soul of a present-day man, in contemplating these pictures, looks at experiences of his own, gone through in times long since past. Then in those remote ages this soul would have been an Initiate. In other cases, the man would know only that his soul had been connected with those who as Initiates had then risen into the higher worlds; but his soul now feels lonely and forsaken, whereas those once initiated souls did not feel lonely and forsaken in the same worlds, but experienced innermost bliss. He will recognise further that this was so because in those ancient times souls were differently constituted, and for this reason they experienced differently what they beheld in the higher worlds. What is it, then, that is really experienced?
The experience now in question is such that it brings before the soul beings of higher worlds who are working upon the sense-world from the super-sensible worlds; beings are perceived who stand behind our sense-world; conditions are seen such as were described yesterday. But if one tries to summarise all one sees, it can be characterised in some such way as the following: The seer feels himself to be in the higher worlds, and gazing down, as it were, into the sense-world; he feels himself united in some way with spirits who have passed through the Gate of Death, and, with them, too, he gazes downward, and sees how they will again employ their forces in order to enter physical existence. He looks down and sees how forces are sent out of the super-sensible worlds in order to bring about the processes of the different kingdoms of nature in the sense-world. He sees the whole current of events which are prepared for our world out of the higher worlds. Because in the course of a sojourn of this kind in the higher worlds he is outside his physical and etheric bodies, he looks down upon them and sees also those forces in the Cosmos, in the whole spiritual universe, which are working on the physical and etheric bodies of man. And through the activity of the beings into whose company he has entered, he learns to understand how physical and etheric bodies come into existence within the physical world. He learns to understand this thoroughly. He comes to understand how certain beings who are associated with the Sun send their activity into the Earth and work on engendering the physical and etheric bodies of man. He learns also to know certain beings associated with the Moon-existence, who work down out of the Cosmos in order likewise to co-operate in bringing about the physical and etheric bodies of human beings.
Then, however, arises a great longing, a longing that becomes terrible for a man of the present time. It is the longing to know something of how the astral body and the ego are born out of the Cosmos, how they come into existence. Whereas the seer can discern exactly how the physical body and the etheric body arise out of the forces of the Cosmos, completely hidden from him is everything that could point to how the astral body and the ego of man are brought into being. In deepest darkness and secrecy is veiled everything that has to do with the astral body and ego. Thus the feeling grows: What you are in your innermost nature, what you yourself really are, is veiled from your spiritual sight; and that in which you sheathe yourself when you are living in the physical world is disclosed to you precisely enough!
All this is experienced by a man of the present time when he rises to higher worlds in the manner described. It was experienced. also by those who in ancient times undertook the ascent. But they did not feel the great longing we have spoken of: they had no need to behold their innermost being, for they were so constituted that they felt a deep inward satisfaction in perceiving how the spiritual beings whose company they had reached were at work in building physical and etheric bodies on the Earth. In contemplating how these beings worked down from the Sun to accomplish this task, the souls who were initiated in past times found their highest satisfaction. It must be added that the work performed by these beings presented itself under a different aspect in those times; hence the satisfaction it could afford. In our time the work appears in such a light that one asks: Wherefore all this preparation of the physical and etheric bodies, if one cannot understand what these sheaths conceal? That is the difference between a person of the present time and a man of old. And the period in the past which was connected particularly with these experiences is that in which Zarathustra initiated his pupils and guided them up into the higher worlds. If aspirants were to be led up into the higher worlds in the same way today as they were by Zarathustra, they would feel that emptiness and loneliness to which reference has been made. In the time of Zarathustra those who were to be initiated experienced the working of Ahura Mazdao on the physical body and the etheric body, and in the unveiling of this wonderful mystery they felt bliss and satisfaction, for they were so disposed that they felt inwardly stirred when they saw how the sheaths which man needs if he is to accomplish his Earth-mission are brought into existence. In this they found satisfaction.
Thus it was with the Zarathustrian Initiation. For the initiates could “See the Sun at Midnight”; that is, they were not looking upon the physical form of the Sun but upon the spiritual beings who are linked with the Sun. They saw emanating from the Sun the forces which play into the physical body; saw how the forces which the Sun is able to send forth mould the human head and form the different parts of the human brain. For it would be folly for anyone to think that a marvellous construction such as the human brain could come into existence merely through terrestrial forces; solar forces must work into it. These forces bring together the complex lobular formations of the human brain, poised above the human face. Engaged in this task are quite numerous beings; Zarathustra gave them the name of “Amshaspands”. They furnish the stimulus for the forces of the Cosmos which make possible the building of the human brain and the upper nerves of the spinal cord, with the exception of the lower twenty-eight pairs of nerves. Then Zarathustra also pointed out how other currents flow from beings who are linked with the life of the Moon; he showed how wonderfully the structure of the Cosmos is adapted so that from twenty-eight groups of entities—“Izeds” as they are called—currents proceed which build up the spinal cord with its twenty-eight lower pairs of nerve fibres. Thus are physical and etheric bodies formed out of currents which stream forth from cosmic beings.
They were powerful impressions that the initiates of Zarathustra received in this way. And in receiving them as an expression of the work of Ahura Mazdao, they felt an inner bliss concerning all that is thus accomplished. in the world. If a modern man were to raise himself in the same way into the higher worlds, he would of course also be capable of wonderment; he, too, would be able to begin to experience the same bliss. But gradually he would pass on to the feeling which one cannot clothe in words other than these: “What is the purpose of it all? I know nothing about that being who passes from incarnation to incarnation! I know solely about those beings who in each new incarnation build up sheaths out of the Cosmos, but they build only sheaths.” That was precisely the essence of the Zarathustra Initiation: its revelation of the connection between the earthly part of man and the life of the Sun. It was characteristic of the time of Zarathustra that men were able to absorb into their occult knowledge those mysteries we have now described.
Again, it was in a different way that souls in ancient Egypt entered the higher worlds at Initiation—souls, for example, who went through the Hermes Initiation. We have already spoken about all these things; but in these lectures they will be presented in rather more detail than was possible previously. When in ancient Egyptian times souls were raised into the higher worlds through the Hermes Initiation, then—as it must always be after Initiation—they felt themselves to be outside their physical and etheric bodies and knew that they were now within a world of spiritual facts and spiritual beings. Wide was the circuit of vision through which these souls were then led. They were shown the individual beings and facts, as can happen also with the soul of today. But one must not think of it as though they went about on physical feet; it was their vision that was guided, as if a person's sight were to be led all round a region as wide as the universe. Thus it was in this Initiation.
Then came a moment of experience wherein the initiates felt as though a traveler in a country encircled by the sea had reached the shore. They knew they had come to the farthest point attainable. In the Egyptian Initiation they experienced what one cannot clothe in other words than these: “In your vision you have been led far and wide through cosmic realms and have come to know the beings and forces that work on your physical body and your etheric body. But now you are entering the most holy place. You are entering a region where you can feel yourself united with the Being who works with others on the part of you that goes from one incarnation to another, and on your astral body.” It is a significant experience that occurs at this point, for after it all things become in some sense different.
For the initiate, after that, one possibility is closed. In the world he has now entered, on the shores of cosmic existence, he is no longer able to make use of his former ways of thinking and judging. If he cannot cast off all this earthly, physical power of judgment; if he cannot disregard what has guided him so far, then he cannot have this experience on the borders of existence; he cannot feel himself united with that Being who is active when the human being as spirit and soul approaches his birth into a new incarnation, and seeks nation, family and parents in order to clothe himself with new sheaths. All the beings whom he has already come to know, and who make it clear to him how the etheric and physical sheaths arise and are formed out of the Cosmos, are unable to explain what kind of forces are working in that Being with whom he now feels himself united, and who is building and weaving in the innermost astral being of the man himself. It becomes quite apparent to the seer, as it was to the Egyptian soul who was going through the Hermes Initiation, that now, after the soul is outside its sheaths and has passed through the “cosmic existence” already alluded to, it feels itself united with a Being. The soul can feel the qualities of this Being, only it feels itself as if it were within these qualities and not outside this Being, and it can know that this Being is really there, but that it is at the same time within this Being. And the first impression that the aspirant receives of this Being is such that one says to oneself: In this Being lie the forces which bring the soul from one incarnation to another, and also the forces which illuminate the soul between death and a new birth. All that is there within. But when there surges towards you a force like unto spiritual cosmic Warmth, one that conveys the soul from death to a new birth; and when there presses towards you the spiritual Light that illumines souls between death and a new birth, and when you feel how this Warmth and this Light stream out from the Being with whom you are united, you are now in a quite peculiar situation. You have had to drink the waters of Lethe, to forget the art of understanding which formerly guided you through the physical world, to lay aside your former power of judgment, your intellectuality, for here these would only lead you astray; and as yet you have gained nothing of a new kind. In your experience of the cosmic Warmth which brings the soul to a new birth, you are within the ocean of forces which illuminate the soul between death and a new birth. You experience the force and the light which issue from this Being. You behold this Being in such manner that you can do no other than ask of it: “Who art Thou? For Thou alone canst tell me who Thou art, and only then can I know that which takes the essential inward part of me as a human being from death to a new birth. Only when Thou tellest me this can I know what my innermost nature is as man!” And mute remains the Being with whom the aspirant knows himself to be united. He feels with the deepest part of himself that he is united with the deepest part of the Being. The urge towards self-knowledge arises, to know what a man is—and yet the Being remains silent. The aspirant must first have stood for a while before this silent Being, and have felt deeply the longing to have the riddle of the universe solved after a new manner, as it never can be on the physical Earth; he must have brought into this world, to this Being, as a force out of himself, the deep longing to have the riddle of the universe solved in a way foreign to physical existence, and the soul must entirely live in the longing to have the cosmic enigma solved in this manner. Then, when he has felt himself united with the mute spiritual Being, and has lived in him with longing for the solution that we have indicated, then he feels that there streams forth into this spiritual Being with whom he is united, the force of his own longing. And because this force of the aspirant's own longing for the solution of the riddle streams out into the spiritual Being, after a time it gives birth to something like another being projected from it. But what is born is not after the manner of an earthly birth, as the aspirant knows at once through his own vision. An earthly birth arises “in time”; it enters into the stream of time. But concerning the birth from this Being, the aspirant knows: It is born from Him, it has been born from Him since primordial times—always, and this birth continues from primordial ages up to the present. Only this birth-process of one being from another has hitherto not been visible to man; until now it has been withheld from his sight. This birth-process consists in his: it is really continuous, but man, owing to his having prepared himself by means of his yearning for the solving of the riddle, now sees it—it is now perceived in the spiritual world. The aspirant knows this. Thus he does not say: Now a being is born, but: From the Being with whom you have united yourself, ever since primordial times, a being has always been born; but now the process of the being's birth, and the being itself who is born, are perceptible to you.
What I have now pictured to you, as far as it can be done in the words of our language, is that to which the Hermes Initiator led. his pupils. And the feelings that I have just described (I might say with stammering words, for the things contain so much that the words of our tongue can express them only in a stammering way)—these feelings were the experiences of the so-called Egyptian Isis Initiation.
When the aspirant who was going through the Isis Initiation had reached the furthest shore of existence and had gazed upon the beings who build up the physical body and the etheric body, when he had stood before the silent Goddess from whom Warmth and Light come forth for the innermost of the human soul, he said to himself: “That is Isis. That is the mute and silent Goddess whose countenance can be unveiled to no-one who sees only with mortal eyes, but only to those who have worked themselves through to the shores which have been described, so that they can see with those eyes which go from incarnation to incarnation and are no longer mortal. For an impenetrable veil hides the form of Isis from mortal eyes.”
When the aspirant had thus gazed upon Isis and had experienced in his soul the feeling described, he understood what has been described. as the birth. What was this “birth?” He understood that it can be designated as “The resounding through all space of the Music of the Spheres,” and as the merging of the tones of this Sphere-music with the creative cosmic Word—the Word which permeates space and pours into the beings everything that has to be so poured into them, as the soul has to be poured into the physical and etheric body after passing through the life between death and a new birth. Everything that has to be thus poured out from the spiritual world into the physical world, so that what is poured out acquires the inward character of soul, is poured in from the Harmony of the Spheres resounding through space. The Harmony of the Spheres gradually assumes such a form that through the inner significance it expresses it can be understood as the Cosmic Word—the Word which ensouls the beings that are vitalised by the forces of Warmth and Light which pour into those bodies that arise from the divine forces and beings perceived with the vision already attained.
Thus did the aspirant look into the world of the Harmony of the Spheres, the world of the Cosmic Word; thus did he look into the world which is the veritable home of the human soul during the time between death and a new birth. That which is hidden deep in the physical earthly existence of man, but lives between death and a new birth in the splendour of the Light and Warmth; that which deeply veils itself in the physical world as the world of the Harmony of the Spheres and the Cosmic Word, was experienced in the Hermes-Initiation as coming to birth from Isis. There Isis stands before the aspirant, Isis herself on the one side, and on the other side the being she has borne, whom one must speak of as Cosmic Tones and the Cosmic Word. The aspirant feels himself in the company of Isis and of the Cosmic Word born of her. And this “Cosmic Word” is in the first place the appearing of Osiris. “Isis in association with Osiris”: thus do they appear before direct vision; for in the very oldest Egyptian Initiation it was said that Osiris was at the same time spouse and son of Isis. And in the older Egyptian Initiation the essential thing was that the aspirant, through this Initiation, experienced the mysteries of soul-life, which remains united with man during the period between death and a new birth. Through the union with Osiris it was possible to recognise oneself in one's deeper significance as man.
So it was brought to pass that the Egyptian Initiate met the Cosmic Word and the Cosmic Tones as the elucidators of his own being in the spiritual world. But that was up to a certain point of time only in the old Egyptian period. After that it ceased. There was a great difference—this is shown also by the Akashic Records when one looks back into ancient times—between the experiences of the Egyptian Initiate in the ancient Egyptian temples and what he experienced later on.
Let us bring before our souls what the Initiate experienced in these later times. He could still be led through the vast spaces of the universe to the confines of existence; there he could meet with all the beings who build up the physical and etheric bodies of man; there he could approach the shores of being and could have the vision of the mute, silent Isis, and could apprehend in her the Cosmic Warmth which contains for man the forces that lead from death to a new birth. There he could also become acquainted with the Light which illumines the soul between death and a new birth; and the longing arose to hear the Cosmic Word and the Cosmic Harmony; longing lived in the soul when it united itself with the silent Isis. But the Goddess remained dumb! In that later age no Osiris could be born, no Cosmic Harmony resounded, no Cosmic Word expounded that which now showed itself only as Cosmic Warmth and Cosmic Light. And the soul of the aspirant could not have expressed. these experiences otherwise than by saying something like the following; “Thus, 0 Goddess, do I look up in grief to thee, tormented by the thirst for knowledge, the yearning for knowledge, and thou, thou remainest silent and speechless towards the tormented and sorrow-laden soul. And this soul, because it cannot understand itself, seems to itself as though extinguished, as if it must lose its very existence.” And through her mourning countenance the Goddess expressed her powerlessness to bring forth the Cosmic Word and the Cosmic Harmony. The aspirant saw in her that she had been deprived of the power to bring forth Osiris and to have him at her side, Osiris as Son and Spouse. He felt that Osiris had been torn from Isis.
Those who went through this Initiation and came back into the physical world had a serious but resigned world-outlook. They knew her, the Holy Isis, but they felt themselves as “Sons of the Widow”. And the point of time between the old Initiation, wherein one was able to experience the birth of Osiris in those ancient Egyptian Mysteries, and that wherein one met only the mute, mourning Isis and could become a Son of the Widow in the Egyptian Mysteries; the point of time which separates these two phases of the Egyptian Initiation—when was it? It was the time in which Moses lived. For the karma of Egypt was fulfilled in such a way that not only was Moses initiated into the Mysteries of Egypt, but he took them with him. When he led his people out of Egypt he took with him the part of the Egyptian Initiation which added the Osiris-Initiation to the mourning Isis, as she later became. Such was the transition from the Egyptian civilisation to that of the Old Testament. Truly, Moses had carried away the secret of Osiris, the secret of the Cosmic Word! And if he had not left behind the powerless Isis there could not have resounded for him, in the way that he had to understand it for the sake of his people, that great, significant Word, “I AM THE I AM”, (“Ejeh asher Ejeh”). So was the Egyptian Mystery carried over to the ancient Hebrew Mystery.
We have tried now to show, using such words as are available for these matters, what the experiences were like in the Mysteries of Zarathustra and of Egypt. These things do not lend themselves to intellectual presentation. The essential point is that the soul goes through experiences corresponding to what I have endeavoured to describe. And it is important to enter into what took place in the soul of the aspirant in the later Egyptian Initiation: to feel how he raised his soul into the higher worlds and met Isis with the mourning look and sorrow-stricken countenance, the result of her having to look on the human soul which was well able to yearn and thirst for knowledge of the spiritual worlds, but could not be satisfied.
Thus also certain Greek Initiates experienced the same Being of whom the Egyptians spoke as the later Isis. Hence the seriousness of the Greek Initiation, where it appears in its solemnity. What had been experienced in earlier times in the super-sensible worlds—that which gave significance to those super-sensible worlds in that they resounded to the Cosmic Word and Cosmic Tone—was no longer there. It was there no more ... The super-sensible worlds were as though desolate and forsaken by the Cosmic Word, those worlds into which in earlier Initiations man had been able to enter. The Zarathustrian Initiate could still feel satisfied when in these worlds he encountered the Beings already described, for he felt himself fulfilled by the Cosmic Light, which he perceived as Ahura Mazdao. He perceived it as masculine, of solar nature; the Egyptian perceived it as feminine, lunar. And at a higher stage in the Zarathustrian Initiation he perceived also the Cosmic Word, not so concretely as if born from such a Being as Isis; but he experienced it and he knew the Harmony of the Spheres and the Cosmic Word.
In the later Egyptian time—and also in other lands during this late Egyptian time—when a man raised himself into the higher worlds, his feelings were quite similar to those of a present-day man, as described at the beginning of the present lecture. He rises up into the higher worlds, becomes acquainted with all the Beings who co-operate in building up the physical and etheric bodies, but he feels himself forsaken and alone if nothing else appears, because he has something in himself that longs for the Cosmic Word and the Cosmic Harmony, and the Cosmic Word and the Cosmic Harmony cannot resound for him. today such a man feels lonely and forsaken; in the later Egyptian Age he did not only feel forsaken and desolate, but, if he was a true “Son of the Widow” and was out of the physical and etheric bodies and in the spiritual worlds, he felt himself as a human soul in such a way that be was constrained to clothe his feeling in the words: The God is preparing to leave the worlds which you have always trodden when you felt the Cosmic Word; the God has ceased to be active there. And ever more and more did this feeling condense itself into what one may call the super-sensible equivalent of that which one encounters in the sense-world as the death of man—when one sees a person die, when one knows that he is passing out of the physical world. And now, when the Initiate of the later Egyptian Age rose up into the higher worlds, he was a partaker in the gradual dying of the God. As one feels with a person when he is passing into the spiritual world, so did the Initiate of the later Egyptian period feel how the God took leave of the spiritual world in order to pass over into another world. This was the significant and remarkable part of the later Egyptian Initiation—that when the aspirant raised his life into the spiritual worlds, it was not into rapture and bliss, but in order to partake in the gradual passing away of a God who was present in these higher worlds as Cosmic Word and Cosmic Harmony. Out of this frame of mind there gradually condensed the myth of Osiris, who was torn away from Isis and conveyed to Asia, and for whom Isis mourned.
With this lecture we have placed ourselves on one bank of the stream which separates the evolution of humanity into two parts. We have come from the direction of this evolution as far as the bank; we stand upon it, and what this standing there signifies has been brought home to us through the frame of mind, of the later Egyptian Initiate, the “Son of the Widow”, who was initiated in order to experience mourning and resignation. It will now be our task, in the boat of Spiritual Science, to cross the stream which separates the two shores of human evolution.
In the last lecture we shall see what is on the other shore—when we push off our boat from the place where we have experienced the mourning for the God who is dying in the Heavens, when we leave that place in order to traverse the stream and arrive at the other bank. When the boat of spiritual science has carried us across, with the remembrance that we have previously experienced the dying of a God in the Heavens, we shall see what is offered to our view on the other side.
Dritter Vortrag
Wenn der gegenwärtige Mensch, der Mensch unserer Zeit, eine solche okkulte Schulung durchmacht, die ihn zu Erlebnissen führt, wie sie in den beiden ersten Vorträgen angedeutet sind, so kommt er dadurch in die geistigen Welten hinauf. Er erlebt dann tatsächlich in den geistigen Welten gewisse Tatsachen und begegnet gewissen Wesenheiten. Der Ausdruck, der gestern gebraucht worden ist, «Schauen der Sonne um Mitternacht», ist im Grunde genommen auch nur der Ausdruck für spirituelle Tatsachen und die Begegnung mit spirituellen Wesenheiten, die mit dem Sonnensein im Zusammenhange stehen. Nun macht aber dieser Mensch unseres Zeitenzyklus, wenn er so in die höheren Welten hinaufkommt, gewisse Erlebnisse durch, die man nicht anders bezeichnen kann als dadurch, daß man sagt: Es erlebt der Mensch Vieles, Bedeutsames innerhalb der geistigen Welten durch einen solchen Aufstieg; aber er erlebt auch etwas, das man so bezeichnen muß, daß man sagt: er fühlt sich wie verlassen, verlassen und einsam. Er fühlt sich so, daß er sein Erleben etwa in die Worte fassen kann: Vieles, vieles schaust du hier; aber gerade dasjenige, wonach du dich jetzt, nachdem du alle diese Dinge durchgemacht hast, am allermeisten sehnen mußt, das kannst du nicht erleben. — Und alle die Wesenheiten, denen man nach einem solchen Aufstieg begegnet, die möchte man dann fragen nach gewissen Geheimnissen, nach denen man sich sehnen muß. Dies Gefühl hat man. Aber alle diese Wesenheiten, die einem vieles enthüllen, das groß und gewaltig ist, bleiben stumm und schweigsam gerade dann, wenn man sich bei ihnen erkundigen will nach eben denjenigen Geheimnissen, die man nach allem nunmehr als wichtigste empfinden muß. Daher muß man sagen: Der Mensch der Gegenwart fühlt Schmerzlichstes, wenn er so hinaufgestiegen ist in die höheren Welten, fühlt trotz allen Glanzes, trotz aller Begegnung mit den hehren Wesenheiten eine ungeheure Leerheit in seinem Innern. Und wenn nichts anderes eintreten würde, so müßte eigentlich bei einem längeren Erleben dieser Leerheit, dieser Einsamkeit, dieser Verlassenheit in den höheren Welten endlich doch eine Art von Verzweiflung über die Seele kommen.
Da kann nun etwas eintreten — und wird in der Regel eintreten, wenn nach den echten Regeln der Initiation der Aufstieg unternommen worden ist -, was vor dieser Verzweiflung zunächst schützen kann, wenn auch nicht dauernd schützen kann. Was da eintreten kann, ist so etwas wie eine Erinnerung, die in die Seele hereinkommt, oder man könnte auch sagen ein Zurückschauen in ferne Zeiten der Vergangenheit, eine Art von Lesen in der Akasha-Chronik von solchen Dingen, die längst vergangen sind. Und was man da erlebt man kann ja diese Dinge nicht anders charakterisieren, als daß man die Erlebnisse in Worte zu kleiden sucht, welche sich annähernd mit diesen Erlebnissen decken -, möchte man in folgende Worte kleiden: Wenn du jetzt als gegenwärtiger Mensch aufsteigst in diese höheren Welten, so trifft dich Verzweiflung, Verlassenheit. Aber da zeigen dir Bilder gewisse Vorgänge, die längst vergangen sind, Vorgänge, die darin bestehen, daß in vergangenen Zeiten andere Menschen aufgestiegen sind in die Welten, in welche du jetzt aufsteigen willst. Ja, du kannst wohl auch aus dem, was du jetzt da wie erinnernd schaust, erkennen, daß deine eigene Seele einmal beteiligt war in früheren Inkarnationen an dem, was diese Menschen, die damals in die höheren Welten aufgestiegen sind, erlebt haben. Es könnte sich ja herausstellen, daß die Seele eines Menschen der Gegenwart das, was sie da schaut in längst vergangenen Zeiten, als eigene Erlebnisse schaut, die einmal in längst vergangenen Zeiten durchgemacht worden sind. Dann wäre eine solche Seele in längst vergangener Zeit eben ein Eingeweihter gewesen. Wenn dies nicht der Fall ist, so wird sie nur wissen, daß sie in Verbindung gestanden ist mit solchen, die als Initiierte in längst vergangenen Zeiten in die höheren Welten aufgestiegen sind, daß sie sich aber jetzt einsam und verlassen fühlt, während jene einstmals initiierten Seelen sich in denselben Welten nicht einsam und nicht verlassen fühlten, sondern Seligkeit, innerste Seligkeit in diesen Welten empfanden. Das kam davon her - so erkennt man weiter -, daß in jenen alten Zeiten die Seelen eben anders geartet waren, und daß sie wegen der anders gearteten Anlagen das, was da geschaut wird in den höheren Welten, anders erlebten. Was wird da eigentlich erlebt ?
Was da erlebt wird, bringt einem allerdings Wesenheiten der höheren Welten vor die Seele, die aus der übersinnlichen Welt heraus an der Sinneswelt wirken. Wesenheiten, die hinter unserer Sinneswelt stehen, man schaut sie; Verhältnisse, wie sie gestern geschildert worden sind, man schaut sie allerdings. Aber wenn man alles dies zusammmenzufassen versucht, was man schaut, so kann man das etwa in folgender Art charakterisieren: Man fühlt sich da in den höheren Welten und schaut gewissermaßen hinunter in die Sinneswelt. Man fühlt sich etwa vereinigt mit Geistern, die dutch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind, und schaut auch mit ihnen hinunter, wie sie dann wieder die Kräfte gebrauchen werden, um zu einem physischen Dasein zu kommen. Man blickt hinunter und sieht, wie aus den übersinnlichen Welten die Kräfte heruntergeschickt werden, um in den verschiedenen Reichen der Natur in der Sinneswelt die Vorgänge zu bewirken. Den ganzen Strom der Tatsachen, die zubereitet werden aus den höheren Welten heraus in die Sinneswelt hinein, schaut man. Man schaut, da man bei einem solchen Verweilen in den höheren Welten außerhalb des physischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes ist, hinunter auf seinen physischen Leib und Ätherleib, und man schaut dann auch diejenigen Kräfte im Kosmos, im ganzen geistigen Universum, welche da arbeiten am physischen Leib und Ätherleib des Menschen. Und durch das, was die Wesen tun, in deren Gemeinschaft man gekommen ist, lernt man verstehen, wie innerhalb der physischen Welt physische und ätherische Leiber zustande kommen. Recht genau lernt man das erkennen. Man lernt erkennen, wie gewisse Wesenheiten, die zum Beispiel mit der Sonne verknüpft sind, hinunterwirken in die Erdenwelt und an dem Zustandebringen des physischen und des Ätherleibes des Menschen arbeiten. Man lernt auch gewisse Wesenheiten kennen, die mit dem Mondendasein verknüpft sind, und die aus dem Kosmos herunterwirken, um ebenso an dem Zustandekommen der physischen und Ätherleiber der Menschen mitzuwirken.
Dann aber kommt die große Sehnsucht, eine Sehnsucht, die ungeheuer wird für den gegenwärtigen Menschen. Das ist die Sehnsucht, etwas darüber zu erfahren, wie der astralische Leib und das Ich selber aus dem Kosmos herausgeboren sind, wie diese zustande kommen. Während man genau schauen kann, wie physischer Leib und Ätherleib aus den Kräften des Kosmos heraus zustande kommen, bleibt einem alles verschlossen, was sich darauf beziehen könnte, wie astralischer Leib und Ich des Menschen zustande kommen. In tiefstes Dunkel und Geheimnis verhüllt sich alles, was sich auf astralischen Leib und Ich des Menschen bezieht. So erhält man das Gefühl: Was du in deinem innersten Wesen bist, was du eigentlich selber bist, das verhüllt sich jetzt vor deinem geistigen Schauen, und das, in was du dich einhüllst, wenn du in der physischen Welt lebst, das enthüllt sich dir ganz genau!
Was eben erwähnt worden ist, erlebt der Mensch der Gegenwart, wenn er in der geschilderten Weise hinaufsteigt in die höheren Welten. Das erfuhren auch diejenigen Seelen, die ihren Aufstieg in Urzeiten, auf die hingedeutet ist, unternahmen. Nur daß der Mensch der Gegenwart jene große Sehnsucht fühlt, von der jetzt gesprochen worden ist, und daß die Seelen der vergangenen Zeiten diese Sehnsucht nicht fühlten, weil sie noch kein Bedürfnis hatten, ihre innerste Wesenheit zu schauen, weil sie so veranlagt waren, innigste Befriedigung zu empfinden, wenn sie wahrnahmen, wie die Wesenheiten, bis zu denen sie gekommen waren, gerade an dem Aufbau des physischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes arbeiteten. Wie von der Sonne herunterwirkte wesenhaftes Geistiges, um physischen Leib und Ätherleib aufzubauen, daran hatten die Seelen in vergangenen Zeiten, wenn sie initiiert wurden, ihre höchste Befriedigung.
Dazu kommt noch folgendes. In jenen alten Zeiten stellte sich dieses Arbeiten jener Wesenheiten noch anders dar; daher die Befriedigung. Jetzt in unserer Zeit stellt sich dieses Arbeiten so dar, daß man sich sagt: Wozu ist denn das ganze Herrichten des physischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes, wenn man nicht verstehen kann, was diese Hüllen in sich bergen? — So ist der Unterschied eines heutigen Menschen und eines Menschen der Vergangenheit. Und die Zeit, auf die besonders mit diesen Erlebnissen hingewiesen ist als auf eine vergangene, das ist die Zeit, in welcher Zarathustra seine Schüler initiiert hat, hinaufgeführt hat in die höheren Welten. Würden Schüler heute in derselben Weise hinaufgeführt werden in die höheren Welten, wie Zarathustra sie hinaufgeführt hat, so würden sie die Leerheit und die Verlassenheit fühlen, wie sie eben angedeutet ist. Damals, zur Zeit des Zarathustra, empfanden die zu Initiierenden das Arbeiten von Ahura Mazdao am physischen Leib und Ätherleib, und in dem Enthüllen dieser wunderbaren Geheimnisse fühlten sie Seligkeit und Befriedigung, weil sie so veranlagt waren, daß sie sich innerlich durchregt fühlten, wenn sie sahen: So entsteht das, was der Mensch haben muß als seine Hüllen, wenn er seine Erdenmission vollbringen will. In dem waren sie befriedigt.
So war die Zarathustra-Einweihung. Denn in dieser ZarathustraEinweihung konnte man «die Sonne um Mitternacht sehen». Das heißt, wenn man nicht auf die physische Gestalt der Sonne schaute, sondern auf die geistigen Wesenheiten, die mit dem Sonnendasein verknüpft sind, so schaute man ausgehend von der Sonne die Kräfte, die in den physischen Leib hineinspielen, man schaute, wie die Kräfte, die von der Sonne kommen, am menschlichen Haupt bilden und die verschiedenen Glieder des menschlichen Gehirns gestalten. Denn Unsinn ist es, wenn jemand glauben würde, daß ein Wunderbau, wie es das menschliche Gehirn ist, nur aus den terrestrischen Kräften heraus entstehen könnte. Da müssen die Sonnenkräfte hineinwirken. Die setzen in der verschiedensten Weise zusammen den verschiedenen Lappenbau des Gehirns über dem menschlichen Gesicht. Und nicht nur eine, sondern eine ganze Reihe von Wesenheiten wirken an diesem Aufbau des menschlichen Gehirns. «Amschaspands» nannte sie Zarathustra für seine Schüler. Sie sind die Erreger der Kräfte des Kosmos, damit der Bau des menschlichen Gehirns entstehen konnte und auch die obersten Nerven des Rückenmarkes, mit Ausnahme der unteren achtundzwanzig Nervenpaare. Dann wies auch Zarathustra darauf hin, wie andere Strömungen ausgehen von Wesenheiten, die mit dem Mondendasein verknüpft sind, und zeigte, wie tatsächlich wunderbar der Weltenbau sich fügt, wie von achtundzwanzig Wesenarten, «Izeds», Strömungen ausgehen, die da erbauen das Rückenmark mit den achtundzwanzig unteren Nervensträngen. So sind physischer Leib und Ätherleib herausgebaut aus Strömungen, die da ausgehen von Weltenwesenheiten.
Das waren gewaltige Eindrücke, welche die Initiierten des Zarathustra auf diese Weise empfingen. Und indem sie diese Eindrücke empfingen als den Ausdruck der Arbeit des Ahura Mazdao, empfanden sie innere Beseligung über das, was in der Welt geschieht. Der heutige Mensch, der sich in derselben Weise in die höheren Welten hinaufleben würde, er würde selbstverständlich auch bewundern können, würde auch anfangen können, die Beseligung zu empfinden. Aber er würde nach und nach übergehen zu der Empfindung, die man nicht anders als in die Worte kleiden kann: Wozu das alles? nichts weiß ich ja über diejenige Wesenheit, die von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation geht! Einzig und allein weiß ich nur von denjenigen Wesenheiten, die in jeder neuen Inkarnation aufbauen die Hüllen aus dem Kosmos herein, aber eben doch nur als «Hüllen» aufbauen. — Das war eben gerade das Wesen der Zarathustra-Einweihung, daß namentlich der Zusammenhang des Menschlich-Irdischen mit dem Sonnendasein den Initiierten „enthüllt wurde. Und die Epoche des Zarathustra ist dadurch charakterisiert, daß die Menschen in ihr okkultes Wissen die eben charakterisierten Geheimnisse aufnehmen konnten.
Wiederum anders lebten sich in die höheren Welten die Seelen hinein, welche im alten Ägypten eingeweiht worden sind, welche zum Beispiel die Hermes-Einweihung durchgemacht haben. Wir haben über alle diese Dinge schon gesprochen. Hier in diesen Vorträgen sollen sie noch etwas ausführlicher dargestellt werden, als es schon hat geschehen können. Wenn sich die Seelen in der altägyptischen Zeit durch die Hermes-Einweihung hinauferhoben in die höheren Welten, dann trat natürlich auch dasjenige ein, was bei der Initiation immer eintreten muß: daß diese Seelen sich außerhalb ihres physischen und Ätherleibes fühlten, daß sie wußten, sie befinden sich jetzt innerhalb einer Welt von geistigen Tatsachen und geistigen Wesenheiten. Weit herum wurden diese Seelen dann geleitet, das heißt, ihr Schauen wurde geleitet. Es wurden ihnen die einzelnen Wesenheiten, die einzelnen Tatsachen gezeigt, wie das auch bei einer heutigen Seele der Fall sein könnte. Aber man muß sich das nicht so vorstellen, als wenn man mit physischen Füßen herumgeht, sondern das Schauen wird herumgeführt, wie wenn man mit seinem Schauen ringsum in einem weltallweiten Gebiete herumgeführt würde. So geschah es in dieser Initiation,
Dann kam ein Zeitpunkt des Erlebens, wo man sich wie am Ende fühlte, gleichsam wie wenn man herumgegangen wäre in einem Lande, das ringsherum von Meer begrenzt ist, und man dann an das «Ufer» gekommen wäre. Man weiß, man ist an den äußersten Punkt gekommen, wohin man hat kommen können. Und dann erlebte man eben in der ägyptischen Initiation das, was man nicht anders als in die Worte kleiden kann: Während du mit deinem Schauen herumgeführt worden bist in den Weltenweiten, im weltallweiten Gebiete, hast du kennengelernt die Wesenheiten und Kräfte, von denen du dir sagen kannst, sie arbeiten an deinem physischen Leib und Ätherleib. Jetzt aber betrittst du die heiligste Stätte. Jetzt betrittst du ein Gebiet, wo du dich eigentlich vereinigt fühlst mit dem Wesenhaften, das mitarbeitet an dem in dir, was von einer Inkarnation zur anderen geht, was mitarbeitet an deinem astralischen Leib. Es ist ein bedeutsames Erleben ar diesem Punkte, denn es werden gewissermaßen alle Dinge anders, wenn dieses Erleben eingetreten ist an diesem Punkt.
Es hört zum Beispiel für die allernächste Zeit bei dem Initiierten eine Möglichkeit auf: Vollständig hört die Möglichkeit auf in der Welt, in die man jetzt eingetreten ist an den Ufern des weltallweiten Daseins, auf diese Welten anwendbar zu machen seine Urteilskraft, dasjenige, was man früher hat denken können, was man früher hat ersinnen können. Kann man sich nicht all dieser physischen, irdischen Urteilskraft entäußern, kann man nicht außer acht lassen, was einen bis dahin geleitet hat, dann kann man nicht dieses Erleben haben an den Ufern des Daseins, kann sich nicht vereinigt fühlen eben mit jener Wesenheit, die da arbeitet, wenn der geistig-seelische Mensch sich der Geburt in einer neuen Inkarnation naht, sich Familie, Nation und Elternpaar aufsucht, um als geistig-seelischer Mensch sich mit einer neuen Hülle zu umkleiden. Alle die Wesenheiten, die man vorher auch kennengelernt hat und die einem erklärlich machen, wie die physischen und ätherischen Hüllen entstehen und herausgebildet werden aus dem Kosmos, alle diese Wesenheiten sind außerstande, einem zu erklären, was da für Kräfte wirken in jenem Wesenhaften, mit dem man sich jetzt verbunden fühlt, und das bauend und webend ist an der innersten astralischen Wesenheit des Menschen selber. Es wird einem ganz anschaulich — und es wurde der ägyptischen Seele, die durch die Hermes-Initiation ging, ganz anschaulich -, daß jetzt, nachdem sie aus ihren Hüllen heraus ist und durchgegangen ist durch das vorhin «weltallweite Dasein» Genannte, sie sich verbunden fühlte mit einer Wesenheit. Und die Seele kann fühlen die Eigenschaften dieser Wesenheit, nur daß sie sich selber wie darinnen fühlt in diesen Eigenschaften, nicht außerhalb dieser Wesenheit, und sie kann wissen: Diese Wesenheit ist da, ist real da; aber man ist zugleich innerhalb dieser Wesenheit. Und der erste Eindruck, den man von dieser Wesenheit bekommt, ist der, daß man sich sagt: In dieser Wesenheit ruhen ja die Kräfte, die die Seele durchtragen von einer Inkarnation zur anderen, ruhen auch die Kräfte, welche die Seele erleuchten zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt. Das alles ist da drinnen. Aber wenn dir wie geistige Weltenwärme eine Kraft entgegenweht, die eben die Seele von dem Tode zu der neuen Geburt hinüberträgt, wenn dir wie geistiges Licht entgegendtingt, was die Seelen erleuchtet zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt, und wenn du fühlst, wie diese Wärme und dieses Licht ausströmen von der Wesenheit, mit.der du da vereinigt bist, so bist du doch jetzt in einer ganz besonderen Lage. Du hast gleichsam trinken müssen den Lethetrank, hast vergessen müssen deine Kunst des Verstehens, die dich früher durch die physisch-sinnliche Welt durchgeführt hat, hast ablegen müssen deine frühere Urteilskraft, deine Intellektualität, denn die könnten dich hier nur beirren, und Neues hast du noch nicht erworben. Du stehst, indem du die Weltenwärme fühlst, die die Seele zu der neuen Geburt trägt, in dem Kräftemeer darinnen, das die Seele erleuchtet von dem Tode bis zur neuen Geburt. Du fühlst also die Kraft und das Licht, die von der Wesenheit ausgehen. Du siehst diese Wesenheit so an, als ob du gar nicht anders könntest, als sie fragen: Wer bist du? - denn nur du allein kannst mir sagen, wer du bist, und nur dann allein kann ich wissen, was mich als menschliches Innenwesen hinüberträgt von dem 'Tode zu der neuen Geburt. Nur dann also, wenn du es mir sagst, kann ich wissen, was meines Menschen innerstes Wesen ist! — Und stumm, schweigsam bleibt die Wesenheit, mit der man sich so verbunden weiß. Man fühlt, in ihr liegt das Tiefste, was mit einem selbst als Tiefstes verbunden ist. Der Drang entsteht nach Selbsterkenntnis, nach Wissen, was man ist -— und stumm und schweigsam bleibt die Wesenheit.
Man muß dieser stummen, schweigsamen Wesenheit erst eine Weile gegenübergestanden haben, und man muß tief empfunden haben die Sehnsucht, jetzt auf eine neue Art das Weltenrätsel gelöst zu bekommen, man muß die Sehnsucht lange genug empfunden haben, das Weltenrätsel auf eine Weise gelöst zu bekommen, wie es niemals auf der physischen Erde gelöst werden kann, man muß hereingebracht haben in diese Welt zu dieser Wesenheit die tiefe Sehnsucht als eigene Kraft, das Weltenrätsel in dieser dem physischen Dasein fremden Art gelöst zu erhalten, und ganz muß die Seele leben in der Sehnsucht, in dieser Art das Weltenrätsel gelöst zu bekommen: Dann, wenn man sich vereinigt gefühlt hat mit der stummen, schweigsamen geistigen Wesenheit, mit der man vereinigt ist, und in ihr gelebt hat mit der eben geschilderten Sehnsucht nach Welträtsellösung, dann fühlt man, daß ausströmt in die geistige Wesenheit, mit der man vereinigt ist, die Kraft der eigenen Sehnsucht. Und weil diese Kraft der eigenen Rätsellöse-Sehnsucht ausströmt in die Wesenheit dieser geistigen Gestalt, gebiert nach einiger Zeit diese Wesenheit etwas, was als eine andere Wesenheit aus ihr hervorgeht. Aber es ist nicht so wie eine irdische Geburt, was da geboren wird. Man weiß auch gleich durch sein Schauen, daß es nicht wie eine irdische Geburt ist. Nein, eine irdische Geburt entsteht in der Zeit, sie tritt auf in der Zeit. Was man aber jetzt schaut, was die eben geschilderte Wesenheit gebiert, von dem weiß man: Das wird aus ihr geboren, das wurde aus ihr geboren seit ururalten Zeiten - immer, und diese Geburt dauert aus ururalten Zeiten bis in die Gegenwart herein fort. Man hat dieses Geborenwerden einer Wesenheit aus der anderen nur eben bisher nicht gesehen, es hat sich den Blicken bisher entzogen. Darin besteht dieses Geborenwerden, daß es eigentlich immer da ist, aber daß dadurch, daß man sich durch seine Rätsellöse-Sehnsucht dazu bereitgemacht hat, man es jetzt schaut, daß es jetzt Wahrnehmung ist in der geistigen Welt. Das weiß man. Man sagt sich also nicht: Da wird jetzt eine Wesenheit geboren -, sondern man sagt sich: Aus der Wesenheit, mit der du dich vereinigt hast, wurde seit ururalten Zeiten immer eine Wesenheit geboren; jetzt aber wird dieses Geborenwerden der Wesenheit und die geborene Wesenheit selber für dich wahrnehmbar.
Was ich Ihnen jetzt geschildert habe, so gut es mit den Worten unserer Sprache geht, das ist das, wozu der Hermes-Initiator seine Schüler geführt hat. Und die Empfindungen, die ich Ihnen eben charakterisierte — ich möchte sagen wie mit stammelnden Worten, denn die Dinge enthalten so viel, daß die Worte unserer Sprache die Dinge nur stammelnd zum Ausdruck bringen können -, diese Empfindungen waren die Erlebnisse der sogenannten ägyptischen IsisEinweihung. Wer die Isis-Einweihung durchmachte, sagte sich eben, wenn er an die Ufer des weltallweiten Daseins gekommen war und die Wesenheiten geschaut hatte, die zum Beispiel physischen Leib und Ätherleib konstituieren, wenn er gegenüber der schweigsamen Göttin gestanden hatte, von welcher Wärme und Licht für das Dasein des Innersten der Menschenseele ausgehen: Das ist die Isis! Das ist die stumme, die schweigsame Göttin, deren Antlitz keinem enthüllt werden kann, der nur mit sterblichen Augen schaut, deren Antlitz nur denen enthüllt werden kann, die sich durchgearbeitet haben bis zu den Ufern, die geschildert worden sind, damit sie schauen können mit jenen Augen, die von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation gehen, und die nicht mehr sterblich sind. Denn sterblichen Augen hüllt ein undurchdringlicher Schleier diese Gestalt der Isis zu!
Wenn so der zu Initiierende die Isis geschaut hatte und gelebt hatte mit der geschilderten Empfindung in der Seele, dann vernahm er das, was geschildert worden ist als Geburt. Was war diese «Geburt»? Diese Geburt vernahm er als das, was man bezeichnen kann als «in alle Räume Hinaustönen dessen, was Sphärenmusik ist», und als das Zusammengehen der Sphärenmusiktöne mit dem, was man das Weltenwort, das schöpferische Weltenwort nennt, das die Räume durchdringt und in die Wesenheiten hineingießt alles, was so in die Wesenheiten hineingegossen werden muß, wie dann hineingegossen werden muß in den physischen Leib und Ätherleib die Seele, wenn sie durchgegangen ist durch das Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Alles, was so in die äußere physische Welt von der geistigen Welt aus hineingegossen werden muß, damit das Hineingegossene dann innerlich, seelenhaft ist, alles das wird hineingegossen von der die Räume durchtönenden Sphärenharmonie, die allmählich sich so gestaltet, daß sie vernommen werden kann — bedeutsam, innerliche Bedeutsamkeit ausdrückend - als das Weltenwort, das die Wesenheiten beseelt, die durch die Kräfte von Wärme und Licht durchlebt werden und die sich hineinergießen in diejenigen Körper, in diejenigen Leiber, die aus den göttlichen Kräften und Wesenheiten entspringen, welche man schon mit dem vorhergehenden Schauen erblicken kann.
So schaute man hinein in die Welt der Sphärenharmonie, in die Welt des Weltenwortes, so schaute man hinein in die Welt, welche die eigentliche Heimat der Menschenseele ist in der Zeit, wenn diese Menschenseele lebt zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt. Was sich tief verhüllt im physischen irdischen Dasein des Menschen, was aber dann zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt im Abglanze lebt des Lichtes und der Wärme, was sich aber tief verhüllt in der physischen Welt als die Welt der Sphärentöne und des Weltenwortes, das erlebte man durch die Hermes-Einweihung als geborenwerdend aus der Isis. Die Isis ist damit dann vor einem stehend, so daß sie auf der einen Seite selber dasteht, auf der anderen Seite einem geboren hat die andere Wesenheit, die man anzusprechen hat als die Weltentöne und das Weltenwort. Jetzt fühlt man sich in der Genossenschaft der Isis und des von ihr geborenen Weltenwortes. Und dieses «Weltenwort» ist zunächst die Erscheinung des Osiris. «Isis in der Gemeinschaft mit Osiris», so treten sie auf vor der unmittelbaren Anschauung; denn so waren sie in der urältesten ägyptischen Einweihung verbreitet, daß Osiris zugleich Sohn und Gemahl war der Isis. Das empfand man, daß er Sohn und Gemahl war der Isis. Und das machte in der älteren ägyptischen Einweihung das Wesentliche aus, daß der zu Initiierende durch diese Einweihung die Geheimnisse des seelenhaften Daseins erfuhr, das mit dem Menschen verbunden bleibt, auch wenn er die Zeit durchmacht, die zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt liegt. Durch die Verbindung mit dem Osiris war es möglich, sich in seiner tieferen Bedeutung als Mensch zu erkennen.
Was dargestellt worden ist, begründete also, daß der ägyptische Eingeweihte Weltenwort und Weltentöne als die Erklärer seiner eigenen Wesenheit in der spirituellen Welt traf. Das war aber in der alten ägyptischen Zeit nur bis zu einem gewissen Zeitpunkte der Fall. Von diesem gewissen Zeitpunkte ab hörte es auf. Und es ist ein großer Unterschied — das zeigen auch die Schauungen der Akasha-Chronik, wenn der Mensch heute in die alten Zeiten zurückblickt - zwischen dem, was der ägyptische Eingeweihte in den altägyptischen Tempeln erlebte, und dem, was er in späteren Zeiten erlebte.
Wollen wir uns auch einmal vor die Seele schreiben, was der Eingeweihte in den späteren Zeiten erlebte. Da konnte er auch durch die weltallweiten Gefilde geführt werden bis zu den Ufern des Daseins, da konnte er erfahren alle die Wesenheiten, die den physischen Leib und Ätherleib des Menschen aufbauen, da konnte er hintreten an die Ufer des Daseins und konnte ansichtig werden der schweigsamen, stummen Isis und wahrnehmen an ihr das Wärmedasein, das für den Menschen die Kräfte enthält, die vom Tode zu einer neuen Geburt hinüberführen. Da konnte er auch das Licht erkennen, das die Seele zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt erleuchtet, die Sehnsucht entstand auch, zu hören das Weltenwort und die Weltenharmonie. Sehnsucht lebte in der Seele, wenn sich die Seele vereinigte mit der schweigsamen, stummen Göttin Isis. Aber - die Göttin blieb stumm und schweigsam! Kein Osiris konnte in der späteren Zeit geboren werden, keine Weltenharmonie ertönte, kein Weltenwort erklärte dasjenige, was sich bange jetzt zeigte als Weltenwärme und Weltenlicht. Und es war dann der Seele des zu Initiierenden so, daß sie ihre Erlebnisse nicht anders hat aussprechen können, als indem sie etwa sagte: So schaue ich trauernd hinauf, gequält von Wissensdurst und Wissenssehnsucht, zu dir, o Göttin! Und du bleibst der gequälten, der leidvollen menschlichen Seele, die, weil sie sich selber nicht verstehen kann, sich wie ausgelöscht vorkommt, wie wenn sie ihr Dasein verlieren müßte -, du bleibst dieser Menschenseele schweigsam und stumm! - Und trauernd machte die Göttin ihre Gebärde, ausdrückend, daß sie ohnmächtig geworden war zum Gebären des Weltenwortes und der Weltentöne. Das erkannte man an ihr, daß man ihr entrissen hat die Kraftzum Gebären und zum An-der-Seite-Haben des Osiris, des Sohnes und des Gemahls. Entrissen fühlte man den Osiris der Isis.
Diejenigen, die diese Einweihung durchmachten und wieder zurückkamen in die physische Welt, hatten eine ernste, aber resignierende Weltanschauung. Sie kannten sie, die heilige Isis, aber sie fühlten sich als die «Söhne der Witwe». Ernst und resignierend war die Weltanschauung der «Söhne der Witwe». Und der Zeitpunkt zwischen der alten Einweihung, wo man die Geburt des Osiris in den alten ägyptischen Mysterien mitmachen konnte, und der, wo man nur die stumme, die schweigsame, die trauernde Isis traf und ein Sohn der Witwe in den ägyptischen Mysterien werden konnte, der Zeitpunkt, der die beiden Abschnitte der ägyptischen Einweihung trennt, welcher ist es? Es ist der Zeitpunkt, in dem Moses gelebt hat. Denn so erfüllte sich das Karma Ägyptens, daß Moses nicht nur eingeweiht worden ist in die Mysteriengeheimnisse Ägyptens, sondern daß er sie zugleich mitgenommen hat. Indem er sein Volk aus Ägypten herausführte, nahm er den Teil der ägyptischen Einweihung mit, der zu der trauernden Isis, die sie später war, hinzugefügt hat die Osiris-Initiation. So war der Übergang von der ägyptischen Kultur zu der Kultur des Alten Testamentes. Ja, Moses hatte hinweggetragen das Geheimnis des Osiris, das Geheimnis von dem Weltenwort! Und hätte er nicht zurückgelassen die ohnmächtige Isis, dann hätte ihm nicht ertönen können, was ihm ertönen mußte in der Art, wie er es für sein Volk verstehen mußte, das große, bedeutsame Wort «Ich bin der Ich-bin, ejeh asher ejeh». So übertrug sich ägyptisches Geheimnis auf althebräisches Geheimnis.
Damit wurde versucht, in Worten, mit denen eben solche Dinge dargestellt werden können, zu zeigen, wie die Erlebnisse waren in den Zarathustra-Mysterien und in den ägyptischen Mysterien. Die Dinge lassen sich nicht mit abstrakten Worten darstellen. Denn worauf es ankommt, ist doch, daß die Seele gerade die entsprechenden Erlebnisse durchmacht, die ich zu charakterisieren versuchte. Und wichtig ist es nun, nachzufühlen, was in der Seele des später zu initiierenden Ägypters vorging, nachzufühlen, wie sich seine Seele hinauflebte in die höheren Welten, wie er Isis mit dem Trauerblicke traf, Isis mit dem Schmerzensantlitz, — die Trauerblick und Schmerzensantlitz hatte, weil sie die Menschenseele schauen mußte, die Sehnsucht und Wissensdurst nach den geistigen Welten haben konnte, die aber nicht befriedigt werden konnte.
So auch empfanden noch gewisse griechische Eingeweihte dasselbe Wesen, das die Ägypter als die spätere Isis ansprachen. Daher das Ernste der griechischen Initiation da, wo sie in ihrem Ernste auftritt. Denn, was war empfunden worden von dem zu Initiierenden ? - Was früher in den übersinnlichen Welten erlebt worden war, was diese übersinnlichen Welten sinnvoll gemacht hat, indem sie durchklungen waren von Weltenwort und Weltenton, das war jetzt nicht mehr da. Wie verödet und verlassen vom Weltenwort, so waren die übersinnlichen Welten, in die der Mensch durch die frühere Initiation hat hineinkommen können. Der Zarathustra-Eingeweihte konnte sich noch befriedigt fühlen, wenn ihm in diesen Welten die Wesen entgegentraten, von denen gesprochen worden ist, denn er fühlte sich noch befriedigt von dem Weltenlicht, das er als Ahura Mazdao empfand. Er empfand es männlich, sonnenhaft; der Ägypter empfand es weiblich, mondenhaft. Und der höher zu Initiierende empfand dann auch in der Zarathustra-Initiation das Weltenwort. Er empfand es nicht so konkret, geboren werdend aus einer solchen Wesenheit, wie es die Isis ist; aber er erfuhr es, und er kannte Sphärenharmonie und Weltenwortt.
Jetzt fühlte man in der späteren ägyptischen Zeit - aber auch in den übrigen Ländern während dieser späteren ägyptischen Zeit -, wenn man sich als Mensch in die höheren Welten hinauflebte, ganz ähnlich wie auch der heutige Mensch noch fühlt, wiees im Anfange des heutigen Vortrages gesagt worden ist. Man steigt hinauf in die höheren Welten, man wird bekannt mit all den Wesenheiten, die an dem Zustandekommen des physischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes mitzuarbeiten haben, und man fühlt sich verlassen, fühlt sich einsam, wenn nichts anderes eintritt als das Gesagte, weil man etwas in sich hat, was begehrt nach Weltenwort und Weltenharmonie, und weil einem Weltenwort und Weltenharmonie nicht ertönen können. Heute fühlt man sich verlassen und einsam. In der späteren ägyptischen Zeit fühlte man sich nicht nur verlassen und einsam, sondern man fühlte sich — wenn man das war, was genannt wurde «ein echter Sohn der Witwe» und man heraus war aus physischem Leib und Ätherleib und man in den geistigen Welten war — als Menschenseele so, daß man sein Fühlen nur in die Worte kleiden konnte: Der Gott schickt sich an, wegzugehen aus den Welten, die du immer betreten hast, wenn du das Weltenwort gefühlt hast, der Gott ist da unwirksam geworden! Und immer mehr und mehr verdichtete sich dieses Gefühl zu dem, was man nennen kann das übersinnliche Äquivalent dessen, was einem in der Sinneswelt als das Sterben des Menschen entgegentritt: wenn man hier einen Menschen sterben sieht, wenn man weiß, er verläßt die physische Welt. Und wenn man nun als Eingeweihter der späteren ägyptischen Zeit in die geistigen Welten hinaufstieg, so war man der Teilnehmer des langsamen Absterbens des Gottes. Wie man bei einem Menschen fühlt, wenn er in die geistige Welt hineingeht, so fühlte man als Eingeweihter der späteren ägyptischen Zeit, wie der Gott Abschied nimmt von der spirituellen Welt, um in eine andere Welt überzugehen. Das war das Bedeutsame und das Merkwürdige der späteren ägyptischen Initiation, daß man sich eigentlich hinauflebte in die geistigen Welten, nicht zur Wonne und Seligkeit, sondern um teilzunehmen an dem allmählichen Hinsterben eines Gottes, der als Weltenwort und Weltenton in diesen höheren Welten vorhanden war.
Aus dieser Stimmung heraus hat sich allmählich der Mythos von dem Osiris verdichtet, der der Isis entrissen wird, der nach Asien hinübergeführt wird und um den die Isis trauert.
Wir haben uns mit diesem Vortrage an das eine Ufer gestellt, an das eine Ufer jenes Stromes, welcher die Menschheitsentwickelung in zwei Teile teilt. Wir sind hergekommen von der Richtung dieser Menschheitsentwickelung bis an das Ufer, stehen an dem Ufer und haben uns dieses Stehen vergegenwärtigt durch die Stimmung des späteren ägyptischen Eingeweihten, des «Sohnes der Witwe», der eingeweiht wird, um Trauer und Resignation zu erleben. Es steht uns nun bevor, mit dem Kahn der Geisteswissenschaft den Fluß zu durchfahren, der die beiden Ufer der menschlichen Entwickelung trennt. Wir wollen im letzten Vortrage sehen, was an dem anderen Ufer ist, wenn wir unseren Kahn von der Stätte abstoßen, an der wir erfahren haben die Trauer um den in den Himmeln sterbenden Gott, wenn wir die Stätte verlassen, um einen Strom zu durchschwimmen, und ankommen am anderen Ufer. Wir wollen sehen, wenn wir an dem anderen Ufer ankommen mit der Erinnerung, daß wir vorher erlebt haben das Hinsterben eines Gottes in den Himmeln, was sich uns dann auf der anderen Seite dieses Stromes darbietet, wenn uns der Kahn der Geisteswissenschaft dahin trägt.
Third Lecture
When the present human being, the human being of our time, undergoes such occult training that leads him to experiences as indicated in the first two lectures, he thereby ascends into the spiritual worlds. They will then actually experience certain facts in the spiritual worlds and encounter certain beings. The expression used yesterday, “seeing the sun at midnight,” is basically just an expression for spiritual facts and encounters with spiritual beings connected with the sun. Now, however, when this person of our cycle of time ascends in this way into the higher worlds, he goes through certain experiences that can only be described by saying that he experiences many significant things within the spiritual worlds through such an ascent; but he also experiences something that must be described as feeling abandoned, deserted, and lonely. He feels in such a way that he can express his experience in words such as: You see many, many things here; but precisely that which you now, after having gone through all these things, must long for most of all, you cannot experience. — And one would like to ask all the beings one encounters after such an ascent about certain mysteries for which one must long. One has this feeling. But all these beings, who reveal many great and powerful things, remain silent and taciturn precisely when one wants to ask them about the very mysteries that one now feels are the most important. Therefore, one must say: The human being of the present feels the most painful thing when he has ascended in this way into the higher worlds; despite all the splendor, despite all the encounters with the noble beings, he feels an immense emptiness within himself. And if nothing else were to happen, then after a prolonged experience of this emptiness, this loneliness, this abandonment in the higher worlds, a kind of despair would inevitably come over the soul.
At this point, something can happen—and will usually happen if the ascent has been undertaken according to the genuine rules of initiation—that can initially protect against this despair, even if it cannot protect permanently. What can happen is something like a memory entering the soul, or one could also say a looking back into distant times of the past, a kind of reading in the Akashic Records of things that are long past. And what one experiences there—one cannot characterize these things in any other way than by trying to put the experiences into words that come close to describing them—one might put into the following words: When you, as a present human being, ascend into these higher worlds, you are struck by despair and abandonment. But then images show you certain events that happened long ago, events that consist of other people ascending in past times to the worlds you now want to ascend to. Yes, you can probably also recognize from what you now see as memories that your own soul was once involved in earlier incarnations in what these people who ascended into the higher worlds at that time experienced. It could turn out that the soul of a person in the present sees what it sees there in times long past as its own experiences, which were once undergone in times long past. Then such a soul would have been an initiate in times long past. If this is not the case, it will only know that it was connected with those who ascended to the higher worlds as initiates in times long past, but that it now feels lonely and abandoned, while those souls that were once initiated did not feel lonely or abandoned in the same worlds, but felt bliss, innermost bliss in these worlds. This came about, one realizes further, because in those ancient times souls were of a different nature, and because of their different nature they experienced what is seen in the higher worlds differently. What is actually experienced there?
What is experienced there brings to the soul beings from the higher worlds who work on the sensory world from the supersensible world. Beings who stand behind our sensory world are seen; relationships, as they were described yesterday, are indeed seen. But when one tries to summarize all that one sees, one can characterize it in the following way: One feels oneself in the higher worlds and looks down, as it were, into the sensory world. One feels united with spirits who have passed through the gate of death and looks down with them to see how they will use their powers to come into physical existence. You look down and see how forces are sent down from the supersensible worlds to bring about processes in the various realms of nature in the sensory world. You see the whole stream of facts being prepared in the higher worlds and sent into the sensory world. Since one is outside the physical body and the etheric body when dwelling in the higher worlds in this way, one looks down upon one's physical body and etheric body, and one also sees the forces in the cosmos, in the entire spiritual universe, that are working upon the physical body and etheric body of the human being. And through what the beings do in whose community one has come, one learns to understand how physical and etheric bodies come into being within the physical world. One learns to recognize this quite precisely. One learns to recognize how certain beings, who are connected with the sun, for example, work down into the earth world and work on the formation of the physical and etheric bodies of human beings. One also gets to know certain beings that are connected with the moon and that work down from the cosmos to help bring about the physical and etheric bodies of human beings.
But then comes the great longing, a longing that becomes immense for the present human being. This is the longing to learn something about how the astral body and the I itself are born out of the cosmos, how they come into being. While one can see exactly how the physical body and the etheric body come into being out of the forces of the cosmos, everything that could relate to how the astral body and the I of the human being come into being remains hidden. Everything related to the astral body and the human ego is shrouded in deepest darkness and mystery. This gives one the feeling that what you are in your innermost being, what you actually are, is now hidden from your spiritual vision, and that what you envelop yourself in when you live in the physical world is revealed to you in great detail!
What has just been mentioned is experienced by people of the present when they ascend to the higher worlds in the manner described. This was also experienced by those souls who undertook their ascent in primeval times, to which reference has been made. The only difference is that people today feel the great longing that has just been described, whereas the souls of past times did not feel this longing because they had no need to see their innermost being, since they were predisposed to feel the deepest satisfaction when they perceived how the beings they had reached were working on the formation of the physical and etheric bodies. were working precisely on the construction of the physical body and the etheric body. When they were initiated in past times, the souls found their highest satisfaction in the essential spiritual working down from the sun to build up the physical body and the etheric body.
There is more to this. In those ancient times, the work of these beings appeared differently, hence the satisfaction. Now, in our time, this work appears in such a way that one says: What is the point of all this preparation of the physical body and the etheric body if one cannot understand what these shells contain? — Such is the difference between a person today and a person of the past. And the time to which these experiences refer as a past time is the time when Zarathustra initiated his disciples and led them up into the higher worlds. If disciples today were led up into the higher worlds in the same way that Zarathustra led them, they would feel the emptiness and abandonment that has just been indicated. At that time, in the time of Zarathustra, those who were to be initiated felt the work of Ahura Mazdao on the physical body and etheric body, and in the unveiling of these wonderful secrets they felt bliss and satisfaction, because they were so disposed that they felt thoroughly cleansed inwardly when they saw: This is how what man must have as his shell comes into being if he wants to fulfill his earthly mission. In this they were satisfied.
Such was the initiation of Zarathustra. For in this initiation of Zarathustra, one could “see the sun at midnight.” That is, if one did not look at the physical form of the sun, but at the spiritual beings associated with the sun's existence, one saw, starting from the sun, the forces that play into the physical body; one saw how the forces coming from the sun form the human head and shape the various parts of the human brain. For it is nonsense to believe that a miraculous structure such as the human brain could arise solely from terrestrial forces. The forces of the sun must also be at work. In a variety of ways, they combine to form the different lobes of the brain above the human face. And not just one, but a whole series of beings are involved in the construction of the human brain. Zarathustra called them “Amschaspands” for his disciples. They are the initiators of the forces of the cosmos, enabling the construction of the human brain and also the highest nerves of the spinal cord, with the exception of the lower twenty-eight pairs of nerves. Zarathustra then pointed out how other currents emanate from beings associated with the moon, and showed how wonderfully the structure of the world is actually put together, how currents emanate from twenty-eight types of beings, “Izeds,” which build the spinal cord with the twenty-eight lower nerve strands. Thus, the physical body and the etheric body are built from currents that emanate from world beings.
These were powerful impressions that the initiates of Zarathustra received in this way. And as they received these impressions as the expression of the work of Ahura Mazdao, they felt inner bliss about what is happening in the world. Today's human being, who would live his way up into the higher worlds in the same way, would of course also be able to admire and begin to feel this bliss. But he would gradually move on to a feeling that can only be expressed in words: What is the point of all this? I know nothing about the being that goes from incarnation to incarnation! All I know is that in each new incarnation, these beings build the shells from the cosmos, but they are only “shells.” This was precisely the essence of the Zarathustra initiation, that the connection between the human-earthly and the solar existence was “revealed” to the initiates. And the Zarathustra epoch is characterized by the fact that people were able to take in the secrets just described through their occult knowledge.
The souls who had been initiated in ancient Egypt, who had undergone the Hermes initiation, for example, lived their way into the higher worlds in a different way. We have already spoken about all these things. Here in these lectures, they will be presented in somewhat greater detail than has been possible thus far. When souls in ancient Egyptian times rose up into the higher worlds through the Hermetic initiation, then of course what always happens during initiation also happened: these souls felt themselves outside their physical and etheric bodies, they knew that they were now within a world of spiritual facts and spiritual beings. These souls were then guided far and wide, that is, their vision was guided. They were shown the individual beings, the individual facts, as might be the case with a soul today. But one must not imagine this as walking around with physical feet; rather, the vision is guided around, as if one were being guided around with one's vision in a world-wide area. This is what happened in this initiation.
Then came a moment of experience when one felt as if one had reached the end, as if one had been walking around in a country surrounded by the sea and had then come to the “shore.” One knows that one has reached the furthest point one could have reached. And then, in the Egyptian initiation, you experienced something that can only be described in words: while you were being led around with your gaze through the worlds, through the universe, you got to know the beings and forces that you can say are working on your physical body and etheric body. But now you are entering the most sacred place. Now you are entering a realm where you actually feel united with the essential being that works with what passes from one incarnation to another within you, what works with your astral body. It is a significant experience at this point, because in a sense everything becomes different when this experience occurs at this point.
For example, for the initiate, one possibility ceases to exist for the immediate future: the possibility of applying one's power of judgment, what one was previously able to think, what one was previously able to conceive, to the world one has now entered on the shores of universal existence, ceases to exist completely. If one cannot renounce all this physical, earthly power of judgment, if one cannot disregard what has guided one up to that point, then one cannot have this experience on the shores of existence, cannot feel united with that being who is at work when the spiritual-soul human being approaches birth in a new incarnation, seeks out a family and nation, and parents in order to clothe oneself in a new shell as a spiritual-soul human being. All the beings that one has previously encountered and that explain how the physical and etheric shells arise and are formed out of the cosmos, all these beings are incapable of explaining what forces are at work in that essence with which one now feels connected, and which is building and weaving the innermost astral essence of the human being itself. It becomes very clear—and it became very clear to the Egyptian soul that went through the Hermetic initiation—that now, after it has left its shells and passed through what was previously called “universal existence,” it feels connected to a being. And the soul can feel the qualities of this being, except that it feels itself to be within these qualities, not outside this being, and it can know: This being is there, is really there; but at the same time one is within this being. And the first impression one gets of this entity is that one says to oneself: In this entity rest the forces that carry the soul from one incarnation to another, and also rest the forces that illuminate the soul between death and new birth. All this is there within. But when a force blows toward you like spiritual world warmth, which carries the soul from death to new birth, when what illuminates the souls between death and new birth shines toward you like spiritual light, and when you feel this warmth and this light streaming out from the being with which you are united, then you are nevertheless now in a very special situation. you are united, then you are now in a very special situation. You have had to drink the water of Lethe, so to speak, you have had to forget your art of understanding that previously guided you through the physical-sensory world, you have had to lay aside your former power of judgment, your intellectuality, because these could only confuse you here, and you have not yet acquired anything new. As you feel the warmth of the world carrying the soul to its new birth, you stand in the sea of forces that illuminates the soul from death to new birth. You therefore feel the power and light emanating from the being. You look at this Being as if you cannot help but ask: Who are you? For only you alone can tell me who you are, and only then can I know what carries me as a human inner being from death to new birth. Only then, when you tell me, can I know what my innermost being is! — And the being with whom one feels so connected remains silent. One feels that within it lies the deepest part of oneself. The urge arises for self-knowledge, for knowledge of what one is — and the being remains silent.
One must first have faced this silent, taciturn being for a while, and one must have felt deeply the longing to now have the mystery of the world solved in a new way; one must have felt this longing long enough to have the mystery of the world solved in a way in a way that can never be solved on the physical earth. One must have brought into this world, into this being, the deep longing as one's own power to have the world puzzle solved in this way that is foreign to physical existence, and the soul must live entirely in the longing to have the world puzzle solved in this way: Then, when one has felt united with the silent, tacit spiritual entity with which one is united, and has lived in it with the longing for the solution of the world riddle just described, one feels that the power of one's own longing flows out into the spiritual entity with which one is united. And because this power of one's own longing to solve the riddle flows out into the being of this spiritual form, after some time this being gives birth to something that emerges from it as another being. But what is born there is not like an earthly birth. One knows immediately through one's vision that it is not like an earthly birth. No, an earthly birth occurs in time; it takes place in time. But what we now see, what the entity just described gives birth to, we know: this is born from it, this has been born from it since time immemorial—always, and this birth continues from time immemorial to the present. One has simply not seen this birth of one being from another until now; it has eluded the gaze until now. This is what this birth consists of: that it is actually always there, but that because one has prepared oneself for it through one's desire to solve the riddle, one now sees it, that it is now perception in the spiritual world. We know this. So we do not say to ourselves: “A being is now being born,” but rather: “From the being with which you have united, a being has always been born since time immemorial; but now this birth of the being and the born being itself become perceptible to you.”
What I have now described to you, as best as can be done with the words of our language, is what the Hermetic Initiator led his disciples to. And the feelings I have just characterized for you — I would like to say with stammering words, because the things contain so much that the words of our language can only express them stammeringly — these feelings were the experiences of the so-called Egyptian Isis initiation. Those who underwent the Isis initiation said to themselves, when they had reached the shores of universal existence and had seen the beings that constitute, for example, the physical body and the etheric body, when they stood before the silent goddess from whom warmth and light emanate for the existence of the innermost part of the human soul: That is Isis! That is the silent, the taciturn goddess, whose face cannot be revealed to anyone who sees only with mortal eyes, whose face can only be revealed to those who have worked their way to the shores that have been described, so that they can see with those eyes that go from incarnation to incarnation and are no longer mortal. For mortal eyes, an impenetrable veil shrouds this figure of Isis!
When the initiate had thus seen Isis and lived with the described feeling in his soul, he heard what had been described as birth. What was this “birth”? He heard this birth as what can be described as “the sounding out into all spaces of what is sphere music,” and as the merging of the tones of the music of the spheres with what is called the world word, the creative world word, which permeates the spaces and pours into the beings everything that must be poured into them, just as the soul must be poured into the physical body and etheric body when it has passed through the life between death and new birth. Everything that must be poured into the outer physical world from the spiritual world so that what is poured in is then inner, soul-like, all of this is poured in by the harmony of the spheres that resounds through space, which gradually takes shape so that it can be heard—meaningful, expressing inner significance — as the world word that animates the beings who are enlivened by the forces of warmth and light and who pour themselves into those bodies that spring from the divine forces and beings that can already be seen with the previous vision.
Thus one looked into the world of spherical harmony, into the world of the world word, thus one looked into the world which is the actual home of the human soul during the time when this human soul lives between death and new birth. What is deeply veiled in the physical earthly existence of human beings, but then lives between death and new birth in the afterglow of light and warmth, what is deeply veiled in the physical world as the world of sphere tones and the world word, was experienced through the Hermes initiation as being born from Isis. Isis then stands before you, so that on one side she stands herself, and on the other side she has given birth to the other being, which must be addressed as the world tones and the world word. Now you feel yourself in the fellowship of Isis and the world word born of her. And this “world word” is initially the appearance of Osiris. “Isis in communion with Osiris” is how they appear before our immediate perception; for in the most ancient Egyptian initiation, Osiris was both the son and husband of Isis. One felt that he was the son and husband of Isis. And this was the essence of the ancient Egyptian initiation, that through this initiation the initiate learned the secrets of soul existence, which remains connected with the human being even when he passes through the time between death and new birth. Through the connection with Osiris, it was possible to recognize oneself in one's deeper meaning as a human being.
What has been described thus explains why the Egyptian initiate encountered the world word and world tones as the explanations of his own being in the spiritual world. However, in ancient Egyptian times this was only the case up to a certain point in time. From that certain point in time, it ceased. And there is a great difference—as the visions of the Akashic Records also show when we look back to ancient times—between what the Egyptian initiate experienced in the ancient Egyptian temples and what he experienced in later times.
Let us also write down for ourselves what the initiate experienced in later times. He could be led through the universal realms to the shores of existence, where he could experience all the beings that make up the physical and etheric bodies of human beings. There he could stand on the shores of existence and behold the silent, silent Isis and perceive in her the warm existence that contains the forces that lead humans from death to a new birth. There he could also recognize the light that illuminates the soul between death and new birth, and the longing arose to hear the word of the world and the harmony of the worlds. Longing lived in the soul when the soul united with the silent, mute goddess Isis. But the goddess remained silent and mute! No Osiris could be born in later times, no world harmony resounded, no world word explained what now anxiously revealed itself as world warmth and world light. And it was then that the soul of the initiate could express its experiences in no other way than by saying something like: “So I look up to you, O goddess, mournful, tormented by thirst for knowledge and longing for knowledge! And you remain silent and mute to the tormented, suffering human soul, which, because it cannot understand itself, feels as if it were extinguished, as if it were about to lose its existence—you remain silent and mute to this human soul! And mourning, the goddess made a gesture expressing that she had become powerless to give birth to the word of the world and the sounds of the world. It was clear to see that the power to give birth and to have Osiris, her son and husband, by her side had been taken from her. Osiris felt that he had been torn away from Isis.
Those who underwent this initiation and returned to the physical world had a serious but resigned worldview. They knew her, the holy Isis, but they felt themselves to be the “sons of the widow.” Serious and resigned was the worldview of the “sons of the widow.” And what is the point in time between the old initiation, when one could participate in the birth of Osiris in the ancient Egyptian mysteries, and the point when one only encountered the silent, mourning Isis and could become a son of the widow in the Egyptian mysteries? What is the point in time that separates the two phases of the Egyptian initiation? It is the time when Moses lived. For thus was the karma of Egypt fulfilled, that Moses was not only initiated into the mysteries of Egypt, but that he also took them with him. By leading his people out of Egypt, he took with him that part of the Egyptian initiation which later added the Osiris initiation to the mourning Isis. Thus was the transition from Egyptian culture to the culture of the Old Testament. Yes, Moses had carried away the secret of Osiris, the secret of the world word! And if he had not left behind the powerless Isis, then what had to sound to him in the way he had to understand it for his people, the great, significant words “I am that I am, ejeh asher ejeh,” could not have sounded to him. Thus, the Egyptian secret was transferred to the ancient Hebrew secret.
The attempt was made here to show, in words that can describe such things, what the experiences were like in the Zarathustra mysteries and in the Egyptian mysteries. These things cannot be described with abstract words. For what matters is that the soul actually goes through the experiences that I have tried to characterize. And it is now important to feel what was going on in the soul of the Egyptian who was later to be initiated, to feel how his soul lived its way up into the higher worlds, how he met Isis with her mournful gaze, Isis with her face of pain — who had a mournful gaze and a face of pain because she had to look upon the human soul, which could have a longing and thirst for knowledge of the spiritual worlds, but which could not be satisfied.
Certain Greek initiates also felt the same essence that the Egyptians addressed as the later Isis. Hence the seriousness of Greek initiation where it appears in its seriousness. For what had been felt by the initiate? What had previously been experienced in the supersensible worlds, what had made these supersensible worlds meaningful by being permeated with the word and sound of the world, was now no longer there. The supersensible worlds into which human beings had been able to enter through earlier initiation were now desolate and deserted, as if abandoned by the word of the world. The Zarathustra initiate could still feel satisfied when the beings spoken of came to meet him in these worlds, for he still felt satisfied by the world light he perceived as Ahura Mazdao. He perceived it as masculine, sun-like; the Egyptian perceived it as feminine, moon-like. And those who were to be initiated at a higher level then also perceived the world word in the Zarathustra initiation. They did not perceive it as concretely born out of such a being as Isis, but they experienced it and knew the harmony of the spheres and the world word.
Now, in the later Egyptian period — but also in the other countries during this later Egyptian period — when one lived one's way up into the higher worlds as a human being, one felt very much as modern human beings still feel, as was said at the beginning of today's lecture. One ascends into the higher worlds, one becomes acquainted with all the beings that have a part in the formation of the physical body and the etheric body, and one feels abandoned, feels lonely, if nothing else occurs than what has been said, because one has something within oneself that longs for the word of the world and the harmony of the world, and because the word of the world and the harmony of the world cannot sound to one. Today, one feels abandoned and lonely. In later Egyptian times, one not only felt abandoned and lonely, but one felt—if one was what was called “a true son of the widow” and one was out of the physical body and etheric body and one was in the spiritual worlds—as a human soul in such a way that one could only clothe one's feelings in words: God is preparing to depart from the worlds you have always entered when you felt the word of the world; God has become ineffective there! And more and more this feeling condensed into what can be called the supersensible equivalent of what one encounters in the sensory world as the death of a human being: when one sees a human being die here, when one knows that he is leaving the physical world. And when, as an initiate of the later Egyptian period, one ascended into the spiritual worlds, one was a participant in the slow dying of the god. Just as one feels when a human being enters the spiritual world, so did the initiates of the later Egyptian period feel the god taking leave of the spiritual world in order to pass into another world. This was the significance and the remarkable thing about the later Egyptian initiation: that one actually ascended into the spiritual worlds, not for bliss and happiness, but to participate in the gradual dying of a god who existed in these higher worlds as the word and sound of the world.
Out of this mood, the myth of Osiris gradually took shape, who is snatched from Isis, taken to Asia, and mourned by Isis.
With this lecture, we have placed ourselves on one bank, on one bank of that river which divides human evolution into two parts. We have come from the direction of this human evolution to the shore, we stand on the shore and have made ourselves aware of this standing through the mood of the later Egyptian initiate, the “son of the widow,” who is initiated in order to experience grief and resignation. We now have before us the task of crossing the river that separates the two shores of human development in the boat of spiritual science. In the last lecture, we will see what is on the other shore when we push off from the place where we experienced the mourning for the god dying in the heavens, when we leave the place to swim across a stream and arrive at the other shore. Let us see, when we arrive at the other shore with the memory that we have previously experienced the dying of a god in the heavens, what then presents itself to us on the other side of this stream when the boat of spiritual science carries us there.